heads up: get ready for a long-ass note at the end.

---

Kirishima

Equations. Kirishima hated equations. And they were all starting to jumble together in his head and resemble some kind of word find with too many letters, parentheses, square roots, and exponents to keep track of. It'd only been about half an hour since he'd started studying and already a headache was beginning to pound between his temples from so many numbers and symbols. Honestly, he'd rather be reading Shakespeare.

As the snow melted—rather slowly, to his liking, instead of being there one day and gone the next as it usually was—talk of midterms started to surface in his classes. The semester was only a little over a month away from being over before the holiday break (and, as a result, holiday decorations and plans for the festival that was held every year after midterms were popping up all around campus). Unfortunately, Kirishima had very little time to be worrying about the holidays or even how he'd be getting home to spend the break with his family. He was too damn busy studying, and stressing over the tests—math especially.

"If you sigh one more fucking time I'm gonna duct tape your mouth shut."

Kirishima was broken out of his babbling thoughts that totally weren't about the trigonometry he was supposed to be focusing on by the threat, and he looked up to Bakugou, who was glaring at him from the other side of the room. Bakugou, too, had his math homework spread out around him, a pencil held in his fist, and one of the deepest, most irritated frowns Kirishima had seen settled on his face.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "Math is just... torture, I think." He punctuated the sentence with a dry, humorless chuckle.

"I know, and your shitty sighing is only making it harder," muttered the other.

"I didn't even realize I was doing it, to be honest," Kirishima said as he sat back and adjusted his headband a bit. "What're you working on, anyway?"

"Some bullshit with triangles and right angles and shit."

"...is it trig?"

"Yeah. That shit. I dunno."

"Ah man. I learned that freshman year, but I almost failed the course I learned it in and I barely remember it, or I'd help you."

"Thanks I guess. Remedial math is bullshit since I have to learn everything late," Bakugou grumbled, leaning back against his pillows. "The fuck kinda shit is that?" he asked, jerking his chin in the direction of Kirishima's (very messy) notes.

"Algebra. Like, scary algebra with polynomials and all that."

"...what the fuck is a polynoma... whatever?"

All Kirishima could do was hold up his notebook and point, apathetically, to the problem he was working out. Bakugou leaned toward him and squinted at it. "Fucking gross," he muttered. "But at least it's not some bullshit geography."

Kirishima sat up straighter, blinking at his roommate. "...what?"

"What? I said it's bullshit," Bakugou huffed.

"But... you said geography."

"That's what it's fucking called."

A smile cracked at the corner of Kirishima's mouth, a bubble of amusement that temporarily overshadowed the tension of stress growing in his chest. "Dude, I think you mean geometry."

"Isn't it the same fucking thing?"

"No!" An inevitable laugh escaped. "Geometry is the shapes and stuff like that. Geography is like, maps, and stuff about topography and all that."

Bakugou's head tilted forward. "Stuff about maps and what?"

But Kirishima was already taken over by his laughter. It was such a silly thing to be suddenly borderline hysterical about, but it was so damn cute that Bakugou got the two mixed up. Not even the hurling of Bakugou's stress ball directly at his chest could stop his chortles.

"Stop fucking laughing, Dumb Hair!" grumbled Bakugou, fingers curled as he looked for something else to throw.

"Sorry, sorry!" Kirishima chuckled, picking the ball up from his lap. "I just don't think I've ever heard somebody get those mixed up before."

"...whatever. Gimme my ball back."

Kirishima tossed the ball back, and Bakugou proceeded to habitually toss it up and down frustratedly, hitting the ceiling nearly every time and letting it audibly snap back into his palm. Kirishima took that as his cue to quietly go back to his studying—or attempt to, anyway. He only made it halfway through another problem before Bakugou stood up and tugged his attention away from it again.

"Let's just go get dinner," he muttered and tossed the ball onto his bed before moving to stuff his feet into his boots.

"Aye aye, Bakubro," Kirishima said and jumped up to follow.

"Hmph. What's with that nickname, anyway?"

"You don't like it?"

Bakugou shrugged after tugging his hoodie on. "...dunno. It was weird when Sero said it."

"Oh. Alright then. Sorry, man."

"I didn't say I didn't like it, Dumb Hair," he mumbled, stuffing his hands in his pockets as they started down the hall. Kirishima couldn't help noticing he kept his eyes cut to the right, the side Kirishima conveniently wasn't on, and his shoulders hunched more than usual.

"So... you're cool with me calling you that, then?"

"...yeah. Whatever, I guess."

"Hey, 's only fair 'cause you have a nickname for me," Kirishima pointed out.

"I said whatever, Dumb Hair."

With a laugh, Kirishima bumped shoulders with his roommate before holding the door open for him.

As expected, the night air was almost freezing, making for an even grumpier Bakugou as they shuffled out into it. Not many people were hanging around or even walking through campus, which only alerted Kirishima to how late it was. The mess hall was nearly about to close, he realized upon checking his phone, so he was glad Bakugou decided to get dinner when he did. Fortunately, that also meant that there weren't many people hanging around eating, either, and there was no line to wait in to get their food. In fact, the only other soul there aside from the kitchen staff was Midoriya, sitting solitarily at his usual table and hunched over a notebook, squinting in concentration as he held the eraser of his pencil to his mouth.

"Why the fuck is he always here?" grumbled Bakugou.

"You're not really that bothered by him, are you?" Kirishima asked.

"No. He's just a huge fucking nerd."

Kirishima blinked at his roommate a few times, confused as to what that had anything to do with Midoriya's presence in the mess hall. Though, with Bakugou, the usage of the word 'nerd' could mean any number of things.

"Then... you won't be mad if I go say hi?"

"Why the fuck would I be mad, idiot?"

"Just makin' sure," Kirishima said with a grin. With his bowl of mac and cheese, he sauntered over to the freckled kid who was concentrating so hard on his book he wasn't aware of Kirishima's approach until he said, "Hey, Midoriya."

"What?" Midoriya mumbled, jerking upright. "Oh, hey Kirishima! Sorry, I didn't even hear you approach." A small, evidently tired smile formed its way on his face.

"No worries. Whatcha doin'?" Kirishima slid into the seat across from him as Bakugou, still scowling, joined them.

"Hey, Kacchan. Um, I'm just studying. Physics is actually pretty hard, so I guess I was concentrating so hard that I lost track of time," Midoriya said sheepishly. "How come you guys are here so late?"

"Same problem... lost track of time studying for math, which we both kinda suck at," Kirishima explained. "Midterms are freakin' stressful."

"Yeah? What kind of math?"

Kirishima's first instinct was to say 'geography,' and his eyes mistakenly cut to Bakugou who had clearly read his mind and was giving him a look that clearly said, 'Tell him and I'll kill you.' Still, the amusement was present when he answered truthfully. "Baku's working on trig and I got algebra. 'S probably like the ABCs to you, though, huh?"

"Oh, uhm..." Midoriya mumbled, and Kirishima swore he saw a confused grin flash across his round face for a split second, but he couldn't be entirely sure. "That's not too bad for me, but that's pretty normal. I mean, I'm in AP classes so I learned that stuff a couple years ago."

"Hey, don't rub it in, man," Kirishima joked.

"Ya damn nerd," grumbled Bakugou under his breath.

Kirishima promptly sent an elbow in his direction. "Don't be mean, dude. 'S not a bad thing to be super smart."

"I wasn't—"

"Nah, he's right," Midoriya admitted with a laugh. "Besides, I'm used to all the insults from Kacchan and I know he doesn't really mean them."

"How the fuck do you—"

Again Kirishima's elbow jabbed him softly in the ribs, shutting him up and earning one of his death glares.

"Asshole," Bakugou grumbled before stuffing a forkful of food into his mouth.

"Um, yeah..." Midoriya said quietly. "Anyway, I really wasn't trying to rub anything in. I was just going to offer to help you guys study if you wanted. I have a pretty good understanding of both trig and algebra, so it shouldn't be too bad."

"Really?" Kirishima asked, perking up. "You'd do that?"

"Sure, Kirishima. I don't mind. Other than focusing on physics, I don't have much other studying I have left to do. I've pretty much got everything else down, so if you needed some help I'd be willing."

"I don't need your damn help, dweeb," Bakugou muttered.

"Hey, come on, man," Kirishima said. "He's offering! And you know you do need his help or you wouldn't have been so frustrated with your homework earlier."

"Who said I can't fucking figure it out on my own? I can just Google it or whatever."

"Or you can accept the help Midoriya is kindly offering you so you can go at your own pace and actually ask questions," reasoned Kirishima. "You know you gotta pass, man."

With those narrow eyes, Bakugou's gaze finally met Kirishima's, who gave him an encouraging smile. In the next instant, Bakugou was sighing heavily and stabbing grumpily through his food. "Fine," he muttered. "Whatever."

"Sweet. So, when are you available?" he asked, turning back to Midoriya who looked nothing short of shocked. "What's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh!" Midoriya shook himself. "Nothing. I'm free any time after school, but I... kinda save the weekends to spend some time with Todoroki. So any weekday is cool, unless that doesn't work for you..."

"Nah, 's good. That's pretty much when we've been studying, too. Ya wanna do it in our room, or yours?"

"How about the library? We can utilize the big tables and computers in there if we need, and the librarians are always really good about keeping it quiet during midterms and finals while people are studying. I prefer to sit at a table since it's not so hard on my back."

"Sounds good. Cool with you, Bakubro?"

"Sure, whatever," was the response Kirishima was met with.

"Awesome. So we'll meet tomorrow after eighth period, okay?"

"Sounds like a plan," Midoriya agreed.

Midoriya left shortly after that, gathering the books he'd been using to his chest and standing up stiffly. Kirishima was sure to thank him and send him off with a fist bump before it was merely the two of them left to finish their dinners.

"Sorry if I kinda pressured you into that, man. You could've said no and I could've just studied with Midoriya by myself," Kirishima told his roommate once the other was gone. Of course, he didn't want to study with just Midoriya. Or rather, he wanted to study with Bakugou, but he'd have definitely understood if Bakugou was against it.

"I know, Dumb Hair."

"...so, you really are cool with coming along?"

"How many damn times are you gonna ask me? Yes. Now shut up so I can finish eating."

Kirishima only grinned.

⚜️

Kirishima wasn't sure how much more his heart could take of the overwhelmingly nervous, giddy feeling he had whenever he sent Bakugou memes. Well, flirty memes, anyway... memes that he wasn't even sure could be considered 'memes,' rather than just flirty photos. 'Memes' his friends were still sending him to send to Bakugou whenever they came across them. Some of them were... a little too much, a little too suggestive, even for him, and he wasn't nearly ready to be that risky yet—if he'd ever be, even with everyone insisting that there was 'no way Bakugou doesn't like you back, man' (Sero's words, in that rational, matter-of-fact voice of his that he used when he wasn't gossipping his brains out). Kirishima couldn't decide if he was starting to believe them because they were so insistent upon it or if he actually, truly believed that Bakugou's behavior around him was, well, flirty as well—in Bakugou's... own, unique way, anyway. All he knew was that all he could do was keep trying.

And try he did, despite the jumbled mess of confusion he consistently found himself in.

The giddy feeling, he had to admit, was somehow addicting. Tapping the little blue 'send' button always had his heart stuttering, his lip trapped between his teeth, and his leg bouncing in nervous anticipation, especially when it came to the increasingly flirty memes/pictures/whatever he was sending of late. Call him stubborn, but even that wasn't enough to get him to give up, no matter how suggestive or cheesy they were, like this silly t-shirt design:

Cat memes, being some of Kirishima's favorites, were amongst those sent to his roommate often.

>I feel like this is something you would say

>lmfao probably

Sometimes Kirishima would be too nervous to the point of damn near stomach pains that he'd send something and two seconds later say something else, almost like he was trying to cover it up.

>How did someone get that dog to wear glasses??

It'd been a minute before Bakugou responded—in fact, it'd taken a whole class period, throughout which Kirishima could hardly concentrate (which figured, because it was math).

>why am I friends with such a loser?

>Damn love you too, man. Lmao

>🖕🏻

>😂

The riskier or more suggestive the messages got, the more on edge Kirishima was. But, much to his relief (and admittedly, confusion), Bakugou never responded badly. Mostly, he merely liked the message and moved on, be it without a reply or sending him something (that definitely wasn't flirty—at least not in the more obvious way that Kirishima's messages were) back.

Occasionally, though, he'd respond with a 'you're dumb' or the eye rolling emoji. Once—very nearly giving Kirishima a heart attack—he'd 'accidentally' tapped the silly little heart that was in place of the 'send' icon before a message was typed, but as soon as Kirishima had clicked on the message it was gone. Bakugou's following message proved that he was pretending it never happened.

Kirishima was really, really doing his best not to overthink any of it when he met his roommate outside their usual entrance to the boys' dorm to walk to the library together where they were supposed to meet Midoriya for studying. But that was next to impossible when Bakugou, who was already standing there waiting when he showed up, greeted him first—which is something that almost never happened.

"Hey, loser," he said casually, peculiarly calm despite the fact that they were about to go study math, with Midoriya.

The smile Kirishima always found himself with around his roommate easily made its way across his face. "Yo, Bakubro. Ready to go?"

"The fuck's with all the rhymes?"

A laugh bubbled up. "I dunno," he responded, and when he realized that rhymed, too, a fit of chortles took him over for a moment as they started toward the library.

"Fuck, you're dumb," muttered the other, but even he had somewhat of a grin on his face that didn't make it past Kirishima, who, still laughing, playfully bumped into him.

To no surprise, Midoriya was already waiting for them at one of the tables in the far corner of the library near the windows with a few books and a notebook in front of him, his hand darting across the paper with a pencil. Once again he was oblivious to their approach until Kirishima was greeting him.

"Hey, man."

"Oh, hey!" he said, sitting up. "I was wondering where you guys were. Have a seat."

"Dumb Hair took forever to get out of class," Bakugou grumbled as they slid into adjacent seats across the table from Midoriya.

Midoriya blinked at him. "'Dumb Hair'...?" he mumbled, bewildered.

"'S just Baku's nickname for me," Kirishima spoke up.

"I see," mumbled Midoriya with a slight laugh. "Anyway, I found some books I thought might be useful for your subjects." He pushed a few of said books across the table, their titles each having something to do with trig or algebra. One of them, however, was solely about the pythagorean theorem, and Kirishima couldn't help wondering how someone wrote an entire book about just that one little equation.

Midoriya got them started in no time, but only ten minutes in, Kirishima found it hard to decide if studying with him was easier or just more confusing than trying to study on his own. The stupid textbooks only confused him more, and he consistently pressed the wrong buttons on the calculator. Midoriya was almost disturbingly patient with them—both of them, even with Bakugou's growled irritations at not only the material but Midoriya himself—and Kirishima was already planning to buy him lunch over a weekend because of it.

"Ugh," Kirishima found himself groaning a while later, another headache beginning to pound between his temples as he slumped pitifully against the table. "How do people understand this enough to make careers and shit out of it?"

"Not everybody has a knack for everything," Midoriya pointed out with a light grin—one Kirishima couldn't decide if he detected mild irritation in or not.

"Yeah, yeah..." he sighed. "Sorry, man. I'm sorta gettin' it, but all the letters and numbers mixed together are givin' me a headache." And, he added internally, it doesn't help that one of the biggest distractions ever is sitting right next to me.

"Why the fuck can't you just use a tape measure for this shit?" Bakugou grumbled, finally throwing his pencil down after reworking through one of the problems for the third time. "And I'm not gonna be some shitty architect, so I'm not gonna need this bullshit. Ever."

"It's cool, guys. I gotta use the restroom anyway, so we can take a break," Midoriya told them.

"'Kay," Kirishima said as he stood up and headed toward the main entrance.

Bakugou seemed to immediately deflate when he was gone and leaned back in his chair. "Fuck math," he huffed.

"Agreed," Kirishima mumbled. "But just one more semester, and then we'll be done."

"That's a whole fucking semester," Bakugou said.

"Maybe it'll be easier. Who knows?"

"Hmph," was all Bakugou mumbled as he picked up his pencil again, leaned his head back, and started attempting to balance it on the tip of his nose. Kirishima only watched him for a moment before habitually tugging out his phone and tapping the Instagram icon midway through a yawn. It was quiet a while save for the few times Bakugou accidentally dropped the pencil, cursed under his breath as he leaned over to pick it up, and then continued to attempt the balancing act.

"Hey look, I found us some motivation," Kirishima said a moment later.

"What?"

Kirishima tilted the phone toward Bakugou, who looked down and caught the pencil as it fell from his face.

Bakugou huffed lightly. "Sure, 'cept you don't hate anybody."

"Hm, yeah. True." He continued to scroll for a moment before saying, "I guess this is more like me." Again he tilted the phone.

In typical Bakugou fashion, he snorted. "Yeah, I'll be sure to have a box of tissues ready after you do your math midterm."

Laughing lightly Kirishima responded, "Thanks. It's good to know you're lookin' out for me."

"That's not what I said, I just don't want gross ass snot all over the place."

"Hey, how do you even know if I snot when I cry?" Kirishima playfully defended.

"Everybody snots when they cry, dumbfuck."

"Even you?"

"I don't cry."

"...no, but you do get geography and geometry mixed up," Kirishima joked quietly, pretending to avert his attention back to his phone.

"Oh my fucking god, you are never gonna let me live that shit down, are you?" Bakugou griped, practically smacking his pencil back down on the table. Kirishima was already laughing inevitably, that same feeling of giddy amusement rising up the way it had every time he'd teased Bakugou about the mix up since it happened.

"Sorry, dude! I just can't get over it," Kirishima managed past his chortles, his eyes watering enough to the point where he barely saw it when Bakugou pushed his chair back and lifted a leg to plant his foot against the corner of Kirishima's chair.

"Want me to give you something else you can't get over?" he said, pushing so Kirishima's chair tilted back. He reeled, scrambling to grab the table to keep himself from falling backward. He was only vaguely aware of Midoriya shuffling back up to their table.

"Whoa, okay, okay!" Kirishima gasped, though his mirth had hardly subsided. "I give!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Bakugou huffed with a semi-snarky grin as he let Kirishima's chair fall back into its natural position—emphasis on fall. Kirishima swore it rattled his brain a little.

"What did I miss?" Midoriya questioned as he slid back into his seat, setting down an armful of vending machine snacks in the process.

"I was just making fun of Bakugou for—" Kirishima's words were cut off when an elbow met his ribs—not too hard, but hard enough to shut him up. "Ahh, never mind," he mumbled, trying—and failing—to suppress his grin.

"Uh... alright," Midoriya said. "I brought some snacks if you're interested."

"Awesome, thanks," Kirishima said, graciously accepting a package of crackers. Bakugou, too, snatched a pack of Oreos and tore them open without saying anything, prompting Kirishima to nudge him under the table with his knee.

"Fucking what, Dumb Hair?" he hissed.

"Dude. Say thank you."

Bakugou sighed around the cookie he'd already stuffed in his mouth—whole. "Yeah, whatever, thanks," he muttered.

He's so hopeless, Kirishima thought, unaware of the smile shining in his eyes.

⚜️

In the end, Kirishima did feel better about his skills at polynomials after spending nearly every day after school in the library with Midoriya. Bakugou didn't show every time, much to his conflicting disappointment and relief that he wasn't always bogged down a bit by such a huge distraction. On Saturday, having decided it should be a day off from studying after a week of non stop cramming, he made sure to text Midoriya and offer compensation while beside him in the lounge, Bakugou and Sero duked it out on Super Smash Bros.

>Hey man! Thanks for helping us study. You free this weekend? I'll buy you lunch as a thank you

>No problem, but you don't have to do that. It was no trouble at all

>Yeah but I'm probably gonna pass my midterm now so I wanna make it up to you :D

>Really, it's okay :) That's what friends are for.

>You sure?

>Absolutely

>Ok. Well if you change your mind, let me know

>Sure :)

Kirishima had gone back to watching his friends battle and reveling a little in how damn fast his roommate's thumbs smashed the buttons when his phone vibrated only a few minutes later. He lifted it to find it was another message from Midoriya.

>Um, hey. Can I ask you a question?

>Sure, what's up?

>I apologize if this is too intrusive, and please don't feel obligated to answer... but is there something between you and Kacchan?

Kirishima's heart immediately jumped into his throat, and he typed back with a certain amount of skepticism.

>What do you mean exactly?

>Nothing bad! It's just that he sort of acts differently around you, and you two seem really close, which is admittedly a bit odd for him.

Instinctively, in a way he wasn't entirely aware of, Kirishima angled himself so that it wouldn't be easy for Bakugou to see the screen of his phone as he typed his reply.

>How so?

>He's just not the type to have close friends, at least not as long as I've known him. And he seemed a lot calmer around you. I noticed him smiling quite a bit, too, and in your direction. It somehow seemed like... more than just that, if you know what I mean..

By then Kirishima swore his heart was about to pound right through his ribs and his throat had grown thick. While he was still contemplating a reply, another message came through.

>I'm not trying to suggest anything, I swear! I was just curious about the behavior, but it's hard to ask him about stuff like that. Please don't think I'm trying to assume anything or put any sort of pressure on you. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

>You're good man! But wow, that's crazy cuz I never noticed anything like that about him. But ive only known him since September, so its hard to say

>Sorry if I've been too presumptuous. I'm glad you guys seem to be such good friends :)

>Nah really, you're fine 😁& me too.

The conversation came to an end there, but Kirishima's heart didn't so much as slow down. For fear that his uneasiness showed on his face, he made an excuse about needing to use the restroom and slipped soundlessly out of the lounge to head right back to his room long enough to calm himself down, his mind reeling the whole way.

Bakugou did act differently around him. He did, and Kirishima had noticed it. He'd just... denied it, for fear of getting his hopes up, for fear of being let down in the end or moving too fast and making things awkward with his roommate. But... hearing it from Midoriya, the person who'd known Bakugou since they were little kids... was seriously eye-opening, and he really didn't know what to make of it.

Kirishima chewed his lip as he read over Midoriya's text messages a few more times, letting the words sink in and remembering every time his friends—Mina especially—had insisted that the feeling was mutual on Bakugou's end. The only coherent thought in the mess that was in his head was 'Holy shit.'

---

Dislcaimer: i know Bakugou is supposed to be some sort of 'genius' in canon. Believe me, i do. but that's the point of fanfic—that it strays from canon and is a different vision someone has. in this fic, it's on purpose that Bakugou dislikes school & that he's not very good at it. that may be slightly ooc but i don't think the whole 'genius' aspect is important to his character in this setting. i'm sorry if this makes anyone mad... or whatever. but tbh it's my story & i'm allowed to write it how i want.

also, i know trig is fairly easy... but for someone of his character as i just explained, and all of the freaking terms and shit that goes into it, he's pretty apathetic about it and has little desire to learn it in the first place, so that's why he isn't very good at it.

(i also want to quietly point out that not every subject is on the same level for everyone. yes, lots of people are pretty good at trig, but i know people who hated it and couldn't get the hang of it. 'so why did you change it instead of just saying that?' bc it felt wrong in the first place, and i honestly was trying to get chapters done quickly so i didn't end up falling behind, so i kinda just put down the first thing i thought of. this is clearly a lesson for me to pay more attention to quality rather than speed.)

i hate that i have to explain this in a note bc i should just be able to make it clear in the story, but i'm just not the writer i used to be (or want to be), i guess.

also yeah, i know a bunch of the memes are old as shit. imo, all memes are good memes. just bc they're old doesn't make them irrelevant lol.

i know these are literally the dumbest things to be so insecure about, and again i am not blaming anyone. i do take what you guys say seriously and even though i probably shouldn't to the extent that i do, i take it to heart too bc a lot of the time your feedback is what helps me improve. thank you guys so much for your support in this little hiccup; even though i didn't respond, please know that i did read every comment you left in support. also, chapter 17 will be posted this coming Tuesday as planned.

...one last thing: my household is really struggling with bills this month, so i made a ko-fi in case any of you would be willing to donate (it's kind of like a tip): https://ko-fi.com/porcelainsky (the link is also in my bio). i completely understand if you don't or can't, though. if you can, i'm more than willing to do a small drabble or short one shot of your choosing if you'd like! just message me—@/porcelainriot on Instagram is the best way to reach me, but messaging here works, too. ♥️