Chapter Text
Bakugou was never good at "making friends."
He had admirers, sure, but they were all just extras who followed him around like sheep. If he were being honest, he didn't even remember their real names most of the time. He'd just give them nicknames, and while they thought that was just Bakugou being cool or something, he just couldn't for the life of him remember their names. Of course Bakugou didn't give a shit about that at all. They were all just pebbles, they didn't matter. They were fucking annoying though.
He was glad he didn't have to deal with those dumbasses anymore now that he was at UA. Except that fucking Deku was there, but that's not important.
Bakugou was never good at "making friends," that is until he met Kirishima.
He's not even sure if he had anything to do with him and Kirishima becoming friends. It's just that shitty hair was so goddamn persistent that eventually Bakugou just didn't care enough to push him away. Kirishima would always come back to him, not phased by Bakugou's ego or temper.
And while Bakugou would never admit it, most of the time he didn't get annoyed by Kirishima's presence. If fact, he kind of enjoyed having him around.
Which is why Bakugou offered to tutor Kirishima when midterms were coming around, which in hindsight was a terrible fucking idea.
They were in Bakugou's dorm room currently working on linear functions, and Kirishima just couldn't get the information wrapped around his stupid, shitty hair.
"It's not that hard I don't get why you're not getting it."
"I'm just not, how do you find b again?"
"Ugh, I explained this to you an hour ago, dumbass, let me." Bakugou preceded to take Kirishima's paper away from him and scribble down the work. "Subtract this, and then put it over here, then-"
"Oh I remember!" Kirishima interrupted. He stole the paper back and finished the work Bakugou was just doing. "Like this right?" He looked so hopeful, like a puppy almost. Bakugou checked over the rest of the work real quick and rolled his eyes.
"Took you long enough."
"Yes!"
"Now you just need to get a whole fucking problem right."
"Alright, I think I got this."
"You better it's been two hours already."
At first Bakugou watched Kirishima's paper, but then he got bored of that and subtly looked a little further up at Kirishima. Was it weird to stare? Bakugou didn't really give a shit.
First thing his eyes went to was that shitty hair, of course. It was just so big. He wondered how much hair gel this kid went through a week. It was so pointy and spiky, like Bakugou's but 20 times worse. He then lowered his eyes slightly to that face of his and took note of his features. How his eyebrows furrowed in concentration, how his eyes lit up a little bit when he figured something out, how he'd chew on his pencil in frustration whenever he couldn't. Bakugou lingered a little bit longer on his friend's mouth than he should've. He eventually moved back to those carnelian red eyes that focused dead on the task at hand.
Kirishima wasn't all that bad to look at, Bakugou acknowledged that months ago. But there was something else, though, that Bakugou realized as he starred at his friend.
He's trying so hard, Bakugou thought. And that's all there was to it. The persistence, the effort, the determination, this kid wasn't going to give up until he got this right. Part of Bakugou admired him for that.
Kirishima's eyes lit up one more time and then looked up at Bakugou, who's eyes were suddenly looking anywhere but at that dumb, stupid, idiot.
"Done! Did I get it right?" Kirishima had a triumphant grin on his face. Bakugou fought a grin of his own, his friend's smile was fucking contagious sometimes.
Bakugou looked through the math and looked up with a blank expression.
"I guess the past two hours weren't a complete waste of time after all."
"Yes! Finally!" Kirishima shot up. "God that was the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life."
"You're so fucking dramatic sometimes." Bakugou stood up as well. "Wanna get so-"
Kirishima interrupted him yet again but this time with a hug. "Thank you so much, Bakugou! I never would've figured this out without you."
And with that Bakugou finally put it all together. His constant urge to stare, the ping in his heart and the nausea he felt whenever his friend smiled at him. Why for the past few months he's been putting an extra effort in his appearance whenever he knew he'd be around Kirishima. It all made sense.
Bakugou wasn't stupid, it's just he's never had a crush before.
He couldn't bare being so close to the boy. "Yeah yeah now get the fuck off me before I blow your arm off."
"Oh sorry," Kirishima laughed. "Anyways wanna get some food or something?"
"Nah Im gonna take a nap, dealing with you for two hours straight is fucking exhausting."
Kirishima laughed again, that dumbass laugh was gonna be the end of Bakugou. "Alright, see ya tomorrow then." Kirishima grabbed his stuff and went for that door. "Thank you again, Bakugou."
"Its nothing." God, this kid was so sincere it hurt his soul a little bit.
Bakugou flopped down on his bed, mentally and emotionally exhausted. Thoughts of Kirishima were all that filled his brain.
Fuck, this is bad.