Kiri_Shark_Bite
Class 1-A survived the Shie Hassaikai Raid, but not without scars. For Katsuki Bakugo, watching Eijiro Kirishima nearly die in the Rappa fight carved something into him he can't shake. Something sharp. Something terrifying. Something that makes his chest go tight whenever Kirishima steps too far out of sight.
He calls it "annoyance."
Everyone else knows better.
Kirishima... tries not to think about it.
Now, with second year beginning, the two boys find themselves orbiting even closer than before. They've always danced around each other - the lingering glances, the accidental touches, the "just bros" hangouts that last way too long. Both of them have been crushing since the first week of first year, but neither is brave enough to name it.
Bakugo, dealing with buried panic and a new, suffocating separation anxiety he refuses to acknowledge.
Kirishima, determined to grow stronger but secretly terrified of slipping behind and becoming "unmanly" again.
The moral:
"Never look down on yourself, just look up at the sky and see how the stars shine. If there's beauty in the sky, there's beauty in you."
These words from Kirishima's late father are a guiding light throughout the story, reminding them that despite their struggles and doubts, there is always something beautiful and worthy in them - if they can just see it.
As internships, training, and rising villain activity pull at their lives, the space between them thins.
And the question becomes:
Will they finally stop running in circles - or break themselves trying?
A story about growing up, growing closer, and realizing that sometimes the thing you're most afraid to lose... is the thing you've already let in.