Kirishima's PoV

The blood was rushing in my ears while I tried not to show any sign of my fear. How stupid could one be? I had felt so safe, assuming that the royal troops were staying at the other hostel. Were they all here after all? Or was the dragonslayer alone?

Bakugou rolled his eyes. He probably thought I was so frozen because of his words. In an effort to appear quite normal, I bent over the map and tried to memorize it.

"Where are you going?" Bakugou asked me casually and looked at me with interest. Now that I knew who he was, I didn't like his curiosity at all. I had to lie.

"I want to go to Nirakawa," I said. It was the only village I really knew and of course it was the opposite of my travel direction. I followed the forest path with my finger, which I had come as if I really wanted to go there. "Seems simple to me," I said and looked at him smiling. "Thank you for letting me look at it." I was about to take my dirty dishes back to the counter and get away from him as inconspicuously and quickly as possible as he held me back by my wrist.

Bakugou's PoV

I don't know exactly why I did this, but I didn't want him to go so soon. I couldn't remember the last time someone just approached me like that. After all, I was Bakugou. The dreaded dragonslayer. Most of the time people flinched when I looked at them. But the redhead had looked away only embarrassed when I had caught him staring. He seemed a little nervous, but I thought it was kind of cute. And well - I don't want to lie - he looked damn good. He looked bold and his red eyes shone powerfully. Besides, I could need a little distraction from my mission.

But when I held him back, he looked rather insecure. What should I say now? I cleared my throat. I asked, "Do you want a drink?" and forced myself to smile.

His eyes widened in surprise and he seemed torn. I cursed myself inwardly for exposing myself to such vulnerability. Damn why did that make me so insecure? Normally I didn't let anyone close to me, but this man had impressed me for some reason. But when he didn't answer I let go of his wrist.

"All right," the redhead replied surprisingly, but looked at the door for a moment before hesitatingly sitting down. He suddenly seemed so shy, although he had been the one who had approached me. Nevertheless, I smiled at him slightly, relieved that he had not refused my invitation.

I spotted the employee at the counter and waved him to me. "Bring us two mugs of beer." He just nodded and disappeared into the next room.

"So what's your name?" I asked him.

The redhead laughed a little and then looked at me cheekily. "Do I have to answer?" he asked with a mischievous smile.

Even though I was admittedly a little surprised by his answer - or rather by the absence of an answer - I had to grin. I liked his mysterious manner even more. "Dangerous times, huh? Then I'll just have to think of a name."

The mischievous grin of the redhead became wider. "Okay, then think of something," he said challenging and his red eyes sparkled as he looked at me expectantly.

I pretended to have to think, but actually a name came to my mind immediately. My gaze wandered over his red tunic, up over his trained upper body, which was only partially covered by the vest, to his red hair and then landed again in his red eyes. "Red?" I asked calmly.

He smiled at me. "Sounds good." Then he looked at me frowning and seemed to think sharply about something.

"Spit it, what do you want to ask?" I asked with a raised eyebrow as he kept looking at me wordlessly.

"What should I call you?" he finally asked.

I snorted amused. "Best by my name. Bakugou." I expected him to realize that he was sitting at the table with the famous dragonslayer, but Red just nodded and looked away frowning.

I couldn't think long about this unusual behavior, because the waiter came back from the neighboring room and put a mug of beer in front of each of us. I grabbed it and took a deep sip, but at first Red looked suspiciously at the brew in his hands. "What, never drank beer before?" I asked teasingly.

He looked at me embarrassed and shook his head. Who had never drunk beer before? But before I could ask, he laid the mug on his lips and sipped on it. He didn't seem to find it that bad, because he immediately took a few more sips.

Maybe it was just the alcohol, but Red relaxed more and more and we fell into a pleasant conversation. Even though he still evaded my personal questions, I learned a lot about him. He left out all the detailed information, but was able to talk for hours about the little things that excited him. His red eyes then seemed to glow and began to gesticulate wildly with his hands when he wanted to highlight something.

The waiter brought and new beer. Once. And then a second time. I looked at the redhead in front of me and again and again a small smile put itself on my lips, when he let himself be carried away by one of his stories.

"Have you ever seen snow?" he asked me during one of his remarks. He didn't give me time to answer, he just kept talking. "I don't know where you come from, but near the coast it rarely gets cold enough for that. But in that one year, when I was still a child, it got really cold and I was standing at the window all the time hoping that maybe it would snow after all. But the days went by and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky! But one night I woke up and looked outside and it was snowing! Really big white flakes everywhere! Of course I immediately ran out and stood in the spectacle with my arms outstretched." He laughed a little and spread out his arms to show me how it had been. "I didn't even notice how wet I got. I caught an enormous cold and got into a lot of trouble because I just went out at night." He giggled slightly and took another sip of his beer.

I laughed heartily. Not necessarily because of the story, but because his enthusiasm was so contagious. Smiling I looked at him as he put the now empty mug back on the table. He shoved it aside.

I hesitated for a moment, but then I stretched out my hand and laid it on his. Red flinched for a moment, but then looked at me with a smile. Throughout our conversation, his long red strands of hair fell in his face. That looked kind of cute, but I wanted to see his face so badly. So I raised my hand and placed it on his left cheek. He closed his eyes briefly and leaned a little into the touch, which encouraged me and I pushed one of his red strands behind his ear.

I leaned a little forward and he looked at me with a dreamy smile as I put the second hand on his face and stroked the rest of his hair from his face.

With my thumb I stroked his cheekbone while looking at his beautiful face. His lips were full and seemed incredibly soft. His red, powerfully sparkling eyes were framed by dark eyelashes. His small scar under his right eyebrow made him look bold.

Then suddenly I realized it. I let go of his face and stared at him. Red eyes. Long hair, even if it wasn't black. About 170cm. A scar under the right eyebrow! Kirishima.

In his eyes I saw the confirmation, because suddenly there was nothing but pure panic to be seen in them.