just bros being bros

bonus 2: in which kirishima has a snake

AN: the first part is not canon within this fic, it was just a separate idea that i had that inspired me to include him in this fic (it was also inspired by this other bakudeku fic i read with bakugou having a snake in it but i digress) and the second part is a sequel(?)/continuation of the original fic! enjoy :)

-----

When they move into the dorms, they're surprised to find that, actually, Kouda isn't the only one with a pet.

"You guys simply don't understand true manliness," Kirishima sighs, wiping at the tears that well up in the corners of his eyes. Manly tears, he might add.

"Wait a minute," Jirou says, stepping further into Kirishima's room. "What the fuck is that?"

Their eyes all zero in on the glass cage that sits in the corner of Kirishima's room, tucked next to his desk. Hagakure screeches, and Ashido jumps into Sero's arms. Sero himself collapses, either under Ashido's weight or because his knees give out beneath him.

"Oh yeah! This is my pet snake!" Kirishima says, walking over to the cage and lifting out the said pet.

Half the class staggers backwards while the others warily stand around. Kirishima merely blinks at them all calmly as the snake slithers its way around his neck. Before any further action can happen, the door next to Kirishima's swings open and a grumpy, half asleep Bakugou steps out.

"Why the fuck are you guys being so damn loud?" he growls, glaring at them.

"Hey, Bakugou! You're awake!" Kirishima cheers, waving. Bakugou blinks at him for a second, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes before he finally notices the red and winding reptile around Kirishima's neck.

He stops in his tracks, face getting red before he steps forward and mumbles.

"I'm sorry, what? I didn't quite catch that," Kirishima frowns.

"I... I would like to hold it. Please," Bakugou says, looking up at Kirishima with what can only be described as puppy dog eyes.

"O-oh! Yeah, sure! He doesn't bite," Kirishima says. "Be gentle, though, he's my oldest friend."

The rest of Class 1-A looks on in awe as Bakugou gently allows the snake to be lifted and wrapped around his arms, gently booping it on the nose with one finger. "It's a milk snake, right?"

"Yeah! Good eye, it's a Honduran milk snake," Kirishima answers proudly. "His name is Rock."

At that, Bakugou looks up at him. "Rock?"

Jirou finds herself covering a giggle with a cough as she asks, "Seriously, Kirishima? You named your snake Rock? Please tell me it's supposed to be like rock and roll at least?"

"Uh," Kirishima pauses, feeling the pressure of the whole class's eyes on him. "No, I named him Rock because I found him on top of a rock when I was eleven."

"You what?"

"I named him Rock?"

"No, no," Sero shakes his head, "Not that, that's literally stupid but seems like something eleven year old you would do. I'm talking about the fact that you kept a snake you found on top of a rock as your pet."

"Oh, yeah," Kirishima nods, "His full name is Rock the Snake in the Box because I found him abandoned on top of a rock. He was in a pet box and everything, so I figured it wasn't a wild bred snake and well, my parents let me keep him as long as I paid for everything myself. I got a sick deal for this cage setup on Facebook Marketplace. Lotta strangers on there, though. Gotta be careful!"

"Huh," Bakugou says, lifting the snake up to meet him eye to eye. "You sure got lucky, Rock."

"Let's, uh... move on I guess," Hagakure whispers from where she's hiding in the corner of the room. Everybody leaves, except for Bakugou and Kirishima turns back to look at him.

"You're not coming?"

Bakugou hunches over, blushing a little bit. "Can I, uh, can I stay with him?" If Kirishima had to name the expression on Bakugou's face right now, it would be with the words, "puppy dog eyes" but he can't really say that it fits any part of Bakugou's persona.

Instead, he just chuckles and says, "Sure, anytime."

After that, it becomes somewhat of a regular occurrence to see Bakugou lying on Kirishima's floor letting Rock the Snake in the Box slither around his neck, torso and arms as he scribbles out algebra, tongue stuck out in concentration.

Kaminari sits at Kirishima's desk, stifling a yawn as he tries his best not to fall asleep and get drool all over his English corrections. He's marginally succeeding at the latter, but the former is a bit of a challenge. The combination of the incense Kirishima has burning in one corner of the room along with the late hour (nine in the evening is plenty late, especially when accompanied by a short story involving people wearing nightgowns and holding candlesticks!) has Kaminari's nose brushing just above the desk as his head bobbles back and forth when the door flies open with a bang, causing his head to snap back up and knock against the shelf in front of him.

"Ow, fuck," he whines, rubbing at his head at the same moment he hears a voice shout, "Where's my baby!"

Fully awake now, he turns his head to see Kirishima crawling out of his bed (see, he wasn't the only one battling sleep in the face of a dangerous adversary: English) and stumble over to Bakugou.

"Here I am!" Kirishima smiles, cupping his hands against his chin as he grins up at Bakugou.

Kaminari laughs then, wheezing, "Did I really just hear Bakugou call you baby? You sound like Hatsume describing her inventions!"

"Shut the fuck up, you little extra!" Bakugou hisses, shaking a fist at Kaminari.

At this point, Kaminari just shrugs, "You've called me an extra too many times for it to stick. And anyways, I'm already a main character in my life."

"The only thing you'd be the main character of is another Cars sequel you little Lightning McFuckingQueen piece of shit!" Bakugou is violently frothing at the mouth at this point, and Kaminari pointedly looks over at Kirishima for a little help.

"Bakugou," Kirishima singsongs. "Pay attention to me!"

Bakugou tches, "Whatever," flicking Kirishima's hand aside even as he pouts at him. "I'm only here for my baby."

Ignoring Kirishima's outstretched hands, Bakugou stalks over to the corner of Kirishima's room and crouches down (in full mastery of the Asian squat) as he lifts the cage lid and with ever so gentle hands, pulls out King Murderman Rock Explosion the Snake. His face is a complete 180 from his previous anger and he coos gently at the coiled up noodle in his hands, scratching under the snake's chin. "Hello, how have you been doing? Are you hungry? Has shitty hair been feeding you? Kaminari is so loud and annoying, isn't he?"

Kaminari merely looks on, jaw hanging so low that it almost brushes against the top of the desk he's sitting at. "He... Bakugou... He's so..."

"Finish that sentence and I kill you, Pikachu," Bakugou growls, but his angry posturing is inevitably shattered as he turns around with King cradled gently in his arms.

Kaminari stutters incoherent syllables instead, waving a finger back and forth as if this is somehow supposed to communicate anything other than chaotic gesturing.

Kirishima merely shrugs in response, "It happens."

–

No, actually. It does not simply happen.

Later that week when Kaminari tries to explain the whole ordeal to Sero and Ashido, they suggest that he get his brain checked out by Recovery Girl.