this chapter makes me pretty happy, not even gonna lie :3

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Bakugou

Shopping was... fucking annoying. Always had been to Bakugou, and now even more so that he was having to try on all these formal outfits and shit to fit the theme of this stupid dance. The only thing that kept him from saying 'fuck it' and bowing out was the look of excitement in Kirishima's eyes. He had hardly stopped talking about the dance since the night Bakugou had asked him and although he was internally annoyed by it, even he didn't have the heart to shut him up.

And yet even he had to admit it was worth it once he saw Kirishima dressed up. It was a simple suit—black pants, shoes, dress shirt and suit jacket with a red tie (and the dog tag necklace tucked underneath his shirt)—but it suited him so damn well. Before he saw Kirishima wearing it, Bakugou never understood what kind of shitty appeal there was to dressing up.

And so he'd 'suffer' through the night in his own weird getup that didn't fucking suit him at all, even though Kirishima's eyes had fucking sparkled the first time he wore it. It matched Kirishima's, with the black shoes, pants, and the red dress suit being the same shade as the other's tie, but he was without a jacket and instead sported a black vest decorated with white roses on the sides and back. Somehow, he was talked into wearing a shitty black tie, too—the thing Kirishima had to help him with because he'd never given a shit to learn how to tie himself.

He refused to go without his eyeliner and shark tooth necklace, though. If he was forced to go in some goddamn monkey suit, he should at least get to wear something he was comfortable with

"You look handsome as hell, Katsuki," Kirishima told him with a proud smile.

"...why don't you go tell that to your damn reflection?" Bakugou told him, fiddling with the tie again. It was so fucking tight. Why couldn't fucking t-shirts be considered formal? Or leather jackets?

"I'm... gonna take that as a compliment, so thanks," Kirishima said.

"What the hell else would it be?"

"Well when you're ready we gotta go meet the others at the parking lot to wait for the bus."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Bakugou would never admit aloud that he was stalling, but he had a feeling Kirishima knew it anyway, especially with the way he tugged him out the door when he finally said he was ready.

Most of the fucking school was at the parking lot, all dressed up and crowded around the sidewalks and grass areas near the front entrance to the academic building. Mina's bright pink hair was what helped them find their group, fortunately a bit out of the way of most of the people mulling around and blabbering on about whatever high school bullshit they talked about.

"Oh my god! You guys look amazing!" Mina exclaimed when they walked up. To no surprise, she was in a sparkly purple dress with her hair clipped back.

"Thanks. You look great, too," Kirishima told her. "Everybody does."

Bakugou looked the others over, finding it weird that they all looked so damned dressed up. Sero's outfit wasn't all that different from Kirishima's, though it was gray with a white tie rather than black with a red tie. Kaminari wore similar black pants and shoes but a simple white dress shirt with a black bow. And Jirou... looked girlier than Bakugou—and maybe anyone—had ever seen her, with a flower clipped into her hair, a pink and purple dress, pink shoes, and a black jacket. Her makeup matched, too. The whole thing screamed Mina, but she looked content enough.

While they waited, the others insisted upon a small photoshoot and, of course, forced Bakugou to join in as much as part of him would've liked to go the fuck back to his room. But he humored them and did his best to not look... totally uncomfortable.

Much to his relief, the buses showed up mid-photoshoot and spared him from having to suffer through any more—for the moment. He was damn sure Mina wouldn't let them get away with not taking any more shitty photos throughout the whole stupid dance; that just how she was, and he was never that lucky.

"Last chance to back out," Kirishima told him while they were in line to get on the bus.

"Be quiet and get on the damn bus, Ei," he'd muttered, earning a small snicker.

The ride to the banquet hall—that was clearly not going to be used for an actual fucking banquet—was just under half an hour long. Bakugou was glad to be squished up against the window beside Kirishima, who'd let Sero perch on the end of the seat on his other side. He wasn't forced to talk to anybody and watching the world go by outside allowed him to tune out the chatter around him when he wasn't being talked to.

Okay, he really wasn't that miserable. He was with Shitty Hair, after all, and the idiot's happiness about going to this stupid thing was infectious, even to him. It couldn't be that damn bad—or so he kept telling himself. There were rumors about free food, too, and it wasn't like he'd have to talk to anybody that wasn't the main group of losers he usually hung out with.

The part that got him was actually dancing, something he had zero experience in. There was no fucking way he'd be able to wing his way through it and feel comfortable doing so, either. That was, unless Kirishima somehow knew what the fuck he was doing and could guide him through it...

"So the buses leave at midnight," Kirishima was saying as they were back in line to get off the bus. "But if you wanna leave before that, we can find another bus stop or something and I can pay for a ride back to campus."

"'Kay," was all Bakugou said.

"Just let me know, alright? And don't pretend like you wanna be here if you'd rather leave, okay?"

Bakugou just clicked the back of his tongue and took Kirishima's hand once they'd stepped off the bus. They followed the crowd, hand in hand, up to the large brick, fancy-looking building where music was already leaking from the huge double doors and lights inside were twinkling and flashing in different arrays of colors. The room had been cleared of what Bakugou could only assume had been large tables and converted into what looked more like a ballroom, with white leather mats covering the entirety of the floor and a DJ booth on the platform that could only be the stage. Large windows lined each wall, and there was even a goddamn disco ball hanging from the ceiling. The place was as big as a friggen gymnasium.

"Guess this place is more than just a banquet hall," Sero said, gawking around the entire room.

"It's a lot fancier than even I'd imagined," Mina said excitedly.

"Momo told me there's a professional photographer," Jirou said. "She said the first photo is free, too."

"Let's do it, babe!" Kaminari said. "Where do we find 'em?"

"Let's check the signs..." Jirou was saying as they wandered off.

"I'm gonna go find Ochako and Tsu," Mina said. "Let's meet back here in half an hour?" She was already backing away as she said it, leaving the remaining three with nothing to do but nod in agreement.

"And I'm gonna go request some tunes," Sero said. "You kids don't do anything crazy!" he shouted as he walked away.

Already the room was filled with chatter and music. People mulled around throughout the entire space, some already dancing while others were holding drinks, the majority doing little more than standing around in couples or groups talking.

"What do you wanna do?" Kirishima asked.

"Don't care," Bakugou told him. Anything but dance, he thought, hoping that by some miracle the thought was loud enough for Kirishima to hear.

"Let's go find something to eat, then," he said, tugging Bakugou off in the direction Kaminari and Jirou had gone to follow the signs around the building.

Just off of the main room was a long, rectangular one with a table running through the center of it filled with food, food, and more food. It smelled fucking amazing, too, and was declared completely free by the sign just outside the door. There were, of course, already people picking away at things and filling up plastic cups with different kinds of drinks stored in coolers along one wall.

"Oh hell yeah," Kirishima said with that same huge grin, not hesitating at all to pull Bakugou into the room.

"It's about damn time the rich fucks who own the school do something nice for us," Bakugou said.

They grabbed some plates and walked around the table, picking their own way away at some of the things there were. There was so much shit, Bakugou couldn't even begin to name the half of it. Of course, Dumb Hair's plate was filled with almost nothing but meat by the time they'd gone around the entire table twice.

"I swear you're gonna turn into a fucking cow," Bakugou told him.

"What? Protein is good for you!" he defended.

Halfway to finding a place to sit back outside where the air was finally warm, not holding any trace of the cold Bakugou had adapted to brace himself for whenever he went outside, they ran into none other than fucking Deku and his Half-and-Half date, or whatever. And since Kirishima spotted them first, there was no way to pull him off to the side before their paths intersected.

"Oh wow, I didn't expect to see you here, Kacchan," Deku said.

"He came 'cause I wanted to," Kirishima explained. "You guys look good, by the way."

"Thanks, Kirishima. Where'd you guys find the food? Todoroki and I were just heading off to look for it but there are so many people here."

Bakugou was gritting his teeth the whole time Kirishima was giving them directions to the food, but fortunately they started to head off to it right away. Just before they disappeared, though, Deku said, "Hey, I'm really glad things worked out for you guys!"

"Thanks, Midoriya! You, too!" Kirishima called after them.

"The fuck was that about?" Bakugou asked as they continued their search for a place to sit.

"What do you mean?"

"What did he mean he's happy for us or whatever? He acted like he played some sort of part in getting us together."

"Let's sit here," Kirishima said, pointing to a short, gray brick wall. "And... in a way he did?" he mumbled, already going after one of his meat kabobs. "He's part of what gave me the confidence to finally ask you out."

"What?"

Kirishima smiled sheepishly. "Remember that time he helped us study for math in the library? He texted me afterwards and asked me if there was somethin' between us... and he, uh, kinda told me something about you acting differently around me? In a good way. And knowing that pushed me in the right direction."

"...hmph," Bakugou grunted.

"Do you really have something against him, Katsuki?"

"No. He's just a damn nerd that followed me around like a lost puppy when we were kids."

And yet for the first damn time in his life, knowing Deku for so fucking long seemed to work out in his favor. As minor of a part as he played in he and Kirishima finally getting together, who the hell knew if Dumb Hair would've had the guts to finally ask him out, or if Bakugou would ever realize just how much this loser meant to him? Don't get him wrong—he wasn't going to thank Deku or anything. Not outwardly, anyway.

As the night went on, a few easy conversations between the two of them and whoever came over to say hi to Kirishima while they ate and then wandered around the dancefloor, Bakugou felt himself loosening up. The music wasn't awful and most of the time Kirishima was the one to do all the talking.

They met back up with Mina and the rest of the group at the same spot she'd asked them to, and once again she was in photoshoot mode.

"Man, my phone memory is gonna be totally full by the time the night is over," she said, scrolling through them once they were done.

It wasn't long before they split up again, tugged away by other friends or Kaminari asking Jirou if she wanted to dance, leaving them to disappear into the crowd of people actually dancing.

This shit wasn't as nearly as bad as Bakugou had thought, admittedly. Though, the one thing he could've done without was Shitty Hair checking up on him every five goddamn minutes.

"Are you having fun?" he'd asked, to which Bakugou would respond with a small shrug or nod. "You're not getting tired, are you?" "We can still go anytime you want, man."

"Stop being so damn paranoid, Hair for Brains," Bakugou told him, to which Kirishima responded with a rueful smile.

"Sorry, babe. I just know you didn't wanna come in the first place, so—"

"I don't give a fuck. I'm fine."

And he was. He was just happy to be with his dumb boyfriend, regardless of the dance or the suit that wasn't all that uncomfortable anymore, or all the people surrounding them and the fact that the main 'ballroom' was warm from all the body heat. Kirishima was there, still holding his hand and looking more goddamn gorgeous than ever, and that was all he fucking needed.

So, before he knew it and without really understanding what the hell had come over him, he was saying, "C'mon. Let's go dance or whatever."

"Wait—seriously?" Kirishima asked.

When Bakugou heard it—heard what he'd said—his stomach flopped uneasily. Still, he went on, "It's a fucking dance, isn't it? Why the hell not?"

"Do you... know how to dance?" Kirishima asked, eyes narrowed a bit in his skepticism.

"Not really. I figured I'd just wing it."

"Ah man," Kirishima snickered. "Well, lucky for you, I've done this before so I kinda know what to do. Follow my lead."

Kirishima

Kirishima couldn't stop his ear-to-ear smile as Bakugou (somehow) willingly followed him onto the main part of the dance floor from where they'd been standing near the door. He couldn't believe Bakugou had been the one to suggest they dance; of both of them, he'd sooner see himself doing that, though he hadn't planned to because up until about thirty seconds ago, he was absolutely sure Bakugou wouldn't want to.

When he turned around once they were situated in their own little bubble of space among the other dancers, he did everything humanly possible to try and commit the look on Bakugou's face to memory. His brow was furrowed into a frown the way it did when he was nervous, and one of the rings in his lip was tugged inward, clearly caught by a tooth. The dim lighting didn't allow him to catch on to whether Bakugou was blushing, but he'd be shocked if he wasn't. Even he had heat stinging gently at the tips of his ears and butterflies in his stomach, but that wasn't enough to get him to back out.

"You sure you wanna do this?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Shut up and show me what the fuck to do already."

"'Kay. Gimme your hands."

Bakugou did just that. Kirishima found them to be slightly shaking when he took hold of them, so he murmured, "Hey, 's just me, man. You trust me, yeah?"

"Of course I fucking trust you."

Kirishima said nothing else as he reached up and placed Bakugou's hands on his shoulders, up towards his neck. Bakugou latched onto him, and Kirishima didn't miss how his Adam's apple bobbed with a hard swallow. "Just rest 'em there, like that, and then..." His own hand slid down Bakugou's arms and sides until they came to rest on his waist. He pulled him just a little bit closer, causing Bakugou to stumble a bit.

"Relax, Katsuki. All you gotta do is kinda find the beat with your feet. We can either just go back and forth or like, go in little circles if you wanna. They've been playing pretty slow music most of the evening, so 's not like we'll have to tango or anything."

Bakugou scoffed at that and Kirishima laughed. When it was clear Bakugou wasn't going to take the initiative, something Kirishima had given him the option of to make sure he was as comfortable as possible, he did it himself. Like most of the people around them, they moved in small circles in their own bubble of space.

Gradually, throughout the last half of the song they began in and the next, Kirishima could feel the other physically relaxing. At one point, though he didn't specifically remember doing it, he leaned his head closer to rest their foreheads together, his eyes closing. He was completely content there, resting up against Bakugou, feeling the sturdiness of him, being in his arms. Six months ago, though he'd imagined things like this more often than he'd like to admit, he always doubted that something like this could actually happen. But now it was. And there were no words to describe his happiness.

When the second or third song came to a close (he'd lost count) and the crowd did their strange clapping thing at the end, another, more upbeat one started to play for once, causing them both to stop and open their eyes. A look of subtle irritation was on Bakugou's face when Kirishima looked him over, so he reached for his hand and started leading him back out of the crowd, over toward a set of glass doors that led onto a, surprisingly, empty patio.

"Shit," Bakugou breathed when they were back into the outside air, cool in contrast to the warmth of the room. "'S fucking hot in there."

Kirishima hummed his agreement as he leaned up against another short brick wall. He slid out his phone to check the time just as Bakugou asked for it.

"Almost ten," he answered. "How ya feelin'?"

"Fine. You?"

"Good. Great, actually."

"Hmph. You're a loser," Bakugou said, tone coated with affection.

They sat in their own quiet for a while. The music coming from inside was muffled by the doors, allowing them to hear the chirping of a few nearby crickets and an overhead airplane.

"Hey," Kirishima found himself saying after a bit.

"Mm?"

"Thank you."

Bakugou turned, eyes narrow in confusion. "For dancing with you?"

"Hm, well, that too, I guess," Kirishima told him. "But I meant for everything."

"'S just a dance, Dumb Hair, I—"

"No, no," Kirishima said, "I mean... everything, man. The dance, too, but like, all of it."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

With a huff, Kirishima rubbed his forehead. "Ah, man, I'm not usually this bad with words..." he mumbled. "Maybe it would be better if I showed you?"

"Then do it," Bakugou said, standing up straight to face him.

That was all the encouragement Kirishima needed, really. Kissing Bakugou felt so freaking natural now—not that it hadn't before. It was just so much easier to lean in, to gently rest his hand along the curve of Bakugou's jaw while the other latched onto his ribs, and capture the other's lips with his own. While months ago he thought the piercings might get in the way, they only seemed to enhance the experience. He liked gently hooking a tooth on one of the rings and lightly tugging, and the stud in Bakugou's tongue only provided him with more opportunity to play.

He kept things on the affectionate, loving side this time, though, all too aware of the hundreds of people they were only separated from by a wall, and wanting to convey the thank you he was so desperately feeling the need to share with Bakugou through this physical contact.

By the time they pulled themselves apart, Kirishima having pressed Bakugou gently back into the wall, they were both breathless.

"Does, uh... did that help you understand?" Kirishima murmured.

"...hm... yeah, think so," Bakugou mumbled in a slight slur.

And then in a sudden fit of giddiness, a laugh burst from Kirishima's throat and he threw his arms around Bakugou, holding him as absolutely tight as he dared.

"I'm just so fucking happy to be with you, man!" he laughed, feeling the other's arms automatically encircle him, too, and knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that months ago, Bakugou would've likely retaliated rather than return the embrace.

With a soft voice Kirishima also wanted to commit to memory, Bakugou said, "...me too, Dumb Hair. Me too."

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i'm kinda sad to say there are only 2 chapters left after this. the mini-sequel i promised a while ago is still a thing, but i have a few things that are taking slight priority over them at this point so i don't know when i'll have that up (especially considering it's not fully planned yet... heh). but, i have like 3 other things i'm working on, plus the rest of I Will Never Find Another You (that you should totally go read if you haven't and ya like some angst ;) *shameless self-promotion is shameless*), all of which are also Kiribaku so there will be no shortage of stories of mine for you guys to read if you'd like :3 ♥ 

thanks for sticking around, thanks for getting this thing up to almost 150K reads so quickly, for getting me up to nearly 2K followers and being overall supportive and great in general (despite your obsession with the 'bananas', lmfao). i can't express how much i appreciate all of your support, and i hope you enjoy the last two chapters as much as you've enjoyed the first 35. ♥

(also y'all are crazy if you thought i wasn't gonna incorporate the suits from the movie)