Work Text:
Kirishima chuckled softly to himself from his spot on the couch as he watched Ashido chase Kaminari around the common room, brandishing a large sprig of mistletoe with her lips pursed in an exaggerated kissy face. Kaminari dodged around classmates and vaulted over nearby furniture, giggling hysterically as he tried to outrun her. Kirishima knew more than anyone that if Ashido threatened to kiss you, you would get more than you bargained for, something that the rest of the Squad had since learned during their time at Yuuei with varying degrees of hilarity.
Class A were staying at Heights Alliance for the holidays and as it got closer to Christmas day they had decided to decorate the common areas to make everything seem a little more festive. They had all pitched in to source and make a selection of decorations and had set aside different jobs for everyone to get into the spirit of the season.
Jirou and Ashido had put together a festive playlist to get everyone hyped up, while Tokoyami and Midoriya searched for a good selection of heartwarming festive movies to hunker down to watch once the commotion had died down.
Shouji and Koda had sourced a large conifer tree from the school grounds nearby and Uraraka had helped them float it indoors once it was chopped down.
Kaminari had wrestled with bundles of string lights, occasionally dabbing the plug to his tongue to test that all the bulbs were working then handed them over to Iida—who whizzed around the tree to cover as much of it as possible in twinkly lights—before moving on to unravel and test the next set.
Aoyama, Kirishima and Todoroki had been left to decorate the rest of the tree, spreading an assortment of pretty trinkets and baubles evenly across the branches until they couldn't reach the top half. Aoyama had to stand on Kirishima's hardened shoulders for the added height to finish it off, placing the star at the very top with a flourish. For the final touch, Todoroki had added some frost to the branches so that they glittered under the lights.
Sero and Asui had been in charge of the garlands, their quirks a perfect match up for getting the decorations all strung up onto the high ceilings and along the walls.
Ojirou had made some paper snowflakes for the large windows and began to pepper the glass with them, balancing upon his tail to reach some of the higher areas.
Satou and Bakugou had started making a Christmas cake and selection of wagashi in cute little festive shapes, meanwhile, Yaoyurozu and Hagakure helped by brewing a selection of warming, winter teas to complement the treats.
Mineta had managed to skulk away during the time that everyone was assigning jobs and, truth be told, they were all too busy to take much notice of his absence. That is until he had returned with a large sprig of mistletoe from outside and proceeded to pester the girls before Ashido confiscated it.
And that's how Kirishima found himself here with a soft grin on his face. Watching Kaminari shriek for mercy as Ashido blew raspberries on the back of his neck, all the while brandishing the contraband mistletoe above his head as if it excused her behaviour.
“Oi, shift over or make yourself useful,” Bakugou bumped Kirishima’s knee with his foot, his arms laden with plates of Christmas treats.
When Bakugou didn’t get a response he set the plates down on the low tables by the couches and bumped Kirishima’s knee again.
“What's with you, Shitty Hair?"
“Oh, sorry, nothin’ bro!” Kirishima rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and pulled his gaze away from Kaminari, feigning ignorance as he shifted up a little on the couch to make space.
The truth was that Kirishima had discovered his feelings for Kaminari a few months ago and ever since then he had spent many of his waking moments trying to figure out how to tell him. It had been a gradual realisation, one that appeared over lots of late-night movies and video games together, close study sessions, training and sparring exercises, evenings of joking around in the common area, and many, many silly messages. The feelings had crept into his heart and made a little home there without him realising until it was too late, not that he minded per se, but they had certainly caught him by surprise.
Now the problem was how to tell Kaminari. Kirishima had thought it over and the festive season seemed more and more like the right time to do it—the atmosphere all cosy and romantic—provided he didn’t screw it up.
Kirishima's thoughts were interrupted as Sero flopped down next to him on the couch, getting comfortable for the first of the night's festive movies. Bakugou grumbled something under his breath—Kirishima caught the words ‘daydreaming’ and ‘dumbass’ and felt a little guilty—before he also fell back into the couch on the other side of Sero.
The rest of their classmates all began taking up spots on the other couches or on pillows on the floor for the movie night ahead of them, helping themselves to the homemade snacks and tea and showering praise upon the chefs.
Finally free from Ashido’s assault, Kaminari vaulted into the free space next to Kirishima and threw his legs over the rest of the Squad’s laps, making them all groan, wheeze and yell in his direction as he giggled gleefully.
Kirishima suddenly felt very warm and was extremely aware of his hands. Where did he usually put his hands? He wanted to rest them on Kaminari’s thighs, they were right there, but… would he usually do that? Was that weird now? He couldn’t tell anymore.
“You okay, dude?” Kaminari laughed, an eyebrow raised at Kirishima’s awkwardly hovering hands.
“Uhh yeah, of course!” Kirishima tried to cover up hastily, thinking of something, anything, he could do to occupy his hands. “Just, uhh… wanted a cup of that awesome tea the girls made, could you pass me some?”
“Sure thing.“
Kaminari leaned his top half over towards the low table for a cup, his shirt riding up and exposing a portion of his lower back which made Kirishima feel like he was going to combust. When he turned back to hand it to Kirishima their fingers brushed together and he almost dropped the damn thing in his lap.
Get a grip, Eijirou!
They ended up watching several movies that night and as the evening wore on Kaminari had slumped more into the couch. His head fell to rest on Kirishima’s shoulder while he struggled to stay awake—oblivious to Kirishima’s ever-growing gay crisis—with soft little snores slipping from his lips into Kirishima’s ear.
Kirishima found his eyes drawn to the discarded mistletoe on the table and suddenly he had a little idea, he’d just have to make sure he could sneak away with it later…
❄❅❄❅❄
Kirishima woke up early the next morning, Christmas Eve, and headed down to the common area to set up, hoping to the Gods that his plan would actually work. Picking an area opposite where everyone would come down from the dorms he hung up the mistletoe, positioned himself up and began to wait.
It was by no means a complicated plan, but he hoped that perhaps there was a small chance that Kaminari—sweet, flirty, affectionate Kaminari—would approach him and lean in for a kiss. Kirishima would pour all of his feelings into that kiss, Kaminari would be sure to notice that, right? Kirishima intended to confess afterwards in private, of course, but until then he just needed to get the ball rolling.
It wasn’t long before he heard footsteps approaching from the hallway and his stomach flipped in anticipation.
The first to emerge from the dorms were Uraraka, Asui and Yaoyorozu, who all stopped short in the doorway upon spotting Kirishima. He stared back at them sheepishly, feeling a blush creep up his neck.
Okay, I may not have thought this plan through as thoroughly as I should have...
They all whispered amongst themselves for a moment while Kirishima stood awkwardly under the mistletoe, wondering how he could have failed to consider the fact that he would be doing this in front of the entire class. Uraraka drew closer with a gentle smile and his eyes tried to zero in on his own feet.
“Uhh, morning Uraraka!” he laughed nervously.
“Good morning Kirishima,” she giggled and floated herself a few inches off the ground, bringing herself up to eye-level with him.
She placed a small, innocent peck on his cheek and whispered in his ear.
“Good luck, you’ve got this!”
She flashed him a knowing smile and a little wink and then she herded the girls off towards the kitchen to get some breakfast, leaving Kirishima touching his cheek and wondering how she could possibly know. Was he that obvious?
She’s right though, wouldn’t be very manly of me to call it off now! I’ve got this!
Feeling much more determined, he ignored the second flip of his stomach as he heard the next people approaching.
This time it was Satou, Ojirou and Koda, the latter of which held up his small bunny to lick Kirishima’s nose.
Afterwards, it was Midoriya and Todoroki. Midoriya saw the mistletoe and immediately went very red, muttering under his breath to himself for what felt like almost a full minute before he strode over to Kirishima and leaned up to press a very soft, sweet kiss to his lips. He hurried away extremely flustered before Kirishima could even say anything.
Next was Aoyama and Shouji. Aoyama gasped and was up in Kirishima’s space within a couple of strides of his long legs and clasping Kirishima’s shoulders, kissing him twice on each cheek with a ‘Quel régal!’ before twinkling away. Kirishima felt like he’d been blindsided.
“You know, this would go a lot better if you were a girl,” Mineta had arrived, taken one look at Kirishima under the mistletoe and grimaced. “Better yet, if you weren’t involved at all and the girls were in your place.”
Then Ashido and Kaminari rounded the corner from the dorms and Kirishima’s heart skipped a beat.
Is this it? Oh God, oh fuck, I’m not ready!
“You’re just jealous no one wants to kiss you, dude,” Kaminari laughed and nudged Mineta with a slippered foot, clearly ignoring the protests that followed.
The students that had headed into the kitchen earlier had begun to filter back out slowly into the common area and were now settling in to watch the show, much to Kirishima’s embarrassment.
Ashido spotted the mistletoe and made a beeline for Kirishima, pure chaos in her eyes as she descended upon him.
“Mina, please, be kind...” he attempted to beg for mercy, screwing his eyes up until they were almost closed.
“You wound me, Eijirou, when am I not kind to you?” she pouted, leaning in slowly until their lips were an inch apart before she grabbed his chin and licked all the way up the side of his face, cackling maniacally into his ear before she sprinted off.
As Kirishima chuckled and scrubbed at his cheek, Kaminari’s eyes met his across the crowded common area and Kirishima could feel his heart pounding in his ears. His palms felt sweaty and his stomach felt like it had dropped right out of him as Kaminari flashed him a 100-watt grin and then… went straight to the kitchen?
Wait, what?
He didn’t get much time to question it before Jirou and Hagakure entered. Hagakure ran over to him eagerly and Kirishima struggled to know what he was supposed to do, how do you kiss someone you can’t see? How do you aim?? He decided it’d be safer to just stay still and let her kiss him, until she suddenly pressed her lips to his neck and gave a cheeky laugh.
“Hey! No fair, that’s cheating!” he clutched at his neck as a mixture of goosebumps and Hardening rippled over the skin, trying to yell after her as she also headed towards the kitchen.
Todoroki had been watching intently for quite some time as he slurped up his breakfast soba, observing each interaction curiously. Suddenly he placed his bowl down on the table and walked towards Kirishima, leaned up on his tiptoes and kissed Kirishima’s forehead.
“Did I do this right?” he asked with genuine curiosity. “I’m not familiar with this custom and everyone has been doing something different, I wanted to join in.”
Kirishima rubbed away the dashi that Todoroki had smeared on his forehead and chuckled at the innocence of the situation.
“Perfect dude, you’re a natural,” Kirishima flashed him a toothy grin as Todoroki returned to the couch to resume eating his soba, apparently satisfied.
Bakugou had entered the common area at some point amidst the commotion, taken one look at the whole spectacle, and with an ‘Oh fuck no’ had done a one-eighty back to his room.
Tokoyami, Sero and Iida were the last ones to arrive after that. Sero’s signature grin widened as he spotted Kirishima, sauntering over with lazy confidence to press him up against the wall and box him in with one arm by his head. Any chance to wind him up.
Sero tilted Kirishima’s chin up and leaned in as the class whooped and cheered behind them until Kirishima squeaked and pinched his eyes shut in embarrassment.
“Stay out of the kitchen if you can’t handle the heat, Red,” Sero whispered with a cocky smirk, before flicking him on the forehead and barking a laugh.
“But… I’m not even in the kitchen...” Kirishima pouted as Sero walked off to leave him flustered and confused.
Mineta shrieked about how 'all this guy-on-guy action' was 'unnatural' until Sero threatened to cocoon him and chuck him out into the snow, at which point he slunk off towards the kitchen in search of breakfast.
“Alright, that’s enough of this debauchery!” Iida boomed from the doorway, his arm chopping through the air in their general direction as the rest of the class either giggled or complained that they didn’t get their kiss yet.
Kirishima sighed, his heart sinking as he suddenly remembered Kaminari hadn’t returned. Was he avoiding him? Did he know Kirishima’s ulterior motive? Was he mad? Kirishima’s mind swirled with anxious questions as he trudged back up to his room to think of a plan B, festive spirit more than a little deflated.
❄❅❄❅❄
Kirishima wanted to scream into his pillow. He had spent hours trying to think of another way to confess but nothing felt right, and now he was stuck because Christmas Eve was almost over and he was still nowhere near a plan B.
His thoughts were interrupted by a sound at his door and he got up from his bed to investigate, finding a folded note.
Once unfolded it read:
‘ Find me underneath the mistletoe. Five minutes.’
Kirishima was terrible at recognising handwriting and there was no name signed under it. He checked the clock, it was already eleven forty-five, almost midnight.
Holy crap, when did it get so late?!
He scrubbed a hand over his face and decided that there was no way he was going to think of another plan before Christmas Eve ended, it was too late now, he’d just have to come up with something else. What a waste of a romantic day.
He figured he’d get ready for bed and then head downstairs to see whatever the note-writer wanted. On his way down he kept studying the small slip of paper, trying to figure out who wrote on it as he muttered to himself.
“I swear to God if this is Sero messing with me again, I’m gonna–”
His words died in his throat as he rounded the corner into the common area and spotted Kaminari standing under the mistletoe, the room left quite dark other than the soft twinkling lights of the Christmas tree. The colours bounced off his golden hair and pale skin, Kirishima swallowed and inadvertently crumpled the note in his grip.
Kaminari smiled at him; it was a different kind of smile to the one he usually wore, this one was softer, a little unsure. Kirishima wasn’t certain how he ended up in front of Kaminari, his legs no doubt working on autopilot while he attempted not to have a coronary on school grounds.
Up close, Kaminari looked as nervous as Kirishima felt and he found that thought oddly comforting as he waited for the blond the speak.
“I… I wanted you to know, I wanted to kiss you earlier, but not with everyone else watching,” Kaminari chewed his lip nervously as he fidgeted with the cuffs of his gaudy Christmas sweater. “I wanted it to be a moment just for us, y’know?”
Oh. Wait... OH!
It was like fireworks were going off inside Kirishima’s brain, he was hoping he hadn’t fallen asleep in his bed upstairs and succumb to some sort of cruel dream. He was suddenly very aware of how sweaty his palms were, and he hastily rubbed them on his sweats before reaching out to take one of Kaminari’s hands.
“Shit, sorry,” Kirishima said sheepishly, his face flushing as he squeezed Kaminari’s hand while the blond laughed. “I’m… wow.”
Ever the wordsmith.
“I had a feeling I knew why you were doing this, I hope you don’t mind me calling you out here so late,” Kaminari continued, lacing their fingers together as he peered up into Kirishima’s face.
Kirishima shook his head vehemently
“I still can’t really believe this is happening,” he admitted as his forehead fell to meet Kaminari’s, “or that you’re here. I thought you were mad at me.”
Kaminari chuckled and tilted his chin up so that their noses brushed together.
“I’m definitely the furthest thing from mad.”
Kirishima leaned in the rest of the way and pressed their mouths together gently, and he heard Kaminari’s breath hitch. Kaminari’s lips were soft and warm against his and their hands pulled apart to wrap around and pull each other close. Kaminari felt smaller in his arms than he anticipated, but no less like he belonged there.
They soon found themselves cuddling up on the couch under a blanket—bathed in the lights of the Christmas tree as they exchanged kisses or watched the snow falling through the tall windows—when the clock struck midnight.
Kaminari was laying on top of Kirishima under the blanket, his head resting on Kirishima’s chest. Kirishima brushed the hair out of Kaminari’s face and smiled warmly, his heart full.
“Merry Christmas, Kami.”
“Merry Christmas, Kiri.”