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Bakugou rolled his eyes as he saw everyone else in the class giggling at their stupid jokes. It was so annoying that as soon as whatever teacher they had walked out of the room, everyone would suddenly start doing as they liked. It was annoying, but somehow, he found himself standing next to the chaos again. Well… standing next to Kirishima, who was interested in the chaos.
Not that it mattered. He didn’t understand what the Kabe-don thing was, or why everyone was freaking out and going into giggling fits. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He would have been fine, standing there with a frown on his face, if he hadn’t been spotted.
“Bakugou, you should be next,” Ashido chuckled, going to grab his arm to pull him towards the wall.
“No, this is stupid,” Bakugou said, standing his ground.
Ashido was pulling his arm, but he wasn’t moving even an inch.
“He’s scared,” Kaminari teased.
Bakugou rolled his eyes. “Not as scared as you. Wanna come closer?”
Kaminari flinched, but that just gave everyone else an opening to start whining about him doing it. He was ready to explode, send them all flying away from him, and walk away. It would be that easy.
“Come on, Bakugou. It’s just for fun,” Kirishima spoke up.
Bakugou let out a sigh and took a step towards the wall. He fucking hated how Kirishima could talk him into almost anything. He reached the wall and turned around, putting his back against it. “Alright, if it will make all of you shut the fuck up,” he grumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest.
The idiots talked to each other for a bit before Uraraka stepped forward. She put her hand next to Bakugou’s head and gave him a grin. Bakugou just stared at her. “What? Do you need something?” he huffed.
Uraraka walked away with a bit of a frown, but it didn’t take long for another one of his classmates to walk up and try to… get a reaction? He wasn’t sure what they were waiting for, but he just stared each of them down until they walked away. Every single one of his classmates had tried, and now, there was only Kirishima left.
Bakugou raised an eyebrow, a challenge.
Kirishima walked up to him, looking nervous, but something shifted when their eyes met. Bakugou barely had a moment to question what was going on when suddenly, Kirishima was close. Too close. They had been this close before, but something was different. Something felt different.
His stomach dropped, and all he could look at were Kirishima’s bright red eyes. He couldn’t look away. He felt his face heat up, but all he could do was drop his mouth open slightly. He wasn’t sure when Kirishima’s hand, the one not against the wall near his head, had found its way to his chin. Kirishima’s thumb brushes lightly against his bottom lip. “Speechless?” Kirishima asked, his voice a soft whisper. “Where is all that confidence you had before, Katsuki?” Kirishima hummed.
Bakugou felt his knees buckle. Kirishima had never used his first name before. He felt like yelling for him to leave him alone, but he also wanted… he wanted to pull Kirishima closer? That stupid hero costume Kirishima had was not helping. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, but all he could do was run.
He was finally able to pull away and run. He wasn’t sure where he was running, but he couldn’t stop.
He heard people calling after him. Kirishima was calling after him, but he was not going to turn back. Not when he could still feel his heart hammering against his chest.
Bakugou didn’t stop till he was back at his dorm room. The door closed behind him as he took deep breaths, trying to figure out what the fuck had just happened.
***
Kirishima felt his face turning redder than his hair as soon as Bakugou ran from him. What had he done? He hesitated for a second before following the blond. Ignoring the way the rest of his class was trying to talk to him or tease them for what had just happened.
He shouldn’t have done that. He got carried away, and he wasn’t exactly sure why. He had been fine with being friends with Bakugou, nothing more. He had hidden his feelings long enough to know where the line was, even if he tested it every now and then by getting a bit closer, lingering a bit longer. Now? He wasn’t sure Bakugou would talk to him ever again.
Even though he had run after Bakugou a few seconds later, Bakugou was faster than him. He made it to the dorms but was unsure if Bakugou would even want to see him. How would he explain this? A joke? A slip up of his true feelings exposing themselves? A teasing moment gone too far? Something he had wanted to do for a long time but had been too big of a coward? It was all spinning in his head.
He made it up to the fourth floor. Nervous as his hands shook before knocking on Bakugou’s door. He could hear shuffling inside, but other than that, nothing. He knocked again. Holding his breath as he waited for a response, some movement. Nothing.
He groaned at how stupid he had been.
Then, he remembered the balconies. They never locked them. They could go back and forth that way when they wanted to hang out and it was too late to bother with doors, or didn’t want to get caught by the hallway cameras or their classmates. Kirishima headed to his room, as quietly as possible, not wanting Bakugou to know what he was doing.
A part of him thought he should give Bakugou space, but what if that only made this worse? He had to explain himself. He couldn’t leave things this way. He went out to his balcony, not bothering to close the sliding door behind him before jumping over to Bakugou’s balcony. He landed a bit harder than he expected.
He turned around and saw Bakugou looking at him. His face was still flushed, and his eyes were wide. Kirishima suddenly wasn’t sure he had done the right thing. He awkwardly waved at Bakugou. “Can we talk?” he asked, not worried how desperate those three words had sounded to even his own ears.
Bakugou hesitated for a couple of seconds before nodding.
Kirishima pointed at the glass door and got another nod. He walked into Bakugou’s room. They stood there looking at each other for what felt like an eternity. Bakugou moved first, sitting on his bed, and Kirishima followed. The distance between them was bigger than it had been in such a long time. It felt like a mile.
“I’m sorry,” Kirishima started, unable to take the silence any longer.
“For what?” Bakugou asked.
“Making you uncomfortable. I didn’t mean to. I shouldn’t have-”
“I wasn’t uncomfortable,” Bakugou mumbled.
“What?”
“I-” Bakugou cut himself off, clearing his throat. “I’m not sure what I felt… but it wasn’t uncomfortable… I…” he trailed off.
“It’s okay, take your time,” Kirishima told him, sensing his best friend’s frustration. Would Bakugou even want to be best friends after this?
Bakugou seemed to think it over, but he moved closer to Kirishima and looked at him. Red eyes inspected his face, but he looked oddly calm. Not even his usual scowl on his face. It made Kirishima swallow nervously. He wondered what Bakugou was piecing together in that head of his.
“Don’t freak out,” Bakugou told him firmly.
“Freak out over what?” Kirishima asked.
“Just don’t freak out!” Bakugou huffed.
Kirishima could only nod. He trusted Bakugou more than anyone after all.
He watched as Bakugou moved even closer, changing his position to face him a bit more head-on. Bakugou’s hand was suddenly against his cheek. Kirishima took in a sharp breath, and Bakugou’s hand moved to his hair, gently playing with a strand. Those red eyes focused on what his hand was doing before it traced its way down the side of Kirishima’s face—stopping briefly at the scar above his eyes, touching it so carefully as if it was still a fresh cut he had to take care of.
Suddenly, Bakugou was cupping his face, and Kirishima did his best not to lean against his touch, but was slightly failing. His breath was hitched at this point, and all he could see were ruby eyes analysing him and taking it all in.
“You called me Katsuki,” Bakugou pointed out suddenly.
“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,” Kirishima assured him.
“Why not?” Bakugou frowned.
Kirishima paused, mouth slightly opened. That’s when he felt Bakugou’s thumb on his bottom lip, just like he had done earlier. “Do… do you want me to call you…” he trailed off. The feeling of Bakugou’s thumb against his lip was too much.
“Can I call you Eijirou?”
Kirishima was sure he was dreaming now, or at least hallucinating. “W-what?”
“Eijirou,” Bakugou repeated his name slowly, as if tasting it.
Kirishima swallowed nervously. “You… if you want.”
“I do,” Bakugou assured him.
“Wait, what… what does this mean?”
Bakugou shrugged, but didn’t move his hand away from Kirishima’s face; if anything, he was caressing him in a way that made it hard for Kirishima to focus. “I’m trying to figure that out.”
“Explain?”
Bakugou let out a hum, “I think I like you.”
Kirishima felt the world stop spinning, his head was suddenly dizzy, and he had nothing but questions in his head.
Bakugou seemed to see the questions in his eyes. “I don’t know, I ran from you, but all I wanted to do in that moment was pull you close,” Bakugou admitted. “I’m not one to bullshit, but I needed to process everything. Then you were on my balcony, and it clicked.”
“So, you like me because I can jump to your balcony?”
Bakugou shook his head. “I like you because you are always there when I need you, even if I don’t know it. I like you because you know when I need space and when I need you to be next to me, even if I’m not talking. I like you because… fuck it… You’re gorgeous. No other fucking way to say it. I like you because you’re my best friend, and somehow I always knew there was more, but I didn’t have a word for it. Now I do.”
Kirishima was about to faint. He took a deep breath and tried to process everything.
“If you don’t like me, that’s fine,” Bakugou started to pull his hand away.
Kirishima grabbed it right away, not letting it get too far.
“Katsuki,” he said it like a prayer, hopeful and begging, “I don’t want you to regret this.”
“When have I ever regretted anything, Eijirou?”
“There is always a first time for everything,” Kirishima pointed out. “I like you, too. I want to make sure we are not rushing into something. I want to make sure you know this is something I've wanted for a long time… I want us to be more than friends, but I also want to make sure I can follow your lead and-”
Bakugou’s lips were on Kirishima’s own, taking his words and breath away. Kirishima relaxed into the kiss immediately, wrapping his arms around Bakugou’s waist and pulling him closer. Bakugou wrapped his arms around his neck, refusing to let go.
They didn’t pull apart until they needed air and to check that this was real.
“Date, tomorrow, you and me,” Bakugou demanded, his eyes half closed.
“It’s a deal,” Kirishima told him, before closing the distance once more.
Neither of them even remembered they had left in the middle of class until Aizawa came knocking to give them detention. Neither of them minded it too much; both were still flushed with slightly swollen lips as they were being reprimanded. Their hands touched the whole time.