The night after Bakugou stormed off was strangely quiet.
Kaminari sat in the common room, nursing a cup of coffee, trying to focus on his homework, but his mind kept drifting. The game from earlier, Bakugou's abrupt exit, Kirishima's concerned look... Everything felt off. The tension from the night before still hung in the air like an unwelcome cloud, one Kaminari couldn't shake. He had been trying to focus, to pretend that nothing had changed, but it was impossible.
It wasn't just Bakugou's behavior that was bothering him—it was the growing awareness of his own feelings. The ones he hadn't been willing to admit, even to himself.
And the worst part? He didn't know how to handle them.
Kirishima, too, seemed different today. He was quieter than usual, glancing around as if he was unsure of himself. He was sitting across from Kaminari now, flipping through a magazine, but there was an almost nervous energy about him that wasn't there the night before.
Kaminari sighed and set his pen down, rubbing his temples. "Man, I'm really getting behind on this homework."
Kirishima looked up, his bright red hair falling over his forehead. He gave Kaminari a sympathetic smile. "Don't worry about it, bro. You're probably just tired." He tossed the magazine aside and leaned forward, eyes softening. "Everything's been kinda weird lately, huh?"
Kaminari froze. Had Kirishima noticed it too? The tension, the shifting atmosphere between them, between *all three* of them?
"Yeah... Yeah, I've been feeling it," Kaminari said, keeping his voice light, though his heart was hammering in his chest. He didn't know what to say next. "I guess I just thought it was... you know, a phase or something."
Kirishima sat back, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "I don't know. I've been thinking about it all night. About, well... about Kacchan. And how he's been acting."
Kaminari's stomach twisted. Bakugou hadn't been the same for a while now, and the way he'd looked at Kirishima before storming out... it made Kaminari's chest ache.
But he couldn't say that out loud, could he?
Instead, he forced a chuckle, trying to ease the tension. "Kacchan's always acting weird. You know him. He's got, like, a million moods in one day."
Kirishima let out a small laugh but didn't seem convinced. "Yeah, I guess so. But it's more than that, right?" He shifted closer, looking at Kaminari with a serious expression. "I've been feeling like... there's something different between us lately, too. Like, we're not just *us* anymore."
Kaminari swallowed hard, his heart thudding in his chest. *He felt it too*. It was like something had shifted between them, and now they were stuck in this space where words felt too heavy and the air was thick with unspoken things.
Kirishima continued, his voice a little softer now. "I'm not sure what it is. But it's been bugging me. I can't figure it out. I think... I think maybe it's been going on longer than we realized."
Kaminari was silent for a long moment, unsure how to respond. His thoughts were swirling—too fast, too many things at once. He wanted to tell Kirishima what he was feeling. He *had* to tell him. But he couldn't. Not yet. Not when it felt like everything was teetering on the edge of something that might break their friendship entirely.
"So, uh... what do you think it is?" Kaminari asked, voice barely above a whisper, his nerves tingling as he tried to keep his tone light.
Kirishima hesitated, then shrugged, but the way he was looking at Kaminari told him that he wasn't really shrugging it off. "I don't know. Maybe it's just... the way we're all starting to act around each other. Like we're all a little more *aware* of each other now, in ways we weren't before."
Kaminari's heart skipped. "Aware of each other?"
Kirishima rubbed the back of his neck, his face turning a little red. "Yeah. You know... in a way that's a little *different* from the usual." He gave a half-hearted laugh, as if trying to make it less serious than it really was. "I don't know, man. Maybe it's nothing."
But Kaminari wasn't so sure it was nothing.
He knew exactly what Kirishima meant. It wasn't nothing. The way they looked at each other now—the way they *felt* around each other—wasn't the same.
And it wasn't just Kirishima and Bakugou that were changing. It was him, too. His feelings were growing, shifting in ways that made him nervous. In ways that made him afraid.
Kirishima cleared his throat and leaned back, rubbing his temples. "I don't know, Denki. I just... I just wish we could figure it out. Before it starts messing with everything. You know?"
Kaminari nodded, his mind racing. *Messing with everything*. That's exactly what it felt like. It wasn't just about feelings anymore. It was about everything—their whole friendship, how they fit together, and how they would navigate what was coming.
"I get it, man," Kaminari said, though his voice didn't sound as confident as it usually did. "I think we just need to talk to Bakugou. Maybe he's just... having a rough time."
Kirishima's brow furrowed. "You think so? I don't know, Denki. It feels like more than that." His gaze drifted to the door, where Bakugou had left the night before. "Like there's something *he's* not telling us."
Kaminari hesitated. "Yeah, maybe. But we don't want to push him. You know how he is."
Kirishima nodded, though there was a shadow of doubt in his eyes. "Yeah, I know. But we still have to try, right?"
Just as Kaminari was about to answer, the door to the common room opened with a creak. The two of them froze, looking up, and saw Bakugou standing in the doorway, arms crossed. He had a scowl on his face, but there was a hint of something else in his eyes—something that wasn't quite anger.
"Oi," Bakugou grunted, his voice less harsh than usual. "Stop talking about me like I'm not here."
Kirishima blinked, surprised. "Kacchan—"
"I'm not an idiot," Bakugou cut him off, stepping into the room. "I know what you two are talking about." His eyes flicked between them, searching for something, but his expression was unreadable. "So... what are we gonna do about it?"
Kaminari's heart pounded in his chest. It was the first time Bakugou had acknowledged what was going on between them. He had expected Bakugou to yell, to brush it off as nothing, but this was different.
This was the beginning of something.
