Chapter Text
Bakugou didn’t really like much. He disliked a lot, though. There were things that he liked, but that didn’t necessarily mean he wanted them.
He wanted to be the best fucking Pro Hero, he’d known for his entire life. There was a long time where he wanted to beat Deku to a fucking pulp, but it’d turned into more of a “beat him at everything he does” thing. And, he didn’t want to be disrupted in his plans to become the best.
What he hated though, was a list of plenty. He hated Deku, cheesy pop songs, any perfume, kids, fucking glue, jeans, and lyers. Additionally, he loathed fake bitches, nagging, librarians, and anyone who used the word “literally” more than once.. His list grew with every time he went anywhere, or did basically anything.
In grade school, teachers always did that dumb fucking thing where they asked icebreaker questions like “what’s your favorite color?” or “what’s your favorite food?”. Those questions weren’t a matter of like, just a preference of sorts, in Bakugou’s mind. But if someone up front, asked him what he liked, well, he just told them to fuck off. He didn’t need anyone knowing his weaknesses and shit.
Oh, don’t get him fucking started on the “who do you like?” grade school game bullshit.
But, after entering UA for a short time, Bakugou knew there were three things he liked: mountain climbing, spicy food (in general), and beating Deku. Or that’s what he convinced himself of.
Subconsciously, he knew there were actually 4 things he liked. The fourth being some dumbass red haired shark named Kirishima Eijirou. ...but it wasn’t like he was gonna admit that to himself- meaning he was gonna live in d e n i a l.
Kirishima was some idiot who never knew when to stop. He always pulled Bakugou into the dumbest shit, forcing him to “participate” and “be friendly”. Bearing his signature grin, he reached out, yanking Bakugou forward into the all too busy world, chattering his ear off whilst simultaneously teaching him what compassion was. Like he didn’t already know, the idiot.
Katsuki liked to say he never knew when to stop, but that was a lie: for some miraculous reason, Kirishima knew when it was too much, and backed off a bit, giving Bakugou his beloved space. Although begrudgingly, he would step back from Bakugou with a small frown, pulling his hands away and allowing Bakugou to just exist, alone. He thanked Kirishima for that, but of course, privately.
And yet, the next day, Kirishima would beam at him, pat him on the back, and shove him back into the normal, unrelenting in his own “manly” fucking way. Maybe Katsuki didn’t mind the physical contact, rather craved it from him. Maybe he looked forward to seeing those blinding smiles, and maybe he cherished the time he spent with his sharp toothed friend.
Maybe he was in way too fucking deep, but it wasn’t like he was going to acknowledge it. Fuck feelings.
Yeah, feelings were fucking dumb, he tried to convince himself of, while angstily going through his morning routine on one hot ass morning with his earbuds crammed into his ears. A thick bass motivated him to keep on getting dressed, with quiet instrumentals chiming in occasionally with loose rhythm.
Yes, he fucking listened to lo-fi hip hop, because he didn’t need heavy metal at 8 in the goddamn morning to fuck him in the ass. He was tired enough as it was, fuck.
Staring down at his feet, he concentrated solely on sliding his stupid ass uniform over his chest, until his phone obnoxiously buzzed in his uniform pant pocket, reminding him that he had a stupid ass “social life”. Ignoring the small desire to just throw the thing off the balcony, he groaned, and pulled it out, to watch the screen light up at a text.
A text from a particular redhead. G o d d a m n i t .
Now, why the fuck did his heart splutter like he was on goddamned cocaine, he didn’t know. Why he felt flushed all of a sudden, and hot, making him tug on his collar; he just blamed it on the heat, too soggy in the morning. Not on Kirishima’s oddly positive morning personality.
Despite himself, he unlocked his phone to read the text.
Shitty Hair: Hey bro!!!!! Ready to have fun today? (muscle emoji)
God, he was way too optimistic. And what the fuck did he mean by fun? Fuck, he couldn’t stop from letting the blush invade his weak ass cheeks for some reason. The idiot was making him embarrassed, or something. Whatever.
He frowned while typing a quick response, then slid the phone back in his pocket with emphasis. He didn’t need to respond back quickly or some shit once Kirishima replied again. It wasn’t like he cared.
Bakugou: No wtf
No yeah, he definitely didn’t care. In fact, he was Bakugou Katsuki, goddamnit! He didn’t care about much, and that wasn’t gonna fucking change because of some-
And his phone went off. Clenching his hands deeper in his pockets, he ignored the buzzing sensation and kept on focusing on wrapping his tie around his neck.
Wait a fucking minute, he never wore his tie!!!
Around 2 songs later, and an absence of his tie, he finally answered, quickly again, to almost laugh out loud at the idiot’s reply.
Shitty Hair: Come on man!!! It’s the game day thing today!!
Shitty Hair: Aren’t you excited to kick some “extra” ass?!
“Extra ass”? God, he was so stupid, for fuck’s sake. Did Kirishima not realize how stupid he sounded? Bakugou knew the answer, but honestly it wasn’t a fault of Kirishima’s character. But he was right; that shitty game day thing was gonna go on. Apparently, there was this thing where a few of UA’s departments did a game off thing using their quirks. It was dumb, and unproductive (although it would solidify that Bakugou was better than them), but a lotta idiots looked forward to it. Why? He had no clue. Probably because they didn’t value the actual hero teachings, and would rather play dumbass games.
Bakugou: No
He didn’t read Kirishima’s reply until much later. But by then, it was too late. He’d ruined everything.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kaminari stood on top of his desk, making a horn with his hands, “IT IS GAME DAY, MY DUDES.” He shouted, closing his eyes to scream with full force. Kirishima ignored Iida’s shouts of disapproval before climbing onto his own desk, joining in with his bro, “HELL YEAH, IT’S GAME DAY!”
Below them, Sero was laughing his ass off, clutching onto his chest, “They’re like those hardcore gamers or something, oh man…”
Game day was like a gift from the UA gods. Basically a day off in school’s regard. A much deserved day off, in Kirishima’s opinion. He couldn’t wait to use his quirk in some fun games- it was gonna be the highlight of his week!
Unfortunately though, for some people, excitement wasn’t as abundant. He eyed Bakugou, who sitting in his own little world, wore his signature grumpy frown. He needed hype, damnit!
Kirishima turned to Kaminari, sincerity in his eyes, “You continue spreading the good news, bro.” The blonde, still shouting about the glorious day, nodded back, “Of course, my brother.” And continued to gracefully place a hand on his chest, “I will always broadcast God’s work.”
Kirishima hopped down only to find Jirou, shaking her head at Kaminari’s determined preaching, “God’s work? You mean you alerting everyone about the lazy day where you can use your quirk once then act like a dumbass and sit out?” She made one of her earphone jacks swivel up and hit Kaminari in the side of the head, leaving him sputtering.
“Jirou! That hurts!”
“Good.”
His bro’s relationship with Jirou was about the weirdest yet most practical Kirishima had ever witnessed. Kaminari liked to pretend to be a playboy, but in reality, Kiri was pretty sure Kaminari liked Jirou. And Kirishima sucked at figuring out who people liked. He just always asked questions about her, and mentioned her existence a whole lot. But he wasn’t gonna interrogate his bro about that, and decided to give him space. They were under a lotta pressure enough as it was.
As much as he could laugh about his friend’s crushes, they didn’t compare to his own. His, really dumb, but also really great crush on Bakugou was a complex one, and something that didn’t just happen because he thought Bakugou was hot or something.
...although Bakugou definitely was hot, that wasn’t just it!
He, genuinely, really liked him, as silly as it sounded sometimes. It was the way he did things, how he always fought with tenacity, spoke his mind about things, held his head up even in so much shit, and never, never ever gave up. It was how at night, his face flourished in the shadows, how he muttered the smallest, but most effective of compliments, and how even though he really shouldn’t, he told Kirishima that he was strong, and unbreakable.
It wasn’t like after all of that, Kirishima could not be in deep for him. Well actually, according to people like Ashido and Kaminari, there really was no reason for him to like Bakugou other than his appearance. But they were just protective friends, who didn’t get to witness this “soft katsuki” as he called him, where he loosened up in the late, hazy hours of the night, turning off his security measures to just be open for a bit. In front of Eijirou, in those vague moments, he was raw.
So yeah, he was screwed, because Bakugou wasn’t the type of guy to like anybody, according to Midoriya. And he especially, wasn’t the kind of guy to probably care about anything romantic at all and...Kirishima knew he had no chance. Plus, they had to focus on being heroes right? And Bakugou wasn’t gonna put any of that aside for a guy like Kirishima. But Eijirou still liked him, really liked him, so he decided to keep his feelings in check, but not shut them down.
Approaching grumpy Bakugou with a warm smile, he greeted him, “Hey dude!”
Unmoving, Bakugou just stared into the wall, face resting in his hands. He did that a lot, as Kirishima, and anybody could really observe about him. It was almost like his style or something, he concluded, similar as being manly was Kirishima’s.
“Ah, I know you’re not excited, but I bet it’s gonna be fun today!”
“Fuck off already.”
“Man, do you have to be this rude?”
Bakugou then turned to blink at him, defiance in his every cell. But something was a bit off, maybe it was how little lines nipped at the corner of his eyes, or maybe it was how his eyebrows weren’t as lowly hung as normal. Kirishima frowned; he had to fix his bro.
“Bakubro? What’s up? You okay?”
Hand slamming into the table due to gravity, Bakugou’s eyes darted up, filled with loathing, “Yeah, of fucking COURSE I’m okay! Fucking fantastic!”
From across the room, Iida spoke up, “Bakugou, you must stop swearing!”
Yamomo joined in with him, looking down in distaste, “It is disrespectful…”
Kirishima stepped back, wearily glancing at his bro. Yeah, something was really up, but it must’ve been recent, since his texts were normal. Maybe he ran into Deku or something?
Bakugou melted into his desk with a sigh, massaging his temples with force,
“Look- some dumbass ran into me last night, right as I was gonna get back to UA- kept muttering they were sorry and some shit, then recognized me as “crazy explosion dude” and kept fucking apologizing with this nasty ass voice. Then knocked into me so hard I dropped my goddamned book bad, so while they “helped” me pick it up with jerky hands, I’m tryina concentrate,make sure I got everything, before they push shit into my bag and pull me up, the bitch? Me? Need help?! And so then I finally get back into the fucking dorm parameters, and what do you fucking know?! I lost my favorite fucking pen. Shithead probably stole it, the stalker.”
Favorite...pen? Kirishima had studied a bunch with him...but a favorite pen?! He never would’ve guessed, holy shit! He couldn’t prevent the giggle that escaped him, and in a last ditch effort he tried to cover his mouth.
Death was inevitable, huh.
Bakugou froze, slowly looking up at Kirishima with anger in his eyes, “Why are you laughing?” He asked, solidifying the fact that a Non-Swearing Bakugou was much scarier than the swearing one.
But Kiri couldn’t stop himself, and gasped, “Man I just...favorite pen?! Is that why you didn’t walk with us this morning!? Cuz you lost it??”
Wait, Kirishima’s brain bent over backwards, zoning back on the time Bakugou made him steal the library’s pen because he’d forgot his own. He’d always wondered why Bakugou didn’t lend him one...holy shit...
“Oh my god, that’s why you wouldn’t let me use your pen!”
Blush overcame Bakugou’s face, stunning Kirishima into an abrupt silence. What a rare sight! But inevitably, Bakugou yanked Kirishima up close to him, forcing Kirishima to dazzle at an HD version of his face, “Shut up, dumbass!”
There was a small break of quiet, until Bakugou released him before muttering something.
“...it’s an All Might pen.”
Oh man, Kirishima liked him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay, fine, maybe Game Day wasn’t 100% stupid. More like 99%.
Playing stupid gym games with quirks had always been a blast for Bakugou, but with UA students it was even more fucking fun.
All the classes were mingled together, as their teacher had fucking beat them over the head with, which also meant he didn’t remember all of their quirks. Except for a few, like the one psychopath’s, and the one kid who had mind fucked Deku first year. The rest were interchangeable to him, he convinced himself, right as some kid with some sort of water quirk splashed him in the face. By spitting. The f u c k e r.
Up against the general class, he was not intending on losing. Not one goddamned bit. Not especially in a game of capture the flag. He rocked that game’s fucking world.
“Bakugou right? Hope you don’t mind getting drenched!”
The guy actually spat in his face, and oh it was so on. Water, or whatever the hell he was spitting didn’t really have any effect on his quirk though, so he didn’t care. It just made him mad, the shit thought he could go against him . With a gross ass quirk?!
Protecting the jail, the saliva fucker stood firmly with a cocky ass grin, stopping him from getting further.
And of course, the two of his idiotic “friends” were inside that jail, none other than Zap Zone and Kirishima. And they were chattering, about something, muttering Bakugou’s name occasionally, and battering with tail guy about how to escape. Or maybe Kaminari was gossiping, the shithead. Jirou seemed to have gotten herself stuck in there too, probably as a part of spark plug’s schemes..
Another girl with a light based quirk stood behind the prison, not facing him but still annoying him nonetheless. She blinded tail man earlier, or something, god help his fucking eyes.
“Bakugou-san, you must go retrieve Kaminari and Kirishima! If you go over there, Ojirou and Shoji can try and sneak around the back and grab the flag! They’ll be focused on you!” Is what 3d printer girl had demanded him to, but he was gonna go anyways. Kirishima looked like a fucking puppy all held captured, the idiot. Was new to the game, or something.
Plus, he felt bad for Jirou having to put up with Kaminari in there. Even if they did act all weird around each other.
But it wasn’t like he was gonna kill the salivabender kid and take off with Kirishima in his arms, no, he was gonna distract the idiot to have them escape. Then, maybe he could go for the flag and win. They had to win their last game, or else he was gonna fucking combust and take everyone out with him.
Dodging the idiot’s stream of water-stuff, he grinned, bending down low to fire off his own stream of fire and smoke, “Die!”
He heard the guy gasp, bouncing backwards with slower reflexes than he expected. And he expected pretty low, heh. It was because he was another element(ish) based quirk user, who depended too heavily on range over close combat. Like Half-n-half, the moron. At least Icy-Hot was getting not as shit with his fire for close combat.
In retaliation, hose man sent out a powerful cylinder of spit directly into Bakugou’s face, and ah, that was i t.
“Thanks for burning my pants, you anger management therapy attendee!”
W h a t ?
Bakugou spun around, only to slam the fucker in the head with an explosion. It wasn’t even semi-powerful, or else he could’ve actually killed him. He was so weak to close range, it was hilarious. General studies his ass. The dude flew backwards, but not too much, before one of his dumb teammates grabbed him. Fuck, he didn’t really care. He just needed his own teammates to get the fuck out.
And so they did; Kaminari zapped the girl watching them after Kirishima brought a hardened arm up to cover her eyes. She screeched while swatting around, only for her arms to be knocked back by Jirou’s jacks. Then they joined Bakugou, running off besides him, cheering for their success.
“Thanks bro! And sorry for getting captured, dude used his brain washing thing!”
Looking next to him, Bakugou found Kirishima grinning like an idiot, face flushed and sweaty, but still somehow good, even while hauling ass outta there. He had a good face.
What the fuck.
“Don’t make me save your ass again.”
And then, the oh-so-confident Pikachu chimed in, smirk on his face, peeking over to meddle with Bakugou’s fucking existence.
“Is it at least a nice ass? Don’t you think so??”
No, he was NOT having any of that. And no, it’s not like he thought his ass was-AH!
Clearly, Hose Idiot’s saliva was in actuality some sort of poison that was fucking with Bakugou’s brain.
Before he could act out on Sparky, Jirou stabbed Kaminari in the side of the face, disapproving look wavering with worry, “Do you WANT to make him mad? Really?”
Ignoring their bickering, Bakugou turned away from their visible base, and back towards the enemy one. He didn’t see the tentacle arm dude or lion guy anywhere, so at least they weren’t making an issue. Good.
“Hey, wait! Bakugou!” Kirishima called out after him, like the clingy bastard he was. Why did he always insist on following him? Not like he wanted him to, or anything. That’d be weird.
He ran faster, wearing out the muscles in his legs, feeling them stretch like rubber bands, and bend like wire. It was an exhilarating feeling, one that let Bakugou knew he had an advantage. The harder he worked, the more sweat he produced- it was a win win. Kids around him noticed how he zoomed by, but he didn’t care. They could all go after him, and he’d still kick ass.
Until, out of nowhere, some girl with obnoxious makeup and light gold hair beamed at him with a fake ass smile, approaching his side with alarming speed. Throwing a blast out, he swung to the left, avoiding whatever the hell she was doing. But then, she was behind him, making him whip around to face her.
“Sorry! My friend likes doing things like that. Nice to meet you, Bakugou!”
Her right hand began to drift upwards, almost like she wanted a handshake. Bakugou’s brain glitched, what was happening?!
“Bakugou!!!” A distressed sounding Kirishima screamed, and yet, the girl just laughed.
And that was when she slapped him directly across the face.
Of course, his brain had to be all fucking cliche, so he fell to the ground, everything dissolving into blackness within an instant. Smacks weren’t supposed to be that powerful, were they?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No, Kirishima would have NEVER expected his bro, his MAIN bro to be knocked out by some girl with small hands and a bright grin on her face. She didn’t even look that strong, or like a threat!
Maybe it had to do with her quirk...but honestly he was just really mad she did that to him! Nobody knocked Bakugou out and got away with it! (he recalled the time Kaminari tried to nudge Bakugou in the shoulder, and ended up with a black eye)
“What did you do to him?!” He interrogated, arms raised up and hardened, ready to fight. She merely giggled, squeezing her eyes shut in response. That wasn’t a time to laugh, goddamnit!
He stepped forwards, maintaining his firm stance, “Oi, tell me!”
Opening her eyes, finally, she revealed bright blue tears brimming from her green eyes, voice turning more sour, “Well...he’s mad a lot, right? But trust me, he won’t be for a bit.”
Why the heck was she crying?! Kirishima had so many questions, but that wasn’t an answer for his main one! “What-“ He tried again, but was cut off by a choked sob.
“I made him happy. But the more resistant you are to happiness, the harder the effects. He probably couldn’t handle the change so quickly, so might be out for a bit. Sorry, please don’t hurt me.”
Made him...happy? Was that her quirk? Kirishima stepped back, much more cautious of whatever she did to his bro, and yet, he felt his anger die down a centimeter after watching her cry. Bakugou had to be okay though, and thankfully, Kaminari ran up behind him for backup.
“Dude! What the hell did she do to Bakugou?!” He yelped, jumping back after witnessing Bakugou, tucked in the grass, completely o u t.
Kirishima also backed up, trying to tell Kaminari his half-baked plan, “I think she has a mental quirk? I’ll handle him, but can you take care of the her while I do?” He really hoped he could get Bakugou away somehow, possibly drag him to the base and have him wake up.
“Alright, but if I die, you better confess to him! My death better not be meaningless!” Kaminari yelled into his ear, approaching the mood swing girl with his hands out, ready to electrocute not only the girl, but Kirishima’s brain.
Flushing, Kirishima inwardly cursed; shit, he had trusted Kaminari with his almost stupid secret, and was instantly regretting it. Plus, he said he wasn’t gonna confess, because they needed to focus on being heroes!
...even though Sero had pointed out that running away from his problems wasn’t the manly thing to do.
But that wasn’t the issue! He wasn’t...running away, persay, just, keeping distance! Yeah, keeping his distance so that Bakugou wouldn’t find out that he had gay feelings for him and shut him out forever. Just being careful, that was all!
Another yell resonated within him though; Kirishima focused back on the game and the K.O’d Bakugou, and bent over to attempt to scoop him up. That wouldn’t be so hard! He could do this!
Bakugou wasn’t heavy or anything, especially not for him (hell yeah, doing those extra curls this morning was so gonna pay off!), but he knew he couldn’t just drag him by the arms.
- Bakugou would hate him for that
- That was totally lame! And not quick enough!
What he ended up deciding on was carrying him on his back, and tried really hard not to think about how Bakugou was literally laying on him. No, nope, it wasn’t cute! He was in the middle of a war! A w a r !
He also avoided thinking about Bakugou’s future reaction to being carried by him...so yeah, maybe seeing the situation as a good thing wasn’t exactly realistic.
Todoroki gave him the weirdest look when he got back to their base, lugging Bakugou on his shoulders. First he looked concerned, horror tugging on his cheeks, and oh no, even Todoroki knew Bakugou was gonna kill him. But then, he almost nodded, any worry leaving his face to be replaced with a calm understanding. What was that?!
“He got knocked out by some girl’s quirk.” Kirishima explained, setting Bakugou down and having a sudden urge to hide himself from Todoroki’s strange gaze. It was the truth! He couldn’t have just left him there!
“Ah.” Is the simple response he received, and honestly the one he deserved. Todoroki wasn’t the kind of guy to go poking around in anyone’s business, which was something Kirishima suddenly found very manly.
Almost as a miracle, Shoji and Oijirou came back, with a small All Might flag in hand, all smiles and cheers. At least they won in the end?
Everyone on their team cheered; Kaminari jumped like he was in high school musical, Ojirou high fived Kaminari in return with his tail, Yaomomo made little MPV badges for Shoji and Ojiro, Sato flexed so hard Kirishima swore he reminded him of a boxer he liked, Sasihiro Okano, and Tsuyu let out a happy ribbit to express her own joy. Glancing back to the non responsive Bakugou, Kirishima wondered whether it was a real victory or not.
“Is he gonna be okay?” Shoji asked him, staring down at the unusually quiet Bakugou. He didn’t look concerned, only curious, really. No one expected Bakugou to really get hurt, Kirishima thought.
“I hope so…” he murmured, thoughts plagued with sudden worry, and regret. He should’ve saved him!
“We should take him to Recovery Girl then. You said he got hit by a mental quirk?” Todoroki chimed in, surprisingly, leaning into the conversation in as much of a casual way that he could muster.
He really was concerned; the more he stared at Bakugou, the worse he seemed to get. He was just so, limp, so emotionless that it was like he was looking at an empty vessel. And yet, he looked sort of peaceful, not all upset like that? It was...rare, in a way.
Then Kirishima realized that again, Todoroki was staring into his soul, or something, waiting for a response.
“Uh, yeah!” Kirishima managed to yell, his words much louder than intended.
Shoji nodded, “Okay, I’ll go alert the others. You better get a move on.” And left the three of them, sincere as ever. Todoroki just blinked, unmoving and unresponsive next to him.
“Are you sure you wanna help me man? I know you’re not on the best terms with Bakugou…”
“Do you want to be left alone with him?” Todoroki pitched, completely neutral while he said such a controversial thing!
Why did it sound so-?!
Kirishima felt his face ignite up, instantly defending himself without much thought, “N-no way! I just know you’re not the biggest fan of him, that’s all!” He clenched his fists up next to his hips, blushing wayyy to intensely for comfort. So unmanly!!
“I see.” Todoroki paused, looking down thoughtfully to slice through Kirishima’s flustered mood. He really was the definition of chill sometimes.
“I am not very educated about mental quirks, so I would like to find out what exactly he got hit by. I will tag along long enough to hear his diagnosis.” He quipped, looking back at Kirishima with a level of intellect and maturity that was very Todoroki branded. So sophisticated!
“Ah, I get that! That’s smart! I don’t know much about them either.” Kirishima let out a relieved laugh, of course Todoroki didn’t mean anything! He was just, smart!
But then, Todoroki once again, said something as Kirishima bent over to pick Bakugou up, something that had his brain jumbled, heart thumping out of shock and hope.
“Also, it’s clear that he likes you. I suggest you tell him how you feel before he combusts and gets somebody killed.”
No, he didn’t almost drop Bakugou in that moment, didn’t feel like he was the biggest idiot on the planet because literally everyone knew he liked him. It was more like...Bakugou liked him?!
Todoroki had already begun to walk away, towards the building, so Kirishima didn’t even get to ask his 1000 questions. “Todoroki, dude, wait up!” He yelled, swinging Bakugou over his shoulders as quickly, and yet as gently as he could. Maybe the day, after all, was some sort of unforseen victory.
Much later, he concluded that the day, in fact, was a huge victory.