Archive of Our Own ^beta

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He could hear Kirishima out in the hallway already. That idiot was nearly 40 minutes early for their study session.

Bakugou rolled his eyes and lumbered up to his feet, tossing aside the book he’d been reading onto his nightstand. While he could appreciate Kirishima’s insatiable enthusiasm as much as the next guy, this was getting a bit ridiculous. Didn't he ever take a break from being so damn peppy?

He crossed the space of his room in three long strides before he yanked his door open.

“Look Shitty-Hair, I know I’m like your best bet at fucking passing, but – eh?” Bakugou came to a sudden halt and the words died from his lips.

Kirishima – who constantly liked to pick on Bakugou in the colder months for bundling up so much – was currently wearing the thickest, heaviest winter coat Bakugou had ever seen. He hadn’t even known the idiot owned a coat like that, much less why he would choose to wear it on a comfortably warm Spring afternoon. Kirishima, for his part, had also come to a sudden stand-still, his hand reaching for his own doorknob while his other arm wrapped tightly around the midsection of his coat.

Bakugou quirked an eyebrow as dark red color bloomed across Kirishima’s neck and cheeks. He was so easily flustered, it was a wonder he was able to keep such a level head in the middle of a fight.

“You sick or something?” Bakugou asked when the silence had stretched on a little too long. He took an instinctive step back into his room. “You better not fucking come near me if you are!”

Kirishima’s mouth opened and closed like a goddamn fish and Bakugou squinted suspiciously at him. He took in the appearance of his wind-swept flaming hair and the old state of the worn-out coat that fell all the way down to his knees. His forehead was sweating, either from nerves or the heat, but he didn’t look particularly sick. His eyes were still bright and darting around, like he’d just been caught in the middle of doing something he wasn’t supposed to, and his skin looked like its regular color, save for the furious flush that was now very prominent on his cheekbones.

What the hell was his deal?

“I…” Kirishima faltered and his eyes darted to look down at his own hand resting on the doorknob to his room, as if he wanted this interaction to be over as quickly as possible so that he could slip inside and be alone.

Which was… strange. Usually it was Bakugou who was trying to disengage from social interactions, while Kirishima thrived in them. So, what gives?

“Kirishima, what are you – “

Kirishima’s coat started wiggling.

“EH?!” Bakugou shouted in surprise.

Kirishima let go of the doorknob to his room and grasped around his midsection with both hands now. His eyes were wide as he tried to subdue the fabric of his coat with two strong arms. Still, he offered no explanation, but a look of panic crossed his face.

“Kirishima, quit fucking around," Bakugou snarled, reaching for the coat. “What the hell is that thing?”

“No! Wait!” Kirishima held up his arm and hardened it in an attempt to deflect Bakugou’s grabbing hands, but as he loosened his hold on the bundle in his coat, the wiggling increased ten-fold. And then –

ARF!

Bakugou froze, Kirishima froze, the whole hallway seemed to stand still except for the excessive wiggling in Kirishima’s thick winter coat. Kirishima’s eyes widened further and Bakugou’s mouth hung open in startled surprise.

“Shit…” Kirishima whispered. His shoulders slumped and he cradled the bundle almost lovingly in his arms before he sighed – as if admitting defeat, which would have been gratifying to Bakugou if he wasn’t so transfixed by whatever Kirishima was trying to hide from him. “Now I really can't keep him.”

Him?

Bakugou gave his head a rough shake. “What the fuck are you talking about, HairDye? What is that thing?”

Kirishima sighed again before he slowly reached up and unzipped the top of his coat.

In a flash, the little head of a puppy wiggled up his chest and pushed its way out to freedom. Kirishima tightened his arms to keep the puppy from leaping away, but the puppy’s incessant wiggling stopped the moment it could look around again. Its small head flopped over to stare at Bakugou upside down, little tongue falling to cover its tiny black nose.

Bakugou felt frozen to the spot. He blinked at the little creature several times before his eyes flashed back up to look at Kirishima, who seemed to be waiting on pins and needles for an explosion or a long string of creative curses.

“What the fuck is that?” is what Bakugou said instead.

Kirishima stared at him, a little taken aback and uncertain. “Uhh, it’s… it’s a puppy?”

Bakugou seethed and his hands clenched into fists by his sides to avoid blowing the idiot up. “I know what a puppy is, dumbass. Why is it here? In the dorms? In your coat?”

Kirishima opened his mouth to say something and right as he did, the puppy lifted its head back up with some effort and lapped its tongue sloppily across Kirishima’s chin. For as much of a sturdy presence as Kirishima had, Bakugou literally saw the dude in front of him melt before his eyes. A giddy, child-like expression of excitement crossed his face as he closed his eyes and smiled wider before he hugged the little bundle of slobber closer to his chest.

“C’mon Bakugou! Don’t tell anyone! You have to help me keep this a secret!” Kirishima pleaded as he snuggled the puppy closer.

Bakugou sneered at the scene in front of him. Kirishima was so fucking sappy, it physically hurt to watch sometimes.

“You haven’t even told me anything yet, you airhead! What the fuck is it doing here?” Bakugou’s voice had started to rise dangerously high, which seemed to knock Kirishima out of whatever Cuteness Spell had fallen over him.

“Just… come inside and I’ll explain!” he said before he finally opened his door and disappeared into his room.

“It’s hot as hell in this coat!” he exclaimed from somewhere inside.

The door had been left open and Bakugou stared at it, trying to keep his anger up, but he found that it was dissipating faster than he’d expected it to. Now he just felt overwhelmingly curious.

With a pointed huff, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his baggy pants and stomped into Kirishima’s gaudy, awfully decorated room before he slammed the door shut behind him.

Kirishima had already stripped off his obnoxious coat, and Bakugou could see the little dog a bit better now.

It was obviously very young. It wiggled around and nipped at Kirishima’s fingers with the tiniest little teeth, and as Kirishima gently placed the puppy on his bed, it stumbled over itself in its excitement to run free and explore. Its fur was all tan, save for its nose and a strip of brown on its chest, and its eyes were an impossibly bright color of blue.

The puppy beelined for Kirishima’s pillow and fell onto it in a flurry of kicking paws and nipping teeth.

“Talk," Bakugou demanded, tearing his eyes away from the dog and looking at Kirishima now, who watched the little puppy play with an adoring smile on his face.

Kirishima sighed and sat down on the floor by the edge of his bed with his back leaning against it before he pulled his knees up to his chest. He looked like he was too nervous to glance up at Bakugou, which was a first. The other boy had never seemed too fazed by him in the past, even when he was blazing mad and activating his quirk left and right.

“Please don’t tell anyone, man,” Kirishima begged again, his voice sounding pleading and pathetic.

Bakugou yanked his hands out of his pockets and crossed them over his chest as he leaned his hip against the desk. He didn’t say anything as he fixed Kirishima with a very pointed glare.

Kirishima rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck before he blurted out, like he just couldn’t wait another minute to tell someone, “I went down to the corner shop today to get some groceries and I saw him under a bush. He was crying out! And when he saw me, he kind of stumbled over and fell onto my shoe and started playing with my shoelace. He was so cute! I couldn’t just leave him there! I know Aizawa-sensei would have a fit if he knew, but I just need a few days! Just until I can… find him a home..."

The silence between them was only permeated by the sounds of the puppy wiggling around on the bed. It padded over to Kirishima and stepped onto his broad shoulder, but it was young and clumsy and probably a little stupid by the looks of it, and it slipped and fell face-first into Kirishima’s lap.

“So… are you going to tell on me?” Kirishima sounded defeated, and his shoulders slumped a little further.

Bakugou glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and watched the way he pat at the puppy’s head, and the way the puppy yawned over-dramatically before lapping eagerly at his fingers.

He looked away again and squeezed his eyes shut.

Fuck. No, he wasn’t going to tell. He couldn’t do that. Not to Kirishima, at least.

He didn’t know when it had happened. Perhaps it was all of their study sessions together, or perhaps it was how fearlessly Kirishima approached him even when he was in full-on rampage mode, or perhaps it was how effortlessly Kirishima’s presence fit into his life, or perhaps it was none of those things at all – but somewhere along the lines, Kirishima had become his friend.

His good friend.

Maybe even… a best friend, if he wanted to get fucking technical about it.

And despite Bakugou’s sour attitude and short-fused temper, he didn’t want Kirishima to be upset. He’d proven that time and time again; when he’d paid Kirishima back for those goggles, when he’d tried to encourage him not to talk down on himself during their internships, when he’d let go of his pride long enough to hold a hand out for help.

Bakugou reached up and pinched at the bridge of his nose, battling internally with himself, before he let out a frustrated groan.

“I’m not gonna tell anyone, you idiot,” he bit out. “But if someone fucking finds out, I don’t know shit about fuck, you hear me?”

He could already tell Kirishima was smiling – beaming, actually – could feel it even with his eyes squeezed tightly shut.

“Really?!” Kirishima balked, sounding positively radiant. “Aww, bro! You’re the best friend ever! I promise I won’t drag you down if I get caught! Ugh, you’re so manly!”

“Quit your yammering,” Bakugou snapped, and he dropped his hand back down to cross his arms over his chest again before he finally turned his attention back to the glowing redhead on the ground.

But Kirishima wasn’t looking at him anymore. He had grabbed the puppy up from his lap and was holding it over his head with both hands, grinning up at the little creature with bright shining eyes.

“You hear that? Bakugou’s gonna keep our secret! Which means you’re gonna stay with me for a little bit. I hope that’s alright.” Kirishima’s grin widened, if that was even possible.

Bakugou snorted at that. “It can’t talk, you idiot.”

Kirishima looked at him. “I know that, but still, puppies react positively when you talk to them!”

He turned the puppy around when it started trying to break free from his grasp and he placed it on the ground by his feet.

“Thanks, Bakugou…” Kirishima said, looking somber for a moment.

“I really needed…” He paused, seemed to hesitate, before he nodded firmly with tightly pursed lips. “Just, thanks.”

Bakugou rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

He felt a tug on his slipper and looked down to see that the puppy had meandered its way clumsily over to him, tripped on its own dumb feet, and landed snout-first onto his slipper, where it began to lazily gnaw at it. Bakugou pulled his foot away and the puppy hastily tried to follow.

“Fuck, piece of shit, leave me alone!” He tried to step away and the puppy ‘arf’ed again before leaping for him.

Kirishima laughed from his bedside. “Hey! I think he likes you, Bakugou!”

“Tough shit, I don’t like it!” Bakugou shouted. He put his foot under the puppy’s stomach and lifted it off the ground. Its' little feet dangled helplessly as it flailed around, trying and failing to nip at Bakugou’s exposed ankle.

“He kind of looks like you too! You have the same hair color!” Kirishima smiled and Bakugou glared at him.

“Are you comparing me to a fucking dog?” he snarled and flashed his teeth, and Kirishima blinked at him but chose - wisely - not to say anything.

The puppy finally tumbled off of Bakugou’s foot and onto the ground, but that didn’t deter it in the slightest as it scrambled back over to try and nip at Bakugou’s feet again.

And then, before either of them could even realize what was happening, the little puppy lifted its back leg and started to pee on Bakugou’s foot.

“YOU LITTLE SHIT!” Bakugou shouted, and he leaped away as he grabbed for the handle and yanked the door open. “FUCK! DISGUSTING!”

His hands shook by his sides as he stomped back over to his own room, only feeling more agitated when he heard Kirishima’s bellowing laugh echoing after him.

Compared to the life of a hero-in-training, which was filled with tests of strength both physical and mental, taking care of a puppy seemed like it would be a no-brainer.

Kirishima was confident that he could handle it. How hard could it really be?

But after the puppy had peed on his carpet for the third time, and he’d realized as night-time was fast approaching that he didn’t know what he was supposed to feed the little guy, he was starting to feel a little overwhelmed.

“Can’t you do that outside?! I opened the balcony doors for a reason!” Kirishima whined as the puppy piddled in the corner of his room again.

Thankfully, he had cleaned up everything off of his floor after the puppy had peed on Bakugou’s slipper, thinking that he’d rather clean the carpet than risk having his clothes or bookbag or homework smelling like pee.

“It’s all concrete out there! I wouldn’t even have to clean it up, just let it dry up on its own!” he continued to rant to no-one in particular as he unraveled more paper towels and set to work cleaning up the little puddle. He was growing more and more thankful that his mothers had forced him to take all of these cleaning supplies with him when they had moved him into the dorm building.

The puppy watched him clean up the puddle before he wiggled his butt theatrically and pounced at Kirishima’s hands. Kirishima laughed and hardened one of them, letting it flop to the ground so the puppy could nibble and tug at it.

He was so cute – Kirishima felt his heart swell with love and happiness at the sight of him. What a precious little baby. He couldn’t even be mad about the pee, though his room was starting to stink a little bit.

He was thankful that none of his friends ever really came to hang out in there. Usually, he was either down in the common area with the others or hanging out in Bakugou’s room.

Bakugou.

Kirishima glanced at the wall that separated his room from his explosive neighbor, and he stared at it curiously. It wasn’t like he thought Bakugou was evil or anything, though the guy did have a ferocious temper, but when he had considered the possibility of sneaking the puppy up to his room, he had tried to be extra careful not to catch the other boy's attention. He had just assumed with how brash and short-tempered Bakugou could be that he would have ratted him out instantly.

Which, looking back, was a horrible thing to think about his friend.

Bakugou may be selfish when it came to his hero training, which was to be expected of a guy who had such high ambitions and expectations of himself, but he wasn’t cruel. He obviously didn’t want to get Kirishima in trouble, which made Kirishima’s heart thunder in his chest in a very unexpected way.

It was easy being friends with Bakugou, despite how contradictory that probably sounded.

All-in-all, Bakugou was a fairly simple guy to figure out. He cared about becoming the number one hero and won’t stop at anything to achieve his goals, he was fiercely competitive and took on every challenge that came his way, and he didn’t like being picked on or being made fun of - even if it was in a harmless, teasing sort of way - because he probably couldn’t really tell the difference.

Over the course of the past few months, Kirishima had paid extra close attention to Bakugou Katsuki, and he’d noticed a lot of things.

He’d noticed that Bakugou was an amazing cook, for one thing.

Just show him a recipe, even one he’d never seen before, and Bakugou could execute it perfectly. But he wasn’t a strong baker, which seemed to piss him off more than when he was pissed about hero stuff. Like he couldn’t stand not being able to bake a cake or something, which was ridiculous, considering how tough and brash Bakugou was. Who cared if his cookies came out a little flat?

But Bakugou did. He cared a great deal. And Kirishima found that endearing.

What else?

He’d noticed that Bakugou was a real listener.

As much as he liked getting himself all riled up and screaming, whenever he wasn’t exploding, Bakugou was generally pretty quiet in most social situations. He just sat and observed and watched, and yeah okay, sometimes he’d scoff or roll his eyes or make a face, but he paid attention to everything going on around him, even when he tried to feign disinterest.

He picked up on things, long before Kirishima himself could ever hope to, and Kirishima could practically see him storing bits and pieces of information away for later. He was always learning.

But the one thing that Kirishima had noticed, above everything else, was how much Bakugou cared.

For a guy who tried to act like everything was beneath him, Bakugou cared about a lot of things. More so than anyone else in class, Kirishima was certain of it.

Bakugou cared when the students in other classes talked about 1-A – had witnessed him exploding and yelling at random students when they tried to talk down about any of them, even if they hadn’t been talking about Bakugou directly. He cared about how the others saw him, even if he tried to act like he was above such things, and he wore his concern bare on his sleeve for anyone to see, if they cared enough to look.

Being friends with Bakugou was easy.

As long as he was honest, and didn’t try to bullshit him or play dumb, Bakugou took everything in stride just as easily as anything else he did in his life.

Kirishima smiled at the wall that hid Bakugou’s room from sight. All he really had to do with Bakugou was be patient. Be patient when he threw a tantrum and yelled about whatever he cared so much about that he allowed himself to be so upset about it. Be patient and really listen to what he was saying, because at the end of the day, Bakugou was an open book. He wore his emotions so plainly.

If he was upset, Kirishima would know it. If he was content, Kirishima would know it. If he was agitated, or concerned, or nervous, Kirishima would know it.

And if he was happy?

Kirishima thought about their study sessions together. Sometimes they’d be in the dorms, sometimes they’d be at a diner, it didn’t really matter where they ended up. And Bakugou would be moody and grumpy like he always was. But sometimes he’d smile. Sometimes he’d laugh at the way Kirishima would get flustered over a simple math problem. And it wouldn’t be in a mean way. Kirishima could feel it in his chest as he’d watch the other boy smile over the rim of his soda. He’d roll his eyes and smirk and he’d say something like, you’re such an idiot, or, god you’re hopeless, aren’t you?

And it would never feel like a dig, or a jab, or an insult. It’d always be said so casually, almost… tenderly. Almost fondly.

Kirishima’s grin widened.

It was so obvious when Bakugou was happy. He smiled easily. He laughed with his whole body. It was such an amazing thing, to see him laugh. Mesmerizing, almost. And Kirishima felt privileged that he was allowed to see Bakugou like that. Totally relaxed and at ease in his presence.

“Ow!” Kirishima winced as the puppy’s baby teeth dug into his pinky and he reflexively yanked his hand away. He must have let up on his quirk at some point.

He looked over at the puppy, who plopped down in a clumsy manner and cocked his head curiously at Kirishima’s exclamation, and he sighed.

“You’re probably hungry, aren’t you?”

The puppy looked at him, his little tail wiggled left and right for a moment before he fell back on his butt and ‘arf’ed, throwing his whole head into his bark, before his tongue flopped out the side of his mouth.

Kirishima gnawed on his bottom lip. What was he supposed to feed him? He hadn’t even thought to grab any sort of puppy food. Did the corner shop even sell stuff like that? He rubbed his hands over his face and sighed again.

Being a mother was exhausting.

The frantic knock at his door made Bakugou’s head snap up and he squinted at it suspiciously. Who the fuck was trying to talk to him so late at night?

But of course, he already knew the answer. It had to be the only person brave enough (or stupid enough, Bakugou wasn’t sure there was much of a difference) to ever come knocking at his door.

He sighed loudly and stood up from his desk where he’d been doing homework before he stomped barefoot over to it. His piss-soaked slippers were still in the wash.

As soon as he opened the door and saw the sheepish worried look on Kirishima’s face, Bakugou really had to fight the urge not to slam it shut again.

“What?” he snapped, pointedly ignoring the squirming ball of fluff in Kirishima’s hands.

“I… I need your help,” Kirishima said, and he laughed breathlessly as his cheeks tinged with pink color. “I don’t… know what I'm supposed to feed him.”

Bakugou’s eyes snapped down to look at the puppy. It was staring at him with its big stupid blue eyes and it wiggled around frantically, desperate to be let down. Bakugou looked back up at Kirishima again.

“That sounds like a 'you' problem," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Kirishima blanched at that. “C’mon man! He’s probably starving! He has to eat something! Please just help me with this, I won’t ask you for anything else ever again!”

Bakugou highly fucking doubted that. He glared and clicked his tongue against his teeth impatiently.

“What do you expect me to do about it?” he argued. “I don’t fucking know anything about dogs.”

Kirishima shifted around anxiously on the balls of his feet. “Well… I was thinking, maybe… you could make him something? I read online that you can feed dogs rice and it won’t upset their stomachs, as long as there’s nothing else on it or anything. It’s a good replacement meal until I can go out tomorrow morning and buy him some proper food!”

Bakugou blinked at him. He must not have heard him right, because what he was asking of him was absolutely ridiculous.

“You want me to fucking cook food for a dog?” He raised an eyebrow and he couldn’t help but find the entire situation incredibly amusing. The puppy squirming more and more in Kirishima’s hands, Kirishima’s concerned and flustered appearance, and the suggestion of Bakugou going through the trouble of preparing a meal for a dog; it was almost fucking laughable.

“Please man! You know I’d do anything for you, can you please just help me with this!” Kirishima held his breath and his cheeks puffed out defiantly as he cradled the dog closer to his chest.

“I want to be a good dog owner…” he mumbled quietly through tight lips.

Bakugou snarled and rolled his eyes, already feeling his stubborn grip on his self-restraint starting to loosen, as it always seemed to fucking do whenever Kirishima came asking for help with dumb shit. “You’re telling me you can’t even make rice on your own?”

Kirishima blinked at him and shrugged awkwardly. “I… I don’t know. You’re so much better at cooking, and I’m really nervous right now. I just know I’ll screw it up and I don’t want to screw it up!”

Bakugou grimaced. He fucking hated when Kirishima talked like that about himself. All self-deprecating and hateful and shit.

“If you tell anyone about this, I will kill you,” Bakugou stated firmly.

Kirishima’s face exploded into a bright smile and he looked like he might actually burst from excitement.

“Thanks, Bakugou! Aw man, you’re the best, you know that? You’re such an awesome guy! I’m so lucky to have a friend like you!” He beamed and the puppy nipped at his fingers, oblivious to the conversation happening in front of it.

Bakugou snorted as he stepped out into the hallway.

“You’re damn right you’re fucking lucky,” he snarked as he shoved his hands into his pockets and started for the kitchen.

He prepared the rice in the school's rice cooker, scoffing every few minutes at the increasingly ridiculous idea that he was wasting valuable food just for some shit-eating mongrel, before he dumped it onto a paper plate and started back upstairs with it.

He froze for a moment when he noticed Dunceface and ScotchTape coming out of the baths and heading for the elevator at the same time as him.

“What up, Bakugou!” Kaminari exclaimed loudly before his eyes landed on the plate of rice.

“Midnight snack?” he asked as they all piled into the elevator. Sero hit the third-floor button and Bakugou hit the fourth.

He only grunted in response and kept his eyes glued to the stainless steel doors in front of him, his free hand shoved deep in his pocket to clench tight fingers around the fabric.

“A little bland, don’t you think?” Sero asked as he peered curiously at the plate. “Don’t you usually, like, heap it full of spicy stuff?”

Bakugou glared harder at the closed doors.

“’S fine like this," he grumbled, hoping that would be the end of the conversation.

It wasn’t, of course. His classmates were so fucking insufferable sometimes.

“Why is it on a plate?” Kaminari asked, and before Bakugou could stop him, he’d reached out and snagged a couple of rice bits with his bare fingers before popping them into his mouth. His face screwed up in confusion. “What the hell? You didn’t even put butter on it or anything?”

Sero was starting to look more and more suspicious the longer this interaction continued to go on for, and Bakugou tried to keep his rapidly mounting anger in check. It wouldn’t do any of them any good if he exploded the elevator and sent them flying back down to the ground floor.

“Just fuck off and mind your own damn business,” Bakugou snapped, and his grip on the plate tightened defensively.

“You’re such a weird guy,” Kaminari remarked casually with a forceful shake of his head. Water droplets flew from his damp hair and landed on Bakugou’s cheek, and Bakugou saw red.

Before he had the time to explode Kaminari’s stupid face off, though, Sero cut in.

“Have you seen Kirishima today?” He looked at Bakugou with a very pointed gaze, as though he were trying to figure something out.

Bakugou sneered at that and tried not to look back at him.

“No," he lied easily.

“I tried texting him earlier but he never responded. I wonder what he’s up to,” Kaminari mused out loud, oblivious to Sero’s increasingly dubious stare and Bakugou’s ever growing frustration. Kaminari bumped Sero’s shoulder with his own. “Maybe we should go check on him.”

“No!” Bakugou shouted before he could stop himself.

Sero’s eyes widened and Kaminari scowled in confusion. “What? Why not?”

Bakugou’s brain stuttered to come up with a logical explanation for that. Fuck. His fingers tightened even harder on the paper plate and it started to bend, all the rice slowly falling towards the center.

“He’s mad at you," was all he could think to say.

“HAH?” Kaminari looked frantic now. “ME?! What did I do?”

Bakugou clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth and relaxed into the lie. He’d never been one for lying, he’d rather be straight-forward and brutally honest with people because why the hell should he care if their feelings got hurt by the truth? But he’d given Kirishima his word that he wouldn’t rat him out, and he was man enough to stand by that.

“Don’t know, don’t care," he muttered before he shrugged a nonchalant shoulder. “Maybe 'cause you’re an idiot.”

Kaminari slumped back against the wall and he looked incredibly flustered by this news.

“Oh man, I can’t even think of what it might be. I must have said something really stupid and not even realized it. Aw man!” He slapped his forehead with an audible sound that echoed throughout the elevator.

Sero was still staring at Bakugou, not looking totally convinced, and Bakugou worked hard to not look back at him.

Before they could say anything else, however, the door opened on the third floor and they stepped out into the hallway. Kaminari was still grumbling frantically, trying to remember anything he might’ve said or done that would have upset Kirishima, and Sero assured him - far more confidently than Bakugou would have liked - that he was certain that Kirishima wasn’t mad at him.

Bakugou pressed the button to close the elevator doors over and over, but it still felt like it took ages for them to finally slide shut.

“Stop! Let it go! C’mon man, if Bakugou sees you doing this, he won’t ever make you food again! Or me, for that matter!” Kirishima gripped the waistband of Bakugou’s shorts and tugged on them, but that only spurred the puppy on to grip harder and give a mighty shake of his head, which turned into a shake of his whole body.

“Let. It. GO!” Kirishima yelled and he finally ripped the shorts out of the puppy’s mouth. He quickly examined the pant leg and sighed in frustration when he noticed the little pinprick hole the puppy had made.

“Great! Now look what you did,” he grumbled in dejection.

The puppy seemed completely unfazed by Kirishima’s distress as he padded across the room and nudged at Bakugou’s bookbag, burying his head inside the open front pouch.

“Hey!” Kirishima yelled when he noticed where the puppy had gotten to.

He tossed the shorts into Bakugou’s closet, hoping the other boy wouldn’t notice them at least for a few days, before he scrambled to his knees and reached over to grab the puppy around the midsection and pull him away from the bag.

When the puppy’s head emerged again, he was gnawing happily on a pencil. Kirishima groaned and tried to take it away from him, but the puppy bit down so hard in an attempt to keep it for himself that it snapped in two.

The door opened behind him, and Kirishima jumped and turned just as Bakugou stepped back into his room with a paper plate full of rice in his hands. Bakugou froze upon seeing the scene in front of him and he glared accusingly.

“Are you serious?!" he yelled as he slammed his door shut and put the plate on the floor.

As soon as he did, the puppy scrambled away from Kirishima’s hands and bounded towards it. He was running too quickly to stop, though, and he stumbled and fell face-first into the rice, scattering some of the pieces off the plate as he happily munched on it. His tail wagged faster than Kirishima had ever seen it wag before.

“Aww! He’s so happy!” Kirishima smiled, but it quickly fell off his face as Bakugou stomped around the puppy and snatched up the two halves of his broken pencil. “S-sorry, I didn’t realize what he was doing until… I can buy you a new one! Or a whole pack of them!”

Bakugou stared hard at the two pieces of wood before he tossed them onto his desk and sank down into his chair.

“’S whatever," he finally assessed as he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest in an agitated huff. He glanced at the puppy out of the corner of his eye and Kirishima followed his gaze.

The puppy’s butt wiggled happily as he hit the plate with his front paws and watched the rice jump and scatter, before he hurried to chase after the little pieces and snatched them up with loud audible bites.

“He seems to really like it!” Kirishima observed before he grinned sheepishly at Bakugou again. “Thanks man, I owe you one.”

Bakugou glared at him for that. “Yeah, you do. I can’t believe I wasted good rice on a dog.”

“Aww, c’mon, he’s so cute though!” Kirishima grinned brightly. “Don’t you think he’s cute?”

Bakugou glanced over at the puppy again but his face remained impressively neutral and impassive as he watched him scarf up his food. Finally, he shrugged a shoulder and huffed.

“I’ve seen cuter," he stated stubbornly.

Kirishima shook his head and laughed. “Cuter than him? I doubt it!”

Bakugou turned his attention back to Kirishima.

“How long are you gonna keep it for, anyway?” he asked.

Kirishima frowned at that as he looked over at the puppy. He knew it was silly, he couldn’t keep the little guy forever, no matter how tightly his chest squeezed at the thought of having to give him up. He was just so cute! And happy! And playful! Kirishima wanted to keep him so badly.

But he knew it would be impossible to.

With his hero training, schoolwork, internship, and now his provisional license, there was just no time left in the day to take care of a puppy. Even if he did make an effort to feed it and walk it and everything, the puppy deserved to be with a family that would have plenty of free time to spoil him and maybe take him to the park and train him to do tricks. Kirishima would be depriving him of a happy life if he kept the little guy locked away in his dorm room day in and day out.

The squeezing in his chest grew tighter and he bit his lip as the hot sensation of tears burned behind his eyes.

“Oh my god,” Bakugou scoffed incredulously before he kicked at Kirishima’s knee. “Are you fucking crying? You haven’t even had the thing for a whole day yet!”

Kirishima reached up and wiped hurriedly at his eyes.

“I’m not crying, shut up! You’re crying!” he grumbled with embarrassment.

God, he was such a sap. He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep the dog, even when he’d made the decision to take him back to the dorms. But a part of him, a very small part of him, had maybe convinced himself that he could.

Bakugou rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “You’re such an idiot.”

Kirishima continued to rub aggressively at his eyes before he took a deep breath to steady himself. Once he felt more in control, he let his hands drop down into his lap and he frowned again. “I know… sorry. I just… really like puppies.”

“Tch. Duh, everybody likes puppies,” Bakugou growled impatiently.

Kirishima looked over at him, and a little smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “Even you?”

Bakugou’s eyes widened at that before he scowled hard and waved a dismissive hand at the question instead of answering it.

They listened to the sound of the puppy munching on the rice when everything fell silent again. At first, Kirishima didn’t think much of it as he tugged at a loose strand on his basketball shorts and thought gloomily about having to give the puppy up.

And then he heard the sound of a light stream.

“What the – why the fuck does it keep doing that!” Bakugou exploded as he leaped up from his chair.

Kirishima jumped at the commotion, and he looked over in time to notice the puppy piddling half on the mostly empty plate and half on Bakugou’s floor. He watched as Bakugou bent and scooped the puppy up - holding him at arm’s length like he was a bomb or something - before he stomped over to his balcony, threw the door open, and placed the puppy down onto the concrete outside.

“Outside!” Bakugou yelled angrily, a vein on his neck straining as he placed his hands on his hips and glared down at the little puppy. “You do that outside, you damn idiot!”

Kirishima got to his feet and walked over to stand beside him, grinning at Bakugou’s scolding tone. He sounded like a parent – so domestic, and it made Kirishima’s heart squirm for some reason or another.

The puppy stared up at the pair of them with his head tilted to the side in wonder, before he jumped up to his feet and happily padded around the balcony, sniffing everything as he went. Bakugou watched him with glaring eyes that followed his every move when suddenly the puppy squatted into the corner and started to take a shit.

Kirishima clapped his hands over his mouth in shock and his eyes darted to assess Bakugou's reaction, who looked murderous for a moment before he huffed angrily in defeat.

“See? Outside!” he yelled again, pointing a stern finger at the puppy, who stared right back at him as he continued to poop. Bakugou turned on Kirishima and demanded, “You’re cleaning that up!”

Kirishima laughed; he couldn’t help it. “You got him to go to the bathroom outside! That was so awesome!”

Bakugou blinked in surprise at that before he glanced at the puppy, at the pile of fresh shit, and then back at Kirishima.

“What? You haven’t been taking it outside when it went to the bathroom?” he yelled, and now he looked perplexed.

Kirishima’s smile faltered and he blinked back at him with the same amount of bewilderment.

“Should I have been? I left the balcony door open for him,” he mused as he lifted a finger to his cheek. “But I guess he hadn’t really been going out there on his own.”

Bakugou snarled an impatient, frustrated sound. “Of course it wouldn’t! It doesn’t know how yet! You have to show it what to do, you idiot! That’s how they learn!”

Kirishima continued to blink at him before he smiled again. “Bakugou? Did you look up how to take care of a puppy?”

Bakugou didn’t have to lie, the blush that appeared on his cheeks was more than telling.

“No! Why would I do something stupid like that!” Bakugou yelled anyway, indignant as he crossed his arms.

Kirishima poked him in the chest and Bakugou swatted his hand away.

“You did! Admit it! You were looking up stuff, weren’t you?” Kirishima was positively gleeful. He couldn’t imagine Bakugou sitting on his bed with his laptop, reading articles on how to take care of a puppy.

“Aww, Bakugou! You love him!” Kirishima teased, because he just couldn’t help it. It was such a cute thing to do and his chest squeezed and felt warm at the very thought of it.

“Shut the fuck up, I just don’t want it to keep pissing on my shit!” Bakugou roared and his face was almost the same shade as Kirishima’s hair at this point.

“What did the articles say?” Kirishima asked, now genuinely curious. “I’ve never had a dog before, even though I’ve always wanted one, but I don’t know anything about how to train one. I’m sure it must be difficult.”

Bakugou looked conflicted at that. Like he wanted to gloat about how he knew what to do but his embarrassment of confessing to what must feel like a high-level crime to him was preventing him from doing so.

Without a word, he turned on his heels and disappeared back into his room. Kirishima blinked after his retreating figure, suddenly feeling guilty for picking on him so much, since he knew how much Bakugou seemed to vehemently hate it. But those thoughts disappeared quickly when Bakugou returned with his laptop clutched tight in his hands.

He shoved the laptop into Kirishima's chest without looking at him.

Kirishima steadied the laptop on his forearm and peered at the article displayed on Bakugou’s computer screen. It was pretty detailed for some random post on a random website, talking about using treats as encouragement for training, picking the puppy up and moving it to a preferred spot when it tried to pee somewhere it wasn’t supposed to, and how to provide positive feedback when the puppy did something good – even if that good thing was taking a shit on Bakugou’s balcony.

“This is all really great stuff, dude!” Kirishima chirped happily as he scanned the article.

He glanced up from the screen for a moment and almost fell over when he realized that Bakugou had taken it upon himself to clean up the shit – paper towel in hand as he bent over it with a disgusted look marring his features.

“Fucking hell, dogs are so fucking gross,” Bakugou complained loudly as he cleaned up the mess.

The puppy sat next to him and stared up at Bakugou with a happy expression on his face. Kirishima thought the little guy looked pretty proud of himself. The puppy lumbered to his feet and took a hesitant step closer, stretching his neck out cautiously before he licked at Bakugou’s wrist.

Bakugou froze completely and his hand stalled in its work. He glanced uneasily at the puppy out of the corner of his eye and the puppy wagged his tail and continued to lick eagerly at Bakugou’s arm when he wasn't immediately reprimanded for it.

After another moment of tense silence, Bakugou's strained muscles relaxed before he gently - more gently than Kirishima had ever witnessed him behaving before - pushed the puppy away from him.

“Ge’off me, fucker," he grumbled, but there was no malice in his voice.

In fact, Kirishima was almost certain he heard the same note of fondness that Bakugou used whenever he called Kirishima an idiot.

“He must like the smell of your sweat,” Kirishima commented with a grin.

Bakugou froze again at that before he turned to look over his shoulder at him. “The fuck did you just say?”

Kirishima blanched as he laughed sheepishly. “Uhh, sorry. I mean, the nitroglycerin? It smells… like burnt sugar so, I mean, he probably… likes that.”

Bakugou blinked at him and Kirishima felt like he starting to sweat. God, what an awkward thing to say to your best friend. Maybe he really was an idiot, like Bakugou said.

But instead of responding, Bakugou merely huffed and turned back to finish what he was doing.

Kirishima let out a quiet sigh of relief, thankful to have been spared Bakugou’s furious wrath, before he turned back to the article on the computer.

For a second, just a second, his eyes darted up to the open tabs on Bakugou’s web browser at the top of the screen. He hadn’t meant to, it was just a reflex, and he skimmed each tab. One looked like some kind of forum for dog owners, appropriately titled Wiggle-Butt Dog Facts, and one was pulled open to some hero video of All Might judging by the titled display, and then –

Kirishima gasped without meaning too and slammed the laptop closed, swallowing hard.

Bakugou jumped at the noise and turned on him again.

“What?” he snapped, looking angry at having been startled so easily.

Kirishima shook his head and tried to keep eye contact with him. “N-nothing! Sorry! I didn’t mean to slam it so hard, ha-ha! I’ll just put it back in your room, okay?”

Bakugou gave him a weird look, but Kirishima didn’t have the time to analyze what it could possibly mean as he hurried back into Bakugou's room and carefully placed the laptop down on his desk next to a stack of notebooks.

He turned back around just as Bakugou trailed inside after him holding the puppy in one arm and a wad of paper towels in the other.

“Here,” he grumbled, extending the puppy towards Kirishima as the little guy struggled and wiggled to get down again.

Kirishima took the puppy from him and smiled before he cradled him close to his chest. He was so damn soft and fluffy, and his puppy breath spread across Kirishima’s face as he eagerly tried to lick at his cheeks and nose. Kirishima’s heart felt like it might burst as he snuggled him even closer.

“Uuugh, I love this little guy so much!” he announced happily before he looked at Bakugou again.

He was surprised to find that Bakugou was still standing in the balcony doorway, staring at him. He didn’t even look angry or annoyed or anything as he watched Kirishima cuddle the puppy. It was so quick, just for a second, but it almost seemed like Bakugou was smiling.

And just as quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared under a steady scowl and a set of cautiously squinted eyes.

“Get out of my room,” he demanded bluntly as he threw the dirty paper towels into his wastebasket and finally slid the balcony door closed again. “It’s fucking midnight. I need to sleep.”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Kirishima faltered. He kind of wished that he didn't have to go back to his own room; he always had such a good time hanging out with Bakugou.

“Thanks for helping me today man, I really appreciate it. I was kind of panicking earlier," he laughed at himself and rubbed his free hand up and down the back of his neck. “Seriously, if you ever need anything from me, just ask!”

Bakugou rolled his eyes. “I need you to get out of my room so I can go to fucking sleep.”

Kirishima winced before he laughed again. “Okay, okay, you’re right. C’mon little guy.”

He reached down and picked up the somewhat pee-soaked plate and started for the door.

“Don’t go naming that thing!” Bakugou suddenly warned just as Kirishima was about to slip out into the hallway.

“Huh?” Kirishima looked back in at him with a frown. “Why not?”

Bakugou stared at him for a long time, and if Kirishima didn’t know any better, he’d say he looked vaguely concerned.

Finally, Bakugou sighed a harsh breath through his clenched teeth. “Cause if you do, it’ll just be harder for you to let it go when the time comes.”

Kirishima felt his spirits dip impossibly low at that and he turned his pout down to the floor. He knew that Bakugou was right, of course. Bakugou was always right. If he named the puppy now, then it’d just make it that much harder when he finally had to give him up.

“Yeah, I know,” he mumbled sadly. He stood in the doorway for a while, staring at the floor and feeling disheartened. It was only when Bakugou spoke again that he seemed to jolt back to reality.

“Kirishima."

“Yeah?”

“Get out of my fucking room.”

“Right! Sorry, sorry!” Kirishima quickly closed the door behind him before he hurried over to his own room, and he tried hard not to think about the gay porn tab he had spotted at the top of Bakugou's web browser.

The knock came far too early in the morning.

Bakugou snarled into his pillow, slowly pulled back into consciousness as the knocking persisted at his door. And of course, he already knew who it was.

Fuck. Why did Kirishima always have to bother him?

He shoved the blankets aside and swung his legs out of bed, glaring at the cold that instantly seeped into his bones before he stalked over to the door and ripped it open.

Kirishima stood in front of him with his hair messy and held back by a white headband, and there was a too-bright smile on his face for the hour that it currently was. The puppy panted happily in his hands. “Morning, Bakugou!”

Bakugou grunted and rubbed at his bloodshot eyes. “What the fuck? What time is it?”

Kirishima looked sheepish again. “Ah, yeah, sorry about that. It’s just… the puppy is hungry, and I need to go buy him some food. Yaknow, so you don’t have to keep using up your rice!”

“Okay?” Bakugou snarled impatiently, feeling more and more irritated the longer this conversation went on for.

It couldn’t be later than 7 o’clock, the damn sun was still in the process of rising, and Bakugou never got up earlier than noon on a day off. Kirishima knew this.

And yet, here the fuck he was.

“Well… I need one more favor, if it’s not too much trouble.” Kirishima rubbed at the back of his neck and Bakugou tensed on instinct

“What, Shitty-Hair?” he growled. His patience was already dangerously close to running out.

“Can you watch him while I run to the store?” Kirishima thrust the puppy into Bakugou’s face, and Bakugou blinked to refocus his hazy vision on it. The puppy’s tongue lulled out and it seemed to grin at him as it wagged its tail back and forth

“I tried to leave him alone in my room but… I didn’t even make it to the elevator before he started whining. If I leave him alone, someone might hear him and report him to Aizawa-sensei, and then they’d take him away!” Kirishima pouted hard at that thought.

“What a travesty that would be,” Bakugou grumbled under his breath as he continued to stare at the puppy in front of him.

“C’mon man, please? He isn’t a lot of trouble, honest! I think he just doesn’t like to be by himself. He gets lonely, you know? Or maybe he’s scared that I won’t come back or that I’ll abandon him like how he’d been abandoned by the corner store. Aw man, it breaks my heart just to think about it! I don’t want him to be sad! Please, Bakugou? I’ll be really quick, I promise, I won’t even stop to grab snacks, which… you know, I was thinking about it, but if you don’t want me to then I won’t. And if you need me to grab anything for you while I’m out, you can text me and I'll – “ and on and on and on he went.

Bakugou sighed and reached up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. Kirishima was so fucking considerate, it was a lot to take sometimes.

“Alright! Fuck!” Bakugou barked, instantly silencing Kirishima’s incessant ramblings. “I’ll look after the stupid dog for you.”

Kirishima lit up like a damn Christmas tree. “Thank you so much Bakugou! Really!”

“Whatever," Bakugou grumbled before he eyed the puppy with apparaising slits of red.

Kirishima pushed it closer to him in a prodding manner and Bakugou sighed before he took it into his own arms. He tried not to think about how fragile it felt, or how soft its fur was.

“What do I… fucking do with it?” He looked at Kirishima and raised an eyebrow.

Kirishima laughed at that, looking overjoyed and bursting with happiness. “Nothing crazy! Just, you know, play with him! Maybe snuggle him? He’s really cute when he gets tired out! He’ll curl right up into your armpit and sleep there, if you let him!”

Bakugou wrinkled his nose before he huffed and rolled his eyes.

“Do you need me to grab you anything while I’m out?” Kirishima asked, looking eager to pay him back for doing this favor.

Bakugou considered his offer for a minute.

“Rice," he grunted out pointedly. “To make up for what this little shit ate yesterday.”

Kirishima grimaced but his grin never wavered. “Sure thing! Anything else?”

Bakugou thought a little longer. “A puppy pad.”

Kirishima’s head tilted to the side curiously, and Bakugou was appalled at how closely that idiot resembled the puppy currently wiggling around in his arms. “What for?”

Bakugou glared at him. “Are you stupid? For when it has to go to the bathroom! You lay it out on the balcony and train it to do its fucking business on it. That way you don’t have to keep picking shit up every time.”

Kirishima considered this before he smiled again. “You’re so smart, Bakugou! I’m really lucky I have you to help me with this. I wouldn’t have even thought of that!”

“Yeah, 'cause you’re an idiot," Bakugou grumbled. The puppy wiggled more aggressively and tried to break free, so he put the little shitstain on the ground and watched as it stumbled away towards his desk, smelling everything as it went as if it hadn’t just been there a few hours ago.

“Right, right,” Kirishima laughed good-naturedly before he suddenly looked determined. “Okay! Food, rice, puppy pad! I’m on it! Thanks again man, I’ll be back before you know it!”

He turned and hurried away towards the elevator. Bakugou shook his head and ran his fingers through his messy hair before he closed the door.

He glanced towards the puppy and watched it wander aimlessly around his room.

First, it stopped by his closet to sniff at a pile of clothes on the floor, shoving its face deep into the t-shirt that Bakugou had worn yesterday before it turned and continued towards the destination of his desk. It bumped into a chair leg as it went, causing Bakugou's bookbag to shift, and at that, the puppy suddenly stilled and eyed the bag as if it had moved on its own free will.

Bakugou watched with subtly-masked growing amusement as the puppy bristled dangerously at the bag and let out a stern arf, butt in the air as it wiggled around before it slapped its front paws pathetically against the ground, still eyeing the bag and waiting expectantly for it to attack.

“You’re a fucking idiot too, aren’t you?” Bakugou asked the stupid little thing.

The puppy jumped at the sound of his voice and looked at him, instantly forgetting about the bag all together as it wagged its tail and then started over for him, instead.

“Oh no you don’t,” Bakugou grunted as he leaped out of the way and jumped onto his bed. “You’re not gonna piss on me again, shitstain.”

He watched as the puppy followed his movements along the edge. It grinned up at him as it tried to jump up onto the bed, which wasn’t a very hard thing to do, it’s not like the bed was high off the ground or anything, but the puppy was still far too small to achieve something like that.

Still, it tried again and again, desperate and persistent as it jumped and clawed at the side of his mattress before stumbling back down to the ground.

“Leave me alone,” Bakugou huffed as he fell back into his sheets and tried to get comfy.

ARF!

“Hey!” Bakugou snapped on reflex. He rolled on his side to glare down at the puppy, who merely wagged its tail in response; happy to be receiving attention again. Bakugou pointed a stern finger at it. “Shut the fuck up. You’re a fugitive from the law here, which means you need to be fucking quiet before someone hears you.”

The puppy looked at him for a long moment as though it might actually understand him before it huffed loudly and ran at the bed, trying - and failing - to jump up again.

“Just fucking… go play or some shit," Bakugou griped tiredly as he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

ARF!

“Holy shit.”

Bakugou reached out blindly, eyes still closed, and snagged the puppy by one of its front legs before he dragged it over and lifted it up onto the bed. He dropped it down next to him carelessly as he rolled over onto his back again, trying desperately to get a few more hours of sleep.

His eyes stung behind his eyelids, and he cursed Kirishima for waking him up so damn early on a fucking Saturday.

Something wet touched his neck and Bakugou jumped before he opened his eyes to see that the puppy had crawled up on his pillow and was staring down at him with a stupid look on its face.

Bakugou gazed up into its bright blue eyes and sighed a harsh breath out his flaring nostrils.

“You’re just as annoying as he is, you know that?”

The puppy merely licked at his nose in lieu of a response.

Kirishima eyed the puppy food uncertainly, his heart racing a little in his chest.

He hadn’t realized how many different brands or types of puppy food there were, and he was suddenly feeling very unqualified to make this kind of a purchase. In one hand, he held a plastic bag with the rice in it for Bakugou, and in the other he held his phone, debating whether or not he should text the blond and ask him if he knew what type of puppy food he was supposed to be buying.

Thankfully, someone who worked at the store must have spotted him struggling, because they bounced over happily and asked, “Do you need help with anything?”

Kirishima looked at the girl. She was probably around his age, maybe a little older, with long auburn hair pulled back into a ponytail and a soft kind smile.

“Uh, yeah, I have… a puppy," he finished lamely.

The girl giggled and glanced at the food Kirishima had been eyeing before she looked back at him. “I kind of gathered that much. What kind of puppy is it?”

Kirishima frowned. Huh, he’d never really bothered to try and figure that out. “Uuh, I don’t actually know. He’s tan and he’s really little. Maybe… 8 or 9ish months or something? I'm not really sure...”

The girl nodded intently as she turned toward the selection of foods, passing over the canned options (which Kirishima was thankful for because he hadn’t realized just how expensive puppy food could be) before she reached up and tugged down a little bag of small pebble dry food. She handed it to him with a beaming smile. “Here! This one should be perfect! It's a bland diet, just in case he might be allergic to anything or maybe has a sensitive stomach. If he’s a purebred, he might have trouble digesting some of the more creative flavors.”

Kirishima blinked in surprise. She really knew what she was talking about. Although that was silly to think, he winced, considering she worked in a pet store.

“Thanks so much, I was really struggling for a minute.” He pocketed his phone before he reached out and took the bag from her.

“No problem, it’s kind of my job." She laughed and showed a row of straight, white teeth. “Do you need help finding anything else? I really don’t mind.”

Kirishima thought she was looking at him for a little too long. Maybe she recognized him from the Sports Festival? He tried to remain casual. He was probably just looking too far into it. “A puppy pad? My friend told me it was important for potty training? We live in an… apartment, type place, so there’s not a lot of grass for him to go on.”

The girl nodded knowingly and started for a different aisle, waving at him to follow. “Your friend must have done her research! Puppy pads are amazing for that kind of thing.”

Kirishima thought about correcting her, but he quickly pushed it down. Who cared if she thought his friend was a girl? It wasn’t like he was ever going to see her again.

“Yeah! At first they didn’t really seem into the whole puppy thing, but it slipped out that they’d been reading up on it, which I thought was really cute.”

Cute? The thought of describing Bakugou as cute was a little alarming, but he tried to let it slide.

They arrived in an aisle a few rows down from the food and the girl thumbed through a couple of the puppy pads out on display before she pulled down two different kinds. “There’s a scented one and a non-scented one, you can pick whichever works best for you. Some people like the scented one, but personally, I just find that it ends up mixing with the pee smell and it makes everything a bit worse. But it’s totally up to you and your girlfriend!”

Kirishima nearly tripped over his own feet at that assumption.

“Oh! No! They’re not – I mean, I don’t – “ he stuttered awkwardly and tried to remember how to breathe.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,” he finally got out through a stream of nervous chuckles.

“Oh,” the girl said, and she seemed to perk up a bit at that.

Kirishima eyed the two puppy pads being presented to him and he tried to think about which one Bakugou would want. It was going to be out on the balcony, so even if it smelled like pee, it wouldn’t really matter, right? And it wasn’t like they were going to be keeping the dog forever. Probably just until Monday when classes started again, so did it even make sense to get the scented one?

He grabbed the non-scented one, because it was cheaper. “This one will work just fine.”

The girl hummed in agreement before she put the other puppy pad away and then turned back to smile up at him. “Anything else?”

Kirishima glanced at the items in his hands before he shook his head. “I don’t think so, that’s probably it.”

The girl frowned at that and bounced on the balls of her feet. “Not even any toys? A puppy should always have some toys to play with!”

Kirishima blinked in surprise at that suggestion. He hadn’t even thought about getting the puppy toys to play with. It would definitely make it easier to distract him from chewing on everything else in the room. He nodded with an enthusiastic grin.

“Yeah! Toys would be awesome, thanks! I didn’t even think of that.” He winced and looked at her sheepishly. “I’ve… never had a dog before. But I’ve always wanted one, ever since I was a little kid.”

The girl smiled and her eyes looked warm at the confession. “That’s so cute! You’ll get the hang of it, nobody knows everything their first time around.”

She waved him on to follow her again towards the toy aisle, talking animatedly about all of the different kinds of toys that he could buy.

“You could get one with a squeaker in it, the more vocal dogs like huskies really like those because they like to hear the sound that it makes. Or you could get some that are made of bone and tougher material, depending on the size of the breed and how strong their jaws are. A rottweiler or a pitbull can tear through a stuffed animal really easy, so it’s best to avoid those kinds of toys.”

“He’s really little, I don’t think he’s any of those breeds," Kirishima mused out loud.

“Then maybe just some small ropes or a ball!” She beamed as she rushed over to the shelves and picked out a little rope toy and a purple bouncing ball and then a stuffed animal in the shape of a squirrel.

“These would be perfect,” she said happily as she passed them over to him.

“Thanks a lot for your help!” He smiled back at her. “I really appreciate it.”

“No problem,” she said, and then, very boldly, “You could always… make it up to me on a date? Maybe tonight? I get off work at six.”

Kirishima’s brain stopped working entirely. Like, completely shut down. He stared at her with wide unblinking eyes, and he barely even registered that he was holding anything anymore. She was asking him out on a date?

Kirishima shifted around on the balls of his feet, wondering vaguely why he didn’t feel more excited about this. She was a very pretty girl, super bubbly and willing to help, and she loved animals! Isn’t that exactly the kind of person that Kirishima should try to date?

“Uh,” he gaped at her stupidly and struggled to make his brain work again. Say something you idiot, anything!

“I’m gay.” Okay, maybe don’t say that.

The girl's eyes widened for a second before she suddenly burst out laughing as her cheeks blushed with faint color.

“Oh! Oh my god! I’m so sorry! I should have – “ She shook her head and smiled endearingly. “Right, not a girlfriend, a boyfriend, I’m so sorry! You’re just so cute and sweet, but I guess that probably should have been my heads up, right?”

Kirishima forced himself to relax, but it was difficult. Great. Now she thought Bakugou was his boyfriend. Oh god.

“Sorry, I… I’ve never actually said that out loud before.” He suddenly realized.

“Woah! Well, I feel very privileged then,” she smiled warmly at him, and it helped to melt away the last bits of the tension in Kirishima’s shoulders. “I didn’t mean to drag it out of you, of course, but I hope you know I’m not mad or… upset, or whatever someone might be. I’m glad you told me instead of snuffing me, that always hurts.”

Kirishima nodded in agreement, and he really tried not to fret still about the fact that she thought the friend that Kirishima had been referring to, that Bakugou, was his boyfriend because honestly it didn’t even matter. She was never going to see him again and she would never meet Bakugou and if she did, how would she even know it was the same person? He was worrying over nothing.

But even as he followed her up to the counter to get checked out, he couldn’t help but remember the gay porn tab he had seen pulled up on Bakugou’s web browser the night before.

It seemed like such a silly question, all things considered, but was Bakugou really gay? Kirishima supposed that he's never really shown any interest in the girls at their school, but then again, he’d never really shown any interest in anyone. And there were a fair amount of attractive people that went to their school.

Maybe he just didn’t consider any of them to be good enough for him. Bakugou had pretty high standards, after all. It wouldn’t be very surprising.

Kirishima gave his head a forceful shake and tried not to think about it anymore. It was weird that he was even hyperfixating on it like this at all.

“What’s your dog’s name?” the girl asked as she finished scanning his items and reached for the money that he held out for her.

“Um,” he hesitated to answer that question before he sighed openly.

He’d already told this stranger that he was gay so it’s not like letting her know that the dog wasn’t actually going to be his was any big dilemma, he supposed.

“Actually, I’m trying not to name him. I found him abandoned outside and I’m just taking care of him until I can find him a new home.” His shoulders slumped a bit at the confession and he knew that he was probably pouting, which was so pathetic, but whatever.

He hated thinking about having to give the little guy up.

“Aww,” the girl frowned and looked down at the toys she’d just rung up with a guilty expressions. “I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have suggested… do you want to put the toys back?”

Kirishima looked at her with furrowed brows. “What? No! That’s okay, really. I want him to have them. He can always take them with him when he goes to his new owner. They’re his now!”

He cursed at himself when he felt the sting of tears return in his eyes again. Geez, what was wrong with him lately? He’d literally just found the dog yesterday and he was already so attached to him.

Damn, it was going to be hell when he finally had to say goodbye.

“Awww!” the girl exclaimed louder before she hurried around the counter and pulled him into a tight hug.

He collapsed against her shoulder and tried not to be too embarrassed about it, thankful for the comfort at least, even if it was from a stranger at the pet store.

“Sorry!” he huffed out with a little laugh at himself. “I’ve never had a dog before! I was really excited when I found him, but I guess I didn’t think about how hard it would be to say goodbye.”

The girl smiled into his shirt before she pulled back and looked up at him again. “That’s okay! My mom used to foster dogs when I was growing up, and I always cried when they left, even for the ones that didn’t particularly like me! They were just so cute, I wanted them to stick around forever!”

Kirishima smiled through watery eyes. “Yeah, he’s the best! Whoever takes him home is really going to be lucky.”

She nodded and went back around the counter to finished checking him out.

“Make sure you take lots of pictures!” she chirped as she bagged up the toys and puppy pad and food. “They grow up so fast, and you’ll definitely want to keep them! They might be hard to look at, but having them is so much better than not having any at all!”

He blinked across the counter at her. He hadn’t even thought to take any pictures.

“Yes!” he agreed with excitement. "Yes, I will! Thank you again, for everything, really!”

He grabbed up the bag waiting for him and took the rest of his change from her before he waved. “Goodbye! Have a good day!”

“You too! Give the little guy a squeeze for me!”

The walk back to the dorms was quiet as Kirishima thought over everything he’d just discussed with the girl at the pet store. His chest squeezed again at the reminder of having to give the puppy up soon, but he was excited to start taking some pictures, and even more excited to see the little guy's reaction to all of the toys that Kirishima had bought for him.

When he got to the front door of Heights Alliance, he stuffed the bag full of puppy stuff into the bag with the rice in an attempt to further hide away any evidence that he was keeping a dog in his room, before he carefully crept inside.

It was still pretty early on a Saturday morning, so most of his classmates were probably in bed.

He hurried for the elevator when he took a cursory look around the common area and deemed it sufficiently empty, and he hoped that Bakugou wouldn't be too agitated with him for making him wait so long.

The elevator pinged on the fourth floor and Kirishima stepped out into the hallway, his body buzzing with excitement to see the puppy again… and to see Bakugou, which was a little weird. He was always happy to see his best bro, of course, but this time felt different.

Or maybe he was just acutely aware of the fact that he was excited to see him and that’s why it felt so different.

He wanted to tell him everything the girl at the pet store had told him, about taking pictures and the toys, but that was normal, right? He’d always had a tendency to over share things when it came to Bakugou, and Bakugou had never really complained much about his ramblings before. He never told Kirishima to shut up or anything, so he assumed that the other boy must be okay with it.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he hadn’t even paused to knock on Bakugou’s door before he pushed it open and stepped inside.

Kirishima stopped short at the scene in front of him.

Bakugou was fast asleep again with one of his bent knees hanging precariously over the edge of the bed. He had an arm thrown up with a hand tucked under his head, his nose shoved deep into the crease of his elbow, and his other arm lay curved by his side. And curled up against his side in the crevice of that hooked elbow was the puppy, all stretched out with a stray paw resting on Bakugou’s shoulder and his little snout buried deep into the caramel-scented palm of Bakugou’s hand.

Kirishima’s heart squeezed so painfully, he almost thought he was having a heart attack. He had never seen anything so precious before in his entire life.

Take a picture.

The thought entered his head before he had the time to process it. Bakugou would probably kill him, but he couldn’t waste this moment. Not when he already knew that it would probably never happen again.

Carefully - so very carefully - he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. The bags in his hands crinkled, but neither Bakugou nor the puppy stirred at the sound. They were clonked out, lost in a shared peaceful slumber.

Kirishima lifted his phone and snapped a picture. And then a few more, just to be sure that he’d really captured the moment before he grinned widely and cradled the phone in his hands.

It was way too cute to be real.

Bakugou looked so relaxed and comfortable with his face all smoothed out, and the puppy looked like he couldn’t get any closer to him even if he tried. Kirishima bit his bottom lip and grinned down at the photo.

He would never delete it, he thought as he finally pocketed the phone again. Never, ever. No matter how badly Bakugou threatened him to.

He crept over to the desk and placed the bags down on top. The noise finally woke the puppy up and he gave into a deep stretch with a high-pitched yawn before he slowly clambered in a clumsy manner out of the Bakugou Den that he had settled down in before he gazed around the room with sleepy little eyes.

When he spotted Kirishima on the other side of the room, his tail thumped happily against Bakugou’s chest, causing the blond to stir and groan in annoyance as a crease developed on his forehead.

“Hey,” Kirishima greeted as though he had just gotten back.

“I got some stuff from the store!” He proudly gestured to the bags on the desk's surface beside him.

Bakugou blinked around blurrily before he rubbed his knuckles into the tissue of his eyes. The puppy trampled over his stomach, eliciting a firm grunt of discomfort from Bakugou, before he tumbled right off the edge of the bed.

“Idiot,” Bakugou grumbled under his breath, still looking groggy and sleep-torn.

Kirishima bent down and pet the puppy as it scrambled over to him and sniffed at his legs, probably taking in all of the scents from the store.

“You get my rice?” Bakugou asked as he stifled a yawn into the back of his hand and stood up.

“Yup! The kind you like, too.” Kirishima nodded absently and ruffled the puppy’s fur on the top of his head.

Bakugou grunted something unintelligable as he walked over to the bags before he started to rifle through them for his prize.

He stopped and stared down into its depths for a moment before he sighed and pinched at the bridge of his nose. “Kirishima.”

“Hm?”

“Why did you buy dog toys?”

Kirishima looked up at him then. “So he could… have something to play with?”

Bakugou held the little squirrel toy in his hand now, and he stared at it with sleepy contemplation before he turned his attention to the puppy and tossed the squirrel away to the ground. The puppy leaped at it and snagged it between his teeth before he tried to run away with it, but he tripped over the squirrel’s spiral tail and face-planted onto the ground, instead.

“You do know you can’t keep it, right?” Bakugou asked suddenly.

Kirishima blinked at the ground and tried not to let his shoulders portray how upset he was. “I know.”

“Kirishima.”

Kirishima winced and looked up at him again.

“You really know you can’t keep it?” Bakugou asked again, refusing to let it go.

Kirishima frowned and ran anxious fingers through his hair. “I know, I know. I’ll… take him to the vet tomorrow. I read online that they have foster services there. He’ll… go to a good home.”

But even as Kirishima said it, his stomach twisted uncomfortably. “I hope…”

Bakugou rubbed an exasperated hand over his face before he picked out the ball next and sat down on the ground beside Kirishima.

“He’ll go to a nice place," he stated firmly.

Kirishima pursed his lips together. He wanted to believe that, he really did. He didn’t know what he’d do if he found out that the puppy had gone to someone who didn’t appreciate him, or didn’t take care of him, or didn’t spoil him. He deserved that, after being abandoned at such a young age. He was so tiny. So cute!

Bakugou bumped his shoulder into Kirishima’s.

“You’re not gonna cry again, are you?” He was starting to sound more like himself with each minute that passed.

Kirishima smiled bitter-sweetly before he shook his head. “Nah, I’m okay. Really.”

Bakugou snorted and rolled his eyes. “I worry about you and all your goddamn feelings sometimes.”

Kirishima placed a mocking hand over his heart. “Aww, you worry about me?”

Bakugou punched him in the shoulder and Kirishima laughed before he snagged the ball from Bakugou’s hand and tossed it to the other side of the room.

The puppy darted after it with a frantically wagging tail.

Bakugou didn’t know why he always let Kirishima rope him into shit like this.

He had wanted to spend the day training and working on homework, maybe watching a movie but otherwise unwinding from a very stressful week.

And yet, here he was, hidden away in a back corner of the campus near the woods, watching Kirishima try and teach the stupid puppy how to sit, which was next to impossible since the dumb shitstain had the attention span of a gnat and would dart off after a blade of grass if it moved too much in the wind.

He couldn’t say it wasn’t entertaining, though.

“You’re worse than I am in school!” Kirishima guffawed in agony as he watched the puppy run in quick circles, chasing after absolutely nothing. “Can’t you pay attention for one second?”

Bakugou smirked and shook his head in fond amusement. “It’s even dumber than you are.”

“Hey!” Kirishima turned and pouted at him. “He’s not dumb! He’s just… excitable!”

“Right,” Bakugou snorted.

“If you’re so smart, why don’t you teach him then?” Kirishima challenged openly, but Bakugou wasn’t going to get drawn into it. Not this fucking time.

“Seems like a job for its new owners, not its foster parents.” He winced as soon as the words slipped out of his mouth.

He obviously hadn’t meant it like they were fucking parents or anything, but judging by the ridiculously bright tinge of pink that traveled up the back of Kirishima’s neck, he knew that’s how it had come across.

“Oh, get over yourself," he barked aggressively before he rolled his eyes.

Kirishima laughed at that before he meandered over to plop down in the grass next to him. The puppy followed for a moment before it became immediately distracted and attacked a dandelion that had dared to exist in front of it.

“He’s so cute,” Kirishima mused out loud as he smiled lovingly at the little dog.

“Tch,” Bakugou shrugged a nonchalant shoulder. “Guess so.”

Kirishima laughed again and bumped their shoulders together. “C’mon, admit it. You have a soft spot for him.”

“Guess I just have soft spot for idiots then,” Bakugou mumbled as he flicked a stray piece of grass off his shirt.

Kirishima's face flushed at that as he looked away and Bakugou shifted uncomfortably when he realized how fucking mushy that had sounded. Their thighs were so close together and it was literally all he could focus on. That, and the way the puppy sneezed every time it buried its face too far into the grass, but it never learned its damn lesson and kept trying to again and again, sneezing over and over.

Dumbass.

“Hey Bakugou, can I ask you something?” Kirishima’s tone was prodding but gentle, and Bakugou stiffened on reflex

“What?” He glared suspiciously at him out of the corner of his eye.

While they had gotten closer over their time spent at Yuuei - especially considering everything that has happened between them - they hadn’t really asked each other many personal questions before.

Usually Kirishima was the one doing all the asking. Bakugou merely learned about Kirishima as they went along.

For example, Bakugou knew by the slight blush on Kirishima’s cheek and the way that he tugged absentmindedly at a strand of his hair that he was gearing up to ask him something real personal.

“Well…” Kirishima hesitated and the blush on his cheeks deepened in color. “I… when I was reading that article on your laptop… I mean, I wasn’t trying to snoop or anything, really, that’s not who I am, but… I kind of… saw something. Something private, probably, and well, I just want you to know that I’ll always support you dude, no matter what. And if there’s anything you want to talk about, you know, I’m always here for you, 'cause you’re my best friend man, and – “

Kirishima was rambling again, but Bakugou couldn’t focus on anything that he was saying. His body had stiffened completely, and his eyes snapped forward to stare straight ahead while his heart slammed into his ribcage so fast that it actually hurt.

Shit. He’d seen it, hadn’t he? He’d left it open on his computer like a complete fucking moron. Fuck.

What did he care, anyway? He wasn’t ashamed of who he was, and this was Kirishima after all. Bakugou literally couldn’t have found a more understanding person to accept his truth even if he’d tried.

This was fine. Everything was fine. He just needed to chill the fuck out and keep a level head about this.

“… anyway, I mean… if you’re… you know, gay, or whatever… I totally support you and I would hope that you wouldn’t think of me as someone that you’d have to hide that from. Not that you’d ever have to hide anything from anyone, but especially me, I mean, I’m such an idiot and a blabbermouth sometimes, but I’d totally keep this a secret, dude! If it even is a secret, which it doesn’t have to be, because like I said, you shouldn’t have to hide who you are from anyone, and another thing – “

“Kirishima,” Bakugou said, and it was all the other boy needed to finally snap his mouth shut.

“… thanks," he forced out under his breath, and he tried to push his own blush down but he could already feel it creeping up into his face the harder he tried.

Kirishima sighed audibly in relief beside him.

“Okay, yeah, no worries, of course! You’re my best bro and I really care about you, and I’m glad you can be open with me and I…” Kirishima paused for just a little too long, and Bakugou chanced a glance at him out of the corner of his eye again.

He looked nervous, hands shaking slightly in his lap and his eyes darting around. He looked exactly like he had when Bakugou had caught him trying to sneak the puppy into his room yesterday. Which meant that he was trying to hide something from him.

“You gonna spit it out or not?” Bakugou asked, and he tried to ignore the way his heart had suddenly picked up the pace in his chest again.

Kirishima jumped before he rubbed sheepishly at the back of his neck again.

“I… “ He swallowed hard. “I… am also… gay… I guess.”

Bakugou raised an eyebrow at that. “You guess?”

Kirishima laughed nervously. “Well, I mean, I’ve never actually been with anyone before, but earlier today a girl at the pet store asked me out on a date and I… I really didn’t want to go. And not because she wasn’t cute or anything! She was really pretty and nice and she seemed like a lot of fun, and she was really comforting, but… I guess I realized when she asked me out that I just… wasn’t attracted to her at all? Even though she was obviously attractive and probably got asked out all the time.” He shrugged and anxiously glanced at Bakugou again, as though to gauge his reaction.

Bakugou kept his face as neutral as possible. “So then you’ve been attracted to guys before?”

Kirishima’s eyes widened at that and his blush was so dark, Bakugou was surprised he hadn’t started to sweat yet. He knew his own palms had gotten very moist over the course of this particularly horrible conversation. “I… I mean… maybe?”

“Hm,” Bakugou nodded and clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “Sounds pretty fucking gay.”

“Heh,” Kirishima smiled and his blush looked like it was starting to go away. “Yeah, I guess so.”

They didn’t say anything else for a while as they sat next to each other and watched the puppy bounce around and barrel into shit before it jumped back up and took off at a sprint just to dart back towards them a second later. It was obviously burning off a lot of pent up energy after having been kept locked away in the dorms all night and day.

“Hey, Bakugou?”

“Hm?” Bakugou didn’t look away from the puppy.

“… thanks for everything, man.”

“Don’t worry about it, Kirishima.”

Kirishima did worry about it.

He worried about it for the rest of the time that they were outside, even when Bakugou lumbered up to his feet and went over to try and play with the puppy.

He was a little awkward about it at first, just kind of darting this way and that and watching the puppy follow his movements with curious eyes. He probably felt uncomfortable with Kirishima staring at him. But after a while, he started to relax, and the puppy jumped and yipped and chased after him as he ran around and dodged whenever the little guy got too close to snagging him.

Kirishima found himself smiling as he watched, his heart swelling with something unknown and uncertain as he gnawed at his bottom lip and continued to worry about it.

He made sure to snap a few pictures, at least, though he tried his best not to let Bakugou see him doing it.

When it started to get later in the afternoon, Kirishima scooped the puppy up and they walked back to the dorm building together, careful to avoid taking any of the busier sidewalks in case they ran across some of their classmates. As they drew closer to the front door, Bakugou picked up his pace and went ahead of Kirishima to peek into the common area to make sure they wouldn’t get caught.

Thankfully, it was such a nice day outside that their classmates must have been out training or eating or maybe some of them have even gone into the city for the day. Whatever the case may be, they were lucky not to have been stopped the whole way upstairs, and Kirishima walked into his room with Bakugou trailing in close behind him.

He set the puppy down on the ground and walked over to the bag of food perched on his desk before he poured it into a bowl he had snuck upstairs from the kitchen and placed it on the floor by his desk. The puppy clambered happily over to it and sniffed the food curiously before he gobbled up a monstrous mouthful, plopping down onto his stomach as he did so.

“That dog is so fucking weird,” Bakugou said with a bemused shake of his head.

“Heh, yeah. But he’s cute, so it’s okay!” Kirishima smiled as they watched the puppy eat, and he tried really hard not to think about the fact that tomorrow would be his last day as an honorary Heights Alliance resident.

“You know, I – “ Kirishima didn't get to finish his sentence before a sharp knock at the door startled him.

He tried to lunge for it at the same time that Bakugou did, and they clunked stupidly into each other as the door opened on its own and Iida stepped inside.

“Kirishima, sorry to bother you, but – “ Iida stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes cast down at the little puppy who continued to eat happily, and Kirishima felt his face pale at an alarming rate.

For a moment, nobody said anything, and the silence was only perforated by the sounds of the bowl skirting across the floor and the puppy chasing after it.

Finally, Iida spoke again. “That’s a dog.”

Bakugou snorted at that, and when Kirishima glanced over at him, he looked murderous… and maybe even a little nervous? “No shit.”

Iida turned to the pair of them and his face was rigidly set. “Dogs are not allowed on the premises. I think you know that, Kirishima. Aizawa-sensei will not be pleased to hear about this. It’s strictly stated in the dorm agreements – “

Kirishima felt like he might pass out as he struggled to find the right words – any words at all to defend himself, to defend the little puppy.

“Iida, please… please don’t – “ Shit, he could already feel the tears starting to build up behind his eyes again. “I... I was gonna…”

“He’s giving the damn thing away tomorrow so pull the fucking stick out of your ass,” Bakugou demanded with a snarl as he curled his hands into fists like he were gearing up to physically fight their class president. “Just let him fucking keep the dog until then.”

Iida shook his head. He looked stern and unwavering, like a disciplining parent. “I’m sorry Bakugou, but I can’t allow that. There are rules when it comes to living in the dorms and the rules are there for a reason. I happen to be allergic to dogs, and while my symptoms are quite mild, that may not be the case for others in this building. They could be affected severely and if they don’t know that a dog is present, they may not be able to administer the correct treatment in time. I really am sorry, but I must inform Aizawa-sensei of this.”

He turned to leave and something inside of Kirishima’s chest was breaking.

“Wait!” he forced out his tight throat, and he winced at the way his voice cracked. “C'mon Iida, I… It’s just one more night… can’t I just… can’t you just… I…”

He hurried out into the hallway after Iida, who continued to swiftly move towards the elevator, and he felt like his heart had lodged its way somewhere up into his throat. “I don’t want…”

“I really am sorry, Kirishima, but keeping a secret like this is not proper. It goes against the rules and I cannot allow you to endanger the others in our class just because the puppy is cute. Which it is! It’s very cute. But still – “

Iida kept trying to explain to him why it was his moral obligation as class president to inform Aizawa-sensei, and Kirishima kept following him and begging for him not to. They passed a few of their classmates who looked curiously at the pair of them, but nobody stopped them on their way out the door.

By the time they had reached Aizawa-sensei’s office, Kirishima was sniffling embarrassingly and he knew that his face must be beat red at this point.

He felt like such a child, but he just couldn’t help it! He’d spent so much of his childhood dreaming of one day having a puppy. Of playing with it and taking care of it and cuddling it to sleep and bringing it along on hikes – and then new thoughts crept into his head – of how he and Bakugou could take it on Bakugou’s favorite trails and teach it to swim in the rivers that Bakugou liked the swim in and maybe after they could get ice cream and the puppy could happily lap up vanilla ice cream from a little cup and Bakugou could grumble bitterly about having to spend extra money to buy ice cream for the stupid dog and Kirishima felt his chest tighten because Aizawa-sensei had opened the door and looked at the scene in front of him with a disinterested gaze.

“Someone better be dead.” Aizawa-sensei sounded tired.

“Sir, I feel it is my moral obligation as class president, despite feeling guilty as a friend, to inform you that Kirishima has been keeping a dog in his dorm room against school rules.”

Kirishima’s shoulders slumped and he squeezed his eyes shut as a few more defeated tears flowed freely down his cheeks. He could feel Aizawa-sensei’s eyes burning into him and, after a long drawn-out moment, he finally found the courage to look back at him.

“Is this true?” Aizawa-sensei asked.

Kirishima sniffled again and swiped the back of his hand along his wet cheek. “Yes… I’m sorry Aizawa-sensei, I was going to bring it to a foster place tomorrow, I swear!”

Aizawa-sensei sighed heavily and rubbed a hand across his forehead, looking like he didn’t get paid enough to deal with shit like this, before he stepped out of his office and slid the door closed behind him with an ominous ‘click’ that echoed in the depths of Kirishima’s ears.

“Show me.”

The walk back to the dorm building was torturous.

Kirishima struggled to keep himself under control, not caring that Aizawa-sensei kept giving him uncomfortable glances or that Iida tried to apologize again and again. He didn’t even hear his words properly. He couldn’t believe this was happening. He couldn’t believe he was going to lose the puppy so soon. His eyes stung again at that thought and his cheeks felt raw and he could feel the beginnings of a terrible headache creeping up on him, but he just didn’t care.

He had never felt more betrayed in his entire life.

He knew that Iida felt responsible for the well-being of their classmates, and he knew what the rules were, and he knew that Aizawa-sensei had no choice in the matter, but it all felt so unfair. He’d just wanted to keep the little guy for one more day. Just one more day. Was that really so bad?

They trooped back through the common area and Kirishima ignored the frantic whispers and curious gazes that turned their way as they went. It was past dinner time now – surely most of their classmates had returned to the dorm building and were watching the whole thing go down, could see Kirishima’s messy face and puffy eyes, but he just couldn’t find it in him to care.

They approached Kirishima’s dorm room and his stomach felt so clenched and twisted it was actually starting to hurt as he shakily reached a hand out and opened the door to find –

Nothing.

He blinked blurrily through his tears at his own room, his eyes darting around frantically. No dog toys, no bag of food, no puppy, not even a puppy pad out on the balcony or a leftover bowl on the floor. His room looked how it always had before, messy and ‘gaudy’ as Bakugou liked to call it, and not a single dog in sight.

“I’ve never had a dog before, but I’m sure I know what they look like,” Aizawa-sensei spoke plainly from over Kirishima’s shoulder. “And I don’t see a dog."

Kirishima blinked again, his tears had stopped in his own confusion as he gazed around the room in wonder.

“There was a dog, sir,” Iida insisted sternly. “He may be in Bakugou’s room. Bakugou was also here when I found it.”

Kirishima winced at that suggestion.

Bakugou. Of course, he’d probably taken the dog and hidden it in his own room.

Kirishima didn’t have the time to swoon over that sentiment as Aizawa-sensei walked over to Bakugou’s room and knocked firmly on the door. Iida and Kirishima hurried over to stand behind him.

“Bakugou. Open the door.” Aizawa-sensei ordered.

Kirishima heard the sound of Bakugou's desk chair scrapping along the floor before he walked over to the door and opened it to peer out at them. Kirishima blinked at him with blurry eyes, but Bakugou didn’t look his way – he only had eyes for Aizawa-sensei as he quirked an eyebrow up and crossed his arms over his chest.

“What?” he asked in a moody manner, and Kirishima wondered how he could possibly stay so level-headed and casual right now.

“Where’s the dog?” Aizawa-sensei asked point-blank.

Bakugou’s eyebrows furrowed and his chin jutted out, the perfect imitation of harsh confusion. He clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “What dog?”

Iida sighed loudly beside Kirishima. “Bakugou, I already told Aizawa-sensei, and Kirishima confirmed it. He’s here to collect the dog. Please do not make this more difficult than it has to be.”

Bakugou briefly glanced at Iida before he swiveled back to look at Aizawa-sensei. He shrugged a nonchalnt shoulder. “Dunno what you’re fucking talking about. I’ve never seen a dog here before.”

Kirishima’s chest tightened when he remembered Bakugou's promise to not know shit about fuck if Kirishima ever got caught, and he wanted to hug him so fucking bad. He was so damn manly, the way he stood his ground and kept his pretense so perfectly in place. Kirishima almost believed him.

Aizawa-sensei sighed heavily like this was the most annoying thing to have ever happened in his entire career as an educator. “Let me in your room."

“Whatever,” Bakugou opened the door further with a heavy eye roll.

Kirishima tensed as Aizawa-sensei walked into the room with Iida close at his side. He couldn’t force himself to follow them, afraid of what he might see, afraid that the puppy might dart out from under Bakugou’s bed or from inside Bakugou’s closet or from wherever Bakugou had hidden him away. But a moment passed and Kirishima didn’t hear anything, and then another, and then another, and then Aizawa-sensei appeared back in the hallway looking aggravated and bored of this whole situation.

“I swear, Aizawa-sensei, I wouldn’t lie about something like this.” Iida was frantically explaining as he followed their teacher back out into the hallway.

Aizawa-sensei stopped and looked Kirishima dead in the eyes. Kirishima stiffened under his intense gaze and he was suddenly hyperaware of how disheveled and unkempt he must look. He wished he hadn’t broken down like that, and he was feeling incredibly embarrassed about it.

“I don’t see a dog," Aizawa-sensei said casually before he turned and started for the elevators. “Let’s keep it that way.”

And then he simply walked away. Iida followed after him and waved his hands around as he continued to try and explain, but Aizawa-sensei seemed to have officially checked out of the conversation.

Kirishima watched them go, and he knew that his mouth was hanging open and that he probably looked incredibly incriminating right now, but he couldn’t believe what had just happened. He watched as the elevator doors closed on Iida’s ramblings and he finally let out the breath he’d been holding inside his lungs. It knocked him out of his thoughts when he heard Bakugou do the same, and he whipped around to see the blond practically deflate in front of him as he ‘thunk’ed his forehead against the doorframe.

“Thank fuck,” Bakugou grumbled out, his eyes squeezed shut.

Kirishima couldn’t contain it any longer. He grabbed Bakugou by the sleeve of his shirt and yanked him into a hug before he collapsed against his shoulder.

“Thank you Bakugou, thank you, thank you! You’re my hero, you know that? My fucking hero. I can’t believe you risked getting in trouble like that. I thought my heart was going to break, I really did, and fuck, just thank you man!” He gripped the back of Bakugou’s shirt in tight fists and he almost didn’t even realize that Bakugou hadn’t been hugging him back - too wrapped up in his own overwhelming onslaught of emotions - before he suddenly felt a pair of strong arms encircle his waist.

He stiffened unexpectedly at that. Bakugou had never hugged him before.

Sure, he’d hugged Bakugou plenty of times, usually a side hug with one arm slung over his shoulders or around his neck from behind, but never a full-on hug where both of them were participating in it like this.

It felt... really nice. Warm... and strong.

He breathed in the scent of him before he could convince himself not to, smoky and sweet, like a bonfire and burnt-sugar caramel mixed together, and it was almost dizzying how intoxicating Bakugou smelled. No wonder the puppy always tried to lick at him, and –

The puppy!

He pulled back to look Bakugou in the face as he clapped his hands down tight onto his shoulders.

“Where’d you hide him?” he asked, his eyebrows pulling together.

Bakugou smirked, and he looked incredibly proud of himself - which Kirishima figured he was probably allowed to be -  before he slipped out of Kirishima’s grasp and gestured wordlessly for him to follow. Kirishima obeyed and they walked in silence towards the staircase before they came out on the second floor. He watched with widening eyes as Bakugou brought him to stand in front of Koda’s room. Bakugou knocked on the door and a second later Koda appeared with the puppy nestled in his arms.

Kirishima grinned through a fresh wave of appreciative tears. “Koda! Thank you, thank you!”

Koda smiled fondly and passed the puppy back to him, and Kirishima tried not to squeeze the little guy too tightly or laugh too stupidly as the puppy eagerly lapped up the wet tears streaming down his face.

“Thanks,” Bakugou grunted under his breath without looking at him.

Koda just smiled pleasantly and pressed his hands together, obviously happy to have been able to play with a puppy for a while.

Bakugou stayed up late that night with Kirishima and the puppy.

As the sole reason for why they were able to keep the puppy in the first place, as Bakugou reminded Kirishima multiple times that night, he felt like he needed to hang around - almost protectively - like he expected Iida to burst into the room with Aizawa-sensei following close behind him in an attempt to catch them redhanded at 11 o’clock at night.

But Iida and Aizawa-sensei never arrived, of course.

Bakugou watched from his place on Kirishima’s bed as Kirishima played with the puppy on the floor. The redhead laid on his back and dragged the rope across his stomach and the puppy leaped at it, tail wagging and pupils dilated, before it stumbled and landed across Kirishima’s face, who choked out a laugh and buried deeper into the puppy’s soft fur.

Bakugou felt his chest squeeze unexpectedly and he clenched his hands into tight fists in his lap as he watched the scene in front of him.

He didn’t know why he had been so quick to jump into action the moment that Kirishima had raced away after Iida. He had seen the tears streaming down Kirishima’s face, had heard the panic and distress in his voice, and he supposed his hero instincts kicked into high gear or something because he hadn’t even waited for them to get to the elevator before he was dashing around the room like a madman, trying to pick everything up and racking his brain for a solution – any fucking solution – so that Kirishima wouldn’t lose his precious dumb puppy.

He didn’t know why he had done it, though he supposed if he wasn’t being so stubborn about it, it was because he had hated seeing that look on Kirishima’s face. Had hated the obvious panic that consumed him and the way that tears began to fall down his cheeks before his brain had probably even caught up with what was happening. Kirishima was already so damn emotional, he cried during funny comedy movies just because he was so happy for fuck's sake, and seeing him fall to pieces like that…

It nearly broke Bakugou’s cold dead heart.

He couldn’t have just stood by and done nothing. Not when Kirishima has already done so much for him since the start of his journey at Yuuei. Kirishima had never hesitated to help him, had never hesitated to throw himself in front of a villain or, hell, even give up his last pudding cup if Bakugou really wanted it. He was genuine and earnest with his friendship, and Bakugou had never had someone like that in his life before.

Maybe Deku, he thought with a sneer, but even Deku had been different.

Kirishima cared about him. Not because he had a flashy quirk, not because he was up there at the top of the class and could help him get ahead, not because he wanted to fucking save him from himself like Deku seemed to want so desperately to do, not even because he was a decent person to be around – because Bakugou knew that he wasn’t.

Kirishima cared about him just because he cared about him, loud shouting and vulgar swearing and impending explosions and all. He never tried to change Bakugou – never tried to make him be nicer, or calmer, or quieter. He never tried to turn Bakugou into something that he wasn’t, and Bakugou gravitated towards him because of it. Felt like he could really be himself around him because of it.

He’d tried to stop it. Tried to prevent it from happening. He’d tried distancing himself from Kirishima but had always found that he missed the idiot’s company and he’d always let him come back into his private life without even hesitating.

He just liked having Kirishima around.

He liked being with him.

Maybe even… liked him liked him?

Bakugou jumped out of his thoughts when Kirishima came over and plopped down next to him on the bed. The puppy was cradled in his lap, buried deep into Kirishima’s stomach and looking exhausted as it yawned and flashed a row of crooked tiny teeth that Bakugou would admit to no-one else but himself, looked very cute.

“Hey,” Kirishima said with a happy little smile, and Bakugou felt the corner of his mouth lift without his permission. “Thanks again man… I know I’ve thanked you like a hundred times, but I’ll probably keep thanking you until, I don’t know, I die or something.”

Bakugou snorted and rolled his eyes, jabbing his elbow into Kirishima's side. “Whatever. Idiot. You woulda done the same for me.”

Kirishima grinned wider, like this declaration of a fact made him even happier somehow.

“I would have!” he exclaimed excitedly, and the puppy grumbled in annoyance before it wiggled around to get comfy again and settled down with a heavy sigh.

“I would… do anything for you,” Kirishima continued, quieter this time.

Bakugou looked at him – really looked at him. At the red strands that hung down over his forehead and the way his eyes seemed to shine with their own light, procured from somewhere deep inside his sensitive pure soul. He looked at the splash of freckles across his cheeks and the dip of his nose and the curve of his lips as they smiled at him around a set of pointy teeth.

He cleared his throat and shifted awkwardly on the bed.

“I’d do anything for you too," he forced himself to admit out loud, because it was true.

If Kirishima needed him, all he had to do was ask - and maybe beg a little with those stupid puppy dog eyes of his - and Bakugou knew that he’d cave. Knew that he couldn’t say no, didn’t want to say no, because as much as Kirishima cared about him… Bakugou fucking cared about Kirishima more.

“Heh, you know, I meant what I said earlier," Kirishima continued as he leaned back against the wall and pressed their shoulders together. Bakugou tried not to think too much about that.

“About you being my hero, I mean,” Kirishima admitted and his cheeks flushed with bright color as he looked down at the sleeping puppy in his lap. “And I mean, even before all of this. You’ve always been my hero. I’ve looked up to you ever since we came to Yuuei. You’re so strong and sure of yourself, and I know you have this whole I’m-A-Jerk-Don’t-Get-Close-To-Me persona thing going on, and I dig it, I really do, but… I’m really glad that… that…” Kirishima struggled for the right words to say, and Bakugou realized he was holding his breath in anticipation. Kirishima sighed and a lazy tired smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I’m just really glad that you decided to be my friend too, I guess. You seeing something in me… it makes me want to believe in myself too. And I… I wouldn’t be where I am today without your encouragement.”

Bakugou looked down at his own lap and gnawed on his bottom lip. He wanted to say something back, to tell Kirishima how much he appreciated his friendship, and how lucky he was that Kirishima had been there that night in Kamino, and how much he felt like he owed him for everything nice he’d ever done for him, but the words were stuck in his throat and he’d never been very good at affection and so he just sat there; stupidly quiet.

And then he felt Kirishima’s hand touch one of his curled-up fists. He jumped at the unexpected contact before he slowly allowed himself to relax again and he unfurled his fingers. Their palms fit together perfectly, just like they had that night however long ago it had been now, and Kirishima squeezed his hand. It was enough to force Bakugou to look up at him again, and they stared at each other, not saying another word.

And finally, Bakugou squeezed his hand back.

Something was happening.

Kirishima struggled to pull himself from his hazy sleep. He felt lethargic and drowsy; he’d stayed up so late the night before with Bakugou and his eyes felt crusty. But something was happening. He knew it. Something was tugging him out of his deep slumber, slowly, slowly, and then –

Someone was knocking at his door.

Kirishima shot upright and stared at it with wide unblinking eyes. His heart started to race in his chest, and he had a sinking feeling that it was Iida or Aizawa-sensei coming back to recheck his room. There was no way he could have gotten away with it, he had already confessed to Aizawa-sensei, so obviously he knew there was a dog here, even if he hadn’t spotted it yesterday and had been too tired or whatever to care then. But now it was morning, and the puppy was sitting right next to him, grumbling unhappily at the knocking on the door, and Kirishima felt glued to his bed in fear.

“Kirishima?”

Kirishima relaxed almost instantly when he heard Kaminari’s voice.

“Can we talk man? I… I know you’re mad at me but… I really want to make up for it. Please? I… it’s been killing me knowing that you’re up here all angry with me. And I can’t fucking figure out what I did but... but whatever it was I’m sure you have every reason to be upset and I’m sorry, okay! Please, can you open the door?”

Kirishima’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he slowly got to his feet, cradling the puppy to his chest - who still bristled and huffed angrily at the banging on the door - before he walked over and opened it.

“Mad at you? What are you talking about?” Kirishima asked before Kaminari could say anything else.

Kaminari opened his mouth, glanced down at the bundle in Kirishima’s arms, froze, and then his eyes widened like saucers.

“Oh my god!” he yelled as a huge smile split across his face and he bent at the waist to get eye-level with the puppy. “What! He’s so cute! What the – where did you get him? I didn’t know we could have – “

Kirishima clapped a hand over Kaminari’s mouth and glanced around anxiously in the hallway. “Shh! We’re not supposed to have him!”

He grabbed Kaminari by the sleeve and tugged him inside. Once the door was closed, he put the puppy on the ground, and Kaminari leaped into the middle of the room to sit on the floor and pet at the dog, cooing and awing at him.

Kirishima watched with an amused smile on his face.

“Aww, who’s a good boy? Who’s a good little itty bitty boy? Are you a good boy? What a stupid question - of course you are!” Kaminari crooned as he ran his fingers through the puppy’s soft fur. The puppy wiggled and bounced happily at all of the new attention.

“Why do you think I’m mad at you?” Kirishima asked.

Kaminari looked up from the puppy and his face fell a little before he glanced back down at the floor with a sigh. “Bakugou told me, Friday night I think it was. I’ve thought about it all day yesterday, trying to figure out what I did, but I couldn’t and… whatever happened man, you can tell me when I piss you off or something! I know I can be annoying, and sometimes I don’t really know when I’m pushing too hard or joking too roughly so like… I don’t know man, I’m just really sorry.”

Kirishima blinked down at him. And then he blinked down at him again. “When did Bakugou tell you that, exactly?”

Kaminari frowned. “Sero and I were in the elevator with him. He had, like, a plate of rice or something, and it was so bland for some reason. It was really weird. But I told him I was going to check in on you because I hadn’t seen you all day and he told me that you didn’t want to see me because you were mad at me or something.”

Kirishima thought back to Friday night, thought about the weird rice, thought about Kaminari coming to check on him, and suddenly he was laughing. Kaminari looked perplexed by his outburst and he laughed nervously as well, obviously confused.

Kirishima shook his head and smiled widely. “I’m not mad at you man. Bakugou was just covering for me. I… didn’t want anyone to know about the dog because we’re not allowed to have them in the dorms, so when you told him you were coming to see me, he probably panicked and said I was mad at you so you wouldn’t walk in on me and the puppy.”

Kaminari blinked slowly at that, like he was still processing the information. “So… you’re not mad at me?”

“Nope,” Kirishima smacked the 'P' loudly and grinned. “Seriously man, we’re cool. I definitely would’ve said something if we weren’t.”

Kaminari blinked again before realization finally dawned on him. He groaned out loud and smacked his hands over his face in frustration. “Aw man! Dude! I was so worried all day yesterday!”

“You could have texted me,” Kirishima smiled and Kaminari groaned even louder.

“I didn’t even think to do that!” he exclaimed before he pouted angrily. “Bakugou is such a jerk, man. He did me so dirty like that!”

Kirishima laughed again before he came over and sat on the floor beside him.

“So, how long do you have him for?” Kaminari asked.

Kirishima’s good mood faltered, but he tried to stay strong. “I’m… giving him up later today. The vet in town said they have foster families who can… take him… before they find him a real family.”

Kaminari looked over at him before he rested a hand on Kirishima’s shoulder. “I’m sorry man. This must be really hard for you. I know how much you love dogs and shit.”

Kirishima tried to wave him off. “It’s… fine. It’s for the best. He’ll get a family who can properly take care of him. Maybe take him to the park, maybe they have a yard with a pool that he can learn to swim in.”

“Is that why you were so upset yesterday?” Kaminari asked gently, as though broaching the topic was dangerous territory. “We saw you… with Iida and Aizawa-sensei. We tried to ask Iida about it, but he wouldn’t say anything to us. We… thought you were getting expelled or something man, it was really scary.”

He laughed and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Which seems kind of silly now.”

Kirishima laughed as well, though he didn’t really put his all into it. It came out breathless and weak. “Iida walked in on me and Bakugou when we were feeding him and… he said it was his obligation to tell Aizawa-sensei about it, because some of the students might be really allergic to dogs and it could be dangerous for them.”

Kaminari snatched his hand away from the puppy and he looked terrified. “Oh fuck. I’M allergic to dogs.”

Kirishima’s eyes widened and he leaped up onto his knees.

“Oh my god, oh shit, do you feel okay? Do you… what do I – “ but he stopped in his frantic ramblings when he saw a smile crawl its way onto Kaminari’s face.

“Gotcha,” he said and finger-gunned him with both hands.

Kirishima scowled and hit him in the shoulder hard enough to knock him over.

“You jerk! I was really worried over here!” But he felt his resolve crack when Kaminari just continued to laugh.

“What happened then? Did Aizawa-sensei say you could keep the dog or what?” Kaminari asked when he’d calmed down from his fit at Kirishima’s expense.

“No, he actually never even saw the dog,” Kirishima started, and he couldn’t suppress the smile that settled onto his face as he recounted the events from last night. “Bakugou… he hid the dog before Aizawa-sensei could find him, and when Iida told him that Bakugou also knew about the dog, he lied right to Aizawa-sensei’s face about it and denied ever having seen one around.”

Kirishima couldn’t help but sigh breathlessly. “It was so awesome.”

Kaminari snorted and rolled his eyes. “So Bakugou does have a heart in that tin chest of his. Who would’ve thought?”

Kirishima smiled, but he kept it to himself that he knew all along that Bakugou had a good heart.

He kept it so close to his chest, in fact, that it felt like a secret he shared with Bakugou; to know him well enough to never have doubted him for a second.

This was hard.

Too damn hard. Way fucking harder than Bakugou thought it would be.

Kirishima’s shoulders were shaking next to him as he carefully cradled the puppy to his chest. Bakugou wanted to reach out, wanted to hug him or something like he’d managed to do last night, but his arms felt heavy by his sides as he held the plastic bag full of basically brand new dog toys, and he just watched out of the corner of his eye as Kirishima tried desperately to hold himself together.

They stood side-by-side in front of the veterinary clinic, and neither of them had moved to go inside yet.

Bakugou waited to follow Kirishima’s lead. For once, he did not rush him, or groan in exasperation at how long he was taking, or any of the other things he usually did to display his impatience, because today he did not feel impatient.

Today, he waited for Kirishima to make the first move.

And, eventually, he did.

Kirishima took in a shattering breath that made Bakugou’s throat feel tight and then they were walking into the clinic together.

It was quieter inside than Bakugou thought it would be, but the smell was overpowering and horrible. It was like a mix of sterile hospital equipment and stale cat piss, and Bakugou tried not to make a face about it. This was not about him. He was here for Kirishima.

So, when Kirishima faltered again and looked seconds away from releasing the tears that had built up in his eyes that he refused to let fall, Bakugou approached the front desk for him, as well.

He waited for the receptionist to get off the phone before she looked up at him from behind a pair of thick glasses.

“Yes, can I help you?” she asked pleasantly. Her tone didn’t fit the mood of the evening and it made Bakugou bristle.

“We have a dog,” he stated lamely before he gestured to the mess behind him.

The receptionist glanced over his shoulder at Kirishima and her expression changed on a dime. She became somber, and a comforting tone slipped into her voice as she smiled easily. “You’re Kirishima, then?”

Bakugou glanced over his shoulder and his hands clenched into fists on instinct when he saw Kirishima try to stiffen his lip and jut his chin out, even as the tears shimmered in his eyes, just barely clinging on. Kirishima didn’t respond verbally, only nodded once. Bakugou hurried to fill the silence.

“We want to make sure he goes to a good place.” And he tried to put as much firmness and authority into his voice that he could possibly muster.

The receptionist turned back to Bakugou and nodded seriously. “I understand. We have a very extensive screening process when it comes to our foster and adoption programs. I guarantee he’ll end up in a good home with a very loving family.”

Her words did nothing to thaw the stern look on Bakugou’s face, though. He didn’t care about her stupid fucking promises and hollow guarantees. He needed her to know that if, for some reason, their amazing screening process didn’t work, he’d personally be back to destroy their whole shitty clinic and burn it to the fucking ground.

“I’m just going to need you to fill this out.” The receptionist moved away from the counter and dug around in a filing cabinet before she produced a packet of paper from one of the folders. She attached it to a clipboard and handed it across the counter to Bakugou.

“It’s just general information about the pup and anything we might want to know when writing out his adoption form," she explained. “You can bring it back up to me when you’re done or I can come get it in a few minutes."

Bakugou turned to Kirishima, who didn’t look any better now than he had before they’d stepped into the clinic. He waited, again, for Kirishima to make the first move. This was all for Kirishima, he kept reminding himself as he tried to keep his own temper under control. Kirishima set the pace for this. If he wanted to stand there for a fucking hour and gather himself together, then Bakugou would let him. Or he would try his fucking best to let him.

Thankfully, though, he didn’t really need to.

Kirishima took another shaky breath that shuttered the tears in his eyes before he headed into the waiting room to sit down. Bakugou followed closely behind him, and he watched as Kirishima sat on the wooden bench that encompassed the waiting room and set the puppy down beside him.

The puppy sniffed at the bench and slowly walked along it, smelling all of the other animals that have come and gone. Kirishima stared at the ground between his feet, biting his lip with his hands clenched in his lap, and Bakugou knew better than to try and comfort him. Kirishima was trying to hold himself together, and any attempt at comfort would surely break the thin wall holding all of his emotions back.

Bakugou sat down next to him and glanced at the clipboard. He picked up the pen attached to it and started filling out the information.

It was pretty basic stuff. He wrote in Kirishima’s name, his date-of-birth, and the Yuuei dorm building address. He also stenciled in Kirishima’s phone number and then, for good measure, added all of his own information next to Kirishima’s. Just in case.

When he got down to the information about the puppy, he paused. He didn’t know much about the little shitstain, except that it was stupid and excitable and loved to cuddle when it was sleepy, but he didn’t know if any of that stuff even mattered. He glanced at Kirishima, but Kirishima was too busy staring laserbeams into the floor, and he didn’t want to have to force him to write down everything he loved about the damn dog that he was being forced to give up. It just didn’t seem fair.

Bakugou sighed in frustration and scratched at the back of his head before he looked down at the clipboard again and started filling in random bits and pieces.

Clumsy. Likes to nibble on everything. He fucking pees. A lot. He likes rice. He’s excitable, not dumb. Doesn’t really bark much unless he wants attention. Friendly. Playful. Best stupid dog ever.

Bakugou paused when the form asked for the dog’s name. He told Kirishima not to name him, because he knew it would make giving him away that much harder. Naming it only solidified its presence, and Kirishima was far too sensitive for shit like that.

He should have known that Kirishima wouldn’t have taken his advice, though.

“Suki…” Kirishima whispered from beside him.

Bakugou looked at him and noticed that Kirishima was staring at the clipboard out of the corner of his eye as he nibbled anxiously on his bottom lip. Bakugou blinked at him, the pen in his hand felt limp, and Kirishima’s eyes flashed up to look at him, blurry with tears that he still refused to let fall.

Bakugou swallowed hard. “Like…”

Kirishima smiled sheepishly and it forced a tear from each eye to roll down his red cheeks. “Like Katsuki…”

Bakugou’s throat tightened. Fuck. He looked back down at the clipboard and squeezed his eyes shut as he gripped the pen in his hand even tighter.

Of course Kirishima would name the dumb little shitstain after him. Of course he would. Fuck. His eyes stung even as he squeezed them tighter shut, and he heard Kirishima sniffle pathetically beside him.

After taking a minute to corral his emotions back under control, Bakugou took a deep breath and opened his eyes again when they didn’t feel like they were about to fucking tear up or something stupid.

He quickly scribbled the name down.

Suki.

“All set?”

Bakugou lifted his head to see that the receptionist had come out from behind the front desk and was standing in the middle of the waiting room. They must have been taking too long. Her face shone with pity and comfort, and Bakugou wanted to blast her with one of his explosions. But he knew that he couldn’t, knew he didn’t have the right to be angry right now, because this wasn’t about him.

It was about Kirishima.

He took another deep breath and stood up before he passed the clipboard and little plastic bag full of toys over to the receptionist, who glanced down at and flipped through the pages to make sure they had filled out everything they’d needed to. She nodded in confirmation and smiled before she set the clipboard down on the counter and looked at Kirishima like he was a small child.

“Is Suki ready to go?” she asked quietly.

Kirishima’s head snapped up to look at her and the tears he’d been trying so hard to hold back were now freely running down his cheeks.

Bakugou tensed instinctively. This was too damn hard. This wasn’t fucking fair. Why couldn’t the universe just fucking let Kirishima have his stupid fucking dog?!

He clenched his hands into tight fists and shoved them deep into his pockets, and he tried to pull himself together. He had to. Kirishima needed him to.

Slowly, very slowly, Kirishima turned towards Suki, who had meandered back over to his side and was nibbling lightly on the tip of his hardened finger. He reached out and gently lifted the little puppy off the bench before he stood to his feet and buried his head into the dog’s soft fur. He shuttered out a quiet sob and Bakugou watched him gnaw desperately on his bottom lip.

Suki lapped at the tears on Kirishima’s face with a paw pressing on his throat. Kirishima’s shaky hands tightened on him one last time before he pulled his face away, sighed heavily through a strangled sound, and finally passed him over to the receptionist, who shuffled around the bag in her hand to accommodate for him.

“He’ll find a good home, I promise,” the receptionist was saying, but Bakugou could tell that Kirishima couldn’t hear a word of it.

And far too quickly, the receptionist walked away with Suki in her arms and disappeared somewhere in the back of the building.

Bakugou watched her leave until he heard the sob stumble out of Kirishima’s throat beside him. He turned back to look at him and immediately wished that he hadn’t.

Kirishima stood with his shoulders hunched up to his ears, his arms crossed and one of his hands covering his face, but it was obvious that he was crying, crumbling, right there in the middle of the waiting room. It had only been two fucking days, and Kirishima had fallen head-over-heels for that damn stupid adorable little shitfuck of a dog.

Bakugou’s limbs moved before he knew what he was doing, perhaps another display of his hero training coming into play, and he reached out and touched Kirishima’s elbow, tugging him out of the waiting room and out of the clinic.

As soon as they were on the sidewalk, and the fresh air that didn’t smell like sterile piss filled Bakugou’s lungs again, Kirishima let out a louder sob and collapsed against him, crying hard into his shoulder, his hands gripping at his t-shirt for support and comfort.

And Bakugou held him back just as tightly, and buried his own face into Kirishima’s shoulder, because he couldn’t stand to face the fact that he was fucking crying too.

It took a while for things to go back to normal.

For the next week or two, Kirishima felt pathetically empty inside. He tried to act normal and happy, but he had a feeling that his classmates could see right through him by the way they exchanged looks of concern and kept touching his shoulder or his arm or coming up and hugging him unexpectedly.

They knew that he was upset, but as far as Kirishima could tell, they didn’t know why. Kaminari, Koda, Bakugou, and even Iida had kept his secret from the rest of the class, though he supposed it didn’t so much matter now.

Still, he was thankful for the little shoulder squeezes Kaminari gave him throughout the day, and the little encouraging smiles Koda sent him during lunch, and he’d even talked to Iida and forgiven him when Iida had apologized profusely. He’d just been doing his job, what he thought was right for the whole class, and Kirishima could never hold that against him.

It was halfway through his second week without Suki and he was in Bakugou’s room, sitting on his bed and trying his best to focus on his homework.

It was hard.

He missed Suki so much.

He knew it was probably stupid. He’d only had the dog for two days and he’d known right from the beginning that he wouldn't have been able to keep him when he had seen him stumble out from under that bush all tiny and excited. But… a small part of him had wished, had hoped, had prayed that he could have. That some force in the universe would have aligned with him and he’d been able to come up with a solution that would have made everybody happy.

He’d even considered calling his mothers and begging them to adopt the dog, so that he could at least go home and spend time with him, but he was reminded rather bitterly of why they never got a dog in the first place when he was growing up.

Both of his mothers were deathly allergic.

“Hey,” Bakugou’s foot tapped against his knee and yanked out of his thoughts.

Kirishima looked over at him to find Bakugou’s eyebrows furrowed and a scowl on his lips, which Kirishima has come to recognize as the face he made when he was concerned. “You good?”

Kirishima sighed.

“Yeah,” he grumbled down at his half-finished math homework. “Guess so...”

Bakugou scratched awkwardly at the back of his head before he tossed his book aside onto the night stand and scooted over to sit next to Kirishima against the wall. He fished around in his pocket, and Kirishima eyed him curiously as he pulled his phone out and typed in his passcode before he turned the screen towards him.

“I didn’t… show you before cause you were… so upset or whatever,” Bakugou muttered uncomfortably, not really meeting his gaze.

Kirishima stared at the phone like he'd never seen one before in his life.

Bakugou’s home screen was a picture of him. A picture of him and Suki. He hadn’t even known that it was being taken. Kirishima laid on the floor of his dorm room and Suki was flopped down on top of his chest, staring down at him with his head cocked to the side as he watched, intrigued by the sound of Kirishima’s laughter.

Kirishima’s heart fluttered in his chest. Bakugou had a picture of him and Suki as his wallpaper. He couldn’t push down the shy smile that flitted across his face even if he’d wanted to, which he didn’t.

Bakugou stiffened and glared at him suspiciously.

“What?” he snapped, and there was a touch of color on his neck now.

Kirishima’s grin widened at that. “You have a picture of me… as the wallpaper on your phone.”

Bakugou fell deathly silent and it seemed to dawn on him at that moment, possibly for the first time ever, that perhaps that wasn’t normal for two bros, and he turned his phone screen back around to stare at it. The blush on his neck had traveled quickly to fill out his cheeks, even as he tried to shrug nonchalantly.

“I’ll just change it," he grunted stiffly.

“No!” Kirishima snatched the phone from his hands without meaning to. “No… don’t…"

Bakugou's face was redder than Kirishima had ever seen it before, and it made his heart soar right out of his throat and up into the sky somewhere, probably.

“Just… leave it?” he asked hesitantly as he offered the phone back out for him.

Bakugou stared at it like he didn't know what he was meant to do with it, looking embarrassed and humiliated before he grabbed the phone back and grumbled something under his breath that Kirishima didn’t quite catch.

“I took some pictures too…” Kirishima hurried on as he pulled out his own phone and opened his photo app. He smiled carefully and tried to gauge Bakugou’s reaction to that.

A glint of curiosity overcome Bakugou’s face before he slipped behind his mask of indifference again, but it was enough. Kirishima turned the phone so that Bakugou could see it, and he didn’t tease him or joke about it at all when Bakugou finally leaned in a little to look at them, too.

There were a few from when Bakugou and Suki had been playing outside, and some of Suki sleeping all curled up on Kirishima’s pillow, and then, finally, Kirishima swiped to the picture of Bakugou and Suki asleep in Bakugou’s bed. Instantly, Bakugou’s cheeks flushed a deep red again, and it made Kirishima smile at how bashful his best friend had suddenly become.

“Can I…” Kirishima hesitated before he gestured weakly to the picture. “I mean… it’s only fair dude.”

Bakugou sucked in a breath and held it, and for a moment Kirishima wondered if he was just going to suffocate himself right then and there, before Bakugou slowly let the breath out again and nodded without looking at him. “Guess so.”

Kirishima grinned and quickly set the photo as his home screen. He stared at it, at Bakugou’s peaceful face and Suki’s stretched out limbs, and it made the tight ball in his chest loosen a little, because it was so beautiful and he loved both of the people in this photo so much that it almost hurt to think about it.

He glanced over at Bakugou to find him looking back at him, and they stared at each other in the silence that followed. The AC kicked on somewhere in the building, and a door at the end of the hallway opened and closed, but still, they stared at each other.

Kirishima could see every detail on Bakugou’s face. The smooth curve of his soft cheeks, the immaculate condition of his sharp brows, every fleck of murderous red in his bright eyes. So he noticed when Bakugou’s lips parted, and he noticed when his eyelids fluttered down, and he noticed when he leaned in, closer and closer, until he felt the soft press of lips against his own

It was so gentle, and so hesitant, and so very un-Bakugou-like, but Kirishima was patient - he was always patient with Bakugou - and after a moment of incredible stillness, he felt the other boy lean in a little more firmly, press his lips down a little harder, and they melted into the kiss like they’d been meaning to do this for ages and had only just now gotten the chance to.

And it was slow, and lazy, and Kirishima tried to memorize every touch, every taste, every breath, and every eye flutter. He tried to store it all away so that he could remember it forever, so that he could never lose this feeling, never lose Bakugou.

They kissed and the seconds turned to minutes and the minutes turned into an hour and before Kirishima knew it, he was drifting asleep on Bakugou’s bed, his arms wrapped tight around his waist while Bakugou held him close to his chest, reluctant to let go for even a second.

“Can you please just tell me what we’re doing here?” Kirishima whined for the third time in a row.

Bakugou rolled his eyes and squeezed the other boy's hand tighter. “Would you stop fucking asking? I told you I wasn’t going to tell you and I’m not, so just wait.”

Kirishima pouted and flashed his best puppy dog eyes, and it took everything inside of Bakugou not to crash his lips down onto that stupid pouty face. Really, he was acting like a child. They hadn’t even been at the park for more than five minutes and Kirishima was already looking anxious and practically begging for Bakugou to tell him what they were doing there.

For someone who claimed to love surprises, Kirishima sure didn’t fucking act like he loved them.

“How much longer?” Kirishima whined again as he slumped back into the bench and shoved his free hand into the pocket of his hoodie.

It was fall time. The leaves had snapped off the trees and scattered around the park in a sea of oranges and reds. The fall time looked good on Kirishima. The colors matched his hair and he always wore a chunky hoodie that made him look nice and Bakugou thanked whatever deity he had to for the blush that was always present on the redhead’s cheeks from the chill breeze.

“Not long now, just sit still," Bakugou grunted. “You’re acting like a child.”

Kirishima stuck his tongue out.

“Now you’re just proving my point," Bakugou tutted without looking at him.

Kirishima leaned over quick and sneaky and licked at his cheek, and Bakugou groaned in annoyance and wiped vigorously at the wet spot with his sleeve. Kirishima had learned a few weeks ago that Bakugou hated that more than anything else, and so - like the dutiful boyfriend that he was - he tried to lick Bakugou’s cheek at every available opportunity.

“You’re lucky I can tolerate you, fucking brat," Bakugou sniped under his breath.

Kirishima smiled and squeezed his hand back even tighter.

“I love you too," he said sincerely.

Bakugou rolled his eyes and tried to push down the blush he felt crawling up the back of his neck. He hated how direct Kirishima was with his affection. With his love.

Bakugou, he’d learned over the past few months, wasn’t very good at love.

He didn't always catch all the subtle hints when Kirishima wanted to kiss him or when he wanted Bakugou to cuddle him or any kind of shit like that. He didn't know how to have romantic lovey-dovey conversations late into the night because he was always so fucking tired and it made him grouchy, and he pretty much sucked ass at planning out dates because the only shit he ever wanted to do was hang out in his room and watch movies or go to the arcade or something, and he really wasn’t any fucking good at saying I love you randomly throughout the day whenever he felt like it.

But for what Bakugou lacked in traditional romance, he worked hard to make up for in other ways. He made Kirishima his favorite dinners without the redhead ever having to ask, and he went out of his way to buy him stuff at the store if he saw it and thought Kirishima might like it, and he was even really good at planning surprises, which was a fucking surprise in itself.

And today would be the best damn surprise of all.

His phone vibrated in his pocket with an incoming call, and Bakugou fished it out to accept it without looking at the screen so there would be less time for Kirishima to look at the screen.

“Hello!” An unfamiliar voice rang into his ears. “I think we see you? On a bench?”

“Yup," Bakugou answered stiffly as he turned around to crane his neck and gaze along the pathways of the park.

“Who is that?” Kirishima asked with a frown, but Bakugou pointedly ignored him.

He scanned over the baseball field to the left where a little league team was practicing and then across the playground where a group of children were fighting imaginary villains before he finally spotted a couple with a small baby walking towards them. Bakugou hung up the phone and stuffed it into his pocket before he got to his feet, pulling Kirishima along with him.

“What are we doing?” Kirishima asked again, looking confused.

Bakugou nodded curtly at the couple approaching them, and Kirishima followed his gaze.

The couple were probably in their late twenties, maybe early thirties, and the baby on the mother’s hip couldn’t have been older than two. And there, walking at their feet attached to a bright red leash, was a medium-sized long-haired tan dog with a brown strip across his chest and bright blue eyes. His tail was curled on the top of his butt, and his shoulders were broad and covered in coarse fur, but his face still looked exactly as it had as a puppy.

Kind of stupid. Kind of cute. All loveable.

“Suki…?” Kirishima’s voice cracked and Bakugou looked at him anxiously, praying that he’d done the right thing. That this wasn’t all a huge mistake. That he hadn’t made it worse.

As the couple drew closer, Suki stopped walking, and for a long moment, Kirishima and Suki simply stared – man and dog, gazing at each other as though trying to figure the other one out, as though neither of them really believed it because it must be too good to be true.

Suki took another hesitant step and stopped again. He stretched his head forward, his black nose twitching as he sniffed at the air. Kirishima’s eyes were filled with unshed tears as he gazed at the dog in front of him. Time seemed to stand still, and Bakugou held his breath and squeezed Kirishima’s hand and waited for something more to happen with his heart pounding dangerously in his chest.

And then everything moved very quickly.

“Suki?” Kirishima asked, a little louder.

Suki’s ears bolted upright at the sound and he took off at a dead sprint, yanking the leash right out of the older man’s hand and closing the distance between them in what must have been olympic record time.

Kirishima let go of Bakugou’s hand and Bakugou let him, and he watched as his boyfriend collapsed down onto his knees and let Suki collide straight into his chest in a flurry of quivering tail wags and impatient face licks. Kirishima was crying again, and smiling, but also crying, and he hugged the dog tightly to him even as Suki wiggled and danced around excitedly in his arms.

“Aww, he still remembers you!” The couple had arrived, and it was the woman who spoke first as she beamed down at them.

Kirishima hiccupped on a sob and looked up at them with watery eyes before he slowly got back up to his feet. Suki still jittered happily next to him, nudging at his hands and pressing into his thighs, every now and then jumping up and planting his paws on his hips to try and keep his attention. Kirishima lifted one of his arms and wiped at his wet cheeks, blushing with embarrassment.

“Hi…” he greeted quietly, and Bakugou saw his eyes drink in the family in front of him. The family that had adopted his dog; that had adopted his Suki.

And Kirishima smiled - which finally made Bakugou unclench - because Kirishima liked what he saw.

“Hello,” The man spoke now as he gave a bow that Kirishima was quick to return.

“I’m Masato, this is my wife Yuni, and our daughter.” The man gestured to his family, and Kirishima smiled brighter, and Bakugou relaxed even more.

“I’m Eijirou,” Kirishima introduced himself, and he grasped Bakugou’s hand tight in his own before saying, “And this is Katsuki.”

The woman, Yuni, smiled at Bakugou then. “Katsuki, huh? I guess we know where Suki’s name comes from.”

Bakugou flushed and he tried not to appear too tense or embarrassed or like he didn’t want to be apart of this because this wasn’t about him or his comfort level in social situations. This was for Kirishima.

For Kirishima and Suki.

“Well, would you like to go for a walk around the park?” Masato asked and he smiled warmly at the pair of them as if they've all known each other for years. “I think Suki would like to play, he usually gets about two hours at the park every day and he’s been dying to be outside!”

Kirishima smiled, and it was so bright and full that Bakugou couldn't help but stare at it, wishing he could take a picture so he could have that moment forever.

Kirishima looked down at Suki, and he grinned at the dog that looked back up at him and panted and wagged his fluffy curly tail with matched excitement. “What do you say, Suki?”

ARF!