FIRST AND FOREMOST: thank all of you so, so much for your kind words and support after last week's... mess, aha. it means so much to me fjlaksdf.

and to those of you who donated to my ko-fi, thank you so much!! it really did help! ♥ if you want me to write something for you, the offer still stands! just message me; again, the best way to reach me is my instagram @/porcelainriot! i have Twitter, too, @/PorcelainRiot (you'll know it's me 'cause the pinned tweet is Kiribaku x3).

to those who said you'd like to donate but couldn't, i still really appreciate the sentiment! it means more than you know to know that i have people willing to support me like that. ♥

---

Kirishima

The day of midterms was a mess. Kirishima was already on the verge of a headache by the middle of third period, and he hadn't even made it to math to take that exam yet. Lunch, he hoped, would restore some of the energy he'd lost in the first couple of classes. He was more than looking forward to gulping down an entire bottle of Dr. Pepper to give him the extra boost he needed, too, to make up for losing sleep due to nerves and, well, thinking too much. He was pretty sure he hadn't fallen asleep until nearly two in the morning, resulting in the loss of at least three hours of sleep.

Fortunately his first few finals weren't too bad. He was pretty good at remembering major events in history, which was the bulk of that midterm, and all his Language Arts teacher had the class do was reread over the essays they'd been working on for the past month one more time before turning them in and then allowing them extra study time for any other midterms while she played a quiet movie in the background and worked at her desk. Art was, of course, pretty damn easy for him too, despite all of the distractions floating around the back of his mind. One thing was for certain—he couldn't wait to be done with all these tests and spend the next day enjoying the Winter Holiday festival before he had to pack and get ready to go home for the break.

Yet somehow even that left him preoccupied with conflict. A part of him—a huge part, at that—was more than ecstatic to get home and see his parents again after more than four months. Christmas wasn't his favorite holiday, but Kirishima always loved spending time with his family. On the other hand, it meant going without seeing his friends—Bakugou especially—for just over three weeks. It was such a silly thing to be upset about; it wasn't like he wouldn't see them in January the minute they got back, or like he didn't have another entire semester to spend with them. Plus, he had no plans to stop messaging Bakugou and sending him memes just because of the break...

But then there was the whole matter of Midoriya's text message. It had been over a week ago, but of course it hadn't ever slipped Kirishima's mind for more than a second. He'd purposely neglected telling his friends about it, though, and played off any of his 'odd behavior' on midterms stress, which they seemed to buy... for a while.

Bakugou didn't join them for lunch that day because he'd been in his last meeting of the semester with Mr. Aizawa, so he said in a message that was waiting on Kirishima's phone when he dragged his feet out of fifth period to head to the mess hall. So, of course, that was when the rest of his friends took the opportunity to interrogate him.

"What's been going on with you, man?" Sero asked once they were all seated.

"Whattaya mean?" responded Kirishima without making eye contact. "I already told you I'm just super stressed about all these tests."

"Yeah, but you already told us you felt more confident after you spent last week studying with Midoriya," Mina pointed out. "Plus, it's not like you to stress this much."

"So there's gotta be somethin' you're not telling us," Sero said.

Hesitantly, Kirishima pushed his spaghetti around his plate. "...alright, you got me. But if I tell you, you gotta promise not to freak out on me, 'kay?"

"That depends—" Mina began, but was promptly nudged under the table by Jirou, who said, "Is it safe to assume it's about Bakugou?"

Kirishima nodded as he slid out his phone and navigated his way to his text conversation with Midoriya. Wordlessly he passed the device over to Mina first, who he swore read the whole thing without blinking once. Jirou read it over her shoulder. The second they finished was obvious, because Mina's big, amber eyes widened to the size of the moon and she sucked in a lungful of air, but before she could start squealing, as the rest of them knew she would, Jirou yanked the phone from her hand and curled an arm around her head to cover her mouth. Jirou single-handedly worked on calming her down while Kaminari read the messages and then passed the phone to Sero.

"Dude," Sero deadpanned as soon as he was done. "When are you gonna stop being in denial?"

"It's not denial!" Kirishima denied—and then immediately realized the irony of his words. "I'm just trying not to get my hopes up," he continued weakly.

"We've been over this, man," Kaminari said.

"Everybody sees it but you two," Jirou added, shaking her head with a small, sly grin. "Feels like something right out of a movie."

"It does!" Mina gushed. "Come on, Kiri! You should just ask him out already. There's no way he won't say yes."

"But—"

"If Midoriya sees that there's somethin' going on between you guys, and he doesn't hang around both of you that often, and he's known Bakugou since they were little kids, I don't think you have much reason to think he doesn't like you," Kaminari pointed out.

"But what if he just sees me as a friend?" Kirishima mumbled, going back to avoiding eye contact and staring down his spaghetti.

The four of them—Mina and Jirou especially—exchanged a look. "I don't know anybody who flirts with their friends, Mina. Do you?" Jirou asked.

"Nope. Not at all."

"What?!" Kirishima practically spat past a bite of food. "He doesn't flirt—"

"Well, 's kinda hard to tell," Sero interrupted. "Since y'know, flirting is usually cute and fluffy but Bakugou's super, like, aggressive and all that."

"Aw man. Am I the only rational one around here?" mumbled Kirishima. "'S like you guys want him to like me so you see stuff that's not there."

"Do you not want him to like you?" Mina asked.

"Of—of course I do!" he sputtered. "But I'm not gonna try to see stuff that isn't there just to make myself believe it."

The group fell silent for a moment, giving Kirishima the opportunity to start sucking down his Dr. Pepper. Man he was exhausted, and these guys going on about insisting that his feelings for Bakugou were mutual wasn't helping. Already he regretted showing them those text messages.

"I guess I can see some self-fulfilling prophecy here," Jirou was the one to murmur.

"What does that mean?" Mina mumbled.

"A self-fulfilling prophecy is when you believe something and then act in accordance with that belief whether reality supports it or not."

"Ohhh." The girl's shoulders slumped a bit. "Hmm. Maybe you're right? But I don't wanna give up hope on Kiri's happiness."

At that, Kirishima couldn't help but chuckle. "C'mon, guys, 's not like if nothing ever happens with these silly feelings I have I'll never be happy again," he said.

"I know, but I do want him to like you back! You guys are already such good friends and we all see how happy he makes you," she said hopefully.

"Plus, you haven't liked anyone this much for this long in... uh, ever," Kaminari interjected.

"And he obviously really likes your memes," Sero said. "'Cause he sends them back."

"And you can't deny that since Midoriya noticed something, there's nothing."

"I know, I know," Kirishima told them. "Maybe... we'll see what happens after the break. Just 'cause I don't wanna get my hopes up doesn't mean I'm going to give up. Right now I just wanna focus on passing my midterms and then having fun at the festival tomorrow before we go home for three weeks. I just wanna do all this at my own pace, y'know?"

A small chorus of agreements went around the other four, as well as apologies, which he easily brushed off. Their conversation from then on drifted over midterms and toward the festival, and while Kirishima was grateful to have the spotlight off of him and his crush again, the whole thing hung around incessantly in the background of his thoughts.

⚜️

Math, inevitably and unsurprisingly, was the absolute worst. And of course all Kirishima could seem to think of were the dozens upon dozens of math memes he had saved on his phone—all of the ones he and Bakugou had been exchanging during their cramming.

If only there were memes about these equations... he thought glumly, scratching the eraser end of his pencil against his temple. All that did was bring to mind that weird equation where, if you covered the top half, it spelled out 'I love you.' Mina or Sero would definitely tell me to send that to Bakugou...

Kirishima physically shook himself and sucked in a deep, quiet breath. Now was not the time to be distracted. He had plenty of time for that over the next three weeks. With as much determination as he could muster, he put pencil back to paper.

⚜️

>Guys! Meet in the game room ASAP

Kirishima read the group text from Kaminari on his way back to the dorm after his eighth period midterm was over and continued on his small detour to his room to drop off his backpack.

"Aw, don't tell me you skipped out on your last test!" he said as soon as he entered the room to find Bakugou lying across his bed, attention, typically, on his phone.

"Fuck no. You're just a slow walker," he said, sitting up. "I'm not an idiot."

"Good," Kirishima said in relief, dropping his backpack in its usual spot. "Kami wants us all to meet in the game room as soon as possible for some reason. You comin'?"

"Sure," Bakugou mumbled.

For the first time in weeks Kirishima elected to take his skateboard since the sidewalks were finally clear. Usually he'd leave it so he could walk with Bakugou, but his board hadn't been used in so long and he admittedly felt bad for leaving it in the closet for so long, especially after working so hard to make it himself. He made sure to keep a good pace with his roommate, circling around him when he'd gone too fast.

"Hey, so... are you still planning on staying for the festival tomorrow?" he asked Bakugou, remembering the announcement made at the end of lunch. Mr. Aizawa had let them know they were free to go for the break as soon as their last midterm was complete, something that had been undecided up until then.

"Dunno. Probably, since my mom won't wanna be bothered to come get me early."

"Really?"

"Yeah. They're s'posed to come on Friday and she's probably got all this shit planned around it that she won't wanna move around just to make the trip."

"Gotcha."

"You?"

"What? Oh, yeah, I'm staying."

The only one of their group who was already in the game room when the two of them arrived was Kaminari, occupying the couch in the corner. Mina was practically right behind Kirishima and Bakugou, and it only took Sero another few minutes to show up after her.

Kaminari's 'emergency' meeting turned out to be that he needed help planning something to surprise Jirou for the next day's festival and was slightly panicking about whether she was still planning to attend now that it was announced that they were allowed to leave a day early. She was; in fact, it turned out none of them had plans to go home early, which resulted in the planning of Kami's surprise for Jirou and an agreement to all meet up somewhere in the festival afterward (as if they wouldn't have anyway, Kirishima couldn't help but think).

Once the plan was in place, Jirou eventually showed up and the group took turns trying to beat Bakugou at pool for the remainder of the evening. The only one who came even moderately close to catching up to him was Kirishima, but even he couldn't figure out quite how to keep the cue ball from sinking.

The six of them went through the usual motions of getting dinner together, having their casual banter in which Bakugou collectively called them 'idiots' or 'morons' more than once before they broke off and headed in for the night, too worn out from a day of tests to do much of anything else. Kirishima lost count of how many times he'd yawned throughout dinner and on the way back to the door until it got to the point where he was apologizing, especially when the yawns spread to Bakugou. It wasn't long before they both decided to turn in despite the relatively early time. Kirishima's mind was somehow still spinning with everything that'd followed him throughout the day and only stopped when he finally fell into a comfortable sleep.

⚜️

The Winter Festival wasn't much different from the Halloween party, what with game booths being set up around campus, a party/dance taking place in the gym, and different holiday-themed activities in the classrooms of the main school building. Everything was already in full swing by the time Kirishima and Bakugou wandered out of their room together at nearly noon, headed to meet the rest of the group who had clearly been up for a while.

"What the hell took you guys so long?" Kaminari asked when they finally showed up just outside the gym. By the light in his eyes and the subtle smile on Jirou's face, who had her arm linked through his, it was evident he'd already given her the surprise of two concert tickets to a band she really liked (the idea courtesy of Mina, who'd heard of the show a few weeks prior).

"Just woke up," Kirishima told him with a slight laugh.

"It's noon!" Mina said.

"We were tired," Bakugou deadpanned. "You guys are the abnormal ones getting up so fucking early."

"Kiri never sleeps 'til noon," Sero said.

Kirishima shrugged. "I was sleepy."

"Orrr, were you two—" Mina started, a sly grin forming, only to be nudged by Sero to shut her up. "Hey, I was kidding!" she defended quickly.

"...fucking weird asses," muttered Bakugou before yawning.

"Let's go play some games," Kaminari suggested.

"You guys go ahead," Kirishima urged. "I think Bakubro and I are gonna go see what we can scrounge up for breakfast. Er... lunch, I guess. We'll meet up after that."

At the nickname, Kaminari snickered. "Okie dokes," he said.

"What?" Jirou was asking as the four of them split off from Bakugou and Kirishima, who headed toward the mess hall.

"Remind me why the fuck I hang out with those losers again," sighed Bakugou.

"'Cause they're your friends, man," Kirishima said. "I know you like 'em."

"Hmph. Whatever. Don't know what the fuck 'okie dokes' means, though."

At the sound of those words passing Bakugou's lips, Kirishima couldn't help but laugh. "Dude, don't say that," he managed past his chortles.

"I don't. I'm not a loser like Pikachu."

"Nah, it just sounds really weird in your voice." Kirishima passed a plate to Bakugou before they headed down the buffet.

"It sounds fucking weird in anyone's voice."

"Hm. Touche, I guess."

The two fell into silence as they filled their plates and moved to sit at a table. Kirishima was happy to quickly dig into his food, but it was only then when everything that had been bugging him the previous day rushed forward again and he could physically feel his shoulders slumping a bit. To his mild surprise, it didn't go unnoticed by his roommate, either.

"Fuck's up with you?" he mumbled around a bite of sandwich.

"Nothin'," Kirishima told him. "Just worried about my test scores and stuff. Y'know."

"No one looks that fucking dejected about shitty test scores," Bakugou told him.

"Whattaya mean by 'dejected'?"

"Dunno. You look like someone just deflated you like a balloon or someshit." He stuffed another bite of sandwich in, like he was embarrassed by his own words, and punctuated it with a halfhearted shrug. Kirishima let out a small laugh, but said nothing more, leaving Bakugou to speak up again. "So are you gonna tell me or what?"

"Huh? Oh. Um, 's not that big of a deal."

"Just fucking tell me, you idiot," huffed Bakugou impatiently.

"Okay, okay! I'm... I'm just not all that great with breaks, y'know? Like, I'm really excited to go home for a couple weeks and spend time with my family, but I always end up missing everybody and then I can't wait to come back," Kirishima told him lamely. He knew he sounded ridiculous, but he'd never been a very good liar.

Bakugou's response was exactly what he expected. "Who the fuck is anxious to come back to school?" he muttered. "It's only like two weeks or whatever. 'S not like you're never gonna see anybody again."

"Yeah..." Kirishima mumbled. "I know. I told ya it was dumb."

Bakugou's eyes narrowed a bit, and for a second Kirishima swore he could somehow see beyond the lie. It wasn't totally inaccurate—he would miss everybody, but not enough to want to come back to school any sooner. Even he wasn't that much of a nerd. It wouldn't be hard for any of his other friends to figure out that the reason he felt like crap about the break was because he'd be going three weeks without seeing Bakugou. It seemed silly—and it was. He knew that. But he couldn't help that the gorgeous blonde in front of him was special to him.

"So what, you don't hang out with those losers over break at all?"

"Hm... not really. It's the holidays, y'know? Everybody's always super busy..." Kirishima trailed off, not able to unheart just how ridiculous he sounded.

"What?" Bakugou muttered. "Don't just stop talking in the middle of your sentence."

"Sorry," Kirishima said sheepishly.

"So?"

"So what?"

"So finish, Dumb Hair."

Kirishima's hand tightened around the handle of his fork and he sat up a bit, purposely keeping his eyes away from Bakugou's though he knew those piercing red irises were trained right on him. "Wanna know the truth, then?"

"Was that not the fucking truth? What are you even talking about?"

Somehow, Kirishima felt himself grin. "It was the truth, but not... completely. I am gonna miss them, but 'm gonna miss you, man."

Out of the corner of his vision Kirishima saw the other lean back a little, the hand that held his sandwich lowering to the plate. "So just fuckin' text me," he said. "'S not like you won't see me in like two weeks anyway."

Three weeks, Kirishima mentally corrected. "I know! I guess... ah man, how do I explain this?" He scrambled to find his words, to try and calm his racing heartbeat. He was not ready to confess. Not yet. Especially not right before break. But he couldn't say nothing now. Couldn't not explain himself. "I've known all those guys for years. Since the beginning of high school, at least. And we usually hang out over the summer and keep in touch when we're not in school. I've only known you for like half a year, but you're already one of my best friends and it's like I'm kinda scared that after this year ends you're not gonna care to be friends anymore," he said in a rush. With his breath held, he took the risk and flicked his gaze up to the other's.

"When the fuck did I ever say anything like that?" Bakugou grumbled, setting the sandwich down and a frown pressing into his brow.

"You didn't! I just figured we haven't been friends for long and I know lots of people lose touch after graduation. But heh, I guess I'm pretty lame 'cause I don't want that to happen with us..." Again he trailed off, a hand scratching habitually at the back of his neck.

"So don't let it. I sure as fuck am not gonna, unless you turn into an asshole or something," Bakugou told him. "Stop getting weird ass ideas like that out of nowhere."

Before he'd even finished the sentence, Kirishima felt his smile returning, but more than that—it almost felt like his entire being was lighting up at the sound of those words alone. "That's good to hear, man," he said, holding his fist across the table. "Thanks."

"For what?" Bakugou muttered, but bumped into the fist with his own anyway.

⚜️

The duo didn't bother actively looking for the rest of the group once they finished their meal and headed back out to enjoy the festival. Bakugou agreed to playing some of the games—not much different from the Halloween ones, but altered to be more holiday themed—though they spent the majority merely wandering around talking about everything from winter break plans and to memes, and before Kirishima knew it they'd essentially circled the whole campus and were in front of the main entrance to the mess hall again. Bakugou promptly escaped inside, grumbling something about it being 'too damn cold.'

It was inevitable that they ran into the rest of the group, and they just so happened to be inside in their usual spot, chattering away around a table full of food. The rest of the festival was spent with them, and while Kirishima was happy to be spending the last few hours with them before they had to go finish packing and hit the sack for an early morning, he couldn't help the mild disappointment that his 'alone time' with Bakugou had come to an end. Still, regardless of his crush, Kirishima had never been more sure of his friendship with Bakugou, and he sure as hell couldn't wait to get back from break.

---

...i gotta know - how many of you kind of freaked out at the title when you saw it?

i'm so mean omg.