Chapter Text
It’s been almost a month since their paths collided, and neither one was prepared for the spiral out of control that followed. They talk everyday, whenever possible, about anything they can, neither one of them willing to end the conversation. When there’s a lull in texts, Kirishima will ask an absurd question like “how tall do you think the tallest lizard is?”, and Bakugou will respond with an insult lacking a threat behind it, and an extremely opinionated answer. This tends to lead to arguments over what constitutes a lizard, how tall is “tall”, and both of them smiling at their phones while the people around them shake their heads in wonder.
Kirishima has finally broken the habit of checking his phone before getting ready for the day, because if he does he knows it’ll be at least another two hours before he manages to pull himself away. He’s woken up at a decent hour considering his sleep schedule, it’s 11AM, and by now he knows that Bakugou is awake and at the gym either training or teaching a class.
He walks to the bathroom, rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn. He looks at himself in the mirror and feels the familiar tar-like substance he knows as fear overtaking his body. The sludge rises, sticking to every surface it touches, incapacitating him. He sees all of his imperfections like they’re painted neon, the scar above his right eyebrow, his asymmetrical face, his lack of a jawline, his chapped and bleeding lips from the abuse they endure by his relentless chewing.
He wonders what Bakugou will think of him. He doesn’t feel good enough to even appreciate his company, the other man is so unique and different, he feels like they’re worlds apart. He doesn’t deserve to be his friend.
Which is why he’s trying his hardest to stamp down the flowers budding in his chest and capture the butterflies in his stomach, it’s never going to happen and he needs to protect himself. But the flowers just keep growing, blooming despite his efforts, roots gripping his very being, the butterflies coming back with a vengeance as if they had something to prove, and maybe they do. He’ll just continue to destroy the flowers and chase away the butterflies, even though he wishes he didn’t have to.
He washes his face a little too roughly, scraping at the skin angrily, and goes about his daily routine to get ready, he has a stream later today and he wants to hang out with his roommates beforehand. He takes one last look at himself in the mirror, frowning and shaking his head as he walks away.
He walks downstairs to the sound of chatter in the kitchen, his upset expression being replaced with a small smile as he hears the familiar bickering of his best friends.
“I fucking TOLD you to put the milk back in the fridge, you ASSWIPE.”
“Well I’m SORRY THAT I SLEEP EAT, I CAN’T HELP IT! SOMETIMES A DUDE JUST GOTTA CHUG SOME MILK WHILE HE’S SLEEPING.”
Mina gives an angry huff, throwing her hands in the air, “One of these days you’re going to wake up and your eyebrows are going to be gone. Because I shaved them off. Because I hate you.” She emphasizes her point by poking his chest.
Kaminari gives her a pout and turns away with his arms crossed, smiling when he sees Kirishima standing in the doorway, “Bro-kun! What’s good!”
“We literally live together, why do you ask me this every time I see you?” Kirishima responds.
“I just wanna know what’s good with my bro!” Kaminari says, squinting his eyes and pouting, “Because I LOVE YOU and I CARE ABOUT YOU.”
Kirishima sighs and walks to the pantry, “I know, love you too bro.”
Kaminari gives a satisfactory grin and grabs a cheese stick from the fridge, scampering to his room before Mina can tell him that it’s not a real breakfast.
Mina stares at Kirishima with her eyes narrowed while he walks to get a bowl and spoon for his cereal, waiting until he notices and quirks an eyebrow at her to say something.
She shifts from her position leaning against the counter and walks up to Kirishima, putting her face directly in his. He blinks confusedly while she looks directly into his eyes, searching for something. She eventually relents, and pulls him into a fierce hug, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. The bowl clatters to the counter as he feels something snap inside his chest, his arms instinctively falling around Mina’s back, clutching her tightly.
He feels the tears well up in his eyes and desperately tries to fight them back. Mina quietly says in his ear, “I know that look, and your face looks raw from scrubbing it. I know something’s wrong. You don’t have to talk about it now, but I want you to know that I will always love you no matter what.”
She feels him nod, and she slowly releases him. She kisses his nose and lazily sashays into the living room, grabbing her cup of coffee on the way.
Kirishima takes a deep breath and locks all of those thoughts away, he doesn’t have time for them today. He pours himself a bowl of cereal and sits down at the table, finally checking his phone.
10:12PM - Bakugou : just so you know, paperback books are so much more efficient than hardcover books and i stand by that.
10:13PM - Bakugou : aight goodnight also i hate you for fucking up my sleep schedule
8:03AM - Bakugou : i have been awake for 30 minutes and im already about to decapitate my mom
Kirishima snickers, he’s used to hearing about the epic battles between Bakugou and his mom, but they never stop amusing him.
11:21AM - Kirishima : hardcover books are so sexy to hold tho!!!
11:21AM - Kirishima : also u could never hate me im too cute
11:21AM - Kirishima : what’d ur mom do spill the tea sis
11:22AM - Bakugou : if you say spill the tea one more time i will never tell you anything ever again
An empty threat.
11:22AM - Bakugou : she unplugged my fucking computer for god knows what reason and i lost all my progress on a project im working on
11:23AM - Kirishima : d e s t r o y h e r
11:23AM - Kirishima : seriously tho she should know to not just unplug a damn computer without asking first
11:24AM - Kirishima : schupid
11:24AM - Bakugou : agreed. just not with that spelling.
11:24AM - Kirishima : i spell it how i want
11:25AM - Bakugou : oh trust me i’ve noticed
11:25AM - Kirishima : :((
They spend the next hour texting back and forth, Kirishima’s cereal long forgotten and too soggy to eat. Bakugou has to leave to teach a class, and Mina has been bugging Kirishima saying that she needs his “broad shoulders and tiny waist” for her sewing project.
Once he says goodbye to the other man, Mina excitedly drags him out of the kitchen and into the living room where they move the coffee table to have more space. He stands still and lets Mina move him as needed while she takes his measurements.
“Damn son, you gained another inch on your shoulders since last time, what’s your workout routine?”
Kirishima laughs, “Lots of weights. Lots.”
Mina pouts and whines, “But I hate weights! I wish working out were easy and I didn’t have to do anything to be hot.”
Kirishima nods in agreement. He eyes her cautiously as she drapes too many neon colored fabrics around him, pinning, marking, and making notes as she goes. She cuts out the pieces and double checks them against her model, rushing away to her room to sew them together. Kirishima stares after her for a second, then sits down on the couch to watch TV while he waits for Mina to inevitably need him again.
He settles in and mindlessly watches whatever’s on the first channel he saw when Kaminari enters the room unbeknownst to him. He shrieks when Kaminari pounces on him from behind the couch, ending with an elbow to the gut and the other man sprawled on top of him.
They hear Mina yell at them from the other room, “DO I NEED TO CALL AN AMBULANCE?”
“NO!” They call back in unison.
“What’s up dude?” Kirishima asks.
“I’m BORED. Help meeeee…”
Kirishima scoffs. “You’re such a baby, you know that?”
Kaminari nods while grinning, knowing that Kirishima will do anything for him.
Kirishima grabs a deck of cards from the coffee table and sets up a game for them to play. They decide on egyptian rat screw* and play that until they get bored. They can both get pretty heated about the game, earning quite a few “SHUT THE FUCK UP”s from the other room.
Mina emerges from her room a while later, dragging Kirishima away from the cards, getting a yelp from him and a glare from Kaminari. She waves her hands at him and frowns, signalling she needs him to take off his clothes to try her prototypes on. He rolls his eyes and strips down to his shark underwear, sticking his tongue out at Kaminari when he wolf-whistles at him.
She throws the pieces at him, letting him fumble his way through putting them on, eventually stepping in to help him figure out what parts go where. Once he has everything on, she steps back, scrutinizing him. She spins him around and takes a few notes, pinning and marking again for alterations. She makes him strip once more so she can make the finished pieces and add final touches.
Kirishima looks at Kaminari. “Should I even bother putting on my clothes? I don’t know when she’ll be back.”
Kaminari rubs his chin aggressively and starts making overly sexual faces at Kirishima, “Ahaha, keep it off baby.” He winks at the end, and Kirishima calmly walks over to him.
“Stand up.”
“Why…?”
“Just do it.”
Kaminari stands, and the second he does, Kirishima grabs him and judo flips him back onto the floor. He laughs with a pained look in his eyes, “Kirishima… whyyy…”
“We’ve been over this. If you’re gonna act like a fuckboy you’re gonna get treated like one.”
Mina pokes her head into the living room. “Is everything good?”
“Yeah. Kami was just being gross.”
“Did you flip him?”
“Yep.”
“Good.”
Kaminari pouts on the floor as Mina runs back off to her sewing lair. Kirishima lifts Kaminari onto the couch and turns the TV back on while they wait for Mina to finish. Kirishima decides against putting his clothes back on and instead hides under a blanket.
Kirishima finds himself being rudely awoken a few hours later by Mina smacking his chest, and blearily lifts his head from its place in Kaminari’s lap.
“Wake up asshole, I need you. I think everything’s done.”
Kirishima nods and moves to get up, wincing when his knees crack. Mina struggles to pull him up, giving him the clothes to try on as well as some instructions for how to put them on. He shuffles to the bathroom to use the mirror to make sure he’s putting everything on the correct way. Once he has everything on, he looks at the outfit and is pleasantly surprised.
He steps out of the bathroom, Mina whirls around and squeals when she sees him. “Oh my GOD you look so fucking HOT!!”
She shoos him to the living room to show Kaminari, who’s curiously peeking over the back of the couch.
“Damn, son. Didn’t know you could work something like that but god you do it so well.”
Mina wipes away fake tears, “My baby model boy!”
Kirishima blushes and looks down at his feet. Mina demands to take some pictures, pushing him outside to take advantage of the natural light. As awkward as it may feel, Kirishima enjoys modeling for her. She takes way too many pictures, and when she shows them to him he’s taken aback.
The soft lime green tank top stopped mid-ribcage, showing off his toned stomach. The outrageous hot pink hoodie, cropped so short you could see the scoop of the tank top’s neckline underneath, draped gracefully off his shoulders, sleeves long enough to cover part of his palm. The electric blue cargo pants were cinched around his waist by a darker blue belt, the excess dangling off to the side, making his legs look even longer. The colors seemed garish together at first, but when Mina added the accents and her special touch, everything just worked.
Mina gasps, dropping her camera but Kirishima manages to catch it before it hits the pavement. She tears the strap off from around her neck and shoves the camera into Kirishima’s arms, “I’ll be right back I totally forgot something!!”
Kirishima shakes his head, wondering what she’ll come up with next, and scrolls through the rest of the pictures. “Damn. These are pretty good.”
He gets lost in scrutinizing the pictures and trying to think of ways to make his poses more eye-catching when Mina busts out the front door, a pair of black stilettos in hand.
“No. Absolutely not.”
She snatches the camera from him and forces the heels into his hands with an evil grin on her face, “You don’t have a choice! Plus they’ll look so good on you, just do it.”
Kirishima lets out a frustrated breath, “Fine. But you owe me one. Also, why do you have these in my size?”
Mina smiled brightly, “Oh sweetie, I’ve had this in mind for a long time.”
Kirishima huffs in response.
He manages to put them on and stand up, Mina having to help him along the way. He wobbles his way to the sidewalk. “How the fuck am I supposed to walk in these Mina???”
She giggles and shrugs at him, “I dont know, it just came naturally to me! Now strike a pose.”
“Of course it did,” Kirishima grumbled, trying to make the best of the situation and give her some good pictures. This went on for another 20 minutes or so, until the alarm on Kirishima’s phone went off.
“Shit.”
“What?”
“I have to get ready for the stream.”
“Already? It’s only..” She checked her phone, “Oh shit’s it’s 4 already. Damn. Alright we can do some more pictures another day, I’ll probably tweak the pieces a bit. Don’t think I won’t make you wear those shoes again, they make your ass look great.”
Kirishima laughed, “Yeah? Prove it.” He motions for her to bring the camera to him so he can see.
“See for yourself.” She hands the camera to him, crossing her arms and grinning smugly at him.
Shit. The heels were a pain in the ass to wear but god damn did they make his ass look nice.
“Mina. What have you done?”
“What? You don’t like it?”
“No, I love it, how do people wear these torture devices all the time?”
“Sweetie, none of our clothing is comfortable.”
He nods at that, grabbing her arm to steady himself so he could take his shoes off and heads back inside and up to his room.
“So did you end up liking the clothes?” She looks up at him, eagerly waiting for his answer.
“Mina you always outdo yourself. They look great.”
She looks pleased with herself, leaving Kirishima to get ready for his stream, making sure he doesn’t forget to give the clothes back to her once he’s changed.
He spends the next hour or so listening to music and preparing himself for the stream, putting on his makeup and clothes and taking some time for himself to sit and relax. He wouldn’t call it meditation, just something that he does to help him feel more like himself and to get prepared for the anxiety of being on camera.
Eventually 5PM rolls around and Kirishima starts his stream. He taps his fingers on his desk, waiting for people to show up. Today is supposed to be a relaxing day in minecraft, occasionally taking chaotic suggestions from chat if he likes them. He sees a familiar name pop up in chat, and he feels a sweet warmth bloom in his chest.
“Deku! What’s up my dude?”
Stan_Dadmight : nothing much! just doing starving artist tingz aha you know how it is >.<
“Yeah, it’s a rough life for artists out there. I may have a commission for you if you’re interested?
Stan_Dadmight : ofc!!!! i would love to <3
“Aight dude I’ll send you a message about it later. How’s your mom been? Things going all right with your friends too?”
Stan_Dadmight : shes good! she’s been taking over the community garden a bit aha, i’ve had to tell her to tone it down or else other people will get upset.
“Dude you gotta tell her to chill out with the herbs, she’s never gonna use them all.”
Stan_Dadmight : my childhood friend has been,,,, suspicious lately…
“Suspicious, eh? What kind of suspicious? Good or bad?”
Stan_Dadmight : good? i think? im p sure he’s not on drugs so that’s a plus
Stan_Dadmight : he’s just been kinda clammy about his life recently and he may or may not have met someone
Stan_Dadmight : i kinda stole his phone and peeked and he’s been talking to this person like nonstop
Stan_Dadmight : don’t tell him tho bc he will literally end my existence
“Aw! Good for him! I love to hear when people find someone. Shit’s cute as hell. Speaking of, have you found anyone that catches your eye?” He wiggles his eyebrows at the camera.
Stan_Dadmight : uh
Stan_Dadmight : what makes you ask that
Kirishima deadpans, “Deku. I can hear you blushing through the screen.”
Stan_Dadmight : heck off!!!
Stan_Dadmight : i may or may not have met someone he’s really cute and nice and aaaaaaaa
Stan_Dadmight : he makes my little tiny fragile sappy boy heart hurt ;~;
Stan_Dadmight : he’s too FUCKING PRETTY
Kirishima laughs, “Deku : the duality of man. UWU I’m such a baby,,,,, god HES FUCKING HOT I WANT HIM TO RUIN MY LIFE.”
Stan_Dadmight : that’s not what i said!!!!!!
Stan_Dadmight : ur not wrong tho
“I know I’m not,” he says, winking.
Stan_Dadmight : i hate boys >:(
Stan_Dadmight : they’re so DIFFICULT
“Fucking WORM. I never know what to do around him.”
Stan_Dadmight : especially this one !!!!! he doesn’t!!! know!! i!! exist!!!
Stan_Dadmight : i wanna dive into a dumpster and set it on fire with me still in it!!!
“Damn Deku, you’ve got it bad.”
Stan_Dadmight : i know ;~;
“Well, why don’t you make him notice you?”
Stan_Dadmight : h o w
“Uh. hm. Good question. New clothes? I could get Mina to hook you up. She’s an absolute legend with this kinda stuff.”
Stan_Dadmight : mina???? THE mina**?????? bro im shaking
Kirishima laughs, “Of course dude, she’d love to! I’ve told her about you and she already loves you.
Stan_Dadmight : im? crying??
“Anything for a homie!”
Stan_Dadmight : hold your fucking horses. “him”??? you have found a boy???????
Stan_Dadmight : why did i not know sooner.
Stan_Dadmight : i’m devastated
Kirishima blushes a deep red, shaking his head furiously and covering his cheeks with his hands, “No! It’s not like that! I don’t even think he likes me,” he giggles nervously, “He’s just a good friend is all. Crushes go away, I’ll be fine.”
Stan_Dadmight : if you say so
Stan_Dadmight : i still demand deets in the future >:(
“You’ll be one of the first to know if anything happens. Mina and Kaminari will probably beat it out of me first.”
Stan_Dadmight : valid
Deku and Kirishima continue talking while more and more people filter into the chat, and Kirishima begins playing.
He invites some of the long-time fans to join a server with him, Deku being one of them, and they decide to have a competition to see who can build the best dog, with a poll in chat to determine the winner. Kirishima ends up making a Clifford-esque dog, giant, red, and fluffy, Deku makes an angry pomeranian because it reminds him of one of his friends, and the other two people in the server make a golden retriever and a cat. The cat wins.
While he’s dicking around in the server with the other people he feels his phone vibrate multiple times. He checks the caller ID, assuming it’s one of his roommates because they’re the only ones who would call him, yelping and dropping his phone like it burned him when he sees that it’s Bakugou.
He’s in full blown gay panic mode. He hears Deku’s soft voice through his headphones, “Sunny? Is everything okay?”
“He called me.”
“Who?”
“Him.”
“Him? OH, OH MY GOD HIM.”
“Fuck, what do I do?”
“You should text him to see what he wants.”
Chat is having a field day at the moment, all speculating about what this could mean. Who is this mysterious him they’re both talking about? Is Sunny dating someone? Is he a mafia boss***? Is he being hunted by a hitman? The theories are endless.
Kirishima laughs nervously, “For reasons better left undisclosed, I’m going to be ending the stream early tonight.”
The chat is filled with “aw”’s
“Hey hey, don’t be sad, we’ll pick up where we left off tomorrow, okay? Think of some stuff for us to do and I’ll pick a couple ideas. How’s that?
The chat agrees, and sends their goodbyes.
“Thank you guys!! I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m going to go sit in my closet and set myself on fire. Bye!”
He ends the stream.
7:03PM - Bakugou : shit. ignore that.
7:04PM - Kirishima : you sure? everything good?
7:04PM - Bakugou : yeah.
7:04PM - Kirishima : uh
7:05PM - Kirishima : do you still wanna call?
7:05PM - Bakugou : really?
7:06PM - Kirishima : we dont have to if you don’t wanna
7:06PM - Bakugou : no
Kirishima isn’t quite sure whether the “no” was “no” as in “no i don’t want to call you” or “no” as in “no I do want to call you”. He freezes when his phone vibrates again, his question answered as the caller ID shows Bakugou’s name.
He takes a deep breath, and picks up the phone.