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He remembered the exact moment it happened. Some people say that there can’t just be a single moment, that it happens gradually, but Kirishima supposed that those people never knew Bakugou Katsuki. Nothing about him was gradual.
It was a Saturday afternoon, and Class 1A was lounging about the dorms. It was raining outside, a steady downpour that smoothed out the atmosphere in the common room. A quiet calm had settled over them all - no one had the energy to do much of anything. The class was scattered across the furniture haphazardly. Tsuyu and Uraraka had fallen asleep on top of each other, Sero, Kaminari, and Mina splayed out over the carpet playing cards, Deku, Iida, and Todoroki were studying in the corner, while Momo and Jirou were softly strumming a guitar, but Kirishima found himself simply observing from the window ledge.
He liked watching them all like this. Happy. Content. At peace. It was comforting to see how everyone had grown closer, almost like a family. A grin cut across Kirishima’s face as he thought that. A family. That’s what they were now. He let out a sigh and leaned back against the cold window, his eyes falling shut as he breathed in the quiet air. If only this feeling could last forever. He felt himself slinking off to sleep, his eyes slowly fluttering shut, his breath evening out, the soft murmurs of his classmates like a lullaby to his ears. It should have occurred to him that Class 1A couldn’t stay peaceful for long.
“Oi, fuckfaces! Which one of you decided to finish off my goddamn lunch?!”
The accusatory yell startled everyone out of their revelry, including Kirishima, who promptly fell off the ledge and onto the floor with a thump.
“Bakugooou,” He whined.
“That’s your own fucking fault for falling asleep on the fucking window ledge like some kind of hobo.” The blond spat.
“Come on man,” Kaminari pouted, “I was just about to win the game! Why’d you have to go and yell like that?”
“Maybe because some shit-brained idiot stole my fucking lunch!” Bakugou growled. “So someone better fess up before none of you see the light of day again.”
“Gees, it’s just food,” grumbled Sero before he realized his mistake and looked up panicked.
“So it was you then! Come over here and face me fucker!” Bakugou’s hands lit up with sparks as he aggressively stalked over to where Sero was lounging on the ground.
“Shit, shit, shit, shit” he scrambled back towards the wall as the other boy marched across the common room only to be stopped by a pair of hands shoving into his chest.
“Not so fast Baku-bro,” Kirishima chatsized, “I was the one who ate your lunch. I’m sorry dude. There was barely any left, I didn’t think you would mind.”
“Well obviously I fucking did.”
“Yeah, yeah, I can see that now. So why don’t we put down our hands and not blow anyone up today.” Kirishima suggested calmly while lowering Bakugou’s hands.
The fire didn’t leave his eyes, but Bakugou snatched back his hands with a tsk.
“You fucking owe me shitty-hair.” he pointed a finger at Kirishima before storming off towards the stairs.
“You’re leaving already? But you just got down here!” Kirishima protested. “You should stay and hang out with us for a while, right guys?” he turned to look at the rest of the class only to be met with panic stricken glances as everyone nervously remained silent.
“Yeah. I’m gonna take that as a no.” Bakugou growled before continuing on his way.
Kirishima frowned. He hadn’t seen his best friend all day, and when he finally made his presence known it was to yell at some poor individual, and then of course leave. Bakugou always clammed up in front of the others too, seemingly uncomfortable spending time as a group. He wished that the other boy would open up to the class as much as he had to him.
“Hey, wait up man, I’ll join you!” Kirishima called out. Bakugou rolled his eyes, but held the door open long enough for Kirishima to reach the stairs. Kirishima caught the door as Bakugou stepped away from it, and they made their way up the stairs in silence.
When they reached their floor Bakugou gestured for Kirishima to follow him into his room, much to Kirishima’s delight. He thought that Bakugou would have been a bit more prickly after the lunch incident. Without hesitation, Kirishima bounded into the other’s room and flopped aimlessly onto the bed.
Bakugou quickly followed suit and collapsed at the other end of the mattress letting out a sigh. Once again, the two lapsed into silence, but it was far from awkward. It was the kind of silence you felt comfortable in - a mutual understanding that the room didn’t need to be filled with any other noise. It was a common occurrence between the two boys - Bakugou preferred the quiet, and Kirishima didn’t mind. He talked enough outside of these moments anyway.
Kirishima liked to think that these silences were their own way of conversation. Bakugou would let out a sigh - that meant there was something on his mind. Kirishima would let out a hmm - that meant he was listening. Bakugou would shuffle around and move positions - he was frustrated about something. Kirishima would move his leg closer - comforting the other. Bakugou would sigh again - he thought it wasn’t important. Kirishima would tap the other with his foot - to let him know it was.
These little moments were the ones he treasured the most. Because when Kirishima would look up at Bakugou he would be met with a smile. And what Kirishima wouldn’t do for that smile.
“I know you didn’t actually eat my lunch.” Bakugou shifted so he was sitting up.
“Is that why you let me off the hook so quickly?” Kirishima chuckled, “I should’ve known that you would figure out it wasn’t me. I just didn’t want you to explode again.”
“I wouldn’t have.”
“Yeah right. You were about to knock Sero into next week.” Kirishima moved his position so he was sitting up to look at the other boy. “I know that you’ve gotten better at anger management, but if I hadn’t stopped you, you definitely would have put a Sero-shaped hole in the wall.”
“Nah. I wouldn’ta killed that bastard. Just scared him. Now he won’t take my fucking lunch again.”
Kirishima let out a snort, “That’s one way to handle it I guess.”
At the sight of Kirishima laughing, Bakugou let out a chuckle as well. His usually stone cold face split into a smirk and his eyes softened as the two boys laughed together. Kirishima couldn’t help staring as Bakugou’s mirth shone in his eyes. How anyone could describe him as anything but beautiful was beyond Kirishima’s understanding.
“I wish you could act like this around the others.”
And just like that the moment was broken. Bakugou’s smiling eyes sharpened back into blades, his smile returned to its standard growl. His laughter cut off as his gaze snapped back up at Kirishima.
“Act like what, hair for brains?”
“Like this. You were smiling and laughing and comfortable, but you’re only like that with me. I mean, we’re all like family at this point - It just seems like sometimes you don’t wanna be a part of it. I just can’t wait for the day where you feel comfortable enough to let them all in too.”
Kirishima wasn’t sure how Bakugou would react to his statement. Admittedly, now probably wasn’t the best time to say something like that, but Kirishima always said whatever was on his mind - it was habit.
So he should have expected what Bakugou would do next. He should have anticipated the way his best friend's face contorted into anger, the way the disgust and horror shone in his eyes. He should have predicted the words Bakugou spat at him. After all, those words would change everything.
Bakugou sneered at the idea and scoffed, “The day I feel fucking comfortable enough around the others to act like anything is the day I ask you to fucking marry me.”
And just like that it happened. People always say you want what you can’t have. Kirishima had never before imagined what marrying Bakugou would be like. He never had the chance. But in that split second, it flashed before his eyes. He saw bouquets of tiger lilies and poppies. He saw the cake, topped with tiny figurines of themselves. He saw the two of them, at the altar, staring lovingly into each others’ eyes as they leaned in closer for a kiss. And just as soon as he had envisioned it, the vision was snatched away, leaving a gaping space in Kirishima’s heart, And oh. Oh. Everything finally clicked in Kirishima’s head. Of course this is what it took for me to realize, Kirishima thought begrudgingly.
Because That was the moment Kirishima Eijirou fell in love with Bakugou Katsuki.
The years really have flown by Kirishima thought to himself. It had been eight years since they had all graduated from Yuuei, and seeing all his old classmates once again gathered at their old highschool brought back so many memories.
This is where it all started.
When he had gotten the call to come speak to and mentor the next batch of heroes U.A. was training, Kirishima had been thrilled. He had been even more ecstatic to hear that every single one of his old classmates had gotten the same call.
When they had graduated, not everyone had split off completely. Everyone had stayed in close contact, but it was mostly just a small few who would still meet up in person. However, after they all agreed to come speak, the class collectively decided that they needed to see each other again.
And so, a month before they were to come back to the school, Class 1A got back together.
There were tears and hugs and so so much to talk about. Much to Kirishima’s surprise, he discovered he wasn’t the only one of his classmates in a relationship. It seemed that Class 1A was just teeming with highschool sweethearts. Everyone already knew Uraraka and Tsuyu were dating - neither had been very careful of keeping their relationship secret - but Kirishima was shocked to learn that Deku and Todoroki were now a couple (and apparently had been since graduation). The biggest shock, however, was that Momo and Jirou had gotten married six months prior.
When everyone heard the news, the group erupted in chaos as the two were both simultaneously congratulated on their marriage and chatsized at their neglect to invite any of them to the wedding.
Kirishima watched it all play out as he leaned back against the bar, a smile playing at his lips.
“What’s got you so happy?” his boyfriend came over and kissed his head as he slung his arm around Kirishima’s shoulders.
Kirishima looked up at the other and sighed, “I just love watching everyone be so happy together. It’s comforting, you know?” Kirishima leaned into his boyfriend’s shoulder and closed his eyes to breathe in his scent. “It’s so nice to have everyone back together again. Feels right.”
“You big sap.” his boyfriend muttered, pulling him in for a chaste kiss. Kirishima returned the favor eagerly, before he felt Bakugou tense beneath his fingers.
Kirishima opened his eyes to see what had caused the disturbance only to realize the room had gone silent. The entire class stood frozen watching the two of them in shock.
“When were you going to announce you were dating Bakugou?!” Uraraka finally spoke up.
Kirishima quirked his head to side quizzically, “You didn’t announce you and Tsuyu were dating, so I didn’t think I needed to.”
“That’s because everyone already knew we were dating. You don’t need to announce something that people already know.”
“But… People did know.” Kirishima said.
The empty stares that looked back at him told him that, no, apparently they did not.
“We’ve been dating since third year, fucking idiots.” Bakugou removed his arm from around Kirishima to fold his arms over his chest as he leaned against the bar.
“How did none of you realize? We never even tried to keep it a secret!” Kirishima was completely baffled as to how no one knew about his boyfriend.
This time it was Kaminari who spoke up, “Kiri, you’re overly affectionate with everyone. We all thought that you were just friends because you didn’t act any differently.”
Kirishima paled. Was that really true? Did he not act like other boyfriends? What if Bakugou thought that he didn’t care about him?
Bakugou suddenly pushed off from the bar and marched up to Kaminari, distracting Kirishima from his thoughts. “And what about me spark-plug? Did you honestly think I’d put up with that kind of shit if we weren’t together?” Bakugou sneered.
Kaminari flinched back, “Well, no one ever hung out with you much other than Kiri, so we kinda all assumed he was your only friend? And that was the extent of your relationship?” Kaminari’s voice rose up at the end of his sentence as Bakugou slowly approached the rest of the group.
Bakugou flicked Kaminari right between his eyes. “I thought we were friends dipshit.” He glanced at the rest of the class and raised another brow, “I thought everyone thought of the entire class as friends. Didn’t see the need to put much effort in if everyone already felt connected. Clearly you weren’t going out of your way to hang out with me, why should I? Doesn’t change the fact that I still care.”
Satisfied he had cleared up the misunderstanding, he turned on his heel and walked back to the bar, slinging an arm around a beaming Kirishima.
“Did you really mean that?” The redhead asked.
“Since when have I ever said shit I don’t mean?”
Since that day, the class had reunited practically every other day, much to everyone’s delight. Some people weren’t able to come to all their gatherings, but Kirishima and Bakugou were. The fact that Bakugou was willing to go to all the meetings surprised Kirishima the most, but who was he to complain.
The next month passed by in the blink of an eye and before he knew it, Kirshima found himself and his classmates backstage as they all waited to speak to the next generation of heroes. And to think, all their preparation finally led to this. Kirishima was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement - and nearly everyone else was too.
Kirishima looked out at everyone from where he was standing, taking it all in. Mina and Sero were rehearsing their part of the speech in the corner, laughing as they tried to stay serious. Todoroki, Deku, Iida, and Uraraka were practicing their entrance (everyone had planned special entrances to go along with their powers), smiles adorning their faces. Sato and Ojiro stood chatting in the corner with Hagakure, Koda, and Shoji, laughter shining in their eyes. Tokoyami and Kaminari were messing around off to the side, Kaminari cackling as Dark Shadow tried to grab him. But there was one particular interaction that caught his eye and held his heart.
Bakugou was standing with Asui, Momo, and Jirou, the four locked in an intense-looking conversation. And he was smiling. Not just a smirk, an honest to goodness smile. He was relaxed and he was talking to them and he was happy.
Bakugou must have felt Kirishima looking at him, because he suddenly stopped talking and turned to look at him. Bakugou quickly turned back to say something to Momo before leaving behind the group to come over and talk to Kirishima.
“What’s got you all smiley like that?” Bakugou asked as he slumped onto the wall beside him.
Kirishima tilted his head to the side with a wide-brimmed smile as he stood staring at his boyfriend. “You.” he said with a chuckle.
“And what exactly did I do?”
“You just… you’re happy. You’ve made friends and you’re comfortable with everyone, and it just makes me happy to see you smiling like that. You’ve come so far from the blasty mcsplode I knew first year, ya know?” Kirishima explained.
Bakugou suddenly pulled away from him, an expression Kirishima couldn’t read on his face. “What is it? Did I say something wrong?”
Without a word Bakugou turned and walked briskly out of the room, leaving Kirishima panicked. What happened? Did I make Bakugou uncomfortable? Where was he going? He’s going to miss the opening speech. Is that why he left?
Kirishima’s thoughts continued spiraling, down, down, down. It was my fault wasn’t it? No, no. He tried to convince himself. Maybe… he just got stage fright. That’s gotta be it. He’s uncomfortable talking in front of crowds and he got cold feet. That had to be why he left, right?
“Hey, where’d Bakugou go?” Kaminari asked, walking up to Kirishima.
“Huh?” Kirishima startled, “Oh, uh, I don’t know. Somewhere.”
It was then that Momo spoke up, clipboard in hand, gathering the attention of everyone in the room, “Okay everyone, we’re up in T-minus 15 minutes. Is everyone accounted for?”
“Everyone except our friendly neighborhood bomb,” Kaminari quipped, “Apparently he ran off.”
“Ran off?” Momo frowned. “Kirishima, surely he told you where he was going?”
Kirishima laughed nervously, “Haha, yeah no. He kinda just… ran off. Without explanation.” The smile on his face stretched thin, Kirishima turned his eyes downward.
“What was that idiot thinking!” Momo threw her clipboard on the ground dramatically before collecting herself and picking it back up.
“I’m going out to look for him,” she declared. “No one else is to leave this room until we return.”
With that, she spun on her heel and exited the room in search of Bakugou. Kirishima turned back to face Kaminari with a sigh. Hopefully Momo would be able to find Bakugou before the speech began, but it was unlikely. Kirishima knew from personal experience that when Bakugou wanted to be alone, he was a pretty difficult target to track down.
So he resigned to anxiously wait as Momo tracked down his boyfriend.
As the minutes ticked by, Kirishima became more and more uneasy. Why had Bakugou stormed off like that? Why hadn’t he come back? We need Bakugou to complete the speech, surely he won’t disappoint.
Kirishima glanced anxiously at the clock on the wall. Only five more minutes until they had to go onstage.
“Yo, are you okay dude?” Kaminari asked. “You aren’t looking too hot.”
Kirishma brushed off his concern with a forced laugh, “Of course I’m okay. Just… you know what, it’s fine, I’m fine, everything’s fine.”
“If you say so.” Kaminari replied, though it was clear he didn’t believe him. Even so, he respected Kirishima’s space, and turned away to talk to Mina and Sero.
Kirishima wished Kaminari hadn’t left him alone. Now the only company he had were his thoughts, and oh boy were those fun to listen too. Only three minutes to go, and he was drowning in them.
It had to have been his fault. Bakugou had been fine right up until his conversation with Kirishima. I'm the problem. No. No. He couldn’t afford to think like that right now, he still had to go onstage in …. one minute!
Everyone was standing around, unsure if they were still waiting on Momo, or if they would have to go on without two of their members. Their question was answered when Momo and Bakuou burst into the room right in the nick of time.
“No questions, everyone out! We’re on onstage now!”
Kirishima began moving towards the stage door only to feel a hand tugging him backwards.
“We need to talk.”
Kirishima stopped cold. He had heard the phrase before, and nothing good ever came out of it. Those four words terrified him more than he ever thought they would. They practically screamed “breakup cliche.”
And he did not want to break up.
Kirishima tensed, turning around to come face to face with his boyfriend. As self-conscious as he was feeling just a moment before, Kirishima knew that there was no time for discussions. It would have to wait.
“Not now, okay. We’ll talk later.” Kirishima told Bakugou, not making eye contact. He quickly turned on his heel and exited onto the stage. If they were going to break up, he’d prefer they do it after he had to give a peppy speech.
Bakugou was right behind him, reluctantly going through with their entrance. He let out a large explosion from his palms, smoke emanating from them steadily. From the smoke, Kirishima emerged in his unbreakable form, Bakugou trailing behind him.
The crowd of students cheered, as they paraded out to join the others. Once everyone was in position to give the speech, Momo started it off.
“Good afternoon aspiring heroes. I am pro-hero Creati, as many of you know, and I stand before you---”
Kirishima stopped listening after a few moments, distracted once again by someone tugging on his hand.
“I really need to talk to you. Fucking now,” Bakugou muttered, standing next to Kirishima.
“Dude. We are literally in the middle of giving a speech. I am not going to talk to you about anything until this is over.” Kirishima yanked his hand away and stared resolutely forward.
Bakugou couldn’t wait twenty minutes to break up with him? Was Kirishima really that unbearable?
He was so wrapped up in his own thoughts he almost missed his cue. Luckily, his brain caught the last part of Mina’s section.
“-- And so, while right now training might seem bad, just wait until next year. You’ll be begging for your old workouts, trust me.” Mina finished with a laugh.
As she stepped back from the microphone, she sent a thumbs up and smile his way, wishing him luck.
He stepped up to the microphone, a grin plastered on his face as he gazed out at all the hero hopefuls.
“Well. I’m sure all of you are pretty tired of this speech at this point. I mean, I know if I had to sit through listening to twenty people talk for half an hour, I would have been asleep in five minutes. So for those of you who aren’t asleep, congrats!”
The crowd let out a few stray chuckles as he continued, “Now, all of you are here to become the next generation of heroes. To be the next generation of crime fighters. But most importantly, you are the next generation of hope. And you cannot afford to forget that.
“No matter how you got here, no matter how you feel, no matter what you have to face, you represent hope. And you can never give up. You took the first step to becoming heroes by being here. You have demonstrated yourselves capable. You have shown you have potential. Now, you must prove that you will do whatever it takes to save people.
“It’s only your first year, you haven’t faced many difficulties yet. But you will. And you will fall sometimes. What matters is getting back up. Fighting back. Be the hero that we need. And maybe one day you’ll be standing here too, giving a speech to the next generation.
“You probably know that my hero name is Red Riot, a name I took from my idol Crimson Riot. He was what inspired me to become a hero. Now I ask you, why are you here? Who inspired you? Whatever that reason is, keep it close to your heart. Keep it at the forefront of your mind. Always remember why you chose this life. You’ll be a better hero because of it.”
Kirishima stepped back from the microphone, waving at the students as he went to stand back in his place. He sucked in a breath as Bakugou walked up to the mic. He was clearly distracted, probably thinking about breaking up with me, Kirishima thought ruefully.
“So, I’m here to te--” As Bakugou began to speak, feedback from the mic cut him off, angering him.
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!” The group of kids burst out laughing at his explosive personality. They had tried so hard during rehearsals for Bakugou not to curse, but they should have figured he would end up swearing anyway.
“Hey, hey! Listen up you little shits, this is no laughing matter. I’m here to talk some fucking sense into those tiny brains of yours. So shut your mouths and listen to my fucking speech.”
The class still let out a few snickers here and there, but quieted down after a few seconds.
“So, as I was saying, I’m here to tell you about the people around you. Part of being a hero is working with others, as much as I hate it.” Bakugou paused a moment before amending his sentence. “Hated it. Eventually you grow to care about the people you work with, even if you don’t think you will. Trust me, I’d know better than anyone, I was a punk-ass brat too.”
Kirishima was taken aback for a moment. This wasn’t in the speech they had rehearsed. Was he adlibbing? He had some good points, but they had been working on this for a month. Why go off book now?
Meanwhile, Bakugou continued his speech, “You will make friends. You’ll care about them. And when they get hurt, it will scare you out of your goddamn minds, but you’ll be there for them. Getting hurt is part of hero work, and so is caring about your fellow heroes. Even loving them.”
Kirishima was even more baffled now. Bakugou was being vulnerable and open with the students, telling the truth, but it was so unlike him that Kirishima was somewhat touched by his words, as surprising as they were.
He could see Bakugou swallow, whatever he was about to say next had to be important.
Bakugou straightened his posture, passion and fire behind his eyes as he continued, “If you think that doesn’t apply to you, you need to get your head out of your ass. If you can’t fucking care about even just the heroes around you, you don’t deserve to be one at all.
“I know, I didn't think that would apply to me either. But here I am. I have fucking friends. I have people who care about me. I have people I love, and who love me. And it is so fucking hard to accept that, trust me I know. But I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Where was Bakugou going with this? Kirishima wondered. He could see the others in the class murmuring amongst themselves wondering the same thing, but he turned back to see his boyfriend finish his speech.
“It’s hard being a hero in a relationship, anyone could tell you that. There are threats, dangers, time commitments, it’s fucking difficult.”
Oh. Kirishima understood. Bakugou really couldn’t wait. He was going to dump him in front of all these kids, in front of the entire class. He couldn’t take that. It would be too much, he’d break down in front of everyone.
Kirishima needed to get out of there. He turned around to burst through the stage door, but before he reached the door someone called out to him.
“Kiri, where are you going? The speech isn’t over yet.” Mina tried to grab his attention.
Apparently, It was loud enough for Bakugou to hear, turning away from the audience he locked eyes with Kirishima, and it was just too much for him. He sprinted for the stage door, not bothering to look back as Bakugou yelled after him, “Eijirou, wait!”
He made it backstage just in time to be spun around to once again face his boyfriend. “Where the hell do you think you’re going? I wasn’t fucking done talking?”
Kirishima crossed his arms glaring at Bakugou, “I’m sorry if I didn’t want to listen to you publicly humiliate me.” He spat.
“I’m fucking sorry, alright, I thought you’d want to do things publically. You’ve always been such a people person, and you wouldn’t let me talk to you beforehand, so I just fucking went with my gut. I didn’t want to wait!” Bakugou panted.
“Why in the ever loving fuck would you think I would want you to break up with me in front of at least 100 people?” Kirishima shouted. It wasn’t often he cursed, but when he did you could tell he meant it.
Bakugou stepped back in shock, before grabbing onto both of Kirishima’s arms to hold him in place. “Let me finish my speech.”
“What the hell? No!” Kirishima tried to break out of Bakugou’s grip, but to no success.
“Listen here, shitty hair, I’m going to finish my speech right fucking here, right fucking now, and you are going to get that ridiculous notion out of your head this fucking instant, understand?”
Kirishima tried to bite back a rhetoric, but Bakugou interrupted him before he had the chance.
“It’s hard being a hero in a relationship, anyone could tell you that. There are threats, dangers, time commitments, it’s fucking difficult.”
Kirishima rolled his eyes, still struggling to escape Bakugou’s grasp.
“But it’s worth it. Because when you find someone you care about, you have another reason to keep going. They become your hope, and you keep that hope close to your heart and you never let it fucking go. You have another reason to be a hero. And no matter the dangers, finding love is the most rewarding thing you could ask for. Not a single thing in this fucking universe could prevent me from being with the love of my life.”
As Kirishima listened, he slowly stopped struggling and Bakugou loosened his grip as they locked eyes in a passionate stare.
“Where exactly are you going with this?” Kirishima asked softly.
“Well, if you didn’t interrupt me, I would have gotten there by now” Bakugou smirked and took a step back from Kirishima, his hands coming to rest inside his pockets.
“Eijirou, I forget how long I’ve known you. Eleven, twelve years? Time doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is you. And me. And I really hope you get the point this time, and not think that I’m fucking breaking up with you.”
“Katsuki,” Kirishima whispered, tears of hopefulness shining in his eyes.
Bakugou stepped forward again, a genuine smile on his lips as he pulled something out of his pocket.
At that point, Kirishima’s brain had stopped functioning, because this couldn’t be happening. He had to be imagining this, it couldn’t be real.
Bakugou on the other hand, now stood looking kind of bewildered as he stared at the object in his hand.
“Okay… um… fuck, I didn’t think this far ahead. I don’t, I don’t know how to do this. Shit!”
Suddenly an idea struck him, and he shoved the object in his hand into Kirishima’s stomach, Kirishima’s hands cupped around his to grab it.
“Open it.” Bakugou said plainly.
And Kirishima gladly obliged. Opening the box, he gasped. What lay inside was a beautifully crafted ring, shining a metallic red and engraved with the words ‘You Hold My Heart.’
And then the tears started falling.
“How- how long have you been planning this.” Kirishima sputtered.
Bakugou glanced away a bit embarrassed as he muttered, “Since thirty minutes ago.”
Kirishima let out a strangled sound, “Thirty minutes! How did you manage all of this then? And why so suddenly, I mean, I’m really really happy right now, but, you really couldn’t have waited?”
“Momo helped. She made the ring and let me change my speech.” He looked up and locked eyes with Kirishima. “And as for the second question, I tend to keep my fucking promises.”
He was a little confused at first. Kirishima didn’t know what Bakugou could be referencing. Promise, what promise?
Bakugou must’ve seen the confusion etched on his face because he then provided some clarity, “I’m finally comfortable.”
And the lightbulb went off in Kirishima’s head. How could he have forgotten that moment? How could he not remember the day he fell in love?
He saw flashes of that day, the peaceful dorms, the conversation in the silence, the words Bakugou spoke.
“The day I feel fucking comfortable enough around the others to act like anything is the day I ask you to fucking marry me.” Kirishima repeated out loud.
And the smile grew on Bakugou’s face, “So, whatta you say shitty-hair, marry me?”
Kirishima’s smile stretched so wide across his face it started to hurt. Without wasting another moment, he pulled Bakugou in for a kiss, one which he reciprocated fiercely.
Their lips slotted together perfectly, and Kirishima gripped Bakugou’s shirt in his fist tightly, Bakugou’s hands deep in his hair. Trapped in this single moment, Kirishima was overwhelmed with joy and relief. How could he have ever doubted Bakugou’s feelings? Kirishima tightened his grip on Bakugou and pressed deeper into the kiss, but he couldn’t stop the smile on his face from spreading wider.
Kirishima pulled back with a gasp, “Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you Bakugou!”
The two smiled at each other and brought their foreheads together, their lips a breath apart.
“I love you.” Bakugou breathed, sending shivers up Kirishima’s spine.
“I love you too. And now we’re gonna be husbands.” Kirishima whispered giddily, pressing another kiss to his nose.
“Fuck, now we’ve gotta plan a wedding.” Bakugou grumbled.
Kirishima pulled back grinning, “Don’t worry, I’ve got some ideas.