Kirishima is the 'bad boy' of the school, he's renowned for being marginally terrifying, you do not fuck with Kirishima Eijirou, that is the rule, an unwritten but very closely followed rule.

of course nobody knows he's also the school mascot and definitely a giant teddy bear.

They say Kirishima once punched a guy so hard in the face, that it permanently changed his bone structure.

The school Mascot is a big fuzzy tiger who somehow does backflips in a ridiculously heavy fursuit in the high heat of summer and carries kids high on his shoulders.

They say Kirishima did time, the details are unclear as to why, story always changes, but it's a constant that he was put away for a year.

The school mascot is clearly a talented dancer, always joins in with the cheerleaders routines, he's fucking incredible at the running man.

Kirishima Eijirou, resident terrifying human being and Big soft fuzzy tiger mascot of Yuuei High School, meets the irritable nerd, Bakugo Katsuki, in full mascot gear, while playing a mini-game with the kids in the audience during halftime.

Bakugo's little sister is playing.

She's competitive, and loud and looks the spitting image of her big brother, and is definitely winning because Kirishima is 100% letting her and all the other kids beat him.

Bakugo comes to collect her when the buzzer sounds for the players to get back into it.

Kirishima is....................... floored.

and he has no idea how to approach this perfect nerd without the mascot gear on.

cue him flirting with Bakugo at EVERY game while in the suit.

Bakugo of course stays away from the guy outside of the suit, no matter how long Kirishima spends sneakily looking for him, because uh... he's a nerd with a PERFECT school record, he doesn't wanna be seen with the most renowned delinquent of the school, he ACTIVELY avoids him.

So Kirishima is stuck flirting as a mascot, which Bakugo begrudgingly accepts because it's fun! The guy in the suit is probably just being silly for the crowd, definitely isn't real, Bakugo isn't flustered at all, shut up.

IT'S HOT, IT'S SUMMER, HE'S NOT BLUSHING!!!!

Okay maybe... he is a little flustered, and maybe he is dying to know who's underneath that silly mascot suit cause NOBODY'S APPROACHED HIM YET

He likes to imagine who it could be underneath, who's big enough to fill it out, who's athletic and funny but he cant put a face to it.

Bakugo's little sister is LOVING it though, typical little sister teases him relentlessly "KATSUKI AN THE TIGER SITTIN IN A TREE K.I.S.S.I.N.G!!!"

He *wishes*, okay, he's a big enough man to admit it, he maybe... sorta... be crushin on the tiger and whoever may be inside of it

IT'S NOT THE TIGER OUTFIT, it's the funny, talented, strong and sweet man within it, whoever it may be, Bakugo is... smitten.

he just.......... DOESN'T KNOW WHO IT IS, WHICH IS INFURIATING.

He'd at FIRST thought it was that blond a couple of years older, but then... height wise? Didn't cut it, also he'd been seen in the bleachers at the same time as the mascot, tripping over air and getting his trousers caught on a railing.

more entertaining than the game by FAR.

Then, he figured it could potentially be Sato in his cooking class, he was sweet, good with kids, but no, not athletic enough, he had the height an sort of the width, but it was soft muscle, covered in a layer of chub, not athletic enough to pull off the moves the tiger managed.

Maybe that one guy who constantly wore a facemask to school? What was his name, Shooo something, Bakugo had seen him once or twice, built, tall, broad... but he was 100% positive the guy was hooking up with that one goth kid so... couldn't be the tiger.

He was running out of options, well... there was the muscle head TetsuTetsu but........... he'd never shown any interest in him before? Barely even looked his way in the gym!

It could be him though, he was the right height, looked to be the right width, had the muscle for it...

The idea that it could be Tetsutetsu was blown out of the water when Tetsutetsu was seen being hoisted directly over the Tigers shoulder to be plonked down in between the cat obsessed insomniac and that one kid who repeatedly stuck his finger in the plug sockets in 1st year.

Tiger did the fingerguns at them, it was cute!

So the big guy, whoever he may be, was obviously a romantic, he just had to find someone tall, broad, athletic, sweet, funny and romantic.

Fuck that should be like searching for a needle in a haystack with a MAGNET. Should be EASY.

But it's NOT easy, because the only other person who could POSSIBLY be filling that stupid mascot suit out, is a guy who COULDN'T possibly be filling it out.

It'd been WEEKS of this Tiger nuzzling up against him, kissing his hand, blowing kisses at him, it COULDN'T be Kirishima.

But then.... Kirishima was NEVER at a game, he'd never been seen with the mascot, he was the only other person who had that build, the height, the muscle tone to be able to pull off the shit that this tiger did on the regular...

Could it... really be him?

If there was one rule at Yuuei, it was don't mess with or bother Kirishima Eijirou... and Bakugo Katsuki had ALWAYS been a stickler for following rules, written or unwritten, he followed them.

He wasn't afraid of the giant, or the stories told about him, he just... had to know.

( SEE THIS. LOOKIT IT. IT'S CLEAR AS DAY. STOPPIT. )

It takes a pep talk from his little sister and a "What's stopping you? You a pussy or somethin?" From his ever eloquent mother when his little sister inevitably tells on him, to kick his ass into gear and actually LOOK INTO the possibility that Kirishima might be the tiger.

And then, with Bakugo actually looking, because he's fucking intelligent as fuck, he starts to uncover the truths.

Kirishima Eijirou, is a giant fucking teddy bear.

He also never went to jail.

Nope, he'd spent that whole year off, taking care of his mother who'd recently recovered from her very last successful Chemo treatment.

He took dance classes, babysat his OWN little siblings, of which he apparently had a few of.

The guy who's face he rearranged? Well, he did actually do that but the guy had been touting pictures of 'upskirt shots' taken from beneath one of the stair cases!

He was just... really fuckin strong holy shit.

the biggest surprise out of all of it, was how upon discovering the mascots potential real identity... his crush on the big fuzzy tiger... didn't go away.

Now, Bakugo Katsuki, was not a coward, he wasn't, call him one and guaranteed you will end up head first in the nearest trash can, but... approaching Kirishima during school hours, was... nerve wracking okay?

He was just... huge... reaching at least 6'5, built like a mountain!

And he didn't exactly have 100% concrete proof that this guy WAS actually the mascot, just... that he wasn't as bad as people thought he was, didn't mean he didn't have a mean right cross, so.......

operation "offer tutoring", was his method of getting close.

He had to be smart though, which, not to toot his own horn, he WAS smart, one of the smartest in the whole fucking school, so it wasn't hard to find out which classes Kirishima was failing on.

Math, Language Studies and Sciences, he seemed pretty decent in his others.

Next, came getting the teachers on board, making it look like he was after extra credit in return for tutoring their problem child so THEY'D pitch it to Kirishima instead of him.

He didn't wanna look like he was actively seeking this guy out, wanted to be COOL about it.

And of course, his plan worked like a fucking CHARM, they practically threw the guy at him.

And unsurprisingly, Kirishima himself, readily accepted the offer.

so that's how he found himself on a Thursday afternoon in the school library, waiting for his Tiger.

Kirishima was a simple man, the rumours of his ferocity were built on the basis that he didn't give enough of a fuck about them dispute them, lack of denial as good as proof in high school!

Unfortunately that made it difficult to get close to the people he wanted to be close to.

Like Bakugo Katsuki, the most beautiful nerd he'd ever laid eyes on, broad shoulders, arms... sweet jesus they were nice, he clearly favoured arm workouts rather than lower body cause OOF that shoulder to waist ratio was DIVINE.

He couldn't get a MOMENT alone with him though.

His teachers never actually told him who would be tutoring him, just that someone had come forward and offered to help get his grades up, which was... amazing actually, because MAYBE, if he was lucky, that person would argue the rumours themselves so Bakugo would go near him!

He nearly tripped over a 1st year when he walked into that library to see the familiar fuzzy blond head of hair and the ridiculously attractive body it belonged to waiting at their agreed table for him.

holy fuck, be cool, be tootally cool, don't make an ass of yourself be COOL!

He slid into the chair opposite Bakugo with all the grace of a drunk Lickitung, went in too fast, wrong angle, too much weight on one side, because the chair slid as he hit it, chair leg hitting a dip in the carpet and he suddenly wasnt at the table anymore.

Hello floor.

with an aborted yell of "SHIT---" he hit the floor, thankfully, the library was mostly empty at this time, but... Bakugo was there, staring at him with wide, unsurprisingly beautiful eyes, hh fuck.

So much for being cool, TIME TO TRY SMOOTH

"Guess i'm uh... fallin for you haha"

Bakugo was... not prepared. At all.

He'd expected the guy to show up with at least a LITTLE of his rumoured intimidating aura, but nope, instead he'd fallen on his face and delivered the cheesiest line he'd ever heard.

And honestly... Bakugo's cheeks had never been redder.

The tiger had never actually spoken to him, just... mimed heart hands, kisses blown and nuzzled up against him, but... if he were to picture anyone's voice in that stupid suit, it was this one.

Deep, rough... fuck, focus. He could be smooth too!

"Y'know, I thought cats were meant to always fall on their feet? Or do tigers not follow that stereotype?"