#bkg has been so much more fun to write starting w this part

[a11eya]

TITLE: lights will guide you home

CHAPTER: 5

PAIRING: Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

SUMMARY: Soul-lights aren’t as common in this day and age as they were in the past, before quirks, but they’re common enough that people do still find their soulmates.

At thirteen, you meet Bakugou Katsuki, and he lights up for you in orange and gold. You tell him he's your soulmate. He sneers and tells you that you aren't his. He makes your adolescence miserable until you part ways.

You meet again as adults, late at night, in a grocery store, over a pile of bok choy. He apologizes for how he treated you when you were children.

(In which you have a choice—to reject Bakugou's apology, reject him, or to let him show you the man he's become, to learn with him what it means to love and forgive.)

TAGS: soulmate au, trope inversion/subversion, slow burn, getting together, falling in love, fluff, aged up characters, pro-hero characters, eventual smut, mild bullying

NAVIGATION: Series Masterlist

He texts you a few days later.

It’s early evening, and you’re winding down from work by playing with the kittens. You’re a little winded from running around your apartment; the three of them had chased you around as you teased them with a wand with a fuzzy mouse attached to one end. 

You hear the chime of your phone and let one of the orange kittens, Mikan, have the toy. He scampers off, mouse held in his mouth. His siblings give chase. You fumble your phone a little upon seeing a message with Bakugou’s contact pop up on your screen.

Bakugou: Come by the agency tomorrow. 

You: Why?

You wish you could sit on your couch and catch your breath, but it’s still surrounded by other furniture, boxes, and any other barriers you were able to come up with to fend off kitten claws. Instead, you remain standing, watching as three little dots appear at the bottom of your screen. 

Instead of an answer, he sends an address. 

You plug it into your phone’s map app, and it indicates it’s his agency’s address. You wait to see if he, y’know, actually answers your question. He doesn’t. You send him a follow up text. 

You: ?????

You switch to a different app, killing time as you wait for his response. Five minutes pass. Nothing. Getting up to corral the kittens back into your spare room, you then head into the kitchen to make dinner. You figure he’d gotten busy and would reply later; you have no idea what his schedule is like, if he works in the daytime or night, if he’s on call… You don’t know any heroes personally, except for him, now, you guess. 

You forget all about it until the next morning when you’re on the train, headed into work, checking your messages. You pull your thread with him up and stare. 

He never replied to you. 

You’re very tempted to not show up. You hadn’t expected Bakugou to be like this… cryptic? He’s such a different person than you remembered. You really can’t tell what he’s thinking. 

But you’re a little curious, you admit. Why does he want to meet? And you do want to take a look at the agency Red Ri—Kirishima had so proudly talked about. 

After graduating high school, you couldn’t escape the media speculation about his generation of heroes graduating from UA. Who’s opening up an agency, who’s which hero’s sidekick, who’s leaving the country, who’s dating whom? There’d been speculation that Bakugou—Dynamight—might open up an agency with Deku. The Symbol of Victory and the Symbol of Hope. 

But Deku went abroad, and you’re not sure exactly what happened after that. You’d gotten busy with school, then with work, and you’d stopped going out of your way following what was happening with Dynamight. All you knew was he very quickly outgrew being a sidekick, shot up the hero ranks, and became his own pro hero. 

You thought the next step would be opening up his own agency. It’s what he’d talked about doing, in junior high. Instead, curiously, he opened one up as co-owner with Red Riot. 

So after work finds you in the lobby of their agency. The lobby is all clean lines, straddling the line between modern and timeless. You’d expected a sterile office atmosphere or cool masculinity, but there are touches of warmth here and there—plants in corners, bright windows, soft couches. You wonder if Bakugou had a hand in the interior design or if they’d hired someone to do it. 

“Excuse me,” you say to one of the people sitting at a receptionist desk. She looks up at you with a pleasant smile. Reflexively, you smile back. “I’m here to see Baku—I mean Dynamight.”

“Your name, please, and ID?”

You give both to her, and her eyes light up in recognition. 

“Oh! Yes, we’ve been waiting for you. Dynamight is unfortunately in a meeting at another hero’s agency, but he’s left this for us to give you.” She hands you a medium-sized parcel, which you take, brow furrowed. He isn’t even here? 

“Do you know when he’ll be back?” you ask.

“I’m sorry, I don’t. These meetings are unpredictable in length. Dynamight did mention that you shouldn’t wait for him.”

“Oh. Okay,” you say, blinking. What the hell? “Thanks for your help.”

“No problem! Take care and have a good evening!”

“You too.”

You walk outside the agency, holding the box in both hands. It’s plain cardboard, no identifying text, no wrapping. Your fingers itch to open it up, but you resist. Your feet take you to the station that’ll ferry you home, and your mind is awhirl. 

Why would he ask you to come to his agency but not even be there to tell you what’s going on in that head of his? Couldn’t he have at the very least shot you a message to reschedule if he knew he wouldn’t be there? And what’s with this box? You can’t even imagine what’s inside.  

Resisting the urge to rattle it, or bother the people in the train car around you by trying to open it, you stew in your thoughts.

By the time you get home, you’re nearly bursting at the seams with curiosity. 

You toss your things onto the kitchen table and get some scissors to cut open the tape sealing the box. Crumpling up the packaging paper you find inside, you peer in to see what’s settled at the bottom.

It’s several bundles of what appear to be clear sheets of plastic. You read the paper labeling on the bundles, which tell you that they’re furniture protector tape sheets in large and extra large sizes. 

You empty the box, root around the paper packaging you’d crumpled up, in case you’ve missed something. Sure enough, a tiny slip of paper flutters to the ground, and you bend over and pick it up. 

For your dumb couch, it reads.

You look up at your dumb couch, surrounded by paraphernalia intended to ward off naughty kittens. 

Your eyes light up. 

Thank you Bakugou, you message a while later, sitting cross-legged on your living room floor. You watch through the screen of your phone, recording, as Mikan stretches up and places his paws on the now plastic-protected fabric of your couch. His sharp little claws shoot out to scratch. 

Instead, his claws slide off. You can almost see the question mark appear over his head. Mikan sniffs at the protector. He paws frantically at the plastic, trying to make some headway into the one thing separating him from ultimate satisfaction, cat tree and scratching posts scattered around the room be damned. He sniffs it one more time before leaving it alone, wandering off, defeated. You end the recording, a big smile on your face. 

The two other kittens had made their attempts in the past thirty minutes since you’d let them roam the room. They both failed and lost interest even more quickly than Mikan had. You’re so happy, you pick up the female tortie, Natsu, who’d wandered near you and give her a big smooch on the head. She mewls, a protest, and you let her go. 

You send Bakugou the video you’d just recorded for good measure and get up to do some laundry. Your phone chimes a few minutes later as you’re folding your clothes.

Bakugou: Did they all do that

You: They all tried scratching it, yeah, but Mikan (the little orange boy in the vid) tried the hardest lol. All the others gave up at first scratch

Bakugou: He seems like the dumbest of the litter

You: Bakugou! 😠 Stop picking on baby animals

Bakugou: I call it like I see it

You laugh. 

Alright, so it means something to you, that he’d been paying attention the other day, even while you’d been talking about something so small and insignificant. That he went out of his way to do something that’s making your life easier. 

He’s been so… nice, you acknowledge. You see what he’s doing with these gestures, awkward and brusque as they are. You still don’t know what he’s trying to accomplish by doing all this, and that makes you wary, but. You think you’re willing to see where this goes. 

What do you have to lose, anyway? If he’s doing this to quell lingering guilt or for his PR image, fine. You can assuage the guilt; you can hang in there until he thinks it’s enough and then fades back out of your life. After a lot of therapy, you’ve gotten to a place in your life where you accept that you were children, when he was cruel to you, and as adults, maybe you can allow him to prove that he’s grown as a person. It might even be good for you to get some type of closure, even if it is contrived. You want to let this go, once and for all. 

And if he’s doing this because he wants to be friends, genuine friends, well. 

You won’t lie and say that there isn’t a part of you that has survived, that still treasures the fact that there’s someone out there who lights up for you. That craves that connection. That admires, every time you see him, the orange and gold that limns him.

So you’ll see where it goes. You hope Bakugou continues to surprise you. 

You start to message him more. Just to test the waters. 

You: So Kirishima’s your best friend, huh? He seems nice

Bakugou: No.

You: No? No, what? He’s not your best friend? Or he’s not nice??

Bakugou: No as in I’m not telling you fuck all about him

You: That’s not nice ☹️

Bakugou: Good thing I ain’t nice

You: Look at what Mikan did!!! 😿

You send a picture of the bag of bread he’d gotten into, half-chewed and unsalvageable. 

Bakugou: Furball’s a menace. Better pray someone takes him off your hands 

You: Maybe he’s just hungry? Should I feed them more?? Is bread bad for cats???

Bakugou: I ain’t fucking Google. I don’t know shit about your fleabags, go ask someone else

You: Bakugou ☹️ 

So he’s mean, and snarky, but it’s a little funny to you now. You’re getting used to him, and you’re finding that he has more bark than bite. 

A couple days pass where you’re too busy with work to message him. You’re stressed about a task your boss has given you, and when you get home, you barely have the mental energy to take care of yourself and the kittens before collapsing into bed. 

In the past few weeks since you started messaging him more frequently, he’d only ever replied, not instigated. Occasionally, you’ve wondered if your messages are annoyances rather than welcome interactions, but he always replies. You’re starting to think he’s just not a great texter. He doesn’t use emojis at all, and he never sends memes like normal people in your age group do. He’s grumpy. 

But Sunday night, the night before your deadline, Bakugou texts you first for a change. 

Bakugou: You alive or should I file a missing persons report 

You: Barely 😞

Bakugou: What’s that supposed to mean

You: I have a work thing due tomorrow and I’m super stressed about it. I can’t sleep bc I can’t stop thinking about it and it’s driving me fucking insane

He doesn’t reply immediately. The longer you stare at the message you sent, the more you begin to regret it. It’s weird, right? You shouldn’t have vented at him. The two of you aren’t like that. You just see each other occasionally, and Bakugou sometimes does something nice in an attempt at making up for being unkind to you when you were children. You needle at him because it’s fun and he growls at you and that’s it. 

Suddenly, your phone starts to ring in your hand, and you immediately silence the ringer, heart rate spiking in surprise. It’s late, and the last thing you expect to see when you look at your screen is Bakugou’s contact. You bite your lip. You answer.

“Hello?”

“What’s your dumb work thing.”

“What?”

“Tell me about the shit that’s keeping you up. If you’re gonna be up all night thinking about it anyways.”

“I don’t know… It’s highly specific to my job. I’m sure it’d be boring to hear about…”

“Stop stalling or I’ll come over there to kick your ass.”

This startles you into laughter. “You don’t even know where I live. Idle threats.”

“You don’t want me to find out, and don’t think I can’t.”

A smile lingering on your lips, you acquiesce. “Alright, alright. So my boss…”

You explain the task your boss had given you, the tight timeline for it, the multiple departments you’ve had to collaborate with in order to complete it, the feeling that you won’t put out a satisfactory end product.

He’s quiet for the most part. Lets you talk. Lying in bed, working your worries out and hearing him breathe on the other end of the line lulls you into a space where your thoughts go soft, turn into wisps. You don’t mind that he doesn’t have much to say; he grunts at points and makes other reactive sounds, so you know he’s listening. He’s a good listener, you realize, drowsily.

Your eyes begin to droop, and you’re yawning every other sentence before you know it. 

You slip into sleep. 

The next day, you submit your project to your boss, and she’s pleased with your work. You’re so relieved, and excited, and happy, that you don’t think twice about pulling up your message thread with Bakugou and texting him.

You: It’s done! I’m free!! My boss liked it, mission success 💪

He texts you back a few moments later.

Bakugou: Good work.

[cashmoneyyysstuff]

katsuki’s masterlist ♡ !

lil blurbs ! ( i'm just talkin'):

katsuki likes to make you laugh

katsuki's love language

katsuki is so dramatic

katsuki likes to bite you

childhood bodyguard! katsuki

katsuki x popstar! reader

katsuki is fun to mess with

katsuki really likes the way you smell

hockey player! bakugou

sleepy kisses w katsuki

katsuki and compliments

katsuki doesn't give a fuck

goodnight kiss (or the one where katsuki isn’t good at asking for, well…anything.)

suck up katsuki

could've fooled me ( or the one where you peel your orange yourself and katsuki is not happy)

katsuki and your naps (or the one where katsuki hates kaminari)

katsuki is a big baby

katsuki and (non sexual) hickies ! more !

no good thief ! (or the one where katsuki finds out who’s been stealing his clothes)

sleeping on the couch

katsuki and petnames…kinda

katsuki in a suit

katsuki is dramatic again (or the one where katsuki isn’t worried..really.)

katsuki and ice cream

katsuki and changing

katsuki doesn't give a fuck, again !

your almost boyfriend katsuki

baby suki

katsuki accidentally hurts you

the outside world

katsuki and goodbye kisses

katsuki and i miss you's

katsuki's scarf

katsuki the comedian

katsuki and your birthday

katsuki texting hcs !

crybaby katsuki

get me some ramen pls!

katsuki and physical affection

lil fics ! ( i ramble a little longer) :

katsuki is in trouble

katsuki's extra clingy when he's sleepy

from the start (or the one where you've been katsuki's for as long as you can remember)

you are not the father ! (or watching the maury show with katsuki)

katsuki hates seeing you cry

unchanged apologies (or the one where katsuki's childhood habits remains the same)

fire-breathing roommate chronicles (or living w dragon bkg)

baking cookies with katsuki

can't love anyone more than you

katsuki can't say no to you (not that he wants to) (or the one where katsuki takes care of you after you get drunk) part two !

déjà vu : ( or the one where katsuki thinks about you) bnha manga spoilers !!

the bet (or the one where your classmates make a bet.)

this night has opened my eyes (or the one where katsuki cleans up your injuries)

valentine's day troubles (or the one where katsuki's friends help him out for valentines day )

boyfriend for sale ! (or the one where your boyfriend forgets to ask you to be his valentine) feat. shoto todoroki !

ewww, katsu's got cooties ! (or the one where katsuki is too cool for cooties)

two of hearts (or the one where katsuki wakes up) bnha manga spoilers !!

31 days (or the one where katsuki surprises you)

habits (or little habits katsuki's developed ever since he's met you) slight bnha manga spoilers !!

while i search for the way to your world, leave a mark on your way (or the one where katsuki has his first real fight with you)

jealous, jealous, jealous girl ! (or the one where your boyfriend gets too much attention)

half return (or the one where katsuki decides to go home for the weekend and brings you with him) bnha manga spoilers !!

black coffee (or the one where katsuki hates it)

power outage (or the one where katsuki always lights up the way for you)

sick days (or the one where katsuki takes care of you when you’re sick)

operation : trouble in paradise ! (or the one where katsuki tries to get his bf privileges back)

memory box (or the one where you take katsuki on a trip down memory lane)

tell me why..your hands are cold (or the one where katsuki is definitely better than the heater)

coming home (or the one where things are just more convenient with katsuki)

chicken scratches (or the one where katsuki's hand writing is atrocious and you love it) slight bnha manga spoilers !!

longer fics / mini series ! ( get comfy 'cuz this one's a multi-parter !) :

♡ fire-breathing roommate chronicles !♡ when an injured, mysterious, and incredibly handsome dragon man blasts through the wall of your apartment, you decide to let him stay with you until he's fully healed. despite the struggles of co-habitating with a mythical beast, his mysterious past and annoyingly sharp tongue, you find you can't help feeling drawn to him..

♡ fire-breathing boyfriend chronicles ! ♡ some short ‘n sweet little extra’s following the events of fbrc starring our favorite now dragon boyfriend bakugou !

ring pop proposal ♡ 1 2 3 ♡ the three times where mitsuki realizes that her katsuki is in love with you (and she realizes you love him back)

♡ ring pops, chocolates proposals ! ♡ katsuki loves you throughout the years.

an explosive birthday (collab event for the days leading up to katsuki's birthday !) see masterlist

shadows of affection : orphaned at a young age, katsuki knows nothing but endless violence and the feeling of his bruised and bloody knuckles. until he gets taken in by a mob boss and is tasked to become his daughter's bodyguard..

and then some more ! ( extra's !)

the morning after : katsuki confronts you about what you told him the night you got drunk

♡ fire-breathing boyfriend chronicles ! ♡ some short ‘n sweet little extra’s following the events of fbrc starring our favorite now dragon boyfriend bakugou !

♡ ring pops, chocolates proposals ! ♡ katsuki loves you throughout the years.

[eijiroukiriot]

After Months of saying i would i’m finally posting about my Kiribaku playlist! I’ve linked it before but I’ve never really gone into what the songs mean to me and how I see them in relation to the boys, and I think the explanations puts things into perspective, so I typed it all out!

This is my main krbk playlist - I also have playlists for Bakugou and Kirishima separately - and this focuses mostly on happier songs (and a few that are so ingrained into how I see them that I had to put them in anyway). I also have an angst-themed krbk playlist and post-breakup playlists for each of them! Really I just. love music and love seeing characters I like in it so this is fun for me 

Spotify Link

song descriptions under the cut!

i typed up all of this after 1 a.m. last night so not only is it very long it’s also somewhat incoherent but these songs mean a lot to me so if you’re down to read it then thank you!!

note: a few of these songs aren’t available on spotify at the moment but they’re so crucial to the Vibe that i’ve still included them here!

i. I Always Knew - The Vaccines

“So let’s go to bed, before we say something real - 

Let’s go to bed, before we say how we feel” 

-this is my Ultimate krbk song, man. the first time i heard it i was walking to class and i just had to stop on the sidewalk and take a Big deep breath. everything abt the lyrics fits them so well - i’ve talked about this before but the verses and prechoruses really capture that “being young and stupid and tiptoeing around your emotions” feeling, then the chorus hits and it just SOARS, and really, has there ever been a sentiment that fits them more than “it’s always been you” 

ii. Fly Me to the Moon/Lucky - Rick Hale

“Fill my heart with song and let me sing forevermore - 

Tell me I’m the lucky one you worship and adore” 

-I have an extreme soft spot for these boys and love songs. and this has been a part of my fic writing playlists for so long that it always makes me think of them. I don’t even have a lot to say by way of lyrics, this is a full atmosphere pick 

iii. If My Heart Was A House - Owl City

“Circle me and the needle moves gracefully back and forth -

If my heart was a compass, you’d be north” 

-boy if this song doesn’t make me think of bkg every time!! it’s the transition from the prechorus into the chorus that gets me - it starts so quiet, like there’s so much love inside of you that you’re still trying to keep down, and then the “bombs away” is the moment when you decide to stop running and just embrace it, and the chorus comes in so loud and strong and so thoroughly in love. call me a sap (spoilers: i do that myself multiple times here) but it really does remind me of what it must be like when bkg just...decides to let himself have this. and then i feel dumb bc this is about anime boys who are like not in love in canon at all but inside the intricate Kiribaku Canon i have built in my head oh yeah this is how bkg falls in love

iv. Knock Three Times - Tony Orlando

“One floor below me, you don’t even know me - I love you” 

-this is just the prime soundtrack for a college AU where kirishima’s dorm is right above bkg’s and he’s in Love with him. And Also, something about the bold retro vibe makes me think of kirishima, but that almost certainly a me thing! still a big bop though 

v. Intergalactic Disco - Interlunium

“So, with stars in our eyes, let’s fly through the glowing galaxies” 

-again, a big sappy atmosphere pick! i really do love the imagery in this one and the storyline of playing things off as just having a good time until it turns out the other person is as deeply in love as you are. it really is just That Song! please stan interlunium

vi. Animal - Neon Trees

“Here we go again, I kinda wanna be more than friends” 

-the ENERGY in this song!! the loud, highkey, driving beat! the vibes of being young and stupid and stumbling through having feelings for someone equally as inexperienced with love as you are! and yet the fact that we KNOW both of them would run full-force with it once they realize they both want it! the lyrics to this one do get a bit spicy but it’s really the high school crush energy in this one that gets me 

vii. If You Wanna - The Vaccines

“I don't want to do things independently, but I can't make you stay -

That's what all the friends I do not like as much as you say...but if you wanna come back it's alright”

-the ENERGY in this SONG!!!! the electric guitar and the chorus so long you think he’ll run out of breath! bkg getting so fed up with being so close to kirishima’s face and not being able to kiss it that he takes the dive and goes for it and then goes to run away until kirishima yells WAIT- IF YOU WANNA COME BACK IT’S ALRIGHT!!!

viii. No One Like You - Best Coast

“Been around this crazy world, but I still wanna be your girl - 

Cause there’s no one like you.” 

-I feel like...if krbk had a cheesy high school romcom, and everything led up to a big dance at the end, and at the very end the camera panned out as they finally caved into each other and went onto the floor to do that slow dance, this would be the song. This is their slow dance 

-seriously like 70% of the lyrics to this song are “there’s no one like you” which is really, once again, just the Pinnacle of krbk 

ix. Idfc - Blackbear

“'Cause I have hella feelings for you -

I act like I don't fucking care, 'cause I'm so fucking scared” 

-the bkg energy in this song...the self doubt and the pining but the deep-seated belief that you don’t deserve this, even though you’re so close, even though he keeps telling you he loves you- but how could he, he has to be lying, and why would you even care, you don’t care about people like this- you never have, until now...oh this song is just DRIPPING in it

x. My Best Friend’s Hot - The Dollyrots

“Won’t you apologize to me, to me, to me? For being such a tease, a tease, a tease” 

-it’s a song about being pissed at your oblivious hot best friend who you have a huge crush on! they might as well have credited the lyrics to bakugou katsuki 

xi. Stay by My Side - Twice

“I can’t hold it back anymore - 

I can’t even believe how much I love you” 

-it’s Cheesy Romance! it’s cheesy romance that’s all this is!!! this one is pure michigan cheese!!!!! 

xii. Love Line - Twice

“With you by my side, I wanna take a shot, take a walk on the love line” 

-again this is a very me pick! this one’s been sitting around on my writing playlists for a long time and i’ve come to really associate it w these Boys. the member who wrote the lyrics has said it was about her first crush and it’s generally about just. being So enamored with someone you can’t stop thinking about them. and i’m a big sap so you know where that goes 

xiii. Maybe (Luck of the Draw) - The Vaccines

“There’s nobody else like you, there’s nobody else like you -

And if there’s nobody else like you, then maybe I want to spend my life with you” 

-this one always sounds to me like krbk growing up, spending late nights both awake in the dimly-lit kitchen of their second apartment, watching the hours tick by on the microwave clock as they just talk and argue and make each other laugh and slowly realizing that this is by no means perfect but there’s no one else they’d rather keep getting old with...i feel like this is another end credits song for them, you know? 

xiv. I’m Totally Obsessed with Him - Matt Fishel

“He’s in my heart, he’s in my lungs - he’s in everything that I touch” 

-matt fishel deserves SO much more than he gets i mean LISTEN to this huge campy gay anthem about being just extremely an unapologetically in love with your big gay boyfriend!!!! i feel bad making pride anthems like this about anime boys but i’m also gay and i’m here to say that the absolute SCALE of this - the explosion of electricity and infatuation and campy guitar in the chorus - this one has BIG kirishima energy. words can’t do it justice just please please listen to this one 

xv. Slayers - Matt Fishel (again lol) 

“We’re in this together, you and I -

Hand in hand, side by side, unbreakable” 

-It’s a song about being in love with someone who you see as your total partner, you rely on each other and protect each other and you’re with each other through everything, and it’s written through the lens of a fantasy story - this one always, always makes me think of the two of them in the fantasy AU, sworn partners for life, able to rise above any challenges in their path, flying into the sunset together after a long day of adventures, so happy that it seems to make the world spin 

-this really may be the most krbk song i’ve ever heard so please listen to it, 

-i played it for my krbk friend once and when he said unbreakable they started screaming

xvi. Hooked On a Feeling - Blue Swede

“I’m high on believing you’re in love with me -

I said, I’m hooked on a FEELING!!!!!”

-picture this: class A crammed into a karaoke room for a party, kirishima standing up in front of the scream and screaming “THIS ONE’S FOR YOU BKG” and belting out the entire thing, slightly off pitch but FULL of spirit, every time ‘girl’ comes up in the lyrics he sings ‘bakugou’ really really fast (‘I CAN’T STOP THIS FEELING, deep inSIIIde of me, bakugouyoujust don’t reallize!!! what you do to me!!!!”) and everyone is whooping and hollering along except bkg who gets so red that nobody can tell if it’s angry embarrassment or in love god just so in love embarrassment 

-it’s hooked on a feeling it has such loud kirishima energy do i have to explain myself here

xvii. Everyday I Love You - ViVi (Loona) 

“If only you liked me - if only you loved me

Like a fool, I think only of you” 

-note 1: stan loona

-note 2: this song is just such a sweet picture of pining!! imagining the stolen glances and ‘hopeless’ crush feeling when (in some AU where they both have. less emotional hangups the first time they meet) they first meet,, i can’t explain it for this one even it just makes me so soft 

xviii. Crush - Weki Meki

“This feeling- like I’m losing, it’s hurting my pride

But I can’t help it, I’m so curious that I’m going crazy” 

-i’m sure you can tell by now that i. Really like kpop but the first time i read the lyrics to this one i lost it! there are really too many lyrics than i can fit here that remind me of how bkg sees kirishima when he first realizes it’s really a crush that’s making him act like this - i really recommend that you take a look at the translation for this one!! it really has it all - being mad at your crush for how they make your heart pound, feeling like it’s hurting your pride, “it’s not like me to be circling around you like this, i’m gonna make a move”, the line about how “i’ll be better to you than anyone else” - seriously, i cannot exaggerate the bkg energy in these lyrics 

xix. Kimi Janakya Dame Mitai - Masayoshi Ohishi

“I want to get to know you more and more - but that kind of line doesn’t really fit me” 

-aaaand here’s a song that radiates EXTREME Kirishima Energy!! everything from the vibrant guitar to the big belted chorus to the lyrics about being, like, confused but absolutely buzzing and just wanting to be with them - it’s loud and bright and awkward but THRILLED about every part of it!!

-it, of course, helps that the title essentially means “it’s gotta be you” 

xx. I Do Adore - Mindy Gledhill

“Everything you do - it sends me higher than the moon” 

-like….is there a more classic song to associate with your favorite stupid pining high schoolers ship 

-don’t get me wrong i KNOW this one is cliche and i KNOW there’s other ships this fits better but i’m soft don’t @ me 

xxi. Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You - Frankie Valli

-legally this song is only Half in the playlist bc spotify likes taking it down and putting it back up at random but after writing fly me i can’t NOT think abt krbk when i hear it. i have no further justification 

-also imagine kirishima being loud and embarrassing and singing this song to bkg all the time

xxii. Television/So Far So Good - Rex Orange County 

“I don't know, no, I don't know what you like,

But if you're looking for something new, I know somebody that you could choose: 

What about me?” 

-what about MEEEEEEEEeeeeeEEEe 

-i think it’s that driving guitar rhythm that makes this one for me. it just sounds so...ready to take on this weird new feeling of knowing how perfectly things could go with someone if you both just took the jump. it sounds very kirishima. 

-the content does start changing as it keeps going but those first few minutes and the RAP VERSE really have such bubbly dumb teenage ‘it’s our first time feeling like this and it might be a little too serious for us but why don’t we take the leap i’m sure it’ll be worth it’ vibes. it really feels like the first “what about me???” in the chorus should be accompanied by kirishima sprinting up to bkg and lifting him up and kissing him because he’s so caught up in this feeling

xxiii. Sweet Talk - Saint Motel

“When you laugh, I forget that it’s about me 

But it’s alright - cause being your punchline still is something” 

-we all know this is a krbk song, everyone knows it’s a krbk song, my non-bnha friend who I annoy constantly w krbk stuff knows this is a krbk song, honestly do I even have to explain why? it contains the line “you could yell ‘piss off, won’t you stay away’ - it’d still be sweet talk to my ears” and we All know how whipped kirishima already is 

xxiv. Into The Storm - Banners

“Through night and dark, through fantasies that fall apart,

Know you're always in my heart, anywhere you go” 

-Unconditional love! Working through the hard times together! and knowing these two, there have been & will be no shortage of hard times to work through. it’s that loyalty and devotion that makes this one. 

xxv. Talk Too Much - COIN

“Stay cool, it’s just a kiss - so, why you gotta be so talkative?” 

-when it comes down to it bkg and kirishima are two idiot 16 year olds who have never been in love before so you know they’re gonna stumble a lot when they first get together. i don’t know how to explain it but i think this really captures that

-also i feel like this is a pretty staple krbk song! i see it on so many playlists

xxvi. If I Tremble - Front Porch Step

“And if I tremble at the sight of you, it’s not because I’m cold -

It’s because I’m staring at the girl I want to love me when I’m old” 

-that idea of the kind of love you want to last forever, knowing the person you want to grow old with...I honestly don’t like this one for them that much anymore but it Did make me cry the first time I thought about it so it gets to stay. tbh when I’m soft enough it still gets me 

xxvii. Cold Cold Man - Saint Motel

“You’re the only one worth seeing, the only place worth being -

The only bed worth sleeping is the one right next to you” 

-Saint Motel is just krbk culture at this point, this is another staple krbk song. I mean, the core theme is “I know I’m an asshole but I love you more than anyone” - come ON

xxviii. Wonderful Things - Ryan Corn

“So you say you wanna grab hold - well to hold, you’ve gotta let go

Of the only way you may have ever known” 

-is this song about god? maybe. is it about krbk? Oh absolutely 

-the themes of not knowing what you’d do without the other person in your life, and looking back on the person you were able to become because of them, and that lyric up there always makes me think of Kamino - it’s just all around got the themes and I’m very soft about that

xxix. Bad Enough For You - All Time Low 

“You love to hate me when I'm chasing you, 

And I hate to say this, but I'm stuck on loving you” 

-Okay this is totally 12-year-old me talking here but hear me out: Bakugou being convinced Kirishima could never like him more than this weird half-flirting thing they’ve come to and also being scared that he’d never be good enough for him, but him as he is now is letting them HAVE this half-flirting thing, so...he keeps it up, even though he wishes he could be the one to treat him how he deserves to be treated, but there’s no way he could be Kirishima’s boyfriend anyway so what’s the point in caring (but kirishima loved him the WHOLE TIME!!! they sort things out before long lol)

-also they’re both 16 and emo so. 

xxx. Instead of My Room - Charlie Burg 

“Can't we just put on Ramones? And we'll drive

And I'll kiss you, in my car, instead of my room” 

-if kirishima wrote songs with kaminari and sero during high school, i think they’d sound like this

-the lyrics to this one are just so Fun! it’s goofy and jokey and just having a good time! i can’t make the lyrics line up as much as i’d like them to but it really just sounds like them to me 

xxxi. I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing - Aerosmith 

“I don’t wanna close my eyes -

I don’t wanna fall asleep, cause I’d miss you, babe” 

-i have exactly 2 krbk moods and one is “they are stupid. 16 and loud and just so dumb” and the other is “this is Love love, they’re gonna live off this forever” 

-kirishima looking over at bkg fast asleep the night after their wedding and feeling so wholly in love that he cries 

xxxii. Stutter - Marianas Trench

“So here I am - you can take or leave me,

But I won't ever be anywhere but here” 

-If krbk starred in a mid-2000s battle of the bands romcom with a car chase scene this is the song that would play in the trailer (I KNOW that’s crazy specific but that’s the image I always get when I hear this) 

xxxiii. Must Have Done Something Right - Reliant K 

“If anyone could make me a better person, you could -

All I gotta say is I must have done something good” 

-i feel like i’m 13 when i hear this song but it’s really really Them

-really i think the thing that keeps me so invested in krbk is that they’re so involved with each other’s character arcs - they’re constantly making each other better people, each of them is like a missing piece for the other, and they’re both so wrapped up in their own shortcomings that they barely even realize how big of an impact they’re having on the other. but really they would never be the same if they hadn’t met. and that’s the entirety of this song’s content

xxxiv. Deer in the Headlights - Owl City 

“Tell me again, was it love at first sight

When I walked by and you caught my eye?” 

-there is literally nothing in the lyrics that makes me think of them. this one is 100% for the vibe. and also kinda the lyrics in the chorus. like, being taken aback by how suddenly everything is happening but in a very excited and enthusiastic way. things don’t go Smoothly when they confess, persay, but oh man is it memorable (and loud and sweaty and hoarse-throated but never, ever sad) 

xxxv. On and On (About You) - Bowling For Soup 

“Now you can scream about the little things, slap me twice across the face,

Man it would be great if I could buy you flowers every day” 

-this is really middle school me speaking here BUT: 

-krbk don’t exactly work out in high school and end with some big fight but with time they both realize they were wrong and when they finally meet again at a class reunion they both wanna get back together but they’re still arguing and shooting quick remarks at each other but the whole time they’re thinking “man, if i could, i’d buy you flowers every day” 

xxxvi. Mamma Mia - ABBA

-it’s mamma mia. it’s just mamma mia

-it’s also kirishima’s inner monologue every time he thinks he’s finally kicked his crush on bkg and then he sees him for 0.1 seconds and falls right back in 

xxxvii. I Dare You - The Regrettes

“I can't seem to sleep, and I feel my pulse beating

I wanna keep all my control, but you're the one that brings the sun” 

-maybe it just reminds me of the music video song in quote love unquote but the second i heard this song i was like oh yeah that’s kiribaku

-the idea of trying to catch yourself as you feel yourself falling but also choosing to make the jump in the first place! the idea that you’re taking a big chance but things are so much better together that you’re not scared! you’re even pushing yourself forward! it’s truly for them 

xxxviii. I Want to Hold Your Hand - the version from Yesterday

-like, fuck the beatles but it’s a song about hand holding. come on 

xxxix. Love At First Sight - The Brobecks

“Turn the lights off, I’m in love” 

-that lyric has happened in canon. that lyric is the context of why bkg went to bed at 8:32 pm that one time 

-it’s such a sweet mix of being scared about falling in love but also...feeling like the world just got a little brighter, and kinda letting yourself sink into it in reluctant acceptance because it just feels so good? kinda hitting the same notes as If My Heart Was A House. idk the first time i heard this i thought abt the girl i have a crush on so i was like “nope. nope. refocus this to krbk” 

xxxx. Holliday - The Weekend Run Club 

“I'd never been so soaked before

I was drenched in your arms, dancing in your downpour” 

-this was on my discover weekly last week and I put it on here without thinking about it and now I”m really listening to it for the first time and. wow. Wow. 

-you know the scenario i’ve been bringing up this whole time of taking a leap into something awkward and electric that makes you happier than you could imagine? that’s the energy i’m getting from this

-just imagining krbk being out on their first date and it starts pouring so they duck inside and they’re like “well...should we just go back?” and then realize it’s so much more like them to run out into the downpour and get soaked and kirishima’s losing his mind laughing and bkg’s like “what are you so happy about idiot” and kirishima’s just like “i don’t know. i just really like this. i just really like you” and then they’re both kinda floating on air