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The night was old when the party finally dwindled down.
Aizawa-sensei had just left the Class-A dorms, a sleeping Eri—tired from a fun-filled night—safely tucked in his arms. Most of the students had already called it a night as well, promising to part-take in the clean-up the next morning. Denki, who accidentally overused his quirk while playing with the Christmas lights, was knocked out on the couch. A snickering Kirishima and Sero had taken photographs of his drooling face, before eventually dragging him up to bring to his room.
Meanwhile, those who were still capable of holding out had started on clearing out the mess. Sato and Koda were packing up left over food to place in the refrigerator, whilst a floating Uraraka was being assisted by Shoji and Midoriya in taking off streamers and decorations on the wall. Iida, ever the responsible class rep, busied himself supervising his peers.
One of the students though was neither resting nor helping the others. Bakugou Katsuki was sat on the steps outside their dorm, quietly staring up at the stars. No particular thoughts were going through his mind. He was simply basking in the serenity of being alone. However the peace and quiet is soon broken by the subtle creek of the front door—a telltale sign that Bakugou unfortunately had company.
Before his companion could even utter a word, the explosive boy beat them to it with a grunt of, “If glasses sent you to reprimand me for not helping, you can go and tell him to piss off.”
“Well that’s not very festive of you, Blasty.”
Bakugou didn’t even bother turning around, the all too familiar voice coupled with the stupid nickname, made it obvious who his company was. With an annoyed click of his tongue, the boy replied, “The fuck do ya want, Ears?”
Jirou shrugged in response, “Figured I’d come out and accompany you’re mopey ass.”
“I’m not fucking moping!” the hothead grunted back. “And you can go back in. I don’t fucking need you hovering over my ass.”
Chuckling, the musician ignored the harsh words. Instead, she chose to sit herself next to the hothead. The boy turned to look at her for a second before turning back to glare daggers at the ground.
Kyouka broke the silence once more, “That’s a nice fit you have there.” He was still clad in the bright red Santa jacket that Mina and Kirishima had forced him to wear.
“I only wore it so that Raccoon Eyes would get off my ass.”
“Huh, funny how you’re still wearing it even after she’s gone to bed though.”
“Tch, its cold”, came his unconvincing reply.
She snickered in turn, “Right. So the best course of action was to sit outside and freeze even more.”
At her persistent teasing the explosion hero growled, “Did you come out here to fucking hassle me damn Earlobes?”
Little sparks were starting to appear on his hands. At the sight, Jirou proceeded to laugh harder. This irked the hothead further. Kyouka was sure that if she strained her eyes hard enough, she’d see the steam coming out of his ears. Just as he was about to spout an array of inappropriate words her way, the musician cut him off.
“Chill, Blasty. I didn’t come out just to annoy you”, the purple haired girl had reached into the pocket of her green jacket and handed an item to the boy beside her. “I also came to give you this.”
Bakugou stared suspiciously at the object, neatly wrapped in orange gift wrapping, completed with a purple bow. “The fuck is that?”
“A present”
“I can tell that it’s a present, but what the fuck is it for?”
Kyouka snickered, “For you obviously”. Her sarcastic response earned a scowl from the ash blonde.
“I don’t want some dumb Christmas present, Earlobes.”
This time, it was Kyouka who rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Well it’s not just a Christmas present. It’s also like a thank you gift of sorts.” The boy responded with a wordless raise of his brow. “You know, for the training program. You kinda saved my ass”, she continued as explanation.
Katsuki was taken aback by her response. It’s been weeks since the program with the Class-B and truth be told he almost forgot about the whole ordeal.
At his silence, the girl sighed, “Come on, just take it”
“You won’t leave me alone until I do, will you?”
The musical hero simply smiled at him with a shake of her head.
Sighing dejectedly, the hothead proceeded to snatch the present out of Kyouka’s hands. Despite the rough exterior, Kyouka noted how gently he tried to open the present, careful to not rip the wrapping paper. She observed him quietly as he finally saw the present.
Inside was a new pair of drumsticks. At first look they seemed like any standard wooden pair. But upon closer inspection, Katsuki could tell that they were custom-made. At the bottom of each stick was a tiny engraving of his initials, a small skull beside the ‘B.K’.
“Drumsticks?” he turned to her with raised brows, “Ya know I don’t really play anymore right?”
At his gaze, Jirou turned to stare at the ground, “Yeah.” Nimble fingers shyly wrapping around her earjacks, she continued, “But I figured if you do play again, you’re probably gonna need a spare for when you inevitably break the ones you have now.”
Katsuki once again scowled at her teasing smirk. It was true that he wasn’t the best at taking care of his drumsticks. His aggression always made it easy to snap the damn things in half. During their band practices for the school festival, he had broken his drumsticks multiple times, leading to Momo having to make him a new pair again and again.
Muttering quietly, he told her, “You didn’t need to fucking get me anything.”
“I know”, she responded.
“I don’t have a gift for you.”
“I don’t mind.”
“And I’m probably gonna break these eventually.”
“That’s okay.”
Turning to the girl, Katsuki is met by a soft smile plastered onto her blushing face. Her short purple hair was softly blowing with the wind. Trying to fight the heat that was rising in his own face upon the sight, his gaze fell downwards to her hands. Gloveless, her dainty fingers were slightly shivering. “The fuck happened to your gloves?” he questioned.
“Oh.” At his statement, Kyouka proceeded to rub her palms together. “Well, I was helping Hagakure with the dishes before I came here. Guess I forgot to put them on again.”
Rolling his eyes at her idiocy, he placed the drumsticks beside him before turning to face her completely and starting to remove his gloves. Jirou stared at him curiously, half expecting the boy to offer his gloves. Instead, the explosive hothead simply presented her his palms, “Give 'em here.”
The girl was visibly taken aback by the action, “W-what?”
“Tch, your hands. Give them to me.”
“Why?!”
“Just do it, damn earlobes!”
Reluctantly, the sound hero placed her hands in his. Bakugou’s rough palms enclosed her easily, almost engulfing her smaller fingers. Staring at her confused look, he smirked at her slightly. Suddenly, little explosions were going off. The action made Kyouka jolt in surprise. “Calm down, m’not gonna hurt ya, Ears”, he said with a chuckle, “M’just warming 'em up.”
Kyouka couldn’t help but stare at the tiny sparks in amazement. Her gaze so focused on their hands that she missed the fond look that the boy was giving her.
The night was old as the two students sat on the steps outside their dorm.
Hands pressed together, lips curved to form gentle smiles. The air was cool and frigid, but even so, their bodies felt warm. Neither mentioned the blush on either of their cheeks—both of them silently blaming the cold. A comfortable silence lingered between the two. The only sounds were the quiet whooshing of the night air, and the small popping noises coming from Katsuki’s explosion.
It was him who broke the silence this time. “Listen, Ears—”, he gulped nervously. “Uh, 𝑱𝒊𝒓𝒐𝒖.”
At the sound of her name coming from his lips, the musical girl looked up in surprise.
“The drumsticks”, he continued, “I, uh, I don’t hate them.”
It took a moment for the statement to process through the bewilderment she was feeling. When it did, Kyouka couldn’t help the tiny giggles that left her lips—the sound doing nothing to ease the pink hues in the boy’s cheeks.
She stared up at him with gentle grin.
“You’re welcome, 𝑩𝒂𝒌𝒖𝒈𝒐𝒖.”