"So tell us more about Kirishima, then!" Mitsuki nagged, wiggling her eyebrows in a very obviously suggestive way.
"There's nothing to even say! He's just a fucking guy who dropped my book off." Katsuki insisted, for what felt like the millionth damn time.
He had known of Kirishima's existence for two damn weeks and the loud, overly friendly redhead had, quite frankly, ruined his life in every conceivable way possible.
Truth be told, Bakugou didn't think Kirishima was anything special at first. At a first glance he seemed annoying and loud. Which, he honestly was, but not in the same way other extras were.
It didn't matter that he was good looking or that his voice was actually pleasant to listen to, even if he did have to focus a bit to be able to take it in properly.
"Yeah? Well he knows where we live, was super polite, and left here all in one piece. I think that's quite special, y'know." She continued to tease, taking note of the white grip her son had on his cutlery along with the threatening heat to his face.
"I've known him for two damn weeks, can you knock it off‽" Katsuki glared.
"Quite loud, too. Though I guess that's a good thing for you."
Not much was said after that, but that didn't help the fact that now the guy who Bakugou was trying so hard to forget about was forcefully placed at the front of his mind by the fault of his mother.
Even though Bakugou didn't tell Kirishima where he lived, he wasn't going to tell his parents that. Some part of him wanted to defend him and make him seem as regular as possible but even then it was a damn challenge.
It got him thinking, though.
He knew for a fact that Kirishima meant no harm when he suggested for Bakugou to move to the front and accept the extra help at his disposal. If anything, the fact that Kirishima was still trying to genuinely befriend him after all of the blaring red flags was in a weird way, intimidating yet mesmerising.
He clearly didn't back down from a challenge or give up easily, much like Bakugou himself.
So after thinking about it he decided that he did actually feel bad about yelling. It was a defence mechanism, his way of responding since he was not used to people showing him patience and understanding like this with no kind of malicious or joking intent.
He still had a feeling that Kirishima wouldn't stop, though.
—
"Hey, Bakugou!" Kirishima singsonged as he placed himself in front of the blond, crossing his legs as he waited for a response. Bakugou couldn't help but think that he looked kind of like a puppy that was waiting to play fetch.
Kirishima didn't gain a response, just a regular Bakugou scowl, which was practically a signal to continue.
He seemed surprisingly unaffected considering what Bakugou had said the last time they were there. Kirishima had given him a couple days of space to let it all boil over but as soon as they were done he came in all guns blazing, acting like none of that had ever happened.
"Did ya catch the new I-Island episode yesterday?" He asked, actually surprised by how quickly Bakugou's face then changed, a certain fire behind his eyes.
Despite the fact they they were alone, Kirishima wasn't signing. He'd picked up that as long as he was loud and clear enough, he didn't have to when they were sat facing each other with no immediate distractions around.
"This arc sucks. We haven't even seen half the kids in like, six whole episodes." Bakugou complained, huffing while reminding himself of his anger towards that.
"I know, right! As much as I'm excited for whats about to go down, it's also super scary, y'know? We haven't seen most of the kids in a while and this next fight could go in so many different directions."
With that, it seemed that they'd found something to talk about. Bakugou wasn't shy about sharing his opinions on characters, plot, soundtrack, anything to do with the show, really.
It actually seemed like he enjoyed getting to rant about it with responses that were as well educated as Kirishima's were. He listened to every last point made, even putting up good arguments for the slight things they disagreed on.
Hell, Kirishima noticed that he made Bakugou actually laugh once. It was big, loud and undeniably ugly, but it was genuine and paired with that killer smile? Kirishima was gone.
"You're not actually wrong." Bakugou started to come down from the laugh, the residue of a smile there on his lips naturally.
His brows weren't furrowed, he wasn't trying to uphold a neglectful expression, he was finally just relaxed. Despite Kirishima's prior belief, Bakugou didn't actually have a resting bitch face, it seemed. The way his lips curled upwards so naturally and subconsciously told him as much.
"You really are beautiful." Kirishima quietly spoke on instinct. He didn't think before saying it, didn't expect it to slip out like that.
Luckily, at least he thought, the bell signalling class time rang over the last word, meaning that it definitely wasn't heard.
He didn't really think about how he still said it in his practiced voice, therefor still showing the word with his lips, that Bakugou had become prone to looking at.
"Class time! That went quickly, didn't it?" Kirishima jumped up, laughing nervously as he offered Bakugou a hand.
Still quite struck out from what just happened, Bakugou stood up on his own, face turning back to the one that was more familiar to Kirishima.
"Let's hope you miraculously got better at math." He commented, beginning to walk towards the doors, turning back once reaching them to try and make sure Kirishima knew to follow.
"Yeah. Yeah! Let's!" Kirishima rushed in response, attempting to pull himself together a bit as he rushed over.
Great. Barely two weeks into school and he somehow already managed to fuck up like that.
—
As it turned out, Kirishima had not improved in math, at all. Improvement in that small amount of time was extremely unlikely, but it didn't take away from the fact that his obvious struggling in class distracted even Bakugou. Maybe he was just generally more aware of Kirishima's presence because of the recent events, but it was bothering him.
On the walk home that day, his thoughts were plagued with it again. Every time he had a silent second his thoughts were always just Kirishima to the point that it got genuinely frustrating.
He didn't like seeing him struggle. Something about it just picked at a nerve, like it was wrong and out of place.
He liked seeing him smile. It was blinding and annoying, but reassuring and peaceful.
He didn't like seeing the look on his face after he noticed what he had accidentally said earlier.
He just really did not fucking like the way he was understood and torn down so easily.
Like, seriously! All it took to get to him was some random transfer student with shitty hair? It pissed him off.
Fuck Kirishima, and fuck his stupid idiotic charm and stubbornness.
Once reaching home, Bakugou slammed his bag down on the floor with more vigour than usual. He quickly turned to studying, cramming his mind with calculations so there was no room for anything else.
Meanwhile, Kirishima sighed as he entered his home. His shoes were sluggishly kicked off as he didn't even notice his mother looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Bad day?" She asked, beginning to brush her daughter's hair, who had noticed Eijirou's presence after feeling her mother's actions.
"Ei!" The little one yelled, making grabby hands in his direction so he'd walk into closer view.
"Pretty good day actually, I'm just getting back into the swing of struggling with math." Eijirou replied, placing a smile on his face as he moved to sit next to his sister, beginning to plait a bit of hair at the front.
"We'll get you a new tutor soon. You have any new friends that could help?" She asked innocently, not even knowing of what stunt Bakugou had pulled the last week.
Eijirou was immediately reminded of that situation and it showed on his face that began turning hot in an instance. He was lucky his mother wasn't paying particular attention to his face at that moment.
"Maybe, maybe. Remember the Bakugou guy I mentioned? Turns out he's quite the genius."
"Genius, huh? You talk about this Bakugou like he's sent as your guardian angel or something."
"Huh? I do? Really? I talk about him that much?" Eijirou rushed out, eyes widening as his shoulders tensed. His plaiting hands paused too, almost losing his place.
"Relax, I'm only joking, Red. Kinda. Either way, you shouldn't worry too much about math. As long as you try your best, and we all know that you will, we'll be proud."
"Thanks, ma."
Through that conversation, one thing had come clear.
Maybe asking Bakugou for a few more math notes or advice wasn't too bad of an idea.