:') sorry for fooling so many of you with the last chapter title. i'm so mean, lmao. but i can promise that when things do start to happen, the title won't have the word 'confession' in it~

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Kirishima

No matter how much Kirishima was looking forward to getting back to school, there was always something so relieving about seeing his mom again. Almost the entire campus was cleared of people by the time her car pulled up to the curb where Kirishima had been waiting alone since Bakugou's mom had come for him nearly an hour earlier. She wasted no time in getting out and pulling him into her arms, somehow always managing to make him feel so small and loved despite his having a good six inches on her at least. He was always reminded that talking on the phone with her on a weekly (or almost-weekly) basis had absolutely nothing on being in her presence.

Naturally, the two hour drive back home was filled with his recounting of the semester for her, beginning always with his test grades.

"I haven't gotten all of my results back yet. I dunno how I did in math, but I definitely passed art, history, language arts, and government," he told her. And, as usual, she told him she was proud of him.

She asked about his friends, and he told her they were doing well. Kami and Jirou were still going strong. Sero was only now finding ways to combat his urge to gossip so much (he'd gone to a counselor about it a couple months back when they called him in about it). Mina was still excelling at her dancing, as usual.

"And how are things with that roomate of yours?" she asked somewhere down the road, and that's when he remembered he hadn't told her much about Bakugou since giving her the news that he'd finally been assigned a roommate back in September.

"Good," he said, not even bothering to fight the inevitable smile because he damn well knew it would be fruitless.

"Just good?" she asked, giving him one of those classic mom looks out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah. Really good, actually. We're really good friends, and he's friends with everybody else, too... 'cept I still don't think he's quite ready to admit that just yet," Kirishima explained with a quiet laugh.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothin' bad," he assured her. "'S kinda hard to explain."

"'It's,' Eijirou. And why? Is he difficult to make friends with?"

"Sorry. And yeah, kinda..." Kirishima pretended to have to yawn to buy himself a minute to figure out how to describe Bakugou to his mom in a way that wouldn't make her totally hate him. Fortunately, she was one of the most open-minded people he'd ever known. "Honestly, he can be pretty abrasive, and sometimes he's got quite the temper, but he does warm up quite a bit once you get to know him... well, in his own kind of way."

Kirishima felt his mother's smile more than he saw it. "Sounds like you've developed quite a fondness for him. Remind me of his name?"

"Bakugou," he said. "Um, Bakugou Katsuki."

"Right," she said, nodding as she recalled their conversation from all those months ago. "It's good to know you've made a new friend, Eijirou. You'll have to introduce me when you go back for next semester."

Nervous butterflies instantly filled Kirishima's stomach, but he nodded anyway. "Sure, Ma."

As close as Kirishima was to his mother, and as much as he trusted her, even he couldn't bring himself to open up about his feelings for Bakugou to her. He'd never gotten to this point in any of his past crushes; he was too chicken to even bring it up with her and it felt like opening a can of worms he wasn't even remotely ready for yet. So for the remainder of the break, he knew he would keep his mouth shut about it.

⚜️

Kirishima's family wasn't all that big on holidays. Sure, they liked to spend Christmas together, but it was more of a family night spent catching up with relatives who didn't see each other that often over the course of the rest of the year; and, even more so, a ridiculously competitive game night. With how absolutely ruthless some of his relatives could be when it came to board or card games (especially his mom, if he was being honest), there wasn't a year that went by where at least one of his family members reminded him of how surprisingly level-headed he was having grown up in such a competitive household.

"Hey, someone's gotta keep their cool," he always told whoever it was who brought it up—usually one of his uncles or older cousins—with a nonchalant shrug.

Of course, because of his easygoing nature, he'd lost count of just how many times the rest of his family had trampled over him in any game you could possibly name. Admittedly he didn't mind, though—he was just happy to see his family happy, and was more than glad to entertain his little cousins when the rest of the group had a little too much to drink to responsibly look after them anymore. It was a once-a-year thing, and although he always was thinking of Bakugou (somehow unable to stop wishing he was there alongside him, and then picturing just how crazy things would get if he was) somewhere in the back of his mind, he was undoubtedly happy to be home.

In some ways, it almost was like Bakugou was right there with him. Throughout the break and even on the day of Christmas, he and his roommate were messaging back and forth almost nonstop. It was inevitable that he'd get teased for being on his phone so much, and the little ones were damn persistent at trying to get him to 'fess up about who he was texting (and he swore he'd have the sing-song voices of the four of them singing 'Eiji has a girlfriend!' stuck in his head for the rest of his life), but it wasn't nearly enough to get him to end his conversation. Besides, he knew his little cousins, and that when even he'd had too much of their crazy antics all he had to do was plop them in front of the TV and put on a movie, and they'd be asleep in no time at all.

The break didn't cause Kirishima to lose momentum with his meme flirting, either. Frankly, he was too stubborn to let it. (And apparently so was Bakugou, because on several occasions he'd wake up with several notifications of just that from his roommate.) From the ones his other friends had sent him over the course of the past few months, he had plenty saved up to fire at Bakugou in those brief moments of courage (always between the usual, normal memes, of course), such as:

Only boosting his confidence, Bakugou was always fairly quick to respond.

>Thanks, but fuck chemistry

Kirishima could never be sure if Bakugou was taking him seriously or just believed he shared those as a joke. Even still, he was never met with a negative response, and Bakugou never failed to retaliate with some sort of meme of his own.

It was almost a constant thing that Kirishima's thoughts would wander back to his conversation with Midoriya and then on to the one with his friends the day of midterms whenever he had a minute of downtime, and he'd spent hours over the break mulling over what the hell he should do. He asked himself questions and then asked them again. Any and all time he spend in the garage working away at his board, his mind was preoccupied with trying to make a decision.

Did he want to date Bakugou? Hell yeah, he did! He'd lost count of how many times he'd fantasized about it happening, and even the simple thought made him happier than he could describe.

Did he think that maybe, possibly, perhaps, sort of, that Bakugou might return his feelings? Yes. Maybe. (He hoped—he really hoped.) Did he think that if he could just muster the guts to ask him out on a simple date to somewhere probably really lame, like a Starbucks or whatever (while making sure to imply that it was intended as more than just two bros getting coffee together), that there was a chance—even a small one—that Bakugou would agree? Honestly, yes. He did.

So, then, what the hell was he so afraid of?

The word was small. Quiet, echoing briefly in the back of his mind whenever he asked himself the question, but leaving a terribly bitter feeling weighing on his chest.

Rejection.

Sure, he thought there might be at least a small chance Bakugou would agree, but there was so much else to consider. He didn't even know if Bakugou even looked at other guys that way. He'd never shown interest. (Though to be fair, Kirishima thought, he'd never shown that kind of interest in anyone.) And Bakugou was his friend—a really good friend, at that. He'd never had the types of conversations with anyone the way he did with Bakugou, never really had the kind of fun he and Bakugou had with anyone else (which, incidentally, only made him like his roommate that much more). Even if he were to ask Bakugou out on a simple more-than-bros coffee date, Kirishima couldn't help but feel like he was putting everything at stake. He knew the second he opened his mouth and uttered the question, no matter the outcome, things between them would never be the same again. It could be good, he knew, but there were odds that it could have a terrible impact on their relationship, too.

And he just wasn't ready to take that risk. While he was confident in their friendship, and glad that Bakugou seemed to have the same interest in maintaining it even after graduation, he wasn't confident enough that their bond was strong enough to make it through something like that. The simple thought of losing Bakugou, even as just a good friend, caused his chest to ache, right in the center.

⚜️

By the time New Year's eve rolled around, Kirishima was more than happy to have the responsibility of entertaining his little cousins again because he was starting to tire himself out with the same, incessant cycle of thoughts he'd been having since the minute he'd gotten home.

But even they weren't quite enough to keep him fully distracted.

"Eiji!" the littlest of the bunch exclaimed as she jumped into his lap while the other three dug out the huge bucket of Legos in the closet. "How's your gir'frien'?" she asked with a giggle.

"I don't have a girlfriend," he told her with a grin.

Instantly her face fell. "Oh." But like a flip was switched, it lit up again. "Okay, den how's your boyfrien'?"

"I... don't have a boyfriend, either," he managed. To his misfortune, though, the four-year-old was more perceptive than expected and she laughed.

"Liar, liar!" she sang, reaching up to squish his cheek (something she learned from her mother, who had a habit of doing that to him when she was drunk). As he tugged her fingers away, his attempt to tell her he wasn't lying was rendered fruitless as she jumped from his lap and ranto tell the others. "Eiji has a boyfrien'! Eiji has a boyfrien'!" she practically screeched.

For the rest of the evening he was deflecting their questions, and was admittedly a bit disappointed when their mom gave them permission to stay up until midnight and ring in the new year. If he was lucky, they'd fall asleep by ten and spare him. And, to his fortune, even he was worn out by their antics by the time eleven rolled around, so it was no surprise that they were more than ready to just chill on the large sectional in the basement and watch a movie.

"But we won't fall asleep!" the eldest of them promised, stubbornly crossing her arms.

"Nope!" the others agreed, mirroring her actions.

"Whatever you say," he told them.

Twenty minutes later, they were all knocked out—and so was he, lying on the floor in front of them completely exhausted but grateful for the relief.

⚜️

When Kirishima found himself blinking his dry eyes open several hours later, having no idea what time it was, the house was almost peculiarly quiet. With a sigh he sat up, neck stiff from having slept on the floor with nothing more than a throw pillow from the couch, and glanced to his left where the four little ones were still sound asleep and unbothered by anything, including the lamp that'd accidentally been left on.

He fumbled for his phone, nearly lost halfway under the couch and found it to be only just after five in the morning. The only notification listed beneath the clock was from Instagram.

'fuck_off sent you a photo.'

Suddenly more awake, Kirishima unlocked the device and opened the app immediately, a light smile playing on his lips. Quickly he realized it wasn't a normal photo message—it was one that he had to tap 'view photo' to see, and it had come in five hours ago, almost right at midnight.

Bakugou had taken a picture of himself, smudged eyeliner, middle finger and all, with his pierced tongue sticking out and added red text to the bottom that read, "Happy New Year, fucker."

Kirishima was more than awake now. He'd sat up fully and took in the photo as much as he could for the few brief seconds it was on his screen before it disappeared and reverted back to their messages. His stomach was full of butterflies, the grin much more than a mild smirk now, as he tapped the reply button.

The face that replaced Bakugou's on the screen was very obviously sleepy, with his hair hair smashed down in several places. Still, he threw up a peace sign and snapped a photo. "Happy New Year, Bakubro!" he added to the bottom before tapping send.

Kirishima was able to take a trip to the bathroom and then upstairs to get ready for a quick shower before Bakugou responded. He was already too wired to go back to sleep despite it barely being sunrise.

>Lmao did you fall asleep?

>Haha, yup

>Loser

>Hey, i had 4 little kids to look after all day! I was tired

>Weak

>What about you? Did you even sleep at all?

>Nope

Kirishima rolled his eyes, grinning. Somehow he always sort of knew that school was what kept Bakugou's sleep schedule relatively normal. As was typical, their conversation carried throughout the morning and it was clear when Bakugou did eventually succumb to slumber, leaving a good chunk of time when he didn't reply until it was much later in the afternoon and Kirishima's house was finally void of relatives. Naturally, he took the time to tease Bakugou right back when he awoke.

>Have a nice nap, sleeping beauty? 😉😂

>Stfu asshole

>But yeah, i did. Thanks for asking

>What happened to 'sleep is for the weak?'

>Your mom, that's what

>😂

The sound of his mother's voice brought Kirishima back to the present. "Who're you texting with such a big smile?" she asked with a grin of her own.

"Huh?" he mumbled stupidly. "Um, nobody," he said quickly.

"Suuuure," she drawled as she reached up and ruffled his hair. "Well whoever they are, I'm glad this 'nobody' person is around to make my boy smile at his phone all week," she said before going around him and heading into the garage.

The heat flooding Kirishima's face was inevitable and he knew it. If his mom noticed and said something, he knew he had to have it bad.

Aw man.

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sorry this chapter is kinda short ;-; there was only so much i could think of to add to it.