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Bakugou let out a sigh as he walked out of his dorm room. It was too fucking early for training, but for some fucking reason, Aizawa had made it mandatory for all of 3A to attend. Well, if he was being honest, the reason they all had to go was because of their… game the previous day. Then again, how were they supposed to know that having a quirks-allowed game of handball would result in holes in the wall, a good three shouting matches (one of which included him), a list of injuries, and a couple of broken bones. But in their defense, the broken bones had been from Deku, so that was just the usual occurrence.
Aizawa had showed up and told them that they had training at six in the morning since they seemed to have so much energy to just waste. So that is why Bakugou was standing outside his dorm room at five-thirty in the fucking morning in his gym clothes. Who’s fucking idea was it to play handball anyways?
“Hey, Bakugou,” Kirishima said as he stepped out of his room with a sleepy smile, eyes still half-closed.
Bakugou just groaned in response as he started walking with Kirishima behind him. It was a habit of his to wait for Kirishima at his door before heading out. That was the only way to make sure the redhead wasn’t late every fucking day. “Let’s get this fucking over with,” Bakugou mumbled as a greeting as they arrived at the elevator.
“What do you think Aizawa will make us do today?” Kirishima said with a yawn.
“I bet it’s going to be nothing but drills,” Bakugou said with a bit of an annoyed sigh.
“Aw man,” Kirishima complained, letting his head fall onto Bakugou’s shoulder. “Next time Denki gets an idea we should all just ignore him.”
Bakugou froze up at the unexpected contact, it wasn’t out of the ordinary for Kirishima to get so clingy, especially early in the morning. It was just… lately Bakugou kept wanting more of it. He wanted to wrap his arm around Kirishima and pull him close. He wanted to kiss his best friend's temple and not let him go until the redhead was wide awake.
“Can we get some ramen today?” Kirishima asked with a slight pout before adding, “it is Friday, we can even go to that place you like with the super spicy one.”
“Okay, fine,” Bakugou said with a groan, he was never good at saying no to Kirishima, besides, spending some time alone with his best friend was always nice.
Kirishima smiled brightly at him before bumping his fist together. Yeah, the smile was also a bonus.
Bakugou felt himself smile, at least he got more time with Kirishima.
*
“You have another date with Bakugou tonight?” Sero said with a smirk, as he tried to fake shock.
“It’s not a date!” Kirishima told him and Kaminari who was trying to stiffen a laugh. “It’s not like that and you both know it.”
“But you want it to be like that,” Kaminari teased before dodging a punch from Kirishima. “See! You do!”
“Can you both shut up?” Kirishima said with a groan.
“I don’t know why you don’t just tell him,” Sero said with a shrug, “it is obvious that he gives you special treatment. That has to mean something.”
“Special treatment doesn’t mean that someone lo- likes someone like that,” Kirishima told them, as his eyes fell to the ground. They were waiting around for the rest of the class to arrive. Bakugou was talking to Midoriya and Todoroki some distance away as they waited for the last of their classmates to finish the obstacle course they had been required to run for their training that morning.
“I still think you should go for it,” Sero said with a shrug before stretching, “what's the worst that could happen?”
Kirishima knew exactly what the worst thing that could happen was. Bakugou could end up not wanting to be his friend anymore. Maybe even come to hate him. Kirishima actually had a lot of ideas of what exactly could go wrong and how his whole friendship with Bakugou could be destroyed if he ever admitted to his best friend how he really felt about him.
“Okay, not bringing that up again in a while,” Sero said with a sigh at Kirishima’s worried expression.
**
Kirishima had been rather quiet after training, and Bakugou couldn’t figure out why. He had tried talking to his best friend about it a couple of times but his concern was brushed away by the redhead. It was pissing him off.
Did Kirishima not trust him? What the fuck was his problem? He had been actively avoiding him the whole day now. They usually eat lunch together but Kirishima had made some done excuse of having to go talk to the stupid ass tin can about some bullshit. It was getting on his last nerve and he was about to punch the redhead if that was the way to get him to pay attention.
They had just gotten dismissed from their last class, and Bakugou stood by his desk as Kirishima packed his things painfully slowly. Bakugou watched and suddenly he was worried, because Kirishima seemed upset, and that was the worst fucking thing in the world. Bakugou looked around the room and realized they were alone.
“Who was it?” Bakugou demanded to know.
Kirishima turned to look at him with a confused look on his face, “What do you mean?”
“Who was the bastard that upset you,” Bakugou clarified, a couple of explosions going off in his fisted hands, “I will fucking tear them apart.”
Kirishima blinked a couple of times before letting out a soft chuckle, “No one upset me, bro, don’t worry about it.”
But he was worried because it was obvious to him how Kirishima’s smile wasn’t quite reaching his eyes. “Then what’s wrong?” Bakugou asked, surprising himself with how soft his own voice sounded, but he couldn’t help it, he was worried. His ray of sun was dimming in front of his own eyes.
“I-nothing, don’t worry about it,” Kirishima said, trying to shrug him off, as he picked up his school bag, avoiding looking at Bakugou.
“Either you tell me what’s going on, or I will end you,” Bakugou threatened as he took a couple of steps towards Kirishima.
Kirishima took a step back. Another bad sign. Kirishima was the only person that never backed down when he challenged him. “Wait… was it me?” Bakugou asked wide-eyed, feeling his stomach drop at the thought. He wasn’t the best when it came to the whole feelings and shit bullshit. Wouldn’t be the first time he unintentionally hurt someone, but this was so much worse than anything else.
“No!” Kirishima practically yelled, biting his lips before lifting his eyes to finally meet Bakugou’s. “It’s not- you did nothing wrong.”
Bakugou looked at Kirishima for a second, eyes narrowing, “You’re fucking lying.”
“I’m not!” Kirishima exclaimed.
“You bite your lip when you lie,” Bakugou told him, the betrayal clear in his voice. “What did I do Ei?”
Kirishima froze at the nickname, “Nothing, I swear… it’s just…” He trailed off, not able to find a way to finish that sentence that wouldn’t end up revealing everything.
Bakugou’s eyes fell to the ground, “Guess you just don’t want me around then.” Bakugou didn’t wait for a reply, heading for the door and ignoring his best friend called out to him. It was stupid really, he shouldn’t have expected someone to stick around in his life, that's why he never dared to dream about their friendship turning into something more.
***
Kirishima wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, he was pacing in front of Bakugou’s room, debating if he should knock on the door or not. Usually, he could walk in without even knocking, but there was a new wall between them that he had put there himself. Kirishima took a deep breath, he needed to do it. He needed to tell Bakugou everything because nothing was worse than having Bakugou think he hated him.
Kirishima knocked on the door but got no reply after a couple of long seconds. He knocked again with the same result. “Bakugou?” he said softly, “can we please talk?”
Still no reply.
“Come on, man, I can explain everything. I will explain everything, promise,” Kirishima said as he knocked on the door.
The door opened then, Bakugou standing on the other side wearing a pair of jeans and his skull t-shirt. “Start fucking talking then,” said as he made room for Kirishima to walk into his room.
Kirishima swallowed down his nerves as he stepped into the room, head low as he tried to think of how to put everything he had been hiding from his best friend. “I-I don’t know where to start,” he admitted as he stood in the middle of his best friend’s dorm room, where only he was allowed to enter.
“How about you start with what the fuck happened earlier?” Bakugou demanded as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Yeah, Bakugou was still pissed, it was obvious, but he was also hurt, and it made Kirishima wince internally. “I was… thinking about something that’s all,” Kirishima decided that was the best place to start as any.
“About fucking what?”
Kirishima took a deep breath, “There’s… someone I like.”
Bakugou froze at those words, staring at Kirishima for a couple of seconds but all he was able to say was, “Huh?”
“I’ve been in my head the whole day… I just… I know they don’t feel the same, and usually, I can just act normal. It's just that… I guess I realized how impossible it is today,” Kirishima said with a sad smile. This was as close to a confession as he would ever get, and he was fine with that.
Bakugou was quiet for a couple of seconds looking at his best friend carefully. “Whoever it is, they're a fucking idiot.”
Kirishima blinked, “You don’t even know who they are.”
“I don’t fucking need to know, anyone that rejects you is a fucking dumbass,” Bakugou told him with so much disgust at the thought of someone turning down Kirishima. “Who is it? I’ll beat some fucking sense into them.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Kirishima said with a small chuckle if Bakugou knew he would change his mind about that after all.
“Oi, you’re my best fucking friend, if anyone hurts you, I kill them, it’s that fucking simple,” Bakugou said with a shrug as if it was that easy.
Kirishima let out a laugh, unable to stop the warm feeling in his chest at Bakugou’s words. Just the fact that his friend cared so much about him made this half confession worth it. He looked at Bakugou just to find that the blond was smiling at him.
“It’s good to see you laughing, Red,” Bakugou said with a grin.
Kirishima’s eyes fell to the ground once more, a slight blush on his cheeks. “I’m sorry for earlier.”
“Hey, at least you’re being honest with me now,” Bakugou said with a shrug. “That’s what matters, right?”
Just like that, Kirishima’s stomach twisted with guilt. “I- Bakugou…”
Bakugou looked at him, his smile falling at the look on Kirishima’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to tell you something else,” Kirishima confessed.
“Did something actually happen with that asshole you were telling me about?”
Kirishima let out a small laugh, “I guess you could say that.”
“What happened?” Bakugou said, face turning serious.
“I- you see…”
Suddenly, Bakugou’s hand was on Kirishima’s arm, trying to steady him. “Hey, come on, Red, you can tell me anything… right?”
Kirishima nodded, letting out a breath, “It’s you, Kats.”
Bakugou raised an eyebrow at him, “What?”
“The person I like… it’s you.”
Kirishima recoiled, waiting for the shouting, the disgust, the rejection, but nothing came.
“Me?” Bakugou said just above a whisper.
Kirishima just nodded.
****
Bakugou couldn’t breathe, let alone process what he had just heard. Kirishima stood in front of him, waiting for an answer, but all that was running through his head was Kirishima’s words. It’s you, Kats. Over and over again as he felt his heart speed up.
“I knew this was a bad idea, I’m so sorry, that wasn’t very manly of me,” Kirishima said in a rush as he pulled away from Bakugou.
Bakugou reached out, stopping his best from leaving, “Eijirou, wait.”
Kirishima froze, turning to look at Bakugou with caution, “You don’t have to make excuses, I know I’m not-”
“For fucks sake, would you let me talk?” Bakugou huffed, and he watched as Kirishima snapped his mouth shut. “You took me by surprise, that's all,” he explained. “Didn’t I just fucking say that anyone that rejects you is a fucking idiot?”
Kirishima nodded, “I mean- yeah but that was-”
“That was true,” Bakugou told him, “now, do you think I’m a fucking idiot?”
“No,” Kirishima answered automatically.
“Then what makes you think I would reject you?”
Kirishima stared at Bakugou before a small smile started pulling at his lips, “Does… does that mean…”
Bakugou rolled his eyes. He had enough with all this tiptoeing bullshit. He pulled Kirishima towards him by grabbing fistfuls of the redhead’s shirt. “I like you, you idiot,” Bakugou told him before kissing Kirishima quickly. “I have for a while now.”
Kirishima blinked before a wide smile spread on his lips, “I think… I think you may need to kiss me again… you know… just to get the point across.”
“You fucker,” Bakugou snorted, but wasted no time, as he leaned in to kiss his best friend once more, this time a longer and softer kiss.
Kirishima felt himself melt into it. His eyes fluttered shut as his hands found their way to Bakugou’s hips and pulled him in a bit closer.
“So… are we still getting ramen or not?” Bakugou asked once they pulled away.
Kirishima smiled, “It’s a date.”