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For as long as Katsuki can remember, his world has always been red. It is colored by the anger inside him that flares up to any sign of threat or insult. The fire running through his veins, waiting for the chance to explode out of him. His quirk accommodates it, but it’s only a small relief. His fuse is short, and these days his temper is constantly tested…
∞
Katsuki has been the best his entire life. He’s had the best quirk and the best grades. He’s had respect and admiration of everyone around him. He’s been self-assured and has never questioned his abilities. He’s always known that he is certain to achieve great things, to be the Number One Hero.
Until he got to UA.
Despite enrolling with the highest score in the entrance exams, he arrived to find that there were some people who could beat him and that someone who had always been beneath him was suddenly a threat. His peers don’t admire him, fear him, or believe he’s better than them. It turns out that Katsuki was a big fish in a little pond his entire life, and now he needs to work harder to maintain his status.
He’s still going to be the best. He won’t let anyone get in the way of that. Not some stupid half-and-half bastard or idiot Deku or a whole school full of extras who think they can be the best, too.
But today was the first time since school started that he’d been officially recognized as the best of his class. And it’s never felt shitty like it does now.
He walks home with a gold medal shoved in his pocket and a whole lot of fucking rage filling his body. No one even tried to talk to him as he stormed out of the classroom at the end of the day.
What is the point of first place if his opponent didn’t even put up a fight and made a fucking fool out of him in front of everyone? That asshole took Deku more seriously than he did Katsuki, and the world was watching. The recognition for winning is cheap and meaningless.
Congratu-fucking-lations .
Katsuki buries his hands in his pants pockets and walks with his head bowed between hunched shoulders on his way home.
“Hey, Bakugou,” a voice calls from behind him, “wait up!”
He chews the inside of his cheek and groans. Kirishima. That shitty-red-haired idiot who’s been hanging around him more since the USJ incident. He even had the guts to call himself a worthy teammate for Katsuki today. Admittedly, he’s one of a handful of classmates that Katsuki has deemed as alright even if he does talk a lot.
Katsuki doesn’t stop for him, but he does let out a huff as he slows enough for the other boy to catch up and match his pace. Kirishima bumps his shoulder as he does, and Katsuki growls. Kirishima acts like nothing happened and smiles, jumping right into his usual chatter.
“Dude, awesome match today, but you better watch out next year,” he says. “Because I’m not going to let you beat me a second time.”
“That so?” Katsuki grunts.
“Yeah, man. I had you on defense there for a while. I’m going to work hard for next time. You’re the guy to beat.”
Katsuki glares at the ground, and the weight of that piece-of-shit medal in his pocket feels like it’s dragging him down. “Why? Because I got some bullshit first place today after that fucking sham of a match?”
“Um, no?” Kirishima sounds confused, and Katsuki looks up to see the slight furrow in his brow. “Because you’re ridiculously strong, obviously? Dude, your moves today were so manly and powerful.” He emphasizes his statement by knocking his fists together and grinning. “I’m going to work on my quirk so it can take ’em next year!”
He says it with the same assuredness with which he said Katsuki was going to take the million points from Deku. Despite this whole bullshit day, Katsuki feels some of the tension in his shoulders easing. He snorts and shakes his head. “I’ll kill you next year too.”
Kirishima bumps his shoulder again, this time with the side of his hardened fist. “You’re on! Well, I go that way for the train station.” He points his thumb down the road to the right as they come to an intersection. “I’ll see you at school, dude. Hey! Be my sparring partner in our next training, alright? I gotta get some practice in. Bye!”
Caught up in the whirlwind that is Kirishima’s fast talking, Katsuki pauses at the corner to watch him go, until he’s mostly a blur of red hair and red backpack as he jogs away to catch his train. As Katsuki continues his way home, he is surprised to find that he’s looking forward to training with Kirishima. There’s just something about that nerd.
∞
Katsuki sees red when he feels the instinct to fight and to never back down. He sees it in every challenge. But he also sees it in a spirit and tenacity that rivals his own, that inspires him to work harder, that challenges him in a way that excites him. He associates it with friendship with a pain-in-the-ass classmate who won’t leave him alone, who insists on being near and talking to Katsuki. It is a dork with stupid dyed hair who quickly makes Katsuki appreciate his presence through sheer persistence and confidence that he belongs there...
∞
When the first day of Katsuki’s house arrest for fighting Deku ends, he finds himself on the balcony of his dorm room, looking for some peace and quiet away from all the asshats that have been enjoying his relegation to cleaning duties a little too much. He deserves the punishment, sure, but it’s not like that’s going to stop him from wanting to explode Soy Sauce’s smug face next time he makes some stupid joke about it. He knows that smartass won’t let him live this whole thing down for a long time.
Katsuki leans on the balcony railing and lets his head hang forward as he sighs. He’s sore and aching from the fight, and he’s tired in a way that he never knew he could be before the world suddenly went to shit a couple weeks ago. After fighting things out with Deku and talking to All Might, he does feel lighter. Maybe. The weight on his shoulders has only just started to lift, but the nightmares and oppressive thoughts that keep him awake lately won’t be chased away so soon.
Things need to change; he knows that now. If he wants to achieve his goals, he can’t just stay the same, making the same mistakes again and again until Deku manages to rise above him. Katsuki needs to be something more than what he is now, and he needs to figure out exactly what that means.
The door of the next balcony opens, and Kirishima joins him outside with a soft, “Hey.”
It’s the second time he’s spoken to Katsuki since the fight. The first was a rushed moment in the morning as Kirishima was running late for their first day of classes but halted in his tracks upon seeing a bruised Katsuki vacuuming the common room. Ashido explained things away before Katsuki needed to respond to his alarmed questions, and then they were off with a mildly disappointed look from Kirishima that hurt almost as much as the rest of the shit messing with Katsuki’s head.
Now, Katsuki doesn’t look at him, but he nods his head in acknowledgment. He doesn’t need to look to know that Kirishima is leaning on his own balcony railing and staring out at the sunset like every other evening they’ve spent out here chatting.
“Your face looks like crap.”
Katsuki snorts and lifts his head to see Kirishima frowning his way. The light of the setting sun is particularly red tonight, and it suits him, deepening the color of his hair that’s faded between dye jobs. The frown, however, doesn’t suit him nearly as well.
“Yeah, I know ,” Katsuki says.
Kirishima raises an eyebrow and props his chin over the raining with one hand. “So are you going to tell me what the hell happened, dude? Getting into fights with classmates isn’t cool.”
“Everyone already knows, so what the hell do you need me to tell you for?”
“How about starting with why you and Midoriya decided to beat the crap out of each other?” Kirishima suggests dryly.
“Because he has everything,” Katsuki snaps. “He had nothing and now he has everything, and I’m…”
I’m the weak one. I’m the one who got kidnapped. I’m the one who needed rescuing. I’m the one to blame for All Might’s retirement. I’m not good enough.
The things he shouted at Deku the night before and the things he’s been feeling, come rushing back to him, but he can’t even tell Kirishima. Telling him the whole truth includes All Might’s secret with Deku. The things he is feeling don’t entirely belong to him anymore, do they? Besides, he knows more now than he had guessed before, and it should make this all easier. He should be able to keep his mouth shut and move on, but guilt and anger still linger.
Kirishima seems unperturbed by his outburst and waits patiently for him to continue. He has this way of looking at Katsuki that makes him always want to spill. That’s the way things are between them – real and honest, no need to ever lie. He takes Katsuki’s yelling and swearing in stride, and he gets it in a way Katsuki’s friends in the past never did. But Katsuki can’t tell him this.
“Because I’m a piece of shit,” he grumbles his explanation and slides down to sit against the glass door to his room.
“That answer is bullshit,” Kirishima says bluntly.
“It’s the fucking truth.”
Kirishima’s eyes soften, and he turns his face back to the sky. “I don’t agree with that. I’m not friends with pieces of shit.”
Katsuki huffs and crosses his arms over his chest.
“You know, something I’ve always really admired about you is the way you always go for what you want without hesitating,” Kirishima says. “And you don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. Like those villains and how you stood up to them even when you were outnumbered. You didn’t even know that help was coming. It’s really cool how you’re so sure of yourself. It makes me believe in you too.”
“That’s because my quirk is strong.”
“Nah, it’s because you’re strong.” Kirishima smiles at him. “Your quirk’s strong too, but you’re a strong person. And that’s everything, if you ask me. It feels like you can do anything.”
“Except pass a damn license exam,” Katsuki says bitterly.
Kirishima shrugs. “You’re a little rough around the edges, but you’ll get it, dude. You only failed because you were being kind of rude. Besides, it was...” He pauses and seems to be chewing the inside of his cheek while he thinks something over. “It was kind of a bad time for you, though, wasn’t it?”
Katsuki glares at the space between his feet and massages his thumb into his aching forearm. “The fuck’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that things have been tough for you lately,” Kirishima says. “Anyone would be a little on edge after all of that.”
They lapse into silence, neither needing to elaborate on Kirishima’s statement. They share a wall now, and even if they didn’t, Kirishima reads Katsuki well.
“If I’m so strong,” Katsuki says after a while, “then why does it feel like a whole lot of bad shit happened because of me?”
“Bad shit happened to you, not because of you. And you’re still here, aren’t you?” Kirishima pushes off the railing and comes closer to Katsuki’s balcony. “You’re still you. You’re still going to be a hero. You’re strong, and I’m really proud to be your friend.”
Katsuki swallows, trying to rid himself of the cotton that’s formed in the back of his throat and ward off the stinging in his eyes. He swipes at his nose and sniffs. “Yeah, well, I’m still going to be Number One. Just because all of you are ahead of me with your licenses, don’t think it’s going to stay that way.”
“I never doubted it,” Kirishima says happily. “But man, next time can you come talk to me before you go throw an explosion at a classmate?”
“Fine, but I’m not making any promises if Drooly or Soy Sauce Face start with their bullshit.”
Kirishima laughs. “Okay, dude, fair enough. But really, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Katsuki says, and it feels like the truth right here and now with Kirishima, at least. The negativity tends to slip away around him, after all.
The other boy looks like he might be about to head back in for bed, but Katsuki doesn’t want him to go. It’s calm with Kirishima here, and Katsuki doesn’t want to think more about the things that have been on his mind for weeks now.
“Stay.” He doesn’t say it like a question, but he can’t help the vulnerability that creeps into his voice, the waver in his tone.
Kirishima doesn’t appear to judge or pity him. Rather, he seems content, offering a soft smile as he hops the railing between their balconies to sit beside Katsuki. “For as long as you want me to.”
Katsuki sighs and leans closer to him, squishing their arms together between them. “Okay.”
∞
Red is sunsets experienced from a dorm room balcony, sitting shoulder to shoulder with a friend. Red is trust and safety. It is the hand that carried him from danger and that continues to ground him. It is feeling at ease and comfortable sharing the parts of himself he keeps guarded with others. Even though red is the color of his own hard eyes staring back at him in the mirror – judging him when the world starts going to hell more critically than any other person possible could – it is also a pair of eyes that are warm and kind, shining happily when they look his way. And Katsuki has no idea what he did to deserve the sentiment…
∞
Kirishima is quiet today. It’s not entirely unusual. He and Katsuki spend a lot of time together silently working on homework or enjoying each other’s presence for quiet activities. Like today, when Katsuki is putting the final touches on his history essay, and Kirishima is supposed to be redoing some answers on the math homework Katsuki already looked over for him.
Katsuki knows that he isn’t quiet because he’s hard at work, though. Kirishima has abandoned the homework in favor of lying on his back and staring at the ceiling. And despite not saying a single word, his thoughts are loud.
Katsuki wants to ask him what exactly they are about. He’s wanted to for days now as Kirishima has seemed to have something brewing in his mind, but he knows better. When Kirishima wants to share what he’s thinking, he never has a problem doing it, so Katsuki knows whatever he is keeping to himself, there’s a reason for it. And he’ll respect that if it’s what Kirishima wants.
He fights the urge to look over his shoulder from where he sits at his desk to study the brooding expression on his friend’s face.
After a while, he hears shuffling behind him and wonders if Kirishima is going to get back to his homework or leave the room.
“Hey Bakugou?”
Katsuki glances over at him. Kirishima is now lying on his side, one arm tucked up under Katsuki’s pillow and the free hand pinching the edge of Katsuki’s comforter. He stares with a serious expression, and Katsuki turns his chair around to fully face him. “What is it?”
Kirishima bites his lip, but he doesn’t break eye contact, even if he looks uncomfortable. “I need to tell you something, and I want you to just listen. You don’t have to say anything, okay? I just need to tell you this.”
Katsuki frowns. “Okay.”
“Alright, um…” He takes a deep breath and sits up, squaring his shoulders like he’s preparing to confront a powerful opponent as he nods at Katsuki. “Okay. I’ve had something on my mind for a while now.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed.”
Kirishima smiles softly as a light blush appears on his cheeks. His eyes dart briefly as if he wants to look away but is willing himself to keep eye contact with Katsuki. He nods again. “And I don’t think it’s fair for me to not tell you about it. So here it goes… um, I care about you. A lot. I always just assumed it was because you’re my best friend, and that’s part of it, for sure. I definitely don’t want to underplay that, because our friendship is so important to me. But lately I’ve realized there’s more to it than that, you know? The way I care about you feels different from our other friends. It’s… bigger.
“What I’m trying to say is that I have very strong feelings for you, dude. I don’t even know if the word ‘like’ even explains them. I just think you’re amazing, and, well… I think about it a lot. I know that you probably don’t feel the same way – and that’s totally okay – but it would be so unmanly for me to not tell you how I’m feeling. Our friendship would feel like a lie, and that’s the last thing I ever want. You’re important to me. I’m thankful for our friendship exactly the way it is and don’t want it to change.”
Kirishima’s eyes are wide and nervous, but Katsuki isn’t sure what to say to him.
This isn’t something he ever expected to be bothering Kirishima, because Katsuki has never considered Kirishima in this way. To be honest, he’s never considered anyone this way. Life has always been about his quirk and his ambitions, and those have nothing to do with feelings for another person.
The biggest surprise about Kirishima’s revelation is that he would feel this way about Katsuki of all people.
Kirishima is bright and kind. He builds people up. He lightens their moods, encourages their strengths, lends his own when they need it. He’s objectively a great hero and an even better person. And Katsuki can’t imagine in what world he deserves to have Kirishima looking at him the way he is right now – caring and fond but nervous, like he’s put his heart in Katsuki’s hands and is afraid he won’t get it back unharmed.
Guilt forms a knot in Katsuki’s stomach, because he is so damn good at harming things .
Kirishima is still watching him, and Katsuki still doesn’t know what to say. Certainly not that he returns Kirishima’s feelings in that way because, as much as he wants to say the thing that would make Kirishima happy, neither of them is a liar.
Maybe Katsuki isn’t even capable of romantic feelings. He’s not sure what they would feel like if he did have them. He can be sure that he reciprocates some of what Kirishima told him, though. Kirishima is important to him too. And he’s rooted himself so deep into Katsuki’s life that losing that closeness would be like losing a part of himself.
“Okay,” Kirishima says slowly, leaning forward and anxiously wiping his palms on the knees of his pants, “so I’m going to head back to my own room because that was a lot for you to think about.” He stands, and Katsuki glimpses the wetness in his eyes as he heads toward the door.
“Kirishima.” Katsuki catches him with a hand around his bicep and Kirishima freezes.
Katsuki wants so badly to deserve someone like Kirishima thinking he’s amazing for reasons other than his skills. He wants to be worthy of his tears but never cause them like he is right now. He’s never put it into words before but he knows it’s how he’s felt about Kirishima for a long time. Maybe it’s not romance; he doesn’t even know what to label it. But it matters a hell of a lot. Kirishima is more important to him than anyone else. He feels like he’s supposed to be here by Katsuki’s side. With him, the world just makes sense.
Katsuki pulls Kirishima into a tight hug, stunning the other boy who stands completely frozen in place but Katsuki doesn’t mind that as he leans his cheek against Kirishima’s hair and closes his eyes. “Nothing has to change. We’re fine.”
Kirishima slowly brings his arms up to grip the back of Katsuki’s t-shirt and buries his face against his shoulder, sighing with relief. “We’re okay?” he asks softly.
“Didn’t I just say that?” Katsuki tugs on his stupid spiky hair, earning a whine of complaint. “Of fucking course we’re okay, idiot. You think I’d let some shit like this chase me off? If you’re okay, we’re okay.”
He can feel Kirishima’s smile against his shoulder, and Kirishima nods. “Yeah, dude, I’m totally okay.”
“Good.”
∞
Red is affection in Kirishima’s eyes. It never disappears over time. It is the bond between them that cannot be broken by unrequited love. And it is something else that Katsuki has never quite been able to place…
∞
Nothing changes after the day Kirishima comes clean about his feelings. He makes it easy. He never brings it up again, and he never pulls away. He and Katsuki still do their homework together, stay out late on balconies talking about nonsense, play video games, always choose to team up with each other, and do all the other things that they’ve always done in the past couple years at UA. Kirishima’s smile for Katsuki remains as warm as ever, and Katsuki still worries that he doesn’t deserve such soft affection. But he tries, and he’s learning, for himself just as much as for Kirishima.
They complete their final year at UA with several offers for sidekick gigs that they turn down in lieu of starting up an agency together, because it makes perfect sense. Their quirks complement and work well with each other, a perfect combination of offensive power and defensive strength that has always benefitted them in training team-ups. Kirishima’s hardening can stand up to Katsuki’s greatest explosions, and they’ve been equal matches for each other in spars for a long time now. They have spent three years getting to know the rhythm of each other’s fighting styles until it’s second nature to move in sync together. More importantly, being by each other’s side makes both feel more battle ready. There is no one that Katsuki trusts more.
Their first fight as pros is a big deal – a villain who can transform his hands into anything he wants, including automatic weapons. They stop him from attacking civilians at a shopping mall before there are any casualties, and cell phone videos from the fight leak online. Their team becomes an overnight sensation. Comments roll in about Red Riot shielding a family with his Unbreakable move before charging the villain under a spray of bullets, about Ground Zero temporarily blinding the guy with his Stun Grenade attack so that he could usher a group to a stairwell to escape, about the synchronized attack the pair used to render the villain unconscious and immobile.
It keeps up like that over the next few months with them being involved in high-profile jobs and gaining a fanbase. It comes as no surprise that Kirishima is great with their fans. He smiles, waves, and gives high fives to strangers while they patrol the streets. He stops to take selfies, and he crouches down to the level of children to give them advice when they ask how they can be a hero like him someday. Katsuki is better at this stuff than he used to be if the kids wearing his merch and asking for autograph are any indication, but mostly, he just likes watching Kirishima do his thing with the public. His genuine nature is as much a thing of beauty as his sharp edges and raw strength in a fight.
Four months into their careers, they assist in rescue efforts on a train derailment. There is no villain to beat, as much as that is Katsuki’s forte, but it’s a massive effort to search for survivors among the hundreds of passengers. They’re some of the first heroes on the scene, which is worse than Katsuki even imagined when they got the call. Some train cars are piled up on each other; others sit on their sides. There are small fires being put out at the worst of the crash. The passengers that are able stumble from their cars to safety, many of them holding minor wounds, some of them looking worse off than that as they’re ushered to ambulances. There are still plenty trapped in cars or likely too injured to get out on their own.
Kirishima is damn efficient in situations like this, able to use his quirk to safely break through warped metal and walk into unstable places. Katsuki needs to be more careful that trying to use his quirk could cause more damage, but his natural resilience against heat and flames is a big help. They immediately join the first responders entering the train cars at the worst of the crash. There are many passengers unconscious, flung from their seats when the cars toppled. Glass and blood are everywhere they step.
They spread out, move metal and debris that’s trapping victims, carefully guide those who are conscious to their feet and to safety, and check on the ones who aren’t so they can direct the first responders to those most in need of help.
It’s a bad day. Katsuki comes across four dead, but he focuses on the ones who still need saving. He’s on his third car when he hears soft whimpering. He squints through the darkness of the train car and sees a small child huddled in the space between two seat rows.
“Hey, it’s alright,” he says as gently as he can while crouching to her level. “Are you hurt?”
The girl nods and cries, but she doesn’t say anything as she squeezes her eyes shut. Her dark hair looks wet, with blood Katsuki suspects, and she’s holding her left arm close to her chest.
“Where are you parents?” Katsuki asks.
“Grandmom,” the little girl cries, and Katsuki’s stomach drops as he glances at the lifeless body of the old woman he just found a few feet away.
He’s not sure if she’s seen or realized, so he doesn’t say anything about it. The priority is getting her to safety. He holds out his hand. “Come on out, I’ve got you now.”
She looks up with tear-filled eyes and takes his hand with her uninjured one. Once he has her out of the seats, he holds her against his chest where she can bury her face and hug his neck. She begins to sob again, and he rubs his hand up and down her back as he carries her to the exit.
“You’re safe now, kid,” he reminds her. “I’ve got you.”
She won’t let go of him to go to a paramedic or Pinky, but Katsuki tells her it’s okay and walks her to an ambulance himself. He sits down on the stretcher when she continues to grip him tight and looks over her head at the scene. There are dozens of pros here now, and many of the cars appear to have been cleared of passengers. The ones in most need of medical attention have been extracted. It’s okay if he stays here right now, if he helps this one terrified little girl while the others have the rest of the situation handled.
While a paramedic tends to the child in his lap, Katsuki spots Kirishima supporting a man to another of the ambulances. His partner spots him too, and Kirishima’s furrowed brows ease into a gentler expression in the moment that their eyes meet. Katsuki nods to him and diverts his attention back to his charge, who is resisting the paramedic’s help in favor of shielding her face against him.
He pats her back again. “Hey, it’s all going to be alright.” He talks to her to figure out where her parents are and how to get in touch with them, and he stays until the ambulance takes her to the hospital where they will meet her.
The rescue efforts take the entire day, and everyone is drained at the end of it. The casualties add up to thirteen dead and at least a hundred badly injured, and that’s not even including the minor injuries. While they change back into civilian clothes at headquarters, Kirishima invites Katsuki over to eat takeout at his apartment. They both half collapse onto the couch – Kirishima taking one end and Katsuki sprawling out with his legs across the rest of it – as they devour their food straight from their takeout boxes.
Neither of them is much for talking after that day, so Kirishima turns on the television. The news is reporting on the crash, of course, and he frowns, looking ready to change the channel when an image on the screen gives him pause.
It’s a photograph of Katsuki carrying the girl from the wreckage – captured in a moment when he’d leaned his head against hers to mutter reassurances. Beside it is a screencap of the comments about the photo, which has apparently been tweeted and shared all over the internet.
Katsuki sighs and runs his hand down his face. That poor kid has been on his mind all day, and he hopes she’s doing better with her parents at her side.
Kirishima is watching him with a small smile, and Katsuki rolls his eyes. “What are you looking at?” he asks, roughly nudging at Kirishima’s thigh with his heel.
Kirishima laughs. “You’re just really incredible, dude, you know that?”
“Of course I am,” Katsuki says haughtily with another nudge.
Kirishima only laughs again. “You don’t need to tell me. I’ve never doubted it since we became friends.” He looks back at the television screen. “This was something special, though,” he adds softly.
There’s something in his tone that sets Katsuki’s heart racing. He never thought the most satisfied he would feel about himself and his career would happen in this stupid, red-covered apartment with Kirishima getting all sentimental over an image of him carrying a kid, but he looks at that smile on Kirishima’s face and has never felt prouder of his accomplishments than he does now. He can’t keep the smile from forming on his own face.
Kirishima just has that effect on him.
Kirishima tosses him a game controller and they pass the next couple of hours mindlessly playing video games to keep their thoughts from the people who couldn’t be saved today. Katsuki keeps his feet pressed against Kirishima’s leg the entire time because it’s nice being close to Kirishima. It’s become natural and comfortable at this point… even if on this night he loses more often than he wins because he’s incredibly conscious of Kirishima’s presence near him. He wants to move closer and feel more of Kirishima against him, as if more physical contact can ward away the ache in his chest. He settles for watching him out of the corner of his eye instead.
When it gets late, Kirishima walks Katsuki to the door, even though he looks like he could fall asleep on his feet.
“I’ll see you on patrol tomorrow,” he says with a yawn that gives Katsuki full view of those sharp teeth before he leans back against the doorframe and smiles that same fond smile he’s given Katsuki for years – back when Katsuki was still too full of himself and through the times when he was most critical of himself too. That smile…
Katsuki’s not perfect. A long time ago, he thought he was, but he knows better now. He’s spent a lot of time reflecting on his flaws and improving them to be the best version of himself. The version that Kirishima’s always seen. But, hell, looking at Kirishima right now slouching in the doorway with a sleepy smile, Katsuki thinks he knows exactly what perfection does look like.
Because every morning, Katsuki wakes up, not only excited to take on new villains, but also to see red spiky hair and a smile that makes him feel so goddamn lucky.
Lucky to have a friend who has always understood him. Lucky to have a person who makes him feel so at ease. Lucky that there is someone as good as Kirishima in this world. Lucky that Kirishima wants the huge role that he occupies in Katsuki’s life, because Katsuki can’t imagine a life without him there.
Oh .
So maybe this is what love has felt like this entire time?
Katsuki’s heart is hammering in his chest, and the sweat in his palms wants to ignite. Kirishima’s smile is the greatest thing he has ever seen, and Katsuki is an absolute fool. He wants to be near him, to have his hands on him, to feel if his lips are as soft as they look.
Katsuki isn’t a patient man, so after it has taken him all this time to figure out what he’s been feeling, he doesn’t plan to waste a second more. He grabs Kirishima by the sides of his face and presses their mouths together in a rough, hasty kiss, punctuated by Kirishima’s startled gasp. But there are no questions, no explanations needed as they quickly find their rhythm and Katsuki finds that getting to kiss Kirishima Eijirou is the best luck he’s had all his life.
∞
Katsuki is pretty sure his favorite color is red.
Because red is shitty hair with too much gel in it. It is that same hair that feels surprisingly soft between Katsuki’s fingers despite that. It is the blush on Kirishima’s cheeks when Katsuki touches his face and guides him closer. It is the room where he shares his first kiss with the only person he ever wants to kiss for the rest of his life.
Red is belonging and feeling pride in himself through another person’s eyes. It is being loved and feeling love in return. Katsuki should have figured it out a long time ago, because this feeling isn’t new. It has only grown over time until it’s become so imbedded in his being that he didn’t even realize it was there.
Katsuki still sees a world filled with red, and this is what happiness looks like.