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Kirishima had been acting off lately, keeping to himself more, and not being so free with his usual friendly touches. And maybe Bakugou was more upset about it than he would normally because Kirishima stopped hanging off his shoulders right around the same time he realized that he didn’t mind his friendliness so much. In fact, he kind of liked them and had on occasion felt himself leaning into the contact. There was the possibility that Kirishima noticed he stopped shrugging him off and it made him uncomfortable. But Kirishima didn’t seem like the type to treat someone differently if he found out… Bakugou discarded that thought.
Damn, he really needed to pay better attention in class or he was going to be the one asking for help during their study sessions. Bakugou drew his eyes away from Kirishima’s hair and focused back on Mr. Aizawa. It seemed like he was wrapping up class as he wrote the homework assignment on the board. Bakugou was grateful that he had looked at the material last night or he would probably be completely lost. Aizawa dismissed the class and everyone started to pack up, buzzing about plans for the weekend, excited that it was Friday.
As Kirishima headed for the door Bakugou stopped him. “Spar later?”
Kirishima looked up. “Actually I was gonna hang with Mina this afternoon,” he pointed over his shoulder at her with his thumb, then continued out of the classroom without another word.
Mina looked confused for a moment then quickly schooled her expression and shrugged as she followed him out the door. Bakugou was left confused at the front of the classroom. Friday was one of their normal sparring days and if they needed to change it Kirishima always said something beforehand.
Apparently he was standing there for longer than he thought as Midoriya slowly approached him. “I’ll spar with you, Kacchan.”
Bakugou just slowly nodded, “Okay.”
Midoriya waved as he left the classroom and Bakugou followed after. They met an hour later in one of the training rooms and immediately started without talking. After Midoriya landed a few good hits he called time. Bakugou slumped to the ground nursing his jaw where one of the punches had landed. Midoriya walked over and leaned against the wall so he could slide down, landing with a thump next to him.
“Alright, what’s on your mind? You never let me land that many hits and I haven’t improved that much.” Midoriya said with a smirk.
“You sure haven’t, damn nerd. When are you going to catch up?” Bakugou scoffed, ignoring the other part of what he said.
Midoriya shoved him with his elbow and watched as Bakugou laughed and fell slightly to the side. “No, but seriously, what’s going on? I thought you wanted to practice.”
Bakugou sighed. “I don’t know. I always spar with Kirishima on Fridays and just lately he’s been, I just... well, you saw.” He shrugged as he came to the end of his barely coherent sentence.
Midoriya hummed as he nodded in understanding. He had known Bakugou long enough to know what he was getting at. “You’re worried that he’s keeping something from you.”
“Yeah, He’s just been weird lately, and it seems like he’s been spending more time with Mina lately.” Bakugou caught himself and stopped abruptly. “Which would be fine! Mina’s great, and Eijirou’s great, I mean Kirishima.” Bakugou shoved his face into his hands as he felt his entire neck heat up. Great, now Deku knows everything. They had gotten closer but it still felt weird to have secrets with him.
Bakugou felt a hand on his arm as it was pulled away from his face. He turned his head but kept his temple resting on his knees. Bakugou could tell Midoriya was hiding a smile, trying to stay composed for his own benefit. “Kacchan, I’m sure it will be fine, and you guys will work things out even if it doesn’t,” Midoriya paused, “end up, exactly the way you want things to.”
Bakugou knew the implied meaning but was grateful that Midoriya didn’t address the situation directly. He didn’t think he’d be able to handle that. Bakugou huffed as he stood, “I’m just going to go hit the showers and take the rest of the afternoon to just chill.”
Right before Bakugou made it to the door, Midriya called out, “Hey Kacchan, if you even need to talk, I’m here.”
Bakugou looked back at him, standing now. “Thanks, Midoriya.” Then continued out of the room. He was glad that he had stopped treating Midoriya like shit after first year, he was a good friend even if he would never be caught dead saying that out loud.
Bakugou woke up in his bed with the book he had been reading on his chest. His clock read 9:30. Shit, he had missed dinner. He got up stretching out the kinks in his neck and shoulders, there should be something in the kitchen for him to eat.
Kirishima was on his way out of the kitchen when Bakugou got there with a couple packages of chips and candy in his arms. Kirishima froze when he saw him, “Just getting some snacks, see you later.” It came out in a rush and Kirishima was gone before Bakugou even had a chance to respond.
Bakugou stood there confused for a moment then just continued to the fridge to see if he could make anything to eat. After deciding that he didn’t want to be poisoned by anything already made in dishes he decided to just make himself an omelette with extra hot sauce. He ate quickly and cleaned up, then decided he would just go to bed so he could wake up and go for a run in the morning.
He finished his run and glanced at his watch as he pulled open the door to the dorms. It was only 6:30 and decided he would go shower before making himself something for breakfast. He pulled out his headphones as he walked through the door to his own room then stretched a little bit before grabbing his stuff for a shower. He made his way out of his room and down the hall to the shared bathroom. Bakugou liked Saturday mornings, most of the other students didn’t bother to get up early so it was quiet and Bakugou could just go about his routine at his own pace. He set down his stuff and hung up his towel in the stall, then peeled the work-out clothes from his body. After standing under the scalding water for what felt like ages, he decided it was time to get out and reached over to shut the water off. His skin felt flushed and his muscles relaxed from the heat of the water as he slowly dried himself off. As he reached for his change of clothes he realized he hadn’t grabbed any. Fuck . Well, nobody else should be up at this point and he would not be putting on his sweaty work-out clothes. He gathered all of his stuff and made sure the towel was wrapped securely around his waist. As he opened the door to the hall someone else had been reaching for it and lost their balance landing against his chest. He caught them looking down at the mess of red hair that seemed to stay there a bit longer than necessary before standing up with an undignified yelp.
“Bakugou!” Kirishima said a bit too loudly. “Good morning!” Kirishima’s face turned red as he ran his fingers through his hair nervously. His hair was stuck up at odd angles some of it still styled from the day before but a lot of it having fallen down and stuck to the side of his face. Cute. But Kirishima was usually so good about cleaning the gel out of his hair before going to sleep. Bakugou frowned slightly, he probably didn’t spend the night in his own room.
“Morning,” Bakugou grunted noncommittally before turning away from Kirishima and heading back into his own dorm. As soon as the door latched he leaned against it and slid down to the floor. He really needed to get over this, whatever it was. He got back up and grabbed a t-shirt and some jeans to throw on. He sat down on his bed then picked his phone up wanting to message someone, but not really knowing what he would say so he just opened one of his games and mindlessly played it for a while to get his mind off things. When he finally decided he could go downstairs most of his friends were already down there. They all looked half asleep and Bakugou commented as much.
“Up late.” Sero managed through a yawn.
Denki had his face down on the table next to his bowl of cereal but nodded without picking his head up. There wasn’t much conversation after that until Denki finally picked up his head. “Man, I can’t believe I lost to Mina in Mario Kart every time.”
Sero laughed heartily. “Yeah based on last night I don’t think you should ever be allowed to drive a car.” They both started laughing again.
Bakugou looked up at the four of them, Kirishima looked uncomfortable and Mina was staring daggers at the two idiots but they were oblivious until she made a noise and motioned across her own throat threateningly. They both stopped abruptly sensing the tension.
Bakugou felt his eyebrows knit together in confusion as he looked up at the four of them briefly connecting with Kirishima’s eyes before he looked in a different direction, avoiding eye contact like the rest of them. Bakugou huffed and picked his plate up as he stood from the table. “Well, fuck you guys too, I guess.”
“Wait!” Bakugou turned to see Kirishima standing. He looked like he was about to say something then stopped himself until, “We’re still studying later, right?” He asked hesitantly.
Bakugou nodded as he waved him off and continued out of the room. When he got back to his room he picked up his pillow punching it a few times and then throwing it at a wall. He knew he was the least social of all of them but they had always included him. He had thought it was just Kirishima but now it seemed like all of them were in the loop, except for him.
He heard a quiet knock on his door about an hour later and called for them to come in. Kirishima opened the door carrying some of his books in his arm. They exchanged a few words before starting on their homework, Kirishima taking the desk since Bakugou was already on the bed. It was an abnormally quiet study session for them usually Kirishima would be complaining the whole time, but he just spoke up occasionally with a question about the work. Bakugou finished his work about an hour later then picked up the book he had been reading the night before. A while later he heard Kirishima put down his pencil and spin around in the chair.
“Hey man,” Bakugou looked up from the book he was reading. “Sorry about not inviting you last night. It just started out as Mina and me, but then Sero saw me bringing the snacks up to her room and grabbed Denki so they could crash and then we just ended up playing games until we all fell asleep on the floor.” Kirishima finally made eye contact with Bakugou, trying to show sincerity in his gaze.
Bakugou sighed, “It’s fine, you don’t have to spend every day with me, you guys were friends before I joined the group.”
“It’s not that we don’t want you there it’s just that I really wanted to talk to Mina and the other guys just came and then we just didn’t think to invite you. That doesn’t really sound much better.”
Bakugou sat up letting one of his legs fall off the bed and bending the other one so he could fiddle with his pant leg. “It’s fine you’ve just been acting kind of different lately and I don’t know I thought… I don’t know what I thought.”
Kirishima stood up from the chair and made his way over to sink slowly down onto Bakugou's bed. He took a moment to collect himself before he started talking.
"I like someone and I really want to tell them but I don't know how."
It came out in a rush and Bakugou felt his heart drop at the admission. He figured, they had been spending more time together and he wasn’t completely oblivious. He just didn’t know why he felt the need to keep it from him unless Kirishima knew about Bakugou’s crush and didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Kirishima, it seemed, could not keep eye contact as his gaze darted toward Bakugou and then away to focus on something else in the room. Bakugou swallowed harshly as he felt his throat constrict and looked away from Kirishima to stare at his hands. It was quiet for a minute until Kirishima finally looked back at Bakugou.
“Dude, I know you don’t really do emotions well, but I thought I’d get something more than radio silence.” Kirishima’s face looked hesitant as he laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.
Bakugou finally looked up as he cleared his throat. “Shut up, I was just trying to think of something to say.”
Kirishima’s smile widened. “Good to know I haven’t scared you off, but you don’t have to say anything, I just really needed to get that off my chest.”
“Don’t worry about it. We are friends... after all, you don’t have to keep stuff like that from me.” Bakugou turned away again as he felt his neck heat. “I could always help you practice if that would make you feel better.” The words were out of his mouth before he thought about the consequences. He heard Kirishima’s sharp intake of breath.
“Bro, that would be awesome, I just don’t even know how to start.”
Bakugou took a deep breath, this was going to be rough. “ I think you should be direct and just get straight to the point. Just look them in the eyes and tell them how you feel.”
Kirishima seemed to think for a moment then twisted and pulled his leg up onto the bed so it was bent in front of him mirroring Bakugou’s own posture, facing Bakugou directly. “I like you.”
Bakugou felt his chest constrict knowing it wasn’t meant for him. “Good, good, that was good.”
Kirishima took a deep breath and looked directly into Bakugou’s eyes, “I like you.”
Bakugou felt his face heat more then punched Kirishima’s shoulder, “See that wasn’t so hard, now you just have to do it with the person you like.”
Kirishima drooped. “Aha, yeah, thanks Blasty. I umm… I have to go.”
Before Bakugou could respond Kirishima had grabbed his stuff and bolted out the door. Bakugou heard the door to the next dorm open and close quickly then threw himself back on the bed. He wanted to scream into his pillow in frustration but the walls were too thin and Kirishima would for sure be able to hear him. He couldn’t believe he just did that, what an idiot. Help him practice! Help him practice so he could confess to the person he liked that was obviously not Bakugou. Bakugou shoved the pillow against his face and let out a groan of frustration anyway.
The rest of the weekend went by normally, though Kirishima still seemed awkward around Bakugou probably embarrassed by their exchange on Saturday.
They studied again after classes on Monday, much closer to their normal studying sessions with Kirishima complaining and Bakugou answering questions. When they were both done they talked for a while. Bakugou was still laughing at something that Kirishima had said when he noticed Kirishima looking at him.
“I like you,” Kirishima blurted. It seemed to come out on its own Kirishima looked just as surprised as Bakugou was sure his face did.
Bakugou brushed it off, he must just be practicing, he did say he would help him. “That was good, I think you should just tell them.”
Kirishima’s lips pressed together, exhaling a laugh through his nose. “Yeah, I guess I should, huh.” Kirishima stood up then, gathering his things. “I should probably go, but I’ll see you at dinner, yeah?”
Bakugou nodded then watched as he left the room. Bakugou released the breath he had been holding, he was not going to be able to take this if it continued much longer. It was not helping him get over his feelings at all.
At dinner, Kirishima sat next to Bakugou as usual and his table-mates joked around over his head like normal, but Mina kept glancing at Kirishima and him like she was waiting for something. Denki and Kirishima left together to go play some video game, then Sero stood up placing his hand on Mina’s arm as they had a silent conversation before he left to follow the other two. As he was about to get up to leave Mina cleared her throat. He settled back down and looked at her, trying to keep any resentment out of his gaze, “What?”
Mina chewed at her lip a little, “ You’ve just been quieter than usual. I know we’re not super close but I just thought if something was bothering you maybe I could help.” Her shoulders raised a little as she spoke.
Bakugou was surprised by the question. “I…” He paused for a moment, then rolled his eyes, “It’s nothing that concerns you.” He saw her shoulders drop but ignored the slight hurt on her face as he got up and left the room.
The next day, in class, Bakugou’s attention was worse. He couldn’t concentrate on what any of the teachers were saying and he had nearly been caught staring by Kirishima on several different occasions. When class was finally over Kirishima came over and leaned on Bakugou’s desk as he put away his things.
“We’re sparring later, right?”
Bakugou smiled, “Yeah.” Then Kirishima pushed off his desk smiling as he left the room.
Someone cleared their throat beside him and he looked over to see Midoriya standing there with a questioning look on his face. Bakugou only frowned and shook his head. Midoriya nodded then left the room without saying anything else. Bakugou finished packing up his things and headed toward the dorms so he could meet up with Kirishima to head toward the training rooms.
Once Bakugou had gathered what he needed from his room he walked over to Kirishima’s room and knocked on the door. He heard Kirishima call one minute from inside, so he leaned against the wall next to his door until he was ready. When Kirishima finally came out Bakugou's breath caught in his throat. Instead of his normal spiked hairdo his hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the back of his head.
Kirishima smiled at him, “I was hoping we could just work on hand-to-hand, I’m kinda wiped from quirk practice this morning.”
Bakugou swallowed dumbly then nodded and motioned for them to head to the training rooms. They chatted about school and training on the way. Bakugou kept trying to steal glances from the corner of his eye but Kirishima seemed to catch him every time so Bakugou looked away quickly.
They were tied four to four and both of them were laying on the ground, panting, when they decided to call it a night. Kirishima’s hair had come loose from the tie and kept falling into his face. As they walked back Bakugou had to force himself not to tuck Kirishima’s hair out of his face. It was a quiet walk as they were both tired from the extra training they did. When they made it back to their dorms they turned to look at eachother.
Kirishima spoke first, “Good spar today, I feel like I’ve improved a lot with your help.”
Bakugou scoffed, “You’re the one that put all the extra work in, I was there for support, but you did that on your own.”
Kirishima’s eyes sparkled as he held back a grin. Then he took a deep breath as he schooled his face into a look of determination. “Bakugou, I like you.”
Bakugou nearly crumpled with how much he wanted the confession to be for him but he couldn’t even let himself have a sliver of hope. Kirishima looked nervous at whatever Bakugou’s face was showing so he decided enough was enough.
“Look Kirishima, You’re going to have to tell the person you like at some point, Just practising isn’t going to help your case. I know I said I would help you but you can’t just keep avoiding it. You can’t just keep confessing to me as some stand in. You can’t… I can’t…” Bakugou felt himself bolt into his room before anything else could come out. He slammed the door shut and clutched at the fabric of his shirt on his chest as he held down the sob that wanted to burst out. He knew that Kirishima probably knew about his crush now with how he reacted, but it hurt every time and he couldn’t handle another fake confession. Bakugou crumpled onto his bed as he let the tears fall silently.
Bakugou didn’t come down for dinner and he knew his friends would be worried about him. He just hoped Kirishima wouldn’t tell the others about his outburst. He avoided Kirishima like the plague the next day even going so far as to sit with Midoriya during mealtimes. He glanced over at his normal table a few times and saw Kirishima pushing food around his plate. He hadn’t even bothered to put his hair up that morning, all of it just hanging down around his face.His other friends kept looking between them with concerned expressions.
He made plans to spar with Midoriya after class, hoping that he could let off steam and take him up on his offer. After sparring for about half an hour. Bakugou sat down on the bench to catch his breath and grab a drink of water. Midoriya sat down next to him.
“Okay, I know you’re not good at starting conversations but obviously things have gotten worse. Talk” Midoriya ordered.
Bakugou looked up at him, sending him a thankful expression before telling him everything. From not being invited to hang out to the confessions on three separate occasions as well as his outburst the night before that had led to the frosty treatment today. Midoriya was quiet for a while then finally said quietly, “I know you’re upset, but maybe you’re misunderstanding something?”
Bakugou laughed without humor. “It seems pretty obvious to me. They’ve been spending more time alone together and he’s stopped his normal touching probably because it bothers her. And then I said I would help him confess to her and I just…” He trailed off after that.
“Bakugou, what if Kirishima doesn’t like Mina and was just going to her for advice as his oldest friend?” Bakugou screwed up his face in confusion but Midoriya held up a scarred hand for him to wait. “Mina is dating Sero.” Bakugou seemed more confused after that. Midoriya just gave him a few seconds then, “Didn’t he say your name when he was” Midoriiya held up air quotes, “‘practice confessing” last night.”
Bakugou went through a whole range of emotion as he processed this new information. His mouth opened and closed like a fish a few times before he actually made any sound come out. “I have to go, I think.” He stood up hastily and jogged toward the door. Right as he grabbed the handle he turned back toward Midoriya. “Thanks, just, thank you.” He saw Midoriya nodding and smiling at him as he started to jog back to the dorms again.
He had no idea what he was going to do. He just knew that he had to talk to Kirishima. He hoped he would figure out something to say on his jog to the dorms, but all he could think was please be in the dorms. Before he knew it he found himself standing outside Kirishima’s down panting from running up the stairs and still wearing his training clothes. Before he could second guess himself he knocked on the door three times leaving his fist against the door the last time. He heard some shuffling from inside then, “Who is it?”
Bakugou swallowed thickly, “It’s me,” he managed between pants.
It was quiet for a moment he couldn’t even hear any movement from inside, then a quiet, “go away.”
Bakugou pressed his forehead next to his fist against the door. “Kirishima, please.”
Silence.
“Please, Eijirou.” Bakugou’s voice was barely above a whisper. The only way he could have heard it was if he was right on the other side of the door. Bakugou waited for another minute then stepped back and let his hand fall to his side. Just as he was about to walk back toward his own dorm room he heard the latch click on Kirishima’s door. He turned back toward the door. He was sure his face looked terrified, he still didn’t know what he was going to say. The door slowly swung open to reveal Kirishima wearing a sweatshirt, was that his? And his hair up in a ponytail again. Kirishima was flushed but his expression cold and expectant waiting for Bakugou to say something.
They both just stood there waiting for Bakugou to say something, anything at this point, come on. Bakugou shook his head then took a steadying breath.
“I like you.”
Kirishima froze. “Then what the fuck was all that then!”
“I thought that you and Mina…” He couldn’t even bring himself to say it. “You started spending more time together and you stopped acting affectionate toward me and I figured it was for her. Then you told me you liked someone and I helped you practice, so I thought you were still just practicing…” He trailed off waiting for Kirishima to say something.
His expression was bewildered. “Mina is dating Sero.”
“Yeah, I know that now, Deku told me.”
Kirishima looked away then, “Admittedly it was stupid of me to accept the practice offer from you, but I didn’t think you were that dense. I mean I did it on three separate occasions and I said your name the last time. I figured you wanted me to stop because it made you uncomfortable.”
Bakugou laughed then. “Can we not do this in the hallway?”
Kirishima blushed then moved to the side, gesturing for Bakugou to come into his room. As soon as the door clicked shut they turned toward each other. Bakugou hesitated for a moment then raised his hand to brush the hair that had fallen from Kirishima’s ponytail behind his ear then slowly moved his hand behind his neck to bring him forward. Their lips pressed together for just a moment before Bakugou pulled back. Kirishima was trying and failing to hold back his grin. Then Bakugou gently placed their foreheads together as he whispered again, “I like you.”
Kirishima's smile widened even further almost splitting his face as he whispered back. “I like you, too.” Then his arms looped around Bakugou’s back as he pulled him forward for another kiss, this one deepened, Bakugou’s hands clasping at the small of Kirishima’s back to pull him in closer.
They showed up to breakfast the next morning holding hands. They walked over to their usual table and sat down. Immediately Mina stood up to reach over the table to flick both their foreheads, then she paused and flicked Bakugou’s forehead again. “That was for being rude to me when I was trying to help you,” she pointed at Bakugou. “And next time you have marital issues keep me out of it.” Bakugou balked but Kirishima just laughed. Then Mina sat back down in her chair with a proud smile on her face.
Sero held up a fist next to her. As she bumped it with her own he stage whispered, “Nice one, Babe.”