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Katsuki is not having a good day.
He was separated from his allies in a fight, had to take on the youkai that was chasing them on his own, and then, before he had a chance to so much as catch his breath, another fucking youkai found him. Because apparently the first one he took down was a baby, and its mother was not pleased. Which leads Katsuki to his biggest problem—
Now, there’s a dragon staring him down.
The dragon saved him from getting brutally murdered by the youkai—not that Katsuki needed the help; he could have handled it just fine on his own—but it may have only been so Katsuki could be the dragon’s dinner.
He snarls, brandishing his sword, prepared for yet another fight. As annoying as his companions are, it sure does make for quicker work when you’re fighting as part of a team. But Bakugou Katsuki never backs down, so if this dragon is determined to eat him, he’s sure as hell not going down easy.
The dragon just continues staring at him, though. It tilts its head, almost curious.
“Well?!” Katsuki demands. “You want a fight or what?”
The dragon snorts, steam puffing out from its nostrils. It doesn’t attack, though, for some reason Katsuki can’t comprehend. He hasn’t met very many dragons in his time—there are very few that still exist, after they were nearly hunted to extinction centuries ago. Those that still live tend to keep their distance from humans, hiding in the mountains or other places with few inhabitants.
Actually, this one must be pretty far from home.
It lowers its head, the movement so slow that Katsuki doesn’t attack immediately—though he doesn’t let his guard down either. When it still doesn’t attack, Katsuki says, “If you’re waiting for a thanks, I’m not giving it. I didn’t need your help.”
The dragon lays down, looking up at him expectantly.
“What the fuck do you want?”
The dragon, being a dragon, doesn’t answer him.
Katsuki huffs. “Whatever. I don’t have time for this bullshit.” He turns to leave, stomping off in what he hopes is the correct direction. But before he can take more than a few steps, a voice sounds behind him.
Rough, like it hasn’t spoken in quite a while, the words clumsy on its tongue, it asks: “Where are you going?”
Katsuki whirls around, sword raised, and finds himself face-to-face with a man sitting cross-legged on the forest floor, where the dragon had been lying mere seconds prior.
“Wh—” he blinks, whipping his head around, trying to figure out what happened to the dragon and where this random fucking guy appeared from. His hair is red, spiking out in all directions, and the irises of his eyes match the bright coloring. He wears no shirt; only some sort of armor over his shoulders fastened in place by straps that cross in an X-shape over his chest. On first glance, he appears to be a normal human, but as Katsuki looks closer, he notices a few things that are off about him—teeth sharp as a knife, talon-like fingernails, pointed ears, and—are those horns hidden amongst his hair—?
“Hi!” the guy greets. “I’m Kirishima.”
“What the fuck,” Katsuki replies. He’s heard about dragons that can disguise themself as humans, but he sort of thought that was a myth.
Kirishima frowns. He tilts his head again, in the same mannerism as before. “Why are you out here all alone? It’s almost nightfall.”
“I’m—” Katsuki pauses, stopping himself before he can spill a detailed rundown of the predicament he’s found himself in. He’d love nothing more than to complain about his day, but he’s not sure he should tell a dragon the location of the town his allies are heading towards or their names or…anything. “I’m not telling you anything.” He crosses his arms. “How do I know I can trust you?”
“I just saved your life,” Kirishima points out.
“I told you I didn’t need your help!”
“But I helped you anyway!” Kirishima jumps to his feet, face splitting in a grin that shows off his teeth. They glint menacingly in the evening light, but the expression on his face is hardly malicious—more eager and excited than anything. “You don’t have to tell me, I guess, but I was going to offer to accompany you! I don’t have much in terms of supplies, but I can hunt. And I can start a fire. Since you’re journeying alone.”
“I’m not journeying alone,” Katsuki spits out.
Kirishima looks to the left, and then to the right, and then back at Katsuki. “Um…you’re not?”
He scoffs. “I have companions, dimwit. I just got separated from them earlier today. We’re gonna meet up in Na— in the next town over.”
“Ohhh…” Kirishima nods understandingly. “That makes sense.”
Katsuki figures that will be the end of the conversation, but of course he couldn’t be so lucky. Why is it that he seems to attract the most annoying, clingy, needy creatures in the world? It’s just his fucking luck that he’d run into the one dragon in the entire world who would say—
“Maybe I could accompany you and help you find your friends?”
“They are not,” Katsuki stresses, “my friends.”
Kirishima frowns. “Well…then what do you call the people who you travel with and care about?”
“Annoying,” Katsuki answers. “And I do not ‘care about’ them.”
“Okay,” Kirishima agrees. He hesitates for a moment, and then— “So, can I come with you?”
Katsuki grits his teeth. He does not have the fucking time to stand around and argue with a dragon about whether or not he needs a babysitter during the two days it’ll take to get to Naruhata. He’s losing light fast, and he’d like to put as much distance between himself and the youkai corpse as possible before nightfall, lest some other youkai catch the scent of death and attempt to tear him to pieces while he sleeps.
But Kirishima does not seem to be giving up.
He supposes it wouldn’t be terrible to have a companion during this stretch of his journey—it’s certainly safer to travel in groups. And the promise of no struggling to start a fire is pretty appealing…
“Fine,” he huffs. “But don't slow me down or get in my way. I will not hesitate to leave you behind.”
He turns away promptly, not interested in lingering here for a moment longer. Kirishima can either keep up or get left, whichever he prefers. Katsuki doesn't care.
“Aye-aye, captain!” Kirishima agrees. He has to jog to catch up, but then he falls into an easy step beside Katsuki, grinning ear-to-ear at this new development. Katsuki spares him only a single glance before grumbling and looking away. An expression as elated as Kirishima’s is downright repulsive. It physically pains Katsuki to look at him.
He just knows this is going to be one long-ass trip.
Katsuki does not want to like Kirishima.
At first glance, he seems just as obnoxious as the rest of the people Katsuki most often finds himself in the unfortunate company of. He’s optimistic, energetic, talkative, and—on top of all that—a dragon. Katsuki very much has not forgotten about that. It’s dangerous for Katsuki to even be near him, because if anyone else catches wind of Kirishima’s true nature, they’ll both end up with massive targets on their backs.
Unfortunately, there’s also something…almost endearing about Kirishima. His lopsided smile and pointy teeth make him look more like a puppy than a gigantic fiery harbinger of death, and he doesn’t push Katsuki’s buttons like his other allies do. He’s perfectly content to talk Katsuki’s ear off and accept a simple grunt as his response. Which, honestly, makes Katsuki more willing to talk to him.
There’s not much to do to pass the time besides talk, really. For the first few hours, Katsuki holds his silence while Kirishima tells him all about being a dragon, and how lonely he is, which goes into why he spends time around humans even though he knows it’s risky. He passes himself off as some other sort of lesser yokai, apparently—or a distant descendant of a dragon shifter if he’s feeling brave. It must work for him, considering he hasn’t yet been hunted down and brutally murdered.
After Kirishima has winded himself by sharing his entire life story with someone who could definitely just kill him on the spot if he felt so inclined, he asks Katsuki about his own life.
“Not much to say,” Katsuki grumbles. “‘ve been working with a guy from my village and some weird fucking sorcerer he trauma-bonded with or whatever. Tryin’a get rid of all these goddamn youkai that’ve been terrorizing the entire kingdom.”
“Ooooh, exciting!” Kirishima claps his hands together. “Tell me more about these ‘guys’ you work with! What are they like? How’d you meet them?”
Katsuki rolls his eyes. “Well. There’s Deku, who’s a useless fucking deku. Couldn’t even tell you how I met him; he’s just always been there like a weird leech. Icyhot ran away from home, somehow ended up in our village, and then had some weird homoerotic sparring match with Deku where he started working through his daddy issues?” He shakes his head. “I don’t fucking know. I didn’t ask, and I don’t care.”
“Fascinating…” Kirishima murmurs. “Is it just the three of you?”
Katsuki makes a vague sort of so-so gesture. “Right now, yeah. We’ve got a couple of other guys who join us sometimes, and then there’s Deku’s annoying-ass girlfriend, and her girlfriend—Pink and Pinker. They’re not bad fighters, though. And Pink Cheeks is actually less annoying than Deku is.”
“I thought you said ‘Deku’ and ‘Icyhot’ were together?”
“They are.”
“Then how does ‘Deku’ have a girlfriend?”
“They’re not actually dating, dumbass.” Katsuki flicks the side of Kirishima’s head, which makes him pout and rub the spot he hit as if it actually hurt.
“Well how was I supposed to know? Maybe they’ve got some sort of polyamory thing going on! I, for one, am in full support of our polyamorous brothers and sisters. Only thing manlier than having one boyfriend is having two!”
Katsuki decides that is a jar of worms he is not going to open.
He clears his throat. “Anyway. Deku and Icyhot are the two I’m headed to meet back up with now. Haven’t seen Pink and Pinker in a while, actually—I think they might’ve been enlisted to help out in a neighboring kingdom or something.”
“Cool!” Kirishima exclaims. “So I’m gonna get to meet two of your friends, then?”
“They are not my fucking friends!” Katsuki shouts. It startles the birds out of the tree branches above them, but Kirishima just laughs.
Admittedly, the journey isn’t as bad as Katsuki feared.
They have to set up camp in the woods for one night, but with Kirishima for company, there’s no worry of growing too cold after darkness falls. Dragon fire is warmer than any flame Katsuki could strike naturally, and despite the fact that he’s sleeping on the forest floor with nothing but one threadbare blanket, it’s the best rest he’s gotten in ages.
The next day passes in much the same way as the first. Kirishima talks more about being a dragon, and then about some of the friends he’s made while masquerading as a human. He pries more information out of Katsuki about the town they’re headed to, and another few people he knows there who are also most certainly not his friends. If anything, being in the immediate vicinity of Kaminari is even more dangerous than traveling with Kirishima, considering the magic he works with harnesses fucking lightning.
Kirishima listens intently to everything Katsuki says, though—hanging onto every single word like he’s a god or something. It’s a nice feeling, to know he’s being listened to and that Kirishima really does care about what he has to say. He asks questions back to Katsuki, about the people he knows and the places he’s been and the enemies he’s defeated. The latter of which turns out to be Katsuki’s favorite topic to talk about, because he gets to boast about how he’s pretty much the greatest fighter this world has ever seen.
And Kirishima cheers him on as he recounts his best victories.
So Katsuki supposes he doesn’t really mind the company. It makes the journey far less boring. And he’s warming up to Kirishima more and more the longer they spend together.
He’s honestly a bit surprised when they make it to Naruhata before nightfall the following day. It sort of feels like no time at all has passed since he first witnessed Kirishima in all his draconic glory—he’s never known a trip like this to be completed with such ease.
With the sun sinking towards the horizon as they make their way further into town, Katsuki knows there’s no point in searching for Deku and Todoroki tonight. It’ll be useless in the dark, and Katsuki places great importance on getting enough sleep. If he’s too exhausted to do anything, then there’s no point in him being awake anyway.
They head into the first inn they find, and Katsuki is mildly surprised at just how busy it seems to be—until he remembers there’s some goddamn festival going on, and that’s why the others wanted to come to this village specifically in the first place.
Ugh.
Katsuki bullies his way through to the front desk, with Kirishima on his tail. Somehow, he’s not surprised to see it’s Kaminari who is assigning rooms and handing out keys—he seems to have a different job every time Katsuki sees him. Not because he keeps getting fired, but because he spends two months somewhere and then ‘gets bored’.
“Sparky!” he barks. “I need two rooms.”
Kaminari grimaces. “Sorry, Bakubro. We’ve only got one left. You could try somewhere else, but most places are pret-ty booked tonight.” He twirls a keyring around his finger, eyeing Kirishima behind him. “Or you could just share a room. Who’s the new guy, anyway? Where are Midoriya-kun and Todoroki-san?”
Katsuki snatches the key from him, eliciting a sound of surprise, and then slams a payment down on the desk. He’s not in the mood to scour the entire village for some place that has two open rooms, so he turns and points the key accusingly at Kirishima. “You’re sleeping on the floor since you were so goddamn persistent about joining me. Karma.”
“Okay!” Kirishima agrees easily. He peeks over Katsuki’s shoulder, waving to Kaminari. “I’m Kirishima, by the way—”
Katsuki grabs hold of him and drags him away before he can even finish his introduction. Kaminari calls out a greeting after them, but Katsuki is not fucking dealing with the chaos of these two interacting right now. He’s going to find their room, and then he is going to sleep. So tomorrow, he can get up bright and early to locate Deku and Todoroki, and he can put this strange experience with Kirishima the Dragon behind him.
Katsuki is fully, entirely, completely intending to make Kirishima sleep on the floor. He’s a goddamn dragon, surely he can keep himself warm. He was the one who forced Katsuki to let him tag along anyway—it’s not like he was invited—so it’s only fair that he gets the short end of the stick with the whole ‘only one room available’ situation.
And then Katsuki has to actually watch Kirishima making himself comfortable on the floor.
It’s downright pathetic, honestly.
He’s curled up in a ball, using Katsuki’s cloak as a makeshift blanket and no pillow beneath his head. He isn’t verbally complaining, but Katsuki can see the disappointment in his body language. Not to mention, somehow he looks like he’s cold. Maybe he can’t warm himself in human form? Is that possible?
Ugh. He looks like a kicked puppy.
Katsuki rolls over, back to Kirishima, but there’s still an uncomfortable sensation gnawing at his gut. When he closes his eyes, all he can see is Kirishima on the floor, making himself as small as possible, left all alone.
“Fuck,” Katsuki grumbles. He sits up with a huff. “You are so fucking annoying.”
Kirishima makes a vaguely confused noise.
“This is pitiful. Just get up here already.”
Kirishima’s eyes widen in excitement, and Katsuki pointedly ignores the way his heartbeat speeds up at the sight. “Really?”
“Do it before I change my mind!”
Kirishima scrambles up onto the bed. It takes them a minute to adjust themselves, and Katsuki is careful to leave space between them. He’s not doing this because he likes Kirishima or anything; just because he can occasionally be a decent person. And he supposes maybe it wasn’t entirely fair of him to leave Kirishima stranded on the floor when he did technically give him permission to join him on his journey.
It’s definitely not anything personal. Katsuki has shared a bed with Deku before, and he still finds that bastard annoying as hell. This is circumstantial. Nothing more, nothing less.
Katsuki wakes enveloped in warmth.
It’s strange, because he’s never known inn beds to be so comfortable. He feels surprisingly well-rested, and honestly, he wants nothing more than to drift back to sleep for an hour or two more. He comes into consciousness slowly, which is the excuse he’ll give for not exactly recalling the events of the previous night. It’s not that he’s disoriented or anything—Bakugou Katsuki does not wake up disoriented—he just…may have forgotten that he invited Kirishima into the bed with him.
Which, as soon as he pries his eyes open, turns out to explain the warmth encasing him.
Somehow, over the course of the night, the space Katsuki carefully put between them was crossed, so his head is now pillowed on Kirishima’s arm and their legs tangled together. There’s a natural heat radiating off of Kirishima’s body, probably due to the whole dragon thing, and Katsuki instinctively wants to snuggle into it.
It’s that thought that makes him pull back, jerking away from Kirishima before he can even think to slowly ease himself back in order to not wake him. Thankfully, Kirishima does nothing but grumble faintly in his sleep, so Katsuki doesn’t have to deal with an uncomfortable conversation so early in the morning.
He clambers out of bed, pressing himself against the wall at the opposite side of the room, and just stares at Kirishima for a moment.
Surely his feelings aren’t…like that. Right? He’s only known Kirishima for two days. And Katsuki doesn’t even know what it means to feel that for someone. Deku, Todoroki, and Kaminari have all tried to explain it to him before, but it just never made much sense. Increased heartbeat? Trouble breathing? Nerves acting up? Face getting hot? Those sound like the symptoms of some terrible disease that Katsuki absolutely does not want to catch.
Besides, he hasn’t really felt like that around Kirishima, has he?
He places a hand over his chest, but his heartbeat feels pretty normal. And he hasn’t been getting flustered or anxious. He hasn’t even really thought about kissing the guy or anything. Although, he wouldn’t be opposed to it, which is definitely more than he can say for everyone else he knows. He might actually barf if he had to kiss Deku or Todoroki, but Kirishima…
He doesn’t think he’d mind too much.
He also already finds Kirishima’s presence far less annoying than the others’. He was never tempted to ditch him in the woods on their journey here, and he didn’t think twice about agreeing to share a room with him for the night. Is that…romantic attraction? Or is it a new type of friendship Katsuki has not yet experienced?
Because—
Okay.
He wouldn’t call Deku or Todoroki or Kaminari his friends. Especially not to their faces. They don’t need the ego boost, and they’re thorns in his side more than anything. But friend is probably the best word that exists to describe what they are to him, so if the others are his friends, and what he feels for Kirishima is different than what he feels for them…
Fuck.
That sucks.
And honestly? It’s not something Katsuki is going to worry about. Because it doesn’t matter! Kaminari gets puppy crushes all the time, and nothing has ever come from it, so that’s probably all this is. Katsuki is just experiencing some dumb infatuation, and as soon as he and Kirishima have gone their separate ways, he’ll get over it. Definitely.
Perfect.
With that settled, he’s able to breathe a bit easier.
Kirishima is still fast asleep, and Katsuki figures there’s no reason to wake him yet, so he busies himself with getting ready for the day and pointedly not thinking about his feelings at all.
An hour later, after Kirishima is awake and the sun has begun to rise, they pack their things and leave the inn. Kaminari informs them that he hasn’t seen Deku or Todoroki himself, but Tokoyami said they’re in town.
“They might be helping set up for the festivities tonight?” Kaminari muses. “I’d check the town square.”
Katsuki grunts out something that can vaguely be interpreted as en expression of gratitude, and then he and Kirishima set off to begin their search.
The town square proves to be a bust, but Kirishima enjoys walking through the marketplace. Katsuki gives in and buys him some fruit he was ogling, if only to give him something to occupy himself while they make their way through town. He figures, if Deku and Todoroki aren’t out here yet, they must still be wherever they slept last night. Lazy asses.
Sure enough, when they loop around to one of the other inns in town, Katsuki finds them just setting out for the day.
“Oi!” He calls out. “You two are getting an awfully late start!”
Deku immediately drops the conversation he was having with Todoroki to shout, “KACCHAN! YOU’RE ALIVE!” and then rush towards him. He’s expecting to be barrelled over with a hug because Deku has a weird thing with physical touch where he actually likes it. For some reason. And as soon as he realized Katsuki wouldn’t kill him for it, he decided to take advantage of that whenever possible.
He stops short though, frowning. “Did you make a friend?”
“Without help from Izuku?” Todoroki tacks on, brow furrowed. “I didn’t think that was possible.”
“Hey!”
“I’m Kirishima,” Kirishima cuts in. “It’s nice to meet you! I’ve heard a lot!”
“No the fuck you have not,” Katsuki growls. He goes completely ignored as Deku and Todoroki introduce themselves to Kirishima, who has a moment of shock when he realizes Todoroki is the runaway prince, even though that’s literally not important. Deku scolds him for not sharing that information anyway, and Katsuki bites back that they’re lucky he was able to reunite with them at all, which shuts him up.
“You’re really strong, though,” Kirishima argues. “Of course you would’ve made it back to your friends!”
Katsuki glares at him, shifting uncomfortably at the compliment. Usually, he eats that shit up, but with Kirishima, it feels…different. Somehow. Like he’s more genuine with it. Or maybe Katsuki just values his opinion more—
Oh, fuck. Kaminari said that could be a sign of a crush.
Unfortunately, Katsuki must think to switch course and respond to Kirishima like he would anyone else a few seconds too late, because when he catches Deku’s eye, the annoying asshole starts smirking and wiggling his eyebrows. Katsuki’s glare hardens, but it does little to deter Deku.
Todoroki looks between the two of them. “What’s going on…?”
“I’ll tell you later,” Deku promises.
“No the fuck you will not!” Katsuki declares. “And there’s nothing ‘going on’ anyway!” He huffs. “Now, are you two doing anything important today, or are you just wandering around looking at the clouds?”
“I would like to look at the clouds…” Todoroki murmurs thoughtfully, tilting his gaze upwards.
“We’re helping set up for the festival tonight!” Deku answers. “We weren’t sure how long it would take you to get here, so we planned to stay for a little while longer at least.”
Katsuki grunts. “Whatever.” His gaze slides over to Kirishima, who has gone suspiciously quiet. “Well? You helped me find these two idiots, so you don’t have to stick around here anymore. You can go back to…whatever the fuck you were doing before.”
“Kacchan—”
“Right!” Kirishima agrees quickly. He smiles, sharp teeth on display. It would have been so easy for him to tear Katsuki apart—to rend him limb-from-limb and feast on his flesh to satiate his appetite and enact revenge on humankind for how they’ve treated dragons. He could torch this entire village, and it would be Katsuki’s fault, because he led him straight here.
Instead, he says, “I might stick around for the celebration tonight, so maybe I’ll see you there!” before bidding them all farewell and heading on his way.
It’s exactly what Katsuki asked him to do; it’s what he planned to happen from the second he agreed to let Kirishima accompany him for the journey here.
And yet, a strange emptiness settles in his chest as he watches Kirishima go.
Throughout the day, Katsuki can feel both Deku and Todoroki’s eyes on him. They don’t say anything, but he knows they’re both watching him like he’s about to keel over or something. He supposes they must be worried, though he can’t imagine why. It’s obvious he isn’t injured, and he reunited with them in record time—partially thanks to Kirishima’s help. They don’t need to treat him like he’s about to break.
He asked them to leave him on his own in the first place, because he knew that out of the three of them, he had the best chances at surviving on his own. He’s never been defeated yet, and he certainly doesn’t intend to lay down and die now.
So he tries to just ignore it, but it proves to be rather difficult when Deku and Todorki end up whispering to each other over lunch and completely ignoring him. He glares daggers at them, but it doesn’t change anything.
Finally, after Todoroki has finished eating, he approaches Katsuki to ask, “Are you going to find Kirishima-kun and invite him to join us?”
Katsuki blinks. “What the fuck? No?” He shakes his head. “Why would I do that?”
“We don’t mind if you do!” Deku chimes in. “Actually, he’d probably be a good addition to the team, since he was able to help you take down that youkai—”
“I’m not making him join us,” Katsuki interrupts. “He’s got his own fuckin’ life, and I’ve only known him for two days anyway. So just drop it, alright?”
Deku and Todoroki exchange a look that Katsuki sincerely does not appreciate. Then, Deku says carefully, “If he doesn’t want to join us, that’s fine. But I don’t really think there’d be any harm in asking. Plus…” he scratches the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly, “it’s kinda obvious you like him. He’d probably love to team up if you’re here.”
Katsuki rolls his eyes, then turns away because his face is feeling hot and that’s sort of a really fucking bad sign. “Whatever,” he grumbles.
As much as he tries, he can’t get Deku’s words out of his head.
They haunt him for the rest of the day, through to nighttime when the festival begins. He follows behind Deku and Todoroki as they stop at various stalls, sampling foods and playing games, but he’s not really paying attention to them. Because Kirishima said he’d be here, and Katsuki would sort of like to see him again, and he cannot stop thinking about what Deku said.
Fucking annoying.
Finally, he spots Kirishima attempting to haggle for a bowl of spicy noodles. He shouts at Deku that he’s going to do something else for a second and not to wait up, then heads for Kirishima before he even gets a response.
“How much are they?” he asks.
Kirishima starts. “Huh?”
“The noodles.” He looks to the person taking money at the stall. “How much?”
Baffled, she gives him the price, and he hands over the coins to pay for two servings—one for Kirishima and one for himself. This festival food is always so damn expensive, but it’s more than worth it when Kirishima’s face lights up and he thanks Katsuki for his generosity.
“Shut up,” he grumbles. “It’s just a repayment.”
“Still,” Kirishima insists. “I didn’t need any repayment from you! I wanted to come with!”
Katsuki purses his lips. Deku’s voice in the back of his mind says, He’d probably love to team up if you’re here! It’s going to be so embarrassing if he was right, but Katsuki is going to have to swallow his pride this time. Because he doesn’t think he’d ever forgive himself if he just let Kirishima walk away.
Once they get their food, they sit down at a table together. Kirishima digs in straight away, while Katsuki simply watches him for a second. It’s almost funny, he thinks, how quickly he grew to like Kirishima. He really didn’t think that was something he was capable of feeling at all.
Mina told him something to that effect once—that she wasn’t really sure if she felt romantic attraction at all, but when she got to know Uraraka, she wanted to give it a shot. I still don’t think I really feel for Ochako the same thing she feels for me, she explained, but I like what we have. It works for us. Dating someone is just fun!
Katsuki doesn’t think he has quite the same views on dating as Mina, but he does think he understands the concept of meeting someone and wanting to try now. Even if what he feels for Kirishima right now isn’t romantic love—whatever the hell that even means—he could see it developing into that someday. So, at the very least, he’d like for Kirishima to stay in his life.
He clears his throat, and Kirishima looks up, a noodle hanging out of his mouth and sauce staining his lips. He slurps up the noodle, then says, “You alright?”
Katsuki steels himself. It really should not be this fucking difficult to say, like, two sentences.
“What’re your plans after you leave this town?”
Kirishima shrugs. “Haven’t really decided yet. Go back home, I guess. Not much for me to do there, though.”
“Well.” Katsuki clicks his tongue. “You could stay with us. If you wanted.”
Kirishima’s eyes widen. “With…you and your friends?”
“Still not my friends.”
“With Midoriya-kun and Todoroki-kun,” Kirishima corrects. “And you. Right? You’ll be there?”
Katsuki scoffs. “Of course I’ll be there, dumbass. Why else would I be the one inviting you?”
“You really mean it? I can join you?”
“Only if you stop asking such stupid fucking ques—”
Katsuki is cut off by Kirishima all but launching himself across the table, tackling him to the ground. At first, he thinks he might be actually getting mauled to death, but Kirishima retains his human appearance and no teeth or claws sink into his neck. Kirishima is just…like…hugging him.
Weird.
After a second, he sits up, pulling Katsuki up with him. “Sorry,” he says, though he’s grinning widely. “I’d love to join you! I was so worried I’d never get to see you again after today, which would suck, ‘cause I really like you, Bakugou-kun.”
Katsuki blinks. “You…like me?”
“D’you want me to prove it?”
Katsuki snorts. But he doesn’t turn down Kirishima’s offer, so perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise when he closes the space between them and presses his lips against Katsuki’s. Spiciness from the noodles lingers on his tongue, and his pointed teeth split the skin of Katsuki’s bottom lip, and they’re both a bit clumsy as they move against each other, but it’s the best damn first kiss Katsuki could ask for.
He’s still not sure about the whole being in love thing, but he could get used to this much, at least.
He could get used to Kirishima being by his side.
When they part for air, Kirishima asks, “That enough to convince you?”
Katsuki hums, a smile tugging at his mouth. “I’m not sure,” he muses. “I might need a bit more.”
Kirishima laughs, warm and joyful, and then he leans in to kiss Katsuki again.