Catching Feels - KiriBaku Baseball AU (ongoing)

Chapter 8

I don't know what I'm doing. I'm an absolute wreck; kissing my teammate, my best friend, like a dumbass, then getting scared and running back to the school because I didn't know where else to go? Great job Katsuki. I sit on the cold floor of the hallway with my back to the wall and my head in my knees as I try to will the flow of tears to stop.

I hear footsteps down the hall. I lift my head to try to catch a glimpse of whoever is approaching. "Bakugou?" I hear a familiar voice call. Fuck– it's Kirishima. Why the hell would he follow me? I can't move, I can't stand, I'm frozen in place as the steps become closer and closer.

He's mad at me, isn't he? He came here to tell me to never fucking speak to him again, didn't he? To tell me that I'm a fucking idiot and he hates me. I bury my head in my knees once more. I can feel my hands shaking and the tears threatening to spill over again as the footsteps stop in front of me. I can't bring myself to look up.

"Why'd you run away?" is the first thing he asks.

"I-I'm sorry.." I mumble in response, hoping he'll just forget about it and leave me be.

I lift my head from my tear stained knees as I hear movement coming even closer, I brace myself, ready for the worst as I expect him to grab me or hit me, and honestly I wouldn't blame him– but instead, he kneels down next to me. We're nearly eye level now. "I didn't ask for an apology." he says, voice gentler than it seemed before. God– if he doesn't want an apology, what does he want from me? How am I supposed to fix the wreck I made? I find words spilling out of my mouth before I can even think.

"I-I didn't mean to fuck things up, I just want things to be normal, so can we just– f-forget about this or something..? Just pretend it never happened.. I just– I fucking screwed up.." I mumbled as I buried my face in my knees once more. I glance up and see Kirishima smiling, I knew it– he thinks I'm just some pathetic ass joke, which I pretty much am at this point.

"Bakugou, calm down. It's okay." he says softly. "Look at me," he reaches down and grabs my face with his hands, placing both hands on my cheeks as he looks into my eyes. He brings my face closer to his slowly, and he leans down until we are so close I can feel his breath on my lips. I don't know what's happening. I feel our lips connect, briefly, softly, sweetly.

As soon as it registers in my brain what just happened, I pull away a bit, trying to put a bit of space between us. "W-What are you doing?"

"Kissing you." he responds simply as he smiles, a slight blush forming on his cheeks.

"Why would you–? Are you even gay–? Or even into guys at all?" I ask, worried he's doing this as some sort of cruel joke.

"Apparently." he responds plainly. I stare at him, dumbfounded by his response and I can't help but to feel kind of pissed at his vague answer. He must have noticed my frustration because he continues, "I mean, to be honest I'd never really thought about dating anyone before– regardless of gender. I'd always been so focused on baseball, there was never time for things like that. But when I met you–" he chuckles softly. "You.. confused me a lot. I felt a sort of admiration for you that wasn't like my other friends– It was different.

I remember wondering to myself if I was supposed to feel this way about my friend; It was like everything you did was worth my attention. I wanted to hear everything you had to say, no matter how vulgar or snarky. I'd think about you all the time. I'd think about how you looked after a game when you had that thin layer of sweat over slightly sunburnt cheeks from standing on the mound the whole time and the way your hair would stick out in all directions from the batting helmet. I would just think, wow.. He's beautiful." he pauses waiting for a response, but I only sit there in silent shock.

"I like you Bakugou.. as more than a friend– I-If what I was saying wasn't clear." he pauses once more and I try to find the words that don't seem to want to form. "..So now seems a better time than ever to ask; I was wondering, since I'm hoping you kissing me earlier means you like me back, if maybe you wanted to go out..? Or you know.. Be my boyfriend? I mean– unless that's too fast for right now– I just figured, since we're already close, it wouldn't be a problem.. So what do you say?"

I swallow and, as words still seem to fail, I simply nod frantically. Kirishima smiles. "Oh my god.. thank god." Kirishima mumbles as he exhales heavily. "God that was terrifying." he says as he pulls me up into a tight hug, leaning in to press another quick kiss to my lips. "I can't believe this is actually happening.." he mumbles as he pulls away.

"Me too." I respond quietly, still somewhat expecting to wake up at any moment, in my bedroom to the sound of my alarm, or maybe at the hospital being told I had gotten hit in the head with a ball during the game. I wait but nothing happens. This is real life. This is really happening. I wrap my arms around his neck, and he holds me tighter in response. If it were up to me, I'd stay like this forever.

Word count: 988