Work Text:
Katsuki doesn’t understand why they have to do this stupid ‘we’re normal teenagers who go to a normal high school and have never fought in a war’ bonding shit, but he gets dragged along anyway.
They’re always together, day and night, and it’s not like they can get any closer than they already are. And if his guess is right, they’ll have two surprise tests tomorrow, so losing any sleep to hang out with these losers is just going to piss him off and make him fall behind.
And who’s supposed to clean up after this? Because it definitely won’t be him.
It’s not so bad when the class wants to do a movie night, but now he’s been dragged into a big circle with his classmates and an empty water bottle in the middle. At least there’s enough of them there that all he has to do is sit and watch everyone else act like idiots about it.
“Who’s next?” Mina asks, wiggling her eyebrows. She says it to the entire group, but based on how they’ve been playing so far, whoever the bottle lands on gets to pick the next sucker to spin it, and so a very swollen mouthed Denki looks over the group until his eyes land on someone.
It better not be me, asshole.
“Let’s do Shouto,” he says, and Katsuki exhales a breath of relief.
Wait a minute, no! If Shouto goes in there, he’s gonna make out with someone, which is objectively worse than Katsuki making out with someone, because he’s going to have that image in his head for weeks. Months, even. If there’s one thing he can do is hold a grudge, and if there’s one thing that can inspire a grudge, it’s knowing who Shouto’s made out with.
He bites the inside of his cheek, scowling, and pictures throwing Denki off of the roof, yelling catch, and seeing which of their classmates is fast enough.
But Shouto, who’s so fucking unperturbed that it makes Katsuki even more irritated, just reaches into the circle, grabs the bottle and spins it like it doesn’t matter.
Katsuki’s eyes drift from the bottle towards the “closet” erected off to the side. It’s just a box made of slotting plastic panels Momo pulled out of her body positioned against one of the walls since they would have to actually break into the supply closet to use one, but it gets the job done, he guesses.
A chorus of oohs and gasps brings his attention back to the group, finding all of them openly staring at him, some straight up laughing too. The fuck are they–?
He looks down and sees the mouth of a bottle pointed him like a gun.
Well shit.
Shouto looks at him from the other side of the circle, his stupid pretty eyes all cartoonishly wide, and it makes Katsuki bristle. Quit making a big deal about it, asshole, it’s just a stupid game.
Then like Shouto can read his mind, his face goes completely neutral.
No, not neutral exactly. More like flat, like he isn’t amused with him at all.
Katsuki folds his arms over his chest in defiance.
“Well?” He challenges.
But then unexpectedly, Shouto looks at Mina, who is sort of an authority here since this was her stupid idea. “I would like to spin again, please.”
“Hey!” Katsuki says.
“Bakugou doesn’t want to play, he just knew everyone wanted him to,” he says.
Before anyone can protest, Katsuki jumps to his feet, sparks flying. Is this loser implying he can’t say no to his idiot classmates when he wants to? That he’s some kind of dumb baby scared of a stupid game of spin the bottle? Well fuck him for that.
Sideways!
“Just get in the box, asshole. And spin better next time if you’re gonna be picky about it.”
He stomps off, not bothering to check to see if Shouto is behind him because he can feel that he is. He can’t hear the cheers of his classmates over the thumping of his own pulse, but it doesn’t matter because they’ll make the same racket regardless of who goes in.
But even though he knows they aren’t laughing at him, they might as well be because god isn’t this just the funniest shit ever. Why don’t they just get married as a joke while they’re at it too?
It’s not very dark in here. The panels don’t go all the way to the ceiling so the light from the rest of the room bleeds in enough that they can clearly see each other, which he thinks pretty much defeats the purpose of the game in the first place. It’s supposed to be some kind of liminal make out space where the two people involved can kind of shut each other out as people they know and just go for it for everyone else’s amusement, but there’s no way for Katsuki to disconnect from the fact that the person who just closed himself in with him is Todoroki Shouto.
The height gap between them isn’t as obvious as it was last year, but Katsuki still has to look up a little to see his face, which will always be annoying. After the war, Shouto’s appearance got a little shaggier because you learn to prioritize things when shit happens, and haircuts no longer make it to the top ten. It’s annoying how good it looks on him, especially with that scar. God, if he stopped dressing like a yacht model dork hybrid he would probably pull off some kind of sexy rockstar biker god idol bullshit that would make the first years giggle even harder than they already do.
It wouldn’t have an effect on Katsuki, though. No, this is just him being objective.
Is he wearing eyeliner?
“So they lock us in here for seven minutes while we kiss,” Shouto says, so straightforward that Katsuki’s head nearly whips back from the impact. God, he’s so much easier to deal with when he’s pretending to be aloof.
“Yeah, that’s the gist of it,” he says.
“I don’t see the point of kissing someone if you don’t like them.”
If statement one knocked his head back, statement two gets a good grip of his hair and yanks him down straight onto Shouto’s kneecap.
Well fuck you too, asshole, damn.
“It’s just a stupid game,” he grumbles. “It’s not like it matters.”
Shouto hums in agreement. “Yes, that’s probably true.”
Katsuki twists his mouth and looks down at his foot, having nothing else to look at besides Shouto. It’s not like Katsuki wants to be here either, but he didn’t know kissing him would be considered pointless.
He can’t even be mad about it because he’s already made it perfectly clear that he thinks this game is stupid and they should have just put a movie on instead. At least if they were watching a movie, he could be king of the couch right now and not loser in the kissing box they pulled out of Momo.
Stupid. It’s all stupid. He should kick every last one of their asses for this and then do it again so they never pull some loser shit like this again.
Why did he get in the circle?
Why did he-?
Shouto moves towards him suddenly, and Katsuki backs up towards the wall, placing a hand firm on his chest because personal space, please.
“The fuck are you doing?!”
“I’m just following the rules of the game,” Shouto says like Katsuki is the one being weird and not him. God, they’re both lucky he didn’t do some kind of dorky head tilt or open his mouth for it because Katsuki would never get either memory out of his brain for the rest of his life.
“You’re not actually supposed to do it if you don’t want to,” he hisses. “You’re supposed to lie about it when you get out and everyone’s gonna clap their hands, and pretend like I sucked your tongue out of your mouth, and send the next losers in.”
Shouto nods slowly, his expression taut, and Katsuki swears he even looks a little embarrassed right now. But how was he supposed to know that? The couple before them didn’t even try to hide what they were doing in the box.
Couple of people. Not a couple because the ‘before them’ implies they’re also a couple, which is stupid because if Shouto and he were a couple they wouldn’t need a stupid box to make out in. They would just do it.
But since Shouto doesn’t want to, it’s not like anyone has to question the difference.
“Just forget it,” he says.
“Less talky, more smoochie!” Mina calls out.
Katsuki’s face flashes hot as he smacks one of the panels. “Fuck off!”
All he gets in return is his class’s rowdy laughter on the other side and a dull ache in his palm.
“Idiots,” he grumbles as he slumps back against the wall. “Ignore them.”
Shouto stands in front of him awkwardly because no one thought to pull out anything to sit on out of Momo while they were at it.
This is the worst idea his class has ever had, and that’s saying something.
“Has it been seven minutes yet?” Shouto asks.
“Like two,” he says.
Shouto sighs, but he doesn’t complain. They can hear everyone outside still, but fortunately it doesn’t seem like they’re all crowded around the box with their ears pressed to the sides hoping to catch something.
It smells like Denki’s new deodorant in here, which is giving him a slight headache. Some things shouldn’t come from a can.
“Why do people do this if everyone knows you’re going to stand here and do nothing?” Shouto asks.
“Because everyone is stupid,” he says, and Shouto nods like that answer makes the most sense in the world. “And some of those losers probably do make out the whole time. Tch. Idiots.”
“That would probably pass the time faster,” Shouto mumbles.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” he says.
“Hey, how much we got left?” Katsuki calls out.
“Six minutes!” Eijirou shouts back.
Katsuki opens the door, glaring. “You’re lying.”
“Nope,” he says, holding up the timer on his phone before he shuts the door again.
“Traitor,” Katsuki grumbles.
“If this situation is so uncomfortable for you, you didn’t have to play,” Shouto says.
“What, and have someone call me a coward for skipping out? Absolutely not. I can play this stupid game as good as the rest of them can.”
“So it’s me then,” he says. Katsuki opens his mouth to speak but finds he has absolutely nothing to say to that. “The problem is you don’t want to kiss me.”
“I didn’t say that, but you said kissing me would be a waste of time, so don’t you start being sensitive.”
“I don’t remember saying that all.”
“Well, you did, so.”
Shouto frowns. “No, I didn’t. I’m not… nice, but I don’t go out of my way to be cruel to my friends, I don’t think.”
“Yeah, well, who cares. It’s not like I wanna be your sloppy practice dummy anyway.”
Shouto’s brow furrows as he tilts his head in confusion. “Why would you be that?”
“I just don’t want you teaching yourself how to kiss on me for the next loser, it’s weird.”
“But I don’t need to learn how to kiss,” he says.
“Oh, yeah, cause you’re just born that good at everything,” Katsuki says, annoyed. “You know that having a fire quirk isn’t that big of a deal, right? Momo made a box.”
And then Shouto’s mouth twitches like he’s very much trying not to laugh at him, which pisses Katsuki off so bad he feels his entire body start to boil. “That’s not what I was saying, but thank you for your assessment.”
“Okay, then what were you saying,” he says.
“I was saying I don’t need to learn something I already know how to do,” he says.
Three head slammers in under seven minutes, this has got to be a record.
“When the fuck did you learn how to do that? Wait, who?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business,” Shouto says.
“Of course it’s my business, who the fuck did you kiss?!”
“Why do you think it’s your business?”
“Because I’m your– classmate,” he says, covering himself quickly before he can say something he absolutely isn’t. He’s not anything but his classmate. “I’m your classmate, so I should know that shit. Wait, was it someone in our class because I’ll–.”
“What,” Shouto says calmly. “You’ll what?”
Katsuki folds his arms across his chest and looks away, unable to answer that because it really is none of his business, and Shouto can kiss whoever he wants, and he can eat rocks while he’s at it too.
Asshole.
“Does that bother you?” Shouto asks.
“No,” he says.
“So if the bottle lands on me next, you won’t mind if I kiss whoever I come in here with,” he says.
“Oh, so you just wanted to make out with someone,” he says bitterly. “Well don’t I have a game for you.”
“I didn’t say that,” he says. “I just want to know your opinion.”
“I don’t care who you kiss. Kiss whoever you want. I’m sure you’ll be real fucking happy about it.”
“Thank you for the permission,” Shouto says before raising his voice. “Time?”
“Five minutes!” Eijirou calls back.
“Can you start it over? Bakugou was explaining the rules to me.”
Katsuki’s eyes widen at that. “You–.”
“You got it!” Eijirou says gleefully. “See you guys in seven!”
“Wooooooo!”
This time when Shouto moves towards him, he doesn’t jerk back or shove him away. He kind of just stands there shell shocked because of the sequence of events happening in such a small window of time, and then he flounders like he’s never used his hands before when he’s suddenly crowded against the one sturdy wall.
Shouto’s mouth is about ten degrees too warm like he’s been holding a flame behind his lips for hours, but every breath that puffs out is nearly frosted. The sensation is one of the craziest things Katsuki’s ever felt, but he’s so into he has to stop himself from gasping like he’s on the cover of one of his grandma’s old bodice rippers.
It’s actually bullshit that someone else already got to experience this before, but before Katsuki can get mad about it, his body seems to finally wake up and throw him into action.
He grabs Shouto and pulls him to him, burying his hands in his stupid silky hair as Shouto grabs him by the waist squeezing him like he’s been wanting to for months. Kissing isn’t something he’s had experience with, but it only takes a few disjointed gapes of his mouth to stop going from a confused beached fish to, well.
This shit’s easy as hell.
He moves with Shouto automatically, neither of them needing to follow or lead, and he’s not sure if it’s because he’s so used to him as a fixture in his life or if it’s because Shouto really is that good at kissing.
Good enough to laugh about the idea of needing practice. Fuck him.
But for the first time in his life, Katsuki can’t bring himself to get angry about something that would normally make his blood prickle. He’s been pacified almost, and even if that should set him off a little, it’s really, really, really hard to care.
It’s hard to care about anything.
The small monitor attached to his body beeps a warning, and Shouto without jerking away, pulls back and presses a kiss to the corner of his mouth while his cool hand moves to his chest, making his entire body relax a little too much.
Did he just… tank his body temperature?
“What did you do?” Katsuki whispers.
“I used to calm myself down that way,” he says. “If it hurts, tell me.”
“It doesn’t hurt,” he says, and surprises himself by not getting at all embarrassed by the fact that kissing him for that little bit very noticeably riled him up.
He moves back to Shouto’s lips, refusing to lose to his own pulse, and is very much taken by surprise when Shouto nips his bottom lip, making it beep again.
“Stop it,” he whispers.
“Is it that much?”
“Like you don’t know,” Katsuki accuses.
Shouto hums, pressing his lips back to his and parting his mouth just enough that Katsuki is introduced to the concept of chasing another person’s tongue. That… is not nearly as gross as he thought it would be.
He sucks in a breath through his nose as the kiss deepens, and the two of them are seconds from successfully devouring each other.
It may be a stupid game, but fuck if kissing Shouto doesn’t actually feel like winning the lottery. It’s so good, he never wants to stop. He never wants to do anything else. He just wants to be left here alone with him and his stupid quirks and maybe something to sit on.
It’s… amazing.
“Time’s up!”
Like a spell breaks, the two of them push away from each other with wide eyes. Shouto wipes his mouth on the back of his hand, and Katsuki dusts off the wet spot over his heart from where some of Shouto’s ice melted.
The door swings open with a cheer, and thankfully no one finds them wrapped up together fully embracing the experience, but Katsuki can’t ignore the sense of loss he feels.
That was it.
Just seven minutes, and it’s over like that.
Shouto steps out first because he’s closest to the door, and Katsuki follows with his hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched, ignoring the cheers and hoots every other group got too. Is this supposed to be fun, or is it just a humiliation ritual?
He expects Shouto to go back and sit in the circle, but instead he just… leaves. Even when Izuku calls out for him, he doesn’t stop, and that’s basically a sign that he’s been possessed.
Katsuki follows him, but he nearly has to jog to keep up with his long stride. “Hey! Where are you going?”
“I’m tired,” he says without looking back.
“Really? Because’s it’s only 6:30.”
Shouto looks back and frowns, and oh fuck his eyes are red. Not in an angry destroy the planet kind of way, but like in a seconds from unleashing the sad boy geyser kind of way, and it makes Katsuki stop in his tracks.
“What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” he says. “Go back to the party.”
“Fuck that, I’m going with you,” he says, following Shouto all the way back to his room, not even bothering to ask him if it’s cool to come in when he follows him there too. “Was it that bad?”
“No,” he says with his back to him.
“Then what’s the problem?” Katsuki asks.
Shouto stands there in silence for several seconds before he finally answers. “Because it was just a stupid game.”
Katsuki frowns, unsure of what he means, before he realizes what an absolute idiot he was for following him here. “Oh.”
“I forgot until they let us out.”
He blinks, stunned.
Wait…
“Oh.”
Shouto sniffles and wipes his nose on his sleeve before he finally turns back around, looking so miserable that Katsuki isn’t sure what he’s supposed to do with him. “Sorry.”
“It’s cool,” he says. “Stupid game.”
“Yeah,” he says.
“Not like we’d ever make out or something,” he says.
“No,” Shouto says calmly before a sniffle. “Why would we do something like that?”
“We’d have to probably like each other or something,” he says.
“Yes, I suppose we would have to, but we don’t, so,” he says. “That’s simple enough.”
“Pretty straightforward actually,” he says. “Waste of time kissing someone you don’t like.”
“My thoughts exactly,” he says. “I’m glad we’re on the same page.”
“Yeah,” Katsuki says. “So.”
“So,” Shouto echoes as they both stare at each other across this gaping chasm from a bedroom, and it all clicks into place.
“I’m gonna do something, but if you laugh at me, I’ll kill you,” he says.
“I wouldn’t laugh at you.”
That’s true enough:
“Feel sorry for me then,” Katsuki clarifies, and Shouto looks at him with the sassiest little as if he’s ever seen someone do this century, and the stupidest, ugliest smile he’s ever made stretches across his face in return. “You fucking asshole.”
He will remember the light in Shouto’s eyes for the rest of his life, as well as the breath of surprise he makes when he takes that first step forward.
He doesn’t need a stupid box to kiss him.