Bakugou didn't like the taste of strawberries. At all.

He kind of hated it, actually.

// strawberry sweet ~ a krbk fic //

// notes: //
- tw// food for the whole thing but that should be it
- pretty much pure fluff honestly
// alright let's get started with this thing //

Bakugou didn't like the taste of strawberries.

He kind of hated it, actually.

They were too sour to be good if they weren't ripe enough, yet far too sweet at any time after that point. (Katsuki wasn't much of a sweets person.)

He'd tried strawberry flavored things, too - yogurt, milk, candies - but all of that had been pretty damn /gross/. Everything about the fruit screamed /overrated/.

So he stopped trying to like them. The shitty things didn't deserve his attention after being such utter

disappointments.

But then /everything/ he liked was strawberry.

Shitty hair that matched the color almost exactly, as well as the shape if he were to pick up a piece of the fruit and hold it up a certain way. A smile in the same blinding white as the berry's flower when in full bloom and

that attracted people like they were bees (Katsuki was not exempt from that). Eyes that looked almost exactly like that disgusting sliced, sugared, and refrozen thing that came in little plastic cups in the supermarket that he'd once made the mistake of trying

(young Katsuki didn't even get a full bite of the vile concoction down before declaring his hatred for it).

And all of this - thinking these thoughts - was just so horrendously sweet, it made him feel like he was going to throw up like he did that one time when he was six after

he ate an entire carton of strawberries in a stubborn attempt to find at least one that was to his liking (he hadn't).

How was it fair that he'd been trying his whole life to like the food that everyone else had sworn was actually delicious, and then fucking /Kirishima/ had just

come in and /made/ Katsuki like him?

That's right, it wasn't, not at all. But who was he now but another one of the masses now addicted to the mere thought of /strawberry/?

It had started - well, no, it was honestly far past the starting point of Katsuki's hopeless addiction by then, but the strawberry aspect of it all had begun on a blazing hot summer day when Kirishima had handed him a popsicle.

"What's this?" he'd demanded, looking suspiciously

at its tacky red and green wrapper.

"A popsicle, bro!" No duh. "I, uh, got them at the store and figured we could eat them together or something."

Well Katsuki couldn't exactly deny that face without feeling as sour as an unripe strawberry, now, could he? So he unwrapped

the treat, glanced warily at the fruits embedded in the frozen pink (the shade of which could only be rivaled by Raccoon Eyes herself), and mumbled a "thanks" before sticking it in his mouth.

And, oh god, it was absolutely /dreadful/. The texture of the frozen strawberry chunks

as they thawed on his tongue made the entire thing precisely seven hundred percent worse. Katsuki fought the urge to scrunch up his nose and spit the entire popsicle out onto the ground, just out of courtesy for the dumbass next to him, who somehow seemed to be /enjoying/ the

damn thing.

"Is it good, dude? I got the sugar-free kind so it wouldn't mess with our training diets too much, and honestly, I think it was worth the money!" To emphasize, he took a large bite out of his popsicle.

Katsuki honestly didn't think being sugar-free made the

overly-sweet treats any better for them, and he /really/ didn't wanna hear how much his friend had paid to get the damn things. But he nodded anyway, earning a smile that was well-worth all his suffering.

He eyed Kirishima's bite mark. Not a bad idea, to be honest. It would

mean he'd get it over with faster - the popsicle, not talking with his friend, of course. That part was... tolerable, to say the very least. A lot more tolerable than crunching on what was perhaps his new least favorite food in the world whilst pretending to enjoy it,

just because he cared all too much about a certain someone's feelings.

The next time he was forced to eat something strawberry-esque was the next season over; just after Kirishima's birthday, actually.

They had left campus early in the morning in order to take a hiking trip, but they needed two things in order to do that: train tickets and

breakfast.

Katsuki had mistakenly put Kirishima in charge of the latter.

After waiting in a nearly ten-minute-long line (how were there already that many people at six in the godsdamn morning, anyway?) and snatching up the two tickets, Katsuki headed toward their designated

meeting area. Kirishima was there waiting for him, a box from one of the station's bakeries in hand. He went to open it, but Katsuki waved him off.

"We'll eat on the train."

Perhaps if he had allowed his friend to show him what he'd gathered, Katsuki would have been able to

grab some other, more desirable, meal. Or perhaps he wouldn't have been able to resist Kirishima's charm, then, either.

Whichever way, when they were finally settled and moving away from the station, and Kirishima opened his box to reveal the putrid scent of strawberries,

Katsuki wasn't exactly pleased.

But one look at Kirishima's face - every feature in wait for Katsuki's approval - he knew he, once again, could not bring himself to show his distaste.

And so he reached in, grabbed the closest pastry - some sort of cakey bread with a center of

creamy pink strawberry-flavored (surprise, surprise) filling - and resigned himself to his fate.

"'S good," he mumbled after finishing a bite of (frankly not very good at all) pastry.

His hiking partner nodded enthusiastically around his own mouthful. "Right? I saw an ad

for a sale on these in the bakery window and I just /had/ to get them. They're called /kolaches/. The sale was technically just for four, but I figured we'd plow through that, so I got six instead. The cashier was super nice about it, though, and let me have the sale anyway."

Ah, joy, that meant two more of those lovely, sickeningly sweet pastries that Katsuki would have the pleasure of eating.

"D'you want me to pay you back?" Not so much a question of whether Kirishima wanted him to as it was a question of whether he'd let him.

"Nah, this is a

gift, bro! Plus you're taking me hiking in the mountains /and/ you paid for the train tickets, so this is me doing my part!"

Katsuki huffed but agreed, secretly taking note to pay him back later. Then he turned toward the window - he'd picked the window seat for a reason,

after all - and stared at the quickly passing scenery as he marveled at how he was yet again eating food that he despised just to please someone.

// okay that's all i've gotten written for now so imma go end this update here. might add more again soon or i might make you wait a couple days idrk yet //

//update time!!//

A strawberry-scented candle. A /candle/. Who the fuck makes a godsdamned candle smell like /strawberries/?

At least he wouldn't have to eat it.

He couldn't throw away the gift, nor could he try to lop it off onto someone else. Kirishima would probably be heartbroken if he

found out, plus Katsuki kind of wanted to keep it, for reasons he didn't want to think about. It couldn't stay in his dorm, though. The smell was driving him crazy and he'd never even attempted to light it.

So when he went home the next day for the winter holidays, he brought

the shitty candle with him.

His mom (being a firsthand witness to his strawberry-directed loathing) had laughed when she realized someone had gotten him that as a present.

His dad was quieter, though, looking at Katsuki with a small smile that made the wrinkles at the

corners of his eyes crunch up. No doubt the old man had realized how badly Katsuki had wanted to keep the gift, what with dragging it all the way home despite his obvious distaste for its scent. He brushed past the both of them with little more than a gruff promise to be back

down soon to help with dinner.

He left it on the top shelf of his closet, praying that it wouldn't stink up the place too bad; against his better judgment, he didn't put it in a box or anything to attempt to hold in the smell. Guess it reminded him a little too much of who it

came from to put it in hiding like that.

Guess he was starting to crave those sweet, sweet memories of strawberry smiles more than he'd originally let himself realize.

For some reason, the Katsuki of half an hour before had thought getting Kirishima a carton of strawberries - which he'd spotted at the grocery store while shopping for a few ingredients that he'd run out of - was a good idea.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

"Here," he said. "They're already washed." He shoved the box at Kirishima before walking back through the doorway he'd just popped through. Or, trying to. He was tugged back by a hand around his wrist before he could even take another half step out of his friend's room.

"Bro, wait! Don't you wanna share?"
He almost said yes. Those ripened-strawberry eyes, above cheeks splattered in faint freckles like strawberry seeds, pulled at his soul and begged him to agree. But he bit his tounge, instead. Hardened his heart like his quirk was

the same as Kirishima's. "No."

"Please, dude? There's no way I can eat all of these by myself!" That was probably a lie. Katsuki had once watched him eat an entire dish of katsudon - one meant for four people to /share/ - on his own.

"Then maybe don't eat them all at once, dumbass."

"I don't think I'd be able to stop myself if I tried, man. Plus, if I put them in the fridge downstairs, someone else might eat them!"

And, fuck. If Katsuki had thought those eyes were tugging at his heartstrings before, they

were definitely ripping him apart now. He was a fucking paper doll when it came to Kirishima, easy to tear and even easier to whisk in one direction or the other by even the slightest breeze.

"Fine," he snapped - both in tone of voice and will to resist. "Just a couple, though. Like two, tops."

The bastard dropped five into his open palms, then held the carton away so that Katsuki couldn't put them back.

"Shitty hair-"

"C'mon, man, just take them! Consider it a thank-you." Those too-sweet eyes again.

He growled, but relented, popping one into his mouth. Disgusting. He suppressed a shudder and glanced at Kirishima, hoping for a distraction from the taste. And, boy, did he get one.

His sugary-sweet red eyes were scrunched closed, and he was smiling in a way that only Kirishima could - big and bright and so beautiful it was damn near blinding. Kind of like stepping outside on a sunny afternoon after spending all day indoors and having to squint to see

because the intensity of the world is so surprising, yet enjoying the warmth of the day nonetheless. He looked so sweet, sitting there on the bed, but not in the overwhelmingly gross way that Katsuki couldn't stand. More in the way that made him want more, like what people

often said of strawberries. And, despite how much he had hated the strawberry he'd just forced himself to choke down, this one - this strawberry boy - looked so damn sweet, so tempting. So Katsuki, not bothering to attempt to resist the irresistible, leaned over and

//okay update's over, hope everyone enjoyed!!//

//JOKING JOKING oh my god i wouldn't do that to you i swear//

kissed him, right on one of his strawberry-seed freckles.

Then Kirishima's eyes popped open, and gone was the sweetness that Katsuki had felt building inside of him. Gone and replaced by sour - strawberry sour - that made his gut churn and throat sore and sent his eyes

burning, because of course. Strawberries - no matter how much he wanted them or how good they looked - always let him down in the end.

And then. Well. His brain must've stopped processing reality. Maybe the strawberries had gone bad without him realizing (hey, they tasted

gross enough already, how was he supposed to tell?) and he now was experiencing some rare type of food poisoning that gave him fever dreams.

But it felt so goddamned /real/. Wide eyes that were more breathtaking than Katsuki ever imagined something that made his brain

chant /strawberry, strawberry, strawberry/ could ever be. That gentle summer-breeze gaze meeting his own, taking him in (Katsuki could practically see the loading symbol spinning inside of Kirishima's mind), and then dropping to look at his lips. Then - slowly, carefully,

as if treading the narrow path between garden rows - he leaned in towards Katsuki, whose motor system had yet to catch up with what his eyes were seeing and /move/.

And the kiss was so, so /sweet/. Gentle and soft and liberating. Ephemeral and slightly clumsy - what with

the way their noses bumped together before Katsuki's body finally got the hint - but oh, fuck, it was more than he ever could have asked for. He could taste the barest hint of strawberry against his lips, and even that couldn't ruin such a perfect moment. It tasted okay,

actually. Not great, or really even good at all, but... bearable. If a strawberry kiss was what it took then a strawberry kiss was what he'd take.

Bakugou hadn't liked the taste of strawberries. Too sour, too sweet, too /much/.

But now... well, he figured they were alright. The memories they gave him, at least, and the person they reminded him of. He could take what strawberries had to offer him. (Just don't expect him to do much more than look and maybe throw in a kiss or two here and there).

//epilogue time!! what, you expected me to write all this and get all attached and /not/ make one??//

//also just a fair warning that i wrote this at three in the morning and found it all wayy too funny for my own good so like be prepared my dudes//

"Alright, keep your eyes closed, Katsuki. Are they closed?"

He nodded his assent. His boyfriend - /boyfriend!/ - had gone to all the trouble of setting up an entire picnic for their first proper date (come on, all those one-on-one outings in the past were /totally/ dates, they

were just idiots to not have realized it yet), and to hell if he was going to let all that effort go to waste. Ei had worked hard for this.

"Alright, you can look now!"

The previously empty, grass-covered hillside (just hidden from sight of the school, thanks to a few trees to

their backs, but still on the UA property) had now been adorned with a bright red blanket that complimented the colors of the sky in early dusk perfectly. Carefully arranged on top were two bentos (slightly messily made, but Katsuki wasn't going to say anything) and a white

cardboard box. And Eijirou, of course, excitedly bouncing on his heels in wait for Katsuki's reaction.

He offered one of his rare small smiles. "It's perfect, babe. Like you."

And that sent Eijirou sprawling back onto the blanket, hands up in a poor attempt to hide his

blushing and wide smile. "Katsukiiii!"

"Tch, dumbass." But he was smiling big, too. "C'mon, let's eat already. I'm fucking starving."

They broke their chopsticks and began to enjoy the meal Ei prepared them.

Katsuki pushed a piece of (overcooked, according to the

perfectionist in him) Tonkatsu around in an attempt to coat it in as much sauce as possible. "So when're you gonna tell me what's in the box?"

Ei grinned at him, teasing. "Ooh, someone's impatient. That's for last, /babe/," he said, and Katsuki was well-aware of the pet name

his boyfriend had just blatantly copied him on. The nerve this guy had! And the nerve his own face had to turn all red like that at a single word!

"You're cute when you blush."

"Shut up. I am not blushing." Then, as an afterthought, "And I'm not cute, either, dummy."

"But you are!! Both of those things!!"

And so they continued to banter as the sun slid lower into the sky like a drop of honey down a periwinkle-and-rose-colored jar until the last grain of rice was gone from their dishes.

//okay, i feel like this is a pretty good spot to take a break so imma go do that for a little while!! while you wait, any guesses on what's in the box?//

//alright this should be the last update!! i had a lot of fun writing this section so hopefully you have fun reading it!!//

"Okay," he said when the bright orange of the sunset blurred out the distant city view completely. "So are you gonna tell me what's in the box now?"

Eijirou let out an amused breath at that. "Alright, alright."

"Don't you dare tell me to close my eyes again. You almost made me trip like, three times."

"I would never let you fall!"

"Would too."

"Would not."

"Well, you let me fall for you pretty hard," he said, and stuck his tounge out for good measure.

"Oh my- who knew you were so fucking immature, Katsuki?" His smile looked so bright in this light. His blush, too. "Now do you want your cake or not?"

"Cake?"

"Oh, oops, that was supposed to be a surprise. But yeah, I got cake!" He twisted around to grab the box from where

they'd scooted it back to make room to watch the sunset side-by-side.

And Katsuki had thought his fruity curse would've been dispelled by true love's kiss or whatever by now, but when Eijirou lifted the flimsy cardboard lid, he quickly realized that that was apparently not the

case. Laying on its side inside the box was a single, thick slice of duel-layered vanilla cake with vanilla frosting, and embedded inside the frosting in the form of little pink and red flecks were Katsuki's sworn enemy for life (no, not Deku): strawberries. Upon further

inspection, he noticed that there was also an undiced piece of the fruit at the would-be top. For decoration, probably, since there were apparently a lot of people out there who thought strawberries were suitable cake toppings.

"Aw, man, it fell over! Oh well- what do you think?"

"It's strawberry," was all his brain could decipher.

"Yeah! You're surprised, right?" Katsuki nodded without thinking about it; /surprised/ was a good enough choice of word. That earned him a smile.

"I asked Sato if he could bake a cake and give us a slice, and he let me flip through his recipe book to figure out what kind! I was about to choose chocolate but I saw this one and I really wanted to get it for you since, y'know, you like strawberries so much!"

Well that certainly stirred Katsuki out of his speechlessness.

"I- /hah/? I like what?"

"Strawberries!" Then, slower and with an undertone of doubt, "You... do like strawberries, right?"

"Uh." Well how in the world was he supposed to come up with a good answer to /that/?

"Wait, oh my god. Do you... do you /not/ like strawberries??"

"Um."

"/Katsuki/."

"It's not my fault!" Eijirou looked at him with an expression that read all over of '/oh really?/', so he elaborated. "Well, you just. Really seemed like you wanted me to like all the things, so I said I did because I didn't wanna hurt your feelings or anything, but that was

probably really stupid of me-" another look from Eijirou "-okay, /definitely/ really stupid. Should've told you from the beginning that I actually kind of really hate strawberries, huh?"

And Ei's not answering was a little /too/ quiet in his ears, so he strained them hard enough to pick up the almost-inaudible "oh my god". And then Ei was laughing, loud, and Katsuki reeled back a little. "Oh my /god/. And all this time- I thought-" another wave of laughter,

then he cut himself off.

"Wait, so- the strawberries you got me? That I shared with you before, ah. Before we kissed?"

"Yeah, those were kind of gross. The kiss was nice, though."

"And how about the candle??"

"I mean, I like it. Seriously. But, ah, that's really only 'cause it's from you. It's in my closet at home right now."

"Oh. Wow, okay. And - wait - the kolaches? When we went hiking back in October? You were just pretending to like those, weren't you? And I

got you /three/, holy shit."

Katsuki winced in sympathy for his past self, offering a small nod and a half smile. (Or, half of his natural, already-halved smile. A quarter smile?) "The, uh, popsicles, too. Back in August. That's when you started thinking I

liked strawberries, right?"

Eijirou gave him a small nod, and then another, bigger one as he began to break out into a smile that Katsuki was /not/ going to be reminded of a certain flower by. "Oh my /god/, Katsuki. You're ridiculous."

And Katsuki tried to get his face to scowl because, hey, he was /not/ ridiculous - or, okay, fine, not /that/ ridiculous, at the very least. But Ei's smile and the way he laughed from his chest like that was just way too infectious, and Katsuki found his eyebrows becoming like

two fridge magnets that just /would not/ go together no matter how hard he tried to make them. And so, since trying not to didn't work, Katsuki let loose and /laughed/. It was wild and kind of an odd pitch because he didn't very often laugh so freely, but Ei didn't once cast an

odd look his way. And so they laughed together and tumbled backward onto red picnic blanket and poked each other in the cheek, the nose, the arm, the chest - "you're an idiot" "no, you're an idiot!" "no-" - until they lay there, side by side and on their backs, out of breath and

gasping through the last boughts of giggles and hiccups (which Katsuki didn't even know he could /get/).

Eijirou let out a breath heavy with aged laughter. "The sky is super beautiful right now."

"You're super beautiful right now."

And now they were looking at each other and Ei's hand was on Katsuki's face - originally meant to push him away out of embarrassment, most likely, but that action had long since failed - and, oh, look at that. They were getting closer.

Their foreheads pressed together and the very tips of their noses touched and their eyes closed and, wow, despite them both being in uncomfortable half-down, half-on-their-side positions, this was already going so much smoother than their first kiss had.

They let themselves sit there for a second, quiet of even their hiccups by now, breathing slowing breaths. Then, just before their lips connected:

"You can have the cake to yourself, by the way."

"Oh, no thanks. I forgot to bring forks."

And that set them off again.

//end//

//thank you so much for reading!! i hope you all enjoyed this thread as much as i did//