Kirishima sat on the steps outside of the dorms main door, head in his hands as his left leg was nervously bouncing up and down. Thoughts were racing through his head at an alarming rate. None of them stayed in his head for long enough for him to actually focus on one. His brain didn't even know where to start.

And then he got caught up on one particular thought.

Why didn't I just get six letters from the first name or surname? Why did I choose three from both?

Only a certain amount of letters can be bought that varies from person to person. If Kirishima was at least allowed six, he could've easily been only one letter short from either one of Bakugou's names.

I really am a damn idiot.

But at the time, it kinda made sense. He had some sort of direction at least to the surname too. Since he never even thought of Bakugou as a possibility, he didn't think of just trying to get one name down. He misunderstood the actual significance of these letters.

The worst thing he could possibly do was get his hopes up. If he had a slight suspicion of it being Bakugou, then okay. But if he held onto that suspicion then all he would be is let down. Now with finding his soulmate, it was make or break. It was the guy he pined for or some stranger who he didn't necessarily care for. At least, not in the same way.

What's even worse, is that he totally couldn't show Bakugou this. He couldn't continue telling him the clues he was given or he'd figure it out. If even Sero could find something out of those jumbled letters, then it wouldn't take Bakugou longer than a minute. Kirishima knew how he felt about soulmates already.

But now there was one thing that the red head was certain of, and it was that he was determined to continue searching now. Even if it was just a mere chance, it motivated him, even if subconsciously.

Driving himself physically tired from the thinking, he gripped his chest through his shirt with a determined look on his face.

God, I hope it's him.

Kirishima then stalked his way back to his dorm, skipping the day of school. He did feel nauseous, and his friends would've accounted for him on the whole 'looking like shit' thing. He felt as though he deserved some time alone for-

The door to his dorm was unlocked, immediately snapping the red head's attention to it. Bakugou was the only one with a key and class had started. Was it a teacher maybe? Kirishima didn't know until the door was fully swung open rather aggressively, and there stood a bombshell blonde with papers in his left hand.

Kirishima sat up in his bed and tried to compose himself a bit. He had been staring blankly at the ceiling for longer than he thought he had, beginning to feel sicker by the second.

"Bakugou?" He questioned as the blonde walked into the room, closed the door behind him and made his way towards Kirishima's bed.

"Teacher sent me with the work. Said that I'll apparently have trouble and shit and you're the only fucker I'll accept help from. Stupid bitch."

Kirishima tried to put on a smile but his eyes didn't quite crease like they normally did. Bakugou noticed and started to get slightly pissed off.

Bakugou sat at the bottom of Kirishima's bed, looking through the content properly for the first time.

He didn't fucking care about who Kirishima's soulmate was one damn bit, but after his insane point drop and sudden drop in attitude that seemed to correlate, Bakugou couldn't help but think it had something to do with that.

For the first few minutes, he kept his mouth shut, only spoke about the work they had been assigned. However, he seemed to be gritting his teeth while he talked and his eyebrow twitched in irritation.

"Are... You okay?" Kirishima let out an awkward chuckle as he crawled down the bed until he kneeled next to the blonde.

"I'm fuckin' fine," Bakugou replied, though his voice and face said otherwise. "This is just more soulmate shit." Bakugou continued as he dropped the papers into Kirishima's lap. "Fucking hate this class. It's like there's new shit no one ever tells us about soulmates every damn week. Why can't they just tell us everything at the start?"

"This is all stuff everyone knows because we Google it or ask someone. It's not hard to do. You haven't done any of that so of course, you wouldn't know." Kirishima responded as he began scanning through the information on the paper himself.

"Tch, whatever."

As the red head began reading through the last page, it didn't take him long to realise that Bakugou probably didn't read it, considering how long he actually looked at the papers.

Does he know this?

"Hey, dude-"

"I don't care. Even if it's something I don't know, I don't fucking care." He sighed, standing up and wandering to his own bed. "You look like shit."

"I know." Kirishima laughed, barely paying attention to what the blonde was actually saying as he continued reading.

Bakugou sat with both of his hands resting on the back of his head as he shifted his eyes curiously over to Kirishima.

"Somethin' to do with your point drop?"

"Nah."

He was being dismissive as hell. Whether it was because he was reading or just because he was lying was unclear. Bakugou wasn't the best at reading people, and he hated making assumptions when it came to Kirishima from the fear of being wrong that he would never admit to.

After Kirishima had finished reading the page, he was going back and forth between telling Bakugou what was written there or not. Maybe it only felt relevant to Kirishima because of the situation he was going through, so he thought that maybe he just wasn't thinking rationally. So, he didn't say anything.

"Shouldn't you be going back to class? If you don't need any help and you go back not knowing anything next lesson, the teacher will be mad."

After a long sigh and mentally admitting that the red head was right, Bakugou jumped from his bed and stormed over to Kirishima, picking up the neglected papers from Kirishima's bed. As he got closer to the door, the red head waved the piece of paper he was still holding.

"What about this one?" He tried to ask, but Bakugou either ignored him or didn't hear him through the abrupt slam of the door.

As Kirishima stared at the paper again, a sudden idea barged its way into his head.

Can I use this? He thought, immediately trying to think about how he could pull something like this off. It was too much of a risk if it went wrong, but was the potential reward worth it?

---

"No offence dude, but are you fucking insane‽" Kaminari shouted, his jaw practically dropping to the floor.

"I have to agree with Kami for the most part. If it goes well then all is good, but if it doesn't then... You'd be broken." Ashido agreed, clear worry in her eyes as they drooped at the corners.

"I-I know but... Gah! I just can't get the thought out of my head." Kirishima brought his hands up and ran them through his hair, trying to talk sense into himself.

"Do you not realise that if he knows what this means then you'll be instantly screwed?" Kaminari had slightly calmed down now, though he was definitely still trying to wake Kirishima up to the reality of the situation.

"Maybe you're right. But I don't know what to do! No matter what clue I get from here on out, I'll always be trying to link it to him in some way. Unless I go all out on the risk and spend every last one of my points on the guess, then there's nothing else I can really do!" He had accidentally begun to raise his voice. If anyone had walked into the common room at that point then Kirishima would've had a lot of explaining.

He had barely gotten any sleep the night prior, and texted Kaminari and Mina to meet him at 10 am on Saturday morning. Sero was practically in a coma so he couldn't make it, and Bakugou was thankfully still asleep.

"Wait, what date is it‽" Ashido abruptly stood up from the couch, her aura changing completely as a sudden realisation struck her.

Kaminari was about to grab his phone to check, but Kirishima replied almost instantly.

"Twentieth."

"So today, right now, it's the twentieth of April?" The girl double checked.

Kirishima nodded his head, now calmed down from his previous outbreak.

"Huh? It's 420 and I forgot?" Kaminari asked, actually facepalming as he seemed genuinely disappointed in himself.

"But that also means that it's Bakugou's birthday! His eighteenth at that!" Ashido continued freaking out, wondering why the other two were so calm.

"At midnight I may or may not have cried in front of him while giving him a present." Kirishima looked down as he quickly said that, trying to brush over it.

Ashido and Kaminari both sent judging stares his way. They didn't even need to say anything before he felt pressured enough to break and expand on what he said.

"I got us matching bracelets." He held his left wrist out and showed them his. The metal was black but it reflected orange light so it had a certain glow. "I didn't really think he'd like it, but he was insistent on wearing it right away. Of course, he's pissed that I remembered his birthday and even got him something in the first place, but he seemed grateful. But yeah, I just got a little caught up in the moment and had a few tears. But they were manly tears though, I promise! I don't think he saw, he was just messing with his bracelet with a soft smile and my heart just kinda collapsed on me." He laughed, hoping that it would cover up the actual story itself. "His is black too, but instead of orange, it reflects red."

"Dude, that sounds like it comes straight from a cheesy fanfic." Kaminari snickered, though he did have a sincere smile on his face.

"I still have a hard time believing that he actually smiles."

"Originally this one was supposed to be his," He started up again, unclipping it and showing the inside to the two. "I even got his name engraved on it." The two stared wide-eyed at the italic letters reading 'katsuki' that were indeed engraved on the bracelet. "But he looked at both of them and wanted the red one with my name on it instead. I am kinda confused, but it kinda feels like part of him is always with me so I'm not complaining."

Ashido sat back down and stared with her jaw dropped, her glare going back and forth between Kaminari and Kirishima. Kaminari was doing similar, except he was more surprised than anything. Ashido had to refrain from saying 'aww' aloud.

"You think that maybe, he sees it that way too?" Kaminari asked, a smug smirk returning to his face.

"Maybe... That's why I really do want to try this. I want to know for sure."

"Kiri, you're forgetting something." Ashido piped up.

"Hm?"

"Since it's his eighteenth, he was forced to make a purchase when he slept, no?"

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that! The milestones thing starts at 18, huh." Suddenly he had started to sweat. Kirishima considered Bakugou's clues his clues also, seeing if they described him in some way. The hard thing about that was looking at himself from a completely blank and neutral standpoint.

"Oi, the hell are you fuckers being so loud for?" Bakugou spoke as he began walking across the room. He heard them talking about how the milestone purchases started at eighteen, so he knew there was no way he could easily skim past this.

"Happy birthday, Bakugou!" Kaminari and Ashido both yelled in unison, grins on their faces as they watched the blonde flinch.

All he did was raise the hand closest to them, the right one, and flipped them off. The glint of red light reflected in their eyes as they noticed that the bracelet that Kirishima mentioned was around his wrist, worn slightly loose so it rode up to his forearm the slightest bit. The blonde continued walking across the room until he reached the kitchen. He slammed the door afterwards, not caring about who's sleep he may have interrupted as the sound echoed around the room.

"His points went down more than last time." Kirishima lowered his volume as he spoke. "A fair amount, actually-"

"Shit!" A familiar yell came from the kitchen that made Kirishima jump out of his seat and into the kitchen before he could even finish what he was saying.

As he opened the door and entered, he saw an angry Bakugou hunched over a bowl of cereal with a piece of paper in his hand.

"Are you okay‽"

"How the fuck did this get in my fucking cereal‽ I know that they can appear any time, but in my fucking cereal‽" After noticing Kirishima lightly snickering, Bakugou continued to just get angrier. "Fuck off! Go die!"

"Okay, okay!" Kirishima continued chuckling as he closed the door and walked back over to the couches. "He just got the clue in his cereal."

"Yeah, we heard!"

Around ten minutes later, Bakugou stormed back through the common room and went back to his dorm without saying anything. His eyes were on the floor and he practically ran.

Kirishima's eyes stalked him until he was out of sight. Was he sad? It was hard to tell. Maybe he was just frustrated in general that he had to make a purchase and that it was his birthday.

"I'm gonna follow him. Just wanna be with him on his birthday, ya know?" Kirishima stood up, already walking away before he gained a response.

"You don't need to give us an excuse, dude." Kaminari winked as Kirishima rolled his eyes and followed Bakugou to their dorm.

As he entered the room, he noticed Bakugou staring intently at the paper as he sat at his desk. He was out of it, he didn't even notice Kirishima coming in.

The red head walked up behind him and read the single word that was on the piece of paper.

Red.

Holy shit. No matter what this means exactly, it could definitely be me.

"Whatcha got there?" Kirishima asked, snapping the blonde out of his dazed state.

"What the shit‽ Damn, fuckin' warn me next time." The blonde screwed up the paper in his hand and stood up, trying to calm his heart down from being startled.

It was rather heat of the moment, but after seeing what was written on the paper, his stomach had immediately started to bubble with butterflies. Kirishima knew he had a problem with saying things before thinking, but that didn't stop him, not this time.

He stepped forward and abruptly placed both of his hands on Bakugou's shoulders, a serious expression suddenly on his face. The blonde was immediately confused, but his attention was captured by the red eyes that pierced his own so intently. Kirishima chewed slightly on his bottom lip before talking, a nervous habit he had picked up a while ago.

The silence that permeated the air only lingered for a few seconds, but it felt almost like a lifetime as the blonde was just waiting for the other to say something, anything. But boy, was he not expecting what he heard.

"I need you to kiss me."