“I don’t want to go to a fucking couples restaurant,” grumbled Bakugou as he sat defiantly on the couch with his arms crossed. “None of us are even dating anyone. It’s stupid.”

“First of all, it’s not a couple’s restaurant, there’s just a couples discount. We can get it if we go in pairs, so…” said Mina, sorting through the closet to figure out which jacket she was going to wear: neon pink, or neon blue. She settled for pink, or so she thought, before changing her mind and grabbing the blue one. “And besides, I could always set you up on a date…” Bakugou huffed, but Mina could see the corner of his mouth turning up into a smirk.

“Like I’d let you do that,” he said. Mina ran her fingers through his spiky hair to get him to freak out enough so he’d get off the couch. It worked.

“I texted a few of our friends to meet up with us, they’re all expecting you to come….” Mina trailed off, waiting for any kind of reaction from

him. Bakugou sighed and got up off the couch. Success!

By the time they had arrived at the restaurant, Bakugou was hangry, but still wary of Mina’s suggestion. The restaurant was a diner with a black and white checkered floor, but it looked relatively modern. Outside the restaurant, Kirishima and Kaminari waited for them.

“And that’s how I caused the entire side of my street to lose power in….Hey Bakugou! Mina!” exclaimed Kaminari, very eager to see his two friends. He gave a very obvious wink to Mina, who winked back.

“No Sero?” asked Kirishima. He turned to Kaminari. “I thought you said he was with them?” Kaminari and Mina looked as if they were both short circuiting. It took them a full minute of staring at each other before Mina finally spoke up.

“He’s running a bit late,” she said, pulling out her phone and furiously typing a message. “But let’s go get seated. I call Kaminari as my date, so Bakugou and Kirishima, you two are together.” Bakugou felt his cheeks redden as he avoided all possible eye contact with Kirishima. He narrowed his eyes. It was obvious that Mina and Kaminari were trying to set the two up, which Bakugou certainly didn’t mind. He just hoped that Kirishima would maybe get the hint. He didn’t want to make things awkward, after all. Kirishima was his best friend and loyal bro, he didn’t want to give something like that up over a silly date that his other friends had hastily put together.

“Kaminari told me this restaurant has really good meat,” said Kirishima, trying to break the tenseness between them up. “I’m definitely going to get some sausages.” Bakugou shoved his hands into his pockets. Kirishima’s face always glowed when he talked about meat or other manly things.

“Yeah I guess,” said Bakugou. “Maybe I’ll try some too.” He sighed internally once he realized that he couldn’t think of any other diner food besides for sausages for those few seconds. He silently wished that neither of his other friends noticed, but it was in vain.

“Why don’t you two just share then?” asked Kaminari with a wink. He turned to the greeter. “Table of four, please.” He then leaned in and whispered something to the greeter. Bakugou facepalmed, he was being so obvious.

“Here, Bakugou, you and Kirishima should sit across from each other,” said Mina, pulling out the chair for Kirishima to sit down.

“This is really fucking stupid,” scoffed Bakugou.

“The fact that you really don’t want to go to this restaurant or the fact that no one will take you and Kirishima for a couple because you’re too abrasive?” asked Kaminari, finishing off by loudly sipping his complimentary water with a straw. Bakugou rolled his eyes.

“Oh come on, it can’t be that hard for us to pretend to be a couple. Especially since you two are here to distract-“

“Speaking of that, Sero finally decided to show up so we’re going to split and go hang out with him. Have fun on your ‘pretend date’, guys,” said Mina giving the two of them a million dollar smile. She grabbed Kaminari’s hand and dragged him out of the restaurant with her. Bakugou felt his phone buzz in his pocket and checked the message.

“Enjoy your blind date. You can thank me later ;)” - Mina.

Bakugou looked over towards Kirishima, who seemed to blush at the message on his phone. Wait, blush? Bakugou searched Kirishima’s face for any sign that he could be blushing at him in particular. He could have got a text from anyone, hell, it could have even been a text from Mina getting Kirishima in on some sick joke to humiliate Bakugou. He had to be cautious with this.

“I can’t believe they ran off and just fucking left us here alone,” snarled Bakugou, picking up the menu and skimming over it.

“Yeah, but I kinda see where they were coming from. It would suck for Sero to be fifth wheeling like that,” said Kirishima sympathetically. He had no need to look through the menu since his heart was set on those sausages.

“Does it really count if we’re not actually dating?” asked Bakugou, trying to get a feel for Kirishima’s reaction. Kirishima’s smile didn’t falter.

“Shh, Bakugou, we’re supposed to be a couple,” said Kirishima with a wink. Unlike Kaminari and Mina who were masters at communicating through winks, Kirishima’s undeveloped winking skills really showed. Bakugou almost choked on his drink. “Also I think I barely have enough money to pay for my meal because I grabbed the wrong pants so I’d really appreciate it if we could make this work?” Bakugou clenched his fists under the table. Stupid Kirishima and his confusing ass mixed signals. Did he legitimately want to pretend to date or not?

“Oi Bakugou, want to share a drink?” asked Kirishima, dropping his menu to look him in the eyes. He looked so damn cute.

“I don’t want to drink some girly smoothie,” snapped Bakugou. If Kirishima really was in on some stupid joke Mina was putting together, this would be an obvious tell.

“That’s like I was going to suggest something manly….Like Mountain Dew,” said Kirishima, his smile showing off all of his sharp teeth.

“Oh, sure, I guess,” muttered Bakugou, completely taken aback by his response. The waitress came over to take their orders.

“My boyfriend and I would like a tall glass of mountain dew, and do you have those curly straws here? You know, the kind with all the loops in them?” ordered Kirishima. Bakugou felt as if he were going to explode, literally, when Kirishima said that word. Boyfriend . He mouthed it out under his breath.

“Yeah, we have that,” said the waitress. “And what would you like to order?” Kirishima spoke up before Bakugou could say anything.

“Can we just get a plate of sausages? I see that they come with the meals here but we kind of just want the sausages,” said Kirishima. The waitress gave them a puzzled look. Bakugou gritted his teeth. Were they not being convincing enough? He reached out and rested his hand on top of Kirishima’s, rubbing the back of it tenderly.

“So you just want the sausages?” the waitress repeated back.

“That’s what he fucking said,” snapped Bakugou.

“Babe, it’s okay,” said Kirishima. Babe . Bakugou shut his eyes and felt a wave of relief that his face was away from the waitress. This relief was short lived once he realized that Kirishima had a full view.

“Alright, you boys have fun with that,” said the waitress, leaving to put their orders in. Bakugou tapped his foot under the table.

“I’m sorry, was that too embarrassing?” asked Kirishima.

“No, no, it was fine,” said Bakugou, softly.

“That’s the kind of stuff I’d want to do if I was in an actual relationship, you know,” said Kirishima, looking off into the distance. “But hey, at least we get to mess around and practice here. You know, I really wouldn’t mind if you wanted to act a bit more affectionate.” These were the words Bakugou had been waiting to hear. He reached under the table and rested his hand on Kirishima’s thigh before giving it a little squeeze.

“Bakugou!” exclaimed Kirishima softly with an embarrassed grin. “I almost hit my knee on the table!” Bakugou smirked.

“You said I could be a bit more affectionate, so I took you up on your stupid offer,” said Bakugou with an air of arrogance. He looked over and noticed the waitress bringing over their mountain dew in a fancy milkshake cup. His eyes then focused on the single bendy straw.

“We only had one bendy straw left,” said the waitress. She set the drink down on the table. “I didn’t think you two would mind.”

“Not at all,” said Kirishima, giving her a thumbs up. He then took a sip out of the bubbly drink. “This is honestly the first time I’ve ordered mountain dew at a sit down restaurant. Wanna sip?” Bakugou’s eyes were drawn to Kirishima’s lips.

“Yeah.”

He bent his head down and took a sip of the drink, and noticed a strange taste.

“Are you chewing gum?” asked Bakugou, taking a swig of his water to erase the taste. Kirishima’s cheeks went as red as his hair.

“No, well, actually, it’s a breath spray. Kaminari gave me a puff so my mouth would taste good, you know, if there just so happened to be any kissing involved,” said Kirishima, rubbing the back of his neck. Kissing? He had thought that far? Bakugou tried his best to remain cool and composed on the outside when he was turning into an emotional mess on the inside.

“You know, we technically had an indirect kiss,” said Bakugou under his breath, not sure if he wanted Kirishima to hear him or not. Kirishima touched his own lips.

“Yeah….I suppose we did,” he said, showing Bakugou his sharp toothed smile.

“Here’s your sausages,” said the waitress, placing down the plate of sausages between the two of them.

“Hey Bakugou I’m going to run to the bathroom real quick, you can start without me,” said Kirishima right before he got up.

“He’s a keeper, for sure,” said the waitress, refilling Bakugou’s water for him. “I can tell he really likes you.”

“Yeah, he’s great,” said Bakugou, glad Kirishima wasn’t around to see him being all sappy. He’d never hear the end of that one.

By the time Kirishima returned to his seat, Bakugou was ready to down the entire plate; he realized that even though Kirishima said he could eat without him, it would be rude to.

“Aw, you waited for me, thanks bro,” said Kirishima.

“If we were dating, you wouldn’t refer to me as bro, would you?” asked Bakugou, genuinely asking a question but making it seem like he was giving a bit of criticism.

“I mean, with you, I would,” said Kirishima, taking a bite of the meal. “Mm, this one is really good, you should try it.”

“They’re literally all breakfast sausages. I can try my own,” said Bakugou, but Kirishima had already cut a piece of the one he had been eating. Bakugou blushed once he realized what Kirishima was doing. He leaned forwards over the table a bit more so Kirishima could feed him. Or at least, that was the idea goal.

“Ow, what the hell?” exclaimed Bakugou, covering his mouth so he didn’t choke on the piece. “Do you not know how to do something as simple as that?”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to stab you in the mouth, I won’t do it again,” said Kirishima. Again? Bakugou looked around to see if the wait staff were even paying attention to what was going on. It only complicated his feelings to figure out that they weren’t.

“Oh, those are pretty good,” said Bakugou, getting a decent bite this time. “I can’t believe I’m eating fucking breakfast for dinner.” Kirishima shrugged.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do but haven’t had an excuse to, so I kinda just went for it,” admitted Kirishima. So manly! The two of them finished off the rest of the meal, and the waitress came back to bring the check.

“I have juuust enough if we’re splitting the check-“

“I’ll take care of it,” said Bakugou, giving the waitress his card. “This is a date , after all.” Kirishima smiled embarrassingly.

“I really didn’t mind splitting the check, but does this make it an official date now?” asked Kirishima. Bakugou felt his heart skip a beat. Was Kirishima really suggesting that this was a date? For real? No, he had to be sure of it.

“Yeah, I guess,” said Bakugou as they left the restaurant.

“You boys have a nice night,” said the waitress, waving them goodbye. By the time Bakugou had exited the restaurant, he felt a weird tension between him in Kirishima. He assumed it had to do with the fact that neither of them were completely clear about their feelings. He had to do something.

“Hey, Kirishima?” started Bakugou. He then tensed up. It was wholly possible that Kirishima wouldn’t return his feelings. “I just want you to know that this date thing wasn’t that bad…”

“I feel like it worked out really well,” said Kirishima.

“...and if you say no I don’t really care because it’s not a big deal…”

“Okay?”

“...but do you maybe want to do something like this again? For real though…”

“...Oh. OH,” said Kirishima, taken aback. Bakugou’s face drained of all color. He didn’t want to, did he? All of that in the diner, that was just acting, wasn’t it. He swore under his breath.

“I’d love to,” said Kirishima.

“What?”

“I mean, I was kinda going to suggest this myself, but I wasn’t sure if you’d be into it or not. You kept blushing but I thought that was because you were hot or something,” said Kirishima. Bakugou let out a sigh of relief. Kirishima was just as awkward about this as he was!

“So would it be too bold if I asked you out?”

“Absolutely not,” said Kirishima. “Man, I’m relieved that you did all of this because I was freaking out about having to do it.”

“Yeah, I completely understand,” deadpanned Bakugou. He used this to cover up the fact that he was freaking out inside.

“So would it be too bold if I kissed you?” asked Kirishima, completely throwing Bakugou off his game. “I mean, if you don’t want to, you don’t have to-“ Kirishima could barely finish his sentence before Bakugou pressed their lips together in an embrace. He then quickly pulled away.

“Your fucking lips taste like the sausages and your stupid breath spray,” gagged Bakugou. “Never use that stuff again. Its weird. ” Kirishima laughed.

“Agreed, agreed.”