the chapter title is so dumb lmao. but i wanted it to be called more than just 'Bowling' or whatever, so there ya go.

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Bakugou

Dumb Hair fucking likes someone.

As good as Bakugou thought he'd been getting at pushing abnormal-as-fuck thoughts about his damn roommate to the back of his mind and ignoring them, he couldn't shake this one. It just kept popping up like a fucking cockroach.

And why the fuck did it even matter? Sure, he was irritated that Kirishima kept this shit from him, and still didn't even seem to give a shit about elaborating on it—he thought they were fucking friends, and as shitty as he was at being friends with people, even he knew you were supposed to share shit like that. But that didn't explain the weird, deeper, rotten feeling it gave him that he couldn't get rid of no matter how hard he tried.

What the fuck, you asshole, he continually thought to himself. It's not like you like him. You're not fucking gay.

But even still, there was something inside of him that didn't fully believe that the feeling had absolutely nothing to do with the way Kirishima's stupid presence put him in a better mood, or the awkward fluttery sensation in his stomach whenever the idiot laughed, or any number of the other gross feelings he had pertaining to Dumb Hair.

All he could do, though, was be glad that outwardly he'd mastered the art of keeping those kinds of thoughts and shit off of his face and (mostly) out of his behavior. Even if he was more frustrated and, therefore, in a more bitter mood since Sero let the stupid beans spill about the you-know-who (it was like they were fucking middle schoolers, for fuck's sake), he knew everyone else would easily chalk it up to it being his usual attitude. And they did, so nobody sent any questions he couldn't answer his way. Thank fuck.

He couldn't bring himself to ask Dumb Hair who the hell he liked, either, or why he never told Bakugou about it.

What if you're the you-know-who, dumbass, his mind whispered. Immediately, though, he shot that thought down. Yeah fucking right. He's too damn sweet and bright to like an asshole like you.

...but then, what were all those ridiculous memes about? And the stupid pickup lines (that Bakugou admittedly thought were kinda cute, as stupid as they were, because they came from Dumb Hair)? Did he really send all that shit just because he thought they were funny or whatever? Or was it a legit attempt at flirting (that... Bakugou would, internally—deep, deep down—have to admit would probably work on him, had he been sure they were serious and not so damn confused and uncertain)?

But how the fuck could he even know if the idiot liked guys? He had no way of not knowing, but Kirishima never talked about shit like that, and Bakugou sure as fuck didn't want to go off and just assume things where it wasn't his place, no matter what kinds of fucked up thoughts wouldn't leave him the hell alone.

By the time he and Dumb Hair sauntered up to the bus stop with the rest of the idiots, Bakugou wanted to just smash his head into the nearest wall from overthinking it so damn much.

"So each of the passes covers one game and one pair of shoes, and my mom gave me eight passes. So... we could play eight games if you guys really wanna, or we can split up between two lanes and do four games each," Pikachu explained.

"I'm impressed you can do that much math," Bakugou muttered as he plopped himself on the end of the bench, keeping his hands in his pockets and his eyes away from the rest of the group.

"Hey, Kami passed Kindergarten," Sero joked.

"The first time or the second?"

"Jeez, someone piss in your wheaties this morning?" Jirou asked.

"Baku's been in a crabby mood all day," Kirishima said, taking a seat beside him.

"Who the fuck says 'crabby'? And no I haven't, shut up."

"Okay, dude, whatever you say," Dumb Hair said.

Just when Bakugou was beginning to question why the fuck he was there in the first place and debating whether he should just head back to their dorm and go the fuck back to sleep, the bus pulled noisily up to the curb. Kiri-fucking-shima, being the nice fucker he was, volunteered to pay for everyone's fare as they piled onto the virtually empty vehicle. Bakugou immediately tucked himself into a window seat and, of course, Dumb Hair plopped right down next to him (something he pretended really hard not to be happy about). Just as the bus lurched forward once the rest of the herd of idiots were settled, Kirishima spoke up.

"Seriously man, you okay?"

"'M fucking fine." Of course, Bakugou didn't look at him when he said it, so Shitty Hair didn't believe him; it was evident in his tone of voice.

"Alright, Bakugou, but I'm here if ya need to talk, alright?"

Bakugou brushed him off with a wave of his hand.

"Y'know you didn't have to come if you didn't wanna, right?"

"Yes, I fucking know that, Shitty Hair."

Bakugou didn't need to see him to know those big, dopey eyes of his widened in surprise at the new nickname Bakugou realized he'd never actually said out loud before. He shut up for the remainder of the ride, leaving Bakugou to internally curse himself for being such an asshole.

Turned out, Kirishima hadn't really been offended at all because at their last stop just outside the bowling alley, he hung back from the rest of the group to wait for Bakugou, who was the last to step off the bus.

"Looks like we're all just gonna share one lane," he said. "Cool with you."

"'S fine."

Dumb Hair grinned. "You think they're really gonna place bets on us?"

"You think you're good enough for them to?" Bakugou challenged.

"Hell yeah, man! I learned from my mom, and she used to be on a small local league in the town I live in. She's still better than me, but I can definitely kick some ass."

Immediately Bakugou tried to picture the tiny thing that was Kirishima's mom bowling. Height wasn't really an advantage, but she looked too damn fragile to hold a bowling ball, let alone throw it down a lane and make a strike. He kept the thought to himself, though.

"We'll see about that," was all Bakugou said as he let Dumb Hair hold the door open for him.

The two met the others at the counter where Kaminari was turning in the passes to exchange for six games and six pairs of shoes. As soon as they all had what they needed, they sauntered toward their assigned lane to change shoes and choose their balls. Once done, they wasted no time in getting started.

Right off the bat it was clear who knew what the hell they were doing and who was just winging it. Sero's first four balls went straight for the gutter before Dumb Hair gave him some pointers about angling his wrist a bit, and even then he only managed to knock down one or two pins a frame. Mina was a bit better, but only a bit; she continuously let go of the ball too soon without giving enough momentum, so it took forever for it to finally reach the pins. Still, she managed to rack up more points than Sero. Pikachu was surprisingly decent; he managed to knock in a few spares, and surprisingly enough he was doing better than his girlfriend, who was only a little better than Pinky.

None of them, though, had any hope with catching up with Bakugou or Kirishima. Much to Bakugou's irritation, Shitty Hair wasn't just boasting about his skills to psych himself up. He was fucking good, scoring almost exclusively strikes throughout the last half of their first game after they'd warmed up. Even Bakugou, who'd gone bowling almost every weekend with his parents when he was a kid, was somewhat struggling to keep up with him. In the end, the little fucker won by only six points.

"Believe me now?" Kirishima asked him as he took a seat after his last strike, with a cocky grin on that stupidly soft face of his.

"I'm just getting started, Dumb Hair. Don't get all overconfident."

Kirishima only laughed and slapped him playfully on the shoulder. Instinctually Bakugou pretended he didn't feel a surge of heat from that one small touch and used his phone as a distraction.

"Hey... you guys think we could get another lane? This shit seriously isn't fair," Sero said. Bakugou looked up to find him gazing pitifully up at the scoreboard where he'd gotten his ass handed to him. The dude hadn't even scored a hundred points, whereas Kirishima had scored a solid 274.

"Aw, 's not so bad, man," Kirishima told him.

"You're just saying that 'cause you won," Sero said.

"Nah, let's do it," Pikachu piped up. "Since that lane just opened." He nodded at the lane right beside the one they were using. "The four of us can go over there so Kiri and Bakugou can duke it out by themselves, and then we can place our bets."

"Wait, let's give 'em one more game," Mina said. "It's not fair if we all just bet on Kiri since he won. It's only one game."

"That's fair. I'll go get the other lane. You guys get started." Kaminari was already jogging away as he shouted it.

"Sure you're up for it?" Dumb Hair asked.

Bakugou cracked his knuckles. "Fuckin' bring it," was all he said.

For the entire second game they were neck-and-neck until Kirishima managed one more stupid strike than Bakugou and took the win again, this time only by two points at 288. Half the time the others were so engrossed with watching them compete that they forgot their own turns and were only four frames in by the time Kirishima had his second win.

"Sure you don't wanna give up yet?" Shitty Hair teased as they sat to watch the others and take a break.

"Fuck no," was Bakugou's immediate response. His competitive spirit had been awakened. He'd lost by two fucking points, and he knew he could kick Dumb Hair's ass. He just needed to focus. No damn way was he about to stop when he was right there.

So he didn't. After Kaminari won the game with the other three, he and Kirishima started their third round. In the first few frames Bakugou managed to pull ahead and keep his lead, even if it was by less than a dozen points, until he claimed victory by a solid eight points, sitting at 279.

"Not bad, man," Dumb Hair told him with a grin.

"You guys doing best of three or best of five?" Kaminari asked with a mouthful of fries.

"Five," Bakugou said automatically. Hell no, he wasn't gonna be taking a loss at best of three when he just reined in his first victory.

"Sweet! Gives me time to take over the jukebox," Pikachu said. "C'mon, babe! Help me choose a song to put on..."

Halfway through the fourth game it was evident that Pikachu had basically taken over the freaking jukebox and was wasting the extra money he had on letting Jirou pick most of the songs. They weren't bad, though; most of them, while not quite up his alley, were upbeat enough to help him get into a better groove and steal the game for his own, this time somehow managing to pull ahead by 16 points at 277.

"Time to place bets!" Pinky shouted as soon as the game was over, throwing her arms up.

"Whoa! Are you guys seriously tied?" Sero asked as he stumbled back with an armful of food.

"Yep," Kirishima stated proudly. "You guys bet all ya want, but I'm gonna go get a snack. Wanna come, Bakubro? My treat," he said.

Bakugou's answer was merely to quietly follow him toward the concession counter. "Where do you get all this damn money from, anyway?"

"I get a monthly allowance from my mom. It was our agreement as long as I keep my grades decent that she'd give me money each month for whatever I need, plus some rec stuff."

"The fuck? Your family rich or something?"

"Nah, but I guess you could say we're probably a bit better off than some people. What do you want?" he asked as they stepped up to the counter.

It only took a few minutes for their food to be ready once they ordered and they shuffled back to the group with their hands full.

"We've placed our bets!" Pinky shouted as soon as they took their seats at the counter.

"Yeah?" Dumb Hair asked, and Bakugou couldn't help noticing that shitty, sly grin crossing his face.

"We're all putting in twenty bucks," she continued, hopping up onto one of the stools. "Kami and I bet on you, Kiri. Jirou and Sero bet on Bakugou. Whoever wins takes the money and splits it in half."

"So basically two of us are coming in to twenty bucks today," Kaminari said, coming up behind her. "Unless you guys by some crazy ass chance tie, in which we all just keep our money."

"That's not fucking fair," Bakugou said. "If we tie, you assholes give us the money and we'll split it."

"Aw, but then you're gonna be trying to tie."

"Yeah, but neither of us benefit from your shitty bet no matter which one of us wins," he mumbled before stuffing a bite of pizza in his mouth.

"That's not true. You guys get the satisfaction and bragging rights that come with winning," Sero pointed out.

"That's fucking lame." Bakugou muttered the words out around his food.

"Aw, I don't think it's that bad," Kirishima said. Of fucking course you don't, Bakugou thought automatically. "Let 'em bet, and when Kami, Mina, and I are done celebrating, we'll buy you something pretty with the winnings." Dumb Hair punctuated the tease with a wink—a fucking wink, and a shiver (a pleasant one, at that) skittered down Bakugou's spine. His eyes cut away from the idiot.

"Fine, but when I win, you don't get shit," he mumbled.

As per fucking usual for Kirishima, the idiot laughed. And Bakugou's ears savored the silvery sound without his conscious effort to do so.

Fuck.

By the time they were finished eating, he'd all but forgotten the thought and was more than damn ready to kick some ass for the third time in a row and take bragging rights—something he would definitely be using in the future once he had them.

And he was right—the first couple of frames were his, with two strikes in a row, followed by an easy spare whereas Dumb Hair only managed two spares and missed the one last pin he had to knock down in the third frame. Already he had the lead and as the game continued, it looked more and more like he'd keep it despite the fact that Kirishima was right on his tail, remaining a consistent six-ish points behind him nearly the whole way.

But fuck, one slip-up of twisting his wrist just a little too far to the right, causing it to wiz past the last two standing pins in the sixth frame, brought Kirishima right up to speed with him, and in the next pulled ahead by a meager two points. As much as Bakugou told himself over and over not to panic, he was consistently over-correcting and making the tiniest mistakes that cost him big time.

And it was absolutely infuriating how damn smug that red-headed asshole was! It was so fucking distracting, and in the end those distractions mixed with Bakugou's damn internal desperation to win, his competitive spirit more fired up than it'd been in a while, resulted in his loss, by Three. Stupid. Points.

"Fuck!" he hissed when his ball sunk into the gutter for the last foot or so of the lane, missing the last few pins and giving Kirishima the win.

"Woo! Go Kiri!" Sero shouted from somewhere behind him.

"Ya did it!" squealed Pinky.

The absolutely maddening slap of their hands coming together in a three-way high five had Bakugou impulsively planting the toe of his bowling shoe into the side of one of the chairs.

"Aw c'mon dude, it's not that bad," Kirishima told him. "It's just a game, and you played really well! I was having trouble there for a bit. You seriously weren't lying when you said you could kick ass."

"Whatever," Bakugou grumbled, frustratedly kicking off his bowling shoes and finding his own under the seat. He sat heavily in one of the chairs to put them on.

"You're not really that mad, are ya?" Kirishima planted his stupid, annoying ass in the seat next to him to do the same.

"No."

"Liar," he chuckled. "Don't be a sore loser, Bakubro." His elbow judged Bakugou gently in the ribs.

"I'm not, fucker."

"Someone's bitter," teased Jirou from toward the counter.

"Shut the fuck up, no I'm not." Bakugou tossed his jacket over his shoulder as he stood up, swiped the bowling shoes from the floor, and went to return them.

Dumb Hair followed, saying, "S'okay, man. We can have a rematch sometime and I'll go easy on you." Again Kirishima fucking winked, and Bakugou wanted nothing more than to slap that stupid grin right off that dumb, pudgy face of his. Instead he turned his back toward the rest of the assholes and headed straight for the door.

But of course, Kirishima kept up easily. "You know I'm kidding, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Dumb Hair."

Bakugou felt the chuckle more than he heard it because the next thing he knew, Kirishima's arm was slung playfully over his shoulders as they walked, and at that one gesture Bakugou swore he felt his heart jump nervously into his throat, his stomach doing a weird sort of... flop, or whatever. He stiffened instinctively.

"But hey, thanks for coming and being a challenge, 'cause I probably would've bowled all these guys into the ground and it wouldn't have been as fun," he said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder at the others.

"Hey!" Pinky chirped from behind them.

"Nah, he's right," Sero told her.

"...yeah, you're welcome, I guess," Bakugou told his roommate, ignoring the others.

He pretended that he didn't, deep down, feel a sliver of disappointment when Kirishima's warm arm fell from his shoulders and he moved to hold the door open. The short walk from the shoe counter to the door had eaten up all of the bitterness Bakugou had, indeed, held festering from his loss.

The afternoon of bowling had distracted him enough to cause him to damn near forget what he'd been so fucking flustered and irritated about that morning, but Dumb Hair's teasing brought all those shitty thoughts back in full swing. He could feel his stupid face heating up at all of Kirishima's soft-hearted accusations of being a 'sore loser' with that shitty, melodic laugh of his, (not to mention the way he'd put his damn arm around him), and all he wanted to do was dunk his head in a bucket of fucking ice water.

"Dude, Bakugou, you're blushing," Pikachu said with a grin as they headed across the parking lot toward the bus stop.

Bakugou had half the mind to fucking trip him. "No I'm not, asshole!" he snapped instantly, fingers tightening into fists.

"Yeah you are, man," Sero laughed. "You're pinker than Mina's hair."

"Shut the fuck up! I don't fucking blush!" he shouted. He was seriously ready to start kicking some ass—and literally this time.

"Okaaay, whatever you say, bro!"

Before he started chasing these damn losers across the parking lot, Bakugou let out a long breath through his nose, forcing himself to find some semblance of calm within him.

So the fuck what if he was blushing?! They'd been fucking teasing him! It had nothing to do with his bright eyed, red haired, way too damn smiley roommate, he swore.

I'm not fucking gay, and Dumb Hair likes someone else anyway, he internally hissed to himself. And he'd chant that to himself over and over until he believed it, no matter how long it took.

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by the waaay, i published a new krbk story last week! it's called I Will Never Find Another You & is a stark contrast to this one :') so go check that out if you'd like~