bakugou katsuki is the captain of the yuuei high cheerleading squad. he stalks the school halls in his skirt with a scowl on his face and chin high in the air, and the students stare at him as they part like the red sea when he passes by.

[it’s a thread!]

some call him ruthless with the way he’ll have the squad doing drills in the early morning until their legs shake, practicing flips and routines so much that there’s no possibility of mistakes, chewing out a first year flyer for being too reckless in the air.

some call him a dedicated - he’s never missed a single sports event a yuuei team has played in and he’ll stay behind after every last person has gone home to choreograph new routines and work on pyramid configurations.

some just call him a straight up bitch - he’s got a dirty mouth and a foul attitude outside of official events, he’s been known to get into ‘altercations’ with opposing cheer teams, rumours fly about him looking down on people he deems are beneath him.

“i heard he punched a guy for just asking to sit with the cheerleaders at lunch.”

“apparently he once made a girl cry when she gave him a box of chocolates.”

“i bet everyone in the team hates him and they’re all just too scared to say anything to the coach.”

(those people aren’t from his squad, of course. they don’t see when bakugou hands out water bottles and orange slices to everyone on the team, ruffling kaminari’s hair on the way past. they don’t see him giving sero advice on how to pull off a new move, or the dance-off he once

had with ashido. they don’t hear the praise he gives when something difficult the team has been working on finally comes together perfectly. they don’t know about the daily reminders in the group chat to keep hydrated, stretch properly, look after your voice, do your homework.)

but one thing is for sure - you’ll never hear anyone cheer louder than bakugou when kirishima eijirou scores a point.

kirishima eijirou: jock supreme, perpetual sweetheart, literally everyone’s friend. he’s the star of the football team and he’ll proudly don his letterman jacket around the school grounds, his loud personality and wide grin matching well with his equally vibrant red hair.

(nobody in the school seems to know for sure if they’re dating or not, and neither of them care to clear things up.)

being in two of the most popular social circles of the school, the two had crosses paths many times, but it wasn’t until their second year at yuuei that bakugou and kirishima actually had their first conversation.

bakugou approached kirishima after a close game with shiketsu high - just burst into the locker room as the football team were getting changed and winding down post-game, and made a beeline straight for kirishima.

“oi, you. shitty hair,” bakugou snapped.

“me?” kirishima blinked in surprise.

“yeah, you. i saw you fucking hesitate when you got the ball in your hands in the last quarter,” bakugou snarled accusatorily.

kirishima stammered. “i- no, i don’t- i was just-“

“next time, don’t fucking back down. don’t make me cheer for nothing.”

he looked kirishima up and down, then met his eyes with a smirk.

“i want to see you get the winning point.”

and with that, bakugou spun on his heel and stormed off again (and threw up a middle finger at the senior who wolf whistled as he walked by), leaving an absolutely stunned kirishima staring after him.

[to be continued!]

kirishima was the one who sought out bakugou after cheerleading practice the next day - he was still finishing up, determined to get some extra time in even before he was made captain. kirishima had watched him from the stands for a moment,

mesmerised by the way bakugou flawlessly executed a series of handsprings and backflips.

kirishima smiled and waved when he saw bakugou notice him, and made his way down to the field where bakugou was now stretching out his legs.

“you again. what do you want?” the frown on his face seemed more confused than genuinely angry this time, so kirishima took that as a good sign.

“wanna grab some food with me?”

bakugou’s head snapped up towards him, squinting suspiciously. kirishima met his eyes with an uncertain but hopeful smile, letting bakugou search his expression in silence for a moment.

“and why the fuck would i do that?” bakugou asked him.

kirishima shrugged. “you seem pretty confident that i’ll be able lead the team to victory. maybe i just wanna get to know the person that believes in me.”

an unspoken ‘more than i do’ hung in the quiet air between them, obvious in the way kirishima averted his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets while he waited for an answer.

“fine,” bakugou huffed in response. “but you’re paying, shitty hair.”

“it’s kirishima, actually. and you’re bakugou.”

the two of them had walked to a nearby diner together and spent the rest of the night bantering over cups of hot chocolate and a basket of fries.

it was easy to get to know kirishima. he gave away stories and smiles as easily as he breathed, at the same time a good listener and a generous laugher too. he was passionate, if a little unsure of his own talent, and he managed to encourage bakugou to tell his own tales

and even engage in a mildly heated debate about whether or not a hot dog is a sandwich, all the while never once batting an eye at bakugou’s thinly veiled insults and scathing remarks.

in fact, kirishima found bakugou rather amusing - he was ambitious and sarcastic, and he clearly knew who he was and what he wanted. he was confident in his words, in his goals, in his skills, in his fellow cheerleaders. kirishima thought he was so manly, and charming to boot.

“it was the first time i’ve ever touched the ball in an actual game,” kirishima explained when they finally got to talking about the night before. “i’m totally fine in practice, but i wasn’t expecting it to all come down to me. it was a really close game, and there was a lot of

pressure, y’know? i didn’t wanna let the team down by messing up, but i guess i did that by not moving quick enough since i got caught anyway.”

bakugou regarded him with crossed arms and a blank expression. then he sighed and reached across the table to put a hand over one of kirishima’s.

“i’m gonna be captain next year.”

“huh?” kirishima’s brows furrowed.

“i’m going to be captain of the cheerleading squad next year,” bakugou stated. he made sure kirishima was looking him in the eyes before he said the next part. “and you’re going to be the best player on that whole damn team.”

kirishima blinked, expression not too different from the one he wore the night before when bakugou had come bursting into his life, demanding nothing short of victory from him.

kirishima felt a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

“i’ve seen a lot of football players from a lot of different schools while i’ve been cheerleading, and none of them have stood out as much as you do,” bakugou continued. “you have potential - and honestly, just getting out there at all and having your teammates pass you the ball

means that you’re already fucking strong enough for them to trust you to /do/ something with it.”

bakugou withdrew his hand and leaned back in his chair, his signature calm smirk gracing his features. “you won’t let me down next time.”

there was no question in his words, absolutely no doubt whatsoever, and suddenly something bubbled up from kirishima’s chest and he burst out laughing.

“y-you are,” he gasped between giggles, “without a doubt.. the funniest guy i’ve ever met, bakugou.”

bakugou scoffed and rolled his eyes. “am i wrong?”

kirishima managed to calm down, wiping a single tear from the corner of his eye before he grinned back. “no. you’re not.”

bakugou could see the fire in his eyes now, and he knew kirishima wouldn’t back down from this challenge.

[i’ll finish this after work later!!]

they ended the night by exchanging phone numbers, and from there on they started texting almost every day. no longer strangers in the hallways at school, kirishima would grin and wave when he spotted bakugou through the crowds.

whenever their two social circles hung out, they found themselves gravitating towards each other. and after a particularly gruelling mock exam season, bakugou even offered to help kirishima study.

they were an unlikely pair to most, but their friendship was built on an undying faith in one another's talents, grounded in an unspoken promise to always support each other in reaching their goals.

the first time kirishima scored the winning point of a hard-fought game, bakugou was right there running onto the field to join the dogpile of excited football players yelling their praise and lifting him up.

likewise, kirishima was the first person bakugou called when he heard he was voted unanimously to be the next year's cheerleading captain, both of them elated at the news.

then the summer passed with late night drives in kirishima's car, tossing a football back and forth at the park, ice cream melting and dripping down their sticky fingers, and stargazing on the beach until the early hours of the morning.

now, it isn't unlikely to see the pair roaming the school together. captain of the cheerleading squad and star player of the football team; simply a given cliche at most high schools. but at yuuei, people try to warn kirishima about bakugou -

they have quite the opposite reputations, after all - so some well-meaning, but quite frankly judgmental, individuals take it upon themselves to express their concern.

but kirishima knows better than they do.

"bakugou only punched that guy because he was harassing one of the younger girls on the team. he was just defending her!"

"yeah, he let her down gently and she got upset because he's like, her dream man. honestly i don't blame her, aha."

"oh c'mon, the squad wouldn't be what they are if it weren't for bakugou. i know that, you know that, they know that and they /love/ him for it."

"this extra have something to say to me?" bakugou demands as he appears over kirishima's shoulder, arms folded and eyes piercing.

"bakugou!" kirishima exclaims, draping an arm over the cheerleader's shoulders in greeting. "we were just talking about what a great captain you are."

the kid from kirishima's biology class takes the opportunity to duck away with mumbled apologies. bakugou merely scoffs.

"you know, people might be nicer to you if you didn't have that look on your face all the time," kirishima teases, poking at bakugou's cheek.

bakugou bats his hand away, stepping out from under his friend's arm at the same time.

"whatever, they don't fucking matter to me anyway," he grumbles. "how was class?"

(kirishima gets the feeling though that bakugou is secretly glad there's someone who has his back, defending him when the gossip fall farther from truth and closer to cruel lies.)

however, that isn't to say that there is absolutely no tension in their friendship. more the complete opposite, actually.

it grows between the two of them every time they bump shoulders, with every accidental brush of their hands, every quiet moment they catch themselves looking a little too long at each other's eyes, or hands, or lips--

kirishima pinpoints the feeling mid-game like the dumb jock he is. he gets distracted, enraptured by bakugou like he so often is, this time because he spies the cheerleader pulling off a series of elegant spins and twirls as he's tossed high in the air,

and kirishima finds himself thinking 'i want to be the one to catch him and lift him up, like he did for me.'

the realisation slams into him at the same time he's tackled rather aggressively to the ground. kirishima stares at the sky above him and just breathes for a moment.

he's offered a hand and pulled up by a teammate, who asks if he is okay. kirishima looks at the concerned expressions of those close to him, then turns his head to catch the gaze of the head cheerleader - now on the ground, and staring directly back at him.

he's too far to see the expression on bakugou's face.

dazedly, kirishima nods. "i'm fine," he replies, a little belatedly, and plasters on a reassuring smile for those around him. he shakes himself and tries his best to focus back on the sport,

but his mind just keeps coming back to the inevitable.

holy shit. he's fallen for bakugou. hard.

in contrast, it's a much calmer moment that leads to bakugou accepting his own feelings for kirishima. on a chilly autumn saturday, kirishima arrives uninvited on his doorstep, armed with boxes of tea and a bottle of honey to make bakugou a hot drink for his sore throat.

kirishima hands bakugou a mug of the sweetened ginger tea and slides under the blankets of bakugou's bed with him, tangling their legs together. they sit in comfortable silence for a moment until kirishima offers him a headphone and puts the music on his phone on shuffle.

bakugou sips his tea to kirishima's eclectic music taste, and when he's done and set the mug aside, closes his eyes and rests his head in the crook of kirishima's neck. he'd screamed his throat raw cheering for the warm boy beside him two nights previously,

and now he finally admits to himself what the warm feeling settling in his chest whenever kirishima is around actually means.

he's completely head over heels for the idiot.

[to be concluded!]

the secret pining and lamenting is tough enough on each of them, but the shameless flirting it manifests grates on the nerves of everyone around them. they're at each other's lockers all the time, practically attached at the hip to the point where none of their friends or

teammates can get either of them alone anymore outside of practice. and even then it's more than likely the other one will be waiting for their counterpart so they can walk home together, backs of their hands brushing lightly as they walk side by side in the glow of the sunset.

bakugou steals kirishima's letterman jacket for the first time with nothing but a poke of the tongue after a sleepover in which they slept a tangled mess of intertwined limbs.

(they arrive at school together that day too, a detail that doesn't go unnoticed by many.)

bakugou ends up taking a liking to the jacket, and it now spends half its time on /his/ shoulders, on /his/ bedroom floor, kirishima barely feeling like it's even his jacket anymore.

so in retaliation, kirishima comes up with a plan he thinks is hilarious and bides his time.

bakugou has been frantically searching for his cheer uniform for the last ten minutes - one of the days he chooses not to just wear it to school when he has practice that afternoon out of sheer convenience and of course it goes missing.

"fuck!" he curses to himself, sifting through his backpack for the umpteenth time. he could have sworn he put it in there this morning.

bakugou hears an uproar of laughter from the field behind him and glances down at his team.

and then does a double take.

because standing confidently in the middle of a circle of cheer squad members is one kirishima eijirou.

/wearing his cheer uniform./

"what the fuck are you doing? you are practically bursting out of that thing, oh my god - take it off /now/, moron!"

(bakugou refuses to talk to anyone on his squad about that incident, and furiously denies the blush they all saw plain as day on his cheeks.)

they blow kisses to each other during football games like an obnoxious couple. kirishima offers to be a bag boy and escort the squad to a cheer meet, finally happy to get the opportunity to scream and clap for bakugou instead.

they playfully shove each other in the halls so much that they often have to apologise for bumping into other students. kirishima almost chokes on his hot chocolate the first time bakugou plays footsies with him underneath the diner table.

things reach a tipping point the night before the final football game of the season.

kirishima throws rocks at bakugou's window at half past one in the morning until the blonde swings it open, blinking blearily through the darkness down at the boy in his yard.

"what, kirishima?" he hisses, then yawns. "you should be in bed, asleep. like i was two seconds ago."

kirishima shoves his hands in his pockets, something vulnerable in his voice when he whispers back up, "come for a drive with me?"

it's freezing out and they're both in pyjamas but kirishima has extra blankets in the back and they huddle up closely together on the bench at the lookout. streetlights twinkle below them and the city quietly sleeps.

"we can't lose tomorrow," kirishima says softly after a long time.

"we won't. you won't," bakugou replies firmly.

"you can't know that," kirishima sighs. he sounds resigned. "i know i'm a good player, i know we have a strong team, i'm just... scared."

bakugou presses his lips together and shuffles closer after a minute, resting his head on kirishima's shoulder like he has many times before.

"you're allowed to be scared. what matters is that you power through it," he says. "live a life with no regrets. isn't that what

you always say?"

"i-" kirishima stops himself short. bakugou feels him turn his head to look down at him. "yeah."

"i believe in you," bakugou whispers.

the air between them feels heavy all of a sudden. bakugou slowly, slowly lifts his head to meet kirishima's gaze, their faces mere centimetres apart.

there's something steady and determined in kirishima's eyes, something content in the wrinkles of his tired eyes, fond in the hint of a smile on his lips. it leaves bakugou breathless.

kirishima's nose bumps against his, and bakugou feels his head tilting almost against his own will. their lips are a ghost apart now, he can smell kirishima's toothpaste on his breath, and bakugou's eyes start to slip shut--

"after you win tomorrow."

"hm?" kirishima hums.

it takes all of bakugou's willpower to suck in a deep breath and lean away from kirishima. he watches the redhead's eyes blink back open, take in the space between them now.

"you can kiss me after you win tomorrow."

kirishima actually whines, and bakugou pats his knee with a chuckle.

"come on, we should get going anyway. it's almost 3am, you're gonna need your energy."

they don't get to see that much of each other the next day - stolen glances in the hallways, a smile at lunch. before they know it, it's game time.

the last game of the season.

the opposing team is tough. every point the yuuei team fights and struggles to make is returned almost instantly by ketsubutsu. their attack is ruthless and their defense tight. kirishima is dripping with sweat barely fifteen minutes in -

but he can make out bakugou's voice cheering for him above all of the noise of the rest of the crowd, and that's enough to set his mind at ease and calmly focus on the game at hand.

at half time, yuuei is down two points, but they haven't completely lost control of the game yet. bakugou looks positively fuming when kirishima passes him as the cheerleaders step onto the field for their routine.

he watches the beginning of the cheer squad's performance before the coach calls for the team's attention. kirishima turns away to listen to the game plan - he's seen the squad practicing it before anyway.

kirishima doesn't realise something is wrong straight away. he's preoccupied with the team meeting and drinking as much water out of his bottle as he can gulp down, so he doesn't immediately register the shocked gasps and yelps coming from the stands.

but he does click when everything gets strangely quiet and the coach trails off mid-sentence, eyes looking somewhere over his players' shoulders.

kirishima nearly gives himself whiplash with how fast his head turns to look at the field.

half of the pyramid are still dismounting, but surrounded by a few team members is bakugou, on the ground cradling his ankle.

"katsuki!" the panicked yell rips from his throat. bakugou looks up and kirishima is running before he even tells his body to.

"what happened? are you okay?" kirishima pants as he nears. bakugou is as white as a sheet when he drops to the ground next to him.

"i'm fine," bakugou manages through gritted teeth. "i just landed wrong out of my tuck before i got on the pyramid. i think it's just sprained."

kirishima breathes out a small huff of relief. nothing broken, he hadn't fallen from the top of the pyramid. hopefully it isn't too serious.

"can you stand?"

bakugou nods, allowing kirishima to wrap an arm around him and help him up.

he hisses when he puts pressure on his injured foot though, and that's enough for kirishima.

he swings bakugou up into his arms bridal style and carries him to the side of the field, muttering reassurances to him under his breath.

kirishima's heart breaks a little at the pained furrow of bakugou's brow.

he sets bakugou down on a bench not far from his team. a few of the cheerleaders hover around, some fetching bakugou a blanket, water, and one produces an ice pack for his ankle.

kirishima sits beside him when a lady claiming to be a nurse materialises, and spends a moment inspecting bakugou's injury. he tenses and buries his head in kirishima's shoulder as she does.

"it's a nasty sprain, but it doesn't seem to be broken," she confirms.

"rest up, keep the ice on it. you should be able to walk on it again in a few days."

bakugou nods, and kirishima thanks the woman as she walks back into the stands. a whistle blows and kirishima realises his team is heading back onto the field.

"will you be okay without me?" kirishima asks, still concerned for the boy next to him.

"go," bakugou orders with a huff. "i'll be fine."

kirishima stands with a sigh, but a hand catches his arm and stops him as he turns to leave.

"eijirou."

bakugou looks up at kirishima with a fierce determination in his eyes.

"win this fucking thing. for me."

he says it through gritted teeth, and kirishima can feel the bitterness radiating from him in waves now. bakugou will be back to cheerleading when his ankle heals, but this is the last game of kirishima's high school career. the last time bakugou would be able to cheer for /him/.

and he has to sit it out.

kirishima smiles gently. bakugou believes in him. they can win.

"of course."

the weight of the ball feels heavier than it usually does in kirishima's hands. he can feel the impact of every step he takes rolling its way up through the muscles of his legs. his heartbeat pounds loudly in his ears, the tang of blood from a busted lip obtrusive on his tongue.

when he finally makes it into the endzone unhindered, kirishima has never felt more alive.

the crowd bursts into an uproar, and his team members collide into him one by one, all yelling gibberish.

or maybe he just can't process what they're saying because--

they won. they actually won.

kirishima feels his feet leave the ground as his team members thrust him into the air. elated laughter spills from his lips. everyone is cheering and clapping and whistling, and kirishima can't help the tears that form in his eyes.

they had been so close to defeat, but his buzzer beating touchdown brought the team to victory.

he's let back down onto his feet after a moment, but he's still mauled by hugs and noogies and gleeful shoves from his teammates.

"kirishima! kirishima fucking eijirou!"

kirishima turns and sure enough bakugou is waiting for him on the sidelines, now standing with a pair of crutches one of his cheerleaders got for him. kirishima is running to bakugou again before he tells his body to, but this time as he approaches he says, "put those down."

"what?"

"put those down."

"why?"

"because i want to pick you up and they're in the way!"

bakugou obliges with a startled chuckle, tossing the crutches down as kirishima reaches him only to be picked up in a massive bear hug and spun around in circles, both of them unsure whether they are laughing or crying.

kirishima places him back down gently, but doesn't remove his arms from his cheerleader's waist. bakugou keeps most of his weight on kirishima, but he doesn't seem to mind.

the two of them are smiling wide as they stare into each others eyes.

bakugou reaches up and swipes his thumbs under kirishima's eyes, cradling his face in both hands.

"you did it," he whispers.

"as if you didn't know i would," kirishima chuckles.

"shut up," bakugou retorts, but it's in good humour. "you fucking know i had faith in you."

"yeah, i do," kirishima agrees. "thank you."

"you don't need to thank me, idiot," bakugou mumbles. "just-- fucking hell, just come here."

and bakugou has fucking had enough of waiting, so he pulls kirishima's face down to meet him halfway and presses their lips together.

kirishima is frozen for a second before he closes his eyes and melts into the kiss. he holds bakugou closely to him as their lips slide in unison, and it tastes like blood, sweat, tears and victory.

members from both the football team and cheerleading squad notice, nudging and pulling each other over to witness what they've all been waiting to happen for literal months. bakugou simply takes one hand off of kirishima's face to raise the middle finger at their spectators,

and tilts his head to kiss kirishima a little deeper. they cringe and turn away after that, sweet moment ruined by the increasingly disgusting show of affection.

both bakugou and kirishima are panting when they break apart for air, but kirishima dives right back in to pepper bakugou's face with light pecks.

"you fucking sap," bakugou breathes, faking a struggle to get out of kirishima's arms.

kirishima kisses bakugou's forehead, his cheeks, his nose, his chin, every inch of skin he can get to before he pulls away. "your fucking sap?" he asks, eyes hopeful.

"duh." bakugou rolls his eyes before going in for another real kiss.

the two of them ditch the game's after party that night to spend it instead on bakugou's couch so he can at least keep his ankle elevated while they exchange sleepy sweet kisses until they both pass out from exhaustion.

(with only minor teasing from bakugou's parents in the morning.)

when bakugou walks into school the following monday, barely limping on his ankle anymore, he holds his chin high so everyone knows how god damn proud he is of the boyfriend he's got wrapped around his shoulders.

students part for the both them as they make their way through the hallways, calling out their congratulations for the win, smiling at the adoring looks on their faces, pretending not to stare when bakugou kisses kirishima on the cheek before their first class.

bakugou feels like screaming from the rooftops how much he loves kirishima eijirou, but to be honest he thinks that much is already pretty obvious anyway.

[the end]

[thank you all so much for reading this thread, and for all of the love & support you've shown it!! i genuinely appreciate it so much i'll be editing this and posting it to my ao3 too, so i'll post the link for that under here when i do. thank you again, i hope you enjoyed!]