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Kirishima is so proud of himself. He’s been building up to this moment for months. Months of pining and worrying over Bakugou, and all he had to do was say, “Hey Bakubro, wanna come with me to the mall?”
(It only took five minutes of convincing.)
Anyway, they’re here now. They’ve already had lunch and now they’re just walking around the mall, side by side.
(Which is… doing things to Kirishima’s heart, but that’s besides the point.)
Bakugou is currently on a rant about some obscure science theory. First of all, it’s really obscure- how on earth does Bakugou know about it, and so in depth, too? Kirishima’s pretty sure it’s not referenced in any of their textbooks.
As the rant is winding down to a close, Kirishima slips his hand into Bakugou’s. For a moment, he thinks he’ll pull away, but instead Bakugou just blushes and meets his eyes like it’s a challenge.
“Thought this wasn’t a date, Shitty Hair.” Bakugou says, and he sounds oddly vulnerable.
Kirishima is flummoxed. Not a date? Could he have made it any more obvious that he wants it to be?
He clears his throat, and hopes he doesn’t stammer. “It can be, if you want. I would, uh, like it to be.”
Bakugou looks adorable when he blushes. “Yeah, you dumbass, I want that. You should have fucking said something sooner.”
Kirishima is just about to reply when Bakugou pulls his hand away. There’s a moment of panic- how did he fuck this up?
But Bakugou is just standing, stock still, next to him, eyes locked on a couple a hundred feet away. One of the people has some sort of mutant quirk- their face is covered in mottled fur, and when their lips pull back into a smile it reveals giant fangs. The other person, a woman, is dressed in a loose tank top with biker jeans, and is absolutely covered in tattoos and rather badass scars.
They, too, are staring at Bakugou.
“Bro?” Kirishima whispers, leaning over to Bakugou. “Should I call someone? Are you ok?”
But Bakugou just shakes his head and breaks out into a sharp grin.
And then, shocking Kirishima, he’s running. He sprints across the mall, rushing towards them. They rush forward, too, and greet him with open arms. All three collide into a tight embrace. As Kirishima hastens to get closer, he can hear their conversation.
“You fuckers!” Bakugou is saying a bit too loudly. “You haven’t kidnapped me in ages! Thought you got arrested or some shit!”
Kirishima blinks. Did he say kidnapped?
“We were a little busy, you little shit.” The woman replies. “The world doesn’t revolve around you.”
“Yeah, yeah. Bitch.”
“I saw all the trouble you were causing. Thought you were training to be a hero student now, Katsuki. Why all the villain involvement?”
Bakugou just scoffs. “I know you were worried. Shut up. I’m fine.”
The woman has stepped back, but the other person still has their arms around Bakugou. When they speak, their voice is light but it has the hint of a growl. “I saw what happened at the sports festival. You’re damn lucky we didn’t get the old crew back together and fucking tear them to shreds.”
Bakugou starts to respond, but Kirishima has had enough. He grabs Bakugou by the shoulder, and says, “Excuse me but what the heck is going on here?!”
The woman bursts out in laughter. “Got yourself a boyfriend, Katsuki?”
Kirishima is now even more confused. Why does this woman call Bakugou by his first name? Even Kirishima doesn’t do that.
Bakugou just rolls his eyes. “Shitty hair, this bitch is Sachiko and the other one is Seiko. I’ve known them since I was….. five? Six? Whatever. Bitches who haven’t talked to me in months, this is Kirishima, my…”
“Your what, Katsuki?” Sachiko asks. There is a shit- eating grin on her face.
“My fucking boyfriend, ok?”
There is a moment, then, where Kirishima freezes and Bakugou will not meet his eyes.
And then the tension breaks with the rising swell of happiness in Kirishima’s chest, and he launches himself at Bakugou, pulling him into a hug. “Bro! That’s so manly! ” he exclaims, because he’s just so excited his heart is bursting, and he plants a sloppy kiss on Bakugou’s cheek.
Somehow, Bakugou gets even redder.
At this turn of events, Sachiko is crying with laughter. Seiko, however, just looks at Bakugou and says, softly, “I’m happy for you, Katsuki.”
Bakugou meets their eyes and says, “Thanks. I’m fuckin happy, too.”
_____
They haven’t had lunch yet, so the four of them go to find one of the restaurants in the mall. Seiko declines to eat, telling them they “hunted last week,” which is... vaguely concerning but Kirishima’s not going to question it. Sachiko looks at Bakugou when he tells her to “Fuckin’ order already,” like she’s unsure, but relaxes when Bakugou says “Yeah the fuck I’m sure, I have money and you’re damn worth it.”
After their food arrives, when they’re mostly finished eating, Kirishima asks the million dollar question that’s been burning a hole in his tongue.
“So how did you meet Bakugou, anyway?”
Sachiko clears her throat. “That’s a.. funny question. Heh. Katsuki, want to answer that?”
Puzzled, Kirishima turns to Bakugou, who scoffs. “Wimp. Yeah, Shitty Hair, these bitches kidnapped me then pseudo-adopted me and then they decided to be overbearing as fuck and check on me like every other week to make sure I didn’t die.”
Kirishima blinks.
He turns to Seiko. “Is- is he serious. Please say he’s not serious.”
Seiko, unfortunately, does not say this. Seiko meets Kirishima’s eyes and says, “Dead serious.”
Kirishima’s mouth is gaping, his eyes wide. Seiko continues, “We were part of a gang. Not too serious, low level criminal type stuff. Caught sight of this brat, walking home from school all alone and setting off explosions like a beacon. So naturally, we go to grab him.”
“- and the little fucker pulls out a knife. ” Sachiko interjects. “A five year old with a fucking knife. And he lunges at us, full-grown adults that are clearly dangerous, and he yells-“
“Die, motherfucker!” Bakugou and Sachiko finish together in unison, grinning.
Bakugou takes over the story. “So these bitches manage to get the one knife, I pull out the other, they get that one, I pull out my last one, then they get that one and by that point I’m all out of knives so they grab me and take me to their shitty hideout- which was just an apartment, idiots.”
Sachiko takes over here. “I think the plan was supposed to be to use him as a hostage distraction thing to rob a bank? I don’t really remember. Anyway, so we get to talking, and this kid-” she glances at Bakugou, her eyes dark- “Well, he told us some stuff, and we just decided fuck that, this kid is ours now. But we can’t legally have him because, you know, criminals, so we just returned him to his parents and kidnapped him every few weeks to check on him”.
Here, Bakugou snorts. “Highlight of my fucking childhood when you and Hideki fucked up and both tried to kidnap me at the same fucking time.”
Sachiko huffs and flicks his forehead. “It happened once, brat. Kiyo forgot to fucking text him. And it was our turn that week.”
Kirishima, somewhat recovered from the shock of holy shit my best-friend-turned-boyfriend has a gang of villain parents, interrupts their banter to ask, “Wait, who’s Hideki?”
Bakugou grins. “Rival gang leader. Kidnapped me from right under their fucking noses,” he says, jabbing a finger towards Sachiko and Seiko. “He checks in every few months.”
Kirishima blinks. “So,” he starts, “What you’re telling me is that I’m going to have multiple villain gangs giving me a shovel talk.”
Sachiko and Bakugou laugh, but Seiko smiles. “Yes,” they say, and their voice is slimy.
Bakugou turns to glower at them, saying “Shut up, Seiko. And Kirishima, you’ll also probably be getting a shovel talk from the mad scientist, too.”
Kirishima decides to wait to ask. He’s not sure he can handle the answer yet.
______
Later that night, Kirishima searches up the name of the theory Bakugou had mentioned. He does not find it anywhere on the internet. When he asks Bakugou in the morning, he responds with a gruff “Tch. Yeah, the old fucker still hasn’t gotten around to publishing it.”
“But.. how do you know him, anyway?”
Bakugou sighs. “Fine. I met him when I was nine and in Italy. I was looking for a book and the store got robbed. Old fucker was there. We met, he gave me a science book and his phone number, put me on a plane back home, and now I call him every three weeks to complain about shit.”
It is too early in the morning to be surprised about this. Kirishima just shrugs and says, “So like a crazy granddad you’re not actually related to?”
Bakugou responds with an evil glint in his eyes. “You better fucking tell him that, it’ll piss him off so much.”
Kirishima just laughs, promises to annoy Bakugou’s pseudo-grandfather, and kisses him on the cheek.
The flip from sadistic pleasure to flustered blushing to flustered anger is hilarious to watch.