"Normally I'm not one to gossip... but have you heard what happened with Iida?"

"Shut up Mina, everyone already knows about that. No need to rub salt in the wound."

Mina stuck her tongue out at Bakugo and Bakugo glared back at her. She turned away and he huffed, crossing his arms and leaning back into his chair. Anyone who would have seen that would call him rude and inconsiderate. But in the eyes of Kirishima, he saw it as kind.

Everyone already knew what happened. Iida's elder brother was injured by Stain. So, he went to find the Hero Killer and was found unconscious in an alleyway. So, Iida had been reprimanded by the teachers. The student's internship was terminated, and he felt humiliated. Not because he got in trouble, but he was not able to stop the Hero Killer.

So, Kirishima did not see what Bakugo said as rude. Iida was still in the room and even if he was not, they should not be talking about him like that. The moody teen had quickly shot down all talk about his classmate in the classroom. Kirishima saw that as a respectful thing to do.

Kirishima cannot help but admire Bakugo. If he had met the boy in middle school, they probably would not have liked each other, but both of them had changed since then. He could see the pain in his friend's eyes, the regrets, and shame he holds on his shoulders like Sisyphus. He rolled his guilt up a hill like a boulder, walking towards a summit he would never get to. He did not want or expect his friend to stop rolling that boulder, but he wanted to join the other's side and help roll the bolder will him.

It was good that Bakugo felt guilt, if he did not feel guilt, it would be unnatural. But the boy's guilt was eating him alive and it killed Kirishima to watch. He wanted to help carry the other's burden, to see him smile, to have the other know there was someone by his side rooting for him.

Though he could happily say that things have gotten better compared to the first year of school. Bakugo had been completely off by himself. He did not talk, and he avoided eye contact. But after they became friends, the boy talked a lot more in class and got closer to his other classmates. What others thought were rude comments and outbursts, Kirishima saw as endearing, straight forward, and normally not said with bad intentions. He could see through the other's words; he could see who he was on the inside. That was what he loved about the other.

Kirishima had definitely enjoyed watching Bakugo during the tournament battle. He was able to get past his fear of harming others or was still working on it. They could not just get rid of his fear all in one go. Baby steps.

There had been something that he wanted to tell Bakugo, but he was not sure if he should even tell the other. He did not want to risk their current relationship and he did not want to freak the other out. He was not worried about what others would say about his feelings or how they would view him. He did not care about other people's opinions about him. He also knew that Bakugo did not care for what anyone had to say about him. Both of them probably only cared about each other's opinions and the opinions of those they love and hold close.

Kirishima wanted to tell Bakugo how he felt about the other. But he was afraid. Out of everything he had experienced so far, confronting and confessing his feelings seemed to be the scariest. He did not want to lose an important person in his life. After he had spent most of his life secluding himself because of his self-doubt, he had finally broken out of his shell and connected with someone.

As their class went on, Kirishima had turned his head to stare at Bakugo. He was not surprised to see the boy reclined in his chair while listening to the teacher speak. Though it looked like the other was a delinquent, he knew he was paying attention to the class, noting things down in his head. Despite his friend's demeanor, the other was pretty smart and strategical.

Kirishima would go to Bakugo's house quite often and they would spend their time studying, talking, and playing video games. The video games were more of his idea, but he ended up getting Bakugo interested in them. It was fun to get competitive and see the boy toss the remote to the floor and say things like, 'it's just a stupid game and it doesn't matter. All you have to do is move your fingers faster to win.' whenever he lost. His grades have even increased after his study sessions with the other.

Kirishima saw a shift in Bakugo's gaze and it had surprised him. The boy had looked from the teacher to him, he had caught him staring. The redhead quickly turned his head to look at the teacher while the other gave him a questioning look. Recently, he has been acting strangely around Bakugo, and he was sure that the other had noticed. His actions were so obvious, and he hoped that the other did not take it the wrong way.

Normally if a familiar person met his gaze, he would smile and wave. But this time he would nervously advert his eyes. He was afraid that Bakugo would be able to see straight through him, see how he truly felt, just by looking through his eyes. He did not want his friend to suddenly assume that he did not like him because he was avoiding eye contact when his feelings were the exact opposite of that.

"Hey, what's up with you, shitty hair?"

Kirishima expected this now that they sat in Bakugo's room with note cards and study sheets in front of them. It was about time that the other brought it up, but he was not planning on sharing any real reason for his actions.

"Nothing, why?" Kirishima almost had a voice crack, but he managed to stop that from happening.

"Really? Then why are you acting so strange?" Bakugo raised his brow, looking over a notecard.

"Well...maybe I'm nervous because of the test that's coming up?"

Bakugo rolled his eyes, "Bullshit. That wouldn't explain why you've been avoiding my eye contact. Besides, this never happened before any other test."

Kirishima looked away with a nervous laugh. He probably should have come up with a different excuse. He knew Bakugo had noticed that he was avoiding his eye contact. He did not have issues with looking at anyone else, it was probably upsetting the other.

"Um well...recently there was something that I noticed about my eyes. They are kind of weird."

Bakugo looked closer at Kirishima, focusing on the other's eyes. The boy was still looking away from the other. The blonde moved to get up. He closed the distance between the two and crouched above the other. He reached down, placing his hand on the other's head. His thumb gently settled on his forehead while the rest of his fingers slid into the red hair. Bakugo pushed Kirishima's head back, looking closely into their now connecting gaze.

There was a moment of silence, Kirishima's surprised widened eyes at Bakugo's seemingly stern gaze taking in every detail of his face and eyes. There was a firm nod from the boy before his hand left the other's head and he walked back. Kirishima had to quickly shake his blush off his face. Their faces had been so close that his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. He could not believe that Bakaugo just did that or that he could not hear the loud thumping his heart seemed to be making.

"Your eyes look fine to me. If it is your scar, I think it looks pretty cool."

Bakugo just shrugged as if what he just did was nothing big. Kirishima's jaw almost dropped. How could the other do something like that without a second thought was beyond him? The other probably just thought of this as trying to reassure a friend. It would make sense since he knew that Bakugo knew he cared about his opinion. But it had also gone the other way around.

"...um thank you."

Kirishima wondered if Bakugo had been able to see how he felt after looking into his eyes. Did the other not mention it because he did not want to bring up the feelings, because he did not feel the same way? Did he not mention anything because he did not want to embarrass him or himself? Did he not mention it because he did not know how he felt about him just yet? Or was he just overreacting and the other did not even notice his feelings?

If Bakugo had not noticed his feelings just by looking in his eyes, then it was like a sigh of relief and a breath of fresh air. He would finally be able to relax and look at his friend in the eyes without any paranoid nervous fear. The thought made him smile as he raised his head and gaze back to the other.

"Now that we've gotten that done, we can focus on these notes. I know you will do great on the test, but I would like to get a better grade than 'just passing.'"

Kirishima was not really too worried about the test. He knew that he would be able to reach his goal if he studied with Bakugo. The other just had a really good way of explaining the subject material to him. That and his method of teaching kept his attention more often than their teacher's way. It was fun, engaging, and of course, he would pay attention to everything his friend said.

Unknowingly to Kirishima, Bakugo had noticed something when he looked into his friend's eyes. Though he was not too sure about what it was that he saw. It had been a widening of the pupils and some sort of spark. He had heard from somewhere that the pupils dilate when they see someone they love. Though they had loved each other, they were close friends, closer than any friends that they had before.

Even though Bakugo was smart when it came to school and strategies, he seemed to be quite dense when it came to other's feelings about him. He had seen how nervous Kirishima had been around him, avoiding eye contact, face reddening, frantic movements, and excuses. He had noticed it, but he did not process what it meant. Even as he leaned in close to the other's face. He had seen his reaction but did not process it.

It was an inkling of a thought, and Bakugo had thought of it. The chance of Kirishima having feelings for him. It was a quick thought; it did not last long because he shot it down. He could not believe that someone as wonderful as Kirishima could love such a terrible person as himself. So, the idea was left as nothing more than a fantasy.

Bakugo never thought of himself as gay or straight, he had never thought of being in any relationship before. Something like that had never been on his mind. He was always focused on his goals for the future and the sudden action that he took that occupied a lot of his thought. So, maybe it had just been his sudden teenage hormones that had him coming up with the fantasy of Kirishima liking him.

Though now that that thought had come forward, he was not able to stop thinking about it. Kirishima's bright eyes and adorable smile, his pure heart, kindness, strength, and courage. He was amazing and he had admired him. He knew that a relationship would be impossible with someone like himself. He was terrible, disgusting, evil. If the other did have feelings for him, he did not deserve someone like him.

Since there was no chance of something like that happening, Bakugo decided to stop thinking about it and pack it away into some faraway brain compartment. Instead, he focused on studying with Kirishima. Both of them unaware of their feelings for each other. They were quite dense boys.