Kirishima wasn't entirely sure how to react to all of this. He was pretty sure, though, that this was one of the best days of his entire life.

It had been a rather eventful day at U.A., with something going completely wrong in one of the support studios. According to Midoriya, his friend Hatsume had been working on a new...baby with Power Loader and a couple of other support students when the thing exploded. Midoriya couldn't say what exactly it was for, but it was big, so it caused quite the damage and had led to an electrical fire. Thinking back to the third years' party debacle, Kirishima had an idea of just how bad that could get.

Aizawa was ready to act, however, because All Might, Midoriya, and Bakugou had all been a little jittery that morning and Todoroki just seemed more confused with life than usual, and he'd learned what that meant by this point. Thanks to swift intervention, nobody was hurt, the building was successfully evacuated, and the damage was kept at a minimum.

Of course, that didn't mean that there weren't any problems at all. Apparently, according to what Hatsume had told Midoriya, the smoke from this particular...baby was super toxic for some convoluted reason, so the school had to shut down for the rest of the day and all of the next to clean the air.

"SO NO SCHOOL!?" Kaminari and Ashido screamed in excitement while Kirishima himself couldn't help the toothy smile that spread across his face.

Midoriya seemed mostly unfazed by the volume, probably well versed in loud noises in close proximity after so many years. "I guess so. I'm sad that we'll miss a day of hero training with Aizawa-sensei, but a day off to study and maybe hang out with friends seems like a relatively fair trade."

"Wow, you're sad that there's no classes?" Kaminari laughed. "You really are a nerd! Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I'm pretty sure that if the word nerd is in the dictionary, your name is the definition."

Midoriya laughed out loud, his smile blinding. "I guess you're right!"

It would be a moment later that the rest of Class 1-A made their way to the common room to grab some lunch, Midoriya gravitating towards his usual friend group before they made their way upstairs, likely to either Uraraka's or Todoroki's room to hang out. While Kaminari, Mineta, Sero, and Jirou were playing a fighting game, Kouda and Satou went to making cupcakes in the kitchen with Yaoyorozu joining them "for the experience".

"What'cha doin'?" Ashido suddenly appeared at Kirishima's side as he sat comfortably in the common room and Kaminari won another round of whichever game they were playing.

"Waiting for a turn, I guess." Kirishima chuckled, getting a look at the screen and catching a glimpse of the new Smash Bros. Game. Yeah, he'd definitely need to take a crack at that.

With a hum from Ashido, the two middle school friends sat in comfortable silence, the noontime sun flooding through the open windows of the common room and leaving a pleasant glow. Ashido let out an amused squeal as Jirou seemed to finally get a hang of the game, being taken out second instead of dying almost immediately, and she seemed to really be getting into it, as well. Mineta was also improving, outliving poor Sero who'd been left in the dust that round. He didn't look pleased.

"Welp, there goes my second place streak." he mumbled as Kaminari's character ruthlessly destroyed Mineta's, the grape boy letting out a groan of disappointment. He'd been so close.

"And the champion remains victorious!" Kaminari exclaimed happily, his face practically glowing. Jirou only rolled her eyes in response.

"Yeah, that's enough of dealing with Jamming-wey's shit for me. I promised my parents that I'd video chat with them today, so I'm gonna go do that."

"Aw, come on, Jirou!" Kaminari whined. "Don't leave yet."

"Yeah!" Mineta followed. "You haven't played any of the hot chi-!"

"I will actually give you cardiac arrest."

He shut up real quick.

"Yo, be nice to Jirou." Kaminari silently shot at him while Jirou headed towards the exit.

"It's almost one in the afternoon." she mused. "Now's as good a time as any. I'll see you guys around."

"Wait, what time is it!?" Mineta shrieked, looking at his phone. "Uwabami's having a livestream interview! I'll see you guys later!"

With that, he ran past Jirou as she was leaving, earning a huff from her in response as they both disappeared. By this point, everyone else had left as well, Satou leaving the cupcakes to cool before following after the others, leaving just the four of them to their own in the common room. Kirishima and Ashido had both happily jumped at the chance to play the game with the other two boys, though even with all of their efforts combined, they were no match for Kaminari's sheer skill.

"What can I say?" he'd asked smugly. "I gotta be good at something, and man, video games are my thing!"

It would be around this time that Blasty would finally make an appearance. Kirishima remembered him saying that he was going to 'actually be productive unlike the majority of you fucks' and go work out in the gym for a while, but he must have recently showered as well because he looked soaked and red-faced. He took one look at the screen and snorted.

"All four of you play Smash?"

"Duh!" Kirishima answered easily. "Don't you?"

"Hero shit's more important." Bakugou responded, dropping onto a chair and watching the four of them struggle on the Metroid level.

"THE LAVA AGAIN!" Ashido screamed as her character flew off the screen and took her last life with them. She slid off the couch dramatically, a look of despair painting her face. Distracted, Kirishima's character was dead a moment later.

"No chill from Kaminari once again." Kirishima chuckled as said electricity quirk user and the human tape dispenser went head to head for what was probably the thirtieth time that day.

"Have you considered, you know, dodging or blocking, Weird Hair?" Bakugou huffed. "I know dodging is a revolutionary concept for you, but blocking is literally your thing."

"I can make it through with just offense." Kirishima answered sheepishly, the sound of his voice being drowned out by Kaminari's screaming after barely taking victory in a sudden deathmatch.

"Hmm. Clearly."

"Shut up."

"Hey, Kacchan!" Kaminari yelled, earning a harsh glare from said blonde. "If you're so good at everything, then you should play, too!"

"Please, kick his ass." Sero pleaded, still recovering from coming so close to winning before swiftly having his dreams crushed before his very eyes.

"Yeah, you should play!" Ashido shouted happily. "Here! You can have my controller!"

Kirishima laughed. "I was gonna offer mine, but I guess she beat me to it."

"Nope, I'm done." Sero said, standing suddenly and throwing his controller onto the couch. "He can have mine. I don't wanna play anymore."

"What a sore loser." Kaminari said smugly, puffing out his chest and flexing.

Bakugou gave him a deadpan look before pulling himself up. "Fine, if you insist on getting your ass kicked across Japan and back."

Kirishima and Ashido gave twin cheers of joy while Kaminari's face hardened with determination, immediately choosing Pikachu and preparing for the fight of his life. "All my life has been leading up to this moment."

"Of fucking course you main Pikachu." Bakugou snorted. He then glanced at Ashido. "And I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that you main Ridley, and you main him solely because of the name."

"Uh, maybe."

With that, Bakugou and Kirishima chose Captain Falcon and Kirby respectively and the battle began.

It was an instant massacre.

Sero rolled off of the couch in a fit of laughter that left him breathless as Kaminari stared in shock at his lack of lives. Bakugou had decided to be an asshole and specifically focus on him, taking him out terrifyingly quickly. Ashido and Kirishima didn't fare any better, but they were still laughing with mirth along with Sero as Kaminari allowed himself to simply just fall off of the couch in a heap.

"Argh. I doth hath been slain-eth. Bleh..."

Bakugou looked over at Sero and gave a menacing grin. "I kicked his ass."

"You're the best, man."

Kirishima was beaming, looking among his friends and feeling his heart swell with happiness. Another reason to love this impromptu break was the possibility of moments like these. Moments where it's just him and his four best friends screwing around playing games and having a good time. Kaminari was still sulking, literally rolling away to the corner of the room while Sero laughed at him. In the meantime, Ashido was screaming incoherently with a level of enthusiasm that only she could muster.

And Bakugou was oddly quiet, watching all of them as if he were scrutinizing their every movement and expression. For some reason, his face was still red, and for a second, he thought he might have a fever or something.

But the color had left while they were playing, so he had absolutely no idea what was causing said color change.

"Hey, Dynamite," Ashido mused. "Your face is matching Kiri's hair, there. Are you okay?"

Bakugou looked pointedly away from the pinkette, his brows furrowed and cheeks puffed out in a strange mixture of pouting and embarrassment. Anyone else and he might admit to them that it was adorable, but even his defenses only lasted for so long and despite popular belief, he did have some level of self-preservation.

"Is there a reason you look like a toddler who just got put in time out?" Sero chuckled, earning a dangerous sneer. Somewhere in the corner of the room, Kaminari's head popped back up.

Bakugou wouldn't look at any of them, his cheeks flaming red and eyes darting everywhere except for their faces, and he clasped his sweaty hands together, probably to try and avoid any unnecessary damage. He looked down at his hands and cursed.

"Why is this so fucking hard?" he muttered heatedly.

"Why is what so hard?" Ashido asked with curiosity. "Is something wrong?"

"No." he responded harshly, and it was clear and steady enough that Kirishima believed him. "I just... fuck."

He stood up, pacing in circles and rubbing at his face to try and calm himself. "I wanna ask a fucking question. That's it. This is so stupid!"

"Alright, breathe, man. Breathe." Sero said calmly.

"You can ask us anything!" Kirishima stressed, almost leaning forward in his seat in anticipation of what this might be about.

With a huff, Bakugou stuffed his hands into his pockets, his shoulders up to his ears and eyes locked onto his shoes. "...Okay. This is what I came down here to say in the first place, so you all better fucking listen!"

He squeezed his eyes shut and scratched violently at his scalp. "So..., there's this place a bit further into City A... A family-owned diner. My parents and I would go there a lot when I was younger, because the owners are good friends of my old man, so they gave us a lot of discounts. Their food is decent and I learned a lot from them. Fuck, anyway, they invited me to come by again sometime and I was planning to go there, and I, well, I was...I FUCKING-!"

He nearly kicked over the coffee table, but barely stopped himself, starting to pace again as his face burned with extreme embarrassment. He suddenly stopped with a loud stomp.

"Do you fuckers want to come with me or not? My... Dammit, I guess it's my fucking treat or whatever."

The four teens were left in absolute silence, staring at their ill-tempered friend in stunned stupors. After a beat, Bakugou growled. "Look, if you're not interested, you can just say so-"

"NONONONONO!" Ashido suddenly screeched, all four boys wincing at the volume. "I don't know about them, but I'm going! Are you kidding me?! That sounds amazing!"

Kirishima was the next to recover, a huge grin taking over his face. "Yeah! I wanna go! Thanks, man!"

"Will we be back in time for cupcakes?" Kaminari asked.

"Kouda and Satou will save some for us." Sero reassured. "Besides, we were just offered a pretty bombass meal from the sounds of it. I'm in."

"In that case, yeah, free food!"

Kaminari, Sero, and Ashido began rambling at each other excitedly at such insane speeds that Kirishima couldn't even hope to understand. Kirishima could only shake his head in amusement as he stood up to stand by his best friend.

"You know, you don't have to force yourself to do this sort of stuff." he said fondly.

Bakugou only glowered at him. "I'm not, you fucking asshole. I wanted to invite you."

Warmth blossomed in Kirishima's gut and even he felt how his smile was challenging the sunlight still streaming through the windows. "In that case, thanks, man! I think I'm speaking for all of us when I say that we're super hyped now!"

With that, the four of them scrambled off to change out of their pajamas (Kirishima would happily go out in sweats, but Blasty would throw a hissy fit) and into nicer casual wear. Sadly, Kirishima's crocs were still taped to the ceiling, so he had to wear 'nice' shoes. While he and Sero were satisfied with nice tee shirts, Kaminari and Ashido felt like they had to dress to impress, Kaminari sporting a leather jacket and Ashido in a skintight bared-shouldered sweater dress with leggings and boots to match. Apparently, she'd just gotten the outfit and just had to wear it for this little adventure, and though Kirishima knew jackshit about fashion, he listened diligently nonetheless as she went from her shopping trip with the girls to get said outfit to how it isn't fair that Dynamite can literally make any outfit work, fashion industry parents be damned.

And with a quick message to Aizawa, who was surprisingly chill about it, off they went, gallivanting into the city and off to this diner that was apparently the best out there, because if Bakugou said it was good, it had to be good.

They walked for a while, passing through the city and observing their surroundings. It was a nice day, not too hot and not too cold, so it was kind of crowded. As much as Kirishima liked people, he'd prefer it if he and Bakugou didn't have to be so careful about showing their faces in public. Even now, though more so for Bakugou, people were recognizing them more and more and it would just be better for everyone if they went unnoticed.

Eventually, they came to a small, but fancy foreign diner. It stood out fairly well among the bustling city, yet it was comfortably empty.

"Indian, huh?" Kaminari mused. "Why am I not surprised?"

"The owner is Japanese, but his wife's from somewhere in India. Don't remember where." Bakugou explained. "He lived there for a while and that's where they met. I think they went to culinary school together."

"That's so cute!" Ashido squealed. "How does your dad know 'em?"

"Don't know. Never cared enough to ask."

"Course." Sero snorted.

It was a really nice diner with simple furniture and wooden decor. Kirishima might even call it homey. It was pretty empty considering how active the city was, so they practically had the place to themselves. Bakugou confidently made his way to the counter, Kirishima and the others easily falling in step behind him. From there, they could see an old, stout woman of a darker complexion and beautiful black hair in the kitchen working with a pan that was literally on fire. Kirishima could feel the heat from here.

"Oi, Mrs. Shinta." Blasty called, knocking on the counter with his knuckles. Kaminari and Sero were both letting out soft snerks at Bakugou using such a polite title.

The woman's head shot up, gasping excitedly at the shock of pale blonde hair. "Katsuki!" she exclaimed in a thick accent. "It's been so long! My, you've grown! How have you been?"

"Hm, doin' alright." he answered nonchalantly as he dodged her attempts to hug him. She only giggled, as if she'd almost been expecting that.

"Well, look who decided to show up." a voice called out, a tall, old Japanese man appearing from a stairway. Though his hair still had color, it was receding in the front. He adjusted his glasses as he looked the boy over with a smirk. "Good to see you're still alive, kid."

Bakugou responded with a tch, sidestepping when Mrs. Shinta made another attempt at hugging him. She remained undeterred. "So, how is school going, Katsuki? Are you and that Midoriya boy getting along any better?"

Bakugou glowered at nothing. "We...don't hate each other."

"That's progress." Mr. Shinta commented. "Good for you."

"Shut up, jackass."

"Glad to see you haven't changed too much." Mr. Shinta chuckled. "I don't know how your father hasn't dropped dead from dealing with you and your mother's antics."

Bakugou spat out a few more curses before Mrs. Shinta returned to the counter. "So, table for one?"

"Oh." Bakugou suddenly looked flustered, looking back at Kirishima and the others for a moment. "Um, no. Five. They're with me."

The couple stared at the four of them with eyes the size of saucers for a comically long time. Kirishima felt his own face heat up as he pulled at the collar of his shirt. "Uh, hi there."

Mrs. Shinta started shrieking like a fangirl, making them all and any nearby customers jump. "YOU MADE REAL FRIENDS!?"

"Dear lord."

"Well, isn't this a plot twist?" Mr. Shinta laughed, stepping forward. "I'm Shinta Takushi, co-owner of this fine establishment. And you would be?"

"Kirishima Eijiro." Kirishima was quick to respond, bowing in his direction. "It's nice to meet you."

"They're nice kids..." Mrs. Shinta was tearing up.

"I'm Ashido Mina, and I'm our squad's girl power!"

"Sero Hanta. Local common sense."

"Lies!" Kaminari shouted before turning back to the old couple and striking a pose. "I'm Kaminari Denki, the cool guy and ladies man of the group, and together we make up U.A.'s infamous Bakusquad!"

"I did not agree to that!" Bakugou shouted, Kaminari only spitting a razzberry in response. Mr. Shinta was nearly hacking up a lung from laughing so hard.

"So five, then!" Mrs. Shinta exclaimed in excitement. "I'll go set up a table upstairs! You can come with me, if you want!"

With that, she ran off, Ashido and Kaminari happily taking off after her. Sero gave Bakugou a knowing look. "I'll go, too, 'cause you know, common sense."

Sero walked off after them, wincing at the sound of something breaking as he climbed the stairs. Mr. Shinta rummaged around under the counter while Bakugou fumbled with his phone and Kirishima stood idly by.

"So, how're you doing, kid?"

Kirishima watched as Bakugou's movements slowed down for a moment before he went back to whatever he was doing and put his phone away. "'M fine."

"Kid." Mr. Shinta reappeared from under the counter and fiddled with the cash register. "How're you doing? Are you really okay?"

Bakugou glared at the counter, refusing to look the man in the eye. Kirishima may not ever remember hearing about this man in conversation, but there was a lot about Bakugou that he didn't know, and he could safely say that there was a connection here.

He also knew where this was going, vivid images of the summer camp and Kamino Ward appearing in his mind's eye.

Bakugou took a deep breath, pausing for a long, tense moment before looking the man in the eye. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay."

Mr. Shinta watched him for a moment longer before his shoulders seemed to relax. "You really scared us, kid."

"Yeah, I figured."

"What? No apology?"

"Wasn't my choice."

"Heh. You got me there." Mr. Shinta smiled. "Glad they were able to get you out of there."

Bakugou snorted. "Yeah. That was all this guy."

Kirishima jolted at the sudden recognition as Bakugou continued on. "He, De-, Midoriya, and three other classmates decided to be a bunch of reckless fucking idiots and went against the rules to join the raid. He orchestrated it, though." The explosive teen smacked Kirishima over the head, though he barely noticed in his astonishment. "They're the reason I escaped mostly unscathed."

Before Kirishima could even think to try and respond, there was a huge crash upstairs, Bakugou letting out a loud groan. "Fucking hell. Common sense, my ass."

Bakugou ran up the stairs after his moronic friends as strings of apologies floated down from the upper floor. Kirishima wobbled his way after him, stumbling across the floor towards the staircase and grabbing at the railing, but was stopped by Mr. Shinta grabbing his shoulders. The man looked him in the eye with the softest look he'd ever seen in his life.

"Thank you."

Kirishima had never felt euphoria like this in his life.

He would remember that day, sitting with his friends at a table and laughing about the most random shit. Even the meal itself was an adventure.

"We just got a shipment of Carolina reapers!" Mrs. Shinta announced happily.

"For real?" Bakugou asked with a little too much excitement. "Well shit, Phaal curry for me, then."

"Coming right up. Honey, get the gas mask!"

"It's that hot?" Kaminari had asked. Kirishima and Sero had both shuddered at the manic grin that Bakugou had sent him.

Of course, the electric quirk user would figure it out later when their meals had arrived and he still tried it. The poor guy nearly short-circuited instantly.

"That's what you get!" Bakugou laughed maniacally. "Stay out of my food, dumbass!"

Sero and Ashido were both laughing along while Kirishima merely shook his head. Ashido stuffed a piece of chicken in her mouth. "And what about us, Blasty?"

"What do you mean, 'what about us'? Keep your filthy hands out of my food, you vultures! I don't need to live every day of my life with the threat of being raided by the four horsemen of the idiot-pocalypse!"

"Idiot-pocalypse!" Ashido wheezed, nearly falling out of her seat.

"The four horsemen of what?" Sero asked in amused disbelief.

"You fucking heard me. Four horsemen of the idiot-pocalypse. Weirdness, fails, pestering, and dank memes."

It was instantaneous. All four of them were immediately on the floor, wheezing and hacking in their attempts to get air back into their lungs while Bakugou smirked at all of them and contently ate his food.

Kirishima barely pulled himself off of the floor and against the table. His words were constantly interrupted with giggling, but were clear nonetheless. "And out of the fire rose a beast, the Beast Explosion Murder, and its number is 420."

Now, all of them had heard him laugh at least once, whether it be a casual snort at a passing comment or the odd chuckle at one of their stupid jokes. However, none of them had heard him absolutely lose it. None of them had seen him struggle for air from laughing so hard like the rest of them have dozens of times. So, to say that this was a powerful bonding moment for them would be an understatement in Kirishima's opinion. It was like a new level had been reached, all five of them around a table laughing hysterically and leaving each other blue in the face and feeling just a little bit lighter.

Yes, Kirishima was pretty sure that this was one of the best days of his entire life.

Afterward, when the group was full and happy, once they were paid for and clear to leave after a few goodbyes, once they'd wandered back into the common room in the late afternoon, the entire class present had to do a double-take at the sight of Bakugou with the closest thing to a genuine smile on his face they'd ever seen while joking with his four closest friends.

And when they'd all packed into Ashido's room later that night with their cupcakes to watch stupid movies and talk about hero stuff and perhaps act like a group of normal teenagers for once in their lives, Kirishima couldn't be more content.

His best friend was happy. He truly couldn't be more content.