Inheritance: A My Hero Academia AU

Katsuki Bakugo

When I finally came downstairs from Deku's study, I started desperately searching the crowd for Kirishima. I asked everyone that I saw who might know where he was, but no one had seen him at the party yet.

Impatient and a little angry, I stormed out of Deku's house, found my car and drove to the Kirishimas' house. I jogged up the walk and knocked on the door.

The butler answered and looked at me with narrowed eyes.

"Don't tell me that Kirishima isn't here, because I know he is," I snarled at the old man.

He was surprisingly unfazed and continued to stare at me with cold, skeptical eyes. "I do not believe the young master is accepting visitors at the moment."

"That's a load of bull sh-"

Before I could finish, Kirishima walked into the foyer, and when he spotted me, he froze. "Bakugo?"

"Kirishima, I've figured it out," I said. "I hate to admit it, but you were right."

Kirishima stepped towards me, an emotion somewhere between happiness, sadness and confusion on his face. The butler stepped aside, letting Kirishima stand in front of me. "What happened to your face?"

"It's a long story," I said. "I'll tell it to you somewhere else."

Kirishima hesitated for a minute before he turned to the butler. "Tell my mother that I've changed my mind, and I'm going to Midoriya's party."

"Of course, young master," the butler said, bowing.

Kirishima stepped out the front door and closed it softly behind him.

"You do realize that we're not actually going to Deku's party, right?" I said.

"Yes, Bakugo, I realize that," Kirishima said dryly.

"Come on," I said, not waiting for him to agree before turning away and starting to walk down the sidewalk.

"Where are we going?" Kirishima asked.

"You'll see," I said, looking over my shoulder to smirk at him.

A few minutes later, we were on the edge of the cliffs that towered over the ocean. There was a very narrow, very steep path down one of them that led to a tiny, secluded stretch of beach.

When Kirishima realized where we were going, he gave an adorable, excited little gasp.

I led the way down the treacherous path down to the beach, the one that the two of us had traversed many times since I moved onto the island. It didn't take us too long to reach the beach, and we both sat down in the sand.

"When I followed you, I didn't expect a late night workout," Kirishima said, wiping his brow.

"Do you remember the last time we came down here?" I asked him. I knew the answer, I just wanted to hear him tell the story.

"Of course I do," Kirishima said with a sheepish smile. "It was after high school graduation. When we came back from going to that club on the mainland, the two of us came down here with a bottle of homemade gin that we'd bought cheap off of some low level bootlegger." He laughed. "We were so drunk that we could barely stand. We talked about everything and anything, and eventually, the secrets started flowing. I think we were completely honest with ourselves and with each other for the first time in years, that night."

"Remember what happened after that?"

Before Kirishima could answer, I was kissing him.

"That happened," Kirishima said when we both came up for air.

I moved to kiss him again, but Kirishima pulled back. "Tell me what happened. How'd you figure it out?"

I frowned, disappointed. "At the party, I snooped around in Deku's study for a while, then he caught me, and we got in a fight."

"You were snooping in his study?" Kirishima said. "That's a whole other level of nosy, Bakugo."

"I had to know," I said with a shrug. "So we fought, and then I had this weird realization-"

"You fought? Like, with fists? I guess that would explain the bruises."

"Yes," I said. "Now can I finish my story?"

"Yes, sorry."

I cleared my throat and continued. "I realized that you were right. I don't like to lose, and I was so obsessed with finding out Deku's secret because I was afraid of losing to him, because I knew that he was capable of beating me."

"Wow," Kirishima said. "I can't believe that I actually had it right. That was just a wild guess."

"'Course it was," I muttered.

"So? Are you done investigating him now?" Kirishima asked me.

"Yes," I said. Not for the reason you'd think, I added in my head.

"That's great, Bakugo," Kirishima said. "Do you feel better now?"

"Actually, yeah," I said. "I didn't realize there was something wrong until it wasn't wrong anymore."

Silence fell between us, and the only sound was that of the waves lapping against the shore.

"If Deku had gotten his money through hard work like we always talked about, then it would have been like he'd beaten me," I said, playing with the sand next to me. "I just had my fortune handed to me. I didn't have to do anything, and I feel terrible, like I cheated or something."

Kirishima put his hand over mine. "You didn't cheat, Bakugo."

"Yes, I did."

"No, you just got lucky, like so few people do," Kirishima said. "But that doesn't mean that you still can't work hard to make a positive difference in the world."

I wrinkled my nose. "Who said anything about making 'a positive difference'?"

Kirishima laughed, shaking his head.

"What?" I snapped at him.

"Nothing," he said. Then, he seemed to realize something. "Wait. You said if 'Deku had gotten his money through hard work'. Does that mean that he told you his secret?"

"Maybe," I said cryptically.

"This just gets more and more interesting," Kirishima said. "So? Can you tell me?"

"I told him I wouldn't."

Kirishima smirked. "Look at you, being honorable and keeping your promises."

"Yeah, whatever," I muttered, feeling my face heat up.

We fell into silence again, just looking out at the ocean and the night sky.

"So does this mean that we can spend the rest of the summer together?" I asked Kirishima quietly, glancing at him out of the corner of my eye.

"Of course it does, Bakugo."

I kissed him again and, without breaking it, I slowly lowered him down onto the sand. We were a tangle of breath and mouths and limbs.

Then, Kirishima pulled back, looking at me in the eyes. "Bakugo."

"Hm?" I asked.

"I love you."

I froze and stared into his red eyes. A second passed. Two. Three. Kirishima's face began to fall and he started to move out from under me and...

"I love you too," I said.

Kirishima gasped.

"Why're you so surprised?" I growled at him.

"Are you sure you're not just saying that so that I won't leave?" Kirishima asked, sitting up so that we were sitting face to face. "Or do you feel bad for me? Is that it?"

"No, Kirishima," I said. "No. It's the truth. I mean it. I'm not just saying it."

Kirishima studied me for a long second before his face brightened, and some of the tenseness left his shoulders. This time, he was the one to kiss me, and he tackled me back onto the sand.