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“Is Shitty Hair mooning over his stupid crush again?” Katsuki asked Ashido as he stomped his way into the common area at 8 a.m. sharp, slightly groggy from sleep but quickly brought to alertness by the bright ceiling lights. Picking up her bright pink phone from where it lay on the coffee table, he quirked an eyebrow at the 53 notifications from the contact labeled “manliest man to ever riot”.
Ashido gave him a strange sideways look, but nodded. “Call it what you want- I think it’s sweet, with how much he clearly likes that person.”
“Well, does that person like him back?” Katsuki demanded.
Ashido shrugged, grabbing her phone back from him in one swift motion. “Maybe. Maybe not. He doesn’t think so, but honestly? From an outsider’s perspective, I have no idea.”
He spotted a glimpse of Kirishima coming down the stairs and into the kitchen, where the redhead began making his morning drink, spooning coffee grounds into his mug. Katsuki frowned, trying to discern who the mystery crush could be, or even glean an insight into Kirishima’s ‘type’.
And then Kirishima spotted him too, and promptly dropped the spoon, which clattered onto the counter loudly.
“Lovingly, he’s a mess,” Ashido sighed. “And for good reason.”
“He needs to get over whoever it is.”
“It’s not that easy,” Ashido started, but Katsuki was having absolutely none of it.
“A mess like that isn’t going to become the great hero he has the capability to become,” Katsuki retorted. “Something’s going to be done about this, and I’m going to do it myself if I really have to.”
Katsuki wasn’t proud to admit that this was unfortunately the topic on his mind throughout the entirety of the school day.
During History, as Snipe-sensei went on a tangent about his days in the Wild, Wild West, Katsuki turned the situation over in his head.
Kirishima likes somebody. He’s liked them for a month, or at least that’s the amount of time I know he’s been obsessing over them. It could be more.
Is it somebody in 1-B or another education track, or even somebody outside of UA? No. He doesn’t see them often enough. It’s probably somebody from our class; we’re the only ones outside of his family that he sees often enough to catch feelings for. Although- It’s definitely not someone he regularly hangs around, or else he would probably be avoiding us.
During Math, when Katsuki finished doing his integrals leagues before everybody else because he was just better, he contemplated the plausibility of success for possible solutions.
He either needs to confess and figure it out with his crush, or he needs to get over them.
A confession really shouldn’t be that hard, right? He gets along with everyone, and he doesn’t have any issues talking shit to me and telling me off, which means he should be able to talk to that person and tell them how he feels. Right?
So that’s what I’ll tell him to do. He listens to me pretty well, and looks up to me more than he should, but that means he’ll accept my advice.
And then everything will be back to normal.
During English, as Present Mic-sensei was rambling about the intricacies of grammar and the improperness of calling the plural of moose “meese”, Katsuki slipped a note into Kirishima’s backpack. Meet up with me before heading to lunch. Despite not being of a particularly secret nature, it was written for two reasons: 1) he didn’t particularly desire to have anybody snooping in on their conversation, and 2) this was English class, and Katsuki was damn good at it, and Kirishima was more than competent enough to read the note and practice his skills a little.
Soon enough, the rest of their classmates were rushing to lunch the moment the bell sounded, but as Katsuki glanced sideways, he could see Kirishima puzzle over the note before straightening and making eye contact.
“Listeners! Y’all heading to lunch?” Present Mic asked.
“Duh,” Katsuki responded. “Just gotta fix up something first.”
“Can we stay and talk here?” Kirishima requested.
Present Mic’s face split into a wide grin. “Oh, a confession, how delightful! Young love, young love.” He placed a dramatic hand over his heart, ignoring Kirishima’s protests of no, that’s not, obviously we’re not, it’s just a talk. “I’ll leave you to it, then!” With that, he exited the classroom.
“Sorry about that,” Kirishima apologized, but he was refusing to meet Katsuki’s eyes and his face was concerningly red.
“Tch, whatever,” Katsuki responded. “I was just gonna say, you should really confess to whoever it is you’re crushing on.”
Kirishima began to sputter.
Nervousness. I’m no good at pep talks like this.
What do I do; should I say something encouraging?
“Whoever it is, I’m sure they’d be happy to have you,” Katsuki continued, finding that he meant it as the words left his mouth.
Kirishima opened his mouth. Closed it.
“Thanks, man, but you don’t get it. I can’t. He’s the one person who would never like me back.”
He. It’s a guy, then.
Katsuki mentally catalogued the information.
“Well, give it a shot or something. You never know- sometimes you grow on people and get less annoying to them over time.”
Nope, definitely not talking about himself. Not at all.
“I’ll think about it,” Kirishima agreed, sounding reluctant.
Katsuki gave a sharp nod. With that, they went to lunch and no further discussion was brought up.
But a week passed and there was still no action.
“Shitty Hair isn’t a coward, so why isn’t he just confessing?” Katsuki questioned frustratedly. “It’s getting to be a problem in everything he does. Every single time I see him, he’s all red and stuttering because all he can do is think about that crush. They’re probably not even good enough for him.”
Kaminari and Sero shared a glance, and Katsuki swore he saw money changing hands.
“There’s no way anybody on this planet deserves how much Shitty Hair likes him,” Katsuki lamented. “Why can’t he just get over it?”
Mina patted him on the back. “You’re not making it easy for him, you know,” she said.
“All I did was suggest to him a few times that he should confess,” Katsuki defended himself. “What’s wrong with that?”
Mina only shook her head. “Just… Bakugou, don’t try to meddle too much.”
But how could he not, seeing how bad this whole crush situation was affecting his (okay, he would admit it just this once) best friend?
The idea came to Katsuki on a rare weekend mall outing that Mina had convinced Aizawa-sensei to send them off on.
Set him up with somebody else.
It’s less simple, less ideal, possibly more messy. But how messy can it really get?
As a plan begins formulating in Katsuki’s mind, he thinks, this should work. It’ll be fine.
Kirishima seems to have no ‘type’ other than his arbitrary perception of manliness, which applies to all genders alike. This is both good and bad—Katsuki has a large pool of prospective matches, but he also has the curse of too many choices.
Although most of them he deems unsuitable for Kirishima, as he pinpoints some character flaw or red flag or the fact that, according to Mina, some people are already taken in relationships he was apparently clueless about before this?
He considers the people in their class, but imagining Kirishima with stupid Deku or any of the others makes Katsuki want to scream. He needs somebody that he himself doesn’t know as well, somebody that he can bear to see Kirishima with.
But no matter. He finally settles on Tetsutetsu, who spends enough time with Kirishima that there’s a chance he might be the secret crush, and even if not they’ll be suitable together.
By suitable, he means that they’re exactly identical is so many ways and as a result get along so well. Yet something in Katsuki refuses to find them suitable.
When he brings it up, Kirishima is averse to the idea, as he had expected, but with some convincing Katsuki manages to set up a date. Perfect. See? He could do it. Now he just has to let the pieces of the puzzle take care of himself.
Except… except Kirishima and Tetsutetsu return from the cafe, not holding hands, instead whispering to one another as fluidly as they always converse, except this time they look so serious and Tetsutetsu gives Kirishima a fist bump before turning and walking away.
Leaving Kirishima with Katsuki. Alone.
Kirishima gritted his teeth, then seemed to come to a decision.
“Fine,” he said softly. “You want me to confess? You care that much?”
“Of course I do! I care about you!”
The words exploded from Katsuki’s mouth before his brain could process them.
“You’d better mean that,” Kirishima muttered, and suddenly there was a hint of something different in his voice, something that Katsuki might even call fond tenderness. “Because it’s you, Katsuki,” he finally admitted. “It’s always been you.”
It felt like Katsuki’s world was simultaneously crumbling and being rebuilt better than before.
“You mean…” he managed.
Me?
Of all people, he chose me?
“If you aren’t- I mean, if you don’t feel the same way, just pretend I never said anything and we can just be friends,” Kirishima pleaded. “I didn’t want to lose what we already had, which was why I never said anything.”
His words snapped Katsuki back to reality. “You idiot,” he said, emphasizing the word with a jab to Kirishima’s chest.
“You…?”
“I like you too, Shitty Hair,” Katsuki told him. He’d realized it while his friend was away on that date, the reason why he couldn’t settle on a proper person to match him with, the reason why he couldn’t stand to see his pining, and the twinge of pain every time he tried to help. “You’re everything to me. You… you’re an absolute idiot for choosing me, but you’re also an absolute idiot for thinking I wouldn’t want you back.”
Kirishima’s face splits into that grin that’s grown on Katsuki so much, and their eyes meet—properly, without any awkwardness or avoidant gazes—for the first time in weeks.
Katsuki grins in return. There’s more to be said, about how—if he’s being honest with himself, both of them were pretty moronic about this whole situation, but for now?
He’s content to bask in this warmth that he’s always had with the one person who understands him the most.