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“Uraraka!” Kirishima yells, running down the stairs of the 2-A dorm room to ambush the girls on the sofa. Denki, Mina, and Sero are at his heels. They’re all out of breath and possibly sweaty, which would be thought of as weird considering they’ve been in the dorms all day. But chasing person after person through the hallways begging them to do a job that honestly sounds horrible to them takes the energy out of you.
Uraraka herself looks up from her textbook, surprised and probably a bit terrified. If Kirishima and Denki are ambushing you, it can’t possibly be something good. After carefully scanning each of their expressions and deeming it something she needs to have her full attention on, she puts down her book.
“What’s up?” she asks.
“You’re friends with Baku, right?” Kirishima asks, because he does know the two of them have been getting closer recently.
“Am I-” Uraraka looks at them, seeming kind of grossed out, “we aren’t friends. We are rivals and archenemies and I fully plan on murdering him someday.”
Translation: Bakugou respects Uraraka enough to spar with her and naturally they turned it into a rivalry because nobody should have introduced those two. When Iida had casually brought up the fact that Midoriya was Bakugou’s rival, he’d simply responded with, “I can have two fuckin’ rivals, four-eyes!”
And that was that.
“Yeah, you’re friends,” Denki decides, “could you do us a favor?”
“Depends,” Uraraka replies, “what is it?”
“We need someone to distract Blasty,” Sero says, “we’re trying to plan his birthday party but we want it to be a surprise, so we need someone to distract him tomorrow while we get everything ready.”
“Doesn’t he usually spend most of his time without you guys anyway?” Uraraka asks, brows furrowed.
“But he wanders!” Mina protests, “sometimes he just breaks down Kirishima’s door and starts yell-ranting while exploding everything in the vicinity!”
“That-” Uraraka sighs, “sounds like Bakugou. Normally I’d say yes, but I’m pretty busy this week. I told Tsu I’d help her study for the math test this week. Maybe you could ask Deku?”
“Oh, that’s not a bad idea,” Sero thinks, “why didn’t we do that?”
“I don’t think TNT can spend that much time with Midoriya without combusting,” Denki replies, “there would be death involved.”
“Either Baku would murder Mido or they’d kill someone together,” Kirishima muses, “but at least Baku and Uraraka can just spar like normal people. For the most part. Sometimes. Occasionally. On second thought-”
“Scratch Ochako off the list,” Mina murmurs, “dammit! We’re outta people! Nobody except Mido would willingly spend this much time with Explodey and we definitely can’t do that!
“Um,” Uraraka sticks her pencil in the air, “why don’t you ask Todoroki?”
“Todoroki ?” Denki practically yells, “they hate each other! That would end with both of them being dead! And then there won't be a birthday to celebrate!”
“Are you out of your mind?” Sero adds.
“Actually,” Uraraka says, “Todoroki and Bakugou spar together a lot. I mean, they’re also sworn rivals and they despise each other, yes, but as long as it’s fighting, they’ll willingly spend time with each other.”
“Wow,” Kirishima feels a little dazed. Why would his best friend not tell him that he fights with the person he hates the most and actively succeeds in not murdering him? This is a new and important development, and he was not made aware. He is incredibly upset, but that can wait.
“So Todoroki can do it?” Kirishima asks excitedly, “wait. Do we have to bribe him?”
“Oh, definitely,” Uraraka says, “offer him like, ten bowls of soba and he’ll agree.”
“Easy!” Mina cheers, “let’s go get Todoroki!”
“Thanks, ‘Raka!” Denki yells, already gearing up to run again, “come on, you guys!”
“Wait!” Sero says, halfway in a lunge, “does anyone know where Todoroki is?”
“He’s in the library with Deku,” Uraraka answers.
“Okay, thanks!” Kirishima calls, jumping up and sprinting out of the dorms. Everyone else follows him, the four of them making a mad dash for the library. They kick up dust in Uraraka’s face, and by the time she’d finished blinking it out of her eyes, the four of them are gone.
They run to the library without stopping, which raises a few eyes.
“Hey, Jirou!” Denki yells as they run past her, “we’re using Todoroki!”
“That sounds like a terrible choice!” Jirou shouts back.
“It’s fine!” Kirishima argues, too out of breath and far away from Jirou to explain further. She refused to babysit Bakugou on the grounds of ‘I have things to do,' so Kirishima keeps running without stopping to explain anything to her. He’s not that mean, though, so he’ll update her on the situation later.
But right now, they have a job to do.
They find Todoroki in the library with Midoriya, as expected. They’re studying something, probably English from the looks of the textbook. Midoriya is in the process of explaining something to Todoroki, who sits next to Midoriya with a somewhat understanding look on his face. They both look up at the noise and see the incoming stampede that is Krisihima and his friends, and they both have the sense to look mildly terrified considering the stampede is coming right for them.
“Todoroki!” Kirishima says, much too loud for a library, “we need your help!”
“What for?” Todoroki looks at them, and Midoriya stops talking.
“So it’s TNT’s birthday-” Denki starts, but he doesn’t get to finish because Midoriya is looking up, eyes wide.
“Shit!” he yells, and Kirishima doesn’t know what’s more surprising: that Midoriya cursed or that Midoriya raised his voice in a library.
“What happened?” Todoroki asks, alarmed.
“I forgot to get Kacchan a gift!” Midoriya looks positively distressed, “I had plans to go to the store and everything but then I forgot to go because I was sparring and then I had this English essay and then Iida and I studied for chem and then I came here to study with Todoroki, and-”
“You’re muttering,” Todorki states, and Midoriya closes his mouth.
“You’ve still got time,” Mina reassures, “just go get something tonight!”
“I can’t,” Midoriya flops onto his back on the floor, “I told ‘Raka and Tsu that I would study with them tonight!”
“You study too much,” Denki points out, “just cancel on them.”
“I can’t do that!” Midoriya cries, “I can’t just bail on them.”
“I don’t think they’d care,” Sero observes, “they’d understand.”
“Fine,” Midoriya mumbles dejectedly, “I could probably get the gift and spend some time with them. I’ll fit everything in.”
And with that, his perpetual good mood is restored.
“What did you need from me?” Todoroki alerts the room to his presence.
“Oh, right!” Kirishima remembers, “we’re planning a surprise party for Baku and we need someone to distract him tomorrow! We'll even give you soba!”
“I’m interested in the soba part,” Todorki says.
“A surprise party?” Midoriya asks, “Kacchan hates surprises.”
“We know that,” Denki grins, “that’s what makes it fun!”
“What part of it is fun? He’ll kill us all!” Midoriya tries valiantly to talk them out of this.
“We don’t really care,” Sero shrugs, “it’ll be hilarious.”
“And the rest of the party is great,” Krisihima adds, “so then he’ll forgive us.”
“And if he doesn’t,” Mina says, “you can just cry a bunch and he’ll do it anyway!”
“Nobody can resist your sad eyes,” Kirishima nods solemnly.
“I can distract him,” Todoroki says, once again making everybody jump because they forgot he was there, “we’ll just spar for a while. We were going to anyway. But I want my soba in return.”
“Is it really just sparring when you two mostly try to murder each other?” Midoriya frowns.
“You’re one to talk,” Todoroki replies blandly, “you and Bakugou have beat each other up multiple times.”
“Yeah, but that’s different-” Midoriya tries to argue, and then sighs in defeat.
“Well, great!” Denki says, “if that’s settled, then we can finish planning!”
They turn to leave, but Kirishima and Denki are mid-lunge when they hear a noise from behind them.
“Wait!” Midoriya stands up, “can I help?”
“Plan?” Kirishima asks, “I thought you were busy today.”
“I can ditch Todoroki,” Midoriya says confidently, and Kirishima has to stifle a laugh. If it involves Bakugou, Midoriya will ditch anyone for it.
“He can,” Todoroki adds, “I’m fine with it.”
“Alright, Mido,” Mina nods, “come on, then!”
And they’re off again, running out of the library with Midoriya trying desperately to keep up with them. Left alone at the table, Todoroki elegantly fans dust out of his face.
By the time they get back to Kirishima’s room, they have Midoriya in tow and he is excitedly looking through their bags of decorations and food list. Which would normally be fine, except that he is giving unwanted feedback over every single thing.
“Orange streamers,” Midoriya mutters, rummaging through the bag that contains said streamers, “Kacchan will totally like these! I mean, his favorite’s red, but Kacchan doesn’t really care about streamers, so I think you’ll be fine!”
Everyone else sighs in fond exasperation.
When Midoriya gets to the clipboard with all their food items listed, he scans the list carefully, with narrowed eyes.
“No sweet stuff, smart,” Midoriya mumbles, “I’d cut the fruits if I were you. Kacchan prefers vegetables over fruits unless it’s in a smoothie. Oh, cooking dinner is a good idea, Kacchan hates takeout when it’s not necessary. And-hey guys?”
“Hmm?” Kirishima looks up, not really listening until Midoriya addresses them.
“Why’s there a question mark after cake?” Midoriya asks.
“Oh, ‘cause he hates cake,” Sero explains, “so we’re still coming up with ideas for some kind of replacement. You know, something that’s still sweet but not so much that Blowup will hate it.”
“Oh, I see,” Midoriya nods, and then lights up, “you guys! I know what you can do!”
“Ooh, what?” Mina perks up.
“Well,” Midoriya frowns, “I was kinda hoping that it could be my thing, actually? Since I forgot a gift for Kacchan and everything. There’s actually this really good bakery in our neighborhood that sells these cakes where they’re chocolate but they have some, like, chili flakes and seasoning inside of it, and it’s really good, even for other people, like I’ve had it a million times and I haven’t choked on it since I was four!
“We used to have it for Kacchan’s birthday every year until we stopped being friends and nobody else knew what cake Kacchan likes and actually I think Kacchan stopped celebrating his birthday after we stopped being friends so it’s really cool you guys are doing this for him since it’s probably been, like, three years since the last time he celebrated it, and Kacchan deserves to have an amazing birthday-”
“You’re muttering again,” Kirishima cuts him off kindly.
“He says Kacchan a lot,” Denki mutters under his breath, less kind.
“Sorry,” Midoriya blushes, “but you got the gist of it, right?”
“Yeah, we did,” Sero assures, “and yeah, the fancy cake can be your gift. That actually saves us a lot of time, so. Thanks, man!”
“Of course!” Midoriya smiles brightly, “wow, I haven’t celebrated Kacchan’s birthday in so long! Actually, I think this is the first one we’ve spent as real friends since we were five! Every other time there was always this tension and-”
“Mido,” Mina cuts him off before he can go on another tangent, “thanks a lot for helping us out with this. You’ll have time tomorrow to get the cake?”
“Definitely!” Midoriya says, “and I can come back to the dorms and help you set up after!”
“Thanks, Midoriya,” Denki replies.
“No problem,” Midoriya stands up, checking the time on his watch, “okay, I have to go meet ‘Raka and Tsu now, but I’ll see you guys later!”
Midoriya turns and rushes out the door, the chorus of “bye’s” following him out. Midoriya, somehow, does not kick up dust.
When Bakugou breaks down Kirishima’s door that night, he’s already hidden every sign of the upcoming party to prepare for this very moment.
“Dead Riot Breakable!” Bakugou barks, “didja do your fucking English essay like I told you to?”
“Yes, Katsuki, I followed your expert advice and wrote a five-page paper in one day,” Kirishima lies through his teeth. Bakugou likes to help Kirishima study by giving him weekly plans that are always far too much for any sane human to do, so Kirishima usually lies about his progress.
“I know you didn’t fucking do it, moron,” Bakugou mutters, but he doesn’t criticize Kirishima's use of his first name. He’s been letting Kirishima use it recently, which he sees as a huge win. They’re one step closer to becoming best bros for life.
“How’d you know?” Kirishima sighs in defeat.
“If you’d finished, you woulda ranted about how fuckin’ manly you were for doing all this fucking easy work.”
“It’s easy for you,” Kirishima grumbles, “anyway, what are you doing here?”
“Leftovers,” Bakugou grunts, shoving a Tupperware of food into Kirishima’s hands, “fucking eat, shithead. Between you and Deku, I’m always stuck fucking feeding everyone.”
He’s right, Kirishima thinks. He has a large appetite and does usually eat all three meals, but he gets hungry a few hours after dinner. Bakugou knows this. Kaminari does as well, but Kirishima doesn’t trust Denki anywhere near a kitchen. When they inevitably get married and buy a house together (if Kirishima can gain the courage to just confess already), Kirishima will be sealing off the kitchen with caution tape. Bakugou will cook for them, because of course he and Midoriya will be living in the house next door (once Bakugou gains the courage to just confess already).
Anyway, it’s because he knows this about Kirishima that Bakugou always brings Kirishima food under the pretense of leftovers. He also brings Deku, like, an entire grocery bag’s worth of food every day and he doesn’t even call it leftovers anymore, because Midoriya pretty much never eats and Bakugou physically cannot stand it anymore.
“Thanks, Bakubro!” Kirishima chirps, “and happy birthday, dude!”
“My birthday’s tomorrow, idiot.”
“It’s past midnight,” Kirishima argues, “so your birthday’s today!”
“Fine,” Bakugou relents, “thanks, I guess. And congratulations on getting through an entire fucking conversation without saying the word manly.”
“Wow, Katsuki,” Kirishima puts a hand on his heart, “it’s so manly of you to point that out and compliment me with it.”
“Fuck you!” Bakugou sets off some explosions for good measure, before storming out of Krishima’s room. He doesn’t kick up dust either, but Kirishima smells smoke for a few minutes, coughing as he waves his hand in front of his face.
Oh, well, Kirishima thinks. He’s throwing a party for the Bakugou who gave him his leftovers because he knows what time Kirishima gets hungry, not the Bakugou he first met who screamed at everyone and threw explosions around for no reason.
Well, he still does that second one.
But still. He’s grown and matured. That kind of manliness deserves a party.
On the afternoon of Bakugou’s birthday, Sero is using his quirk to put up streamers and banners, Mina is happily setting up the food area, and Kaminari is hooking up speakers and charging his phone with his quirk. Kirishima is directing everyone else in their class to the kitchen or the living room, giving them jobs to help set up or places for them to hide before they reveal the surprise.
Most people don’t like Bakugou that much, some of them so much that they didn’t want to help celebrate his birthday. But all it took was one dose of Midoriya’s sad eyes and a “but guys, Kacchan hasn’t had a real birthday party in years!” and now everyone’s down to do it. Kirishima is glad Midoriya is willing to use his epic persuasion tactics to manipulate his friends. This whole if-it’s-about-Kacchan-I’ll-drop-everything-to-do-it thing Midoriya has going on has proven to be very helpful.
Speaking of Midoriya, he still hasn’t returned with the cake. Kirishima is tapping his foot against the wood floors of the common room, tinged with worry. He knows Midoriya is someone who often runs late for things, and Kirishima can only hope he hasn’t gotten lost or stopped to help someone in need. Which he realizes is a pretty mean thing to say, but Kirishima wants his best friend’s birthday to be good! And so does Midoriya, he figures. He’ll be here soon.
And right on cue, the door flings open and Midoriya runs through, carrying a large cake box and a wide grin.
“I saw Todoroki and Kacchan on the way!” Midoriya launches into a story, “but don’t worry, they didn’t see me. I just wanted to check in on how they were doing, and they’re both still alive! That’s a win in my book!”
“Yeah, we kind of need them alive,” Denki agrees, “so that’s good.”
“Did anyone else know that those two spar together?” Sero asks.
“Kacchan likes to pretend they aren’t friends,” Midoriya says, “so he won’t say anything about it unless someone asks. But they’re the people in our class with the two strongest quirks, and they’re pretty evenly matched against each other, especially now that Todoroki is willing to use his fire. I actually stopped to watch for a few minutes, that’s probably why I’m late, actually. But you guys should watch them sometime, it’s seriously so cool to see them fight-”
“Deku, darling,” Uraraka cuts him off, “we know you could talk about Bakugou and Todoroki’s quirks for the rest of your life, but we kind of need the cake.”
“Oh!” Midoriya jumps, “right! Here!”
He hands the cake to Kirishima, who takes it and places it in the middle of all the food. He opens the box and sees happy birthday Kacchan written in red icing on the tip. There’s no icing anywhere else on the cake.
“Um, couldn’t you have said, like, Bakugou or something?” Denki starts, “since you're the only one who calls him Kacchan?”
“You call him Kacchan,” Midoriya points out.
“Ironically,” Denki says back.
“Even Katsuki would’ve worked, if you two would be on a first-name basis if you didn’t have the nicknames for each other,” Kirishima points out.
Midoriya screws up his nose. “Who?”
“Who what?” Mina asks.
“Katsuki,” Midoriya clarifies, “is that-”
“Bakugou’s first name,” Iida declares.
“Did you not know that?” Sero snickers.
“I...may have forgotten,” Midoriya says guiltily, “I never call Kacchan anything but Kacchan, so it kinda slipped my mind after all this time.”
“That’s golden,” Denki snorts.
“I’m sorry!” Midoriya unnecessarily apologizes, wringing his hands, “and I put Kacchan on the cake because we all said it was my gift for him!”
“Okay, that’s fair,” Mina concedes. She’s about to say something else, but she’s interrupted by Uraraka’s phone chiming.
“Todoroki says they’re on their way!” Uraraka calls, “come on, guys!”
“Shit!” Kirishima screeches, “we gotta get ready!”
Surprised at the outburst, more of the red decorations Midoriya had asked Yaomomo to create for the party spill out of her skin. She yelps and quickly hands them to Sero to tape on. Mina jumps down from the table and hurriedly turns all the lights off, and everyone ducks under tables and behind couches. Jirou switches Kaminari’s phone with hers at the last moment because she claims to have better music taste. Midoriya is momentarily frozen before Iida and Uraraka each grab one of his arms and pull him down behind the couch with him.
Kirishima hides with Denki and tries to ignore the fact that they are trapped very close together under a table. If this was any other situation, except maybe ( hard maybe ) a villain attack, Kirishima would just kiss him right now. And yeah, he would consider kissing Denki during a villain attack. It could be very romantic.
What’s not romantic, is Kirishima stating, “it’s kinda hot under here.”
“Uh, yeah, I guess,” Denki answers, “you know what? it, uh, is, actually.”
Kirishima doesn’t mention that it’s hot because he’s sure every part of his body and not just his hair is red right now. He wonders if that’s why it’s hot for Denki too. He’s right in the middle of Gay Crisis #420 (fitting for the date), when the door swings open. He hears footsteps walking in, and Kirishima holds his breath.
“Why the fuck’s it so dark in here?” Bakugou grumbles, “did fucking USB fuck with the power again? Goddammit!”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Todoroki intervenes before Bakugou goes on a manhunt for Denki.
“Shut up, Dry Ice!” Bakugou yells, “nobody asked for your fucking opinion!”
“Just-” Todoroki sighs, “oh, I forgot to tell you-”
And that’s their code. Immediately Hagakure flips on the lights, and everyone jumps out from behind their furniture, Denki hitting his head on the table and Kirishima ruffling his hair to try and help.
“Surprise!” everyone yells happily, and Bakugou screeches (something he’ll no doubt deny doing forever), and sets off about nineteen explosions.
Kirishima bet Sero twenty, but whatever.
“What the fuck is this!” Bakugou yells, disgruntled, “did you fuckers put on a goddamn surprise party? I hate surprises!”
“Told you,” Midoriya mutters.
“Deku, why didn’t you stop them?” Bakugou turns to Midoriya.
“It was really sweet of them to do this!” Midoriya grins wide at Bakugou, who looks momentarily blinded, “and trust me, you’ll love this party!”
“Fine,” Bakugou mutters, “but you better be right about this, nerd.”
“I will be,” Midoriya says with certainty. Bakugou just rolls his eyes and walks up to Kirishima.
“You planned this, didn’t you, Breakable?”
“Sure did!” Kirishima holds out two thumbs-ups, “you’ll love it, Bakubro, promise.”
“Fuck off,” Bakugou says, which is as close as a thank you they’re gonna get.
“Happy birthday, TNT!” Kaminari speaks up.
“Shut up, USB,” is Bakugou’s response. But his eyes are almost fond when he looks at Denki and Kirishima, and he doesn’t set off any more explosions as everyone else wishes him happy birthday. Most people just wish him happy birthday and then back away, not wanting to be yelled at and called a weird nickname.
Sero calls out, “happy birthday, Detonator!” which gets him a “shut your face, Scotch Tape.”
Mina tries to give Bakugou a hug and says, “happy birthday, Firework!” which gets her a slap on the arm as he dodges her and a “get the shit off me, Extraterrestrial!”
Uraraka does not try hugging, instead going for a friendly punch on the shoulder that Bakugou reciprocates. Nobody understands their friendship. Uraraka says “happy birthday, stupid,” and Bakugou calmly replies, “thanks, Tomato Face.”
And somehow that’s the end of that.
The rest of the party goes fairly well. As it turns out, Midoriya’s suggestion to replace fruit with vegetables was actually pretty smart. Midoriya himself wishes Bakugou happy birthday about a thousand times, and Bakugou even reluctantly accepts one side hug. That’s enough for Midoriya to turn bright red and almost cry, which makes Bakugou look like he’s about to literally explode Midoriya.
They sit down for gifts eventually, and nobody really got anything except for Bakugou’s friend group, Uraraka, Momo, and Iida, oddly, and really surprisingly Todoroki. Momo and Iida really only got gifts out of formality, but Momo’s hand-created set of measuring cups to replace the ones Kirishima accidentally broke when he forgot to turn off his quirk was appreciated by Bakugo. Iida’s scarily practical gift of a replacement of the few spices Bakugou had run out of was also taken well.
Todoroki got Bakugou a mug that he’d had custom made to have a picture of Inasa with his entire arm and half his shoulder stuck in a vending machine, which for some reason made Bakugou lose his shit. Uraraka, Mina, and Jirou split the money for a bottle of somewhat expensive hot sauce (the spiciest they could find) and some new drumsticks (Bakugou breaks them so often he goes through about one a month).
Kirishima himself got Bakugou these noise-canceling headphones he’d seen Bakugou eyeing the other day at the mall. He’d split the money with Denki and Sero, but it was mostly from him. Denki and Sero only wanted the credit if Bakugou liked it. Kirishima asked, “do you like it?” and Bakugou responded with “whatever, Dead Riot,” which meant that he did indeed like it. Which also meant that immediately Denki and Sero jumped on the bandwagon and claimed that this was their gift too.
By the time everyone finished, Midoriya was practically vibrating with excitement. The moment Kirishima finished presenting his gift, Midoriya jumped up and yelled, “cake time, Kacchan!”
“There’s cake?” Bakugou frowned, “I fucking hate cake!”
“Not this cake!” Midoriya walked over to the food table and brought the cake box over to their circle on the floor, “this is the cake. Remember?”
Midoriya opens the box, and it is evident that Bakugou does remember. He spots the cake, sees the chili pepper placed on top of it and the lack of icing except for Midoriya’s message, and his eyes widen with something nobody can really decipher. Kirishima chooses to interpret it as softness, though, because whatever Midoriya sees in Bakugou’s face is making him beam like the goddamn sun.
“I remember,” Bakugou says gruffly, “your stupid ass dragged me to this fucking bakery every goddamn year to buy this exact fucking cake. I exploded you in the face one time, and you still fucking force fed me that shitty cake.”
“You actually missed my face that time,” Midoriya says, “now that I think about it, you missed me most of the times you aimed explosions at me.”
“Shut up,” Bakugou replies, “thanks, I guess, nerd.”
“You’re welcome, Kacchan!” Midoriya is literally glowing. He takes a very impulsive risk and leans in to give Bakugou a proper hug, and everyone waits for the aftermath with bated breath. Instead of the usual fireworks show, Bakugou looks conflicted for a moment before very awkwardly putting his arms around MIdoriya. At the contact, Kirishima hears a sniffle that he knows came from Midoriya.
“Deku, you idiot!” Bakugou yells, “stop fucking crying!”
“Kacchan, you’re hugging me,” Midoriya sobs, “this is the best day of my life.”
“So fucking overdramatic,” Bakugou complains, but he doesn’t pull away. When Midoriya finally does, he stays pressed close to Bakugou's side and Bakugou lets him stay there. Uraraka subtly takes a picture. Mina awws behind her hands, and Kirishima smiles. Bakugou’s getting closer to confessing. And, Kirishima supposes as Denki stuff his face with cake and then holds out his fork to apparently feed Kirishima part of his slice, Kirishima thinks he’s close to confessing too.
“So, TNT,” Denki says once he’s moved his fork back to his plate and turned away from Kirishima to face Bakugou, “Izuku’s gift was pretty great, huh?”
“Who the fuck is Izuku?”