The Hands At My Throat - kiribakukami soulmate AU

The lists

Bakugo sent one final scowl up the stairs, even though Kaminari was no longer in sight, before focusing his attention back on Kirishima.

He started chatting with him, in the hopes that it would raise his mood again, and thankfully it slowly did.

Their conversation turned away from soulmarks, so Bakugo put his away. But then he had to do a double take.

Noticing him stiffen, Kirishima stopped what he was saying.

"You all good Bakugo?"

Bakugo stayed frozen for a moment, before relaxing.

"Yeah I'm fine. Sorry, continue."

There was no way he was gonna mention that his hands still had the white patches of an inactivated soulmark.

~~~~

Kaminari sat down on his bed, and started digging into the food. He almost groaned at how good it was.

Then he actually did groan, remembering the way he had glared at Bakugo and Kirishima.

At this rate, he really was gonna end up hating them. Two of his best friends.

I should write a list, he thought to himself. A list of all the good things about them, so that I can read through it whenever I feel like hating them.

He shoved another huge mouthful of Katusudon into his mouth, before moving over to his desk and pulling out a sheet of paper, and labelling it "reasons not to hate Kirishima", then underlining it. Kirishima would be easiest to start with.

"Number 1," he mumbled to himself, before thinking for a second.

"He's one of my best bros." He scribbled it down underneath the title, leaving a reasonable gap.

"Number two..." he continued, tapping the table with his pencil.

"He never holds a grudge."

And so he continued, until his list had another 10 statements.

3. He would never turn on his friends
4. He always forgives where forgiveness is deserved
5. He always greets you with a smile
6. He never picks a fight
7. He's always looking out for people
8. We always have fun together
9. He saves me from Bakugo's wrath
10. Even though I'm acting cold, he's still trying his hardest to be nice to me
11. He doesn't laugh at me when I short circuit
12. He's really strong and working his hardest to be a hero

Kaminari read over his list one last time, before deciding to add a final point.

13. I like him a lot

And he did. Kirishima was his best bro, and whatever was making Kaminari start to detest him was not how he actually felt. And that was the most important thing to remember.

He put the piece of paper to the side and grabbed a new one. This one would be harder, because Bakugo definitely wasn't as likeable a character.

He didn't write a title this time, he just got straight into it.

1. He secretly cares for all of us

He knew that at least. When it came down to it, Bakugo wouldn't leave any of his class behind. Maybe Midoriya. But we shouldn't get down on the small things.

2. He's good at cooking

If he started to hate him, he couldn't enjoy that cooking anymore. It just wouldn't be the same.

3. He's strong

Kaminari didn't really want to write out exactly what he meant by that. It was too embarrassing to even write on a piece of paper that no one else would ever see. Bakugo was strong, but most of all he was safe. Like a bomb shelter. You never wanted to be in a situation in which you needed it, but when you did, it would be there to protect you, and it would do its job damn fucking well.

4. He's not sneaky.

He would never talk about you behind your back. If he had something to say, he would say it to your face. And that was oddly refreshing, to know exactly how a person thought of you. And Bakugo didn't think too lowly on him.

In fact, he'd consider himself pretty close to the top of Bakugo's list, topped only by Kirishima probably.

That was kind of it for Bakugo. But strangely, it was enough to make Kaminari feel better. Bakugo wasn't too complicated, so he could be summed up easily.

He sat back and read through his work. All of a sudden a wave of embarrassment washed over him. He'd just written a list of everything he liked about his two friends, like a lovesick schoolgirl.

To relieve some of the embarrassment, he took Kirishima's piece of paper and carefully tore off the title. That way, if anyone did see it, they wouldn't know who it was about. (Yeah, it's totally not obvious, especially when it gets more specific further down the list)

I let out a sigh of relief and finished the last of the Katsudon. Now to put this list into practice and see if it would actually work.

Grabbing his empty bowl, he carefully unlocked his dorm room, and made his way downstairs.

While he took the stairs, he slowly recited all the points through his head.

My best bro...

He tilted his bowl so that the chopsticks moved around in circles.

No grudges...

Keep walking down the stairs, one foot in front of the other.

Never turn on his friends...

Everything will turn out fine.

Always forgives...

As soon as this dumb quirk left, it would all be fine.

Greets you with a smile...

He practiced putting on his smile.

Never picks a fight...

He had to prove to Kirishima that he didn't hate him.

Looks out for others...

He doesn't deserve for me to treat him like this.

We have fun...

If he could just get through this, it would go back to normal.

Bakugo's wrath...

If this didn't work Bakugo was going to kill him.

Still nice...

He went down the final step and stepped into the foyer.

When I short circuit...

He made eye contact with Kirishima, who sent him a hesitant smile. Kaminari smiles back. It wasn't much, but it was all he could muster. There were a lot of people down here.

Strong hero...

When Kirishima saw his smile, his grin widened with joy and his eyes lit up. Like just seeing that had made his entire day.

I like him a lot.

Kaminari almost choked. He rushed over to the kitchen and quickly dumped his bowl, before turning on his heal and rushing back up the stairs.

Maybe his heart just started beating faster because all the people in the foyer made him stressed.

Maybe his stomach started churning because he'd eaten the Katsudon too quickly.

Maybe he became incredibly happy because he was on the right track to fixing things up again.

Maybe it was that stupid list that he wrote.

Or maybe...

Maybe he had developed a crush.

A crush on Eijiro Kirishima.

Haha. You have no idea how much pain I plan on putting you all through. But not yet. Not quite yet...