Chapter Text
Kirishima was a friendly guy if the amount of hellos and sup mans he got while walking the dusty halls of U.A was any indication. He knew he was pretty well liked, I mean, what isn’t there to like? He had created the friendliest version of himself when he had left middle school behind, dyed his hair bright red and joined the football team.
And, now, as he sauntered his way over to his first period, he waved at everyone, offering his brightest and friendliest smile.
He heard the footsteps before he saw the flash of pink hair beside him as his best friend Ashido Mina appeared beside him. She was a pretty girl with dark skin, pink curls, and mischievous eyes. Before he had come out as gay at the end freshman year, people were certain they were dating, no matter how often they had claimed otherwise. Even now, when Kirishima was completely out, people would whisper and point when they walked down the hall.
Mina was the only person that had known him in middle school. She was also the only person at U.A that knew of his dark hair and his insecurities, at first that had scared him but as they became closer friends, she had helped him overcome his insecurities. They had even dyed their hair together, a week before they had started their freshman year.
“Kiri!”
A hand was suddenly in front of his eyes, waving.
“What are you thinking so hard about?” She nudged him, eyebrows raised suspiciously.
“Just about how much I love you.” He winked, playfully flirtatious, at her, causing her to roll her eyes.
Okay, so maybe he saw where people had gotten their rumors from.
“Well, you can think about that later! I was talking!”
They rounded the corner, Kirishima’s eyes focused on her, and he realized what a mistake that was as he bumped into something - no, someone .
“Ah! Sorry! I didn’t see you there, man,” Kirishima laughed, looking down at the small figure he had bumped into.
The figure that he did not recognize. And the thing is, Kirishima made it his personal goal to know everyone at U.A, especially those in his year, which this guy seemed to be.
The boy in question was short, skin scattered with freckles, with unruly hair that was dark enough to look green. Actually, now that he looked closely, it might actually be green? Kirishima shook his head, realizing that he was staring and the boy was slowly turning red. Cute, he thought as he smiled.
Suddenly aware again, Kirishima noticed the boy was mumbling what sounded like an apology except he just kept going.
“Hey man,” Kirishima interrupted before the boy kept muttering, “you’re new here, right?”
The boy nodded, “uh yeah, yesterday was technically my first day.”
“Well, welcome to U.A bro, I’m Kirishima,” he pointed to himself before jutting his thumb in Mina’s direction, “and that’s Mina. If you need help with anything feel free to ask!”
The boy beamed, eyes wide and watery. Was he about to cry? Oh no, Kirishima thought, what had he said?
But then the boy was wiping away the unshed tears, “thank you so much! I really appreciate it!”
Before Kirishima could answer, the bell was ringing and Mina was pulling him towards their destination.
And with that, he sat down in his first period english class, Mina beside him.
---
Why Kirishima had decided taking AP Art was a good idea, he would never know.
It wasn’t like he was bad at art, he was actually a pretty good sculptor and could even paint a bit. But he wasn’t exactly good either, his sketches were messy and his anatomy was always way off.
Yet there he was, his last class of the day and he was tired as the teacher began to explain their next project, when a sudden pounding of the door made him jump.
He looked up in mild interest as his art teacher, a blonde man with hollow eyes and baggy clothes, made his way to the door and opened it.
“Ah, you must be the new student,” his teacher said.
Oh! Must be that new student he had bumped into. The really nice one with green hair and freckles-
“No shit.”
Well, Kirishima thought, that was rude.
Beside him, a student giggled.
He craned his neck trying to catch a glance at the apparent new student, that was definitely not the sweet boy he had bumped into.
And as the new student entered the room, Kirishima’s eyes widened because holy shit, he was hot.
Someone wolf whistled and as unmanly as he thought catcalling was, Kirishima was inclined to agree.
The boy scowled, though he seemed to straighten at the whistle.
“Well, students, please welcome your new peer. Uh, please introduce yourself,” Mr.Yagi moved away, giving everyone a better view of the blonde student.
He was tall, though probably shorter than Kirishima, with blonde hair that spiked every which way. His jaw was chiseled and because he wore a black tank top (with a skull on it, which Kirishima found weirdly amusing), Kirishima could see how toned his arms were.
The boy glared around the room, before catching Kirishima’s eye. Kirishima offered a smile. The boy glared harder. Kirishima’s grin widened as he winked. The boy scowled and turned away, huffing.
“The name’s Katsuki Bakugou, remember it, because I’m going to be number fucking one, got it?”
The room was silent at Bakugou’s declaration before Kirishima broke it and burst into laughter.
And even as he felt all eyes on him, Kirishima couldn’t control himself because who the fuck enters a room - a class!- and just announces things like that?
Finally, his laughter died down, leaving him chuckling and gasping for air.
“You got a problem with that Shitty Hair?”
Kirishima grinned at Bakugou, “none at all.”
They stared at each other for a second longer, before Yagi coughed.
“Ok, well, Bakugou, how about you go sit next to Tokoyami, right over there?”
Bakugou did as he was told, begrudgingly stalking over to the seat that was pretty much on the opposite side of the room from Kirishima.
As he watched the blonde glare at the teacher even as he took what looked to be diligent notes, Kirishima decided something.
He decided that he would befriend Katsuki Bakugou, no matter what.
---
“You’re insane.”
“Kami! Back me up here!”
Said boy looked up from his phone before shrugging, “sorry, bro, but Mina’s right. You are insane.”
It’s been a day since Kirishima first saw Bakugou and decided to befriend him. Word of the new students spread, but Bakugou was usually the topic of interest since he had earned a quick reputation as a resident bad boy.
Even though Kirishima declared that he would befriend the blonde, he had no idea how to go about it. Usually, making friends and talking to people came easy to him. Just smile and wave and maybe compliment them and boom, friends. But Kirishima knew that wouldn’t work on Bakugou, and somehow that made it more exciting. Therefore, Kirishima needed a plan.
So, as he sat down for lunch, he slammed a paper onto the table in front of his closest friends.
The paper still sat there, in the middle of the table, the title displayed with big red letters.
Kirishima’s Very Manly Plan to Befriending Bakugou in Under a Month.
“What about this is insane?” Kirishima asked, gesturing frantically at the paper.
Sero raised a pierced eyebrow, his mullet held back by a hair tie as he ate, “well, for starters, the title is too long.”
Kirishima pouted.
Kaminari nodded frantically, even though he was still staring at his phone. Who he was texting, Kirishima had no idea.
“Fine, fine. What should I change it to then?”
Mina tapped her chin as she thought, nose scrunched up making her look like a constipated bunny. He refrained from telling her as much. “Maybe get rid of the word manly?”
Placing a hand over his wounded heart, Kirishima gasped. “Absolutely not!”
Sero nodded solemnly, “I’m afraid Kirishima’s right, Mina, the manly part is very important.”
Recognizing the sarcasm, Kirishima turned to glare at his friend who was now snickering. “Fuck you!”
“Yeah, fuck him,” Kaminari mumbled half heartedly, still not paying attention.
The group raised a collective eyebrow at their blonde friend.
“Dude, who are you texting so much?” Sero asked, reaching over to grab at Kaminari’s phone.
For the first time that whole lunch, Kaminari looked up as he held his phone away from Sero. “No one!”
Kaminari squealed as Kirishima grabbed his phone. He had been so focused on not letting Sero grab it, he had forgotten that Kirishima could easily reach it.
“Oh” Kirishima smirked, “who’s Jirou? ”
“Kiri!” Kaminari begged, “don’t!”
“Wait, Jirou? As in the girl with that band?” Mina piped up, smirking. “ The Jacks or something, right?”
Kaminari groaned, burying his face in his hands as Sero snickered. “Nice dude! She’s cute!”
“Can we please talk about something else?” Kaminari groaned, banging his forehead against the table.
“Nope!” They all responded.
--
When Kirishima got home, he was greeted by slobbery kisses from his giant bloodhound. As he stumbled backwards, he laughed, roughly petting his dog’s head.
“Hey, Riot!” He grinned, patting the dog once he jumped off of Kirishima. He turned to face the entryway. “I’m home!”
A beat of silence before his mother appeared in the hallway, her black hair cut short around her ears and her smile sweet. “Welcome home.”
Kirishima grinned as he kissed her cheek, moving past her to get to the kitchen, “how was work?”
“Boring,” she rolled her eyes, “hungry?”
He smiled back at her sheepishly, refrigerator open in front of him. “Always.”
“Lucky for you, you have an awesome mom who brought you food.”
She reached past him, grabbing a bag on the counter.
Kirishima helped set up the table and sat down across from her, giving a quick thanks, before digging in. He looked up from his plate to see his mom humming, rolling up her sleeves, revealing the intricate tattoos that took up space there.
“So, how was school?” She asked.
“Well, there’s this AP Art project that I have to do, which ugh, but otherwise? Great!”
He decidedly did not tell her about Bakugou
“How fun,” she replied, “I’m sure you’ll do great.”
He hummed, realizing he had no idea what the project was about.
--
That night, Kirishima dug through his closet until he found a mostly empty notebook. The notebook cover was green with orange explosions and for some reason Kirishima thought it was perfect.
He opened it to the first page and doodled a small Bakugou onto the page, pausing before adding a title.
Finally he brought the red pen to the paper and scribbled out the title.
Kirishima’s Manly Monthly Guide to Befriending Katsuki Bakugou
--