"Really?! Uraraka?!" shouted Kirishima as he and his friend Bakugou walked home from school.

"Shut up you moron; there are other people on the street you know!"

Kirishima gave a sheepish smile and toned down his voice and behavior. "Sorry, bro, it's just surprising to hear that you like someone. You rarely talk about the subject of love."

"And your reaction is specifically why I don't. It's not that big a deal. She impressed me during our fight at the Sports Festival, that's all."

"So have you asked her out yet?"

Bakugou came to a stop in the middle of the sidewalk after hearing Kirishima's question. He didn't want to admit that he'd been too nervous to approach her after their match. And now, weeks after it ended, he still hadn't gotten the nerve to tell her how he felt.

"Not yet, I-I haven't had the time. Here, let's cut through the park, it's faster this way," he said, his voice projecting some unease at the end. Kirishima picked up on it instantly.

There wasn't much that Kirishima missed when it came to Bakugou. It was a constant struggle for him to keep his true feelings to himself. He knew that if Bakugou learned about Kirishima's crush on him that it would likely bring an end to their friendship. If Bakugou started dating Uraraka, then maybe he could finally put aside his feelings and admit they would never be returned. He decided to do what he could to get them together.

"No worries, bro!" he said as he dropped his arm across Bakugou's shoulder, which surprisingly didn't get exploded away. "I'll help you out. I totally know just what you should say to confess to her!"

"Pfft, what could you possibly know about that kind of stuff? I don't see you dating anyone."

Well, he has me there. "Do you really wanna take the chance of going up to her with no plan? C'mon, you have to practice to get better at using your Quirk, right? Well, it could only help to practice asking someone out too!"

Bakugou looked at Kirishima suspiciously. He had to admit that what he was saying made sense. And he didn't have a lot of experience with relaying his real feelings to another person. It would be a hit to his ego to ask for help. But if it was Kirishima, it wouldn't do as much damage as it would if it were anyone else.

"So what would you consider to be a prime example of a good confession, shitty hair?"

"Well, I'd bring them to a place where we'd both be at ease. That would take a lot of the tension off." They came to a stop near the children's playground, where Kirishima energetically ran over to the swings. He climbed on one, standing up as he swayed back and forth a few times before jumping and landing with a thud as his Hardening Quirk protected his fall.

He returned to Bakugou and continued, "After that, I'd look into their eyes as I take one of their hands into mine, and tell them what my heart wants them to know. I'd want them to know how they make me feel more confident in myself, and that being with them makes me want to keep working to improve and be a better person for their sake." Kirishima didn't break eye contact with Bakugou as he spoke, even as he started to tear up.

"They should know that I'd protect them from harm or sadness with everything I am. And finally, if they gave me the chance to stand beside them, we'd both be the happiest people in the world." He had reached his limit and knew if he said anything more, his voice would break. Any more and he was afraid he would slip up and say 'you' instead of 'they.'

Bakugou felt his chest grow tight. His friend's words had hit him hard and he wasn't prepared for it. That mock confession could have easily been mistaken for the real thing. Conflicted with how he now felt, he was curious to hear more of what Kirishima had to say.

"That wasn't terrible. It's not like I need any help from you but tell me what else you consider to be useful in this situation, even though I doubt it'll work."

They spent more time together over the passing weeks with Kirishima helping to coach Bakugou on what to say when he faced Uraraka. The other classmates had noticed that they were getting closer as well.

At one point, Uraraka had crossed paths with Bakugou in the hall. His usual nonchalant attitude was disrupted as she paused in front of him, and he suddenly didn't know what to say.

"Hi Bakugou, are you heading home for the day?"

"U-Uh, yeah. You?"

"I have some extra assignments due, so I'm meeting with the girls to get those turned in. Where's Kirishima? Haven't you two been hanging out after school lately?"

He had wondered himself where Kirishima had disappeared to but didn't want to look weak in front of his crush. "Who knows, I'm not his babysitter."

Uraraka gave a surprised expression but shrugged it off and returned to her usual cheerful voice, "Okay, well guess I'll see you around!"

"Yeah, later." Bakugou only stood there after she went on her way, trying to make sense of what had happened. His loss for words had been sudden and unexpected. He never had this problem when practicing with Kirishima.

Bakugou decided that tomorrow would be the day he confessed to Uraraka, and as the two guys sat around in Bakugou's room, they realized that this was it. Tomorrow would decide if the practice and Kirishima's coaching would pay off.

"Hey Bakugou, I was just wondering... Have you ever, you know, kissed anyone before?"

"What business is that of yours!" Of course, he hadn't even come close to doing something like that with anyone yet. How could he when he couldn't get past talking about his feelings.

"So, I guess that's a no. But... Don't you want to be prepared if that's what she wants to do? Wouldn't it be a good idea to practice that as well?"

Bakugou pictured that scenario in his mind. Uraraka was leaning in and closing her eyes, waiting for him to meet her lips with his. He felt anxious and even in his imagination, found he couldn't follow through with it.

"Practice? What, like on my arm or something?"

"No, like this..." Kirishima leaned forward and kissed Bakugou gently. He didn't immediately pull back, but when they did, Bakugou was speechless. He didn't expect a kiss from another guy to feel that comfortable.

"Let's try it again. I don't think you were doing it right, shitty hair."

They were sloppy at first. Their lack of experience was apparent. They were quick to learn from each other, though. Bakugou had slid his hand around to the base of Kirishima's neck, pulled him closer as he moaned slightly while he grazed his tongue across Kirishima's lips.

Eventually, their hands started to wander elsewhere as they got into the heat of the moment. Feeling each other's warmth against their palms encouraged them to keep going. However, when Bakugou's hand casually brushed against the front of Kirishima's pants, their moment together came to a screeching halt as Kirishima quickly got flustered and stood up suddenly.

"Okay! Well, uh... I think that you're totally ready to talk to her. I should get going, but I'll be rooting for ya tomorrow!" Kirishima said awkwardly as he rushed out of Bakugou's house.

"What was that? Doing those kinds of things… with him... Why did it feel so good?" Bakugou spent the rest of the night tossing and turning in his bed, wondering why he didn't feel disgusted or angry about the moment they had shared or with Kirishima's sudden departure. He spent more time dwelling on that than he did working over what he wanted to say to Uraraka.

This is it, time to take everything we worked on and put it to use. Bakugou was about to turn the corner into the main hall after classes had ended, when he heard the girl's voices echo nearby. He paused and leaned up against the wall, wondering if what they had to say could be useful when he approached Uraraka.

"It's so obvious that she's got a crush on him! Did you see how focused on him she was while he was fighting in the tournament?" Ashido said to Asui and Momo.

"Yeah, poor Ochako! She's too shy to tell Midoriya that she likes him. Perhaps, as her friends, we should try to help get them together?"

"I don't know Momo, wouldn't it be bad if he doesn't feel the same way and she ends up getting hurt? Ribbit."

"Yeah, I suppose that's true. It just sucks seeing her acting like a lovesick puppy whenever Midoriya's around, knowing she won't do anything to change their relationship."

Bakugou's eyes grew wide as he realized that nothing he could say would make a difference now. She loved someone else. Feeling his stomach tighten up, he stormed off, passing Kirishima in the hall.

"Hey bro, what's the rush?"

Bakugou didn't even hesitate as he continued running away. Worried that something bad had happened, Kirishima went after him, eventually following him into an empty classroom.

"Just get out, I don't wanna see your face right now."

"C'mon man, did something happen when you confessed? Talk to me, it'll feel better to get it off your chest instead of holding it in." Kirishima said as he got closer to his friend, only to be pushed away.

"Just back off already! I don't need you around to baby me; you got it?! I didn't get to confess because she likes that damn nerd Deku! So, get out of here, before I take my frustration out on your stupid face!"

"Bro, I-I'm sorry it didn't work out, I really am..." He reached his hand out to grab Bakugou's, who slapped it away.

"DON'T TOUCH ME! Why do you care about this so much? You can stop pretending that you give a shit about my feelings. I don't know why I bothered taking your advice anyway."

"I wasn't pretending to do anything, Bakugou. I care about you a lot, and I don't like seeing you hurt like this. I didn't want to make things weird between us, but I can't sit by and watch anymore. I like you, a-as more than a friend," Kirishima said, his words progressively growing softer as he went on.

Bakugou was thoroughly confused and frustrated, "What are you saying? You're confessing to me?! What, you think because you spouted off some pretty words and tricked me into kissing you that suddenly we're going out? Don't get ahead of yourself, all that happened was just practice. It didn't mean anything. You were nothing more than a training dummy!"

Kirishima's eyes glossed over, tears on the verge of spilling over. His tough skin did nothing to shield him from Bakugou's cruel words. He had been reaching out for him again, but his arm fell dead to his side. Finally relenting, he hung his head down. "I-I see. It was wrong of me to tell you how I felt right after your own heart was crushed. I'm sorry, I'll leave now."

As he walked out, Bakugou looked away, still furious at the situation, but even more angry at himself for taking it out on the one person that genuinely gave a shit. What could he say that would fix what he'd just destroyed? Kirishima had been sincere from the beginning. Hell, what he said during that practice confession could have been what Kirishima really wanted to tell him from the start. And he'd ruined everything in his anger.

Kirishima was absent when classes resumed after the weekend. Bakugou was surprised to see his empty chair and knew it had to be because of what went down between them the other day. He spent the rest of the day in a fog, considering what he could do to salvage their friendship. The other class members aggravated him with their prodding questions asking where he was. Like they deserved to know.

A second day passed without him showing up to school, and now the other 1-A students were concerned.

"Should we go check on him? What if he's sick?" said Midoriya.

The class rep Tenya gave his suggestion some thought, "If that's the case then wouldn't leaving him be so he can rest and recover be a better option?"

"True, plus I'm not sure if anyone knows where he lives," Midoriya said as he looked over to Bakugou. He suspected that he knew how to find him but didn't approach him. He was aware of how short Bakugou's fuse could be.

Knocking on Kirishima's door after school, Bakugou stood there with his fists clutched tightly as he waited for a response. After a few moments, the door opened to reveal Kirishima, looking tired and surprised to see Bakugou.

"H-Hey man, what's up?"

"Don't give me that 'what's up' crap. You don't show up to class for two days, and you don't think that's gonna raise some questions?"

"I spoke with Aizawa though. He said it wouldn't be a problem. I had to help my grandparents move to their new place. Why, did something happen at school?"

"What? No, those other extras were blabbering on about how worried they were about you, and it got on my nerves."

Kirishima stepped outside and closed the front door behind him. "I appreciate the concern, but I wouldn't have expected you to be the one to check on me, Bakugou. Especially after what you said when I told you how I felt."

"Oh, that." Bakugou started to fidget, scratching his head as he searched for the right words to say. He was only going to get one chance to make things right here. "I was furious over not confessing to Uraraka. I don't even remember most of what I said, so you shouldn't bother remembering any of it either. I didn't mean any of it."

Kirishima looked up and gave a weak smile, "So, does that mean we're still friends? Even knowing how I feel about you? Normal friends don't practice kissing each other like we did. I feel like I took advantage of you. For that, I'm sorry."

Bakugou met his gaze, feeling bolder now. "I didn't feel sorry about it, and it didn't feel like a mistake. I wasn't disgusted by it either. Yeah, I don't think friends are supposed to kiss like that. So, why don't we try being more than just friends, and see how that goes."

The fatigued look in Kirishima's eyes disappeared as his smile stretched across his face. "I-I'd like that very much! Wow, I wasn't expecting this at all, man! Do you wanna come in? My grandparents bought me the latest fighting game to thank me for helping them move," Kirishima said as he opened the door and gestured for him to follow him inside. "I was about to start it up when you knocked. You can join in if you want. We could do a team match or go one-on-one."

"One-on-one sounds more my speed, Kirishima," Bakugou said as he grabbed Kirishima's hand and followed him into the house.