Chapter Text
The gym was always busy on Saturday mornings.
Now, it was the first Saturday of the year and Kirishima was reconsidering every decision he had made in his 23 years of existence. Why did he decide being a good son and not asking his moms for that at-home weight set was a good idea? Sure it was a couple hundred dollars, but that would have saved him from the lines for machines and crowds of people taking mirror selfies in their brand-new Lululemon leggings. Unfortunately, with all the protein powder swimming through his veins, leaving was not a productive option. Nor was it the manly one anyways.
With a defeated sigh, Kirishima stood in line for the bicep curl machine and pulled out his phone. A text from Mina appeared while he scrolled through his music looking for his gym playlist.
Mina ♥ (8:53): are you going to be ready in time for Denki’s party?
Kirishima (8:54): why do you always doubt me :(
Mina ♥ (8:56): bc i know how long it takes you to do your hair better than anyone
Kirishima (8:57): gym is full today so we wont make denks wait too long
Mina ♥ (9:00): if we’re late to this one i think youll make him cry
Mina ♥ (9:00): again……
Kirishima (9:01): !!!!!
Kirishima (9:01): how dare you
Kirishima (9:01): i would never make my denki cry
Mina ♥ (9:02): better see you soon then dummy
Mina ♥ (9:03): i love you!
A quiet chuckle escaped Kirishima's lips as he turned up his music and slipped his phone back into his pocket.
Kaminari insisted on throwing a small party a few days after New Year’s Eve since he accidentally fell asleep and missed the midnight festivities. Kirishima got a call that next morning at 3 AM to a hysterically crying and sniffling Kaminari. His first reaction was to jump out of bed, much to Mina’s dismay, and grab his car keys. There was no doubt in his mind he was going to have to fight someone and even at the crack of dawn and he was ready for it. No one is going to distress his bro and get away with it. Unless, of course, it was himself. That was something he, and his friends, did on the regular. It wasn’t until he heard Shinso’s annoyed grumbling and shushing his boyfriend in the background that Kirishima stopped himself. Since then, the yellow-haired boy insisted that everyone had to attend his party and pretend it was New Year’s Eve again. Kirishima wasn’t one to let his bro down, making sure Mina knew they were attending what Kaminari proudly named as his “Redo on the New You” party. The redhead had to admit, he found the name pretty amusing. He needed to remember to ask him for suggestions for their next big party.
Once the wait for the machine was finally over, Kirishima started his usual five sets of twenty reps, adding on more weight than usual to challenge himself for the new year. Struggling to finish, Kirishima found the last bit of his strength before exhaling deeply and slinking back into the chair. It was a struggle to keep himself motivated today. Despite the fact that he loved being around others, Kirishima was finding the crowd of sweaty and smelly people draining. He shook his head and sat back up in the seat, trying to find his motivation again. Kirishima was moments away from starting his next set when someone hovered over him, breaking any new concentration he was building completely.
“Oi, are you almost fucking done?” The stranger complained, sneering at Kirishima. One look up and it was all over for him. It took Kirishima a few moments to register what the man said, let alone start doing anything to move off the machine. All that fogged up his mind was how pretty this man was. His blonde, spiky hair highlighted the red in his eyes, glinting off the fluorescent lights. Sweat made his grey, sleeveless shirt cling to his chest, one that Kirishima didn’t want to look away from. There was a scar on his right cheek, rippled down from the side of his face close to his mouth. Kirishima couldn’t help but want to know how he got it. And, despite the scowl that seemed glued on, the man’s handsome face stayed, well, extremely fucking handsome. “Hello? Are you deaf? Or are you just an idiot?”
Kirishima slowly blinked, squinting at the light that surrounded the man. Whether that light was coming from the bulbs on the ceiling or the heavens above, the redhead wasn’t quite sure. The stranger stood there with a hand on his hip and his eyes roaming Kirishima's features, attempting to figure out what was wrong with him. The blonde bent slightly forward and waved his hand in front of Kirishima’s face, thankfully breaking him out of the turmoil going through his head.
“S-Sorry, I can get off now. Let me just clean the chair for you,” he squeaked, pulling down his headphones to hang around his neck and jumping off the seat. He frantically wiped down the chair and began reaching down to reset the machine. “I can change the weight back for you too if y-”
“Don’t change shit,” the blonde growled, moving past Kirishima to sit down. Kirishima smiled meekly, torn between wanting to stay to workout ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶s̶t̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶a̶n̶g̶e̶r̶ or leave and not have to deal with the crowd. He quickly found himself walking towards the exit, quickly zigzagging through machines and resisting the urge to look behind him.
The blonde, who Kirishima was now very far away from in a surprisingly short amount of time, scoffed, putting his water bottle down and readying his arms on the machine. It didn’t take long for him to realize that lifting the amount of weight that Kirishima left was definitely not going to happen. Slowly, he looked around a few times for that bright red, spiky-haired idiot before putting the weight lower and carrying on with his workout.
Once Kirishima reached his car, he threw his headphones in the passenger seat and buried his face in his hands, attempting to ignore just how hot his cheeks felt against his palms.
“What the fuck just happened?” Kirishma whispered to himself, as if afraid someone outside his car would hear him.
Who was that and why was the image of that messy blonde hair in Kirishima’s mind twisting his stomach into knots? There had to be an explanation for all the thoughts going through his head. There was only one reason Kirishima’s heart was racing, but it was one that didn’t make sense to him— starting with the fact that the stranger was definitely a man. There was no way around that one. The strong jawline, the large biceps, the broad sho-
Kirishima shook his head as if hoping the images now seared onto the insides of his eyelids would somehow disappear. Why was he feeling this way about a man?
Kirishima had only ever been with girls. His first “girlfriend” was his next-door neighbor in kindergarten. Although, that was very short-lived when they decided to “break up” after two days because she told Kirishima he had too many cooties. On the other hand, it was no secret that he attracted a lot of guys to him in high school. Don’t ask him how many chocolates he got on Valentine’s Day; five years later, those sweets are probably still getting burned off at each workout session. Of course, Kirishima was grateful for their kindness, but he only ever saw them all as friends. Although he and Kaminari having a “get married at 30 so they wouldn’t die alone” pact was somewhat questionable, bros have to look out for each other.
Kirishima thought girls were pretty and soft and liked the idea of protecting them. Even Mina, who admittedly was not soft and definitely did not need his protection, was the girl Kirishima found himself wanting to be with. There had never been a time that he saw a man that made him question his sexuality. Well, until now that is.
The redhead took a few moments to calm his breathing, cranking the a/c to full blast and throwing his head against the seat. Kirishima was outwardly a rational person, not letting stressful situations cloud his judgment. Inwardly was a completely different story.
Kirishima sat up, taking a deep breath and clinking his fists together. He knew exactly what he needed to do. As he reversed out of the parking lot, windows down and music blasting, Kirishima made a bold choice: he was never stepping foot in that gym again.
There was no way he was going back.
Right?