Archive of Our Own ^beta

Kirishima didn’t know what was wrong, why he felt so guilty. Perhaps it was because he had done ‘the right thing’ rather than what he had wanted to do with the money Bakugou had given to him. He knew why the other boy had given it to him—to thank him for rescuing him, to pay him back for his lost night vision goggles, so he didn’t feel like he was indebted to the redhead—but Kirishima had wanted to hold onto it. Maybe he was sick. That’s why he’d immediately treated the rest of the 1-A class to barbecue. If he gave into that feeling, he knew he’d be chasing more of it. He wasn’t exactly sure Bakugou would like to be solicited for anything, let alone money and gifts and attention. So he pushed it as far away from himself as he could. He succeeded for a time in forgetting about the feeling. The whole incident, actually.

Then it started happening. It wasn’t with any regularity but occasionally Bakugou would buy him lunch; or before a spontaneous class trip to the mall Bakugou would hand him some money, much more than whatever small item he requested Kirishima to get him would cost, and then he would tell him to spend the rest on himself. Kaminari asked him once in a blue moon about the money he would pull out of his wallet. Kirishima would shrug and give a non-answer.

Falling into this pattern was slow and it wasn’t until Ashido gave him a strange look when the explosive blond boy had called him into his room to ask him to buy a candy bar from the cafeteria and Kirishima left the room stuffing the more than ample amount of money into his wallet that the redhead realized this was becoming a problem. He bought the candy bar, but he resisted the urge to buy himself something. He returned to the dorms and decided it was time to confront and put a stop to this. It was ridiculous, really. He tried to seem confident as he opened the door to Bakugou’s room.

The blond was sitting at his desk, rocked back in his wheeled chair with his feet kicked up onto the desk’s surface, textbook open in his lap. He looked comfortable, lounging there: confident and powerful. Wearing a muscle tank and loose fitting athletic pants, feet bare and hair in its usual disarray of spikes. He glanced over and didn’t give any indication of anything as he took the proffered candy bar. It was only after he’d ripped the package open and stuck the corner of the bar between his teeth that he glanced back over, Kirishima already digging into his pocket.

“What’d you get yourself?” It was grumbled around the bar as he sat up, letting his feet fall back to the carpet and closing the textbook. Kirishima pulled out his wallet and yanked the rest of the money from it, trying to hand it back to the boy.

“I didn’t.” He tried to keep his expression as neutral as Bakugou’s normally was. Hard and determined: confident. Bakugou just stared at the money extended between them and shrugged, moving to stand.

“Keep it for the next time then.” He turned away from the hand and the money and then crossed over to his bed. Before he sunk down on it, Kirishima’s eyebrows scrunched together, trying to understand this. The boy before him never did this with anyone else. Never even asked anyone to get him anything. He just couldn’t comprehend why he was the one Bakugou had chosen to do this for him. Was getting himself something a sort of ‘repayment’? Was that how Bakugou saw it?

“No, it’s yours.” He tried to be firm about it, but with a sharp look from the blond, he knew that this was going to be a point of contention. A small intake of breath and Bakugou had turned back toward him, chewing on a bite from the chocolate. Kirishima tried to offer the money to him again, but the blond just gave it an impassive glance.

“It’s in your hand, isn’t it?” As if that was an answer. Kirishima knew the boy wasn’t going to take it, so he just had to leave it. He huffed and moved to set it on the desk, folding up his empty wallet and putting it back in his pocket as if the conversation was over. Bakugou had a sour look on his face when Kirishima glanced at him. Then he left without another word.

Two days passed without Bakugou pushing the subject. He didn’t offer to even buy the redhead’s lunch. Kirishima was out of money, so he just picked off the food his friends weren’t eating. It was day three of this when Bakugou slammed a tray down in front of Kirishima, a thunderous look on his face. “Just eat.”

A command, not a statement to be trifled with. Everyone was silent for a long moment as the blond took his own seat with another tray in hand and began eating his lunch. Ashido watched with barely disguised interest, glancing between Bakugou and Kirishima as she snacked on potato chips. Sero was the first to clear his throat and return to conversation, pulling Kaminari back into it. Kirishima stared down at the tray, seeing the assortment that included his favourite foods. He blinked and looked over at the blond, who had his head down and a set of earbuds in his ears. He didn’t appear to care, but Kirishima couldn’t exactly take the tray back up to give him his money back. He watched Bakugou between bites of food and returning to the conversation the rest of the table was having.

He didn’t let that isolated incident, nor the meals that followed, bother him. He just saw it as his friend trying to make certain he was eating. Which only pointed to the boy caring about his well-being. Caring about him. What a foreign concept.

The next time the classes decided on a time when they could go to the mall together (because this time it was class 1-A and 1-B), Bakugou grumbled that he was coming because there was something he wanted. Kirishima was overjoyed—normally the blond would send him and then he would have to deal with the whole money situation again. The redhead was both relieved that he wouldn’t have to endure that temptation to get himself something with the boy’s money again, but that he also got to spend time with his friend. However, when they reached the day of the trip Tetsutetsu was trying to get him to spend time with him. Kirishima agreed to wander with the steel version of himself before he realized that Bakugou was never going to go along with that.

As they arrived at the mall Tetsutetsu pulled at his arm, trying to get him to go off to the arcade with him. Bakugou had given him an appraising look, but when he’d seen the connection between Tetsu and himself, he’d just looked back at the floor and started off in his own direction. Kirishima watched him walk off for a moment, and then called out to him, “Hey Bakubro, I’ll find you later.”

The blond paused, nodded at him, and then stalked off with less of a dour look. Kirishima turned back to his friend with a grin and the steel boy just raised an eyebrow before pulling him off to the arcade. Kirishima was careful with what money he did have, so he only spent a few dollars on games, saying that he preferred to sit back and watch Tetsu play rather than competing with him. The boy didn’t seem to understand that, and offered to pay for him too, which hurt Kirishima’s pride a bit. After some badgering, the redhead gave in and let the other boy pay his way through the arcade. Before he knew it, they were wandering off laughing while looking for lunch. Tetsutetsu found a pizza place and bought both of their lunches, sitting them down in the food court. Slowly, a few of the other classmates joined them. Ashido bounced up with Hagakure alongside, plenty of shopping bags at their sides. Sero and Kendou wandered by separately and got sucked into the group. Kirishima was biting into his second piece of pepperoni pizza when Bakugou stormed over and yanked over a chair to sit next to him, growling low enough that he was likely the only one to hear his actual words.

“I thought I was buying you lunch.”

Kirishima froze for a moment, and then finished taking the bite, chewing the piece while his eyes slowly returned to normal size. He glanced over his shoulder and aimed for his shoulder to bump his friend’s. “It’s alright, Tetsu got me.”

Bakugou’s expression grew into a super-volcano ready to erupt and then mysteriously disappeared into a completely neutral one. Kirishima put his piece of pizza down and wiped his fingers off on a napkin, eyebrows knitting together as he tried to puzzle this one out. Measured, Bakugou spoke again. “You said you’d find me.”

Did he feel abandoned? Kirishima grinned and slung his arm around the blond’s shoulder, reaching with his free hand to pick up his lunch again. “Just lemme finish my pizza and we can go.”

No one else appeared to be paying much attention to their conversation by this point, so the redhead looked over to Tetsutetsu and jerked his head to indicate Bakugou. “Hey, I’m gonna help Bakugou find something.”

The silver-haired boy just nodded amicably and gave him a fist bump as he left a little while later. Bakugou was silent and grumpy as they wandered the store fronts. His hands were shoved in his pockets and he kept an even pace, not seeming to be headed anywhere in particular. Finally, after a few minutes of growing awkwardness, Kirishima huffed and tried to start a conversation. Inevitably, it turned to Kirishima whinging about how he really wished he had enough money for this awesome hoodie he’d seen back a few stores. Bakugou turned on his heel and Kirishima had to sprint after him as he walked with a purpose now.

“Hey man, where are we going?” He prompted, but Bakugou grumbled something unintelligible in response. He watched as Bakugou headed into the very store he’d been talking about, and Kirishima hung back in the hallway, frown on his lips as he felt certain he didn’t want to know what the blond was doing. It took a couple of minutes, but the boy came back out with a bag dangling from his hand, other hand reaching into it to draw out the exact hoodie Kirishima had been talking about. Bakugou flung it at him, crumpling the bag and receipt in his other hand and trashing it before Kirishima could do more than sputter. Belatedly, he tried to protest weakly.

“Aw come on man, now we can’t return it.”

Bakugou gave him a dangerous look, “That’s the point.”

Kirishima blinked as the blond turned to begin walking down the hall in their original direction they had been heading in. The redhead peeled the hoodie off himself and glanced at the tag, seeing that it was just the right size. He looked back at the retreating back of his blond friend and then yanked the hoodie on, taking off after him.
It was only when they were back at the dorms and Tetsu asked him how much that hoodie was that Kirishima blinked, colored, and played with the sleeve hem as he stutteringly explained, “Uh, well, I don’t actually know. Um. Bakugou got it for me.”

Tetsutetsu looked surprised, but shrugged and smiled. “Ah, okay.”

Kirishima wore that hoodie every time he could from then on. A week of lunches later, Kirishima heard the knock on the wall between their rooms. He hadn’t heard that knock since that last candy bar. He blinked, glanced at the wall, and finally got up after a second knock. He crossed to the door, pulled it open, and wandered down to Bakugou’s door and slipped into his friend’s room.

“You knocked?” He grinned, snuggled into the hoodie with his hair pinned back, down and fluffy. Bakugou gave him an assessing look and then pulled out his wallet, taking out a stack of money and extending it to Kirishima.

“For a soda.” He tipped his head as if challenging the redhead to tell him no. Kirishima blinked, but took the money from him.

“What kind?” He had every intention of returning the left-over money again without getting himself anything.

“Whatever you want.” The answer made him pause as he folded the money into his own wallet. He glanced up.

“It’s for you, right?”

Bakugou gave a non-committal sound and shrugged, “Sure.”

Then he turned his desk chair to face the back of his room, dismissing Kirishima. Kirishima got him a Big Red and set the rest of the money on his desk, having successfully resisted buying himself a Vanilla Coke. Bakugou didn’t even look at him as he left everything on the desk for him.

It was another couple of weeks before the classes found another time to go to the mall. This time as they entered the blond pulled the redhead off to the side. He pulled out his wallet and pulled out a stack of money, slipping it into Kirishima’s hand without any of their classmates being the wiser. His grumbled explanation was, “To get yourself lunch later.”

Kirishima’s heart swelled, but at the same time he didn’t want to spend this precious gift from his friend. So, he let Tetsutetsu think he had an empty wallet again. The steel boy paid for their arcade visit and then treated Kirishima to burritos. He was just peeling the wrapper back from his when Bakugou appeared at his side. “You got a burrito with my money?”

It sounded judge-y, yet before Kirishima could say anything, Tetsu leaned over and gave a cheerful grin. “Nawh, I got him the burrito.”

Kirishima could feel the rage boiling before it spilled over. The blond’s balled up fist hit the table and his other hand grasped the shoulder of the hoodie Bakugou had gotten him the last time they were here. Kirishima was able to set the burrito down as Bakugou yanked him away from the table. Kirishima sent Tetsu an apologetic smile as Bakugou led him back through the crowd. He led him around the corner between a Staff Only entrance and the food court. No one was there and the din of the crowd was lessened considerably. Bakugou pressed him back against the wall there and sneered at him.

“What, is my money not good enough for you anymore? You have to go to Iron Man over there?”

Kirishima’s eyes widened. He hadn’t thought of it that way. He opened his mouth to respond, but Bakugou steamrolled over him. “Honestly, what did I do to make you go to him? Do you need more? I can get you a card, you know. Or is it something else? Is it sex?”

Bakugou seemed to be losing it as he spoke, his words more harried than they had been at the outset. The last question made Kirishima’s blood run cold. Sex? When had that—? Bakugou stepped forward into his space after taking a heavy breath in efforts to calm himself. His eyes still glinted, but when his palm met Kirishima’s face, it was gentle. Kirishima’s eyes met Bakugou’s crimson ones, and found them a lot closer than he’d thought they would be. Bakugou pressed their foreheads together, small pants leaving parted lips. Kirishima finally found his tongue.

“I’m not having sex with Tetsu. That would be—” He stopped for a moment and he watched the expression on Bakugou’s face morph, “That would be weird. He’s like a brother to me.”

All the fight that had been in the blond seemed to melt out, leaving the two of them standing in a nook of the food court at the local mall, staring into each other’s eyes like creeps and their foreheads touching. Bakugou stepped back after a moment, his hand dropping to his side and leaving Kirishima blinking at him as he reached back and dug his wallet out of his back pocket. The redhead watched impassively at first, but when Bakugou produced a plastic card he’d had enough.

“No, Bakugou. This has gone far enough. I can’t accept—”

But the explosive blond has a way of not letting Kirishima get away with shit, and he pulls the redhead’s hand out of the pouch pocket of his hoodie, peeling his hand open and depositing the card in his palm. Bakugou’s red eyes are insistent and challenging him to say no again. The card has Bakugou’s name on it, and he holds it cupped in his hand as though it’s going to jump out and bite him. His eyes flick up to Bakugou and see that same defiant look in his eyes; Kirishima caves.

“Only for lunches.” He says it quickly, the words tumbling from his lips. Bakugou nods once, putting his wallet back. Kirishima’s hand closes around it like it’s a precious gift—and it is. He doesn’t know anyone else who’s friends will give them a credit card. At the same time, he knows he can’t take advantage of this. Ever. Bakugou could change his mind at any time. He’s staring at the card enclosed in his hand and he’s about to thank Bakugou for all his kindnesses, for all his understanding, for their friendship, but Bakugou looms close and there’s a soft kiss being pressed to the corner of his mouth.

It only lasts for a split second, and while it felt as though it lasted for forever within that time frame, the moment the kiss ended Kirishima changed his mind and decided it hadn’t been long enough. It had been so short of a time that he hadn’t even been able to react. Bakugou was stalking away then, hands deep in his pockets and head down so his hair fringed over his forehead in spikes. Kirishima gaped for a moment before he could stow the card away in his own wallet and then take off after the blond. Bakugou, however, was missing and had his door closed to his dorm room when everyone got back home. The story was that he’d gone back early and hadn’t answered to anyone’s knock.

The days following that incident had Kirishima’s insides tied up all in knots. His stomach wouldn’t settle and he couldn’t manage to convince himself to even take the card from his wallet. He told his classmates he wasn’t hungry and with him and Bakugou steadfastly avoiding one another, no one was around to yell at him to eat. Kirishima took advantage of his extra time to peruse the internet, trying to figure out if anyone else had friends that did this. After four days of searching and getting only joking replies that he’d found himself a sugar daddy, Kirishima gave up trying to make sense of it.

Ashido was the first to tell him to man up and go talk to Bakugou. Surprisingly, people had been keeping out of their business. Unsurprisingly, that meant that they were taking real pains to not even see one another when they didn’t have to. That was made more difficult due to their dorm rooms being right next to one another and their seats being within eyesight. Bakugou stayed turned forward during classes and Kirishima did his best to give Bakugou plenty of time in the early mornings and late evenings to shower and eat without his presence.

But when Ashido threw a couple of her pink plushies in his direction and scolded him for having chased Bakugou away from all them, Kirishima had to endure her fifteen-minute-long disciplining. She only allowed him to leave after he promised her that he would go straight over to Bakugou’s door and attempt to reconcile. She seemed to think this was good enough and pushed him out the door. The redhead did trudge over, and made a show of knocking, though he was certain that the blond would just ignore it.
Bakugou did not ignore it; he swung the door open and glared at him. Kirishima offered a vague notion of a smile and Bakugou’s glare softened, the door opened a bit more, and the blond escaped back into his room. Kirishima was invited in. The redhead sighed softly and glanced over his shoulder at an encouraging Ashido before following his best friend. The door shut behind him and he looked at Bakugou. The boy was seated on his bed, back against the wall and one knee drawn up, arm resting across that thigh with his phone in hand. In his other hand was a red lollipop that quickly disappeared back into his mouth as his eyes settled on his phone screen.

Kirishima studied him for a long moment before he could work up the courage to directly ask him, “Are you my sugar daddy?”

He regretted it as soon as he’d said it, a hot blush covering his face, neck, and chest. Bakugou’s reaction—or rather, his non-reaction—only made matters worse. For a long moment, he thought he would have to ask again, or at least ask if Bakugou was ignoring him. But then the blond tossed his phone to the side, letting it land on his bed with a dull thud, and turned his crimson gaze to the blushing boy standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

“Kinda figured I was.” He grumbled and popped the lollipop out of his mouth, letting it dangle between his fingers. “Thought that was what you wanted.”

Kirishima blinked. Wanted? But he’d never asked—? Kirishima shook his head to clear his thoughts and frowned at the blond. “I hadn’t thought about it.”

Bakugou shrugged nonchalantly, eyes falling to the red candy. “You seemed to like receiving things. And the money. So, I thought you wanted that.”

Kirishima frowned more deeply as Bakugou continued, explaining his recent behavior. “Thought you were leaving me for the Iron Giant. Didn’t want you to.”

His nicknames were bordering on ridiculous. It made Kirishima’s frown disappear. The fact that Bakugou thought they had some sort of strange relationship that revolved around one-sided monetary exchanges… it sort of felt like he was blackmailing him or something. Kirishima huffed and shoved his hands into his pockets, turning his head to the side to look at the Crimson Riot poster he’d managed to hang up near the blond’s closet door. “I’m not looking to take advantage of you. You’re not getting anything out of giving me money. I don’t like that.”

Bakugou was watching him. It was unsettling. After a pause the stilted conversation continued, “What do you mean I’m not getting anything out of this?”

When he didn’t follow up the question with anything more, Kirishima was forced to look at him again. He scrunched his forehead. “Exactly what I said. You’re not getting anyth—”

Bakugou, known for not just the explosions in his palms but the personality that went with it, bounced up from the bed and crossed to the redhead during his answer, the lollipop somehow making it onto its wrapper on the bedside shelf built into the wall. Bakugou’s arms encircled him and drew him close—not quite a hug, but not quite anything else either—his breath warm puffs under his ear. “I get you.”

For a long moment Kirishima struggled to understand the cryptic message his friend had just spoken, but in the end his brain just couldn’t comprehend. “But I’m… not worth that much?”

Bakugou backed up two steps: one, two. His hands grasped Kirishima’s biceps and the redhead was met with a pair of red eyes that mirrored his own. Bakugou seemed to be searching him for something. Perhaps seeing if his words were true and he was about to demand his card back and their dorm rooms to be moved away from each other. Instead, Bakugou’s hands raised to press against his cheeks, a concerned sort of expression tinging the neutrality of his features.

“You can’t honestly believe that.” Without waiting for an answer, Bakugou’s irritated face got put on and his muscles tensed. Kirishima yelped as the blond headbutted him. Only just hard enough to be painful and leave an egg-shaped red mark on both of their foreheads. As Bakugou’s arms tensed a second time, Kirishima jerked back, wanting to escape the inevitable pain, but he was dragged closer and a pair of warm lips met his.

It took longer than it probably should have, but Kirishima’s lips moved in response, and he leaned in to reciprocate the kiss. It was gentle and full of care and other emotions that couldn’t make it past Bakugou’s lips in the form of words. But that was alright, because Kirishima could translate from this.

When they parted, Kirishima’s hands were tangled in Bakugou’s hair, and while one of Bakugou’s hands had stayed cupping his jaw, the other had moved to his waist, pulling them flush against each other. Kirishima swallowed slowly and tipped back on his heels, hands still on his best friend. “You don’t need to, you know.”

Bakugou shrugged and blinked once lazily, “I want to.”