No Questions Asked (A KiriBaku Fic)

Chapter Nineteen: The Twentieth

"Katsuki, do you love me?"

Kirishima's voice rang out in the quiet. It nearly struck Bakugou dead, the seriousness of his tone and the words he had so desperately wanted to hear.

"Do I love you?" Bakugou snarled, venom lacing the words.

Kirishima tried to keep a straight face as tears pricked at his eyes and his stomach began to churn. He knew it. Aunt Fumiko was right.

"Are you really so stupid to think that I don't love you? That I couldn't love you? Kirishima, I am irrevocably, irreversibly in love with you, and it's not something that I could change or suppress if I tried! God fucking knows I tried! I would tear the world apart with my bare hands if you so much as tripped on a loose stone! When I called in that NQA all those weeks ago, asking you to not speak to me, it was because I'd gotten hit with a shitty honesty quirk and I was terrified of telling you all the things that I'm telling you now. I was scared of myself, I was scared of what I was feeling, I was searching desperately for a label, a word, something, anything that could explain how I was feeling! It took me way too fucking long to realize that the only label I care about is being able to call you mine, Eijiro."

Without him realizing, tears had begun to slip down Bakugou's cheeks. He took Kirishima's hand with surprising gentleness and placed it on his chest. "I seek out your heartbeat for comfort, but you need to know that this heart, my heart, beats for you and you alone."

Now Kirishima was crying. "I-I never knew how to tell you, how could I tell you? I didn't want to ruin what we had."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Bakugou asked, giving a teary laugh. "We've both been having the same crisis, all this time?"

"I guess so." Kirishima was laughing now too. "Are we stupid?"

"The stupidest." Bakugou, in a rare moment of vulnerability, wrapped his arms around Kirishima. "But we got there in the end."

Kirishima hugged Bakugou back. "We went around the block a few times, but we did get there."

They stayed like that for a while, both of them just trying to process everything. They relished in being in each other's arms again, no longer held back by the limits of friendship or sobriety. It was as if they'd been living life at one hundred miles an hour, and now it had finally slowed down.

"It seems only fitting that I ask this, given that it was what spurred all this on," Kirishima pulled back from Bakugou to move his hands down to his waist. "But Bakugou, can I kiss you? For real this time?"

Bakugou grinned, a beautiful, genuine expression that made Kirishima's heart flutter. "You'd better."

Kirishima leaned in to close the gap and pressed a gentle kiss to Bakugou's lips; it wasn't the awkwardness of their first nor the neediness of the hot tub, rather it was a soft reminder: 'I'm here, I'm real, and I love you so, so much.'

Behind them, the clock struck midnight and the tower began to sparkle.

The next day, the wedding went off without a hitch. Kaito and Chloe were now a happily married couple; Bakugou and Kirishima an even happier (real) couple in the audience. For once, Aunt Fumiko had nothing to say to them. It was clear to everyone around them that Kirishima and Bakugou were the most in-love people in the entire wedding, even managing to outdo the newlyweds.

It wasn't a surprise, best friends famously make the best lovers. They were so close to begin with that it was an easy step from friends to lovers; they really just kissed a lot more now and it was easier for them to say 'I Love You'.

The two hadn't slept the night before, instead choosing to discuss the future. The long and short of it was that they both knew that this wasn't something they wanted to leave in Paris; their confessions were a long time coming, and their relationship was something they both wanted to pursue. They wanted to love and be loved by each other.

They told each other the story from their own perspective and laughed at how painfully oblivious they both were. Their love for each other was plain as day to everyone but them, it made them both laugh and cringe at how much unnecessary stress they'd been through.

"I did try!" Bakugou had said, "When you got me out of that tree, I was about to tell you when Raccoon-Eyes and Dunceface came running for their lives with an NQA."

"I knew it!" Kirishima pumped his fist. "I had a feeling that was what you were trying to tell me, but, oh my God, if I was wrong..."

Bakugou sputtered a laugh and wrapped his arms tighter around Kirishima. "It wouldn't have driven me away; you could have tentacles for eyelashes, plants for feet, and be chronically dancing the hokey-pokey and I'd still want a piece of you."

"Do not bring up the Hokey-Pokey Incident."

Both of them felt as though a weight was lifted from their chests as they held onto each other. No longer bound by fear, they could finally bask in all of the beauty that was being in love.

"You remember what your aunt said, about being in love?" Bakugou asked Kirishima as they walked outside the venue with the rest of the guests.

"Aunt Fumiko says a lot of things about love, I take all of them with a grain of salt." Kirishima replied cheekily.

"She said that love was about wanting to share that feeling with the world... But I never feel the need to shout the fact that I love you from the rooftops, is that a bad thing?"

"I don't think so," Kirishima replied. "I never felt like that either."

"Really? You? Mr. Overshare?" Bakugou raised an eyebrow.

"Bro, ouch." Kirishima placed a hand over his heart in mock offense. "But seriously, no, never."

"No rooftops? For real?"

"Nope. I don't need rooftops for the world to hear about my love." Kirishima kissed Bakugou's cheek. "You are my world, Katsuki, so as long as you know, my world does too."

"You stole my line." Bakugou fought a grin. "I was building up to that."

"I heard you practicing in the mirror this morning."

"Oh you bastard."

It was as the bride and groom marched to their waiting car, rice and rose petals falling in the air, that Kirishima and Bakugou kissed openly for the first time; tender and loving. It was the kiss of separated lovers finally reunited; two halves finally whole.

"Hey, Uraraka, check out what Kirishima just sent me."

Mina held her phone to her friend's face, revealing a selfie of Kirishima and Bakugou kissing.

"Hey Mina," Uraraka brought out her own phone, showing off the very same selfie. "Bakugou just texted me this. I told you Paris would be the tipping point."

"I am never doubting you again, you're surprisingly good at this."

Uraraka stood up from the common room's couch, where the two had been relaxing. "Come on, we've got some bets to cash in on."

Mina followed Uraraka as she walked towards the dorm rooms, tucking her phone into her pocket as she did so. They passed by the kitchen on their way, and it clued Mina into something.

"You think we should tell Kaminari that he's pretty much single handedly responsible for them getting together? Ya know, with the ramen challenge?"

"Oh my God, no, he'd be insufferable." Uraraka laughed at the thought. "He'd be talking about it in his wedding toast."

The two girls burst into giggles, happy that their idiots finally managed to find each other.