Chapter Text
Routine was the saving grace for every third year student at UA, especially for those in the Hero course. If you hadn’t fallen into one that has worked for you by now, you were screwed. That’s how Kirishima’s world had begun to revolve around Katsuki Bakugo’s.
Honestly, neither of them really didn’t plan for it to happen. It all started during their first year, after Bakugo’s kidnapping. Kirishima began tagging along to his morning workouts to utilize his mornings better. Had nothing to do with making sure his friend was doing ok.
Working out together eventually lead them to quirk training together, which led to lunches together, studying together etc. Granted most of those activities were also accompanied by the bakusquad, but nevertheless, Kirishima and Bakugo ended up spending almost every waking hour in each other’s company, one way or another.
And that’s how it’s been for almost their entire time at UA. And Kirishima had cherished every second of it. It felt like a privilege to be an integral apart of Bakugo’s inner circle, and being his go-to friend for when the nightmares kept him from sleeping his first year, or when he finally opened up about his crippling fear of failure and letting everyone down. Kirishima KNEW they were each other’s best friends, and nothing would ever get in the way of that.
But.
It began Christmas of their second year-when the thought was first planted in his head. 2A had decided to throw a Christmas party the weekend before break, and to everyone’s surprise, Iida didn’t throw out Kaminari’s spiked punch. In fact, he was the first to dive into it.
Coupled with the massive bottles of sake Todoroki swiped from one of his dad’s office presents, 2A got wrecked.
Two main events happened that night. Midoriya finally grew the balls to confess to Todoroki, and Bakugo unintentionally outed himself to the bakusquad by yelling-
“Man woman I don’t give a FUCK as long as they punch hard it goes straight to my dick.”
Kirishima wouldn’t have thought much of it if Bakugo hadn’t also been bragging to everyone about how strong Shitty Hair was all night to anyone within earshot.
“You see that red-haired fuck over there?” Bakugo slurred, leaning onto Mina’s shoulder for dear life.
“Oh my god our bakubaby’s a lightweight.” Mina gasped under his weight. “Who allowed him to drink this much?” Kaminari quickly and quietly left for the kitchen.
“I can handle just as much alcohol as the rest of you losers!” He roared, now using one of poor Mina’s horns for support. “YOU.” He jabbed a finger at a very sober Kirishima. “Bust through that wall there.”
Kirishima blinked. He had a feeling this would happen. Bakugo was as straight-laced as Iida. He’s pretty sure this was his first time even tasting alcohol. The second Kiri saw him accept a shot from Sero, he knew he had to stay sober and keep an eye on the destructive blonde. Who now apparently wants him to destroy school property.
Kirishima’s mouth quirked. “Dude, I’m not doing that.”
Bakugo made a disgusted sound as Mina finally got him to sit down on an armchair. “And why the fuck not?”
The redhead broke into a grin. “Are you trying to get me expelled? Is that your grand plan?”
Bakugo had never looked more offended. “You little bitch. Hey, Raccoon Eyes.” He swatted Mina’s arm, who was tickled by how touchy drunk Bakugo was. “Tell him he’s a little bitch.”
Mina giggled maniacally, slurring as well. “Kirishima, you’re a little bitch.”
He rolled his eyes, sitting on a sticky coffee table. “Peer pressure won’t work on me, you idiots.”
Kirishima wanted to frame the pout Bakugo gave him. He clumsily pulled Mina close to him, as if he was sharing a precious secret. Mina looked like she had never felt more alive.
“Shitty Hair broke through a 6 foot slab of concrete yesterday like it was fucking |nothing|. Looked like a goddamn renaissance painting.”
Kirishima was too taken aback by the compliment to hide the blush that splashed across his face. Mina frowned. “Since when do you know anything about art?”
The blonde scoffed and pushed her away, attempting to stand up. “It’s called developing taste. You’re hopeless.” He teetered for a second before stumbling away. “Where’s Ponytail? She knows what I’m talking about.
Mina drunkenly stared after him. “What a little brat.”
She winked at Kirishima, who was also looking after the drunk blonde. “I’m assuming you’re on babysitting duty? That boy CANNOT handle Kami’s secret punch.”
He could only nod before the rest of the class started screaming and Sero’s tape started flying. Apparently Uraraka got so drunk she forgot she could float, and was now crying on the ceiling, unable to get down. To this day, 3A still doesn’t know how they didn’t get caught.
Fast forward to summer break of their third year. Bakugo had made a vow of sobriety after that night and Kirishima didn’t think much of it. Much. But any time he ended up smashing things with his bare hands, he always made sure Bakugo was watching.
The blonde and him spent a weekend hiking together on Bakugo’s favorite trail. Either he was completely dense, or forgot that what he invited Kirishima to was considered a very date-like outing. It’s not like Kirishima thought it was romantic. The redhead didn’t bring it up.
They didn’t even have tents for crying out loud! It was a manly weekend of sleeping under the stars, sharing water bottles, telling each other their deepest secrets and dreams under the light of the campfire and-
Oh who was he kidding, Kirishima knew he was screwed.
He still didn’t even know if he was into guys like that, or even girls for that matter. They all had things to offer! Maybe he was attracted to kind smiles and gentle affection...He knew at least there was a softness he craved in a partner.
But that would definitely rule out Bakugo... Kirishima didn’t get it. Did he love his friend, or did he LOVE his friend? Maybe he was confusing their intimacy as romantic when it’s just because they’re best buds. Just guys bein dudes. Absolutely nothing more going on there.
Kirishima kept these thoughts to himself as they progressed through their time at UA together, convinced he was just addicted to the undivided attention the blonde gave him. It wasn’t like he was exclusively attracted to his best friend, there were others that caught his eye too!
Bakugo was just an intense guy. He brought out so much in Kirishima that he never knew he had, and forced him to think about his shortcomings as opportunities for growth rather than failures.
“If you’ve already mastered everything you’re supposed to be capable of, that means you peaked as a teenager, and that’s just fucking depressing.”
Having a friend who forced you to live in the moment made Kirishima more of a romantic than he expected. He was always optimistic, but now he was 3A self appointed cheerleader. So yeah, he loved his friend, because he loved all his classmates.
Yeah.
Except...things have been weird lately between the two of them. Kirishima wasn’t sure when it first started, but the last month or so he’s felt this..tension between him and Bakugo during their morning training, when it’s just the two of them.
He wracked his brain to figure out what he could’ve done to make Bakugo mad at him, but he kept coming up blank. He didn’t think he would’ve caught it if it wasn’t for the fact that their routine was so ingrained in their bodies, any deviation from it threw Kirishima for a loop.
And there was no denying how much more heated their sparring sessions had become, or how when one’s pinned the other down, there’s just a moment too long of a hesitation before breaking apart.
True to his nature, the redhead completely over analyzed the situation and decided it was his fault. He must’ve done something to incense Bakugo and now Kirishima is misreading it as something else entirely. There’s just no way.
And now he had to figure out how to get things back to normal so he wouldn’t accidentally ruin the most important friendship in his life. Kirishima had a problem and he needed to focus. And he needed to figure out-
“Hey!” Kirishima flinched as the egg Mina flicked at him hit him straight between the eyes.
“You aren’t listening to me Kiri, what else am I supposed to do?” She whined at him from across the lunch table.
He groaned. “I have a lot on my mind today, ok? You can’t just throw food at people to get their attention.”
“Yeah”, Sero cut in. “Use straw wrappers, much more effective.”
“Oh my god do you care nothing for the turtles?” Kaminari demanded.
“If I start caring about the turtles, will you stop trying to talk to me about your latest secret project?” Sero said.
This didn’t sound good. “Kaminari, what are you planning?” Kirishima asked suspiciously
His schemes never ended well and almost always earned him a trip to Recovery Girl’s office. Kaminari shook his head fervently. “No dudes, this is serious this time. No danger here, just good old fashioned self reflecting.”
Well that didn’t sound good at ALL.
“Hear me out.” He said. “Why is it we think I haven’t had a girlfriend yet?”
*Because you’re gay.* Kirishima thought, but dutifully responded with, “Why?” He’ll figure it out eventually.
Kaminari waved his hands. “It’s because I don’t have a |thing|. All of you guys have that |thing| that makes you attractive. Todoroki has good looks, but most importantly MONEY-“ Mina chose not to hide her massive eye roll. “No, listen.” He snapped.
“Todoroki’s rich, Iida’s built like a dad who does triathlons, Midoriya has that boy next door vibe going for him-“ He pointed at Kirishima. “-YOU are the living embodiment of Hercules, and I-“ He threw his hands up. “Have nothing!”
“Wait you didn’t say what my thing is.” Sero complained.
“So I’ve decided,” Kaminari said, ignoring his friend, “That I’m going to give myself a |thing|. And I will build my brand on it.”
Yeah, this was going to end terribly.
But, it might be fun to watch it blow up in his face. Kirishima and Mina exchanged smirks before he asked, “And what, pray tell, is your Thing?”
Kaminari wiggled his eyebrows like a sleazy car salesman. “What is the one thing girls LOVE during sex?”
They all collectively groaned as Mina banged her forehead against the table. “Please stop while you’re ahead Kami, I’m BEGGING you.”
Sero couldn’t resist. Holding back a snicker, he egged him on with a, “What, what do they love? We’re dying to know.”
Kaminari crossed his arms in a smug fashion before simply responding with, “The one thing they can’t get from ANY of the men I just mentioned.” He smirked triumphantly. “Vibrations.”
It took the table a second to put two and two together.
Mina was first, with her face transforming from confusion to pure horror. “Denki NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT-“
Sero was next, erupting in hysterical laughter that cut across Mina’s screaming. “What the fuck is wrong with you? You really ARE going to kill someone!”
“No you guys!” Kaminari insisted. “You don’t get it! See, if I concentrate REALLY hard, then I can ONLY make my d-“
Kirishima lunged across the table and grabbed him by the collar. “You goddamn idiot, your quirk doesn’t work that way!”
“No, listen-“
Sero was still howling as Mina joined Kirishima in physically trying to beat the thought out of him. “Kami I swear to GOD if I hear you sent yourself and a girl to the hospital just because you thought you make yourself into a human vi-“
“What the actual |fuck| is going on?”
The group froze and turned to see Bakugo approach them with his lunch, looking a perfect combination of alarmed and disgusted. Kirishima gulped, releasing Kaminari’s shirt and settled back into his seat. Bakugo’s eyes were boring a hole into him. “Well?” He demanded.
“We’re trying to stop Kaminari and a poor girl from becoming a Special Victim’s Unit case.” Mina sighed, going back to her seat as well.
Kaminari shuffled around in his chair. “S’nothing. It’s dumb, I won’t do it.” He mumbled, suddenly acting very bashful.
Bakugo had this innate special ability to squash any idea of Kaminari’s with his sheer judgmental presence alone. It felt worse than being scolded by your mother. He slapped his food tray down and plopped into the empty seat next to Kirishima. “It better be nothing.” He glared.
“We don’t have time to get you out of shit this semester, Pikachu.” Bakugo glanced at Kirishima and motioned for him to back him up.
His heart rate quickened and without thinking added, “Yeah, listen to your mother.” The table immediately went back to howling with laughter.
Kirishima dodged an upper cut to the jaw. “Fuck you, Shitty Hair!” Bakugo roared.
Kirishima took that as the perfect cue to excuse himself. Grabbing his things, he bolted out of the cafeteria and out of Bakugo’s reach. He shook his head.
His brain always seemed to short circuit when Bakugo looked at him like that. What was he going to do?
Enter Uraraka Ochako.