Katsuki Bakugo had been your best friend since you were both in diapers. Twenty years of friendship meant he was completely, totally, absolutely off-limits. You knew the rules. Everyone knew the rules.

He made sure of it by scowling at every girl who tried talking to him, practically radiating a fuck off energy that sent them running. For a while, you wondered if he even liked girls. But his Instagram feed gave him away—occasional likes on girls' lip-sync videos between endless reels of training montages and AC/DC's "T.N.T." blasting over explosion clips.

So yeah, he liked girls. He just didn't let any of them get close.

Which made what you were about to do incredibly stupid.

He sat on his bed, completely absorbed in reading some vintage All Might comic, looking stupidly cute with his reading glasses perched on his nose. You'd been hanging out in his room all afternoon, the comfortable silence you'd shared for years stretching between you. But something felt different today. Or maybe it had always been different, and you'd just been too scared to acknowledge it.

Kissing him would be wrong, you thought. If he pushes you away, you just ruined twenty years of friendship.

But your body moved before your brain could stop it.

You scooted closer, slowly, testing the waters. He didn't move. You laid your head on his shoulder, feeling his warmth through his shirt, inhaling that familiar scent of burnt sugar and clean laundry. Your heart hammered against your ribs.

He still didn't push you away.

That's a good sign, right?

Minutes passed. The comic pages stopped turning. You could feel his breathing, steady and controlled, but maybe slightly faster than normal. Or maybe that was just your imagination trying to justify what you were about to do.

You tilted your head up to look at him.

He looked down at you, those crimson eyes meeting yours, and you saw his mouth open, preparing to deliver his usual gruff "The hell are you starin' at?"

You kissed him before he could speak.

His lips were softer than you expected. Warm. Still. He completely froze, every muscle in his body going rigid, the comic book crinkling in his tightening grip.

Oh god. Oh no. Abort mission.

You pulled away immediately, panic flooding through you. What had you just done? Twenty years of friendship. Twenty years. Down the drain because you couldn't control yourself for five more seconds.

He stared at you, eyes blown wide, face completely blank. You'd never seen Katsuki Bakugo look shocked before. Angry, sure. Determined, absolutely. Smug, constantly. But never this—this raw, unfiltered what the fuck just happened expression.