Chapter Text
Katsuki wakes up the next morning feeling strangely peaceful. When he looks at the clock it is a quarter to eight; a bit later than he would normally sleep on a Saturday. In about half an hour Kirishima will come and knock on his door so they can head down and eat breakfast together. That thought motivates Kasuki to drag himself out of his comfortable bed, trying not to think about the night before as he gets ready.
The time he spent with Todoroki was interesting, to say the least. When Todoroki first left, Katsuki didn’t know if he had actually gained anything from the experience. Katsuki will begrudgingly admit that it had felt good, and the way he and Todoroki had both started to drift off was proof of how comfortable they’d felt. However, there was nothing that proved Katsuki’s issues had been solved. That was until he’d been in Kirishima’s bed later that night, when Katsuki had found himself in the comfort of Kirishima’s personal space. They’d… cuddled? Was that the right word? At the very least, they leaned into each other for the duration of the movie. It felt nice. Really nice. And Katsuki hadn’t been tense or embarrassed about it like he probably would have been had he not been doing the same thing with Todoroki an hour before.
So he’d texted Todoroki and told him he wanted to keep going. Now what that actually meant, Katsuki had no clue, but he figured that Todoroki may have some ideas considering how much the boy seemed to yearn for touch.
He’s pulling a shirt over his head when he hears a knock on his door. He grabs his phone, keys, and a pair of earbuds before opening the door and stepping out. Kirishima is there, smiling softly at him.
“Good morning Bakugou!” Katsuki gives a small smile in return and looks the other boy up and down. Kirishima’s fashion choices have only barely improved over the years. It seems the cargo shorts are here to stay, but at least Katsuki had been able to convince him that crocs were not appropriate for all occasions.
“Six out of ten,” Katsuki says as he begins to walk away, feeling nothing but pure delight at Kirishima sputtering behind him.
“What? Why? I even color-coordinated!” He spouts defensively as he juts his foot out. Katsuki looks down at the black vans and then looks up at Kirishima’s pullover which is red with black kanji on it.
“Sure,” is what Katsuki responds with as they step into the elevator. Kirishima just sighs.
“I think one of these days you’re just gonna have to dress me yourself,” and for some reason, Katsuki finds himself enjoying that idea. Maybe a bit too much.
“Whatever,” he shakes his head and looks forward, “I don’t understand how your hero costume looks so good when your fashion sense is atrocious.” He steps out of the elevator as soon as the doors open.
“You think I look good in my hero costume?” Kirishima asks as he catches up to him. Katsuki chokes.
“That is not what I said,” his cheeks burn, but Kirishima wears a shit-eating grin.
“Nope, I think that’s exactly what you said. It’s what I heard at least,” he walks ahead with a skip in his step. God, this boy.
“You’re so full of shit,” Katsuki shakes his head turning into the kitchen. “That’s the real reason I call you shitty hair.” He starts taking out the pans he needs to make their breakfast.
“Ah so you like my hair,” Kirishima sits on a stool at the island. Katsuki should have known. He sighs.
“Your hair is shitty, your fashion choices are shitty and you’re full of shit most of the time.”
“But you love me anyway,” Katsuki ignores the way his heart stutters and just lets out a “tch” as he continues to cook.
This is a routine that Katsuki has grown to love. Waking up and waiting for Kirishima’s knock on his door. Making breakfast for the two of them. The back-and-forth teasing. It’s simple, but Katsuki looks forward to it every day. He finishes their food and takes both plates to the dining area, Kirishima follows. He watches Kirishima devour the food without restraint. Katsuki has barely taken two bites when Kirishima looks up at him, mouth full.
“This is so good,” he says with cheeks puffed out. Katsuki hates that he doesn’t find it gross in the slightest.
“‘Course it is,” Katsuki responds nonchalantly like the praise doesn’t give his brain tingles, “I made it.”
“Exactly,” Kirishima finishes the last bite of his food, and Katsuki wonders what he means. “So, what do you want to do today?” Kirishima lays his head on the table and looks up at him. Katsuki ponders as he finishes his meal. He shrugs.
“I’m running out of a few things I need to cook, so I need to go to the store soon if you want to go out today. I figured we could spar later if you were up for it.” He phrases it in a way so Kirishima knows he can turn him down, though Katsuki would probably have a breakdown if he did.
“Sounds good,” he nods, “I want to stop by the mall and look for some new workout gear. My tops are getting a little worn out.” And oh, Katsuki knows. Katsuki was the one who pointed out last week that maybe Kirishima should buy some new tanks because half of the ones he has have holes in them. Kirishima had just stripped off the shirt and continued his workout shirtless, Katsuki had to face the other direction the rest of the time.
“Maybe we can stop and get lunch while we’re out, then come back here and get ready to head to the training gym,” Kirishima snaps Katsuki out of his thoughts.
“Yeah,” he says, sounding a little rough, “sounds good.”
Katsuki prepares for the mall like he's preparing for battle. Not really, of course, he leaves his gauntlets at home. Though sometimes he wishes he could have a valid reason for bringing them. The mall is quite actually a hellscape for Katsuki. It’s loud, crowded, and random people constantly trying to get his attention to scam him out of $200. That’s not even mentioning all the children that will be present on a Saturday morning. So, Katsuki makes sure that he’s prepared for every possible scenario, just short of an actual fight (and really, he’s always prepared for all of those).
He has earbuds that he can put in to avoid speaking to salespeople. He doesn’t usually listen to anything, but they are helpful for when he wants to scroll through his phone while Kirishima tries on clothes.
He packs an umbrella and a poncho because the mall is a liminal space with almost no windows to the outside, so there is almost no way of knowing that the weather has turned and it's now pouring outside and you have to get to the bus station without any protection carrying all of Kirishima’s bags. Surprisingly that one has happened more than once.
Ibuprofen is a given, between screaming children and Kirishima’s inevitable detour into Bath and Body Works Katsuki never leaves without a headache. He brings a water bottle, his keys, hand sanitizer, and sunglasses.
He brings both cash and his card because in the event he actually does end up wanting something, he doesn’t want to hunt down an ATM or walk away because some stupid stand that had this bracelet would have gone really well with Kirishima’s eyes doesn’t take cash.
It’s safe to say, that after almost 3 years of trips to the mall with Kirishima, Katsuki knows how to get through it. He hasn’t discovered a way to get Kirishima from trying to stop in every store they pass, but putting a limit on their time at the mall usually does the trick.
Katsuki finishes packing his bag around ten and heads over to Kirishima’s dorm. He doesn’t bother knocking, he just walks in as Kirishima is pulling a small zip-up bag over his chest. It’s one he got on their last trip to the mall a couple of months ago.
“Hey! I just finished getting ready. I have a bag all prepared just like you.” He smiles wide, excitedly. Katsuki struggles to not smile back and instead gives him a a look.
“What’s in your bag?” Kirishima’s smile drops to a pout.
“Only important things!” He unzips the bag that's across his chest and starts pulling things out. “Of course, I have my phone and keys, but I also grabbed chapstick. The mango one is for me, the cherry one is for you, oh, and an extra one I found on the floor for whatever, I think it's vanilla. I have a protein bar just in case we get snacky on the train and oh! I have just a ton of loose change for any vending machines we come across. Or! One of the wish fountains, because there are two that we always pass when we’re there. Um, there’s also some gum and a fidget spinner, and this little figurine that I had you know just because.” Katsuki watches as Kirishima pulls out all these items and places them on his desk, he holds out the small figurine for Katsuki to look at. It’s a bear flexing, Katsuki thinks Denki got it for him last year. Kirishima pulls out a few more times.
“Then I have pepper spray, a bottle of hot sauce for you, and oh another chapstick apparently. I don’t remember putting that in there,” he frowns a bit, “but yeah that was all I could fit.” Katsuki stares at him for a second.
“Where’s your wallet?” He watches Kirishima’s face drop.
“Damn.” Kirhsima looks at the things in his hands and on his desk wistfully. Katsuki rolls his eyes.
“You only need one chapstick, so leave the other three. We just ate and will be eating lunch after the mall so leave the protein bar too. You’re literally a rock you don’t need pepper spray. Put the change in your wallet, where it should have been in the first place. Leave the fidget spinner.” Kirishima dutifully repacks his bag the way Katsuki instructs and everything fits.
“Hell yeah!” He zips up the bag and looks at Katsuki, smiling once again.
“Yeah yeah, let’s go I want to get done at the mall before one,” Katsuki shakes his head and turns around to walk out of the room.
“Yes sir,” Kirishima jogs to catch up to him as they approach the elevator.
When they enter it's quiet for a few moments before Kirishima speaks again.
“You didn’t tell me to leave the hot sauce,” there’s a smile in his voice and Katsuki just looks at the elevator doors and elbows him in the side, smirking at the noise he makes.
The mall is just as crowded as Katsuki expected it to be, but he still scrunches his nose in displeasure. Kirishima stops at his side.
“Woah,” he looks out into the crowd, then turns to Katsuki with an apologetic smile.
“It’s fine, we’ll only be here a couple hours max, remember I made a reservation for lunch at one, so we’ll have to be done here before then,” Katsuki gives Kirishima a stern look. A solidified schedule means less likely detours. Kirishima is well aware of this tactic, so he looks back at Katsuki just as seriously.
“Aye aye, captain!” He salutes, then giggles when Katsuki rolls his eyes. Katsuki grabs him by the shirt and starts dragging him to the first store.
Over the last few years at UA, Katsuki has gotten used to the way Kirishima operates. That’s why he makes sure to take him to get his new workout gear first. For one, it’s the reason they’re here in the first place, so Katsuki makes sure that they get it over with. Another reason is that he doesn’t have any particular preferences when it comes to what he wears to the gym and to spar in. It’s a quick in and out of the store, leaving them plenty of time to explore anything else. Katsuki tries to understand what’s so appealing about wandering around stores that they’ve already been in a hundred times but he fails to see the point. Kirishima tells him that it’s not like they go every day, so there’s bound to be new things to find. Katsuki knows what he wants and prefers to shop online. Kirishima tells him “but what if you find something you didn’t know you wanted”. Katsuki simply responds that if he didn’t know he wanted it then it must not be that important. Kirishima huffs and shakes his head. Or that’s how the conversation always goes.
Today, though, Katsuki skips the complaining and bickering. He is content with following Kirishima around and listening to him babble about the things he finds. It clearly concerns Kirishima a bit at first, when he says something along the lines of, “I know I always go in here but…” and Katsuki just says it's fine, that they have the time. The way Kirishima’s eyes go a little wide in disbelief is funny to Katsuki, and he lets a small smile come across his face, which only makes Kirishima’s brows raise higher. Katsuki just shoves him into the store and tells him to go look.
Katsuki himself is a bit confused about his seemingly good mood, but upon further reflection, he realizes that he’s still feeling that sense of peacefulness from last night. How strange is it that an hour or so of touching could… unlock something in him? He turns and sees Kirishima approaches him with his arms full of clothes.
“So, I know we’re on a journey to like, revamp my style, so I figured I could pick out something, and then you could tell me if they are good or not, and then I can try them on.” Kirishima holds out the stack of clothes to Katsuki. He ignores the part of him that’s pleased with the way Kirishima seeks his approval about how he should dress and instead starts flipping through the stack.
Most of what he has is pretty good, he’s been getting better at recognizing what will fit with what he owns already. There’s a pair of pants and a sweater that Katsuki takes a moment to stare at. They aren’t ugly, by any means, but he’s not sure that they fit with the style they’ve begun to curate for Kirishima.
“Oh!” The boy says, causing Katsuki to look up at him (and truly he means up , this close Katsuki really hates the growth spurt Kirishima hit this past summer, it’s only a few inches but it's enough). “I picked those out for you, they reminded me of you so I thought maybe you’d want to try them on. I think you’d look good.” He smiles before, “I mean like, that they’d look good on you, you know? Ha, um yeah.” Kirishima flushes a bit, Katsuki coughs and looks back down at the clothes. He pulls out a few pieces, including the sweater and pants.
“The rest are good, go try them on,” he nods to the back of the store. Kirishima hesitates.
“Are you…” he trails off, looking down at the two items of clothing Katsuki has in his right hand.
“Yes, I’m going to try them on,” Kirishima beams at him, “I was just going to put these,” he raises the clothes in his left hand, “atrocious picks back where you go them from first.” Kirishima scoffs.
“They aren’t that bad, you can’t trick me. I’m getting good at this, you only took two things from me this time,” he smiles smugly, turning away to walk to the dressing rooms. Katsuki huffs a laugh but follows, putting things away as he sees them.
When they get into the dressing rooms, there’s only one open. Kirishima turns to him.
“You should try yours on first, since you only have a few,” he looks down sheepishly at the pile in his hands. Katsuki nods silently as he pulls back the curtain and steps in. He sees Kirishima take a seat at a bench across from the room, then pulls the curtain shut and hangs up what he has.
The pants are definitely something he would wear. They’re baggy and black, and they have white stitching details. They’re cargos, so they have pockets down the sides. When he looks back at the top he realizes that they’re high-waisted, something he doesn’t usually wear. He remembers Kirishimas’s “I think you’d look good” and finds his face heating up. He pulls them off the hanger to try them on first.
Katsuki’s pleasantly surprised to find that the pants fit almost perfectly, they’re a little loose around his waist, but they fit his hips and ass well. He tries not to think too hard about Kirishima spotting the pants and thinking of him, then searching through the rack to find the right size, and getting it perfect. No, Katsuki doesn't think about that at all. Instead, he tucks in his shirt and pulls back the curtain to show Kirishima.
Said boy looks up from his phone with a smile and it only widens when he sees Katsuki wearing the pants. He looks strangely proud as he pumps his fist.
“I knew it! You like them!”
“I haven’t even said anything yet,” Katsuki points out.
“Exactly,” Kirishima responds, “If you hated them you would have come out of there bitching about how terrible my taste is. Or you would have refused to put them on in the first place. The fact that you put them on, tucked your shirt in, and showed them to me means I win!” He bangs his fists together in victory. Katsuki rolls his eyes.
“You win,” he states blandly, “at what exactly?”
“At knowing you better than anyone, obviously,” Kirishima says in an earnest tone. It makes Katsuki come up short and unable to respond. Kirishima doesn’t seem phased about anything he's just said it like it was a normal thing to say. Like he was confident in its truth. Katsuki pulls the curtain closed with unnecessary aggression, ignoring the way Kirishima cackles.
He looks back in the mirror and curses how good the pants look on him. There’s no denying it, Kirishima knows him best.
He turns to check out the sweater Kirishima had picked out. It’s a simple dark red knit sweater, with no special designs or anything like that. He slips it on over his t-shirt and is shocked to find that it's a little bit big on him, with the sleeves stopping right at his fingertips, and the bottom hem of it reaching the top of his thighs. It’s really comfortable, he likes how it has a little bit of weight to it. How Kirishima can get his pant size right but pick up a sweater that's too big, Katsuki doesn’t know, but he shrugs it off and pulls open the curtain once again.
Kirishima’s reaction this time is a bit different. When he looks up there is no smug smile or bragging about picking out something that Katsuki likes, instead, Kirishima stares at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. Katsuki looks down at the sweater.
“What? Does it look bad?” He frowns to himself, he didn’t think it did. Sure it was different from what he usually wore, and the color was definitely closer to something Kirishima would have in his closet, but Katsuki actually kinda likes it.
“N-no,” Kirishima waves his hands frantically, “You- it looks good. On you. It looks good on you. I was just…” he pauses, “I was just surprised, it’s not really something you’d normally wear.” Kirishima rubs the back of his neck, “But it does. Look good that is,” he clarifies. Katsuki holds up his hand and rubs the fabric of the sleeves between his fingers. It’s not too soft, but it's not rough either. The material is, of course, heavier than a normal shirt would be, but it's not extremely thick, so he could probably wear it year-round if he wanted.
“I like it,” Katsuki says softly, “feels nice.” He looks back to Kirishima who is still sporting a slightly wide-eyed expression that Katsuki can’t fully read. “I think maybe I should get a smaller size though.” He scoffs and swings his arms a bit, demonstrating the length of the sleeves.
“No!” Kirishima shouts, startling Katsuki. “I mean just- it looks good oversized. A-and if you like how it feels now, then getting it any smaller will probably change how it feels, right?” Kirishima seems eager to have him keep the size he has. He turns back to look in the mirror.
There’s no doubt that it’s too big, but it’s not overtly so. It kind of just seems like… well it seems like he’s stolen someone else's sweater for himself. He takes note of the color again. Oh , he thinks to himself. He looks at Kirishima, taking in the flustered expression and the blush on his cheeks. Katsuki nods, mostly to himself, and then says,
“I’ll get it,” before closing the curtain once more to change back into his original clothes.
Here’s the thing, Katsuki isn’t stupid. He’s aware of this thing between him and Kirishima. He couldn’t tell you for sure exactly what it is, or even how it happened or how it’ll turn out, but he does know one thing for sure: they continue to toe the line between being best friends and something more, and he thinks that Kirishima is waiting on him. Katsuki thinks he’s waiting on himself too. It’s part of the reason why the stuff with Todoroki is important right now, he doesn’t want to keep Kirishima waiting. So for now, he’ll internalize the fact that Kirishima picked out a sweater for him because it’ll look like he stole it from Kirishima when he wears it, and maybe when they get back to the dorms he’ll find something of Kirishima’s to really borrow, just so he can see the boy blush and stutter again.
He and Kirishima switch spots once he exits the dressing room. Kirishima has quite a few more things to try on so Katsuki gets himself settled to be there for a minute. He plugs in his headphones and debates turning on music, before deciding against it for the moment. Instead, he resigns himself to watching the people near the dressing rooms. There’s a mother standing impatiently tapping her foot, telling her child to hurry up. At the end of the row of rooms, Katsuki spots a girl looking around for a moment before all but sprinting out of the store. It’s clear that she stole something , but Katuski just turns away. He may be a hero in training but he doesn’t feel particularly motivated to run after some tween stealing a t-shirt from a multimillion-dollar company.
His eyes catch on a boy sitting on a bench a few feet away from him. The curtain in front of the boy is pulled back and another boy steps out, wearing slacks and a button-up. The boy on the bench stands up and smiles wide, he instructs the other to spin around, and makes an appreciative noise when he complies. The one in the button-up snorts and hits the other boy in the chest, but the boy catches his hand and holds it, pulling him in for a short kiss. Katsuki should look away, but he’s caught up in their intimate moment. They stay close and speak softly to each other, the boy who was trying on clothes sporting a visible blush. For a moment their expressions get more serious, and the one in the button-up becomes concerned, but the other boy reaches up and cups his face, soothing any worries. They smile again, and the one boy is shoved back into the dressing room with a pat on the ass, which makes Katsuki finally turn away.
They didn’t let go of each others hands during the entire interaction.
Kirishima whips open the curtain to the dressing room, startling Katsuki out of his thoughts. Katsuki looks him up and down, judging the outfit he’s put together. He scans all the way down to his shoes and then looks back up to Kirishima’s face. The other boy is biting his lip, waiting for Katsuki’s judgment.
“Pretty decent shitty hair,” Katsuki nods, and Kirishima’s face lights up.
Kirishima tries on a few more outfits, all of which meet Katsuki’s standards before they head to check out. Kirishima insists on paying for the pants and sweater he picked out for Katsuki. He puts up a good fight, but unfortunately, no one can get Kirishima’s stubborn ass to budge once he’s set his mind on something, not even Katsuki.
Soon enough they make their way out of the store, and they make use of the half an hour they have left to stop at a store that sells comics and figurines. Katsuki picks up a few manga volumes and comic issues he has been looking for while Kirishima eyes the figurines in the hero section. He’s staring particularly hard at a two-foot-tall Crimson Riot figure when Katsuki walks over.
“If I won the lottery, I wouldn’t tell anyone, but there would be signs,” Kirishima sighs dreamily. Katsuki just snorts and drags him out of the store.
They make it to their lunch reservation on time and don’t speak a single word to each other while they eat. Katsuki realized a while ago that although they spend almost every day together, meal times are the one time when neither of them can be bothered to say anything. It’s weird, in a way, to know that as soon as they leave they will go right back to talking the entire way home, but for now they just scroll on their phones and scarf down their food in silence.
When they’re done Katsuki looks up the nearest grocery store, and they pop in so he can grab a few things he needs for dinner tonight, while Kirishima browses the snack aisle. He runs up to Katsuki while he’s picking out an onion and shows him some new chip flavor he found that he wants to try. Katsuki doesn't think spicy queso chips sound appealing at all, but he lets Kirishima put them in the basket anyway. They pay for their few things and then head to the bus station.
The bus is crowded when they get on, and Katsuki is both surprised and annoyed by all of the bodies taking up the seats. He pauses for a moment after he walks up the bus steps but is ushered along with a gentle hand on his lower back that makes him jump, whip his head around, and glare at Kirishima, who raises his hands in defense and smiles.
“Sorry, let me pass you and I’ll try and find somewhere to stand where we aren’t touching anyone.”
Katsuki lets him pass and Kirishima grabs the sleeve of his jacket and pulls him along toward the back of the bus where there was one lone unoccupied seat. Kirishima guides Katsuki to sit, and stands in front of him, back to the rest of the crowd. Katsuki’s heart trips over itself multiple times during the experience. He looks up at Kirishima who’s scanning the people around them. The bus starts to move, and the man sitting next to Katsuki slides towards him, but Kirishima places one of their shopping bags in the gap between them before they can touch. Katsuki swallows. Kirishima steadies himself on the bar above Katsuki’s head. Katsuki thinks he's gaping a little, but when Kirishima looks down and smiles at him, he shuts his mouth and looks away quickly. He huffs. Fuck Kirishima and his kindness and consideration and sunny disposition.
Fortunately, the bus ride isn’t too long, and they make it back to UA before 4. They walk through campus in companionable silence, and part ways at their dorms. They reserved the training grounds for sparring at 5, so Katsuki has a little less than an hour to put everything he got away, decompress from the outing, and get ready.
He’d put away the groceries downstairs, and Kirishima had lingered so they could head up to their rooms together. It’s always the little things like that that have Katsuki’s stomach turning in ways that make him want to get violent. He’s glad they’d already planned to spar otherwise Katsuki would be dragging Kirishima to a training room to pummel him for making him feel like a lovesick schoolgirl all day. With that thought he changes his clothes and is pounding on Kirishima’s door in less than a minute.
“Let’s go Shitty Hair!” It’s only 4:30, but Katsuki is getting antsy. He’s still pounding on the door when Kirishima opens it, and it makes him stumble forward, hitting the other boy in the chest. Kirishima makes an awful noise at the hit, and Katsuki’s eyes go wide. But then Kirishima starts to laugh and rub the spot where Katsuki hit him.
“Starting already huh?” Kirishima shakes his head, “I was getting dressed, we still have 30 minutes until our time, what’s got you so worked up?” He grabs his bag and winds an arm around Katsuki’s shoulders dragging them to the elevator.
“Nothing!” He elbows Kirishima in the ribs and dislodges his arm. “I’m just ready to kick your ass,” Katsuki smirks. He’s not expecting Kirishima to be smirking back when he looks at him.
“We’ll see,” is all the redhead says as he pushes the elevator button, leaving Katsuki flustered and more worked up than before. He hits Kirishima again. Just because.
An hour later, Katsuki and Kirishima are both laid out on the ground of the training gym, breathing heavily.
“I won,” Katsuki breathes out. Kirishima laughs.
“No you didn’t,” he says simply. No, he didn’t.
“Well neither did you,” Katsuki says while sitting up. He rests his arms on his knees and puts his head between them. Most of their sparring matches are even nowadays, but this one was particularly brutal. Every time Katsuki thought he had Kirishima, the other boy found a way around him, and there were multiple moments where Katsuki was sure he was going to lose. Kirishima groans loudly from his side. Katsuki turns his head and watches him stand. He reaches out a hand to Katsuki, and Katsuki doesn’t hesitate to take it. He gets to his feet and it takes him a moment for him to be able to stand without swaying.
“Great match bro! Maybe next time one of us will win,” Kirishima laughs.
“Damn right, I will,” he looks at Kirishima, staring for a moment at his smile and the sweat dripping down his face. All at once Katsuki becomes aware that they’re still holding hands and he jerks his hand away. Kirishima’s smile drops for a second, and Katsuki’s heart twists. He opens his mouth to say something, anything to make Kirishima’s hurt expression go away, but before Katsuki can get a sound out Kirishima laughs and shakes his head.
“C’mon, after all that I’m starved,” Kirishima turns and walks away. Katsuki stares at him for a moment, frustration bubbling beneath his skin. He sighs and jogs to catch up to the other boy and they walk to the locker room together.
It’s while Katsuki is cooking their dinner that he gets the time to reflect. The day had been good, great even. Spending time with Kirishima is so easy, that it’s almost the same as if Katsuki were alone. Of course, Katsuki probably wouldn’t have gone to half the places they did if he hadn’t had Kirishima at his side, but hanging out with Kirishima is different than any other form of socializing. Even with the other dorks—Sero, Mina, and Denki—Katsuki can only be around them for an extended period of time if there are a few days of rest in between, and for everyone else, his tolerance is even shorter. But he spends quite literally every day with Kirishima and doesn’t think he could get tired of it.
But Kirishima certainly could. He could get tired of Katsuki’s mixed signals. The way he always wants to be around him, is always doing things for him, but pulls away at the smallest touch. Katsuki knows that soon enough Kirishima’s patience with him will wear thin, and he doesn’t know what he’ll do when that day comes. The couple he saw at the mall today made it look so easy. He hates that he can’t do something as simple as holding Kirishima’s hand without wanting to peel his skin off.
“Are you okay?” A voice comes from his right. He looks up from what he’s cooking to find Todoroki staring at him with the fridge standing wide open.
“Close the fucking fridge half-ass,” he grumbles.
“Oh,” the dumbass says, grabbing a drink before closing the door. “Your face distracted me.”
“Hah?!” Katsuki looks at the boy incredulously. Who does this guy think he is?
“You were cooking your food really aggressively, and your face was all,” Todoroki brings his eyebrows together and purses his lips. Honestly, it’s the most expressive Katsuki has ever seen him, but the fact that he’s supposedly imitating Katsuki makes it more annoying than surprising.
“I did not look like that,” he huffs, turning off the stove and grabbing two plates from the cabinet.
“Hm. Either way, you didn’t answer my question. Are you okay?” Todoroki sits himself at one of the stools at the island, watching Katsuki plate his dishes.
“Why do you care?” He scoops rice onto each plate.
“We’re friends,” Todoroki says simply as he drinks from a juice box.
“No, we’re fucking not,” Katsuki doesn’t even have it in him to yell, the other boy has been trying to claim that they’re friends for years now. Katsuki refuses to give in.
“You fell asleep on my shoulder last night, I think that makes us friends,” he slurps his juice. Katsuki whips his head up and drops the spoon he was using into a pot of sauce.
“Don’t-” he starts to yell, but stops, looks around, and continues at a lower tone, “don’t go around saying shit like that out loud.” He carefully fetches the spoon out of the pot and finishes pouring it on top of his and Kirishima’s dinners. He looks at the plates proudly, then glares at Todoroki.
“Also you fell asleep on me first,” he whispers.
“Mm,” Todoroki agrees, “see? Friendship.” Katsuki just groans and grabs the two plates to take to the dining area where Kirishima is waiting. As he passes Todoroki he stops. No matter how annoying the boy may be, Katsuki needs his help.
“When are you free?” He sighs. Todoroki looks at him confused.
“For what?” he tilts his head. Katsuki just stares at him until his eyes widen as he comprehends. “Oh, um, Tuesday night I’m free, I was supposed to get dinner with Fuyumi but she’s been having a busy week so we rescheduled, and I don’t think I have anything planned for Wednesday evening, that’s normally when I set time aside to catch up on homework or read manga, so I’m not going to be expected anywhere for a few hours.”
Katsuki ponders the information in coordination with his and Kirishima’s schedules.
“Tuesday won’t work, I have to tutor the idiots, but Wednesdays are when Kirishima goes to the gym with that class B extra, so that would work. I’ll come to your room at 4.” he nods to himself before walking away, avoiding any further conversation.
When he sets the plate down in front of Kirishima, the boy immediately stops his conversation with Tokoyami and looks down.
“Oh man this looks heavenly Bakugou,” he smiles widely at Katsuki, “thank you so much!” The boy is so earnest it hurts Katsuki’s soul.
“Course it does,” Katsuki says gruffly. He sits down and starts to dig in. He hears joyous moans from across the table.
“Seriously Baku, you’re so good to me,” Katsuki barely avoids choking at Kirishima’s words, he looks at him, “What would I do without you?” Kirishima’s expression is soft, and if any of the girls were around they’d probably describe it as lovestruck, he continues to stare as Kirishima happily devours his meal. Katsuki doesn’t want to make Kirishima wait on him, but maybe he can speed things up with Todoroki’s help.