Archive of Our Own

I.

There were many exceptional witches and wizards in that generation, the one that had just moved on to sixth year. It was the most competitive, skilled, and powerful generation Hogwarts had seen in decades, if not in its entire history. They competed for points, grades, Quidditch, and even positions as prefects or student representatives. That was why, when Headmaster Nezu announced that there would be a special dueling tournament held during the semester between sixth- and seventh-year students, a small hell broke loose in the castle. Practically everyone wanted to participate and win… And the best part was that almost all of them were qualified to do so.

Bakugou, one of the most prominent sixth-year Gryffindors, took the opportunity to announce in front of everyone that he was going to win first place. Most people wouldn't doubt him—he had made announcements like that in the past under other circumstances, and they had come true. He was popular thanks to his flashy explosive magic style and his skill at Quidditch. But at the same time, many people hated him with a passion for being narcissistic, obnoxious, and unpleasant.

Kirishima hadn't liked him since first year, when, during one of the first days of classes, the guy had nearly killed another Gryffindor classmate they called Deku during their very first flying lesson. Kirishima had even warned his teacher, All Might, that he needed to stop the class, but the man had been so absorbed in watching everything that he didn't (what the hell?) until they had to take the aforementioned Deku to the infirmary.

Then Bakugou started becoming egotistical and arrogant, and one of the targets of his jokes and nasty comments was his house: Hufflepuff. The blond always said it was the worst of the four houses, the weakest and most useless. To his complete displeasure, with Bakugou being captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and him being captain of Hufflepuff's team, their rivalry only grew over time, and unfortunately, with the red-and-gold house winning many more times and taking the lead.

Bakugou was unpleasant to everyone, even to his fellow Gryffindors, and he wasn't supposed to take it personally, but every time he heard those arrogant declarations coming from the blond, all of his friendly, noncompetitive spirit disappeared, causing something close to ambition to awaken inside him. It was strange, because normally he wasn't particularly interested in winning and wasn't very confident in himself either… But this time he decided he was going to participate, shut that guy up, and prove once and for all that Hufflepuff was the best house of them all.

That week, Headmaster Nezu put up a sign-up board outside the Great Hall for anyone who wanted to participate in the dueling tournament to register. From his year, besides him, his friends Tetsutetsu, Kaminari, and Sero signed up, and among the girls, Kendo and Ashido. From seventh year, Nejire. The badger house was going to put up a good fight with those representatives, but the others wouldn't be easy either. Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, and Iida from Ravenclaw, Tokoyami and Monoma from Slytherin, and in Gryffindor, Midoriya, Bakugou, and Uraraka in sixth year, as well as Mirio and Tamaki in seventh year, had also signed up.

It was going to be a fiercely contested tournament.

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Bakugou was having lunch in the gardens, alone. He didn't like being surrounded by people in the Great Hall, nor did he like the food the castle served, which was extremely high in calories (sausages, fried eggs, bacon, beans, potatoes… how was he supposed to eat that every day?).

Bakugou was a loner.

Yes, thanks to his tendency to do things well (a prime example being winning Quidditch matches), there were people who followed and fawned over him, but that didn't mean they were his friends. He didn't care that much either; he didn't want friends, he didn't need friends. Those were overrated things for weak and useless people. He was at Hogwarts to be the best wizard in the world, and nothing was going to stop him.

So far, he had done well at school. Excellent grades. He had passed all his O.W.L.s with "Outstanding," and thanks to that, he had even been offered an internship at the Auror Department at the Ministry during the summer, which had obviously gone perfectly. He had no doubt that when he graduated from Hogwarts, he would receive plenty of job offers and begin his meteoric rise within the Ministry.

The problem was, as he had come to realize, that people also placed importance on personality, not just talent or perfect grades, and he was beginning to fall slightly behind because of that. When they had chosen Deku as a prefect the previous year instead of him, he had almost had a panic attack—and not figuratively. Situations like that began to repeat themselves, on top of his teachers always praising his stupid green-haired classmate instead of him.

Most likely, he was going to lose the position of student representative too, for the following year. And he had to admit that to be a good Auror, a well-rounded one, it wasn't enough to simply be skilled… He would need social skills, but he had no idea how to develop them at this point. Approaching people gave him hives, and he hated lengthy conversations.

"Hey, you little bastard," he muttered.

A gray cat with intense green eyes approached him and began rubbing itself against his body while purring.

He didn't like animals either. He barely even had his owl, with whom he had obviously formed a bond over all those years and whom he took good care of, but he hadn't bought her to have a pet, but rather out of necessity for correspondence. But that little gray cat had started showing up every time he had lunch, at first occasionally and now every day, until it had won him over.

"I'm not giving you any. This shit is for me," he warned anyway, and as if it had understood him, the cat stopped bothering him and sat patiently beside him, watching him and moving its tail every now and then.

Bakugou took out a special cat treat that he had stolen from Uraraka, one of his classmates, and gave it to him, as he did every day, before scratching him behind the ears. It had already become part of his routine and the one thing that interrupted his solitude during lunch. The kitten returned the gesture with a grateful purr while he let a small hint of a smile escape before putting a piece of his balanced meal into his mouth.

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A month had passed since the school year had begun, and the tournament was finally starting that week. The battle rounds and who would face whom had already been determined, and the duels would take place in a small special stadium that had been built for the occasion on the castle grounds, as a much smaller replica of the Quidditch stadium and without the elongated stands bearing the colors of the four houses.

Until then, classes had continued as if nothing had happened, and they had already had their first test of the semester. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff shared the dungeon for their collaborative Potions class, divided among several tables. That morning's potion, the Draught of the Living Dead, had the classroom immersed in a dense, humid cloud thanks to the heat of the cauldrons.

It was the first evaluation of the year, which was why Professor Aizawa slowly walked around the benches instead of sitting at his desk (and falling asleep, as he usually did), giving comments. Kirishima had sat with Kaminari, and neither of them was having much luck with the potion because it was practically impossible.

"Wait, did the asphodel root powder go in after the wormwood?" Kaminari asked, looking at his own cauldron with little hope. Kirishima shrugged and looked at the instructions in his book, frustrated.

"You can't even follow the order of the instructions properly, huh? Dunce face."

Both Hufflepuff boys turned around with irritated expressions, only to find, to no one's surprise, Bakugou and his stupid arrogant smile. Until then, they had been so absorbed in making the potion correctly that neither of them had realized the Gryffindor was behind them, listening and ready to make fun of them if anything went wrong.

"Are you really that bored with your life?" Kaminari asked.

"Don't talk so loudly around me if you don't want comments."

"Thank God you're good at Quidditch, because your personality is like sewer shit."

Some people around them laughed.

Bakugou automatically pulled his wand from beneath his sleeve, furious, ready and willing to get revenge on Kaminari for saying that and embarrassing him in front of everyone. Kirishima stepped forward and reached out a hand to stop him, but the blond managed to point his wand at Kaminari and sent him flying backward onto the floor thanks to a minor explosion.

Knowing it wasn't anything serious but rather Bakugou's classic move, more people laughed when they saw Kaminari on the floor behind a small curtain of dark, dense smoke, but Kirishima didn't. The red-haired boy was beginning to get furious that these kinds of things kept happening, that the Gryffindor continued making fun of them as if nothing were wrong, provoking them and then attacking them like a bully that no one ever put in his place. He was so angry that he didn't know what to do.

And precisely in that moment of I'm so angry I don't know what to do, Kirishima grabbed a handful of potion ingredients from his table and threw them into the blond's cauldron. He knew it was completely immature, but he couldn't help it, nor did he think about it too much.

Bakugou stared at his cauldron and watched his perfect potion rapidly begin to change color, ruining itself, and he was furious. He was so furious that, for the first time, he didn't know how to react. He noticed that Professor Aizawa was already walking toward them with an annoyed expression, so he had to behave and not do something stupid, but… He couldn't. He also grabbed a handful of his own ingredients and threw them into the stupid Hufflepuff's cauldron.

The effect was much worse. Everything, the steel of the cauldron and the wooden table, began melting at high speed as the potion spilled out. Kirishima even had to take a couple of steps backward to keep the corrosive liquid from getting on his shoes.

When both boys looked up, they found themselves face-to-face with Aizawa's furious stare. Yes, he was angrier than Kirishima and Bakugou themselves. He looked like he was about to lose his temper when he finally opened his mouth to say something.

"You're both in detention."

"Whatever," Bakugou replied, rolling his eyes.

"No, this time I'm serious. You'll be in detention every Saturday at ten in the morning until Christmas."

The blond's eyes widened as he realized that meant…

"Ten in the morning?!" Kirishima asked with a whine. "But that's at the same time as the dueling tournament!"

"Exactly. You'll miss the dueling tournament," he declared.

"Professor, wait…"

"And you'll start today, cleaning up this mess. Also, I want you to turn in a letter of apology." The dark-haired man looked toward the rest of the classroom. "The rest of you can leave!"

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There was nothing, absolutely nothing worse than being locked in a dungeon with shitty hair, in detention, while the dueling tournament was beginning.

Bakugou still wanted to grab his wand and blow up a wall whenever he thought about how he wasn't going to be able to win first place in the dueling tournament because he had to be there, wasting his time reinforcing something he was already good at. If that Hufflepuff hadn't ruined his potion, he was sure he would have been the only one in the class to get it right.

Instead, he had to be there, completely wasting away his Saturday afternoon while others participated in the tournament… It was a hard blow to resign himself to the idea of not participating and knowing that, one way or another, someone who wasn't him was going to take first place and win the prize. Someone was going to receive the recognition that should have been his…

"All right, you know why you're here," Professor Aizawa muttered listlessly, "so you'd have to be pretty stupid not to behave yourselves and start fighting again. You're going to repeat the Draught of the Living Dead."

"Yes, sensei…" the two replied in flat voices, dragging out their words.

"I'll be back in two hours to see how you're doing."

"Huh?"

Both boys stared in astonishment as their professor left them alone in the middle of the dungeon. Aizawa wasn't going to waste his Saturday afternoon like they were, and he might even go watch the dueling tournament… And that was an even worse reminder of the miserable afternoon they were about to face.

Bakugou heard Kirishima let out a sigh before watching him move toward the first table he found, in front of a cauldron, to get to work as soon as possible. For a moment, he felt a renewed wave of anger toward the situation and toward the redhead, since he was one of the reasons he was there, missing the tournament and…

No. Blaming others for his own mistakes was pathetic. He had to admit that he had started it that morning, when he had bothered the two Hufflepuff idiots, and then, when things had started getting heated, he hadn't stopped either, provoking them. It wasn't very decent to pretend he wasn't at fault for what had happened.

It was done. There was nothing he could do.

He went to the same table where Kirishima was, simply because there was no point in occupying another one if they were completely alone in the dungeon. He didn't like the redhead, but he wasn't so obnoxious and immature as to go to the other end of the room just because of that… And he began cutting the ingredients just as he had done that morning in Potions class.

Both students remained completely silent for at least an hour. They both focused on their potions and had no intention of speaking to each other, far too proud over what had happened to say a word, not to mention that they were frustrated and hurt over not being able to participate in the dueling tournament.

It was the first time Bakugou wasn't interested in competing. No, this time he just wanted to finish his detention and leave for the Common Room (and ideally not hear any news about the tournament so he wouldn't feel jealousy consuming him) without thinking about whether he finished his potion before or after Kirishima, or whether his turned out better or worse than Kirishima's (although the answer to that was pretty obvious).

However, when a strange smell similar to ammonia began reaching his nose in intense waves, he had to put aside his disinterest and look toward the shitty-haired boy's cauldron. And you didn't have to be a genius to realize that the Hufflepuff, as usual, wasn't following the instructions correctly, but this time it went beyond that. If he didn't start fixing it that instant, things were going to get ugly.

"You're doing it wrong," the blond warned.

The reaction was immediate. Kirishima slammed one hand down on the table, rolled his eyes, and turned halfway toward him, indignant.

"Enough," he said, with little patience. "We're already in detention. That's enough."

"No, I'm talking ab—"

BOOM!

Of course, the potion exploded. Bakugou had seen it coming from the moment the ammonia smell reached him, and he was always right about these kinds of things, but in this particular case it would have been just as obvious to anyone with eyes (except Kirishima, apparently) because the potion was orange when it was supposed to be as clear as water.

Kirishima was so bad at Potions that, by that point, it was practically a talent.

"Shit," he said, coughing through the smoke. He wanted to laugh, but held it back, unsure whether his unpleasant detention partner was okay after his potion exploded in his face. "You okay?"

"Yeah…" A broken voice, followed by a throat-clearing cough, came from the other side of the cloud of black smoke that had filled the dungeon.

Suddenly, Bakugou realized that the stupid Hufflepuff was injured and that a deep cut was bleeding profusely above his right eye, beneath the eyebrow, because a shard from the cauldron had flown straight into his face. Well, if that didn't make him start taking the instructions seriously, surely nothing would, the blond thought.

Kirishima was completely embarrassed. He brought his hand to his right eye, feeling the burning and then the moisture and heat of the blood quickly covering his hand. He had just ruined his potion in front of the most egotistical guy who, to make matters worse, had warned him right beforehand.

"Go ahead. Make fun of me." The redhead knew the whole school was going to hear about his explosive failure soon.

"You're bleeding, idiot." Did he really think Bakugou was going to run around telling everyone like a gossip? It was the day the dueling tournament had begun. Nobody was going to give a damn about stupid Kirishima. Starting with him.

"It's nothing…"

"It looks deep," he commented, trying to sound disinterested. "You should go see Recovery Girl."

The redhead looked at him suspiciously. That concern had come out of nowhere, which made it too suspicious to be genuine… Bakugou was probably waiting for him to leave so he could tell everyone that he sucked at Potions. And… If he left now, he wouldn't fulfill his detention. Although if he went to the infirmary with a bleeding eye, surely no one would doubt that he had left it unfinished for a good reason. At that moment, he was more concerned about embarrassing himself in front of the narcissistic Gryffindor who was still looking at him as if he were an idiot.

Maybe he really was.

"Fine. Don't talk to me," the blond muttered, looking toward the floor.

Kirishima snorted. It was true, he was acting like a spoiled brat, and he really did need to go to the infirmary.

He gathered his things and simply left.

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The next day, the castle was a hive of activity. All the students excitedly discussed the best duels and the most impressive moves the sixth- and seventh-year students had made during the tournament. It was only the first rounds, but several had already been eliminated, while others had attracted a lot of attention for their expertise.

Bakugou trembled with rage every time he heard someone praising stupid Deku or Todoroki, the social constipation. Some might think he would be happy to hear that his fellow Gryffindors had done well, but the exact opposite was true. If he wasn't the one stepping up for his house, he preferred no one to do it.

A few tables away, Tetsutetsu, Kaminari, Sero, and Ashido told Kirishima everything in detail. His friends had made it through the round without any difficulty, just as he knew they would. He enjoyed listening to the details of the battles, some spells and charms he didn't know about that had surprised everyone, and who had been eliminated.

He was surprised to see that, at least so far, no one knew about his second failure with the Draught of the Living Dead. After seeing the scar over his eye (yes, after Recovery Girl had healed him the previous day, he had been left with a scar right above his right eye), most people asked him if he had gotten into another fight with Bakugou or tried to guess by saying something much more creative and cool than what had actually happened. He didn't want to admit that he had actually ruined his potion, but he didn't want to lie either, so he simply replied that it was complicated.

"What's complicated? Did that asshole do something to you?" Ashido asked him.

Kirishima sighed.

"No…" he admitted, a blush coloring his cheeks. "My stupid cauldron exploded in my face."

"KIRI, YOU HAVE TO REPORT HIM!"

"Huh?"

"Don't you get it? He did the same thing as last time! He probably put ingredients in your cauldron to ruin your potion! Classic Bakugou!" Kaminari chimed in, looking indignant.

It had never occurred to him. It was impossible for anyone to be that petty and pathetic, right? Besides, Kirishima and Bakugou had been silent and separated for almost the entire detention, so it would have been easy for him to notice if the blond had approached to sabotage his potion, and he hadn't. Bakugou could be many things, but doing that was too much…

"I don't think so." He wasn't the best at Potions, that was all.

It was true that in six years, he had never had a cauldron explode on him before, but it was an extremely difficult potion, and he hadn't been focused because of all the anger and frustration over missing the dueling tournament and being forced to spend his entire Saturday morning in detention with Bakugou.

"No, but seriously. Do you know Monoma, the Slytherin guy? Bakugou mixed up his ingredients once too. The whole school knows about it."

He didn't know that. Could it be possible? He was beginning to get irritated by the idea.

Recovery Girl had said the scar he had been left with over his eye would be permanent because the cut was too deep. A permanent scar right in the middle of his face, perfect. And if what Kaminari was saying was true, it meant it was the Gryffindor's fault, and it made some sense because…

If he had gotten angry over losing the duel, Bakugou had surely been a thousand times angrier. He was known for being the most competitive and perfectionist person in all of Hogwarts, and that was probably why he had wanted revenge by making his potion explode.

Now he needed to know if it was true.

"Where are you going?" Ashido asked when she saw him stand up.

"I'm going to ask him if it's true or not!"

"But it's obvious he's going to deny it," Sero said.

"I'll know when I see him!"

He walked determinedly toward the Gryffindor table to look for him, but he wasn't there. In any case, he wasn't going to stop until he found him, even if he had to search the entire castle and its grounds. Since he was going to have to spend a lot of Saturdays locked up with the blond, the least he could do was find out what kind of person he was so he could be aware of his tricks and put a stop to them. He was going to confront him if necessary.

After about twenty minutes of searching, he finally spotted his messy ash-blond hair. He was sitting in the castle's inner courtyard among a bunch of students younger than him, who were laughing and cheering him on over some stupid thing he had done. He approached quickly, practically without thinking, and stopped in front of him, with everyone else looking at him arrogantly, waiting to see what he wanted.

"Nice scar, shitty hair."

"Was it you?"

"Huh?"

The others laughed.

"My potion this Saturday. Was it you? Did you do it?"

"Obviously, idiot. Who else would have done it?" He gave him a smug, crooked smile.

So it was true.

Kirishima was one step away from punching him in the face, but he wasn't going to do it. He tried to calm himself by remembering that he was already in detention because of that asshole and didn't need to make things worse. He wasn't going to stoop to the same level as him, even though he was burning with rage inside. He had never been this angry in his entire life.

"You're the worst student to ever set foot in this castle." He turned around and walked away, trying to ignore the reaction from the group, who obviously let out mocking giggles and provocative whistles.

What a pathetic response, he thought. Bakugou deserved much more, a couple of swear words at the very least, but he really didn't want to stoop to that level. Besides, it was true, the blond was probably the worst student in Hogwarts history, and he didn't understand how the hell someone as evil, proud, competitive, and ambitious as him had ended up in Gryffindor instead of Slytherin.

It wasn't that he had any prejudice against Slytherins, but if he thought about the Gryffindors from his generation, people like that Midoriya guy or Mirio… They had nothing in common! Those guys were brave and manly, friendly, charismatic… The Sorting Hat had probably lost its mind when it decided Bakugou was one of them.

He walked back to the Great Hall to meet his friends and decided he wasn't going to think about the blond again. He wasn't worth it.

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Three days later, another Potions class had just ended with the typical bustle of students getting to their feet, chatting animatedly, and putting their things away in their bags. Kirishima was about to leave with Sero and Kaminari when he felt a presence behind them and turned to see who it was, finding Aizawa.

"Kirishima."

"Oh, Aizawa sensei." He swallowed. He had never explained to his professor that he hadn't been able to finish the potion on the day of detention because he had gone to see Recovery Girl in the infirmary. Was he angry with him? "Look…"

"Good job the other day."

"Huh?"

"Bakugou told me you left for the infirmary a little early because you had a nasty headache, but he turned in your completed potion at the end of the day." The man crossed his arms and made a hint of a smile that, on someone like him, looked more like a terrifying expression. "It was perfect. Congratulations."

WHAT?! What the hell was Aizawa talking about?

Kaminari and Sero, beside him, looked him up and down, waiting for an explanation, but he needed one too.

"He liked it… My potion?" he asked cautiously.

"It's the best one you've made in six years," he replied completely seriously. "You've improved a lot, Kirishima. I suppose you decided to put everything behind you and work with Bakugou. The two of you did a good job."

"No… I didn't work with…" he stammered.

"No? Well, I suppose you can't have everything in life. This Saturday, we'll meet at the same time outside the library."

The man walked ahead to leave and went without saying goodbye, while the three Hufflepuffs remained beneath the doorway of the dungeon, staring at one another in confusion over what had just happened. Kaminari and Sero then looked at Kirishima as if asking for an explanation, the three of them reaching a similar conclusion…

"Did Bakugou make and turn in the potion for you?" Sero asked.

"Impossible…" Kaminari said with an incredulous smile. "That would mean…"

Oh.

Kirishima went pale as he remembered the conversation he had had with the blond in the inner courtyard days earlier. When he had asked him, "Was it you?" and "Did you do it?" Bakugou had answered yes because he had been referring to this… He hadn't sabotaged his potion; on the contrary, he had helped him…

Shit. He had just royally screwed up.

II.

Another lunch hour, another lonely afternoon.

Bakugou was having lunch alone in the castle gardens, grateful that the week was finally coming to an end… He had spent the past five days listening to everyone rave about the dueling tournament, his stupid female classmates gush over Deku, and even watching the nerd train for his match the following day.

He wouldn't even be able to watch the damn tournament because the worst part of his punishment was coming up (so far): Aizawa had told shitty hair and him that they had to hand-copy a library book that was slowly fading with age—an entire book each!

And then there was the fact that he hated that idiot Kirishima. He hadn't hated him before; he hated him now. Before, he had simply considered him a stupid, ordinary Hufflepuff student, someone who probably had to struggle to string simple words together and form a sentence, but who probably wasn't a bad guy and was far too friendly for his own good. Basically, a typical Hufflepuff.

Besides, that Kirishima guy was one of the few players he respected on the Quidditch field. Most of the students who played for one of the four house teams were there because they were decent flyers or fast, but they didn't have any real technique or skill, so beating them was a piece of cake and completely boring. But the red-haired boy was a formidable Keeper and the only one who had ever been able to stop his shots—which obviously came hurtling toward the hoop with relentless force and speed—as if they were nothing.

"Hey," he greeted as soon as he felt the familiar presence of a gray cat making its entrance. "You're late today."

The blond scratched its head between the ears, as usual, then searched through his bag for the special cat treats he'd stolen from Uraraka. It was lucky his classmate was careless and left her things lying around, especially where he could easily reach them in the Common Room.

But back to the main issue… He hated Kirishima. He hadn't hated him when they'd been punished, despite being furious at the time, because he'd also acted like a pathetic punk when he'd thrown the ingredients into the cauldron and gotten himself and Kirishima put in detention. That had been one of the reasons he'd wanted to help him during the extra Potions session, and the son of a bitch had responded with that bullshit in the courtyard…

But that was his own fault for helping someone when nobody had asked for his help. In fact, that was exactly why he never helped anyone or got involved with anyone, because they were all selfish and cruel idiots. The only difference between him and everyone else was that he was upfront about it and treated people badly from the start. The others were worse because they were fake and cynical.

So it was a lesson learned. During the following detentions, he was going to ignore the Hufflepuff until they were over and get on with his life.

"You're the only decent one in this castle, you little bastard," he told the kitten as it gobbled down the treat beside him.

He didn't even know what the animal's name was, but little bastard worked just fine, so he was going to keep calling it that.

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That morning was cold, and it was even colder in the library. Since everyone was at the tournament, Thirteen, the librarian, hadn't lit the fireplace, and the large, empty space, without the usual warmth generated by a bunch of students sitting around and working, felt colder than ever to the only two students there, each seated at opposite ends of the long wooden table.

Was there anything worse than hand-copying a five-hundred-page book in ink? Hardly. To make matters worse, Kirishima was left-handed, so he had to constantly make sure the back of his hand wasn't smearing the ink as he wrote toward the opposite edge of the page.

On top of that, there was an awkward silence between the two boys that left him nervous and on edge.

That morning, as soon as they arrived at the library, Kirishima had looked at Bakugou, searching for some kind of expression that might tell him how to approach him and make amends for what he'd done. He was so embarrassed about how he'd treated him before finding out that the blond had finished the potion for him, but he had no idea how to make things right.

"Hi," he greeted in almost a whisper, shyly.

Of course, the Gryffindor didn't answer. He simply went looking for the book he was supposed to work on, ignoring him while wearing a furious, murderous expression. Maybe acting as if nothing had happened hadn't been the best approach, but what else could he do?

"Bakugou, about the other day—"

"Shut up, shitty hair. If you talk to me again, I'll kill you."

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Of course, neither of them finished transcribing their books that morning, nor was it something Aizawa had expected them to accomplish. So the professor calmly informed them that they'd continue the following Saturday, and the Saturday after that if necessary. Both boys left the library defeated, their necks and backs aching from being hunched over their work for so long, and, of course, their wrists sore enough to feel like they were on the verge of developing tendinitis.

"It's not a real punishment if you don't suffer a little," Aizawa had told them when he saw them rubbing their wrists. "See you next Saturday."

Kirishima had another normal week after that. Classes and lively conversations with his friends kept him distracted most of the time, and besides, the Quidditch season was getting closer and closer. The opening match was always Gryffindor versus Slytherin, two strong opponents, but he couldn't afford to relax. As captain of his team, he had to start working hard right away, planning strategies and plays.

If he wasn't going to be able to participate in and win the dueling tournament as he'd planned at the beginning of the year, then at least he was going to do everything he could to win the Quidditch Cup that year. Gryffindor had won the last four years, ever since Bakugou had become captain of that house's team (there was a reason the blond was so egotistical and unpleasant), but it was time for another team to put a stop to them, and he believed Hufflepuff had what it took.

"It's getting tougher now," Kaminari commented that Monday during lunch, referring to the dueling tournament. "I almost lost… Kendo and Sero are already out."

"Hey!" Sero protested. "That's not fair. I got matched against fucking Todoroki, and the guy destroyed me in ONE move. One move, Kirishima! Do you know how humiliating that is? The people in the audience started chanting, 'Don't worry' at me… But that kind of thing only makes you feel worse!"

Kirishima nearly choked on his juice laughing. It was hard for the story to make him feel sorry for Sero when he told it like that, especially with Kaminari and Ashido practically rolling around laughing beside him. Damn, he would've loved to see Sero duel Todoroki. He'd heard that the gray-and-red-haired student had cast a powerful ice spell, leaving Sero practically immobilized and frozen.

"Tamaki's duel with…" His friends had so much to share, and he felt out of place listening to them discuss all the details…

Ashido, Kaminari, and Sero got caught up going over another one of the duels that had been especially entertaining during the tournament and talked about it for about forty minutes. Kirishima didn't mind at all because he knew his best friends were excited and having fun… The problem wasn't them, but him, stuck on the opposite end of things and wasting his Saturday mornings on boring tasks…

He looked around and realized that his friends weren't the only ones still talking about the tournament. All the students from the four houses were doing the same, some starting to wear badges representing the person they supported or even setting up a betting pool that anyone could join.

He unconsciously looked for Bakugou at the Gryffindor table to see what he was doing (he was probably in the same position as him, frustrated and left out), but he couldn't find him. Maybe that was for the best… The blond wouldn't react the same way he did when listening to all the wonderful details about the tournament. He'd probably get furious.

"Who are you looking for?" Ashido asked, resting her head in the palm of her hand, her elbow on the table, as she stared at him.

Kirishima couldn't help blushing at the question, and he didn't understand why the hell he'd gotten nervous. There was nothing wrong with admitting he was looking for Bakugou, was there? After all, he now spent a good part of his time with him… In silence…

"Ah… Uh… Bakugou," he stammered, running a hand over the back of his neck.

"WHY?!" Kaminari asked dramatically.

"I've been feeling strangely uneasy ever since what happened… You know."

Kaminari and Sero knew what had happened because they'd been with Kirishima when Aizawa congratulated him on the potion. In fact, they'd worked through the whole theory together that Bakugou had helped him (it wasn't exactly a difficult conclusion to reach, anyway), despite all the objections Kaminari had initially raised, remembering that story about Bakugou making Monoma's cauldron explode once. But since Ashido didn't know what they were talking about, they spent the rest of lunch telling her the story.

"Really?" The girl looked just as surprised as the others. "Bakugou helped you?"

"I still think there has to be another reason," Kaminari said.

"I have to apologize to him, but I don't know how. He doesn't want to talk to me."

"You've got plenty of Saturdays to try," Sero teased.

"Yeah, I know," Kirishima replied, rolling his eyes, "and it's not just because I'm sick of the awkward silence during detention, but because I have to do it. It's driving me crazy."

"The situation or Bakugou?" Ashido asked with a mischievous smile.

Kirishima felt his stomach flip as his cheeks turned bright red.

"The situation!"

"You blushed!"

"I wasn't expecting that question!"

Obviously, he didn't like Bakugou, nor was he "going crazy over him." He simply couldn't relax knowing he'd done something awful to someone and needed to apologize. Apologizing after ruining something was manly. Acknowledging your mistakes and making amends was manly. It had nothing to do with the blond!

"Relax, Kiri. I'm just messing with you," the girl said with a laugh.

Beside him, Kaminari and Sero looked as though they were staring at bowtruckle droppings served on their plates. They hated Bakugou, and it was already bad enough having to talk about him from time to time because of Kirishima's detentions, but discussing the Gryffindor as romantic gossip was too much.

"I'm serious," Kirishima assured his friends before they could start panicking. "I do NOT like Bakugou."

Both boys nodded, and he gave an almost imperceptible nod to himself as well, as if trying to convince himself after Ashido had brought up something he'd never questioned in the first place. But now that she had… No. It couldn't be. He didn't like Bakugou.

He didn't care about Bakugou. Normally, he would be someone he would never try to talk to or be friends with. He was only thinking about him because he wanted to fix things, that was all.

.

.

When Kirishima had arrived at his first detention expecting to spend every Saturday with Bakugou, there had been nothing he wanted more than to spend them in silence without having to interact with the blond. That first Saturday morning, while they redid the Draught of the Living Dead without exchanging a word, everything had been fine; Bakugou annoyed him enough that he hadn't wanted to speak to him and didn't feel bad about spending literally hours in complete silence. But now? Now he would've given anything for the blond to answer his greeting and for them to exchange a few words, even if it was just to talk about the weather.

It was raining, and the cold was worse than ever in the library. Kirishima tried not to shiver as he transcribed, because it was already difficult enough to maintain neat, clean, orderly handwriting while being left-handed. He could see his breath every time he sighed.

Across from him, Bakugou worked with Gryffindor's distinctive red-and-gold scarf pulled up to his nose. He was also wearing a black sweater. He looked so warm that Kirishima envied him, while simultaneously hating himself for having packed practically nothing but light clothes to return to Hogwarts that year. It was typical of him to hate shirts and heavy clothing, but now he regretted it…

"Professor Thirteen," he asked, turning his head toward the librarian, "could you light the fireplace, please?"

"Of course, young Kirishima."

Bakugou rolled his eyes as he began unwinding his scarf from around his neck, assuming that if they lit a fire nearby, he'd end up getting too warm because of the idiot Kirishima, who was asking them to light the fireplace while wearing a short-sleeved shirt and thin jeans.

"Sorry," he apologized in a faint voice.

"I told you not to talk to me," was all the other boy replied.

Kirishima nodded, feeling bad, and turned his gaze back to the book.

How was he supposed to apologize if time kept passing like this? Without Bakugou speaking to him, without even looking at him. Even though they spent almost an entire day of their week together and alone, the Gryffindor ignored him as if he didn't exist. It made him nervous and uneasy. He knew he'd done something wrong, and it wasn't manly to leave things like that, but what could he do?

If Bakugou had asked him not to talk to him, it would be selfish of him to bother him just to apologize, only so he could feel better about it. Ugh, he hated this situation because, in the end, he realized that he wanted to apologize more because he wanted to feel better himself, not because he wanted to make amends for the harm he'd caused. That was basically the same as being a bad person!

He looked at the boy across from him again, about to say something, but stopped himself just in time. For the next thirty minutes, he bit his tongue several times before starting a conversation, reminding himself that he wouldn't be welcome. He was at a standstill. Probably the best thing to do was accept that there was no way to fix it and simply learn the lesson so he could avoid doing something similar in the future.

Not every mistake could be fixed or forgiven.

.

.

Professor Aizawa allowed the next detention to begin after the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match because, obviously, he wasn't going to risk having an entire house hate him for taking their star player off the team. It was only rational, and he cared little about the fuss the students made over the sport, but even he wasn't that evil.

Besides, his colleague, Present Mic (the Charms professor, but also the Quidditch commentator), would never have forgiven him for ruining the season's opening match by taking Bakugou off the team and forcing them to reschedule the game.

"But not you, Kirishima," he clarified after seeing the redhead getting excited too early. "You start at the usual time. Bakugou will join you afterward."

The Hufflepuff felt more disappointed than ever after his hopes of going to watch a game of his favorite sport were crushed, but he headed to one of the greenhouses without complaining. That morning, they were starting the next punishment, which was to prune some stupid ivy that was growing over and killing Professor Cementoss's other plants.

"Good luck," the boy told Bakugou before he left.

"Tch." The blond walked away down the hallway with Aizawa.

It hadn't exactly been a response, but at least it was better than being ignored, and it was definitely muuuuuuch better than the occasional "Don't talk to me" and "I'll kill you." Progress? The blond was clearly stubborn, but surely even he got tired of being angry all the time…

.

.

Bakugou had just had the most boring Quidditch match of his entire life. The Slytherin team had lost some good players after they graduated at the end of the previous year, and now all that was left was a pathetic excuse for a team that hadn't managed to score a single point. The only decent player they had left was Monoma (even though he hated admitting that the idiot was good at anything), the Seeker, who had actually caught the Snitch at the end of the game, but luckily, his team (and him, mainly) had scored more points than the one hundred and fifty points awarded by the little golden ball.

He had scored one hundred and ten points all by himself. Yeah, he'd managed to score eleven goals without any trouble. In fact, he had almost felt sorry for the poor guy they'd put in as Keeper (although that wasn't going to stop him from playing the way he always did) because the guy was clearly paralyzed by stage fright and hadn't been able to stop a single shot, not from him or any of the other Chasers. He had to admit that stupid Deku had scored some good goals that morning, too…

When he returned to the greenhouse to serve his detention, he found Kirishima covered in scratches, mud, and a little bit of blood, and had to hold himself back from laughing at him. He had to maintain the image that he was angry until the very end, and not even watching the stupid Hufflepuff struggle against wild, aggressive ivy was going to stop him.

He had realized that Kirishima had been trying to talk to him for several Saturdays now, probably to apologize (judging by the pathetic expression and puppy-dog eyes he made before approaching him), but he wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. Kirishima had made him feel bad, so he wasn't going to forgive him. Period. It was better if the redhead felt bad about it.

"Hey, Bakugou!" the boy greeted, breathing heavily from all his effort against the ivy. He seemed relieved to see him, probably because he was having a hard time doing everything by himself. "Did you win?"

The blond simply grunted in acknowledgment, rolled up his sleeves, and looked for a pair of gloves so he could get to work, when he realized Kirishima wasn't wearing any. No, of course the idiot had to be pruning the ivy with his bare hands, completely covered in cuts. How could someone be so fucking stupid?

And how was he supposed to stick to his plan of not talking to him like this?

"Hey, shitty hair."

The redhead turned his head incredibly quickly, his face breaking into a huge smile at the simple fact that Bakugou was speaking to him again, while the Gryffindor rolled his eyes and tried not to let out a mocking laugh.

Seriously, how was he supposed to stick to his plan of not talking to him like this?

"Yeah?"

"Are you stupid or something? Put on some gloves," he said, throwing a pair at him, "before you get a rash."

"Oh, uh, yeah. Thanks," he said with a smile as he put the gloves on, encouraged by the small interaction.

Both boys returned to work, and Bakugou began pruning the plant while pretending not to notice Kirishima's bright smile beside him. Idiot. Was he really that happy just because he'd spoken to him again? How could someone be so simple? Or maybe complex, because he didn't understand him… It was hard for him to comprehend how someone could react like that just from exchanging a couple of words (one of them an insult) with someone like him.

It would've been easy enough to simply forget about his desire to make the redhead feel bad. Their detentions would've been much more bearable if they'd talked every now and then instead of sitting in silence. Bakugou could put an end to all of this just by talking to him, especially because he admitted that he wasn't even angry at Kirishima anymore, that the guy didn't even annoy him, but he was too damn proud to simply…

Right at that moment, his stomach decided to speak for him, letting out a roar of hunger that could easily have been heard all the way to Hound Dog's cabin. He'd gone straight to the greenhouse after the match instead of eating something, and he hadn't even had time to eat breakfast that morning because he'd had to ask Aizawa whether he would be allowed to play or not… He was starving.

He looked to his left after hearing a sound and found Kirishima trying to hold back his laughter.

"DO YOU THINK THAT'S FUNNY, SHITTY HAIR?" he asked threateningly, which only made things worse.

The Hufflepuff started laughing harder and more freely, and it seemed that whenever he tried to stop, it only made things worse. He began turning red, both because he was angry and because he was embarrassed, but Kirishima seemed more interested in laughing than in listening to his warning.

"Sorry," he said, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes. "I have food in my bag. Do you want a sandwich?"

"NO," he replied, crossing his arms. "I've seen the food you eat. It's all garbage."

Kirishima was hungry too. He realized that he'd been pruning ivy all morning without stopping, without eating breakfast, and by then lunchtime in the Great Hall would already be almost over… He figured Aizawa wouldn't get angry if they went to get something to eat and then came back to finish the work…

"Want to go to the Great Hall?" he asked, and Bakugou looked at him suspiciously. "I'm hungry too!"

Finally, the blond sighed and slowly nodded.

.

.

Kirishima and Bakugou arrived at the Great Hall when there wasn't much time left before lunch ended, and they were surprised to find the room almost completely empty. It was unusual, considering that on Saturday afternoons, most students stayed at the table much longer, sitting around and lingering over lunch without any rush before returning to their Common Rooms. It was even stranger considering that the first Quidditch match of the season had been played that morning.

Where was everyone?

Bakugou took a seat at the Gryffindor table, and only then did Kirishima realize the little dilemma he was facing… Would it be weird to sit beside him, or would it be even weirder to go all the way to the other side and sit at the Hufflepuff table? Did Bakugou want his company, or did he want to be alone? It was true that they'd talked a little more, but that didn't mean everything between them was resolved…

"Are you planning on standing there all day?"

Okay. That settled it.

The redhead sat beside the blond at the Gryffindor table and was a little grateful that there weren't many people around to see him. He didn't want anyone getting the wrong idea, much less having to deal with Kaminari hysterically asking him why or accusing him of abandoning his best friends for a grumpy, psychotic Gryffindor.

He served himself some fries, roast meat, a fried egg on top, and, just to make sure he wouldn't get hungry in the afternoon, added some fried onions on the side. And ketchup. Lots of ketchup.

Bakugou let out a mocking snort when he saw his plate.

"Hey, leave me alone! I exercise enough to burn the calories!" he said, pretending to be offended. "I don't need that judgmental look."

"First of all, that's disgusting," the blond replied. "Second, I'm surprised you even know the word 'judgmental.'"

This time, Kirishima let out a mocking chuckle.

"Ha, ha. You think I'm stupid and don't know fancy words," he said, taking the spoon to scoop another helping of fried onions from the serving dish, only this time he put them on Bakugou's plate beside his vegetables. "Eating a little fried food every now and then isn't going to kill you."

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE, SHITTY HAIR?" he asked, glaring furiously at his own plate.

"Nah, I've figured you out. You're all threats, but you don't actually do anything, right?"

The Gryffindor lifted his gaze from his plate to look at him, murderous intent in his eyes, and Kirishima hesitated for a second over what he'd just said because Bakugou looked like he was about to throw the fried onions at his head at any moment.

"Never put your hands in my plate again," he warned as if he hadn't heard the previous comment. "Besides, how much do you actually exercise? Your position in Quidditch is the one that moves the least."

Bakugou began removing the onions from his plate while Kirishima put a hand over his chest as if he'd been wounded.

"Of course it isn't! Besides, I fly plenty during practice!" he defended himself. "And for your information, I make the whole team run laps and do sit-ups and push-ups and—"

"I know, Kirishima. I'm just messing with you…" The Hufflepuff smiled again as if he'd just received the best news of his life. "What?"

"You called me Kirishima instead of 'Shitty Hair'!"

Bakugou rolled his eyes and focused his attention on his plate again, uncomfortable.

He looked cute when he was uncomfortable and blushing. Pretty, even. Of course, Kirishima had always known that Bakugou was an attractive and handsome person; it was just that he disliked him so much that this objective perception had disappeared completely until they started spending more time together…

"Don't get used to it."

"Hey, Bakugou, don't you think it's weird that there's no one in the Great Hall?"

"They moved the tournament to the afternoon because of Quidditch," the other replied as if it were obvious.

"Oh, that’s true!" Between the first match of the season and the fact that Bakugou was actually talking to him, he'd completely forgotten that the tournament would continue in the afternoon so it wouldn't interfere with the sport.

Huh, he hadn't thought about that, but that meant Tetsutetsu was probably going to be completely exhausted between one thing and the other by the time it was Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw… And for the first time, he was grateful he hadn't entered the tournament. It probably would've affected his performance on the team…

Hufflepuff's match was in two weeks, and he didn't feel prepared at all, despite practicing twice a week after classes. The Ravenclaw team was probably the best after Gryffindor's, and the previous year, they had destroyed them mercilessly on the field. The memory still made Kirishima feel insecure about his own abilities…

"Your food's going to get cold," Bakugou reminded him.

"Oh, right!" he replied, forcing a smile and bringing his fork to his plate.

It would be better not to keep thinking about it.

.

.

Bakugou and Kirishima had another detention in the greenhouses the following Saturday. It was exactly the same work, but in Greenhouse Three instead of Five… By that point, the boys were already talking normally, even if their conversations weren't very deep due to Bakugou's lack of interest in talking, but it was still progress.

Actually, Bakugou didn't want to talk to Kirishima, or so he kept telling himself. But by then, either he talked to him or the redhead was eventually going to kill himself during one of their detentions. The Gryffindor wondered how his partner had managed to survive on his own for six years when he, who had only just met him, constantly had to tell him, "Be careful with that," "Your potion is going to blow up in your face," and even, "Eat your food before it gets cold." He was a fucking disaster of a person!

And the worst part was that the other boy responded to every one of those brief comments with a ridiculously happy, bright smile. Were all Hufflepuffs like that, or was it just Kirishima? Or was that how all normal people were, different from him? Either way, he had to admit that he was starting to develop a sort of fondness for Kirishima and his "idiocy" (good nature).

"Can you, for the love of God, put on the damn protective gloves?" he demanded for what had to be the eighth time that morning. "You're making me sick with worry."

"Doesn't matter! My hands are tough, look!" he said, showing them to him and smacking them together. "I don't mind the ivy's thorns."

"You're going to get a rash," he warned, rubbing his eyes impatiently. "Do you want to end up in the infirmary again? Suit yourself."

"Aaaww, Bakugou, are you worried about me?"

"OF COURSE NOT! I HATE YOU!"

"Y-you… You really do?" Kirishima deflated beside him, staring at the ground and immediately losing his smile, replacing it with a sad, uncomfortable expression.

Shit. Bakugou had only been joking. He'd never thought Kirishima would take him seriously, and he hadn't meant to make him feel bad at all, but now he looked like he was about to burst into tears. This was the worst possible way to discover that those kinds of jokes were off-limits with Kirishima!

"No, no… Listen," he began to clarify, but the Hufflepuff interrupted him.

"Bakugou, I'm sorry! I didn't know you'd made the potion for me!" he exclaimed, his fists clenched as he continued staring at the ground. "If I'd known, I never would've said that to you!"

"Hey, shitty hair—"

"Kaminari told me you'd sabotaged potions before, and I thought my cauldron had exploded because of you!"

"What?"

"I'm sorry, I'm really sorry! I thought you were a bad person, but I was wrong."

"Can you calm down for a second?" he asked, rolling his eyes. "I was joking. I don't hate you, idiot."

"You don't?" he asked, lifting his gaze for the first time.

Bakugou couldn't help rolling his eyes and laughing when he saw his slightly hopeful expression. It was… Strange. It was completely unusual for someone to try so hard to please him. He definitely wasn't used to the feeling of mattering to someone, or to one of his usual "I hate you" comments provoking that kind of reaction (Exhibit number one: Deku, who didn't even flinch whenever he said it and just kept bothering him).

"No!" He turned around to continue pruning the ivy. Having that conversation face-to-face was too uncomfortable. "Whatever. There was no way you could've known about the potion."

"Yeah, but Kaminari said you did it to Monoma once—"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER," he repeated, more firmly this time.

Kirishima didn't want to keep pushing, so he turned around as well and continued working. Somehow, they fell back into the same tense, uncomfortable silence they'd dealt with before they started talking, only now it was worse because Bakugou knew the Hufflepuff wanted to keep apologizing to him or something along those lines.

"That Slytherin idiot made that shit up," he clarified after a while.

"Really?"

"But you were still wrong," he grumbled. "I am a bad person."

" I don't think you are."

"Yeah, well, you don't know me that well."

They continued working in silence for the rest of the detention, except for a couple of times when Bakugou interrupted to tell him to put on the damn gloves.

.

.

Things got weird on Friday.

The next day, Kirishima would have to face Ravenclaw on the Quidditch field and all the inner demons he'd been carrying from the previous year, when his team had lost disastrously and he hadn't been able to stop a single shot from the opposing team. The only reason he hadn't quit immediately the previous year was because Tetsutetsu had insisted until he convinced him that it wasn't his fault, that everyone had to improve and train harder so it wouldn't happen again the following year.

They had trained a lot, and Tetsutetsu had told him that the team was better than ever. It was true; he had no doubt his teammates were going to put up a good fight the next day… But he wasn't as confident in himself as he was in the rest of them. Not when the song the entire Ravenclaw crowd had chanted to mock him during the match still echoed in his head from time to time.

He needed to think without Kaminari, Sero, and Ashido interrupting him. He loved his friends and they were the best friends he could have asked for, but none of them really understood his insecurity, his lack of confidence. They tried to cheer him up by assuring him everything would be fine, but the words felt empty, as if they were only saying them to make him stop being sad. They didn't convince him of anything.

The castle was already completely wrapped up in the Christmas spirit. November was nearing its end, and it showed in the Christmas trees in the Great Hall, the festive decorations, the carols, and the students talking about where they were going to spend the holidays. It was Kirishima's favorite time of year, but he was nervous, and since he didn't want to ruin anyone else's mood, instead of having lunch inside, he ended up sitting alone at the edge of the grounds.

"Are you following me?"

The boy jumped in surprise, startled mostly by the unexpected interruption, but it was unmistakably Bakugou's rough, grumpy voice. He smiled slightly before turning to see him sitting a few feet away, eating lunch alone beneath a tree, and somehow felt that the blond's presence was exactly what he needed at that moment.

"So this is where you hide every day."

"Is there a reason you look like the world is about to end?" he asked, raising an eyebrow from where he sat.

"Nothing. Nothing's wrong."

"Well, suit yourself. Don't tell me."

Kirishima let out a long sigh.

It was so unmanly of him to feel this way. How was he supposed to tell him? Especially Bakugou, who was the complete opposite, who was one of the best Quidditch players at Hogwarts, who could score so many goals by himself in a single match, and who had probably never experienced the kind of lack of confidence he was feeling because he was too determined, strong, and brave to fall into something like that.

"You look weird like this," he continued. "I'm used to seeing that stupid smile all the time."

"I'm… Worried about tomorrow," he finally admitted. He took a deep breath and decided to continue… After all, Bakugou was already his friend, wasn't he? And even if it was embarrassing and unmanly, he probably wasn't going to judge him. "Did you see the Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw match last year?"

"Yeah. The match where you didn't stop a single shot," he said bluntly. But before Kirishima had a chance to wallow in his own misery, as he knew he was about to do, he continued. "You're the best Keeper out of all four houses."

"Huh? No, you're only saying that because—"

"I don't say things I don't believe," he clarified immediately. "Do you think I'm lying to you? I'm not fake like half the ass-kissers in this castle."

"No, I know! But you want to make me feel better and—"

"I'm talking about an objective fact," he interrupted. "You're the best Keeper currently at Hogwarts, and I know because you're the only one who can stop my best shots."

"Really?"

"YES, shitty hair!" he said exasperatedly. "I've literally seen Keepers break their fingers trying to stop my shots, but you stop them no matter how much force I put behind them. Besides, you're fast and you have good reflexes, so stop talking shit about yourself. Everyone has bad days, bad matches, bad practices. Are you going to cry every time it happens?"

"No, but—"

"Shouldn't you try harder? You want to beat those Ravenclaw assholes? Then do it and stop complaining."

He finished his speech with a frown, angry as if they'd been talking badly about him instead of someone else, and returned his attention to his lunch as if nothing had happened.

It was different from the words he would've gotten from Kaminari or Ashido. More direct, harsher. It was as if Bakugou wasn't giving him the option of falling into the spiral of self-pity he'd been caught in, challenging him to be better than that, to simply prove that he was a good Keeper and win… It wasn't as simple as just showing up and doing it, but it was a start…

"Do you really think I'm the best Keeper at Hogwarts?"

"YES. Don't make me repeat myself or I'll change my mind," he growled, "and stop making that sad face. You're distracting me."

At that, he couldn't help laughing.

He stood up solely to move over to where the blond was sitting and dropped down beside him, pulling out his meat sandwich for lunch.

He had to admit that his mood had changed completely after hearing those compliments from someone like Bakugou, someone honest who wasn't interested in pleasing people… Someone who was also his rival on the field. In fact, they meant much more coming from someone who played against him, unlike Tetsutetsu, who was his teammate both in class and on the Quidditch team.

He couldn't help glancing at him from the corner of his eye, eating his lunch peacefully, still frowning. Why did he eat lunch alone in the garden when it was so cold instead of in the warm, lively Great Hall? He was an enigma.

He was a good friend, too. It was a recent friendship, and maybe they hadn't had that many deep conversations, or ones as carefree and easy as the ones he had with his Hufflepuff friends, but deep down, he knew the blond was a good person and that he was making an effort to build this relationship with him. A relationship that, at least as far as he could tell, Bakugou didn't have with anyone else, because from what he'd noticed, the blond didn't have many friends… Yeah, maybe he tended to be surrounded by people sometimes, but like Bakugou himself had said a little earlier, they were ass-kissers.

At the end of the day, Bakugou was a lonely person who cared about him enough to tell him several times to take care of his hands by wearing gloves. Even when they hadn't spoken or known each other, during their very first detention, he'd cared enough about him to cover him with his potion and make it for him.

But somehow, Bakugou believed he was a bad person. Why did he have that opinion of himself? It had only taken Kirishima a couple of Saturdays to realize that wasn't true, so why couldn't the blond see himself the way he did? With his admirable determination, his natural talent for everything, his Quidditch skills, the awkwardness and embarrassment with which he worried about him while pretending he wasn't doing so… He felt his heart grow warmer whenever he thought about it.

And then he realized.

He liked Bakugou.

He didn't know why, nor did he care to rationalize it, because it was enough to feel it whenever he was happy to see him, whenever he considered it practically a personal accomplishment that the blond didn't reject his friendship, whenever Bakugou had nothing but good things to say about him, even if he expressed them harshly and with insults. His heart beat faster when he was with him, and his stomach filled with butterflies.

Somehow, he knew it had been inevitable from the moment Ashido had teased him weeks earlier over lunch. Even then, he'd been thinking about him too much and looking for him, obsessed with the idea of apologizing so that somehow they would end up talking.

And then, as he'd gotten to know him little by little, slowly beginning to tear down the walls the blond had built around himself, he'd realized there was nothing about Bakugou he didn't like, except for the loneliness and self-loathing he felt toward himself. He wanted to stay with him. He wanted to get closer to him. He wanted to be worthy of that friendship, even if he had to hide his feelings.

"Kirishima."

"Yeah?"

"Win tomorrow."

.

.

Hufflepuff beat Ravenclaw for the first time in five years, and Kirishima caught almost every single shot. Almost every one—only two got past him. The fact that Ravenclaw hadn't been able to score more than twenty points the entire match was practically just as bad, if not worse, for them than the defeat they had suffered the previous year, so it was safe to say that he had turned the tables. And he, in particular, had played a major role in it.

Tetsutetsu hoisted him onto his shoulders during the celebration that took place in the Hufflepuff Common Room, everyone treating him like the star of the match, but there was no one happier and prouder of himself than Kirishima himself. It felt as though he had looked his worst fear straight in the eyes and faced it, defeating it for good; it was an achievement he couldn't share with many people because no one understood just how terrified Kirishima was of his own failure and the insecurity that sometimes paralyzed him completely, to the point of avoiding trying anything new.

He drank butterbeer with his friends until he was exhausted, making toasts, joking around, playing games in front of the warmth of the crackling fireplace. It was raining outside, and there was nothing cozier than being surrounded by the people who mattered most to him, celebrating by the fire after a wonderful victory. But he was missing someone important.

Kirishima wasn't going to deny that he was a little drunk, and that made him a little stubborn and spoiled. Luckily, Ashido was there to stop him.

"But I want to go find Bakugou."

"Shh, Kirishima," the girl practically dragged him into a corner so no one else could hear them. "This isn't the place for you to go around saying that."

"You always knew I liked him."

"Well, you're the most obvious person in the world, and that's exactly why I have to stop you," she said, placing her hands on her hips. "You're drunk... You can't talk to Bakugou now or you're going to embarrass yourself."

"I just want to ask him if he saw the match."

"Please," Ashido pleaded, growing increasingly nervous. "Let's make you some coffee."

"I'm going to go!"

"Kirishima," she said seriously this time. "It's Bakugou. I don't know why you put him on a pedestal, but that guy is cruel and bitter, and I'm sure he isn't going to react well if you tell him anything, especially while you're drunk! You're going to get hurt. Please, I'm just asking you to think about it."

"But I'm just going to ask him if he saw the match!"

There was no way to stop him once he got something into his head, much less when he was drunk and incapable of thinking straight. Alcohol always made him far too shameless and brazen, as if nothing could possibly go wrong for him (even though his history of drunkenness said otherwise). Ashido couldn't stop the redhead from slipping through the crowd that was still celebrating and leaving the Hufflepuff Common Room.

Forty minutes later, and still unable to find him, Kirishima began wondering where Bakugou could be. Maybe he was watching the tournament? No, no, no, they had been given the afternoon off and would resume the following day, so he couldn't be there. Maybe he was in the Gryffindor Common Room, and if that was the case, he couldn't get in. Or maybe he was in...

Shit.

The detention. He had completely forgotten! Unlike his friends, he couldn't go celebrate; he had to go back and serve his detention like any other Saturday. Aizawa had told them that afternoon's detention would consist of polishing the statues in the trophy room on the third floor. That meant Bakugou had been polishing trophies all morning and practically the entire afternoon by himself!

He ran at full speed through the halls and staircases, skipping steps as they moved from one side to another, all so he could get there before the blond left and explain that he hadn't left him alone on purpose, that he'd simply forgotten with everything happening around him because of the excitement of beating Ravenclaw.

He wasn't going to get mad at him again, was he? Was he going to understand?

When he finally arrived and opened the door leading to the display cases, he spotted the Gryffindor's ash-blond hair several yards away, sitting on the floor and polishing a few trophies. His heart immediately began pounding, and he didn't know whether it was because of how much he liked the blond or because he was afraid the other boy would stop talking to him again.

"Bakugou!" he called as he walked determinedly toward him. The blond didn't look up from the floor or return his greeting. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I completely forgot after the match!"

"Are you drunk?"

"What? Uh, no. A little. We celebrated with some butterbeers and—"

"So you won."

"Yeah! It was my best match yet. I wish you'd seen it," he said, sitting down beside him. "You're not mad, are you?"

"Whatever," he muttered. "Celebrating is a lot more fun than being stuck in detention with me."

"No!" he quickly clarified. "I just forgot!"

Bakugou simply raised an eyebrow, incredulous, and proceeded to hand him a cloth and a special polishing potion for the trophies, cups, and armor in the room before continuing to polish them himself. Kirishima wanted to tell him no, that it was actually the exact opposite, that he would have loved to celebrate with him too, that he had gone looking for him to tell him and spend more time together before remembering that he was supposed to be in detention at that very moment, that he hadn't stopped thinking about him all afternoon.

But how could he say something like that out of nowhere without making the blond run away?

"I like spending time with you," he said so quietly that it was almost a whisper. "It hasn't felt like a punishment for a while now..."

In fact, he had to thank Aizawa.

Thanks to Aizawa, because without those stupid detentions, he would never have gotten the chance to really get to know Bakugou and grow closer to him. Instead, he would have continued believing the worst of the blond, hating him for no reason, and perhaps they would have graduated that way, never getting beyond snide comments in class or rivalry during Quidditch matches.

Bakugou raised his head slightly to look at him for the first time that afternoon, saying nothing, but giving him an inquisitive look, as if he wanted to ask what he was talking about or whether he was serious. As if it couldn't possibly be true that he didn't mind being in detention with him instead of celebrating with his friends and drinking butterbeer...

He opened his mouth to reaffirm it when he heard a voice above their heads.

"What's going on here?"

Mineta, the castle's poltergeist, flew and spun above their heads. Normally, the creature would be lifting some female student's skirt because he was a pervert, or carrying water balloons around to throw at students' heads, or pulling some other unpleasant prank. But now he had an innocent expression on his face, and that was worse.

"What the fuck do you want?" Bakugou asked threateningly.

"You two..." he said slowly as he pulled something from one of his pockets.

"Us two what?" Kirishima asked, waiting for the poltergeist to do something bad at any moment.

And he did. Suddenly, he pulled out a few sprigs of mistletoe and made them float above the boys' heads.

"You have to kiss."

"Go fuck yourself," Bakugou ignored him, waving a dismissive hand.

The poltergeist laughed and shook his head, moving the mistletoe suggestively over their heads. At that moment, Bakugou tried to stand up to seriously argue with the creature, finally losing his patience, when he realized he couldn't. Kirishima tried too, only to realize that both boys were trapped between invisible walls.

"If you want to get out, you have to do it."

The two boys exchanged a quick, awkward glance that lasted only a fraction of a second before they, not very discreetly, looked away, their faces completely red with embarrassment as they realized they were trapped unless they actually kissed...

Kirishima's heart began pounding a mile a minute, nervous but also excited at the prospect of kissing the boy he liked under an excuse. It wasn't the most pleasant scenario, especially for his first kiss ever, but... At the same time, he could kiss Bakugou!

If the blond wanted to...

He looked at him again and found him just as restless as he was, blushing, practically frozen in place and looking as though his brain had short-circuited.

"I'm going to kill you..." he finally told Mineta, who only laughed and reminded him that he was a poltergeist.

"Okay, we don't have to do it," the redhead assured him. As much as he wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, he wasn't exactly thrilled about doing it against Bakugou's will either...

"Then you're not getting out of here," Mineta said.

"Argh, you son of a bitch..." Bakugou growled under his breath. "Whatever. Let's do it."

"What? Really?" Kirishima asked, surprised and increasingly nervous, feeling as though his heart was practically hammering against his chest.

"Look, I understand that you don't want to do it, but—"

Bakugou had started speaking in that same self-deprecating tone that Kirishima hated so much, probably thinking that having to kiss him just to get Mineta to stop bothering them would be a nightmare for Kirishima. And maybe it was because he was drunk from the butterbeer, or perhaps because of the euphoria he had felt after winning the match, or simply because by that point he liked the blond far too much, but he couldn't stop himself.

"Yes, I want to do it," he said seriously. So seriously that even Mineta understood everything, bursting into laughter.

"WHAT?!" he shouted, spinning around. "KIRISHIMA LIKES BAKUGOU!"

"What?" Bakugou asked too, shocked and uncomfortable.

"No... Yes. I mean..." the redhead stammered before letting out a long sigh, trying to calm himself down. He didn't think twice, knowing that the only thing left to do was admit it in the manliest way possible and try not to let the conversation ruin things even more... "Yes. Bakugou, I like you. A lot. Actually, I think... I think I'm falling in love with you."

There were approximately five seconds of complete silence, as if the entire scene had gone mute, before the two boys practically jumped in place at the sound of the poltergeist's hysterical laughter above them, followed by more shouts of, "KIRISHIMA LIKES BAKUGOU!"

If that invisible wall hadn't been keeping them trapped, Kirishima would have happily gotten to his feet and tried to shut him up, and judging by the blond's expression, he was clearly thinking something similar...

It was almost impossible to define Bakugou's expression. On one hand, he looked as furious as ever... But at the same time, he was blushing all the way to his ears, and he looked far too stunned to come up with any sarcastic response, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times, which only made Kirishima even more nervous.

"Please, say something," he pleaded.

"I..."

"KIRISHIMA LIKES BAKUGOU!"

"You're drunk," Bakugou suddenly reminded him.

"It has nothing to do with being drunk, it's—"

"KIRISHIMA LIKES BAKUGOU!"

"Did you and dunce face make...?" A bet, or something along those lines, was what he was going to ask, and Kirishima had never wanted to kiss someone more just to prove his feelings to him and reaffirm that they were real, that he wasn't lying, that this wasn't some kind of prank or anything like that.

"KIRISHIMA LIKES BAKUGOU! KIRISHIMA LIKES BAKUGOU! KIRISHIMA LIKES BAKUGOU!"

Just as Kirishima was about to lean toward Bakugou to kiss him—regretting the stupid circumstances with Mineta involved—the blond finally lost his patience, pulled out his wand, and caused the most powerful explosion Kirishima had ever seen him conjure. If there had been an invisible wall, the force of the explosion had clearly destroyed it, or made it disappear, leaving Bakugou free to stand up and walk away, annoyed and embarrassed.

"Bakugou, wait!" Kirishima pleaded, watching as the Gryffindor walked away without answering him.

He glared murderously at the poltergeist, who was still shouting and making a racket, but Mineta simply looked at him and shrugged.

"Oops," he said provocatively, while Kirishima remained sitting in the middle of the stone corridor, burying his face in his hands as he remembered Ashido's warnings.

III.

"I don't know what you expected, Kirishima."

"You were absolutely right, Mina. I never should have gone looking for him."

Kirishima was lying across the couch in the Hufflepuff Common Room, basking in the warmth of the fire in front of the fireplace, his head resting on Ashido's lap as she sat there, running her hand through the boy's hair. He was, by the way, suffering from a terrible hangover after drinking so much butterbeer the day before.

For Kirishima, two of the worst things in the world had come together: the upset stomach and headache from drinking, along with the emotional pain of being rejected by the boy he liked because... He had been rejected, right?

"From what you're telling me, it sounds like that Bakugou guy thought you were trying to make fun of him or pull some nasty prank on him," the girl replied, doing her best to be understanding of the blond, whom she hadn't liked from the beginning.

"Yeah..." Kirishima muttered through his teeth. "You'd think I'm the insecure one, but I've realized that he..."

"He's insecure too?"

"No. It's more like... an inferiority complex?" he asked, as if thinking aloud, and Mina gave a fake laugh.

"Him? Feeling inferior? Please, Kiri..."

Even though he was convinced that what he was saying was true, he wasn't going to waste time or effort trying to convince his best friend of it. He knew it was hard to believe for anyone who didn't know Bakugou the way he did, because he himself had judged the blond before they ever got the chance to talk and become friends during their detentions.

That was the worst part of all, the boy thought. Regardless of his unrequited crush, what saddened him the most was that he might have lost a friend he cared about deeply... And the detentions were probably going to become extremely awkward and silent again now that he had ruined things between them with his stupid love confession.

"I don't understand why the hell that damn poltergeist—"

"He's been doing it all weekend. You missed it when he forced Jirou and Momo to kiss!" she told him excitedly. "It was way worse than your case, because it was right in the middle of the Great Hall and everyone was watching and making noises."

"Really?" he asked, sitting up.

The girl solemnly nodded and spent the next half hour explaining that he shouldn't take it personally, because apparently Mineta had made half the school kiss. Hagakure with Ojiro, that Midoriya guy with Uraraka, Mirio with Tamaki senpai... The poltergeist had a particular fixation on couples where both people were the same sex!

"Of course, you were the only idiot who took advantage of that moron's blackmail to confess."

"Argh!" he whined, dying of embarrassment as he buried his face in his hands.

He was mortified.

If he'd been sober, he would have handled the situation with much more intelligence and grace, but instead, he'd ruined everything with the worst confession in history... And in front of Mineta! What the hell had he been thinking? He couldn't even blame Bakugou for running away from there. Everything had happened too quickly.

Kirishima had worked up the courage and forced himself to look for the blond that Sunday, but he hadn't seen him anywhere. He wasn't even under the tree near the lake, where he knew Bakugou ate lunch alone, and he hadn't seen him in the Great Hall or the library either. At some point, he'd approached Midoriya to ask him, and the green-haired student had told him that Bakugou was holed up studying in the Common Room.

"What are you going to do?"

"I guess keep looking for him? It'll be awkward waiting a whole week until detention to see him..."

.

.

Bakugou was sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room, staring blankly into the fire. He'd been sitting there for so long that, without realizing it, too lost in his thoughts, he'd slowly and awkwardly sunk into his seat, as if he'd been buried among the cushions.

It had been a day since that idiot Kirishima had decided to tell him that he liked him, even that he was falling in love with him or something like that, and he hadn't been able to stop thinking about it—or the redhead—ever since.

He couldn't deny that he felt uncomfortable. After hearing him, his first reaction had been to assume that Kirishima was probably playing a nasty prank on him. His brain had played a cruel trick on him, and suddenly he'd started thinking that maybe the entire relationship they'd slowly built in the middle of their detentions had been on purpose, because of some bet or challenge with the idiot Kaminari or another Hufflepuff student.

And that spiral of pessimism that had trapped him—in addition to the unbearable poltergeist's shouting beside him, mocking him—had made him get up and leave, wanting to escape the situation as quickly as possible while an unpleasant sensation settled in his stomach, something that felt a lot like humiliation.

However, now that his head was clearer and he could think about it more calmly, he'd come to the conclusion that Kirishima wasn't like that. He'd never been like that. No one could be that good of an actor, and the stupid Hufflepuff was one of the kindest, most selfless, compassionate, and genuine people he knew.

So that left him with the following problem: Kirishima's feelings for him were real... He couldn't understand why someone like the redhead would take an interest in someone like him, especially when their personalities were so different, but he supposed feelings weren't exactly about logic. He didn't know much about that... He'd never felt this way before.

But he couldn't deny that he liked Kirishima too. Maybe he'd known for some time, ever since he'd realized that sometimes he'd secretly smile while watching him concentrate on one of their detentions, or in the fact that the boy's presence didn't bother him like anyone else's did. Quite the opposite, his company was pleasant, and you could even say he sought it out...

"Bakugou Katsuki!"

A girl's shout behind him made him jump, pulling him out of his thoughts for the first time in what felt like hours.

"What the hell...?" He turned around and found his classmate Uraraka—or, as he liked to call her, Round Face. "Oh, it's you. What do you want?"

"They caught you!"

"Huh?"

"I've been trying for a couple of months to figure out who the hell has been stealing my cat's cookies," she said, while Bakugou struggled to maintain an expression that said, I have no idea what you're talking about. "DON'T MAKE THAT FACE," the brunette immediately warned him. "Inasa already told me he saw you taking them."

"Fucking baldy," he muttered under his breath. "Whatever. I'll pay you back for them."

"Yeah, honestly, I'm not exactly rolling in money," she replied, placing her hands on her hips, "but I still want to know why you steal them. As far as I remember, you have an owl."

"To give them to a cat," he replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, really? I didn't take you for someone who cared about animals," she said, eyeing him suspiciously. "If you don't care about people, I'm hardly going to believe you care about someone else's cat."

"Well, it's nicer than you, Round Face."

The student rolled her eyes and walked away without saying anything else, completely offended.

.

.

The awkwardness didn't take long to arrive, either. That afternoon, after Bakugou had stormed off and Kirishima had also left after shooting Mineta a murderous look, the poltergeist had found nothing better to do than continue shouting, "KIRISHIMA LIKES BAKUGOU!" all over the castle.

Unfortunately for him, the rumor had already spread by Monday morning, first thing, and like any gossip passed from mouth to mouth, people had heard different versions: that Kirishima liked Bakugou, that Bakugou liked Kirishima, and that they had kissed. The Hufflepuff wished that kind of talk didn't matter to him, that he could just turn a deaf ear to it, but quite the opposite, he always let that kind of thing get to him without being able to help it, and it was Ashido or Kaminari who had to deal with it, telling the gossipmongers to mind their own business.

"I don't understand why everyone believed that stupid rumor," Kaminari commented as he sat down at the table to have breakfast, "because obviously it's a lie." Ashido and Kirishima exchanged a nervous glance that didn't go unnoticed by the yellow-eyed blond. "It's a lie, right?!"

Kirishima sighed, worried that Kaminari might get angry with him if he found out the truth, considering that his friend hated the Gryffindor.

"Shit, Kirishima! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I thought... You wouldn't want to know."

"That you like a gremlin? You thought I'd judge you or something?" he asked, punching him lightly on the shoulder. "It's true that I don't like him, but if you saw something in him... Maybe I should get to know him better."

"R-Really?" he stammered, surprised.

"Why are you so surprised? I trust your judgment."

"You have to have shit for taste to like Bakugou."

Kirishima didn't have to turn around to know where the comment had come from. Monoma, from Slytherin, obviously wasn't going to resist saying something like that, and with the silver-and-green table so close to the Hufflepuff one, it was obvious that a comment like that would eventually come their way.

"So that's what you and Bakugou do during your detentions, huh? Make out in the corners? I always knew you were gay, but it's disgusting that—"

Monoma didn't get to finish the sentence because suddenly his head was literally being slammed against the hard wooden Hufflepuff table, hard enough that he'd practically bounced off it. Kirishima and his friends were only just beginning to react, not understanding what was happening, when they realized it had been Bakugou. The Gryffindor had already had violent outbursts like that in the past, so rather than standing there stunned, they quickly got up to stop him from doing anything else. Especially when they saw him pull out his wand.

"Bakugou, calm down!" the three of them—Kirishima, Kaminari, and Ashido—rushed over to stop him.

"I'm completely calm!" he snapped, red with fury and looking like the exact opposite, ready to murder the Slytherin if he provoked him again. The blond crouched down instead so he could be face-to-face with Monoma, who looked just as angry as he was intimidated, unable to say anything despite how badly he wanted to. "If you bother Kirishima again, I'm going to—"

"Bakugou," a voice called from behind him.

Professor Vlad, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and head of Slytherin House, had just arrived and looked furious. The man wasn't a bad person or unpleasant, but he clearly favored the students in his house while simultaneously sabotaging students from rival houses whenever he could, taking points away from them.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor for attacking a student."

"Whatever," he replied, releasing Monoma and smoothing down his robes, trying to calm himself.

"No, none of that. You're coming with me to see the headmaster now."

"But Professor, this was all Monoma's fault!" Ashido said.

"Yeah, he was bothering them!" Kaminari added.

"Nothing justifies an attack like that. Come on, Bakugou, walk."

Monoma also straightened up, recovering from the blow and grinning mockingly at Bakugou, enjoying the fact that the Gryffindor was being punished. And Bakugou, not intimidated by the fact that Professor Vlad was taking him to Headmaster Nezu right then and there, stood for a couple of seconds, staring at Monoma defiantly, before pointing a finger at him and threatening him again.

"Better get back to your table, you fucking crybaby. And if I see you anywhere near these three again..." he said, nodding toward the three Hufflepuff students. He didn't finish the sentence, instead making a gesture of smashing his closed fist into the palm of his other hand, being more emphatic that way than if he'd said anything.

"Ten more points from Gryffindor," Professor Vlad said. "Are you going to keep going, Bakugou? Because I have no problem continuing to take points away from you."

Bakugou finally gave up and turned around to follow the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher toward Headmaster Nezu's office, and since Monoma had taken a rather significant hit anyway—not to mention the humiliation of having the entire student body watch his head get slammed against the table—he left with the rest of the Slytherins without saying anything else.

Kirishima had remained silent the entire time, not knowing how to react because everything was happening so quickly around him. As the victim of rumors spreading throughout the entire castle and with Monoma bothering him, he'd felt embarrassed and wanted to run away just as Bakugou had arrived and hit Monoma to defend him.

Until that moment, he'd been sure that Bakugou was angry with him, that he was avoiding him or something like that. But the Gryffindor had crossed half the Great Hall just to hit Monoma, and throughout Vlad's reprimand, he'd stayed quiet, without interrupting, like a coward, even though his best friends had defended him despite not even liking Bakugou.

He stood up on impulse, clenching his fists.

"Professor Vlad, wait!"

The gray-haired man, who was already a few feet away, turned around to see what the student wanted. Several other students also turned at the call to see what was happening—most of them had already been watching curiously for quite some time, since the spectacle between Bakugou and Monoma hadn't exactly been subtle.

"What is it, Kirishima?"

"Stay out of it, shitty hair," Bakugou grumbled beside him, without meeting his gaze.

Ashido looked at her friend pleadingly, somehow conveying that he shouldn't get himself into trouble, but... Kirishima would rather get into trouble and be punished every Saturday for the rest of his life than stand there and do nothing. That wasn't manly at all.

"It's not fair to punish Bakugou alone for what happened!" he blurted out without thinking. "Why don't you take points away from Monoma too?! He was the one who came here and insulted us first!"

"Well," the man replied without showing any emotion on his face, "five points from Slytherin."

"That's it?!" This time it was Kaminari who spoke up, outraged.

"IT'S UNFAIR AND ARBITRARY AND...!" Ashido began to protest.

The conversation escalated quickly, and before they even realized how it had happened, Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, and Sero (who hadn't said or done anything) were suddenly sitting beside Bakugou in Headmaster Nezu's office. Despite everything Vlad had said, Nezu smiled at them from the other side of his desk while stirring his cup of tea.

For everyone except Bakugou, this was their first time in the headmaster's office while being punished, and therefore their first time seeing the place. The enormous room was filled with paintings and portraits of former headmasters, as well as other famous historical figures. There were some intriguing objects whose purpose they didn't know, but given the circumstances they were in, none of them could exactly ask Headmaster Nezu what they were.

Professor Vlad began explaining to the animal what had happened. In the students' opinion, it had been a very biased version of how Bakugou, a Gryffindor, had attacked Monoma, a Slytherin, and the Hufflepuff students had questioned his decisions by calling him "unfair and arbitrary," but this time they listened without saying anything despite the anger and indignation they felt because of their biased Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Nezu remained calm, and once the gray-haired man stopped speaking, he politely asked him to leave the office so he could discuss an appropriate punishment with his students.

"It's not necessary to punish them," Bakugou said arrogantly, crossing his arms. "I was the one who hit that idiot."

Ashido, Sero, and Kaminari turned to look at him, impressed that the Gryffindor was trying to get them out of trouble and take the blame himself. It was completely different from the image they had of Bakugou, but at the same time, it was much closer to the Bakugou Kirishima always talked about.

"You may have a point, Mr. Bakugou, but I still have to tell you..." The headmaster began giving them a rather obvious lecture, as if he were obligated to scold them a little to keep up appearances, but deep down, he didn't give it much importance. Kirishima got the impression that Nezu was used to these kinds of scenes with Professor Vlad and therefore hadn't taken any of it too seriously.

He let them go with a warning.

"Except you," he said as the five students stood up. "Bakugou, you stay here."

The blond and the redhead exchanged a look—the first direct one since that day in the trophy room—before Bakugou sat back down with a resigned expression and Kirishima continued walking toward the exit with the other three Hufflepuffs, who whispered worriedly among themselves, guessing whether Bakugou would be punished or not.

After they went down the gargoyle's golden staircase, they reached the corridor and looked at one another in silence for a few seconds.

"Do you think they're going to keep punishing him?" Ashido asked.

"Nezu is nice," Sero reminded them.

"Even so, Bakugou almost cracked Monoma's head against the edge of a table."

"He deserved it!" Kaminari agreed.

"But they could expel him for that!"

"Guys!" Kirishima pleaded, effectively getting them to fall silent.

At any other time, he would have been ecstatic to see his best friends siding with Bakugou, but now that they were going over the possibilities of how Bakugou might be punished, it was making him lose the little composure he had left. That day had been insane, and they weren't even halfway through it yet!

"Okay," Ashido said with a nod, understanding that they weren't being much help. "We'll go back to the Hufflepuff Common Room. Are you coming?"

The boy shook his head. Considering the unfinished conversation because of Mineta, the scene in the Great Hall, and now this, the best thing Kirishima could do was wait for Bakugou so they could finally talk about everything that was happening between them, if there was even something happening between them, or at the very least make it clear that it was just him.

When a full forty minutes had passed, Kirishima was already beginning to get nervous. That was too long for someone who was only being given a scolding... What if Bakugou was actually in trouble? The thought crossed his mind that he could go upstairs and say something, try to help him somehow, but that probably wasn't very sensible and could make things worse...

Besides, why would Nezu listen to him? What could he possibly say that would make him change his mind?

Just as the boy was beginning to panic, he heard the loud sound of the gargoyle statue moving behind him, turning and beginning to rise once again, only to come back down a few seconds later, rotating in the opposite direction.

Bakugou was standing on one of the steps, and Kirishima got the impression that he was somewhere between angry, frustrated, and even scared, completely rigid, from his shoulders to his jaw and even his eyes. Not even when Aizawa had told him he wouldn't be able to participate in the tournament because he was in detention had Kirishima ever seen him like this. It wasn't a good sign.

But before he could say anything, the blond shook his head as if he'd just woken up and looked directly at him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he asked irritably.

"Is everything okay?"

"Perfect. I told you not to get involved down there, and you ended up dragging all your idiot friends up here with me."

"I thought... Maybe it would help..." he stammered.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, shitty hair." The boy shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking down the corridor, deliberately leaving Kirishima behind.

"Hey!" he said, jogging to catch up with him. "Can we talk? I was waiting for you so we could talk about... Well, what happened Saturday."

Kirishima noticed the blond clench his jaw even tighter after hearing that, becoming tense.

"No. Just leave me alone for today," he growled.

"Okay..." he sighed, defeated. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," he assured him before walking away.

.

.

Bakugou was not fine.

Nezu hadn't punished him when the others left, but he had spoken to him very seriously, explaining that this kind of behavior—attacking another student outside of an authorized circumstance, such as a tournament duel or self-defense—was completely inexcusable. They were going to let it slide this time only because he had an excellent academic record, but if his bad behavior continued, eventually he would have to leave the castle.

The Gryffindor couldn't even blame him, because in the six years he'd been at Hogwarts, this wasn't the first time he'd attacked a classmate. In first year, he'd used Deku as a punching bag many times before he'd managed to make the Quidditch team, where he'd finally been able to start releasing his anger in a healthier way (by blasting the Quaffle at the opposing team's Keeper).

But his bad manners and crude behavior hadn't stopped throughout all his years at Hogwarts, and Nezu knew that, since he'd punished him in that same office before. The headmaster had told him, in that condescending voice he hated so much, that good grades were useless if he didn't learn to control his temper, that he already knew Aizawa had punished him for a similar outburst during a Potions class, and that even though he knew Bakugou wanted the student representative position the following year, it was practically impossible that they would give it to him.

It had felt like a punch to the stomach, even though he'd already known that ever since they had given Deku the prefect position instead of him the previous year. He had been used to winning for a long time, practically his entire life, but from one moment to the next, all the roles had been reversed and everything he knew had ceased to exist, and suddenly he was losing over and over again, to that fucking idiot Deku!

He still hadn't gotten used to that feeling.

He heard the sound of dry leaves cracking behind him and turned around, expecting to see Kirishima following him despite having told him to leave him alone, but instead he found the gray cat that always kept him company while he ate lunch, heading toward him as if it knew he needed its company, this time without even meowing to ask for food.

"I don't have anything with me anyway," the blond apologized, shrugging. "I couldn't steal any more cookies."

The cat simply looked at him, expressionless, before sitting down. It was very cold, so Bakugou was quite surprised that the little animal had wanted to stay beside him that afternoon instead of going inside the castle to shelter from the wind or looking for its owner to rub against him and purr in front of some fireplace...

And then, an idea occurred to him...

Half an hour later, somehow he'd become a human magnet and had Uraraka and four other female classmates crowded around him, petting the gray cat sitting beside him on a cozy couch in the Gryffindor Common Room. The overattention was starting to make him uncomfortable, and he was about to yell at them to back off.

"So this is the cat!" Uraraka said as she stroked its head. "Let me see if I have any more special treats..."

"And what's his name?" another girl asked.

"Little bastard," he answered without thinking much about it.

"Huh?"

"I have no idea," he admitted. "Now get off me!"

"Did you steal this cat from someone?" Uraraka asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Don't fuck with me today, Round Face. I'm not in the mood. Besides, it's not my fault if he prefers me over his stupid owner."

"That owner must be pretty bad if he'd rather be with you..." the girl replied jokingly.

"I told you: Don't fuck with me," he warned again.

The other girls left while Uraraka sat down beside him. The only reason the blond allowed that kind of closeness was because his classmate had finally found the special cookies and was giving one to the cat, which purred at the attention. That was the only reason he'd allowed it...

He had to admit that he didn't dislike Uraraka, because he admired her and considered her a formidable witch, but she was Deku's friend, and that was reason enough for him to want to keep her as far away from him as possible.

"You're grumpier than usual," Uraraka casually commented. "And you stole someone else's pet to keep you company. Something must be going on, right?"

"No."

"Come on, Bakugou. We all saw you hit Monoma and Vlad take you to see Nezu," the girl insisted, looking at him this time, "and even though I normally wouldn't care..."

"It's none of your business."

"...I've also noticed how you've gotten close to that Hufflepuff guy, Kirishima," she continued, ignoring his last comment. "Mineta is an idiot for pulling that mistletoe stunt, and Monoma and everyone else shouldn't interfere if you two really are in a relationship."

"Exactly," he said furiously, staring at her. "Including you."

"BUT don't let what happened because of them ruin whatever it is you have with Kirishima, if he—"

"What the fuck do you know?" he interrupted, standing up and losing his patience. He picked up the cat in his arms to make it clear that the conversation was over and that it was time to leave.

"Right," the girl replied, swallowing. Maybe she'd gone too far trying to talk to Bakugou when they weren't even friends... "It's just advice. I thought... someone had to tell you."

.

.

The first snowfall coincided with the first Saturday of December, which was also the next detention Bakugou and Kirishima would have together since the incident with Mineta in the trophy room. That morning, the final of the dueling tournament would also be decided between Deku (from Gryffindor) and Todoroki (from Ravenclaw).

It would also be the first time Bakugou and Kirishima would see each other and be alone together since their brief conversation outside Headmaster Nezu's office, so Kirishima was nervous and uncomfortable as he headed toward Hound Dog's cabin. But... At the same time, this was the last detention Aizawa had given them, and more than anything, the Hufflepuff felt the need to somehow make it last. Just because they would no longer be forced to see each other on Saturdays didn't mean their friendship with Bakugou had to end, now that things had gotten weird between them...

That morning, they would have to clear the snow that had accumulated in the fenced-in garden belonging to the Care of Magical Creatures professor, where classes for that subject were usually held. They had to clear the place, which, in Kirishima's opinion, was pointless, because it would probably snow again before the following week even started, but Aizawa probably didn't want the detention to be useful. He just wanted them to work and learn their lesson, so Kirishima wasn't going to complain...

When he arrived, he saw that Bakugou was already there, wearing his red-and-gold scarf pulled up to his nose and gloves to protect himself from the cold. He was wearing more layers than usual, but he'd forgotten his scarf and gloves in his dormitory, and he hoped it wouldn't get cold enough for him to regret not bringing them.

"Hi," he greeted him, hoping the blond wouldn't ignore him again like he had at first.

"Hi."

Hound Dog came out of his cabin to give each of them a shovel and instructions, asking them to leave the fenced-in garden completely free of snow, as he wanted the ground to be visible again by the end of the day (or however long it took). After that, he headed toward the castle and left them alone.

Both boys got to work in silence in the cold. Since it was the first snowfall, the snow was white and clean, still far from becoming dirty with mud from people's footsteps and constant traffic. It was soft, but there were several inches of it, around forty or fifty centimeters, so this wasn't going to be a quick job.

Twenty minutes later, Kirishima began to feel his arms and back aching from bending down to scoop up snow with the shovel, but he didn't complain. His fingers hurt too, both from the cold and from gripping the shovel's handle, but he didn't complain about that either because he knew Bakugou would scold him for not having gloves, as usual.

He looked at the blond a few feet away from him, focused on his task, and felt his heart beating faster. It was strange and uncomfortable that they still hadn't talked about what he'd told him in the trophy room, his failed and ridiculous love confession... He was embarrassed and didn't know whether to talk to him and insist on finding out what Bakugou was thinking, or pretend nothing had happened, at least to save the friendship they had... Or maybe simply say nothing.

And so, another fifteen minutes passed. The work was heavier and more boring that way. In complete silence, Kirishima was far too aware of the cold and the aches he felt in different parts of his body. If he didn't distract himself by talking, all he could think about was that...

And suddenly, an idea occurred to him... It was a risky move, but he wanted to do it even if the odds were against him. If it went wrong, he'd deal with the consequences afterward.

He crouched down and scooped a good amount of snow into one hand, using the other to shape it into a perfect snowball. He took advantage of the fact that Bakugou was completely focused on shoveling snow and hadn't noticed what he was doing, and, giving in to the childish impulse, threw it at him, hitting him directly in the head.

"What...?" The initial surprise was quickly replaced by anger when Bakugou realized what had happened, and the blond lifted his gaze from the shovel to glare murderously at him. "What the fuck is wrong with you, shitty hair?!"

Kirishima crouched down and quickly made another snowball in his hands to throw at him again, but missed this time. Naturally, Bakugou's excellent reflexes as a Quidditch player allowed him to move out of the way and dodge it, unlike the previous time when he hadn't been paying attention.

The blond crouched down as fast as he could to do the same, going as far as he always did and never settling for less: He made a gigantic snowball and threw it straight at Kirishima's face with impressive accuracy. Kirishima barely managed to close his mouth before being hit by the cold snow, which exploded against his face and scattered everywhere.

"Hey!" he complained, and Bakugou began to laugh.

"Idiot. Where are your Keeper reflexes?"

"That's not fair!" he protested, quickly crouching down to make another snowball, but this time Bakugou was doing the same.

Without another word, they ended up in the middle of a snowball fight that lasted until they had to stop because their fingers literally hurt, stiff and red from coming into contact with the practically frozen snow. They had completely forgotten about the detention as if it were nothing and were having fun like a couple of little kids, and Kirishima was so happy that he let himself fall onto the ground, ignoring the cold beneath him and the feeling of his clothes getting wet.

He was incredibly surprised when he saw a body dropping down right beside him. Bakugou had just lain down on the snow like he had, and they both fell silent, staring at the grayish sky above them, breathing heavily, their chests rising and falling from having thrown snowballs at each other only seconds before... And in Kirishima's case, also from having the Gryffindor so close to him.

"Why do you like me?" he suddenly asked.

The redhead felt his heart race at the question. Even though he wanted to talk about that subject, Bakugou being so direct didn't help him calm down at all. Besides, how the hell was he supposed to answer a question like that?

"I don't know," he answered honestly, "because you're awesome and manly and you do everything right—"

"Of course I don't," he interrupted. "I don't do anything right."

"What are you talking about? You're the most skilled, talented, and intelligent person I know."

"And none of that matters. I'm useless at what really matters."

"What really matters?" he asked, turning onto his side so he could look directly at him. Lying on the snow like that was even more uncomfortable now, but having this conversation without looking each other in the face made no sense.

"I don't know. I don't understand," the Gryffindor admitted.

"You can't be perfect at everything... But you come pretty damn close."

"Then why do I feel like a failure?"

"Probably because you have unrealistic expectations of yourself."

Bakugou let out a sarcastic little laugh.

"I'm still surprised you know those words. 'Unrealistic expectations,'" he repeated, and Kirishima rolled his eyes as he gave him a gentle shove on the shoulder.

"I guess you don't feel so bad if you're already messing with me."

"I guess not," he said, getting to his feet and quickly brushing the snow off himself. "Get up, Kirishima. This is stupid, and we're going to get sick if we keep getting ourselves wet with snow."

The Hufflepuff nodded, feeling somewhat disappointed that the blond's brief moment of sincerity was already over, that he hadn't gotten around to saying anything about the pending conversation about his feelings, even though he was grateful that at least he'd trusted him enough to talk to him about his frustrations...

"Today's the tournament final," Bakugou muttered while Kirishima also brushed the snow off himself. "And if we hadn't been punished, I'd probably be there."

"I know..."

"But somehow... I'd rather be here with you, getting my balls frozen off because of a certain idiot who decided to throw snowballs at me."

"Huh?" he asked, looking at him incredulously.

"Oh, don't look so surprised," he replied, rolling his eyes. "I never thought I'd say this, but..." Red all the way to his ears and looking like it was taking an enormous amount of effort, Bakugou finally said what he really thought: "I'm glad Aizawa gave us this stupid detention. I'm glad I missed the stupid tournament, and I'm glad I met you."

"Bakugou! Really...?"

He didn't get to finish asking what he wanted to ask, because as soon as the Gryffindor stopped talking, he walked toward him with determined steps and kissed him in the middle of Hound Dog's garden. Kirishima stood completely frozen in place from the surprise, but as soon as he realized what was happening and came out of his daze, he wrapped his arms tightly around him to return the kiss, feeling as though his heart were about to leap out of his mouth, feeling as though an explosion of butterflies were flying up and down his stomach in the most pleasant way possible, while the cold of his body from the snow gave way to warmth from the intensity of that kiss and those reciprocated feelings.

They pulled apart after a while, breathing heavily, and both were so flushed and slightly dazed by what had just happened that Kirishima eventually broke into a huge smile.

"I'm cold. Let's get out of here and see if we can get something hot to drink inside," the Gryffindor said.

"But the detention..."

"Fuck the detention," he said with a rebellious, provocative smile, taking the redhead's hand and making the butterflies in his stomach start fluttering again. "With a little luck, we'll make Aizawa mad at us and he'll force us to spend the rest of the Saturdays this year together."

"Wow... That's... Manly," he stammered, intertwining his fingers with the blond's. "So... Um... Are we going like this?" he asked, indicating their hands with his chin.

"Problem with that?" he asked, smiling the same way he had before, with a hint of provocation.

"No, none!" he quickly said, shaking his head.

"Because I like you too, idiot. And I want you to be my boyfriend... If you're okay with that too."

"Of course I am!" he said, nodding in place, feeling completely happy and even euphoric. He'd probably never said yes to anything so quickly in his entire life.

"Good." The blond leaned in again to kiss him before they left for the castle, but this time, instead of standing there frozen in surprise like before, Kirishima immediately leaned in to kiss him back.

IV.

After all, Midoriya, from Gryffindor, won the tournament after a spectacular battle against Todoroki, from Ravenclaw. Both students from the same year were already notorious enough that the final itself hadn't been a surprise, but even so, no one in the castle had expected a duel of such a high level.

Even Bakugou and Kirishima had been able to watch the final after leaving detention. When they entered the Great Hall, where the tournament was taking place, Aizawa, who was watching from a corner, fixed his eyes on them, and for a second it looked like he was going to walk over to reprimand them, but then he noticed that both boys were holding hands and simply smiled, half sarcastically and half amused, before going back to watching the duel. Bakugou got the impression that his professor was actually enjoying this turn of events and that was why he hadn't done anything to them.

What neither of the two boys had anticipated was that, by the following Monday, their relationship would somehow be attracting more attention than the duel tournament final itself. Of course, in reality, a relationship between two people like Kirishima and Bakugou could end up being more impressive than the expected result of the final…

It was annoying, but it couldn't be avoided in a castle full of teenagers like Hogwarts. Everyone was all over them, whispering and talking behind their backs, and Bakugou got the impression that it wasn't necessarily good things, because everyone's first reaction was to judge them and wonder how the hell those two had ended up together.

So, at least during the first week, they chose to stay away from the crowds a little and spend more time alone.

"Are you sure you don't mind being out here?" Bakugou asked for about the third time that morning.

Both boys were in the castle's inner courtyard, beneath the clock tower, while most of the students were inside because of the cold and snow. Kirishima really didn't mind. He had never been particularly sensitive to the cold, and although he was a pretty social person, he hated gossip and rumors. Besides, he wasn't going to deny that he loved the idea of being alone with his boyfriend.

"Yes! Are you seriously asking me if I want to spend time alone with you?" the Hufflepuff asked, taking a seat on a stone bench after clearing the snow away with his wand. "Are you seriously asking me that?"

"Whatever," the blond replied, rolling his eyes.

"Unless it bothers you."

"No. I was saying it because… You're always with your idiot friends."

Kirishima smiled instead, understanding Bakugou's concern.

"Are you worried I'll miss my friends? Aw, Bakugou!"

"Shut up."

"I think they'll understand me. After all, I've spent more than five years with them and only a couple of months with you," the boy replied as he took the blond's hand, listening to a grunt in response.

Things were still awkward, although not in a bad way. It was more that they were both first-timers when it came to relationships, and after spending so little time in unfamiliar territory, they were nervous about most of the things they did or said, feeling clumsy and embarrassed over the smallest details. Like right then, when Kirishima had just taken Bakugou's hand without thinking that he'd have to let go of it immediately so they could eat lunch.

They fixed their eyes on their plates and began eating in silence until Bakugou couldn't help but say what he had been thinking about all that time.

"The last time we were here, you told me I was the worst student to ever set foot in this castle," he commented casually, holding back his laughter when he saw Kirishima tense up beside him and immediately become nervous.

"I know," he admitted after a while. "I'm sorry. Although you had made fun of my scar."

The blond stared at Kirishima for a few seconds before giving him a smug, sideways smile.

"Good thing you left quickly, because I was already reaching for my wand."

"I left quickly so I wouldn't hit you."

"Uh, I would've liked to see that," he teased, making the red-haired boy pretend to be offended. Then, to change the subject to something more pleasant, he added, "I like your scar."

"Really?" he asked, unable to stop himself from blushing. "I don't believe you!"

Bakugou moved closer to the boy, placing one of his hands on his cheek and looking closely at the small but noticeable scar above his right eye. Kirishima felt his face getting redder and redder from embarrassment as a pleasant sensation rose and fell through his stomach at the Gryffindor's unexpected closeness.

"It makes you look more… Dangerous."

"But I got it in the most embarrassing way possible," he said, covering his face with both hands.

"Nobody needs to know how you got it."

"I was so embarrassed that day," he admitted with a small laugh, looking at the blond again. "I was supposed to hate you, and the last thing I wanted was to prove you right about how bad I was at Potions."

"I hated you too. When Aizawa said I'd have to spend time with you, I thought it was the worst fucking punishment in history."

"Well, you definitely made it difficult for me during those first Saturdays when you wouldn't talk to me," he said, taking some roasted potatoes and tomato sauce from his own lunch and placing them in Bakugou's bento, just to tempt fate and see his boyfriend's reaction.

"Do that shit again and I'll stop talking to you again," he warned, but Kirishima knew he didn't mean it.

Maybe he was like that with everyone else too, threatening and yelling and pretending to be angry without ever taking things any further, or maybe it was just with him, a personal perk of being Bakugou's boyfriend and always being able to get away with whatever he wanted. But he had realized that the blond never followed through on most of his threats. Either way, Kirishima couldn't stop himself from feeling a sudden and powerful wave of affection for the boy, and he leaned over to kiss him on the cheek.

"Ugh, cheesy," he complained, wiping it off with the sleeve of his vest.

"You know? I really like you… A lot."

"I like you too, idiot," he sighed. "That's why I don't want to ruin it."

"Why do you think you're going to ruin it?"

"I don't know."

"You won't ruin it," he said, hugging him.

The afternoon had begun quietly and awkwardly, but as time passed, Kirishima realized that they were simply two equally nervous people, worried about bothering the other, boring him, or losing him. And now that he knew Bakugou felt exactly the same way he did, and how ridiculous those worries sounded when they came from the other person, he finally relaxed and enjoyed the moment.

Perhaps it was only then, alone in the frozen inner courtyard of Hogwarts, that the relationship between the Hufflepuff and the Gryffindor had truly begun.

"Either way, it's fine if you want to spend time with your friends sometimes or something," the blond grumbled.

"I have an idea!" the red-haired boy suddenly said. "Some days of the week, we could have lunch together! Well, if you wanted to."

"With your friends?" he asked, not entirely convinced.

"They'll like you if you give them a chance!" Kirishima said, although he wasn't entirely sure of his own words.

"Would I have to sit at the Hufflepuff table?"

Kirishima thought about it for a while and quickly realized that it wasn't a very good idea. It would expose Bakugou too much, the gossip and whispers would get worse, and maybe that asshole Monoma would start making fun of them again… No, just as Bakugou didn't want to ruin what they had, neither did he. He wasn't going to pressure the Gryffindor by asking him to sit at a table that wasn't his.

"We can have lunch by the lake," he suggested. "Just us."

.

.

"Kacchan! I can call you Kacchan, right?" Kaminari asked, but before he could get a response from the blond, who was glaring furiously at him, he continued talking. "I have a very important question to ask you: The Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff match is coming up soon." He waited a few seconds, but when he saw that Bakugou wasn't saying anything, he continued. "What are you going to do?"

It was a pretty fair question. Kirishima had also been thinking about that situation ever since he and Bakugou had started dating. Would it be awkward or not? Considering how competitive the Gryffindor was, he was afraid they might argue or distance themselves from each other before the match, but he really didn't know what to think because in those two weeks, they had never argued.

Tetsutetsu had been the first to mention it, during a training session. Putting aside the fact that half the school was genuinely surprised by the relationship between a Gryffindor and a Hufflepuff, especially considering that it was Bakugou and Kirishima—two complete opposites—and that they were on rival Quidditch teams, most people wondered how things would work when they faced each other.

"Destroy them," Bakugou replied as if it were nothing, while Ashido and Kaminari laughed.

"Seriously? If you have Kirishima right in front of you, are you telling me you wouldn't even hold back a little?" Sero asked.

"Why are we talking about this?" the red-haired boy asked awkwardly. "The match isn't until we come back from Christmas break."

"We need to know, Kiri!" Ashido said.

"He's a good Keeper. Why the hell should I hold back?" Bakugou replied. "I respect him as a player. That means I'm going to play exactly the way I always do. And I expect the same from him."

Kirishima felt his stomach fill with the fluttering of those now-familiar butterflies as his cheeks burned at all those compliments.

"Wow, that's… Manly," he stammered with a smile.

"You'd better play like you always do."

"I will!"

"Boooooo!" Ashido complained, making a face and giving him a thumbs-down. "That's not romantic!"

"You have to let yourself lose!" Kaminari suggested.

"WHAT?! WHY THE HELL WOULD I LET MYSELF LOSE, JACKASS?! I NEVER LOSE!"

"Because it'll be more romantic!" Ashido chimed in, while Kirishima began laughing as he imagined his best friends' strategy.

"Ignore them, Bakugou. They just want Hufflepuff to win. They don't care whether it's romantic or not."

"Oh, yeah?" he asked, calming down again. "Losers."

Lunch by the lake went by without any major problems after that competitive conversation, except for a few outbursts from Bakugou toward Kaminari. The Hufflepuff was fixated on the blond, teasing him about everything, but Kirishima was happy watching his boyfriend and his friends form a bond. Despite the jokes and shouting (and the fact that Bakugou would never admit it), he believed they were getting along well and beginning to become friends.

"Well, lovebirds, we're going to leave early and let you two have some peace," Sero said as he stood up.

"Take advantage of the opportunity to kiss now because nobody wants to see that inside the castle," Kaminari added, making Bakugou almost lunge at him to punch him. "Okay, okay, Kacchan. Don't pretend. We all know you want to do it."

"SHUT UP!"

Kirishima laughed once more as he watched the trio walk away and head toward the castle several yards away. It was the second time they had all had lunch together in the gardens, and luckily, his friends were just as respectful of their romantic relationship as Bakugou was of his friendships. Honestly, he couldn't have been more grateful for the life he had at that moment.

"I'm so happy," he said with a smile, expecting Bakugou to tell him he was "cheesy," as always, but instead, the blond couldn't hide the small smile escaping his lips.

"I'm glad."

"Hey, Snowball is here!" the Hufflepuff suddenly exclaimed, smiling openly.

Bakugou turned around to see the gray cat that always showed up to keep him company during his solitary lunches making its way into the same place where they were. As soon as it saw Kirishima, it began meowing and approached him so he could pet its head.

"You know this cat?"

"Of course. He's mine!"

"Yours?" he asked, surprised.

"Yeah! Although I have a suspicion he's cheating on me with someone else, you know?" he asked as he picked it up. "Now he disappears all the time and I can't find him for hours."

"I'm the other person."

"What?"

"I've been having lunch with this cat every day since we started classes," he explained, almost laughing as he thought about the strange coincidence. Had the cat belonged to Kirishima all along?

"You're kidding!"

"I really have been with your cat every day. By the way, 'Snowball' is a shitty name."

"Of course it isn't! It suits him perfectly!"

"I can't believe he was yours this whole time!"

"I can't believe you're the person my cat has been cheating on me with!"

The two boys looked at each other before laughing, perplexed and incredulous. Kirishima knew that someone had been feeding his cat for months because the animal had become quite picky when it came to eating its usual food. Besides disappearing much more often than in previous years, sometimes he would lose track of it for entire afternoons, so he had figured there was another student taking care of Snowball…

But he never would have imagined it was Bakugou!

"I won't feel guilty anymore when I take him to the common room."

"You've taken him to the Gryffindor common room?"

"Maybe," he replied, playing dumb.

"So you've really been betraying me, huh?" he said to the cat, who simply meowed and rubbed against Kirishima's body. "It's okay. You can go with Katsuki as often as you want."

Suddenly, he realized that he had just called Bakugou by his first name for the first time, without his permission and without having discussed it with the blond beforehand, and his heart nearly stopped. He glanced at the Gryffindor, who had gone almost completely stiff after hearing it, and silently begged that he wasn't upset.

"So you're already calling me by my first name."

"I'm sorry. It's okay if you don't want me to—"

"It's okay, Eijirou."

"Bakugou!" he said, covering his face with his hands and blushing again as his heart began beating faster. God. They had only been together for a couple of weeks, and the simple fact of hearing his first name coming from Bakugou's mouth was enough to make his stomach and heart go crazy.

"Tch. Idiot," he said with a smile.

Kirishima took advantage of the moment to move closer to him and, proving Kaminari right about what he'd said before leaving, kissed Bakugou while taking advantage of their time alone, feeling his heart racing inside his chest, and so much happiness and love that it seemed like he could explode at any moment.

"There's a problem," Bakugou said once they pulled apart.

"A problem?"

"If your pet is a cat, how the hell are we going to write to each other during the holidays?"

That same weekend, all the students would be returning to their homes on the Hogwarts Express for the Christmas and New Year's holidays (except for the few exceptions who always stayed at the castle for one reason or another). Kirishima had already thought about how much he would miss Bakugou during those days, even if it was only for a couple of weeks, but he hadn't wanted to say anything.

However, now that the blond had mentioned it, he smiled brightly.

"What makes you think we're going to write to each other?"

"Are we not…?"

"I don't know about you, but I plan on inviting you to my house so you can meet my parents," he replied, gathering his courage and hoping the comment would be well received. "And maybe we can go out a couple of times… If you're okay with that…"

Bakugou blinked a couple of times with an impassive expression before letting out a sarcastic snort.

"You want me to meet your family?"

"If you want to…"

"On one condition."

"What is it?"

"You have to come to my house and meet mine."

"Okay," he said with a smile.

And there, by the lake, beneath a tree, and with a gray cat in his arms, Kirishima once again moved closer to Bakugou, who smiled at him before closing the small distance between them, kissing once again, with plans and expectations ahead of them and all the time in the world to make them come true.