Chapter Text
Kirishima woke up to a crash followed immediately by muffled cursing. Sluggishly he tapped his phone screen which read 7:38am, not the earliest he’d been jostled awake by far. Yawning, he began rubbing away the remains of sleep from his eyes as he came to his full senses, sitting up straight and feeling a few pops slither down his spine. The commotion that initially woke him, which he assumed was Mina dropping another mug, had died down leaving him in the silence of his dorm. Swinging his legs over the edge of his bed, he began getting ready for his day.
Kirishima liked to think he had a simple life: he was in his first year of university studying Biological Sciences, he lived in a flat with 3 other students (Mina, Sero and Momo) who he got along with amazingly, he was training to be an inside centre for his university’s rugby union team, and everything was going just fine. After styling his hair into its usual spikes he made his way into his kitchen where Mina sat at their shared table, the bitter smell of coffee fresh in the air. When Kiri first moved into his flat Mina was the first to greet him and he was instantly surprised by her bubbly personality and dyed bright pink hair. They became fast friends.
“Mornin’ Kiri! Sorry, did I wake you?” She looked up at him expectantly.
“It’s fine, don't worry about it, my alarm was going to wake me anyways, what’s got you up so early?” he replied and she began to tell him about how her group project was supposed to start that day. Mina was on a performance course which specialised in dance. She had dragged him and Sero to a few of her shows and while Kiri didn’t know the first thing about dancing, he was mesmerised watching her move like water in a stream. He would say he was jealous, but dancing was never his forte. While still idly talking to her he began brewing his morning coffee and making some toast for his breakfast. He noted the flaking wall paint and how the grease had built up on the oven door, making a mental note to buy some actually decent products and have a reasonable clean up. Eventually Sero and Momo joined them in the kitchen and began preparing for their respective days. Momo studied chemistry and had her things organised for a day-long experiment that she had been looking forward to, while Sero was preparing for a more relaxed day of essay writing in the library for his Spanish, which he took alongside a film and media course. Kiri himself was looking towards a day of lectures and studying for his biological sciences course, he averaged middle in his class yet he knew that that was no reason to slack off - that wouldn’t be manly at all! Finishing the last few sips of his coffee he checked the time as he grabbed his stuff and made his way out the door, waving goodbye to his friends and wishing them luck on their various activities.
He wouldn’t say he hated his lectures per se, but he could only hear so much about muscle fibres before he started to get bored. He was halfway through doodling a few gears on the corner of his note page when he noticed his phone screen light up with a new message. Careful as to not draw attention to himself he opened his phone to a text from Denki. Denki Kaminari was an engineering student that lived in the block of flats opposite his that made sure to bounce around all the accommodation campus in freshers week. Between Kirishima’s eagerness to make new friends and Denki’s excitable personality they bonded very quickly. Sooner or later he became a constant in their flat, always being invited by one of the 4 each night. When asked about his own flatmates he never said much besides that they’re more ‘study and stay the hell away from me’ vibes then his own ‘play now and cram later.’ He’d given no more information on them besides the fact that one of them has hair split down the middle and a nasty scar but never wanted to talk about it when asked. Denki himself wasn’t bland looking either as he had dyed a black lightning bolt into his unnatural yellow-blond hair (he claimed it was natural, but Kirishima was sure nobody believed him). He was about an inch shorter than Kiri was, and had leaner muscles as opposed to Kiri’s more obvious bulk. After a few times meeting at various parties, it had been revealed that Denki was a fly half starter for the rugby league A team, a similar but different form of the rugby union that Kirishima was currently centre of the B team for.
“Pizza + Mario kart l8r?” Kiri responded with a quick thumbs up and went back to focusing on the task at hand, which turned out easier said than done. 15 more minutes passed and he was back to doodling on his notes when he noticed that most people had packed away their things. Shit, he thought as he stuffed his notepad and stationery into his backpack and made a beeline for the exit, starting his way to his next lecture. When he sat down again he opened his phone to another message from his hyperactive friend. “Hey, can u meet me at my flat when ur done, got smthn I need to do.”
“Yeah sure man!” Kiri responded with various emojis as he prepared for his next 2 hours of a eukaryotic cell lecture.
Kirishima wasn’t intimidated by Denki’s flat or its inhabitants, that wouldn’t be manly at all… Ok, maybe he was a bit nervous. In his defence, he didn’t really have a lot to work with. He knocked on the door a few times and waited impatiently for the bubbly blond to greet him. What he got instead was a tall guy with two toned hair and a red scar surrounding his left eye. Kiri didn’t mean to stare, really, but after seconds of awkward eye contact the stranger finally spoke.
“I’m sorry but can I help you?” He had a low voice that spoke in a monotone which sounded simultaneously apathetic and a little weirded out, but it was enough to snap Kiri from whatever trance he caught himself in.
“Oh, shit, sorry. I’m here for Denki, he told me to meet him here. I’m Kirishima Eijiro, I live in the block opposite!” He put on his brightest smile and held out his hand in an attempt to clear the slight discomfort lingering in the air between them. Lucky for him, the guy reached out with a slight smile of his own and gently shook his hand back. Kiri noted that his hands were extremely smooth, hardly calloused unlike his own.
“Todoroki Shoto, nice to meet you. Do you want to come in? Denki’s in his room.” Shoto opened the door all the way and stood back to let the redhead inside. The interior of this flat was very similar to his own. A small off-white corridor with 5 doors, one for the kitchen and four for bedrooms labelled A-D and he could hear some muffled talking from behind one of them which he assumed was Denki. The gloss was peeling off the skirting boards and there was a suspicious stain on the pilled green carpet about a metre away from the door – he guessed this was from one of Denki’s nights out. Shoto beckoned to follow him into the kitchen where he had some work laid out on the table. The kitchen itself wasn’t much to take in, there was a small round table surrounded by 4 wooden chairs that seemed uncomfortable to sit on. One corner of the room was dedicated to cupboards – one for each room plus a few extras – along with a fridge-freezer and an oven. There wasn’t a dish in sight, but the bin was nearly filled with takeout boxes, presumably this was also Denki’s doing. Despite this the room smelt nice, like someone had recently walked through with an air freshener. He fired a quick message to Denki that he was here as Shoto offered him some tea, which he politely declined. The tall boy sat down at the work and motioned to the empty chairs surrounding him. Kiri took this as a ‘please sit down so this doesn’t feel so awkward’, so he did. Before he could get back to his work Kirishima started talking.
“So, what do you study? Denki’s not really mentioned his flatmates too much. I study Bio Sciences.” He didn’t know whether he came off too eager or he just startled the quiet boy, but he looked taken back.
“Oh, I take Law. Bio sounds cool though.” They stared at each other for a few seconds, unsure who would speak next. Kiri was just about to prompt the other to say more when he started talking again. “It’s alright I guess. I only really take it because that’s what my old man wants me to do – He’s a lawyer – and he wants me to carry on in his place at his firm when he retires.” Ok, Kiri could work with this. He started to nod and was about to speak when he heard a door open frantically and slam shut again. His stoic companion turned back to his work, seemingly unphased by the sudden disturbance, while Kiri watched a streak of yellow slam into the front door and pull it open, expecting someone to be behind it. He saw Denki frown in confusion at the empty hallway for a brief second before looking around and finally noticing who was sitting in his kitchen.
“Ah Kiri, sorry I took so long I was on a call. I see you’ve met Shoto.” Upon hearing his name, he looked between the two and nodded. Denki started motioning Kiri to stand up and follow him to his room, so he said a small goodbye to his new friend and followed him into room C. Denki’s room was an organised mess to put it simply. The desk was filled with random objects from photos, cups, chocolate bars, socks, and anything that its user picked up and didn’t want to put back where he found it. There was a black spinning desk chair with a pile of clothes on the back, Kiri wasn’t sure if they were clean, dirty or somewhere between. Against the far wall was a bed that was messily made and shelves that were haphazardly filled with trinkets. Anyone would think they were useless, but if someone asked about them, they would be subjected to a ten-minute story about how it was extremely sentimental and how Denki just had to bring it with him to Uni. A few posters of obscure bands Kiri didn’t know and some photos were pinned against a corkboard, bordered by faint fairy lights above the desk. A gentle hum vibrated around the room from the radiator that warmed the area, making the space feel lived in and cosy. Quickly, Denki grabbed his bag and coat and turned to Kiri expectantly for a few seconds.
“I have a predicament” He declared, seemingly holding his breath. Kiri motioned for him to go on and made to sit on the edge of his bed as his friend all but fell into his desk chair. “My friend from home, Jirou, wants to come over and visit.” He exhaled heavily out his mouth and looked over at a photo on his corkboard of him and a purple haired girl, which Kiri assumed was the Jirou in question. However, he was confused as to exactly why this was a problem.
“Dude that’s great, more friends!” He said as he bashed his fists together. It was something he saw in his favourite hero movie when he was a child that he started doing whenever he was feeling down or needed some comfort or confidence. Eventually he started unconsciously doing the pose while comforting others, and if it didn’t work at least it usually got a laugh and made them feel a bit better. This didn’t seem the case for his unusually unenergetic friend, who sighed and started gently spinning himself around.
“I don’t know man, we both go to uni now and haven’t seen each other in ages. What if we’ve changed? What if you guys don’t like her or worse, she doesn’t like me anymore and she doesn’t want to be friends anymore!” Kiri could see the panic in his friends’ eyes and he tried his best to send him the warmest smile he could muster back.
“Dude, you’re so manly, why wouldn’t she wanna be friends with you? She sounds cool and I bet we’ll all get along great, but we won’t know until we meet her, right?” He could see the cogs turning in Denki’s brain as he took in what the redhead was saying. After thinking it over for a few seconds he started nodding and smiled back.
“Yeah you’re right Kiri, I’ll invite her down this weekend then. You’re the best bro!” He exclaimed as he stood and they high fived, pulling Kiri up into a side hug. The pair collected what they needed and left the bedroom. Before they left the flat however, Kiri Tapped Denki’s shoulder to get his attention.
“Should we invite your flatmate, he doesn’t seem to be doing anything too important.” Denki stopped to think over the suggestion before nodding and gesturing to Kiri to go to the front door as he strutted into the kitchen. A few moments later he returned with the other boy and a wide smile on his face, which quickly made its way onto Kirishima’s too. After waiting for Shoto to pack away his work and grab a jacket they set off back to Kirishima’s flat. A bit of conversation later and Kirishima realised that Shoto wasn’t uninterested in speaking to him like he assumed after their first meeting, and that he generally spoke with a flat voice regardless of whether he’s interested or not. Kiri learnt that Shoto’s dad was one of the most important lawyers out there and that he wants him to study law to take his place and essentially inherit his firm. Hearing this for the first time, Kiri thought that it was great, but something in the way Shoto was speaking and how his hand often wandered to the place where scar tissue met smooth skin told Kiri that he probably doesn’t have the full story and that he shouldn’t pry. Either Denki came to the same conclusion or made the mistake before because he didn’t hit Shoto with the same flurry of questions that he normally would.
They reached Kiri’s block and he decided it was time to ask a question that had been on his mind for a while: “So who else do you guys live with then?” He didn’t miss the quick look between the two before they carried on.
“Bakugo Katsuki'' Denki muttered as his face soured, “He’s alright when he’s not yelling at me about absolutely everything.” Right. Kiri realised quickly that this guy was not an easy person to make friends with, no wonder Denki spent most of his time out of his own place. Kiri faintly remembered hearing the name somewhere but disregarded his train of thought in favour of opening his door and welcoming his guests into the space. Already in the kitchen was Sero and Momo having a quiet conversation over a tea that one of them picked up recently, which smells faintly of wild berries. It was something they recently found that they had in common and had taken to having ‘Teatime’ every Wednesday afternoon, where they found a new tea to try every week and rated it by some obscure scale only they knew. When Momo saw their guest, her face lit up with recognition.
“Shoto, what a surprise to see you here!” Well, that was surprising. “I haven’t seen you in years.” A small smile appeared on his face as he made his way over to her and gave her a small hug as a greeting. A quick explanation later revealed that Enji Todoroki was her family lawyer and Momo and Shoto had grown up together but lost contact when Momo studied abroad for high school. To Kiri, this was hardly a surprise, he knew that the Yaoyorozu family was wealthier than Momo tended to let on, so it seemed a little surprise when the biggest lawyer around was contracted to them. Soon after Mina returned and a Pizza order had been placed, the group made their way to Kiri’s room for an intense game of Mario Kart.
“DENKI YOU CAN’T DO THAT THAT’S ILLEGAL”
“SCREW YOU MINA A BLUE SHELL IS NOT ILLEGAL”
“How do I use an item again?”
“SERO GET YOUR GROSS FOOT OUT OF MY FACE YOU’RE DISTRA- NOOO!”
The next morning Kirishima was at the gym doing his regular warm up when across the room he saw his friend, Ochako Uraraka. Ochako was one of the manliness and strongest women Kiri knew, taking her carefree and can-do attitude into everything she does from her coursework (physics with astrophysics) to her hobbies and friends. They had met at that gym a few months prior when Kiri offered to spot her on a whim and they realised they had more in common then they initially thought. She was shorter than him and well built, her chestnut hair pulled tight into a ponytail so only her short bangs were down. Despite her cute and seemingly unassuming face, she was trained in martial arts and Kiri would bet money that she could knock a grown man on his ass if provoked enough, something he never wanted to do. Unfortunately for him she looked as though she was packing away her things in a hurry and yelling at someone he couldn’t see. She looked up then and noticed him looking, greeting him with enthusiastic arm movements which he returned. He considered making his way over to chat when she turned and started yelling again. She waved goodbye and collected her things towards the door. As he watched her leave he caught a slight glimpse of who she was with, a lean body and some spikey blond hair. Not thinking too much about it he returned to his warmup, his gym playlist on high volume in his ears and the smell of sweat assaulting his nose.
A few hours later he had returned to his flat to the expectant gazes of Momo and Mina, never a good combination when they wanted something. Kiri had once been assaulted with puppy dog eyes and crocodile tears and mild threats, eventually being forced to show all his baby pictures to his flat for ‘family bonding’ as Mina likes to call it. “What do you want?” he inquired, rolling his eyes in a joking manner. Mina pretended to scoff as if she had been insulted, immediately understanding the joke. He liked this about Mina, she always knew when he was being serious and wanted space, and when he was just joking around. When they first met they were surprised to know that they lived in town across from each other and could have easily gone to the same secondary school if fate had it her way.
“Whaaaaat-uh. We were just gunna ask you if you would be fine if we could have a small get together this evening, about 8-ish?” She crossed her arms and lent back in her metal kitchen chair, tapping her feet on the lino flooring. “We’ve asked Hanta already and he’s game.” Momo mirrored her lead by leaning back and folding her hands in her lap.
“Yes, I wanted to make a way for Todoroki to meet more people. I don’t think he socialised much.” Kirishima agreed, their new friend didn’t seem like the guy to come out unless he was invited, unlike his flatmate. Rolling this over in his mind, Kiri came to a conclusion.
“Fine, but not too many people, I think that might freak him out a bit.” Mina and Momo nodded in agreement then turned to each other as they started determining their guest list. Tired from his gym session, Kiri decided to retire to his room checking his phone for notifications. He saw one from none other than Ochako Uraraka: “Hey Kiri! Sorry I couldn’t stop and talk, Katsuki had somewhere to be and he gets annoyed when he’s late to things.” Kiri recognised the name Katsuki but couldn’t exactly place it until another message came through from her. “Mina just invited me and Deku to a party at yours tonight!! She said we can bring Katsuki if that’s alright with you?” That name popped up again. Kiri obviously has no qualms about Uraraka being there, they were gym bros after all! He had met Deku – Izuku Midoriya – a few times in the past. He was on the Journalism course and had talked a lot about a detective known as All Might, not that Kirishima really knew who that was. Overall, he was a sound guy who Uraraka trusted and therefore was ok in Kirishima’s eyes. By extension, he assumed that this Katsuki guy must not have been a bad guy, Uraraka would have had him crying on his ass by now if he wasn’t. He quickly shot a reply to the said girl and set an alarm, deciding a few hours nap wasn’t too bad.
A gentle buzzing woke him from a restless sleep a few hours later, leaving him groggy and still tired. As he sat up, he regretted his nap as his limbs ached from the sets he did earlier in the day. He pushed aside his camo duvet covers and swept his sore legs over the edge of his bed, standing to get ready for the get together happening soon. He fixed his hair, brushed his teeth and changed into a midnight blue button down and black jeans with a pair of plain Nike trainers. He stood in the mirror looking at himself for a few seconds before popping out his top button and fetching a red flannel to tie around his waist. Much better. Spraying some body spray and feeling content with himself, he strolled out of his room into the kitchen where Hanta, Momo and Denki were waiting. “Hey, lookin’ sharp bro. Come here often” Denki winked to the amusement of the others.
“Only to see you man.” He shot back with a wink of his own, blowing a kiss for comedic effect. Denki pretended to catch the kiss and place it on his cheek while their onlookers snickered and Kiri moved to the almost empty fridge, pulling out a half litre of lemonade from their last get together. Finding a stack of plastic cups on the counter, he poured himself a drink. Undecided on whether he wanted to get tipsy tonight he opted not to have any alcohol just yet and saved the decision for when everyone was here. Slowly people started to turn up – Ochako and Deku showed up together, claiming that Shoto was going to come with their mysterious friend. Kiri thought he imagined it, but he thought he saw Denki pale just a small bit at the name Katsuki. A minute or two later the bolt slid home. Katsuki. Bakugo Katsuki. Denki and Shoto’s self-concealed roommate. Well, Kiri thought. This is going to be a very interesting party.
Next to emerge from her room was Mina in a black sequined top and white skirt with an impressive amount of glitter around her amber eyes. A few more people popped in, namely Tenya Iida (maths student), Tokoyami Fumikage (literature), Tsuyu Asui (marine science) and Toru Hagakure (the same performance course as Mina) who stated that her boyfriend, Ojirou Mashirao (business management), had an upcoming test that he really needed to study for and therefore unfortunately couldn’t make an appearance.
Kirishima was deep in conversation with Tokoyami about a band they both enjoyed when there was a strong knock at the door which Momo sauntered over to answer. Smiling, she let in the last two guests – Shoto Todoroki, plus a boy an inch or two shorter than him with a halo of blond spiked hair and a sneer that said, “I really don’t want to be here, ask me about it and I’ll bite your fingers off.” The ruckus of the room dimmed to a small murmur as people paused their conversations to wave hello to the new arrivals and Kiri heard Momo welcome them. Back to his conversation with his gothic friend, Kiri watched in his peripheral vision as Momo was pointing around the room introducing the crowd. At the mention of his and Tokoyami’s names, he looked up and waved.
Looking directly at his face, He could see that Katsuki had eyes as red as cherries complemented by a sharp jawline yet soft cheeks. Objectively, this juxtaposition should have been weird, yet Katsuki seemed to make it work. In fact, it worked very well. His pale skin seemed to glow slightly under the white, fluorescent lighting of their kitchen in a way which made his blanched blond hair look wild, despite the undercut clearly trying to tame it. His eyebrows were downturned in a sneer and his teeth were slightly visible as he looked at Momo, an expression of annoyance etched onto his features. Shoto and Momo paid this no mind as they continued to converse with him contributing very little. From his face, Kirishima guessed that he didn’t want to be here; his suspicion was proved correct when Katsuki rolled his eyes heavily as Ochako bounded up to him and linked their arms, pulling him gently into the fray of the kitchen. In that moment Kirishima made a few realisations: 1) Perhaps he was wrong when he assumed that Ochako hadn’t beaten him onto his ass; he glared at any contact attempted to be made with him yet allowed her to pull him along through the crowd so people can ‘get to know him better’ as he had heard her say. 2) Katsuki looked ethereal and Kirishima wanted nothing more than to know him better. Even his name rolled through his mind with otherworldly beauty. Katsuki. Katsuki. He must have been caught staring because he felt a gentle nudge at his side. Turning, he saw Denki looking at him as if he had grown roughly 4 more limbs. Shaking himself out of his stupor he turned his full attention to his current companion and smiled a full toothed award-winning smile. “What’s up dude?”
“You good, Toko’s been trying to get your attention for a while but you totally zoned out!” He started scratching the back of his head as the corners of his mouth upturned. “What’s caught your eye man. Or should I say who?” He finished with a flirtatious wink. Kiri’s bisexuality wasn’t a secret to his friends, but he preferred to tell each one individually. To him it was important how each person found out, for someone close to him to find out something as intimate about himself as his sexuality from word of mouth felt like a violation. He wanted people to know they were important enough for him to tell them himself. Focusing back to the boy in front of him he shook his head gently.
“I was just looking at Bakugou. He doesn’t seem to want to be here.” Kiri watched the spark leave Denki’s eye.
“Yeah he would much rather be coddled up back at the flat, watching a stupid movie or doing his stupid chemistry work or-“ Kirishima cut him off.
“Chemistry, you didn’t tell me Momo knew both of your flatmates.” This seemed an obvious conclusion, as Katsuki and Momo both were doing chemistry degrees. Denki put his finger and thumb to his chin in thought.
“Oh yeah I guess they would. I doubt they talk much though. Bakugou’s probably too busy blowing things up in the back of the class.” Kirishima didn’t know how to make heads and tails of this statement. Did it mean Katsuki was a bad student, or was that what you were meant to do in chemistry? Before he could ask, Denki was called off by Toru and Mina, leaving Kirishima alone at the counter. His eyes did a once over the room, landing on the suspected landmine himself, now in an animated ‘disagreement’ with Hanta about who’s the better character to play as in Mario Kart, Princess peach or Bowser. Kiri recalled that Hanta usually claimed Waluigi, mainly for the bants, and was probably just winding Katsuki up because he could. Meanwhile, Katsuki was getting more and more exasperated, Kiri bet money that he was counting to 10 in his pretty head. Grabbing some white rum and pouring about a shot worth into what was left of his lemonade, Kiri down the contents before steering himself to the now growing group of curious onlookers of the argument. About half the collection had either recognised the joke or felt very strongly about princess peach and supported Hanta, the other half opting to support Katsuki. Kirishima walked to the edge of the group and clapped his hands together, assembling the attention of everyone in the room. He raised a hand.
“Gents, gents, clearly there is only one way to settle this” He paused for dramatic effect as all the eyes in the room turned to him. “A Mario Kart Tournament!” He half yelled as the room erupted into shouts. After some debate and holding Katsuki back from swinging a fist at certain excitable blonds, a decision was made. 2 groups of 4 were established – Hanta, Shoto, Mina and Deku vs Katsuki, Eijirou, Denki and Ochako. Each player will play 1 out of 4 races, leaving Hanta and Katsuki last for the final battle. The tension was high as Hanta brought out his switch from his room and started to set it up, Kirishima used this as an opportunity to make another rum and lemonade. Next to the counter where he left his cup stood Katsuki himself. Deciding it was now or never, Kiri hardened his resolve and went to talk to the blond.
“Hey, we haven’t officially met but I’m Kirishima Eijirou. I live here.” Katsuki regarded him up and down and nodded his head as he turned away again.
“I know.” He acknowledged bluntly, placing his elbows on the counter as Kiri started making himself his drink, soft indie music playing in the background.
“Well uh, good luck in the tournament.” Katsuki then steered his gaze to Kiri, locking eyes with him. His stare was fierce as a predator, heavy and overbearing, Kiri feared he was his next meal if he didn’t play his cards right.
“I don’t need luck, just don’t let me down.” He proclaimed as he stalked off, leaving the intense energy crackling in the heavy air left between them. Kiri watched him go, accidentally pouring too much rum. Don’t let me down, he had said. Kiri was reminded of a quote he read once for a language class in his secondary school: “There are no bargains between lions and men. I will kill you and eat you raw.” How manly! Kiri had better not disappoint then. If Kiri remembered the source of the quote right, it was Achilles who spoke it, the fiercest warrior in all of ancient Greece: arrogant and prideful to his own moral agenda and friends. He could definitely envision Katsuki as Achilles in that moment, bathed in golden light and a feather weight spear brandished in his hand, predatory and dangerous. Kiri wasn’t usually so poetic, but he guessed that Katsuki somehow deserved it. “Don’t let me down.” He never had the intention too.