He wasn't sure how, but Bakugou survived until 5 o'clock. The very moment the clock turned he heard a knock on his door. He opened it up and, sure enough, Kirishima was on the other side grinning from ear to ear. He looked the other boy up and down before saying, "Well, one of us has to change."

Kirishima frowned for a moment and looked down at what they were wearing. Not surprisingly they were both in their gym clothes from school. "Did you really just make a joke?"

Bakugou gave him a weak smirk, to which Kirishima laughed. With that they walked out of the dorm together and started jogging down the road. Usually jogging was a great way for Bakugou to clear his head and release the tension from the day, and while he still had that usual liberating feeling, his head was far from clear. He forced himself to jog a tiny bit slower than usual so Kirishima could keep up comfortably but that only made him think of the redhead more, which only served to muddle his thoughts.

"Something on your mind, Bakugou?" Kirishima asked, a little winded.

"Uh, no," Bakugou lied as he subconsciously slowed down a bit more.

Once he had gotten some of his breath back Kirishima said, "You should just try to relax, man. You look like you got a lot on your mind. We're almost in town now so no one from school is going to recognize you or anything."

"I'm perfectly calm!" Bakugou yelled, but he was smiling a little to let him know he wasn't actually angry.

Kirishima just rolled his eyes at him and they continued jogging in silence after that, but Bakugou took his advice and tried to let go of some of his fear. He and his best friend were on a jog together. It was normal, calm...pleasant, even. He redirected their route to a path that led through a small wooded park, and once they were away from the busy streets he relaxed more fully, and his face showed an expression of contentment for once in his life. He slowed to a walk, and held back a little chuckle as he saw Kirishima out of the corner of his eye let out a deep breath of relief at finally slowing down.

"This is nice," Kirishima said after a minute. "Thanks for talking me into it."

Bakugou gave him a funny look. "You're the one who asked me out, shitty hair."

"Well I didn't want to." Kirishima suddenly realized what he'd said and panicked, "Well I mean obviously I wanted to very much it was just this morning I didn't think I wanted to 'cause I wanted to be alone with you more and it was really-"

"I know what you mean, idiot," Bakugou interrupted, rolling his eyes. But that gleam in his eyes told Kirishima he was secretly happy, somewhere beneath that cold exterior.

Then their conversation drifted back into silence as they walked through the wood, merely enjoying each other's company. He didn't know when it happened exactly but Kirishima randomly noticed that they were holding hands, and it took everything in him not to grin suddenly or blush—or both—in his surprise.

It felt natural somehow. Feeling Bakugou's calloused fingers laced in his, giving them the slightest squeeze every now and again. They were comfortable together, and Kirishima was relieved to find that they could be together...as a couple. He began to play shyly with the word 'boyfriend' in his mind, and it gave him a strangely warm feeling in the pit of his stomach.

But just when he built up the courage to mention it Bakugou blurted out, "I'm starting to get pretty hungry. Wanna find somewhere to eat?"

Kirishima tried to hide his disappointment and let the idea fade to the back of his mind as he answered, "Uh, yeah. There's a takeout place pretty close that my mom took me to once, and it was pretty good if I remember right. We can grab something quick and go wherever we want to eat it."

"Sounds good to me."

Kirishima's heart lifted as they headed out of the forest. His stomach growling was enough to make him forget all about whatever had his mind so occupied before.

***

Some time later they were sitting together on a grassy hill eating their takeout and chatting about random stuff. Kirishima finished eating as he started talking about a sports team he had recently taken an interest in, and laid back against the hill to look up at the sky as it slowly started to turn pink. It was still a bit too bright to look at the horizon so he just stared straight up as he talked, bouncing his foot contentedly.

After a time Bakugou set his own empty food container aside and lay down next to him. When Kirishima was done talking they merely sat there in silence, watching the thin wisps of clouds pass by overhead. He put his hands behind his head as he watched the sky, relaxing at the feeling of a cool wind as it brushed past them and the sound it made as it wove through the grass around them.

"Thanks," Bakugou mumbled.

"For what?" Kirishima asked as he shot him a quizzical look.

The ash blond boy grabbed his hand again and gave it a little squeeze before answering, "For everything. For being there for me. For never giving up on me even when I let my anger take over constantly. And for...for being with me."

Kirishima turned on his side to look at him with a smile as he said, "Well thank you too, man. Does that mean we're...like...a thing?"

"Your vocabulary is astonishing," Bakugou laughed. "Try again."

"You're gonna make me say it?"

"Yup."

Kirishima sighed. "Will you be my boyfriend? Officially?"

"Well..." when Bakugou paused Kirishima punched him hard in the shoulder. He gasped in pain but laughed anyway as he said, "Yeah, alright. But tell anyone and I will kill you!"

Kirishima laughed, "You wouldn't dare: you like me too much!"

"Try me," Bakugou growled as he poked him in the side. When Kirishima laughed his eyebrows furrowed. "Are you ticklish?"

"No."

Bakugou flashed him an evil grin as he said, "You are, aren't you?"

Before the redhead could even react he attacked him relentlessly to find that he was, in fact, extremely ticklish. And when he was tickled he lost complete control of his quirk so that his skin fluctuated between being rock-hard and insensitive to silky soft and ticklish again without his consent. He squirmed underneath Bakugou's fingertips until he was gasping for air and the assault finally, reluctantly ended.

"Jerk!" Kirishima breathed, pouting at his defeat.

"I try," Bakugou responded with a wink.

Over time Kirishima learned to forgive him, and when he did, he found their hands interlocked at their sides again. He couldn't help but wonder how he pulled off the hand-holding so stealthily. But soon came the moment they had both secretly been waiting for: the sunset.

Golden-orange bands of light stretched across the sky, illuminating the world around them in a low golden sheen for the last time that day. Before he knew it Kirishima was cuddled right up next to Bakugou, resting his head on his shoulder as he watched the world slowly darken.

"The sunset is beautiful, isn't it Bakugou?" Kirishima laughed. "I mean, manly."

Bakugou rolled his eyes. "And this is the part where I answer with the most bland cliché known to man, 'not as beautiful as you, Kirishima'." When Kiri made a face at him he glared back. "You aren't upset that I didn't take you seriously, right?"

Kirishima shook his head as he answered, "No, not that. Just, it feels weird to call each other by our family names now."

Bakugou frowned. "Alright, Eijirou...nope, still sounds kinda weird."

"Oh you just need a pet name for me," Kirishima teased. The idea was so unmanly, he visibly cringed after he thought the idea over.

"Does shitty hair work?" when the redhead shook his head he kept going, "Idiot? Spikey? Spikey Idiot? Red Reject?"

"Really?" Kirishima complained. "Fine, just call me Kiri for short or something. At least it's shorter and a little more personal."

Bakugou nodded. "Fine then, but if you're making such a big deal of it, what's your nickname for me?"

"Kat," Kirishima answered at once. "Seems quite literally like a pet name."

"Call me that around anyone else and I'll blow you all the way to kingdom come," Bakugou growled. He roughly wrapped an arm around Kiri and added, "But I guess it's good enough for now."

That was Bakugonian for 'I love it', Kirishima was sure. He beamed up at him, and Bakugou answered with a kiss. It was different from usual though: not full of need or desire, but just a gentle and tender kiss. Mindlessly Kirishima put a hand on his hip as he kissed him back, pouting when Bakugou inevitably pulled back.

"Don't give me that look. We should get back before it gets too dark, or everyone will get worried and start asking questions that I don't feel like answering tonight," Bakugou said with a little smile.

"Fine," Kirishima groaned as he untangled himself from Bakugou and got back to his feet. "Race you back!"