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After agreeing to share rent five ways with his friends so they could all live together, Katsuki expected to wake up every day to some fuck-shittery or nothing at all. He expected to be constantly annoyed or constantly angry or constantly wishing he could leave and just get his own apartment or something, only held down by sheer force of will and Kirishima’s puppy eyes.
What he did not expect was to wake up one weekend morning in December to hear Christmas music blasting from downstairs (at an oddly reasonable volume) while a rather cheerful conversation happened.
For a long moment, Katsuki stares up at his ceiling and wonders if he’s even awake at all. But, when a winged cat doesn’t bound through the room, or whatever else his subconscious could come up with, he decides that yes, he is awake. So he sits up and rubs his face with both hands, wiping at the tiny bit of drool at the corner of his mouth. He isn’t going to acknowledge whatever festive bullshit is happening downstairs until he has to, so he stands up, shoves his glasses onto his face, and pads over to his en suite bathroom.
Stubbornly, Katsuki washes his face and brushes his teeth, ignoring how stupidly fluffy his hair is because that is not something he is going to deal with now. And, when he's ready, he grabs a hoodie from the chair in the corner of his room and pulls it on.
The music gets louder as he pads downstairs and he mourns the loss of a quiet morning.
But that doesn’t last for long because suddenly Kaminari is in front of him with the biggest, brightest grin of all time. He seems to be almost vibrating with energy and, had this been a normal week day, Katsuki would have blasted him in the face by now. But it’s a weekend, his one day off, and so he just gives him a venomous look and steps around him. He needs food or someone is definitely not going to survive the next twenty minutes.
He pointedly ignores everything Kaminari says until he has a bowl of cereal and milk (cereal first, then milk, you hooligans) and, after he’s taken a few bites, he turns to Kaminari and raises an eyebrow. “The fuck do you want?”
“Oh my gods, did you not hear a word I just said?!” Kaminari whines, “Bakubro, you’re so mean.”
“Yeah, I know. Cry me a fucking river, build yourself a goddamn bridge, and get over it.” Katsuki growls, “Now tell me what the fuck is going on.”
“It’s almost Christmas.” Kaminari says, as if this is the solution to all of their problems.
When he doesn’t say anything else, Katsuki whacks him upside the head and snaps, “C’mon, Sparky, just tell me what the fuck you idiots are doing!”
“Alright, alright, you don’t need to hit me.” Kaminari rubs the back of his head and sticks his lower lip out, pouting. But he recovers a second or two later and says, “We got a Christmas tree last night and now we’re decorating it.”
Katsuki blinks at him. Then he raises another spoonful of cereal to his mouth and grumbles, “Fucking idiots.”
“Don’t be rude, Bakugou.” Kirishima sighs, walking into the kitchen, “It’s the holidays and we wanted to all celebrate.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Celebrate all you damn well want to. Just don’t wake me up for it.” Katsuki scowls.
“We didn’t wake you up,” Kaminari points out, “You sleep like a rock, bro. It’s almost impossible to-”
Katsuki whacks him again.
This time, Kirishima sighs and puts his hand on Katsuki’s shoulder. “Bakugou. We’re decorating the tree, so if you want to join us when you’re done your breakfast, feel free to.”
Kaminari nods enthusiastically, still rubbing the back of his head in pain.
“Whatever.” Katsuki mutters, “Go back to your fucking decorating.”
“You heard the man, Kirishima!” Kaminari says, grinning, “Let’s go!”
And, before Kirishima can protest, Kaminari drags him away, leaving Katsuki is peace in the kitchen so he can fucking eat his cereal.
It’s too early for this. Katsuki thinks to himself as he chews, But isn’t it always too early for them?
Based on past experiences, the answer is yes.
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By the time Katsuki manages to mentally prepare himself for whatever the fuck is going on in the living room, they’ve all apparently finished the tree. He wanders in as they’re all patting each other on the back and, well, it actually looks pretty nice. Katsuki can instantly tell who decorated which parts and who bought which ornaments, but there seems to be one thing missing.
“Where’s the fucking star?” Katsuki demands, staring up at the top of the tree with narrowed eyes.
“Oh!” Ashido perks up, eyes glittering, “We got a new star for this, look look look!”
She starts fiddling with a box, trying to open it.
Katsuki, however, is unconvinced. “Why the fuck did we need a new star? The one we had was perfectly fucking fine?”
“Well, it wasn’t super up with the times.” Kaminari chirps, “And Sero had an idea.”
“It wasn’t just me.” Sero rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Oh my gods, just fucking spit it out.” Katsuki shoves his hands in his pockets and slouches, snarling faintly.
“I’m working on it!” Ashido is almost violently fiddling with the box now, desperately trying to get it out. She could technically use her quirk but Katsuki is assuming she doesn’t want to melt whatever is inside the box and, well, Katsuki isn’t about to help her.
It’s Kirishima that steps up and offers help. He takes the box from her and harden his hand. Using the end of one of his fingers, he slits through the tape holding the box closed and Ashido gleefully opens it and pulls out something that is very much wrapped in bubble wrap. Katsuki’s eye twitches at the sight, but Kirishima quickly slices through the bubble wrap and-
“It’s an early Christmas present for you!” Ashido holds out the thing, practically glowing with excitement.
Katsuki’s eyes widen.
The room falls silent.
It’s what looks like one of those 3D paper stars but it’s clearly made of either metal or plastic. It’s black and spike and the tips are painted orange.
“We saw it in a merch shop.” Sero says, “And, well, we couldn’t not get it. It’s unofficial, but we thought it was really cool. I hope you like it.”
Katsuki says nothing, just stares at the star. He takes it from Ashido with uncharacteristic gentleness and peers at the star, turning it over in his hands to see every bit of it. It’s surprisingly good quality, for unofficial merch, and Katsuki notices the artist’s stamp near the bottom of one of the spikes. He makes a mental note to send them an email or something.
Then, he says, “Alright, idiots, I’m only going to say this once so you’d better fucking pay attention.”
They all suck in a breath and fall silent.
And Katsuki smiles, though it’s tiny and looks a bit like a snarl. He says, “Thanks. It’s fucking awesome.”
Kaminari pumps a fist in the air and cheers, dragging Sero and Ashido into an awkward victory dance around the room. Kirishima just grins and walks over to Katsuki.
“So you like it?” His eyes shine.
Katsuki just scowls. “You heard what I fucking said, didn’t you?”
“Ah, just wanted confirmation.” Kirishima snorts. Then he jerks his thumb over his shoulder and points at the tree. “Wanna put it up?”
“You kidding me? I’m tall but I’m not a fucking giant.” Katsuki wrinkles his nose.
“Well, good thing I am.” And, next thing he knows, he’s perched on Kirishima’s shoulders like a kid at a theme park. He grunts in surprise and sticks his free hand in Kirishima’s spiky hair, gripping it for dear life as gravity tries to pull him back down to earth.
“Fucking Christ, Shitty Hair!” Katsuki roars, “Could’ve fucking warned me!”
Kirishima just laughs and tells him to put the star on the damn tree already.
And, well, Katsuki’d do anything to no longer be suspended in the air on top of a man that may as well be a brick wall.