Bakugo shoves his hands in his coat pockets as he walks to the gun shop. 

Kirishima is at Furuzu's apartment, hopefully. He's their the last suspect… 

His gut churns as he thinks of Kirishima. 

Is Kirishima safe? The murderer might be Furuzu… 

Kirishima is a detective too, he'll be able to handle himself, but he's only known him for a day, so he doesn't know. 

Bakugo sighs internally. He made sure that he doesn't get too attached to anyone in the police force because they could die at any moment. 

This job is dangerous. 

It's right to fear, but it's also wrong. There are people's lives on the line sometimes and he simply can't run away because he's scared. 

This job is dangerous, and he's already starting to break the rule he has for it. 

Getting attached to Kirishima is easy, blatantly because he's so comfortable to be around. 

And that thought scares him. 

He can't risk being depressed or losing his cool if Kirishima gets hurt, or… he doesn't even want to think of that. 

He doesn't want to get attached, he doesn't want to trust him, his brain says no because there are too many risks. 

Unfortunately, he can't bring himself to stop either.

-

Fuck, fuck, fuck!  

Kirishima slides under the bed, dragging the box with him as he does so. He calms his breath quickly, not wanting to alert the intruder. 

Someone steps into the apartment. He hears the click-clack of heels and the irritated mumbling. 

"Where's that idiot… the police are onto him and he didn't cover up well enough… fucking newbie." 

It's a female voice (he didn't want to assume someone's gender- but he needs something to go by with, temporarily). 

He breathes as quietly as he can as he moves further under the bed, thigh pressing against the wall. The woman sits down on the bed as a shrill ring pierces through the air. 

Kirishima reaches behind him slowly and turns on the voice recorder on his phone. He places his phone onto the floor and pushes it outward slowly, leaving it near the edge. 

"I'm at his house, the dirtbag isn't here. 

"Do I think he's on the run? God no, it's obvious he's been here." 

"Why would you give him another case?' 

Kirishima sees a cockroach appear and he quickly covers his mouth with his hand, preventing his surprised gasp from happening. 

"He made an idiotic move, impersonating as Detective Bakugo, trying to fool this new detective on the case. At least tell me why he did it" 

"Later? Fine. Who do you want him to kill next." 

Kirishima listens intently. They have a new victim, he needs to know who. 

"Gima Daizu… I'll send him the details." 

She hangs up and he hears her standing up. She starts walking towards the door. She stops by the door and turns back with a sharp glare, scanning the room. 

Kirishima fumbles with his phone and takes a quick picture and waits for her to leave. He watches as the woman finally walks out, the door slamming shut behind her. 

The footsteps fade away slowly and he crawls out from under the bed, dragging the box with him. 

He stares at the door as he opens a plastic bag, placing all the books inside before pushing the box back under the bed. 

He packs everything up and creeps over to the door before hearing something drop to the floor, making a metallic, melodious sound. He freezes up as he turns to look behind him slowly, almost robotically while holding his breath. He slowly reaches underneath his jacket, feeling his fingers touch the smooth cold surface of his gun.

He sees a cylinder rolling across the floor and he stares, shocked, as if he's in a trance before shaking his head lightly. He looks to the left, where he presumes the cylinder dropped from (based on the direction it's rolling in) and a drawer enters his line of sight.

The cylinder stops as it hits his shoe and he bends down to pick it up, bringing it up to eye level and he slowly scans over it.

It's a suppressor. 

He takes a deep breath as he grips it tightly in his hand. Heart jumping out of his chest, he cracks the door open and looks around… nobody was in sight. 

Kirishima walks out slowly and shuts the door quietly behind him. He starts walking back down the stairs and out onto the streets. 

He looks around carefully and sharply before shrugging off his jacket. He switches on his phone and opens the location Bakugo sent him, shoots a text to Aizawa about Gima Daizu before sprinting off. 

-

Bakugo hears his doorbell ring and he gets up from his couch to open the door. Kirishima barrels in and Bakugo kicks the door shut, grabbing onto the man's shoulders and trying to steady him. 

"Care to explain what happened?" He asks, ears flushing red as he drags him over to the couch.

Kirishima groans as he holds a finger up, his other hand digging into his pockets. He unlocks his phone and passes it to Bakugo, who takes it gingerly. 

"Okay, dude listen to that recording while I catch my breath. I sprinted here…", Kirishima pants, throwing his head back on the couch and closing his eyes in exhaustion. 

Bakugo puts on his earphones and listens to the recording, sitting on the floor as he does so. 

When the recording finally ends, Bakugo was staring blankly at the wall. This! This gives them information, clues. 

"Holy shit." 

Kirishima chuckles as he gently pries his phone from Bakugo's fingers, sending the recording to Aizawa. 

"Anyways, fill me in", Kirishima says cheerfully, unzipping his bag and pulling out the notebooks and the gun. 

Bakugo grabs his notepad off his desk along with a pencil before sitting on the floor. Kirishima slides off the couch and plops next to him, tilting his head towards Bakugo, signaling that he's ready to listen. 

Kirishima watches as he pulls out his glasses from his pocket. His lips twitch up as Bakugo puts on his reading glasses. 

That's… cute.

"Other than the fingerprints on the pillowcase, there's nothing about Sanzeki in the victim's apartment-" he flips to the next page of his notepad "- I ran into him when I went to get coffee again. He just slept with her. Besides, he has black hair." 

Bakugo shows him a picture of Sanzeki on his phone. 

"He slept with her a week before, the body would've turned from green to red if he did kill her. See, how that hadn't happened…", Bakugo taps his pen on the notepad. 

Kirishima shuffled a little to get into a more comfortable position. 

"I found strands of orange hair on the mattress, the shower… drain, nasty…-" Kirishima chuckles as he leans back, letting his hand support his weight "- Furuzu was the only one with orange hair, but I made a trip to the station to check. I did a quick check at the gun shop and he, most, in fact, bought a gun recently."

Kirishima picks up the gun that was in the ziplock bag. He stares at it for a few seconds, flipping and turning it around. He then pulls the ziplock bag with the suppressor towards him, analyzing it as he listens to Bakugo talk (yes, he fumbled and nearly dropped it while running on the way here, and that's why it's in a ziplock bag).

"This gun is the same model, but it's not new… not really cleaned often either. I saw bullet holes in his apartment too… ", Kirishima mumbles, passing the bag to Bakugo. 

"He must've bought a newer gun… maybe this one has his fingerprints. If he just uses it to shoot her… it would be deemed as murder, so he bought another, newer, gun to make it look like a suicide", Kirishima lays down on the floor. 

He's restless after that encounter with that woman. He couldn't read her at all, and he can't tell if she saw or heard him or not. He felt like he needed to move, or do something, anything. 

Bakugo stares at him for a few seconds before continuing. "I asked Hatsume to crack her phone's password and I went through her messages and call logs and stuff. She was in touch with all three of them, but the most recent one was Furuzu." 

Kirishima takes the notepad from Bakugo's hands gently and scans over it. 

"So, it was raining on a Tuesday… apparently, he tripped when he was going up the stairs, he must've been wearing gloves, seeing how the gun doesn't have fingerprints but there's still dirt and grass… or, the gun fell out…", Bakugo mumbles, leaning over to look at his notepad.  

Kirishima hums, telling Bakugo that he was still listening. 

"Tomo slept with her on a Monday. Fuzuru came to the apartment in the early morning. There may not be any asphyxiation at all. Momo rechecked the body, there were absolutely no signs. They probably just had a very rough night…", Bakugo feels his ears go red as he clears his throat. 

Kirishima grins. Apparently, Bakugo becomes embarrassed whenever things like that come up. 

"Fuzuru then shot her, not noticing his gloves, or gun was dirty. Then, just went about his day, showered in her apartment and shit before leaving…", Bakugo continues on while glancing at the notebooks, ear still red. 

Kirishima sits up and pulls the plastic bag towards him. He opens it before stopping. 

"Ah, dude do you have any new gloves? I might need a pair…", Kirishima chuckles, holding out his hand to show Bakugo the dust that gathered on his gloves when he was hiding under the bed.

Bakugo sighs as he stands up. He walks to the kitchen and opens a drawer, pulling out two new pairs of gloves. He throws a pair towards Kirishima while he snaps his on. 

Kirishima thanks him before opening the first book, already reading through the contents. Bakugo sits back down and picks up the second book, opening it and sighing as he starts reading. 

"You're surprisingly tolerable…", Bakugo mumbles, flipping to the next page. 

Kirishima smiles, a tooth pressing into his bottom lip. "Man, seeing what happened to your partner 5 years ago, I sure hope I am." 

Kirishima hears Bakugo laugh for the first time. It definitely doesn't sound like twinkling crystals or deep and rough like most people do. It sounds more of pure joy, unaffected by anything. It's not rough, but it wasn't very smooth either. It's a little high pitched and he snorts quietly once or twice, but it's so Bakugo that Kirishima can't help it when his smile widens into a shark grin. 

"Man, that guy was a bitch." 

"Bitch, how?" Kirishima asks, paying more attention to Bakugo and temporarily stopping what they're supposed to be doing. 

"His name was Monoma… something-" Kirishima laughs at that, "-He's really fucking annoying, wouldn't stop assuming things and kept saying I was wrong. I worked with him for 2 days and got rid of him. I solved the case within 5 hours the next day." 

"Cool. Guess some of us don't get along well with others", Kirishima says, continuing to read the notebook. 

"Well with the right person, I guess I can get along with them… Although I'd avoid it…", Bakugo mumbles.

Kirishima listens and he decides not to pry. He gets the gist of it though, and he understands. 

"How old are you?"

"27. My birthday hasn't passed yet…", Bakugo answers, flipping another page. "I'm older than you though."

"Man, this sucks! I'm probably younger than you by months then", Kirishima fake pouts. 

Bakugo laughs again and Kirishima goes back to reading, a smile playing on his lips. 

Kirishima taps Bakugo on his shoulder and shows him the page he was reading. Bakugo leans over and scans through it, nodding and scribbling some things on his notepad. 

"He's being threatened by them… and he wants money… so he's working as their hitman and to save himself too…"

"We need to know what organization he's working for…" Bakugo continues to write on his notepad. 

Bakugo leans away and texts Aizawa about the case. 

"You like spicy food?" Kirishima asks. 

"Is it my breath?" 

Kirishima smiles as he nods. 

"Yeah, I like spicy food." 

"Noted…", Kirishima mumbles. 

"What, do you want to buy me dinner or something?" 

Kirishima smiles, eyes crinkling in the corners. "I'll buy you dinner if we solve this case completely." 

He couldn't sense any ulterior motives from him or any bad intentions. Just pure, unfiltered, sincerity. He doesn't get that very often and he knows he's becoming flustered the more he thinks about it.

"Promise?" Bakugo asks hesitantly. 

"Promise." 

Bakugo struggles not to smile as he turns back to pick up the third notebook. 

-

Kirishima finds something after a few hours of reading. 

Normally, I write at least 2000-4000 words long but this is considered a short story so- acky wacky

Also regarding the part where they talked about their birthdays ...

Is it "hasn't passed" or "haven't passed"?  I'm pretty sure it's hasn't, but I needed to make sure.

This story is supposed to be in the present (yk, where actions end with s instead of ed, and I keep writing that like an idiot)  and I keep fucking up since I'm used to writing stories in past tense :/