There's always a few people in the lobby's common room in the evenings. Some make dinner, some watch TV, some study, some play cards. Usually as the night draws on they trickle back upstairs, slowly splitting off to their own rooms, and tonight is no different. When Kirishima heads downstairs after an amazing, hot, steamy shower, in search of company on a Thursday night that feels like a Friday one, it's mostly but not completely empty.

Near the TV, Uraraka, Midoriya, Kaminari, and Ashido are sitting on the couches and talking in low voices. It's not that late—only around midnight—but he supposes to people with something that kind of resembles a sleep schedule, it's nearing bedtime.

"Yo," he greets, plopping down between Midoriya and Ashido on one of the couches and leaning back, stretching his arms out over the back of the cushions.

"Hi, Kirishima!" Midoriya smiles over at him.

"Whoa, Kirishima, you should leave your hair down more often! It looks so nice!" exclaims Ashido, her eyes wide as she reaches out and touches a lock and rubs it between two fingers. Kirishima laughs.

"I would, but I found out the hard way it kinda hurts if it's touching my skin when I activate my quirk, y'know?" he says. "Sometimes it gets stuck and pulls and that's just ouch. So I gotta spike it all up! Plus, it looks rad!"

"Spiky hair for the win!" agrees Kaminari. "High five, bro." He leans over but can't quite reach Kirishima's outstretched hand without getting up, so he huffs and gives up and sits back, but then stretches his leg out instead. "Foot five. High foot?"

"High foot!" Kirishima agrees, and they bump feet over a bemused Midoriya's lap. Uraraka laughs.

"Nice!" she says. "Points for creativity!"

"Hey," Kaminari shrugs. "You gotta do what you gotta do."

"You do," she agrees, then stands, stretching her hands out over her head. "And I think I gotta go to bed! I'm getting super tired. So I'm gonna call it a night!"

"Good night, Uraraka!" Midoriya says with a warm smile. "Sleep well!"

"You too!" she beams. "Whenever you go, anyway."

Midoriya laughs and rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah… whenever. What can I say? Sleep schedules are weird."

Kaminari snickers and Ashido laughs outright too. "What's a sleep schedule?" she jokes, reclining against the armrest behind her. "And where can I buy one?"

"Sleep is overrated," Kirishima shrugs.

"You guys are nuts," Uraraka says, shaking her head, but she's smiling, and Kirishima grins at her. "Well, I'm gonna go get some of that good ol' overrated sleep anyway! Good night, you lot!"

A chorus of "Good night, Uraraka"s echoes around the four of them as she takes her leave. Something on the TV explodes, but the volume is low enough that it's a very muted, dull kaboom. Kind of like what you get if Bakugou is several hundred yards away when you tell him … tell him anything, actually. Kirishima has to suppress another laugh at the thought.

"What's so funny?" asks Kaminari.

"Oh, s'nothing," Kirishima waves a hand. "That, uh… what's this show about? I thought it was like one of those old history documentaries but that dude so isn't in a documentary. What kind of costume is that?"

"Huh? Oh! That guy, I think… I think he's a time traveler," Midoriya wrinkles his nose. "His time machine broke and he's stuck in the nineteenth century and trying to get home to the twenty-fifth. Or something like that. I haven't really been paying that much attention, we were watching some really weird videos on Kaminari's phone…"

"Really weird videos?" Kirishima repeats, raising his eyebrows. "Like what?"

"The Bee Movie but without the bees," Ashido promptly answers.

"What."

"I swear it's not as weird as it sounds," Midoriya says, then pauses, sighs, and hangs his head. "It's… oh, who am I kidding. It's as weird as it sounds. It might be weirder than it sounds."

"It already sounds pretty weird," Kirishima agrees. "Can I see?"

Two hours and lots of questionable videos later, Kaminari's phone dies. The TV is still quietly running in the background (it's a re-run of some soap opera now) as they sit together, having bonded through shared … suffering? Was this suffering or was this fun? Is listening to "Goofy Reads From Fifty Shades of Grey" fun or is it just…

"What are we doing with our lives?" Ashido asks into the silence as Kaminari looks mournfully at the black, dead screen of his phone. "It's two in the morning and we have school tomorrow."

"I have no regrets," says Kaminari. "None."

"You might tomorrow," Ashido laughs. "I probably will!" She yawns and stretches, rolling her shoulders. "I'm tired. Why are we not in bed?"

Midoriya heaves a sigh and slumps back against the cushions. "I'm too tired to actually get up and go back to my room," he complains, relaxing into the softness of the couch. His hair brushes Kirishima's arm, which is still slung over the top of the couch, and he blinks.

"Bro. Midoriya, your hair is so soft," he says, eyes wide as he pats Midoriya's head. "Ashido, Kaminari, you gotta see this—or feel this I guess? His hair is so soft!"

"Really?" Ashido scoots over and leans across him to scrunch her pink fingers through Midoriya's hair too. "Ohmygosh, you're right! Midoriya, how much conditioner do you go through in a week?"

Not one to be left out, Kaminari gets up from the other sofa to pat Midoriya's head, too. Midoriya buries his face in his hands.

"It is two in the morning and there are three people petting my head," he mumbles. "Should I be questioning this? I feel like I should be questioning this."

"No," Kirishima tells him, half-amused by the flustered cute mumbling and half-still-in-awe of how incredibly soft Midoriya's hair is. His own hair is so much drier and coarser! "No questions. Just go with it."

"I'm going with it," Midoriya says through his fingers. "I feel like I maybe should be questioning this, but it's two in the morning and I'm too tired for that."

Kaminari steps back and plops back down on his couch. "You do have really soft hair, Midoriya," he comments. "Nice!"

"No, seriously," Ashido breaks in, still leaning across Kirishima to touch Midoriya's hair. Maybe it's a little weird, but Kirishima loves hugs and physical contact anyway, so he's fine with it! Besides, what are boundaries at two in the morning? He barely has any to begin with. "We have a kind of similar hair type, but mine never stays this soft unless I, like, dump oil in it! What's your secret?"

"I don't know?" Midoriya drops his hands finally, letting them fall to his lap. "I don't really do anything to my hair. It's just… like this?"

"Whaaaat?" Ashido settles back finally, her hands on her hips. "That's so cool! Aw, you're lucky!"

Midoriya laughs sheepishly. "Um, thanks?"

"Dude, you're super cute," Kirishima tells him, ruffling his hair again. "That's so cool, yeah! I can't believe your hair is this soft. That's so manly I don't even know how to—like, holy crap, man!"

"How is soft hair manly?" asks Kaminari.

"Cuz it's awesome," Kirishima answers, glancing at him oddly. Isn't that obvious? "Same with being cute! My man Midoriya's the best!" He slides his arm down from the couch and wraps it around Midoriya's shoulders, giving him a tight side-squeeze. Midoriya lets out a surprised yip, but then he leans against Kirishima, who positively beams, because he loves hugs and he loves when people like hugs too!

Midoriya gets himself cozy, nestling his head against Kirishima's shoulder, and Kirishima laughs delightedly.

"You're so tiny," he says wonderingly, then rests his cheek atop Midoriya's head (and his crazy soft hair). "Also, I'm totally still not over how soft you are."

"You gotta hug him more," Kaminari jokes. "You of all people need more soft in your life, dude!"

Kirishima laughs again. "Yeah, for sure!" he agrees. "Okay, but don't make the hard joke next. I heard that one so many times in middle school, I swear…"

Kaminari holds up his hands innocently. "Hey, hey! Would I ever?"

"You so would," Ashido giggles. "You so would."

"Okay, so, I might have been thinking it," admits Kaminari.

"I knew it!" Kirishima grins triumphantly. "Gotcha, bro."

"You got me, dude," Kaminari agrees, sighing. "You got me."

Kirishima glances down at Midoriya, who… whose eyes are closed as he leans against him? "Hey, Midoriya," he says, giving him a light squeeze with the arm still draped around his shoulders. "You asleep down there?"

"No," mumbles Midoriya, sounding very much like he ought to be saying yes. "You're really warm, y'know that?"

"I am?" Kirishima blinks. "Huh. I didn't know that, actually! So you're soft and I'm warm. Nice!"

"A match made in heaven," Kaminari snickers. "You're the perfect cuddle buddies!"

"We are!" Kirishima agrees. "Ha, that's great! Hey. Hey, Midoriya?"

Midoriya mumbles something indistinct. Kaminari, meanwhile, looks over at Ashido.

"What about it?" he asks. "You think we'd be the other perfect cuddle buddies?"

Ashido wrinkles her nose and laughs. "As much as I like you, Denki," she teases, "I don't really like getting zapped while trying to cuddle."

Kaminari adopts a look of mock offense. "I came out to have a good time," he says, pouting, "and I'm honestly feeling so—"

Ashido throws a pillow at him. "For shame! That meme is months old!"

"—attacked right now!" he finishes as the pillow smacks him in the face and falls to his lap. "Mina, you literally just attacked me! That's the perfect circumstance for using that meme, old or not!"

"It's two-something in the morning and there are two people in front of us having discourse about memes," mumbles Midoriya against his shoulder, and Kirishima bursts out laughing.

"Why don't you go on up to bed," he suggests when Midoriya closes his eyes again. "You're like, half-asleep, dude!"

"Am not," Midoriya protests, blinking. It's obviously a struggle.

Kirishima shakes his head. "Lying is so not manly, bro."

Midoriya shakes his head too, sighing. "Not a lie. More than half. Don' wanna get up…"

Kirishima laughs again (he's so cute! Midoriya is adorable. Seriously.) and pulls away, forcing Midoriya to sit up. "Go to bed, dude!"

"Do I have to?" Midoriya complains, but he's already sitting up, so the battle is lost. He runs his hand through his hair with a tired sigh, then pushes himself to his feet. "Okay, okay… I'm going. G'night, guys!"

"I'm gonna sleep now, too," Ashido says, standing as well. "School in the morning and all that. I'll see you tomorrow!"

They both take their leaves, walking together to the doors, and Kirishima looks at Kaminari. Kaminari looks back at him, raises an eyebrow, and then flops over on one of the couches.

"And then there were two," he says.

"And then there were two," Kirishima repeats, leaning over to nudge him. "Hey. Hey, bro. Wanna play Smash Bros?"

"No items. Fox only. Final Destination." Kaminari sits up, grinning. "Okay, that was a lie. But you're on, dude."

They both regret it in class in the morning, but come on, who wouldn't stay up til half past three to smack the shit out of each other as Princess Peach and Princess-Peach-In-Her-Daisy-Outfit? That's right. Nobody. Nobody with their priorities straight, anyway.

It's a weekend when Kirishima finds himself in Uraraka's room with Hagakure, Asui, Midoriya, Iida, Jirou, Kaminari, Uraraka herself, of course, and oddly, Todoroki, playing Truth or Dare. It's a pajama party and Mineta is Not Allowed, the girls said firmly, and Kirishima figures that's probably fair. Everyone else who's in the dorms and interested in joining in is welcome, but not everyone is here on the weekends since some like to go home and visit families, and some people probably just don't feel into pajama parties!

What's kind of surprising is that Todoroki is here, though. Kirishima woulda thought he'd be the type to avoid stuff like this, considering that he definitely isn't the most social of classmates. Then again, ever since the sports festival last year he and Midoriya have gotten closer, so maybe he's here because of him.

"Jirou! Truth or dare!" sings Hagakure, leaning forward eagerly.

"Uh… dare," Jirou decides.

Hagakure giggles. It's a slightly ominous sound. "Pick a person," she says.

"For what?" Jirou asks, sounding kind of suspicious. Kirishima doesn't blame her. Both Hagakure's truths and dares so far this game have been rather… interesting.

"I'm not telling yet, that's part of the dare!" she exclaims gleefully.

"Uhhh…" Jirou looks around the room, scanning everyone, and finally says, "Asui." She pauses, glances at Asui, and adds, "If this is another of her awful dares, I'm so sorry."

"It's not that bad!" Hagakure defends as Asui lets out an apprehensive, quiet ribbit and Uraraka giggles.

"What is it, then?" Jirou asks, folding her arms.

Hagakure digs into the pocket of her polka-dotted pajama pants and produces a tube of hot pink lipstick. "Here," she says. "You have to wear it for the rest of the game, unless someone dares you to wipe it off, I guess. Asui has to put it on you!"

"That's… really not so bad," Jirou says, sounding surprised. "I can do that."

"I wasn't finished!" Hagakure exclaims. "You just jumped in! The added condition is that she can't use her hands!"

"Oh my god," says Kaminari, hiding a hoot of laughter behind his hand as Jirou glares at him. "Terrible as always, Hagakure."

She giggles. "I try. But that one really isn't that bad!"

Asui takes the offered lipstick and stares at her arms for a moment, seeming at a loss, and Kirishima wonders how he'd go about it. It would be easiest to just hold it in your mouth, right? Maybe a little weird and funny and awkward, but "weird and funny and awkward" seems like the entire point of the game anyway.

Asui sticks out her tongue, wraps it around the lipstick, and kneels in front of Jirou carefully. "Hold thtill," she says around it. Huh. Yeah, Asui was a good choice for this, Kirishima reflects.

"Mm-hmm," Jirou hums, turning her face up slightly, and Asui carefully outlines her lips in hot pink. It's a little messy—understandably; Asui probably has never needed to draw a precise line with her tongue before—but overall not that bad of a job. Uraraka hops up and hands over a mirror when she's done, and Jirou nods approvingly. "Nice going, Asui!"

"Ribbit," says Asui, then ducks her head. "Thanks. Sorry it's sloppy."

"It's not bad!" Jirou assures her. "Especially for a tongue job," and then she snickers as Asui blushes. "No, really, though."

"Good enough," agrees Hagakure. "Impressive tongue skills, Asui!" she adds, voice dipping flirtatiously, and Asui goes positively scarlet as she plops back down next to Uraraka. Hagakure laughs. "Asui, you're adorable!" she coos. "Anyway, Jirou, your turn to pick!"

Jirou looks up. "Oh, right. Uh… hey, Midoriya. Truth or dare?"

"Um. Truth, I think," Midoriya says.

"Damn," Jirou mutters. "I don't have a question in mind. Uhhh… oh, whatever, I'll go with the lamest question in the book. You have a crush on someone, Midoriya?"

Midoriya suddenly looks much like Asui did ten seconds ago, his face similar in color to a tomato. "I—um—" He looks frantically about the room for a second, which is honestly confirmation enough in and of itself, and then squeaks "Maybe."

"What?" squeals Hagakure, leaning forward excitedly. "I didn't know—who?"

"It-it's my turn now!" Midoriya squeaks, swallowing hard. Kirishima looks at him consideringly, wondering the same thing. There's no way his bro would be so flustered if the mysterious someone wasn't in the same room! Who might it be…?

He slowly looks around the room. It's probably not Hagakure or Jirou or Kaminari or himself—the people Midoriya spends the most time with are Iida, Uraraka, Asui, and Todoroki. Hmm. It would be too bad if it was Uraraka or Asui, though; everyone knows those two like each other except for, apparently, the two of them.

He glances at Iida, who just looks curious, and then waves a hand at Hagakure as she asks again. "It's Midoriya's turn!" he exclaims, and she subsides.

Kirishima glances at Todoroki next, and finds him watching poor flustered Midoriya with a very oddly intent expression. Something clicks.

Oh, he realizes.

Bingo.

He still doesn't know for sure who Midoriya likes, but if anyone asks Todoroki the same question, well…

"Uraraka!" Midoriya says. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare!" Uraraka says confidently. Midoriya has pretty tame dares.

"Um…" He tugs at his lower lip in thought for a moment and sits quietly for a moment, while Uraraka waits impatiently, and then brightens. "Aha! For the next six turns every time you speak you have to sing instead."

"Aw, I don't have the best singing voice, but okay!" she trills, laughter bubbling up in her voice, and then cocks her head. "So… what happens iiiiif I forget?"

"Um…" Midoriya trails off, staring at the floor in deep thought. "I don't know, I didn't think this far. Um—"

"Whoever catches you talking normally instead of singing gets to tickle you for ten seconds," suggests Hagakure, piping up ever so helpfully, and Uraraka recoils as Midoriya nods.

"Oh my god, Hagakure, you're evil!" she sings. "I'll make suuure I always remember then!"

"Tickling is a good deterrent," Hagakure agrees, and laughs.

"Your turn, Uraraka," Kaminari reminds her.

"Riiiiight," she trills, peering around the room and tapping her chin with one finger. "Hmmm, who should be the next victim… oh! Iidaaaa! Truth? Or dare?"

"Truth, please," Iida says, like he has almost every single round. That's cool, though. Some people just don't like dares, and that's okay. Honesty is just as manly a quality as bravery!

"Whaaaaat," Uraraka sings, drawing the word out as she thinks, "is the fastest you've ever finished a carton of orange juice?"

Iida flushes ever so slightly (why? This is a completely innocent question. Iida is also cute. Kirishima is really starting to wonder why all his classmates are so cute) and says, "In one sitting, once. It took less than ten minutes. I usually do not go through it that fast, though."

"What, really? I woulda thought you go through everything pretty fast!" Kaminari jokes, grinning, and Jirou groans.

"That was so lame, Kaminari," she says. "So lame."

"Ah… Todoroki!" Iida announces. "Truth or dare?"

Todoroki, who has been sitting quietly and just observing for most of the game, looks startled to be put on the spot so suddenly. "Ah… dare?" he says after a moment, quiet and calm and collected as always, except that he still looks a little lost. It's like he's never played Truth or Dare before.

"Hm!" Iida crosses his arms and thinks. "A good dare… what's a good dare…"

"I could always help you out," Hagakure offers innocently. Todoroki looks slightly alarmed at the prospect.

"It's Iida's turn to come up with the dare, though, dude," Kirishima jumps in, to spare poor Todoroki from whatever she has planned. If it's too bad, he might never join them for game nights again!

"You're right," Hagakure sighs. "I just have so many fun ones in mind!"

"I'm afraid I'm quite terrible at coming up with dares," Iida confesses. "Uh…"

"I can switch to truth if that would make it easier," Todoroki offers mildly, but Iida is shaking his head.

"No, no, you picked dare, so I have to come up with something for you! That's how this works! I'll just—ah! How about this. Give a compliment to everyone in the circle!"

"That's so tame," Jirou laughs.

"I don't want to force him to do anything that he wouldn't want to do!" Iida protests.

"Dude, that's the point of dares," Kaminari says, snorting.

Todoroki clears his throat. He looks at Midoriya, who's sitting next to him, and then at Iida, who's sitting on his other side, as if debating where to start, and finally addresses Iida. "You're very noble," he says. Looking at Kaminari, who's next to Iida, he says, "You're funny, sometimes," and ignores Kaminari's indignant sometimes? in favor of moving on to Jirou, on Kaminari's other side, and saying "Your music sounds nice. You should play in the common room more, if you want to."

"Oh!" She looks surprised, ducking her head for a second, but then looks up with a bright grin. "Thanks, Todoroki!"

"It's fine," Todoroki says, his cheeks slightly pink, as if he isn't really used to telling people nice things. Moving on to Kirishima, he addresses him with a "Your enthusiasm in the face of formidable odds is admirable."

"Thanks, dude!" Kirishima flashes him a thumbs-up. "Means a lot to hear it!"

"It's nothing," Todoroki dismisses again. He looks at Hagakure. "…Those are nice pajamas."

Hagakure bursts into giggles. "They are!" she agrees, still laughing, as Todoroki goes slightly pink again. "They're very cozy. Wanna try them on?" she asks, tugging at the waistband.

"I'm fine, thank you," Todoroki hurries to assure her stiffly as a collective giggle goes around the room. "Asui, I admire your honesty."

Asui lets out another quiet ribbit and smiles. "Thank you, Todoroki," she says. "I try to be genuine whenever possible."

"It's a good trait," Todoroki says, then looks at Uraraka. "You're very tenacious and persistent in your pursuit of your goals, and a stalwart teammate as well. You'll make a good hero."

Uraraka positively beams. "Thank you, Todoroki!" she says.

"You didn't sing!" Hagakure cries and launches herself across the circle, gloved fingers outstretched and reaching for Uraraka's sides. Uraraka shrieks and dodges behind Asui with a trilled help me! as Hagakure tackles her. "Someone start a timer! Ten seconds!"

"I've got it," calls Kaminari. "And… go!"

Hagakure sets about her task with vicious glee and Uraraka shrieks again, giggling helplessly. Asui watches with wide eyes, smiling like she doesn't know whether to be sympathetic or amused, and Kirishima once again notes that his classmates are adorable. Poor Uraraka!

"Yikes," says Jirou.

"Yeah," agrees Kirishima. Midoriya is laughing but looks vaguely guilty.

"And that's time! Ten seconds!" Kaminari calls over the ruckus. "Damn, Uraraka, you're gonna have Aizawa-sensei busting up in here on our asses demanding who's being murdered and why!"

Uraraka, wheezing and red-faced, sits up as Hagakure gets off her and dances across the room back to her previous spot. "I—I was being murdered!" she sings. "Tickling is the worst!"

"Sorry, Uraraka," Midoriya apologizes. "Next time I won't put a tickle addendum on it!"

"Oh, this was all on me," Hagakure laughs. "Don't blame yourself, Midoriya!"

"It was all on her," agrees Uraraka in the faux-grumpiest delivery of a melodic line that Kirishima has ever heard, rubbing her sides. "All on her."

"Anyway," Hagakure says, clapping her hands together. "I think we have one last compliment in the circle, don't we?"

"Oh, right!" Jirou looks back up at Todoroki. "Last one and then it's your turn to pick someone, dude!"

"Right," Todoroki says. He looks at Midoriya, hesitates, and then declares with finality, "I like your face."

Oh, for crying out loud. That was so obvious. Kirishima makes a mental checkmark next to his previous theory.

Midoriya looks surprised, then beams. "Thank you, Todoroki! I like your face, too!"

Oh? The intrigue continues! Is this just Midoriya being nice, or is it…?

"You do?" Todoroki sounds genuinely surprised, and Kirishima notices his hand jerks slightly, as if he was about to touch his face but stopped himself. His left hand, that is—ah. Yeah. He can see why Todoroki would feel insecure, but still, Midoriya is right. Todoroki has a nice face.

"O-of course!" Midoriya nods rapidly, head bobbing up and down several times. "I like all my friends' faces!" He laughs, kind of high-pitched and nervously, and Kirishima looks over at Kaminari, eyebrows raised. Is this… is this not one but two couples in the same room that are dancing around each other? Unbelievable. One of them is gonna have to get their crap together soon!

Kaminari mouths are you kidding me back, and Kirishima is suddenly hard-pressed to hold in incredulous laughter. This is… this is so ridiculous it's also absolutely hilarious, but if he laughs they might ask what he's laughing at, and he doesn't want to say it out loud in case it makes either Midoriya or Todoroki feel awkward!

"Todoroki, it's your turn!" Uraraka sings. "Pick someone!"

"Uh—right. Um… Kirishima?"

"Dare!" Kirishima says immediately. Much like how Iida almost always picks truth, he always picks dares. They're just so much more fun and creative! Truths are cool too, but he loves dares. Nobody has seen what kind of dares Todoroki gives yet, considering that he hasn't gotten asked much and every time he's asked someone so far, they've picked truth. Kirishima is curious!

Todoroki thinks for a long moment, head tilted slightly to one side. The suspense grows, everyone watching him and waiting (Midoriya is definitely watching him too, Kirishima notes, and wonders how he didn't notice the way Midoriya looks at Todoroki before). Finally, he nods to himself and says, "Take a shot of hot sauce."

The room erupts.

"Todoroki!" exclaims Iida, aghast.

"Todoroki!" gasps Midoriya, stunned.

"Todoroki!" squeals Hagakure, delighted. "I didn't know you had such fun dare ideas!"

Todoroki just looks helplessly between everyone saying his name and then shrugs, folding his hands together in his lap calmly.

"Oh my god, Todoroki, that's brutal!" Kaminari cackles. "Hooo boy, get wrecked, Kirishima!"

"Oh, please, it's not that big of a deal! I can take a shot of hot sauce!" Kirishima defends, hands on his hips. "Gimme the shot glass and the sauce and I'll do it!"

"Please don't spit hot sauce all over my room," requests Uraraka in a worried-sounding crescendo as everyone else keeps talking. Asui pats her knee in consolation. Kirishima gives her a thumbs-up, though.

"C'mon, Uraraka!" he says. "Have more faith in me! I'm not gonna spill it everywhere! I'll just knock it back in one go, like a man!"

"Like a man?" repeats Jirou, one eyebrow arched. "How's a woman take her hot sauce shots, huh?"

Kirishima pauses. He's on thin ice, isn't he? "Should I say 'like a human' instead?" he asks, wrinkling his nose. "That doesn't sound as cool. But, uh… I just meant manly like… actually, I'm gonna just admit you're right."

Jirou nods. "Cool," she says. Kaminari is still fussing about the hot sauce, and Iida is fretting that isn't this a little extreme, and she looks over at them and snorts. Kirishima, relieved he didn't accidentally offend her, looks back at everyone else, too.

"It's just hot sauce," Todoroki is saying.

"Just hot sauce!" Jirou repeats. "Yeah, sure!" She's chortling. "C'mon, Kirishima, don't let us down. Uraraka, you have a shot glass?"

"Um. No—I mean—noooooo! I dooon't!" Uraraka hurriedly tacks on some kind of glissando when Hagakure starts to say you're not singing again. "I do have hot sauce though!"

"I have tiny cups in my room," Kirishima says, standing. "I'll run and get one!"

"Dude. A whole shot of hot sauce?" Kaminari is still laughing, leaning back until he nearly falls flat on his back. "Dude. You're gonna die. It was nice knowing you, bro."

"It's just hot sauce," Todoroki repeats, nonplussed. "Why are you making such a big deal out of it?"

"Not everyone can freeze the inside of their mouth when we're dying because of chili and pain and death!" Kaminari cries, waving his arms. "For some of us, it's not just hot sauce!"

"So… what I'm hearing here is you're a weenie who can't take the heat," Jirou says, nudging him with a grin.

"That's not what I'm saying," Kaminari protests, but she's already laughing at him, so the damage is done.

"I'm gonna go get one of my cups," Kirishima says. "Be right back!"

He runs across the floor to his room and quickly returns, tiny paper cup in hand, and holds it out to Uraraka, who has the bottle of hot sauce. "I'm so sorry," she trills, then pauses. "How many turns have I been singing for?"

"This is your third one," Midoriya says cheerfully, while Uraraka fills up the cup. It's really tiny, so there's not even a lot of sauce there. Kaminari and Hagakure are still cheering. "There was Iida, then Todoroki, and now Kirishima. Halfway there, Uraraka!"

"Alright!" Kirishima holds up the cup. "Here I go, Todoroki!"

Todoroki smiles slightly. "So I can see."

Kirishima knocks the hot sauce back—it's thick and that makes it harder than it should be, but he tries his best to just swallow without tasting it. That's still more than a little difficult, and he ends up coughing really hard, eyes watering from the searing heat—ow ow ow!

"Can—wheeze!—can I have some water?" he gasps, flapping a hand in front of his mouth and kind of dancing from foot to foot and trying to take deep breaths. Okay, that was kind of hot, okay, ow, holy shit! Really hot!

Asui passes him a water bottle and he drains it in two seconds flat, wipes his mouth on the back of his hand, and sits down, eyes wide. His mouth is still burning.

"Phew! Strong stuff!" he gasps, feeling his eyes watering.

"Congratulations," says Todoroki dryly.

"That's going on snapchat, by the way," Kaminari says. "I got the whole thing on video."

"Good!" Kirishima nods, flashing him a slightly watery grin (his mouth is still slightly on fire) and a thumbs-up. "I did it, so it's great! That was kind of hot, though."

"Kind of," Kaminari snorts. "You turned as red as your hair, man!"

"I still did it," Kirishima asserts. "Anyway, my turn! Uh… Hagakure! Truth or dare!"

"Truth!" she answers, settling back on her hands.

"Okay, I got nothing," Kirishima admits. "I didn't think this far through. I'm just gonna, like, steal Jirou's tactic from earlier and ask a really basic question. You ever kissed anyone?"

"You guys are so uncreative!" Hagakure complains, laughing, as she tugs on the hem of her shirt. "But yeah, I have! It's not much of a story, though. Just a friend of mine in middle school. We weren't interested in each other or anything, we just wanted to know what the fuss was all about!"

"Fair enough," Kirishima shrugs, and Asui helpfully passes over another water bottle, which he takes a gulp from gratefully.

"Yup!" Hagakure laughs again and offers a thumbs-up, just like he did a second ago, and then taps her chin. "Hm… who should I pick this time… hey, Midoriya!"

Midoriya's head snaps up. "Y-yes?"

"Truth or dare?" Hagakure asks sweetly, and poor Midoriya is trapped. Either he picks truth and will probably have to admit who he has a crush on, since he basically admitted to having one earlier, or he picks dare and has to deal with Hagakure's "creativity".

"Dare," Midoriya says after a moment of weighing his options, obviously having arrived at the same conclusion as Kirishima (which is that either one sucks).

Hagakure giggles. "Okay!" She scoots around Uraraka and Asui to lean in and whisper something in Midoriya's ear that makes him squawk and turn vaguely red.

"I have to—but Hagakure!" he protests. "Why do you have to whisper it?"

"So nobody else knows, obviously," she says gleefully, scooting back to her previous spot. "You'll surprise everyone!"

Midoriya groans and buries his face in his hands. "Okay," he mutters. "Okay."

He lifts his head and gazes around the room appraisingly, glancing at everyone in the circle, and Kirishima can't help but wonder what his dare was. They'll probably find out soon enough, but he still wants to know!

"Kaminari," Midoriya says after another moment of quiet, presumably dare-induced despair. "Truth or dare?"

"What?" Kaminari balks. "You didn't have to do anything?"

"Not yet," Midoriya corrects gloomily. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Kaminari immediately decides. "Truth, for sure."

Midoriya looks thoughtful again. "Um… I don't know. How do you know you have such a bad reaction to hot sauce?"

Kaminari comically opens and closes his mouth like a gaping fish for a second, and Kirishima bursts out laughing. "Dude!" he exclaims. "You should see your face right now! This story's gonna be good."

"Look, it wasn't my fault, okay?" Kaminari protests. "I thought it was ketchup and I squirted it into my mouth—"

"You squirt ketchup straight into your mouth?" Jirou interjects, sounding utterly disgusted.

"That's beside the point," Kaminari groans. "That birthday party was just a mess all around and I don't want to talk about it. The first time with the hot sauce wasn't even the worst thing that happened anyway, that was definitely when someone put it on the cake, oh god—anyway, the point is that I found out the hard way that hot sauce and I just don't get along!"

"Someone please ask Kaminari about the hot sauce cake next," Asui says into the silence that follows, and the room erupts into laughter for a moment. Kaminari huffs.

"Jirou," he says. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," she answers, rolling onto her stomach and propping herself up on her elbows. "Hit me with your best shot, dude."

"I'm being lazy and recycling your question," Kaminari says. "Except since you don't have a crush, you have a girlfriend, I'll mix it up a little. What's your favorite thing about Yao-Momo?"

Jirou scoffs. "Please, that's easy. Duh. Everything?"

"Oooh, good answer," Hagakure coos. "That's so cute! Honestly, Jirou, not to like encroach on your territory, but your girlfriend is gorgeous."

"Right?" Jirou sits up again to wave a hand at Hagakure. "Right? Like, damn, girl, she can work it! I swear, just seeing Momo reminds me every day that I am, in fact, a huge fucking lesbian. She's great."

Before Hagakure can respond, Midoriya suddenly gets up, walks across the circle, and to Kirishima's surprise, plops himself down in his lap.

"Hi," he says, with no preamble.

"Uh, hey," Kirishima says, blinking. "What's up, bro?"

"Nothing," Midoriya says, as if this is completely normal. "Nothing is up and I'm perfectly fine." His face is red again, and his hair brushes Kirishima's chin, which reminds him of the other night a few weeks ago when they were all petting poor Midoriya's head at like two in the morning. He experimentally pats his head again and laughs.

"Still soft," he teases, then shifts and pulls Midoriya into a more comfortable position against his chest. "There, that's better," he says, idly leaving his arm around Midoriya's waist, and Midoriya squeaks slightly, burying his face in his hands.

Oh, Kirishima suddenly realizes. This must be Hagakure's dare. He wonders what the terms were! Did Midoriya get to pick whose lap to sit in, or…?

"What are you doing, Midoriya?" asks Iida.

"Nothing," Midoriya squeaks. "Ignore me, I'm not here!"

"Um," sings Uraraka. "Midoriya?"

"I'm not here!" Midoriya repeats frantically, hunching in on himself. "Don't look at me!"

Kirishima laughs and pats his head again. "Let him be, I'm cool with it!" he says, because it's true, Midoriya is still soft and cute and it's nice holding him. Kirishima loves holding most people, so it's not like that's a big deal, but it's still nice.

"Uh, okay," says Jirou, laughing to herself. "Anyway. Hey, Asui, truth or dare?"

Todoroki, Kirishima notices, is looking at him with a very odd expression, kind of like he doesn't know what to feel or something. It's different from a blank one, because instead of carefully schooled into blankness, Todoroki's face is very open, very confused, and kind of… kind of something else, too. Maybe even… jealous…? He doesn't know if he'd go that far, but. Huh.

Wow. Todoroki has a really obvious crush, now that he's starting to look for it.

When he looks back at the game quickly to avoid making some super awkward eye contact, Kirishima realizes he totally missed something, because Asui is currently braiding her hair together with the drawstring on Uraraka's hoodie.

"Hey!" Uraraka says in the middle of this, elated realization dawning over her face. "I can stop singing now!"

"Yeah!" Midoriya is probably doing his small shaky embarrassed smile at her, though Kirishima can't see his face from this angle. "Isn't that exciting?"

"Sing a song of celebration," snorts Jirou, lying back down.

"I'd rather not, thanks," Uraraka laughs as Asui lays her head against her shoulder. It's the easiest way to accommodate the braid, but it also makes the two of them sit together cutely. Uraraka even wraps her arm around Asui and smiles. Smooth move, Jirou. Smooth move.

Midoriya glances over his shoulder. "I'm really sorry if this is awkward," he mumbles, eyes downcast, but Kirishima cuts him off with a quick shake of the head.

"Don't worry about it!" he assures him. "I love hugs and all that, so this is totally fine!"

"Oh, good," Midoriya smiles with relief. "I love hugs too, but I always feel weird, like, not everyone is a super touchy-feely person, you know? Sometimes it's like… really awkward…"

"Bro, I totally get that," Kirishima nods. "Well, consider this your official notice. Don't worry, you can hug me whenever you want, and I won't mind at all!"

Midoriya laughs. "Good to know," he says, still sounding relieved.

"So… can I ask what the terms of your dare were?" asks Kirishima, cocking his head to one side curiously. "Did Hagakure pick me, or was that you?"

"That was me," Midoriya says, flushing pink again. "She said I could pick anyone for the next five turns, and I couldn't tell them beforehand what I was doing, and I kind of figured you'd be the least likely to make a big deal out of it."

"Ohhh," Kirishima says, nodding. "I got you, bro. No big deal!"

"Hey, cuddlebugs!" calls Jirou. "Pay attention, Asui just called on you, Kirishima!"

"Oh, shit, my bad!" Kirishima exclaims, waving a hand at Asui. "Sorry! Uh, dare!"

The game goes on for another two hours after that, and everyone ends up having a massive sleepover on the floor of Uraraka's room. It's a good night. Kirishima never knew living in a dorm would be this fun, but hey, he likes this a lot.

It's the middle of movie night, one Friday evening a week or two later, and Midoriya is sitting next to him, head against his shoulder as has become fairly normal with the two of them. When Kirishima notices that Midoriya's gaze is lingering on Todoroki, sitting on the other couch, instead of the screen, again, though, he honestly just has to ask. Curiosity is killing him and has been killing him since Truth Or Dare night.

"You like him, don't you?" he murmurs, quiet enough to not be heard over the noise of the rad fight scene on-screen.

"Wh-what?" Midoriya jerks upright, eyes impossibly wide as he looks up at Kirishima. "What are you—who do you mean?"

Grinning, Kirishima tips his head at Todoroki for a brief second. "Him. You keep looking at him! Don't hide it! I see you, dude."

Midoriya turns scarlet, and Kirishima hastens to correct himself.

"I mean—I'm not laughing at you! He totally likes you, too," he adds, having to remind himself to stay quiet so Todoroki doesn't overhear. Todoroki is watching the movie right now, or at least he looks like it. It's also possible he fell asleep while sitting over there all quietly like that. One just never knows with Todoroki.

"Oh my god," mumbles Midoriya, sinking down into the couch as if he'd like it to swallow him now, please and thanks. "Nooooo…"

"He does!" Kirishima insists. "I can ask him for you, if you—"

"No!" Midoriya sits up again and grabs his arm, wide-eyed. "No, you can't tell him! Promise you won't!"

"Whoa, whoa, Midoriya, calm down," Kirishima soothes, holding his hands out placatingly. "I'm not gonna tell him anything you don't want me to, don't worry! What kind of man does that? That's totally against the Bro Code of Honor. I wouldn't! Don't worry!"

"Okay," Midoriya mutters, ears burning even in the dim light of the TV as he settles back against Kirishima's side. "Fine. I kind of like him. It's probably really obvious, isn't it?"

"A little," Kirishima admits. "But—but not like, super out in our faces or anything obvious! It's kinda cute, I mean… dude, he totally likes you."

Midoriya makes a quiet whine of denial and shakes his head. "I doubt it…"

"He does," Kirishima nods.

"What are the odds of that?" Midoriya shakes his head stubbornly. "I… I just don't see it!"

"He does," Kirishima says, then slings his arm around Midoriya's shoulders. "But if you don't wanna admit it right now, that's cool. We can just watch the movies and deal with that later. I have no idea what's going on anymore. Do you?"

Midoriya seems relieved to drop the topic of his love life. "That guy," he says as he points at a dude wearing a yellow shirt, "stole the sword from the temple, and now that dude," he points at one in a blue hat, "is chasing him down."

"Ah," Kirishima says. "Gotcha."

They settle in to watch the rest quietly, but Midoriya totally keeps glancing over at Todoroki. Kirishima keeps an eye on him too, curious, and notices that he sometimes glances over at Midoriya. Huh.

He totally likes him. Now the only hard part is getting Midoriya to see that.

It's a Sunday afternoon, homework time. Today, everyone is gathered in the common room, sitting in various positions either on couches or on the floor quietly ("everyone" being Kirishima, Yaoyorozu, Iida, Midoriya, Uraraka, and Asui). It's a little chilly in here because the window is open, but Kirishima doesn't mind. The cold doesn't really bother him much. Everyone else has improvised something or other—Asui has wrapped herself in a blanket and is sharing a corner of it with Uraraka as she reads, Yaoyorozu has an elegant shawl, etc.

Midoriya looks cold, though, and Kirishima's about to offer him his hoodie because honestly he's fine, but to his surprise Todoroki beats him to it.

"Are you cold?" he asks, sounding kind of concerned.

"It—it's fine, Todoroki!" Midoriya hastens to assure him, waving his hands frantically. "It's not a big deal!"

Todoroki stands in a fluid motion and crosses the room to close the window. "You could have said as much, you know," he says, sounding vaguely like a tutting mother hen. "I have frankly terrible temperature perception, but that doesn't mean you need to be uncomfortable."

"It's not a big deal!" Midoriya protests again. Kirishima hides a laugh behind his hand, hoping he disguised it as clearing his throat, and stares fixedly at the math textbook in front of him. "Don't worry about it!"

"Here," Todoroki says, pulling his sweater over his head. He tosses it at Midoriya, who catches it with a look of pure surprise. "You're shivering."

"O-oh," Midoriya almost squeaks, unfolding it. "Thanks, Todoroki, you didn't have to—um—"

"It's no problem. I can keep myself warm," Todoroki shrugs, sitting back down with his textbook. Midoriya stares at him for a second and then swallows and pulls the sweater over his head. The sleeves are kind of comically long on him, and he looks absolutely delighted for a second before he shakes his head and picks his textbook up, too.

Uraraka and Asui giggle to themselves about something or other, and the room falls silent again.

Minutes pass. Kirishima is in the middle of avoiding working out another math problem when his phone buzzes, and he sees it's a text from Midoriya, who is… sitting on the floor across from him doing his own homework?

Curious, Kirishima glances at the screen to see what it is.

[14:33] Deku:
put those eyebrows down! stop making that face while im doing homework! i cant concentrate!

It takes every ounce of willpower in his body not to burst out laughing.

[14:34] Red Riot:
dude you're literally wearing his sweater right now
would you prefer if i text you the face instead of making it

[14:34] Deku:
NO!

[14:35] Red Riot:
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Midoriya puts his phone face-down on the floor and favors Kirishima with a petulant glance. Kirishima grins at him, winks, and then goes back to the math problem he's been ignoring as Midoriya splutters silently. Iida glances up at him, slightly concerned, but says nothing, and Kirishima has to fight to hold in laughter all over again.

Another few minutes pass. It's just long enough for Kirishima to decide he hates hyperbolic functions (seriously, what's the point of all this, asymptotes and curves and ugh), hates them enough that he scoots over to Yaoyorozu to beg her for help, and she laughs softly and leans over to take a look.

"Oh, just a moment," she murmurs. "I'll work the problem out myself and then show you how to do it, okay?"

"Sure thing," he says gratefully. "Thanks, Yao-Momo, you're a lifesaver!"

While she works, Kirishima stretches and glances around the room. Uraraka and Asui are holding hands under the blanket, he notices, which is cute, and Iida is furiously scrawling out his notes with an expression so intent it seems almost out of place in the rest of the easy-going room, which is also cute in its own way. Midoriya is bent over a textbook and is reading, seeming very cozy in his newly borrowed sweater, and Todoroki is…

Oohhh, he just knows if the class gossip squad could see Todoroki's face now, they'd be all over it. Todoroki is watching Midoriya with a combination of a soft smile and a shy flush to his cheeks, as Midoriya absently chews on his lower lip in thought.

Yaoyorozu looks up suddenly. "Does something smell like it's burning?" she asks, glancing around sharply, and Kirishima sees Todoroki stiffen, even from way over there.

"Um, maybe?" Midoriya looks around too. "The fire alarms aren't going off or anything, though…"

"Someone probably just really sucks at making popcorn," giggles Uraraka. "I did see that someone took the rotating plate out of the microwave to wash it, so maybe someone else tried cooking something in there without putting it back in."

"That's probably it," Yaoyorozu sighs. She turns her attention back to the cursed hyperbola problem, and Kirishima goes back to watching her work, trying to figure out where she got that number from, and what it has to do with the graph in the textbook.

Silence falls again, until Todoroki once again breaks the stillness. This time he doesn't address anyone, just stands up again and heads for the stairwell door, leaving all his things behind. Then he pauses, sensing the curious eyes on his back, and explains "I'm going to get my clean laundry, I'll be back," and leaves.

The second the door closes, Uraraka bursts into giggles.

"Izuku!" she squeals. "That was so cute!"

"What?!" yelps Midoriya.

Kirishima lets out a whoop. So he wasn't the only one thinking it! "High five!" he crows to Uraraka, leaning over, and she smacks his hand resoundingly. She also makes sure her thumb doesn't hit him, which he appreciates, because floating away isn't really what he wants to do right now. "That was definitely cute, Midoriya, don't you try telling me he doesn't like you now!"

"What are we talking about?" asks Iida, sounding utterly bewildered as Midoriya squeaks and buries his face in his sweater-covered hands.

"Whether or not Todoroki has feelings for Midoriya," Yaoyorozu answers. She's smiling too. Literally everyone in this room can see it. Midoriya's gotta accept it now, right? "Which, I think, is fairly apparent at this point."

"What?!"

"Midoriya," says Asui, pulling the blanket tighter around herself and scooting closer to Uraraka, "he's definitely pretty fond of you. Are you… upset about that?"

"Wh—no, no!" Midoriya shakes his head and hides it in his hands again. "I—you know I really like him too, I'm just—wait, did I say too? I don't know if he—what if he comes back while we're talking about this and he hears it and—"

"He just left," Asui soothes. "We have a minute."

Midoriya peeps over the tops of his fingers, his eyes wide and his face impossibly red. "Oh my god," he whispers.

"What?" asks Uraraka.

Midoriya mumbles something that nobody catches.

"What was that?" asks Iida, curious, and Midoriya groans.

"I said," he mumbles, barely audible, as if he can't believe what he's about to say, "th-this sweater s-smells like him…"

Kirishima lets out another incredulous whoop. "Oh man, Midoriya!" he claps his hands together, laughing and pumping a fist. "Look at you, that's literally so… so… shit, man, you've got it bad!"

"Oh my god," Midoriya repeats, hiding his face again and lying down on his back. Then he rolls onto his side and curls into a ball. Uraraka leans over and prods his side.

"Hey," she says. "You good down there?"

"I'm great," Midoriya says, his voice muffled and a little quavery. She prods at him again and he looks up, eyes wide. He's smiling too, a little incredulous and flustered I-can't-believe-this-is-happening smile, and his cheeks are flushed, and Uraraka giggles.

"You're so cute," she says, settling back under the corner of the blanket with Asui, who snuggles up against her side for warmth. And also, possibly, for other reasons, like the fact that they're both obviously dating, except that they don't know it yet. But Kirishima can see it clear as day.

"I'm so gay," Midoriya groans, covering his face again. "Guys? Help…"

Yaoyorozu laughs, covering her mouth with one hand. "Don't worry, Midoriya," she says with a warm smile. "There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's pretty nice when you finally manage to be gay with someone. And I'm pretty sure Todoroki likes you a lot, too."

Midoriya makes vague, incomprehensible noises into his sweater-hands and doesn't really reply to that.

Uraraka looks over at her, beaming. "Yao-Momo, I swear, you and Jirou are our class's power couple or something! You guys are so cute, though."

Yaoyorozu smiles demurely and tucks her hair behind her ear. "Thanks," she says with a giggle. "Kyouka is, well. What can I say? I'm sure she'd be happy to hear you think so, too," and she laughs again.

"Hey," Midoriya says suddenly, sitting up. "If we're talking about crushes and everything, I feel like you…"

He trails off, looking pointedly at Uraraka, and it's her turn to go pink and squeak and hiss "Izuku!"

Midoriya grins. "I didn't say anything!" he says, while Asui perks up slightly. Yaoyorozu is smiling knowingly at them, and oh, yeah, she totally knows. She knows everything. Even hyperbolic functions. Kirishima has nothing but the utmost respect for Yaoyorozu.

The door bursts open then, and Jirou breezes in, perching on the armrest next to Yaoyorozu to lean in and kiss her cheek. Yaoyorozu smiles warmly up at her.

"Hey guys," Jirou greets, leaning lazily on her girlfriend. "You all look like you're being productive. That's so gross. Also, does anyone know why Todoroki is pacing frantically in the laundry room?"

All gazes immediately snap to Midoriya.

"I told you, bro!" Kirishima says.

"Ooohh, he likes you, he likes you!" sings Uraraka gleefully. Asui ribbits next to her, and Uraraka laughs and hugs her through the blanket. "Are you cold?"

"A little," Asui says, looking over at Midoriya too. "Midoriya, are you still in denial?"

Midoriya is currently curled up into a little ball again, face buried in his sweater-covered hands again, and is making incomprehensible noises again. He seems a little too occupied with this to answer.

"Dudes," Jirou grins. "I missed something gay, didn't I?"

"Midoriya was cold and Todoroki gave him his sweater," Yaoyorozu summarizes, and Jirou's grin widens.

"That's definitely gay," she comments. "That'd explain why he looked so flustered. I don't think I've ever seen Todoroki blushing before."

Midoriya squeaks. "He's gonna come back while you're talking about this and then he'll overhear and I will spontaneously combust on the spot," he whines, his voice still muffled because he isn't looking up at anyone in favor of continuing to hide in his hands.

"No, bro, I'm pretty sure the combusting one was Todoroki," Kirishima says, unable to help himself.

"Wait," Uraraka says. "Is that what the smoke smell was?"

"I'm pretty sure it was," says Asui.

"Oh my god," Uraraka says, laughter bubbling out in her voice. "That's honestly so cute, Izuku, he thinks you're so cute he almost caught on fire?"

Midoriya finally looks up, but he's only got eyes for Iida, reaching out and grabbing his wrist. "Tenya," he begs, "please help me, they won't let me focus on studying and I am going to actually die if we keep talking about this when he could walk in at any minute!"

"Aw, Izuku," Uraraka says apologetically.

"I think he's still busy pacing in the laundry room," Jirou offers, and everyone chuckles.

"Nonetheless," Iida says, placing his hand on top of Midoriya's and speaking up for the first time in a while, "we should still be considerate that Izuku doesn't want to discuss it right now."

"Thank you, Tenya," groans Midoriya, laying back down on the floor in his ball.

"Besides," Iida continues, "we can always discuss it at greater length when there isn't a chance of Todoroki returning. So… later."

"Tenya, no!" cries Midoriya, and Kirishima laughs aloud because of the sudden betrayal. Poor Midoriya!

"Let's get back to studying for now," says Iida responsibly, and Jirou scoffs.

"I'll leave you guys to that," she says, starting to pull away from Yaoyorozu. "I was gonna ask if any of you wanted to hang out and play something for a little bit. Text me when you're done?"

"Sure thing!" Kirishima says, grinning at her. "Have fun not doing homework."

"I definitely will," Jirou says, grinning back. She stands up, but Yaoyorozu reaches out and catches her wrist and clears her throat insistently, and Jirou laughs warmly. "My bad, how could I forget," she says, leaning down for a quick farewell kiss.

"I don't know," Yaoyorozu teases. "How could you?"

"Guess you'll have to remind me more later," Jirou answers with a wink.

"You guys are so cute," Uraraka giggles.

Jirou sends finger pistols in her direction. "We try," she says lightly, then steps away. "Anyway, I'll see you guys later, I guess. Hurry up with the homework, I'm bored!"

They get back to work reluctantly. Kirishima stares balefully at the hyperbolic function problem set, but at least Yaoyorozu shows him how to work the first problem out, and it makes a little sense. Kind of. If he squints.

"Hey, Midoriya!" Kirishima greets, sprawled out on one of the couches next to Ashido. It's movie night again—this has become something of a biweekly tradition (not every weekend because nobody has time for that, but every other seems good). "You look like you're in a good mood!"

Midoriya's eyes widen as he plops down, beaming. "You haven't heard?" he asks, bouncing in place.

"Heard what?" asks Kirishima, curiosity growing exponentially. "Something happened?"

Midoriya's happiness bursts out in laughter like joy spilling out from his heart, too much to be contained. "Yeah!" he grins. "Ochako and Tsuyu are dating now!"

"What?!" yelps Ashido from Kirishima's other side. "Since when?! Oh my gosh, that's so good! Finally! They're sooo cute together!"

"I know!" Midoriya looks so terribly excited. He can't stop grinning, especially when the ladies of the hour enter the room, shyly holding hands and smiling and smiling and smiling. Kirishima and Ashido cheer loudly, and Uraraka waves, beaming, while Asui ducks her head and blushes.

"They're so cute!" squeals Ashido, hands clasped together. "Awww!"

"Now we're just waiting on you and Todoroki," Kirishima teases, elbowing him as he settles down, and Midoriya squawks.

"Stop that!" he complains. "We're talking about Tsuyu and Ochako because they're really cute and they got together officially today, and we're not talking about—about me and Todoroki!"

Kirishima winks at him, then settles back. "Okay, okay," he laughs. "I'll drop it for now. I'm really happy for Uraraka 'n' Asui, though, we've been rooting for them for what, a year now?"

"Something like that," Midoriya agrees as he leans against Kirishima's side. "I'm so glad for them! They're so happy today, it's so sweet! Anyway, what're we watching today?"

"No idea," Kirishima admits. "I think Sero picked today's, right? Yeah, it was Sero's turn. He picked something, but I dunno what yet."

Midoriya laughs. "Okay!" he says. "Guess I'll just wait and see."

Pretty soon the movie starts, and someone turns off most of the lights in the common room, and everyone settles in cozily to watch. It turns out to be an action movie with some spy intrigue, and a lot of explosions, which Kirishima wholeheartedly approves of (Bakugou would too, he's sure, but Bakugou pretty much never joins them for movie nights, because he's a loser like that. Kirishima means that in the most affectionate way possible.)

So yeah, everything is going pretty great, he's got Midoriya snuggled up against his side, arm around him and Midoriya's head on his shoulder (he's still not over how Midoriya is such a damn powerhouse and yet is also so tiny, soft, and cute). It's nice, everything's swell, until possibly the most awkward thing in Kirishima's life happens.

He's just stretching his other arm and happens to glance around the room, and—

And he accidentally makes eye contact with Todoroki.

Todoroki, who has a thing for Midoriya and who Midoriya has a thing for. Todoroki, who isn't really a touchy-feely person and might not get that Kirishima and Midoriya are one hundred percent platonic, dudes being bros, nothing like that going on here. Todoroki, who is still staring at him, expression inscrutable.

…Shit.

The last thing he wants to do is introduce some weird miscommunication between the two of them, considering how they're already in denial about liking each other or whatever! How's he supposed to be a good friend if he adds drama, even if it's on accident?

There's gotta be a way to make Todoroki see that there's nothing going on over here, Kirishima thinks as he keeps awkwardly staring back at Todoroki over Midoriya's clueless, curly head. He can't just look away, that'll be even more awkward at this point…

Aha.

Carefully, he blinks once and then mouths across the room, no homo.

Todoroki raises one eyebrow ever so slightly.

This is so incredibly awkward.

"Kirishima?" asks Midoriya, looking up, and Kirishima laughs kind of nervously, dropping his eyes from Todoroki's expressionless judgment. Is it judgment? He doesn't know. Todoroki has that calm blank mask on and it's a little scary, honestly. There's, like, no way to tell what he's thinking!

"Yeah?"

"Do you think the spy agency that the green tie dude is working for actually set him up for this entire plot so that they could plant the documents and then blow the story open and get the acclaim for it? Because I honestly think his boss is kind of sketchy, the way they've been showing him…?"

Oh, thank god, it's a movie plot question, not a "why were you staring at Todoroki over my head" question. "Uh… I dunno, dude," Kirishima says awkwardly, hoping he doesn't sound awkward at least. "I'm not good at noticing this stuff like you are!"

Midoriya laughs and ducks his head. "Oh, come on, I'm just speculating about the movie…"

Kirishima risks a quick glance at Todoroki, but Todoroki is pointedly looking away now, and he suppresses a groan. This is so awkward. The only way it could get worse would be if Midoriya noticed and asked what's up and he had to explain that he just made the most awkward accidental eye contact in the history of eye contact, ever.

After the movie, he'll text Todoroki. Just to set the record straight, and all that. Yeah.

[21:48] Red Riot:
hey uh just like… letting u know, but im not dating midoriya and im not interested in him like that
were just bros and we both like hugs that's all
so like… yeah that's all that was going on there dude

Shouto:
[✔️ Read 21:49]

"He so likes him," Kirishima says, nodding. "It's super obvious if you look for it."

"Oh, definitely!" Hagakure agrees. "I've known since truth or dare like two months ago! Wow, was that already two months ago? Huh, time flies. Anyway, they're super obvious. I'm kind of amazed they haven't figured it out already!"

"I have a fun update on the situation," Uraraka says, grinning impishly as she leans forward, eyes gleaming. "You wanna know what Izuku told me they did recently?"

"Asked each other out," Ashido says, wide-eyed.

"Made out?" asks Kaminari. Jirou smacks him.

"Admitted they're both head over heels into each other and have been for like a year now?" asks Hagakure.

"You guys are being way too optimistic," Asui laughs. "Now our news won't seem that big!"

"It's still pretty big, for those two dense nerdlords," Uraraka laughs. "Izuku said they watched a movie together—just the two of them!—the other day, and not only that, they sat on the same bed, shared a blanket, and…" She pauses for dramatic effect, staring around at each of them in turn, before finishing, "And they even held hands!"

"Oooooohhhh!" Ashido squeals, clasping her hands together. "That's exciting! I honestly was afraid we would never see it happen until after graduating!"

"You just said you thought they asked each other out," Kaminari contradicts.

"That was wishful thinking!" Ashido protests. "Anyway, what are the deets, how'd it happen?"

"I don't have too many details because Izuku was kind of doing his super blushy yelling-and-flailing thing, you know?" Uraraka says. "But from what I can gather, they were sitting next to each other and he kind of just… took the plunge, and Todoroki didn't say anything and just went with it. But I know because Izuku kept saying it was that Todoroki squeezed his hand back, so it wasn't just a Todoroki-went-with-it-but-wasn't-into-it kind of thing, it was both ways."

"They're making progress!" Hagakure claps her hands. "I'm so proud of our dear oblivious boys."

Asui laughs softly. "They're… they're trying," she says. "I saw them holding hands again today, too."

"Do you think that means they're gonna finally put two and two together and start going out soon?" asks Kaminari, eyebrows raised, and everyone sitting around their circle in the common room laughs.

"Define 'soon'," Hagakure says teasingly.

"Before we graduate," Kaminari sighs. "That's probably still too soon, isn't it?"

"Probably."

"There's hope!" Kirishima defends them. "We never thought they'd get to the point of hand-holding, and yet here they are! Also, doesn't Midoriya still have Todoroki's sweater from that one time?"

Uraraka nods, grinning. "He keeps meaning to give it back but keeps putting it off because he really doesn't want to. And Todoroki hasn't asked for it once, even when he happened to come by and Izuku was wearing it."

"That's so cute," Ashido giggles. "That's seriously super cute. I bet he actually likes seeing Midoriya wear his clothes!"

"I think so too," Asui agrees. "I mean, it's pretty common as a romantic trope, right? And I know it's really cute when your partner borrows your clothes, so…"

She glances at Uraraka, who beams, giggles "Guilty as charged!", and squeezes her hand. Kirishima grins. They really are happy together, and that's really cute.

"I guess there's hope for them after all," Hagakure says, then laughs. "Gosh, guys, I love how we have this little friendly gossip squad. Never bad stuff, either, just cute things! This is so fun."

"It is fun!" Kirishima agrees. "And we only have everyone's best interests at heart. Double bonus!"

"I never knew living in dorms would be this social and involved," Asui says thoughtfully. "At my old school I was never this invested in my friends' love lives. Not that there was much serious stuff going on there, since we were in middle school, but… you know what I mean?"

"Yeah, definitely!" says Kaminari. "I think it's just a lot easier to care about each other and whatnot since we all live together. Like, it's harder for you to hide that you're thinking about something a lot if you're with everyone all the time, y'know?"

Asui nods. "That's a good way of putting it, Kaminari," she says with a smile. "I don't know. It's just something I think is kind of interesting to think about."

"Well, I don't know exactly how much of it is because of dorm life or not, but I love hanging out with you guys," Ashido says with a sunny smile. "So yeah! You're all great!"

"You're great, too!" Uraraka tells her, then laughs and holds out her arms. "Wholesome gossip squad group hug?"

Kirishima cheers. "Wholesome gossip squad group hug!"

Over the next few weeks and months, certain things become commonplace. For example, Kirishima doesn't get to keep his cuddle buddy on movie nights, because Midoriya sits next to Todoroki these days, and sometimes they even hold hands. Sometimes Midoriya winds up leaning against Todoroki's shoulder, and on those times, if one watches for it, it's possible to observe Todoroki looking down at him with a soft, surprisingly tender expression.

Midoriya turns up at the dinner table one day wearing Todoroki's sweater again. Lots of pointed glances are exchanged, but nobody really knows. After a while, that, too, becomes pretty normal. Todoroki even wanders downstairs in a brightly-colored All Might hoodie that just screams Midoriya one day, and while the usual raised eyebrows and curious looks go around the room, nobody really questions it.

"I guess they've finally gotten their shit together," Kaminari laughs, leaning back and tossing his legs across Kirishima's lap as they sit on the couch, watching cartoons. "Good for 'em, yeah?"

"For sure, dude," Kirishima agrees. "For sure."

On weekends, sometimes Todoroki goes home with Midoriya. Other times, they both go out for lunch together. Not always, but enough that by the time it's drawing close to the end of their second year at U.A., just about all of Class 1-A is really starting to think they're dating.

But nobody really knows for sure, though the rumor mill is turning. The "wholesome gossip squad" has nothing new to offer—as far as they know, including Midoriya's best friend Uraraka, the two aren't officially together… but just look at them, Ashido says, laughing helplessly. What more do they need?

A bunch of people (Kirishima, Kaminari, Jirou, Yaoyorozu, Asui, Uraraka, Iida, Midoriya, Todoroki, Tokoyami, and Hagakure) have another late-night study party one Saturday, although as it gets later and later people start trickling out of the common room and upstairs to their beds. It's almost three when Kirishima finds himself left alone with Super Mario 3D World (studying? What's that? He's given up on that front) and Todoroki.

…Well, now's as good a chance as he's ever gonna get to get to the bottom of this.

"Hey, Todoroki," Kirishima starts. "This is a kind of personal question I guess, and like, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but I have to admit we've all been pretty curious."

"…What is it?" Todoroki asks neutrally, taking a sip of his hot chocolate and eyeing Kirishima carefully over the brim of the mug.

"Are you and Midoriya dating yet?"

Todoroki chokes.

"Oh, shit, sorry!" Kirishima yelps, clapping him soundly on the back as he coughs, automatically freezing his hot chocolate solid so it doesn't spill. That's… huh. That's one way to handle it, he supposes, then shakes his head quickly and goes back to thumping Todoroki's back.

Todoroki coughs a few more times, his face suspiciously red, and switches the mug to his other hand. After a moment it's steamy-hot liquid again, and he clears his throat.

"Sorry, man," Kirishima starts. "If it's, like, not something you wanna—""

Todoroki cuts him off with a shake of his head, then finally looks over at him with wide-eyes. "I… I don't know," he whispers, sounding kind of shocked and a little terrified.

"You… you… huh." Okay. That isn't exactly the answer Kirishima was expecting. He actually doesn't know which answer he was expecting, but… but it's not this. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I don't know," Todoroki repeats, running a shaky hand through his hair and taking another, more careful sip of his hot chocolate. He looks like Kirishima just tugged the rug out from under his feet, instead of just asking a simple question. "Are we?"

"Uh… I can't answer that for you, dude," Kirishima says, sitting back. "Sounds to me like you should maybe talk to Midoriya about it?"

"I… guess I should," Todoroki agrees, then shakes his head. "But. No. I don't—ugh," and he takes another sip of hot chocolate to drown his words. "This is ridiculous."

Kirishima folds his arms across his chest, thinking. "Well… hey. I can try and give you advice, if you want it. Just—let's take it from the top, yeah?"

Todoroki eyes him mistrustfully. "You'll laugh at me," he says, dismissive, but Kirishima frowns.

"I would not!" he objects. "Bro's code of honor, dude. I'm not gonna laugh at you, I just wanna help!"

Todoroki sighs. A few heartbeats pass, and Kirishima finds that he's thinking of the time a few weeks ago when he went to volunteer at an animal shelter, and there was this one dog that was kind of scared of him, and how he just sat there being really still so it could get comfortable with his presence and eventually come toward him when called or even voluntarily. That's how this feels right now. Todoroki is like a shy dog. No, actually. Shy cat. Todoroki just seems more like a cat person.

"Fine," Todoroki says after a long moment, sighing, and Kirishima is struck by how open and unguarded he sounds, so different from usual. He feels pretty honored to be allowed into Todoroki's confidence. "I literally have no idea what I'm doing. I mean... I—and you had better not tell anyone this—" he says, eyes flashing, and yeah, that looks more like usual Todoroki, "—but I really like him. A lot. And… I don't… know… what we're doing? Like, I never—I never really had a friend like him before. I don't know if all the stuff we've been doing together is stuff he just… would want to do with any other friend.

"For example, a while ago, we were watching a documentary together, and he just… started holding my hand. And I didn't mind, it was nice, so I didn't say anything, I just went with it. And then he started doing it all the time, and I—I mean, I like that, so I started doing it too, and we never really talked about it, it just happened. Everything happened like that. I mean—he didn't necessarily start everything—I gave him my sweater first and said I didn't care when he gave it back, but… I don't know. I mean, he hugs you a lot, and you say he doesn't want to date you, so why should I be any different?

"And I don't want to bring it up because I don't want to ask him, and then have him say no, and everything between us will be awkward and that'd be squarely my fault. I don't want to have to deal with that. He's one of my best friends and I don't want to lose him just because of… whatever this is. I don't know. It's stupid."

Huh. Kirishima finds himself starting to smile again, though he tries to hide it. This is still really cute. Todoroki and Midoriya are practically dating already and yet they're still this oblivious?

Todoroki sends him a dry, tired glare. "I told you you'd laugh at me."

"Wh—bro, I'm not laughing at you!" Kirishima exclaims, waving his hands about as if he's gonna physically dispel that notion. "I told you I wouldn't, and I'm not! I'm just laughing 'cuz you guys are like… okay. Look. Look. It's just like… it's like this. I can think of literally one reason why Midoriya would say no if you asked him out on an actual date."

Todoroki regards him with a guarded, uncertain expression. "What's that?"

Kirishima grins. "If he misheard the question."

Todoroki opens his mouth, closes it again, and then finally says, "I see."

"Yeah." Kirishima nods. "Seriously. You should."

Todoroki considers that for a long moment, turning it over in his head, and then kind of ducks his head and asks almost shyly while staring into his hot chocolate, "What … what makes you so sure of that?"

Oh, boy. This is a hard question. How's he supposed to say he literally told me he really, really likes you, point-blank, to my face when Midoriya also asked him not to tell Todoroki? No matter the circumstances, he wants to be a man of his word, and that means that he has to take Midoriya's secrets to the grave, now that he was entrusted with them!

Maybe a different tactic will work, then. He thinks for another minute, then gasps "Oh!" as inspiration hits. Todoroki looks at him questioningly. "Okay, okay, dude," he says, grinning confidently again. "D'you remember a while ago when Asui went home for a weekend and there were a bunch of us playing cards and Midoriya got Uraraka to say she had a crush on Asui, but then Uraraka made everyone promise they wouldn't tell Asui, even though we all knew Asui liked her back and it would've made everything faster? But we still didn't tell because that's just not cool?"

Todoroki nods silently. Kirishima waggles his eyebrows, willing him to get it. Come on, Todoroki… Come on, don't leave him hanging, how much more obvious can he get? He can't just say it outright! That would defeat the entire point!

Any day now, Todoroki. Any day now.

…

Come on, don't leave him hanging, bro…

"Wait," Todoroki says.

Kirishima nods encouragingly.

"Wait," Todoroki says, more faintly. "You mean…"

Kirishima nods even more enthusiastically.

"Oh."

"Yeah," Kirishima grins broadly. "Trust me. You ask him out, he will say yes, I swear. I 'can't tell you how I know that'," he says, complete with finger-quotes, "but he totally will. In fact, you know what you should do?"

"What?" Todoroki asks suspiciously, draining the last of his hot chocolate. Kirishima grins at him.

"Ask him out tomorrow!" he announces. Todoroki nearly chokes on his hot chocolate again.

"Tomorrow?" he sputters. "That's too soon!"

Kirishima shakes his head resolutely. "Tomorrow, bro. Too soon would be if I said we should go to his room and wake him up and you should ask him out right now. Besides, if we did that, there'd be a bigger possibility that he'd be asleep and not hear you properly when you ask, and I did say the only way he would say no is if he didn't hear you right, so…"

Todoroki weighs his options for several minutes. Finally, he sighs shortly. "I'll think about it."

"You'll think about it?" Kirishima repeats.

"I'll think about it," Todoroki confirms. "In the meantime, I'm going to bed. Thanks for your advice. Good night, Kirishima."

He stands and strides out of the room quickly, almost before Kirishima even calls a "G'night, Todoroki!" back, and then he's gone, leaving Kirishima to finish the last level of Super Mario 3D World alone.

"I'm gonna make some tea," Midoriya announces, the next morning, in the kitchen. It's a Sunday, and people slowly are trickling downstairs to get food, but right now there's only three of them in the kitchen. "Do you guys want some? I'm thinking jasmine."

"No thanks, I'm good," Kirishima defers, shaking his head. He grins meaningfully at Todoroki and tips his head at Midoriya's back when he turns away, standing on the tips of his toes to reach a mug on a high shelf in the cabinet.

Todoroki pointedly ignores him, placing a hand on Midoriya's shoulder and leaning over him to get the mug. "Here," he says, pressing it into Midoriya's hand, while Midoriya looks up at him fondly (and how does he not see the way Midoriya looks at him? It's not like Midoriya is hiding anything!). "And I'd like some tea, please."

"Thanks, Todoroki!" Midoriya beams up at him for a second longer, then steps away to pour water into the tea kettle. Kirishima catches Todoroki's eye again and waggles his eyebrows.

Do it, he mouths.

Todoroki casts him a dirty look and crosses his arms. Then he softens as he looks at Midoriya again, and Kirishima taps his foot impatiently.

"So did you get any sleep last night, Kirishima?" asks Midoriya, oblivious to the silent conversation behind his back. "Did you beat the game?"

"I actually did both of those things!" Kirishima grins proudly. Todoroki gives him another dirty look as he inclines his head at Midoriya again, more emphatically this time. "The last level was kind of hard, but fun. Nobody else was awake by the time I got there, but oh well, it's a weekend!"

"What time did you go to bed?" Midoriya asks, laughing, as he glances over his shoulder, and catches Kirishima in the middle of nodding at Todoroki, while Todoroki pointedly ignores him. Midoriya looks back and forth between them, then shrugs to himself and goes back to measuring tea leaves.

"Uh… around four I think?" Kirishima guesses. "I didn't really look at a clock."

"It was after three," Todoroki says. "That's when I left the common room, and you were still there."

"So probably four," Kirishima nods. Midoriya makes a noise of reproach.

"Why are both of you awake?" he asks. "That's like, maybe five hours of sleep for you, Kirishima, and six isn't that much better, Todoroki!"

"I'm used to getting around six hours of sleep," Todoroki shrugs. Midoriya turns around to look at him, eyebrows knit together with concern.

"Do you just never sleep in…?" he asks. "Sleeping late is nice! Wait, no, you do sleep in, the other morning after we watched Spirited Away you so didn't wanna get up!"

Todoroki coughs slightly, tugging at the hem of his shirt, and crosses his arms again. "I'm used to getting around six hours of sleep," he repeats, "but that doesn't mean I don't sometimes like more. And also it doesn't mean I automatically get out of bed at six hours, just that I can function on it. If I'm comfortable, why would I want to get up immediately?"

Weren't… they just talking about spending the night together after watching a movie? Were they sleeping in the same bed, too? And did Todoroki just say that he was really comfortable sleeping next to Midoriya? How obvious can they get?

Kirishima clears his throat, catches Todoroki's eye again, and juts his chin at Midoriya. Todoroki rolls his eyes.

"That's fair," Midoriya laughs, adding the tea leaves to the hot water. "Sometimes I wake up and just lie in bed for an hour or two, if I don't have anywhere to be. It's just kind of nice I guess! No shame!"

Kirishima chuckles. "Yeah, totally," he agrees, still looking pointedly at Todoroki. "Hey… you know what else is kind of nice?"

"Oh my god," Todoroki mutters.

Midoriya turns around and looks at them both again. "Okay," he says, hands on his hips. "What is going on with you two this morning?"

"Well—" Kirishima starts, but Todoroki beats him to the punch. He lets out a sharp breath, grabs Midoriya's wrist, then rethinks it and slides his hand down to intertwine their fingers instead. Midoriya makes a soft questioning sound as he looks up at him, squeezing his hand back automatically.

"Todoroki…?"

"I need to talk to you about something," he says. "Kirishima, you can watch the tea," and then before Midoriya can so much as protest, Todoroki effectively hauls him out of the kitchen. Kirishima watches them go, grinning widely, before turning his attention back to the tea with a sense of success.

Mission accomplished.

"Wait, you mean they weren't dating before?" Jirou blinks. "Huh. They sure acted like it."

"I think what just happened is that they finally figured out that they've been dating for a while," Yaoyorozu says, laughing, and Jirou hooks an arm around her waist and pulls her over for a brief side-hug. "But either way, I'm glad for them!"

"Yeah, definitely," Jirou says, smiling as Yaoyorozu kisses her cheek. "Props to you for meddling, Kirishima!"

Kirishima laughs. "You guys are so gay," he says, and Jirou smirks.

"Glad to see you noticed," she teases, glancing down at her very loud, rainbow-print T-shirt. "Looks like the gay runs strong in our class. There's us, there's Asui and Uraraka, and now officially Midoriya and Todoroki. Hey, Kirishima, you have your sights set on any cute boys around here? You should join us."

Kirishima laughs again. "I dunno," he says, shrugging. Romance isn't really the biggest thing on his mind right now, though… yeah, sometimes he thinks… yeah. But that's not something he's worried about right now. It's just a nice thought for the future. "I think I'll have to pass for the moment, but I'll definitely keep the Class 1-A Gay Club in mind for my future plans."

"That's fair," Jirou agrees, and then looks up as Todoroki and Midoriya walk in, hand-in-hand. Midoriya is once again wearing one of Todoroki's sweaters, and the sleeves are too long on him, and Todoroki seems rather pleased.

"Hi, you two!" Yaoyorozu smiles. Midoriya positively beams back, and while Todoroki doesn't really grin much, it's the closest to a grin that Kirishima has ever seen him. He looks pretty happy about this.

"Hi, guys!" Midoriya chirps. He plops down on the couch next to Jirou, and Todoroki settles next to him, wrapping an arm around him and drawing him close, and Midoriya leans against him with a blissful smile. "How's it going?"

"Pretty great," Yaoyorozu says. "Kyouka and I went to the movies earlier, there's this one really cute animated one showing right now and it was adorable. I already want to see it again!"

"Oh, I love animated movies!" exclaims Midoriya excitedly. "Shouto, we should go see it sometime!"

"Wow, you guys can all have a double date," Kirishima snorts. "Man, I need to get a boyfriend just so I don't have to be the fifth wheel all the time!"

"Yeah," Jirou laughs. "You can get Kaminari, I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

Todoroki snorts.

"Where's everyone else?" asks Yaoyorozu. "I thought more people were going to come join us for board games today."

"Tsuyu and Ochako are on their way back!" says Midoriya. "They had to catch a later bus because they accidentally missed the first one, Ochako texted me. But they had fun at the aquarium! And Tenya's going to come down pretty soon, he's finishing up the last problem from next week's homework set, apparently."

"Sheesh, what a good student," Kirishima jokes. Looking around at the four people he's sitting with, he shakes his head and pokes Jirou. "Jirou, we're the only ones here who aren't good students. These guys are top five in the class! Solidarity, man."

Todoroki snorts again. Jirou leans over and fist-bumps Kirishima while Midoriya laughs, and Todoroki leans his cheek against his hair.

"Who else is coming for board games?" Jirou asks.

"I dunno," Kirishima shrugs. "We could text some people to get their butts down here. Twister and stuff are always more fun with more people. But even if not a lot show, I'm sure it'll be fun anyway."

"Of course it will!" Midoriya agrees. "It's board games with friends, it's guaranteed to be fun!"

That's true! Sitting back on the couch, Kirishima observes his friends for a moment, smiling to himself. With them around, he has a feeling it's going to be a good day. After all, most days are.

AN: Okay, first of all, the title came from "Bromance" by nigahiga, which is INCREDIBLE and if you haven't heard it PLEASE look it up. Second of all, most of the things in this fic are inspired by my own experiences in a boarding school.

This was kind of written for BNHA cuddle week? It wasn't really written for any particular prompt but I love cuddles, so seeing a fandom week inspired me to finally write this idea that'd been floating in my head for a while down!

my favorite part of this fic is definitely "no homo".