Kirishima thoroughly enjoyed his job at Code Red. Being a personal trainer was what he went to college for and he couldn't be happier with his career choice. It wasn't just about helping people workout but it was about seeing the transformations in people spiritually and physically when they consistently came to his classes. His intervention in people's lives were something that he's proud of and he takes pride in celebrating all his clients no matter how far into their health journey they are.
One of his most successful clients, Uraraka Ochako, started barely being able to keep up with the power walk pace and struggling to lift even fifteen pounds. Now, she's one of the runners in class, keeping up with all the pushes and all outs and she works with the forty pound weights - fifty being the heaviest. Kirishima felt very flattered when the brunette girl admitted that she only ever went to his classes because he was her favorite trainer. He may have cried when she thanked him for all his help before she left for summer vacation from the college she attended. He knew he would be seeing her again when the next semester was in full swing and he was eager to see the progress she had made even over the break. She did promise him that she would keep at it and he trusts her to keep that promise.
So, he wasn't at all surprised when Uraraka came in on the first day of the first semester of her junior year with a big smile on her face.
"Hey, Kirishima! How's it going?" She smiled and asked cheerfully. She had bulked up a little over the summer as Kirishima had expected. Ochako was not the type to break promises.
"Hey, Ochako! How was your summer break?" He smiled back.
"It was good! Full of progress! I don't know if you can tell but..." she flexed her arms and her lean muscles bulged. Her arms were very sculpted even without flexing but when she did, it was very impressive.
"I knew you could do it!" Kirishima was ecstatic, holding up a hand for a high five. This was the reason he did what he did: he loved seeing people progressing.
"Thanks, dude! Also, I just wanted to let you know that my friend is gonna be here any second. He said he'd join me for a class today because the place he used to go to got shut down." She rested her arm on the front desk that Kirishima stood behind and placed her other hand on her hip. "He's kind of hard to handle but once you get to know him, he's really sweet."
Kirishima nodded. "The more the merrier! Looks like he's taking the last available spot in the class too." He scrolled through the Code Red app and tapped on an empty slot in the time of the class he was coaching. "What's his name?"
"Bakugou Katsuki," She said. He just handed her the iPad so that she could write it down; he didn't know how to spell that and he didn't want it to be wrong when it showed up on the leaderboard during class.
Right as she was handing the tablet back to the trainer, a blonde man walked through the doors and said "ochako, parking here friggin sucks. The parking garage downstairs is too small and there were no spots left so I had to park in the mall parking lot a block away from here."
Uraraka turned around and scoffed at the fiery guy. "Well if you had showed up more than five minutes before classes started, you wouldn't have that problem now would you?"
"Shut up, round face." He said, walking past the front desk once he'd spotted the lockers and shoved his stuff haphazardly into one of them.
Kirishima was lost for words. This guy was h o t. Like really hot. He's probably the hottest guy he'd ever seen. It was obvious he worked out a lot because his muscles were so chiseled and when he pulled his sweatshirt over his head to place in the locker his shirt rode up a little, displaying his six, maybe eight-pack. His eyes were so vibrantly red that they almost glowed and his jawline was so sharp it could cut. He couldn't stare for much longer, however, because there were five minutes before class started so he needed to tell the newbies how class at Code Red worked.
"Okay, everyone, please raise your hand if it's your first time here at Code Red." Kirishima announced to the decently full lobby. There were about five people that raised their hand excluding Bakugou until Ochako hit him on the back of the head and he reluctantly did. "Alright, all those people who just raised their hand, please follow me into the gym."
He walked towards the glass doors of the equipment-filled room and held the door open for all six people as they walked in. Once everyone was in, he let the door drift shut and he faced the group of people.
"So, you should have already received your armbands at the front desk and if you haven't there will be time to snatch one before class starts; this really isn't gonna take long. Your armband tracks your heart rate throughout the class and it will show up on the TVs above the treads right there," he pointed to the monitors he was referring to. "What we're aiming for is to stay in the red zone. This is the zone that you burn the most calories from fat during and after you workout. Usually, you'll keep burning calories up to twenty-four hours afterwards. The orange zone is the highest zone, telling you that you're overexerting yourself while the gray and green zones are the two lowest zones." He went on to explain how the class setup works and what the different exertion indications that he gives mean on the treadmill.
Throughout the whole thing, he couldn't help but stare at the blonde. He would always try to look at the other people in the room but his eyes kept straying back to the so very attractive blonde guy. He really hoped Bakugou didn't notice.
He did. He so did. Bakugou couldn't help but check out the very built redhead himself. He had thought of himself as fit but hot damn, this guy was the epitome of in-shape and he was loving looking at him. If this guy was gonna be his trainer, there was no way he wasn't gonna go every time Ochako went.
That's what ended up happening too. Every time Kirishima was teaching a class that fit into Bakugou's schedule, he'd always text Ochako and ask if she wanted to go and more often than not, it worked for both of them.
Throughout the time that the blonde was spending at the studio, he really, really tried to flirt with the smokin' hot trainer. He didn't know if he was doing a poor job or if the guy really just wasn't interested but Ochako had said that he was super obvious so it kinda put him in a bitter mood to think that he just wasn't interested. He thought he should've known. I mean, he's a personal trainer... that's like the straightest job you could have. He told Uraraka what was bothering him when she asked and she said that Kiri's just a big meathead who probably isn't picking up the hints he's dropping.
Apparently, there had been a time when Ochako herself had a crush on the guy and he didn't notice her flirting with him at all. She found out he didn't notice when she had a conversation with Mina Ashido, one of Kirishima's coworkers, and she had said that he was completely oblivious. She had just laughed and forgot about it, it was just a small thing anyways. I mean, who wouldn't be attracted to the incredibly built, yet soft trainer that truly invested 100 percent into the people he trained. He has such a big heart it's adorable - who could resist?
Mina did notice how hopelessly Bakugou was trying to flirt with her redheaded friend and he was so obvious that there was no way Kirishima hadn't picked up on it. She thought the same thing Bakugou did: that he just wasn't interested. It was quite entertaining to watch, however.
There was one day that Bakugou was walking past the front desk on his way out while Eijirou was doing some paperwork and looking at the profiles of the clients that were coming in for the next class. Bakugou had flat out said, "bye, sexy!" It was aimed at Kirishima who blushed, making a smirk grace Katsuki's face as he slipped out the front door to his car. The blonde had figured that maybe the only way to flirt with this dense idiot is to just be blunt.
Though Kirishima wasn't blushing because he thought Bakugou was addressing him, he was blushing because he was overwhelmed hearing the word "sexy" come out of Bakugou's mouth. He was sad to know that he was talking to his girlfriend, Uraraka, instead of him. Ever since that day that he heard that word in Bakugou's voice, he fantasized about that word being directed at him.
He so wished that he knew what Bakugou's sexual orientation even was to know if he even had a sliver of a chance with him. Although even if he did, he wouldn't act on it - he would never even think about trying to come between Bakugou and Uraraka. It was really hard to get over his crush on the beautiful blonde though, especially when he went to Kirishima's classes so frequently. He knew it was only because he was Ochako's favorite trainer and not because her boyfriend was wanting to see him.
He felt wrong even wanting that to be the case. Uraraka and Bakugou had a happy relationship and he would be sick with himself if he ever got in between that. There's just something about Bakugou that's so irresistibly seductive, it makes Kirishima just want to have him. But, he's resigned himself to just admiring from a distance.
Sometimes that meant looking straight at his toned butt when he was on the treadmill making conversation with Uraraka here and there. Or, watching the muscles in his arms flex when they did bicep curls on the floor, or looking at the little bit of his chiseled abs that shows when his shirt rode up a little on the rowers. He knew he was just torturing himself looking at all the great things that he could have but he just couldn't resist the undeniable physical attraction to this bombshell blonde.
***
There was one day that Kirishima called in sick to work and Bakugou had registered for one of his classes that day. You could imagine his surprise when he showed up and there was a blonde man in the room that Kirishima was supposed to be in wearing the microphone that Kirishima was supposed to be wearing. Katsuki immediately approached the guy with the weird lightning bolt dyed in his hair and asked where his favorite trainer is. Kaminari simply said that he was sick and Bakugou was disappointed and worried.
Rationally, Bakugou wasn't even Kirishima's friend so he shouldn't have been worried but he couldn't exactly help it. He knew it was probably just a cold or something and that he would probably be back the next time they had class but those thoughts apparently didn't help because he was thinking about Kirishima for the whole rest of the day. And then a thought came to him: Kirishima always said that he was available on social media if anyone in the class ever needed anything.
So, tucked into his bed late at night in his apartment, he opened his Instagram app and tried to find the redhead. After a few wrong searches and stalking the Code Red Insta page to see if he'd been tagged in anything, he finally found his profile and hit the follow button immediately afterwards. Then, hesitantly opened his DM inbox and began to type a new message to Kirishima.
All of a sudden, he became nervous. Should he ask him why he wasn't in class? Is it even any of his business? Yeah, he had called in sick but that doesn't always mean that you're sick. What if he's prying into a personal issue and he's being intrusive? Plus, Kirishima does not need to report to him every time he misses a class that Bakugou attends. He kind of felt selfish for wanting to ask still. It's such an innocent question too that it would be kind of ridiculous if Kirishima got mad at him for wanting to know. So, before he could think about it anymore, he sent his message, turned off his phone, and went to bed.
The next morning, when he woke up, the first thing he did was check his phone, hoping that Kirishima had responded only to find he had no new messages. In Kirishima's defense, it was 8 am when Bakugou checked his phone and it was 11 pm when he sent the message. He probably wasn't even awake yet. Though, Bakugou's heart dropped a little when he saw that his message had been read but not replied to.
/'Stupid crush. I don't got time for this shit,'/ Bakugou thought.
He couldn't help but feel kind of offended. He was being quite nice by going out of his way to message the literal man of his dreams and wondering if he was okay and in return, he got left on read. That didn't mean he wasn't gonna go to Kirishima's next class and ask him why the fuck he didn't answer.
When he was questioned about it, Eiji was quite confused at first, and then he remembered exactly what had happened that day. He had gotten that message and was so flattered that Bakugou had been worried about him and, before replying to him, he stalked Bakugou's profile, looking through every one of his posts. He was so beautiful, he couldn't help himself. Then he'd realized that he needed to reply to emails so he had just outright forgotten to respond. Besides the fact that it felt kind of wrong to message a guy that he had a crush on but was taken. It felt wrong. Getting in between a happy relationship isn't manly at all.
But, he was honest with Bakugou when he had told him the reason for his getting distracted and not responding - leaving out the part where he had a crush on him and felt wrong about messaging him.
"I'm sorry, Bakugou! I did see your message and I was going to respond but I have ADHD so I get distracted real easily. Someone emailed me and I needed to email them back and by the time I had responded to them, I had completely forgotten about your DM. Thank you so much for your concern though man, really. I do appreciate it. I just had a migraine that day." Kirishima smiled at Bakugou and the blonde felt the wind leave his lungs at that sparkling smile. It was so pure and bright and holy heck did Bakugou wanna kiss those lusciously pink lips.
"It's no problem, shitty hair. I just didn't feel like Kaminari did as good of a job as you." He looked away with a small pout knowing full well that wasn't completely true. Kaminari did a fine job but he just missed and worried about his favorite sunshine trainer.
Before Kirishima could respond, Bakugou walked away to one of the treadmills and started his running base pace. Kirishima just chuckled and turned on his microphone.
"Alright treads, we're gonna do a 90-second push, 30 seconds all-out, and then a two-minute base pace in three, two, push pace!" Eijirou enthusiastically instructed. Hearing that encouraging voice always lit a fire under Bakugou's ass to do his very best because maybe he wanted to show off a little bit for the redhead.
Of course, Eijirou didn't think he was trying to show off for him, he thought Bakugou was wanting to impress Uraraka who was always the treadmill right next to him. He was a little sad, still trying to get over his crush on the blonde but it was really hard. He and Ochako only ever went to his classes and they had the eight classes a month subscription for goodness sakes. It was gonna be super tough to stop liking the fiery attitude that is Bakugou Katsuki. At this point, he's gonna need someone else to be ten times more enticing than the blonde in order for him to forget about him.
After class, Bakugou parted ways with a "bye, hot stuff! See you later!" And a wink and Kirishima realized just how hard it was gonna be to get over him. He practically died at the wink alone not to mention him saying "hot stuff" was just so friggin attractive.
About a minute later, Uraraka came around the corner to write her name on a raffle ticket for a contest the studio was having. She made small conversation with Mina before she had to go start setting up for her class that she was instructing. So, Ochako decided she hadn't talked to Kirishima for a while. She wanted to catch up.
"Hey, I know I come to your classes a lot but it feels like I haven't seen you in forever! Tell me about your life, dude what's going on?" She asked with an inviting smile. She was so sweet, he almost wanted to tell her about his crush on "this guy" as he would put it but he wouldn't want the information to get out that is was on her boyfriend. That would be a total betrayal of her trust and he valued their friendship so he kept it to himself.
"Nothin' much is new to be honest! I got a promotion so I'm the manager of this studio now! I think that's pretty much the only new thing to develop in my life," he replied. Ah, heck, what the hell? Just because he asks about Bakugou doesn't mean he's interested in him, he's just interested in Ochako's life. It wouldn't be creepy. "When did you and Bakugou meet?" He tried to keep his face neutral even though he was genuinely super curious to know the details.
"Oh, we met in freshman year of college! He got super mad because I told him he messed up a rhythm. We were collaborating on a track for a project. He was playing the drums and I was trying to play guitar but his dumb ass decided to freestyle the rhythm a little. I had to tell him to just do what he was told because he was making the recording process a literal hell," she said.
Kirishima knew that she was at school to study music (she played the guitar and sang) but it was news to him that Bakugou was there to study the same thing. Somehow, knowing he played drums specifically was making him even more attractive and that scared him. Maybe he should ask about their relationship to deter himself a little.
"When did he ask you out?" Kirishima asked, not wanting to know the details about their love life because he knew it would make him sad but he had to know so that he could get over him. Bakugou was Uraraka's and not his, period.
Uraraka looked at him with a shocked expression. Her eyes grew wide and a furious blush developed on her cheeks. "WHAT?" She exclaimed.
"Oh my gosh, sorry, unless you asked him out, I'm not trying to assume anything or imply that only guys can ask girls out, you're too strong for that, you could have just as easily done the same thing, I'm sorry I wasn't thinking, I-"
"Kirishima!" He was cut off by Ochako abruptly yelling his name. She still looked a bit shocked but there was a small smile growing on her face. Kirishima held his breath, preparing himself for the details but couldn't help but be shocked when she said, "We're not dating, we're just friends."
Eijirou's jaw dropped to the floor, eyes wide in shock. "But then why... why does he keep calling you sexy and saying bye to you in provocative ways?"
"Oh my god, Kiri, all of those things were directed at you, you big idiot. He's been flirting with you for literally this whole time." She rolled her eyes exasperatedly. She couldn't help but laugh when she found out that he had thought Bakugou was dating her. Just the thought kind of made her gag a little. It's not that Bakugou was disgusting, they're just too good of friends to do anything romantic-y without making it weird.
"You're kidding."
"No, Kiri, I'm serious."
"Shit..."
He was literally lost for words. He couldn't physically process that not only was the hot blonde single but he was INTERESTED in HIM. In KIRISHIMA. He'd been flirting with HIM this whole time, not Ochako. It's settled, he needed to ask Bakugou out ASAP.
He and Uraraka immediately began to plan out the way he was gonna go about asking him on a date and where the date should be. He was so excited to finally be with Bakugou he couldn't stop thinking about date ideas and ways of asking him out even when he went home that day. Once again, both boys plagued each other's minds when they fell asleep.
***
The next couple of days went by as normal. Kirishima grew more and more excited for his next class with Bakugou. His idea to ask him out on a date was super simple and he thought it was a really cute idea and he was kind of worried that it would be too simple. Although, Uraraka assured him that Bakugou is not the type to like huge, promposal-like asks and that made him feel a little better. But, then it made him worry that what he was going to do was a little too over the top. Mina finally slapped him upside the head and told him he was being ridiculous and to go get his man when the time finally came.
It was a usual day. Bakugou signed up for his class the night before which gave him plenty of time to work out his set-up schedule for after class. It's not like it was gonna take much setting up, he just needed to know how to work the monitors above the treadmills a little better than he currently did. It was a lot easier to change the display than he thought it would be so coming into work thirty minutes earlier after asking for the keys from Mina was kind of a waste. But he did get some extra paperwork done, he felt so productive for once!
Finally, when it was time for the class, Kirishima suddenly got super nervous. He hadn't been this nervous since he was teaching his first class at Code Red and he needed to come up with the exercise plan all on his own. He hoped this went just as well since that went by like a knife through butter.
When he saw Bakugou, his nerves definitely spiked and he was feeling jittery and alert throughout the whole class. He hoped it didn't stand out to anyone, especially not Bakugou. He didn't want the blonde to have one hint of what was going on since he wanted to genuinely surprise the beautiful man.
It felt like each minute ticked by like a snail traveling through the grass: slow and choppy. Sometimes he would get really into the zone and not really think about what was ensuing after he was done instructing and he felt like he could really enjoy the class as usual. But then, because of his wandering mind never staying on one subject for too long if there was ever a lull in action, he was reminded again, making his nerves reinvigorate seemingly ten times stronger than before. So, by the end of class, you could say Kirishima was kind of considering backing out. But, of course, he wouldn't! Quitting is so not manly.
Bakugou had just stood up from the weight floor after stretching and was about to walk out of the studio when Kirishima spoke up.
"Hey, Bakugou! Can you hang back for a sec, I'd like to talk to you about your class stats." Eijirou smiled when the blonde looked at him. Even just having his attention on him was enthralling. 'Focus, Eiji, focus, goddamnit!' He told himself.
"Yeah, what about 'em?" Bakugou looked confused. His stats were perfect so there's no way in hell Kirishima is wanting to talk to him about them in a negative way. He smirked, chest filling with pride when he found he was right.
"They're amazing, dude! You sure are impressive!" Eijirou knew that the way to grab Bakugou's attention was to stroke his ego. He'd learned from experience after he had told him that he was pumping an impressively heavy weight in class and he just smirked, chest filling with pride at the compliment. He didn't even contest when Kirishima gave him some helpful tips to lift the weight in a safer manner. A similar situation occurred when Bakugou was running on the treadmill, barely breaking a sweat and Kirishima, wanting to push him harder because he could obviously do it, had started off with complimenting his seeming lack of exertion. Then, directly afterward, challenging him to go one level up to the "sprinter" level. He eagerly accepted and burned 200 more calories that day than he usually did and Kirishima was proud of him.
"Of course they are, Shitty Hair! But I did have a little help from a local redheaded hunk." Katsuki smirked and batted his eyelashes at Kirishima who was currently gay panicking and trying his goddamn hardest to suppress it. It wouldn't help his question be convincing if he was just spewing rainbows everywhere in the form of random words.
He cleared his throat. "Yeah," he messed around on his tablet a little, sucking in a breath when he pressed on the display he wanted. This was it. Here goes nothing. "I mean you're scores today were super impressive! Just look!"
They both looked at the TV screens above the treadmills and, instead of showing Bakugou's heart rate statistics from that day's class, there was a simple question: Will you go on a date with me? Eijirou's heart stopped when Bakugou turned his head and layed eyes on the question.
The blonde looked at Kirishima and then looked at the TV and then back at Kirishima and it was making Kirishima's heart palpitate in his chest. Was this him trying to figure out a way to let him down? He wouldn't seem like the type to let him down easy. So, he braced himself for the inevitable punch to the face because of his incredibly misread messages from Bakugou but it never came. He stood in confusion after unclenching his eyelids to look at Bakugou who didn't look displeased in the slightest. Instead, one eyebrow was quirked up and a smirk was once again on his face. Was that smirk ever not going to ruin Kirishima?
"What is this? Some kinda cheesy promposal?"
Oh. So he thought it was funny. He was making fun of it. Kiri's heart dropped.
"You could've just asked me, moron, why else would I have been flirting with you for literal months?"
Suddenly, he was not sad and disappointed but eager, ecstatic, and happy. The biggest shark-tooth smile grew on Kirishima's face and he had to hold himself back from kissing Bakugou right there and then. Instead, he opted to hug him as the endless amounts of warmth flooded his chest.
"Fuck, yeah!"
Eijirou didn't know it but Bakugou's heart was melting all the same. He was flattered. And he had been waiting for the day that Kirishima would finally grow the balls to ask him out. He knew he liked him especially after he had started reciprocating his obnoxious and relentless flirting sometime about two weeks ago and he couldn't be happier when Kirishima smiled that big old sharp smile that Bakugou found so endearing about him.
He found many things endearing, sexy, attractive, and heart-melting about Kirishima but he'd have to tell him all those things when they went out on dates. He'd have to tell him those things later when they bought an apartment together after Bakugou graduated and over dinner that Katsuki had made both of them after a long day of work. He'd have to tell him those things when he was telling him his vows at the altar and every day on their honeymoon in Thailand. He'd have to tell him when they were together under the sheets after making up from a disagreement. He'd have to tell him when they have their first child who's surrogate-born of Kirishima's DNA and then after their second from Bakugou's. He'd have to tell him every time Kirishima told him those things because he knew that Kirishima would tell him forever so he had to tell Kirishima forever too.