Bakugou

So Kirishima's taste in music turned out to not be complete shit, but Bakugou wasn't about to tell him he thought so. And, it turned out, Bakugou had heard Shinedown before, he just hadn't known it. Though to be honest, that wasn't a surprise—he was fucking awful at remembering names and shit he didn't care about.

Bakugou didn't really even know why he was listening to Dumb Hair's stupid playlist. He had plenty of his own music to listen to, and it wasn't easy for him to get into unfamiliar shit, especially when recommended by someone he hadn't known very long. Honestly, he didn't get why he talked to Kirishima so much at all. The fucker wasn't even that interesting, and he was damn persistent and hard to ignore, with his big stupid hair and that toothy smile he always seemed to have plastered onto his face. Until he'd met Dumb Hair, Bakugou didn't really know what the fuck people meant by someone's smile "brightening up the room." But Kirishima's was like the fucking sun—stupidly bright and hard to ignore.

So he listened to the idiot's playlist and enjoyed it more than he wanted to admit to even himself as he sauntered down the sidewalk toward his dorm room, hands in his pockets and shoulders slumped under the weight of his backpack that he swore was going to give him a fucking hunch before he turned twenty. After four days in a row of waking up at the asscrack of fucking dawn just to make it to class on time and avoid getting screamed at again, Bakugou was more than ready for a fucking nap. Seriously—when the shitty dark circles under his eyes were almost as dark as his eyeliner, it was a serious fucking problem.

"You wouldn't have that problem if you went to bed earlier, Katsuki."

Huffing, Bakugou kicked a stray rock across the sidewalk. His mother was basically a thousand fucking miles away and he could still hear her shitty nagging. Ugh.

The dorm room wasn't empty when he made it back, and after yanking off his headphones to rest around his neck he paused with his hand on the knob when he heard a muffled version of his name through the door.

The fuck?

It was definitely Dumb Hair's voice, but who the fuck was he talking to?

"So like, are you gonna do anything about it?" another voice asked, and Bakugou had to strain to make out the muted words. It was a familiar voice, but he couldn't put a name or a face to it.

"I dunno, man. He's my roommate..." Pressing his ear to the stupid door only made it worse, and Bakugou missed the rest of Kirishima's sentence.

"Dunno. Maybe," the other responded. "Let's just go meet Sero and Jirou in the game room. Bet they can tell you what to do."

"Alright."

Bakugou scrambled to take a step back and push the door open, keeping his face passive. As expected, the idiots in the room—Kirishima and the blonde one whose name Bakugou didn't remember—shut up the second the door opened. In an obvious attempt to not look guilty and having the exact opposite effect, Kirishima sat up and gave Bakugou a plastic we-totally-weren't-just-talking-about-you smile.

"Hey, Baku!" he said probably too quickly. Idiot.

Bakugou barely spared him a look as he shuffled over to his bed and tossed the stupid backpack onto it, quipping a "sup." He didn't wanna fucking talk to someone who was gonna talk about him behind his back, but he wasn't about to give away the fact that he'd been listening. Plus, he wasn't in the mood for a stupid argument anyway.

"Um... we were just about to head to the game room, so I'll see ya later, alright?" Dumb Hair said as he stood up. His stupid friend was already halfway to the door, having said nothing.

"Whatever," the blonde grumbled, pretending not to notice that the idiot didn't invite him to join like he usually did. But seriously, whatever. It's not like he would've joined them anyway. If the shitbag wanted to go gossip with his stupid gossipy friends and shit talk him behind his back, it was fine with him; after three years of being forced to attend public high school, he was used to that shit by now.

Kirishima didn't say anything else as he practically escaped the room with his friend, who never said a word to begin with. When the room was silent again, Bakugou practically tore the headphones from around his neck and tossed it, along with the phone they were connected to, down onto his bed before shoving his backpack off and flopping onto it himself. He knew the second his face smashed into his pillowcase that his eyeliner had smudged down his cheek, but he couldn't be bothered to give a fuck right then.

No, all he could seem to fucking think about was that stupid fuck Kirishima and whatever the hell he'd been saying about him before he walked in, as well as how the two of them practically stampeded out of the room not two seconds later. It didn't make any fucking sense that the loser would share his music and act like everything was fine one minute and then act so fucking shady the next.

Bakugou knew it shouldn't bother him so fucking much, and he had no flying clue why it did, but it was the only thing on his mind until his dumb brain finally let him sleep.

Kirishima

Kirishima's heart was pounding as he and Kaminari made their escape out into the hallway after Bakugou had walked in on the middle of their conversation about him. His hands were stuffed into his pockets and he could feel the nervous sweat collecting on his palms.

"Dude, d'you think he heard us?" the redhead practically hissed, whispering as though they weren't already almost outside, a ways away from his roommate.

"I don't know, dude. I hope not, but with the way he was glaring when he walked in..."

"Yeah, but he's always glaring, man."

"Hard to say. You're probably thinking about it too much, though. It kinda looked like he'd had his headphones on, anyway."

Kirishima huffed out a breath, trying to calm his heartbeat. He felt silly being so paranoid that Bakugou had heard any of their conversation, but he couldn't erase the feeling nagging at the back of his mind that the blonde had heard something.

"Yeah, I hope you're right. But uh... let's not talk about this in my room anymore, 'kay? Just in case."

"Yup," agreed Kaminari, though it wasn't without a smug smile to the side at his friend. "Man, it's only been like a month but you're already in pretty deep," he said.

"No I'm not," Kirishima denied quickly, but the jumping of his stomach told otherwise. Not that Kaminari needed to know about it, though. "I mean, maybe I could, eventually, but that's what I'm trying to figure out. I just don't wanna decide that I do like him and then make shit awkward since he's my roommate and everything, ya know?"

"I get it, Kiri. I felt the same way when Sero introduced me to Jirou, but sometimes you gotta take a risk."

"But Jirou isn't your roommate, bro," Kirishima said. He'd found a rock on the sidewalk and had been kicking it along in front of him before making it to one of the fountains and picking it up to drop it in as they continued walking.

"See, that's why we should just ask her. She knows way more about this stuff than we do."

"Good point."

Their conversation fell silent for the remainder of the walk, leaving Kirishima's thoughts to wander back to Bakugou, back through the few weeks they'd been roommates, back through not realizing how much he really liked the blonde until his friends had, once again, teased him about blushing when he told them he shared his dumb Shinedown playlist with Bakugou.

Truth be told, he knew he liked Bakugou, as a friend if nothing else, but as his friends had done the teasing and he had tried (and failed at) defending himself, he realized it was already too damn late.

But shit, he couldn't help that Bakugou's eyes were his favorite freaking color or that that angular face was a huge weakness of his! It wasn't his fault that something about Bakugou's gruff way of speaking made him kinda tingly inside, or that even though he had such a rough personality and the tendency to sometimes snap on a whim, Kirishima was intrigued by him, was interested in getting to know him more than he'd been interested in getting to know someone probably ever. And if that meant proving Kaminari right about him "liking people who were a little rough around the edges," so be it.

Just as expected, Sero and Jirou were already in the game room, deep into what looked like a way too intense game of air hockey. It was usual for them to get so competitive with it, though, being the best two players out of their group.

"You got this, babe!" Kaminari cheered as the door swung shut behind them. Just as he did so, the puck slipped right past Jirou's hand and made a loud clack as it fell into her slot.

"Ohh, now you've done it," Kirishima chuckled.

"You're gonna pay for that later, Denki," Jirou said, not even turning around because Sero was already tugging the puck out of the slot and sending it across the table.

"You're screwed," Kirishima told his friend, grinning, as he flopped onto the couch beside the air hockey table to watch.

And screwed he was. As soon as Jirou still managed to beat Sero after the loss of that point, she curled her finger at her boyfriend, a sly smirk on her face. It was no surprise when he had his ass handed to him, either. When the score was 12-3, Kaminari held up his hands in surrender, stepping away from the table.

After that, Jirou had turned her dark eyes on Kirishima. "Two down, one to go. Ready to get your ass beat, Kiri?"

The redhead, too, held his hands up. "Nah, dude."

"Aw, don't be a chicken!" Sero teased.

"Hey, a real man knows when to pick his battles, and I know I'm no match for Jirou."

"Smart guy," Jirou said.

"That's not even why we came to find you guys, anyway," Kaminari said. "Kiri's having guy troubles."

"Whoa, dude!" Kirishima interceded quickly. "Don't put it like that, man!"

"Well am I wrong?" Kaminari grinned as Kirishima could feel the heat creeping up his neck.

"It's about Bakugou, right?" Sero asked.

"Yup," Kaminari said before Kirishima could even attempt to open his mouth again and explain. "Kiri's got a crush on him but he doesn't know what to do about it."

"Dude! I never said that!" In the midst of his attempted defense, Kirishima's voice shot up a couple octaves and his face was practically on fire. Man, he hated being teased!

"Oh, and he's still in denial about it, too," Kaminari tacked on.

"Bro, I don't think you have to say it," Sero said.

"It's kinda written all over your face," Jirou added. She was grinning, though.

Embarrassed, the redhead rubbed his hands over his face as Jirou's phone chimed. "You guys friggen suck," he complained. "I don't know how I feel about him. That's my whole problem, and the reason we came to find you."

"I dunno how to help you, Kiri. I've never had a crush on another guy," Sero told him.

"Does it matter what freakin' gender they are?"

"Guys, Mina wants us to meet her in the girls' lounge. So you can get a... er, fourth opinion, I guess," Jirou cut in.

There was an unmistakable fluff of pink hair poking over the top of one of the large leather couches in the girl's lounge when the four of them arrived. Across the middle of it was a set of familiar cheetah print headphones, proving that the girl was clearly and fully distracted by her phone.

Before the others got too close, Kirishima held out his arm, stopping them with a mischievous grin spreading across his face.

"What are you doing?" Kaminari mumbled.

The redhead's response was to hold a finger up to his lips, motion for them to stay put, and turn to tiptoe toward the pink-headed girl who was entirely oblivious to what was happening behind her. Careful not to make a sound (just in case) and deliberately placing his weight so she wouldn't feel him coming, Kirishima approached the back of the couch. Sure enough, Mina was fully immersed in some YouTube tutorial displayed on her phone. As carefully as he could without alerting her of his presence, he gently tugged the left side of her headphones away from her ear as he could hear the others snickering from behind him.

"Boo!" he said into her ear as soon as the headphone was moved.

As expected, Mina squealed and jumped, flailing away and causing her phone to fling onto the floor in the process. Her gold eyes were the size of the moon with startlement as they fell upon Kirishima. Behind him, the others were cackling.

"Kiri!" she squeaked in complaint. "What'd you do that for?!" she accused, swatting at him with one hand while the other tugged the headphones from her ears.

"'Cause it's funny," Kirishima told her, grinning. By then the others had joined him, still chuckling at the tinge of pink on Mina's cheeks that remained from her moment of fear.

"Is not!" she complained.

"Kinda is," Kaminari chimed in.

Pouting, the girl swiped her phone from the floor. "Why the heck do I even hang out with you guys?" she grumbled.

"Don't worry, Mina, you'll have your opportunity for revenge here soon," Sero said, smug, and reminding Kirishima essentially why they'd shown up to the girls' dorm to find Mina in the first place.

As soon as she heard that, her features relaxed while the other four went around the couch and joined her, either on the cushions beside her or on the floor between them and the glass coffee table in front of the sofa. "Ohh yeaaah," she said. "I heard Kiri's got a cruuush."

"Man, I could've sworn we were seniors in high school and not sixth graders," Kirishima mumbled from his place on the floor, scratching through the gel-stiff hair at the back of his head.

"Oh, shut up!"

"And stop averting the subject away from it," Jirou chimed in. "If you're trying to make us believe you don't like him, you're not doing a very good job of it."

"Hey, I don't even know if I like him!" Kirishima defended. "Kaminari's just doing the usual and jumping to conclusions."

"I think if anyone would know if you like someone, it would be me. I was there all through middle school and stuff when you've liked people in the past. You just gotta stop being in denial about it," Kaminari said.

The redhead sighed, dropping his arm back into his lap. Kaminari's prodding about all of this, including the teasing administered by Sero, Jirou, and now Mina, was starting to make his head spin. Sure, he thought Bakugou was attractive (like, seriously, it was ridiculous—that he could definitely admit), but thinking someone was attractive and actually having feelings for them were two different things. Would he have minded if Bakugou for some reason wanted to go out with him? Hell no. He'd jump on that. But he couldn't even determine if he knew the blonde well enough to be able to say he liked him in such a way, let alone say they were more than roommates and acquaintances.

These were the circles Kirishima had been going around over and over in his head as his friends were half teasing, half bickering about it, and he hadn't been paying attention until Mina spoke up, louder over the other three.

"Guys, I think we get that you think Kiri likes his roommate, but don't you think we should let him figure it out for himself before we go pushing our opinions on him?"

Kirishima could feel himself grinning before she'd even finished the sentence. "Thanks, Mina. And sorry for scaring you earlier."

Despite the apology, she still gave him a stern pouty face (that he knew was joking under the surface). "Yeah, yeah, you're welcome. I'm still gonna get you back for that, though," she promised.

All Kirishima had time to do was hold up his hands before Jirou was saying, "So how do you know when you like someone, Kiri?"

Red eyes blinked up at dark ones for a moment. "I... don't really know, honestly. I mean, I've liked people before, but it's been a long time and it only lasted maybe a few weeks before it was gone. That's kinda why I've never been in a long-term relationship. Guess maybe I'm paranoid that this is gonna happen again and I don't wanna go makin' things awkward between me and the dude I live with only for that to happen again and have the rest of the year suck because of it."

"That's completely fair," Mina said.

"Alright, but how did you know you liked them?" Jirou continued, almost as though Mina had never spoken.

"Yeah, 'cause it's been more than a few weeks this time and you blush pretty much every time we talk about him," Sero added.

All Kirishima could do was voice his thoughts. "Finding someone attractive and actually liking them are two different things, guys."

"But you blush, man," Kaminari said, leaning forward a bit. "Like, half the guys on campus think Momo is hot but they don't blush the way you do when they talk about her. It's different." At that comment, Jirou sent her elbow in the direction of Kaminari's ribs, causing him to flinch but automatically turn with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, babe. You know you're the only one for me, though."

"You're an idiot, Denki," she muttered.

"Guys, just friggen tell me what to do," Kirishima mumbled, leaning back against the coffee table and letting his head hang back in frustration. "How the hell do I figure out if I like him or not?"

"I mean, it kinda sounds like you should give it a couple more weeks, yeah?" Sero suggested.

"And pay attention to how you feel and act around him," Mina added. "Like, if there are butterflies and you feel super happy when you're talking to him, and you start to feel like you wanna be around him all the time and stuff, I think you'll know then."

"And," Jirou cut in, "I think when you know, you'll just know. You can't really force it."

A long, frustrated breath blew past Kirishima's lips. He was afraid they would say something like that, but truthfully he'd already sort of known he'd have no other choice but to wait it out. And damn, he hated waiting. Unfortunately at this point, that seemed to be his only option. So wait he would.  

---

Bahaha this fic is so cheesy and dumb, I'm having so much fun with it c:

Also, I have no idea why I use everyone's surnames except for Mina ;-; Whoops?

Anyhoo, thanks for the continued support and all of the votes and such on this so far! I really appreciate it ♥