Kiri(Baku?)Kami I probably won't finish

Chapter Five

We got to the mall and immediately, everyone's first thought was 'food court.' After all, it was mid-afternoon and we'd all had to walk there.

"I vote mochi," was Uraraka's first idea.

"I second that," was Sato. The 'sweet tooths' of 1-A, I suppose.

"I dunno, heard there was an American place that just opened up here. They've got like..." Denki tried to remember what sort of things were on the menu.

"I hope you're not struggling to remember what's on the McDonald's menu," Jiro said, and I giggled. Denki frowned.

"No, it's uh... steak sandwiches. From Philadelphia? Is that what the city's called?" he scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, yeah. I remember hearing something about that," I nodded. "Sure, I'll check it out with you."

"Cool! Anyone else?" The rest of the class shrugged, either being undecided or already having something else in mind. "Heh, it's a date, then," he winked, and I rolled my eyes.

-

While standing in line at the restaurant in the food court, I felt someone's eyes on me. I turned around inconspicuously so as not to look like I was staring at anyone, but Denki seemed to notice them, too; there was your typical stupid-ass Karen with her stupid-ass soccer mom hair and her two stupid-ass kids in her stupid-ass stroller (maybe Bakugo's rubbed off on me a little). She was looking at me disapprovingly. Well, I'd expected as much to happen, so it didn't really bother me, until I heard her "whisper" to her kids something along the lines of, "Don't do things like that, it's not natural."

It took me a second to realize that she wasn't just referring to my outfit; Denki's hand was on my shoulder. By this point I was so used to his presence that I didn't think anything of it; affectionate contact from each other didn't mean anything particularly romantic to either of us. But she must've assumed we were together, and I glanced at Denki, who looked annoyed. Maybe even a little mad.

"Don't do anything, bro, s'not worth it," I muttered.

"But she's—" he protested, and I poked him.

"We're next in line, Denki," I said.

"Oh, right. Sorry," he said, grumbling.

Once we had our food, we sat down at a table with all of the class. The Karen swung back around with her kids just to glare at us again, as if she were testing us just to prove a point.

"Do you guys... know her?" Jiro asked as she walked away when we didn't do anything.

"She's just a bitch who's trying to convert her toddlers to the great religion of homophobia," Denki said, uncharacteristically upset. A/N: I don't mean to offend anyone by saying religion is automatically homophobic! I'm a devout Catholic. Now go back and read every story I've ever written. Just putting that out there. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

"Sounds annoying. How could she even tell—oh, yeah," she suddenly recalled what my clothes. "What a bitch. You can wear whatever you want in public as long as it doesn't like, offend anyone, can't you?"

"She looked pretty offended," I pointed out, taking a bite out of the sandwich which was *heavenly,* by the way.

"You don't honestly think she's justified?" Denki frowned at me. I shook my head, still chewing.

"Of course not," I said after swallowing. "I like this outfit, and I'm gonna wear it."

"Fucking... good," he sighed, still annoyed but clearly calmer. I smiled to myself. He really was a good friend, wasn't he?

"What's going on?" Midoriya asked. I shrugged.

"Not much. Annoying mall people," I replied. He nodded, then turned back to his conversation with the rest of the Dekusquad, who seem to have kidnapped Bakugo from the Bakusquad. Could they even do that? I guess so.

"Annoying mall people who can't stay away from you," Jiro sighed.

"Huh—oh," I started, then felt her tap on my shoulder. I felt more of my classmates' eyes on me and the Karen now. "Hello," I said, trying to be polite. She curled her lip in poorly disguised disgust. She could at least try to pretend to be decent, I thought to myself. There goes another thought that's never leaving my mind.

"I didn't want to say anything about your life choices, but you're not leaving a good impression on my children and I don't appreciate it," she said. I sighed. By now, Denki was having none of it.

"And what is he supposed to do? Leave?" he said angrily.

"At least you acknowledge it's a he," she huffed. "And yes, he should."

"First of all, did you just call my best friend an it?" He was bordering on shouting now. "And not every biological male in a skirt is trans. If they were, then they'd be a she no matter what was in her pants. Not a he. And you don't have any authority over what—"

"Denki, calm down," I said gingerly, noticing he was attracting other shoppers' attention, and he sighed, lowering his volume but none of the intensity leaving his eyes.

"You have no authority over what he wears or where he wears it. I'm sorry, but you're leaving a bad impression on my friends, and I don't appreciate it," he said, practically growling at her.

We were all sort of staring at Denki with dropped jaws. Where did that outburst come from? Before I had much time to think about that though, he caught my eye and said to her, "If you need me to prove my point any further..."

Is that where he's going? Pretty sure I knew what he was up to, I nodded subtly, and without further words, he planted his lips on mine. I kissed him back until we heard the lady walking away angrily.

We both pulled away, not really sure what just happened but not really mad or anything that it happened either. Our classmates (and some passerby) just sort of smiled at us. A couple of them even cheered a little.

"Nice," Jiro said, smiling, and I grinned to myself a little. I wasn't about to look away. This trip was far from ruined, and far from over.