Chips and Soda

Chapter Eight

Sero arched an eyebrow and tapped his fingers rhythmically against the counter, his voice bleak in tone as he spoke. "So you mean to tell me that you and the porcupine had a serene star gazing session last night?" Kirishima nodded as if it was the most obvious thing to understand. Sero pursed his lips and looked pointedly to the red head, "And it wasn't a date?"

Kirishima groaned and turned from his friend, eyes nearly rolling out of his head, "Oh my god-" Sero was quick to cut Kirishima off before he could bash him over the head with objections.

"I'm just saying man, star gazing is pretty romantic. I'd definitely take Kaminari on a date like that." A dreamy look seemed to cross his face as he imagined the scenario, it being one that he undoubtedly thought about often.

"No you wouldn't. You'd take him to an arcade or something," the red head said matter of factly, crossing his arms over his chest. He couldn't think of any other places nearby that his immature friend would enjoy. The yellow and black haired boy had always been fairly fond of games, as had Kirishima, though he didn't play as frequently anymore. The two of them often had times where they would play against each other, making bets on who would win.

Sero thought for a moment before nodding, "Okay, you got me there, smartass." He turned to go back to doing his previous exercise of breaking down empty boxes, but not before sending a teasing smile at Kirishima, "I'm not saying it was a date dude, but it was definitely a date." Before Kirishima could hurl an insult at the lean boy, he scurried off, half demolished box in hand.

Kirishima gave a breathy sigh and rested his elbows on the cold counter, his face buried in the palms of his hands. He didn't have a reasonable explanation for the way his heart soared at the thought of a date with the all but level headed, Katsuki Bakugou. Yes, he had considered... that, but there was no way it was the reason for the heart fluttering sensation. It hadn't even been a full day since the shindig on the roof of the very building he stood in at the moment. He couldn't have fallen for the prickly teen in the short span of time the Kirishima had known him. It was completely, entirely, irrational and it would be in his best interest to disregard the very thought of the concept.

So that's what he did. For hours. Kirishima went on for hours doing his job, ringing up customers, stocking shelves, sweeping, anything to keep his mind off of the preposterous thought that was gnawing at his frontal lobe. He was pretty successfully too, at least until he heard the chime of the stores doorbell and looked up to see a familiar face, accompanied by the ever lasting glare that usually came as a package deal.

It didn't take the blonde long to recognize the red head and briskly make his way over to Kirishima, his hands shoved into his pockets as he tried to pretend he wasn't making a direct beeline for him. Bakugou's eyes raked over the items on the shelf as he approached with such an unneeded intensity that even Kirishima saw through the guise. Kirishima sat the old and dirty broom he was holding to the side, his job of cleaning momentarily forgotten.

"Bakugou, how's it going, bro," Kirishima greeted, a nearly blinding grin crossing his face. His words were light and held no hint of the strain he was feeling at the thoughts swirling in his head. It was best of he acted normal, it would be just his luck to scare the blonde off just as he was "warming up" to Kirishima.

Bakugou's head snapped in the direction of Kirishima's voice as if he'd only just noticed the red head. "Oi, shitty hair, I'm not your bro," the teen said, his glare so intense that Kirishima could feel the pure Bakugou energy radiating off of it. Even if so, Kirishima rolled his eyes and snatched the broom from its spot where it was leaned against an aluminum shelf.

"Whatever you say, bro," he said, going back to absent mindedly sweeping an area he'd already swept. He really was peering at the blonde from the corner of his eye, his eyes taking in every simple movement Bakugou made. Like the way he gently tapped his foot to the faint music that played in the backroom, undoubtedly a song of Sero's choosing, or the way he'd rhythmically sway his hips to that same music when he thought Kirishima wasn't looking or- Kirishima shook his head. He shouldn't be noticing these things, instead he should be sweeping like the good employee he was.

Mumbling a curse under his breath, Kirishima forced his eyes to the ground as he retreated to the area behind the front counter. These emotions were all to sudden for him. He thought it was supposed to gradually come over months and months of knowing someone, not after a couple days. Never in his life had he even considered the thought of falling for someone. Yeah, he'd had a few significant others.

First there was the girl from his homeroom class in seventh grade. She was cute, had good morals, but after about two weeks of dating, Kirishima noticed she was lacking one requirement for his ideal girlfriend. She wasn't a guy.

Afterwards, there were a few others. A good one was a silver haired boy who he still remained close friends with. It didn't work out with them in them in the end because they both found they were to similar too be in a relationship. It wasn't fun being in a relationship ship with someone who could basically be you.

Still though, these few relationships had taken weeks upon weeks to develop. Neither had started from nothing. He didn't even know Bakugou's number for Christ's sake. It wasn't like he was completely settled on the possibility of his feelings being related to either of the L words but the thought still freaked him out. He settled on the solution of continuing to act normal around Bakugou, just not letting the feelings develop into something more. It was the obvious solution.

Just when he'd finished his mental preparing, Bakugou approached the register, a drink in hand. With an audible thunk, he sat the drink down and reached to grab his wallet.

"Already paid for," Kirishima said through a teasing grin as he placed a few of his own dollar bills into the cash register. His grin only widened when Bakugou snatched his drink from the counter and sent him a withering glare.

"One day I'm going to kick your ass for that, shitty hair." The threat that sounded less than pleasant only hung in the air as Kirishima gave a simple shrug of his shoulders, a fake apology glimmering in his crimson eyes.

"Sounds like a plan," he said as he leaned over the counter, a laugh sounding from the back of his throat. Bakugou only growled and shoved Kirishima's face back with a hand, rolling his eyes at Kirishima when he scrunched his nose up and massaged it with his fingers.

"Oh that didn't hurt, you idiot," Bakugou snapped, arms crossing over his chest, his drink clenched in his tight grasp. Snickering, Kirishima shook his head and waved Bakugou off, even if he would prefer him to stay and keep him company throughout his boring day. He heard a scoff followed by retreating footsteps. Turning, the red head watched as his unhappy friend waltz out the doors, a cheerful smile plastered on his face as he watched him go.

From behind he heard Sero's own snicker, "You're definitely falling for the porcupine."

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Hey guys, so I'm not officially back from hiatus but I felt really bad for missing the update on Thursday! I hope you liked the decent chapter, I tried but it's currently 5 am and I'm awake by only sheer will, so you'll have to forgive me for any mistakes I've made on this chapter. I tried to go over and correct all my mistakes but you don't realise how boring that is when you just wrote the chapter and you're about to fall asleep.

Anywho, I'm very sorry about the lack of update. I'll try to powerhouse a chapter for next update time just in case. Also! Get hype for the upcoming KiriBaku story that will be coming out soon after I come back officially! Woo!