Chapter Text
In the build up to Christmas Eijiro had expected there to be many events taking place inside the dorms.
He had expected there to always be a chattering of voices that could be heard from anywhere. He had expected all the hallways to be decorated from floor to ceiling with Christmas decorations and twinkling lights, and lastly, he expected there to be people littered everywhere.
He was right about one of those things. The dorms where indeed decorated with twinkling lights and warm festive decorations. These varied from wreaths hanging from each student’s door, the bunches of holly adorned on the walls and the occasional sprig of a greenery to be found hanging from the odd ceiling. Overall, the atmosphere was very warm and cheerful.
But what was missing in the dorms was the majority of his classmates.
It seemed that most students have coincidently decided to all go home on the same day.
It made sense he supposed. In the weekends running up to Christmas it appeared that many of his classmates had wanted to spend as much time as they could with their families. Many decided to remain at UA over the Christmas break, much like Eijiro had chosen.
He himself had visited his family the previous weekend and exchanged gifts with them before they travelled abroad to enjoy their own Christmas’s.
He noticed that this left the dorms in a very calm state.
Eijiro had never heard the dorms be so quiet, it was very peaceful and oddly easy to settle on with some work, but after a while of having the quiet and books as company the place just kept feeling progressively more empty.
This must have been the most time Eijiro had spent by himself inside his room. Normally his weekends are spent with the so called ‘Bakusquad’. He loves spending time with his friends, he’s been labelled an extrovert many a time by his them, and so far he is yet to prove them wrong. He loved listening to Mina excitedly spew her latest piece of gossip. He loved listening to Sero about his latest interests. He loved kaminari’s constant humour which never failed to get a laugh out of the group. When it comes to Bakugou, well… He loved his everything in a way which seemed to become ever so gradually less platonic with each passing day. Even within the privacy of his own mind where he has the luxury of being able to lie to himself, it’s become more of a fruitless endeavour the more he considers it.
God Bakugou is so manly… his caramel scent which always drifts into his lungs when he is in his close proximity. His gruff personality which masks his softer interior. His signature smirk that’s decided to be imprinted in his mind’s eye for what has felt like a year at this point. His lingering touches that send tendrils of electricity racing down his arms and back.
Stop it, He thinks to himself as he irritatedly berates his own brain. He has walked this dance one to many times and knows the consequences of getting stuck in a Bakugou tangent.
One minute it will be midday and the next moment it will be dark with half the day gone to daydreaming about his best friend, his favourite person or more recently he refers to Bakugou as just his all-time person in general.
As much as Eijiro would like nothing more than to see what else his very gay self can imagine up, he also has a desperate need to bury himself within his textbook.
Do I really need to though? His traitorous thoughts whispered back to him. In a moment of weakness he promptly banged his head against his hard desk. It seemed increasingly unlikely that he was going to carry out any semblance of productivity. Maybe a change in scenery will spark some productiveness from him.
With a new resolve he adamantly picked up his ‘History of The Quirked Wars’ textbook and began to make his way to the common room, where there might be someone there to keep him company and hopefully quell the pitiful feeling of loneliness which has followed him. Even though most people left last evening it would seem likely that there would be someone there to make the dorms feel less empty. He’d even consider the company of a teacher over the solitude of his room.
His prayers were gloriously answered as he made his way down the last flight of stairs to find a certain head of spiky blonde peeking out over one of the far couches.
So much for being productive here, he thought to himself as he approached the couch.
Bakugou Katsuki knew that he was a bastard.
He had a loudmouth and never shied away from what he wanted which seemed to piss people off. These people apparently didn’t include Kirishima, a guy with spiky scarlet red hair not to dissimilar to his own hair style. He was never put off by Katsuki’s colourful language but instead focused on him. He had felt like he was being picked apart under that gaze, it felt as if this red-haired idiot could see right through him on the odd occasion. At first it mildly irritated him that he felt mildly exposed, but those feelings dissipated once that blindingly warm smile was directed his way.
This guy wasn’t like the other extras. This loser with stupidly red hair wasn’t intimidated by him or his presence, he wasn’t scared. But rather saw him as someone else entirely. He often stated that he saw him as someone who was strong and competitive, with a so called ‘manly’ passion for what he believed was right. He found himself liking that Kirishima matched him in drive and together, they challenged each other to their limits, constantly striving to match each other and push the other to new heights.
Now he has come to realise that Kirishima means much more to him than anybody has before.
He had viewed him as a valued training partner which had progressed to his friend, then to his person he partners with for everything. Right now he can’t describe it wholly, but he knows he wants Kirishima in his entirety and would like Kirishima to have himself in return.
Katsuki has come to realise loving Kirishima brings a plethora of emotions and feelings which both strengthen him and weakens him simultaneously.
His casual touches which make him feel empowered to take on the world also make his limbs feel weak to the point he feels the needs to sit down. His skin feels warm and flushed in contact with Kirishima’s but also feels the unavoidable urge to shiver under said contact.
Katsuki wasn’t bothered by any extras opinions in the slightest which led him to reciprocate the lingering touches and the heated gazes.
He refuses to be a wuss like that stupid half and half and Deku who send longing glances at each other when they think the other isn’t looking.
No, he isn’t a goddammed coward, he’s better than those extras and he’ll do something about it.
That’s what drives him into unabashed action on one fateful weekend in the depths of the common room.
Katsuki was lying on a couch, there was no need to sit up and share the space when there was barely a dammed person in this building. He was content scrolling through his phone with the quiet ambience of Christmas music playing from a speaker next to the tv. He can vaguely see the flashing lights out of his peripherals which cast a warm glow over the room.
In the distance he can hear the familiar footsteps of someone coming down the stairs.
It takes him a second to fully register the footsteps. He noticed the sound comes at longer intervals which leads him to conclude that this person has longer strides then the average person.
Ah, this is his red-haired idiot.
Katsuki was originally scouring the internet for gifts for his rag-tag group of idiot friends but he supposed he can postpone that until he is in the privacy of his room where he isn’t under the gaze of such idiot friend. So he switches his current tab to the one next to it and waits for his idiot to get down to the common room.
Katsuki plans to show he isn’t a coward and see just how far he can get in his pursuit before the idiot catches on and does something about it.
Obviously Kirishima isn’t obligated to return the attraction as much as he would like that he knows at the end of the day it’s up to him. He simply wants to show the moron he is there for him in whatever way he wants even if they remain as they are. But no one will ever get the chance to call him a coward, that he is sure of.
Over his dead body would he admit these words outside of his head but he adores Kirishima. He is stupidly enamoured with everything about him from the point of his spiky hair to the pads of his feet. Since when has he been that sappy? Wow, if he keeps this behaviour up he’ll develop cavities from his sickeningly sappy thoughts alone.
He is so gay.
And it’s all Kirishima’s fault.
Bastard, he thinks in a voice far too soft to be his own.
As Kirishima comes further down the stairs he notices his footsteps sound slightly heavier than normal.
If Katsuki had to take a wild guess he was willing to bet that Kirishima was frustrated, and as to why is because he tried to do work but ended up getting distracted as he always works better in group settings and working by himself for a while makes him feel lonely.
As Kirishima made it down the last few steps and into the common room Katsuki looked up to see what he was expecting; his red-haired idiot was making his way across the room with a history textbook in hand and a slight pout creasing his face.
Oh how Katsuki liked to be right.
“Hey Bakugou, mind if I join you?” Kirishima spoke in a cheerful voice whilst waving his hand in a greeting.
Where there was once a slight pout on Kirishima’s face in now a beaming smile directed at him. Any tension previously present has vanished and he’s been left more relaxed.
“Sure,” he replied simply.
In the back of his mind a vague plan was beginning to form on how he can further test these uncharted waters.
He abruptly sat up and stretched both his arms out, trying to work out any tension that had accumulated there from lying in the same position for too long. He turned his head and vaguely nodded in the general direction of the space he just created, trying to gesticulate that Kirishima could sit there.
The idiot understood and walked over the last few steps, Katsuki knew when Kirishima had sat down when the couch dipped beside him. He glances over his shoulder briefly before he promptly lies back down again, but this time with his head resting on Kirishima’s thigh.
He feels smugness envelope him as he looks up to see the mildly shocked expression adorning Kirishima’s face, his leg felt still underneath him and hasn’t yet tried to push him off.
He’d take that as a win on his part. Katsuki can feel the beginnings of a smirk etch across his face.
He knows Kirishima gives a lot of casual touches to all his friends so he assumed that physical affection would be a good place to test the waters.
Kirishima’s eyes snapped down to meet his own, his gaze was curious, searching. He felt like he was being looked at under a microscope.
Ah, this is the vulnerable feeling the shitty nerd and half and half cower away from. But this is Kirishima, his person, the worst that could possibly happen is that he sees the feelings behind his actions.
Kirishima must have found what he was looking for as his gaze lessened in its intensity and settled on an understanding tone.
Katsuki, in turn raised an eyebrow back at him, silently challenging him to do something, anything. Katsuki dropped the intense gaze and diverted his attention back to his phone. He is content in Kirishima’s reaction, its something he can work with.
His thoughts come to an abrupt stop at the feeling of fingers carding through his hair, entwining through the strands and letting the pads of his fingers glaze smoothly across his scalp, his touch sends tendrils of ease throughout his body, latching onto everything he didn’t know he had and covered it in a blanket of warmth, ease and serenity.
He felt so relaxed he almost forgot to be shocked, key word being almost.
This wasn’t a part of his vague plan, what was Kirishima doing? Why was he doing it? And why are his fingers so goddamned magical?
Katsuki blearily flicked his eyes back up to Kirishima where he found his red eyes already looking back at him, and in a mirroring of his previous action Kirishima had his eyebrow raised at him in a question or maybe a challenge, damn his weakness towards anything Kirishima does.
And was that a smirk playing on his lips?
Katsuki feels like he isn’t connecting the information before him so he looks, really looks closer into those entrancing red eyes and tries to figure out what he’s missing. The reciprocation of touch, the smirk and the challenge which is very similar to what he just did.
Oh.
Oh.
Katsuki had looked over the obvious.
Not only does he like to think he knows Kirishima like the back of his hand but that deep level of understanding goes both ways. Of course Kirishima will be able to see what he’s doing, why wouldn’t he?
He sees Kirishima as his person but now its startlingly obvious how that also goes both ways. Kirishima took a second to look at him, truly look at him, then saw him and his feelings in their entirety with a silent challenge in his eyes and decided to play him at his own game.
Now he can fully see Kirishima as well, he can see the affection lingering inside his soft red eyes while he looks at him. The smile graced across his lips shows wonder and excitement and with a closer look it’s possible to see hints of adoration, or maybe that’s just his drowsiness talking.
But one thing he knows with certain clarity; Katsuki Bakugou is Kirishima’s person just like Kirishima is his own. They don’t need to discuss it verbally to know this about each other.
Kirishima might be winning his little game right now but he will refuse to be outdone, when he wakes up Kirishima won’t know what’s hit him. With his resolve secure in his mind he allows himself to lose the first game and succumb to the enticing lull of sleep, his last thoughts are of rich red eyes, pointy teeth and a smile which is the human embodiment of beaming sunshine.