Katsuki wasn't exactly the candlelit dinner type of person.

Really, that wasn't much of a surprise to anyone. He seemed to yell far, far more often than he simply just talked, and he normal manner wasn't exactly something that fitted with that kind of setting.

It was honestly an enormous shock to learn that he even had a romantic side to him whatsoever. Eijirou had reached the point where he was half convinced that Katsuki wasn't capable of deeper feelings for people in that way, for one reason or another. Coming to that conclusion hadn't exactly been fun for him, but he did think that he'd come to accept that nothing was going to happen.

And just when he thought he'd made peace with that, Katsuki was the one to approach him.

A single snowflake landed on Eijirou's right cheek. It sent a quick shiver throughout his body, and afterwards he used his right hand to wipe away the now droplet of water running down his cheek.

Winter had come in full force this year around, with a seasonal fall of snow over the last few days. In that time, just about everything around had a calming coat of white snow covering it. In some placed it became quite deep, reaching about three of four inches, but for the most part, it did seem to settle rather consistently. The only reason that it didn't melt away already was because of the cold, and the fact more snow kept falling to replace any lost.

Pathways were shoveled regularly, but they were always lightly covered with maybe a couple of centimeters of snow. Even grit didn't seem to stop it from resettling. Natures seemed determined to make sure that these next few weeks were characterized by a blanket of white, no matter how much the Human Race tried to fight against it.

Speaking for himself, Eijirou didn't mind the snow. He preferred the summer months, since that meant he could wear his Hero Costume without losing just about all feeling in his entire body – One of the many downsides to having a Quirk and costume like his – but he didn't mind the winter in of itself.

There was something calming about seeing everything covered in a layer of white, all the complexities and combinations of colour simply covered up by a single colour. It was difficult to explain, but it was relaxing in a sense that probably only made sense to him. It was a nice change of scenery. That was how he'd have to describe it.

Of course, he knew Katsuki didn't like the colder months, since it completely messed with his Quirk. It took him a lot longer to get into a position where he could use his Quirk, and not having his normal level of control irritated him. He liked to be in control of himself, and he didn't like giving up that control for anything. Or anyone.

Now that Eijirou thought about it, maybe that was why it took Katsuki two years to actually reach a point where he could ask him out like he had done.

In the corner of his eye, he could see Katsuki looking at him, with both of his eyebrows buried, and one ever so slightly raised. Eijirou blinked, and turned his head to look at the blond. "What's up?"

"Nothing." Katsuki replied flatly, then turning his head back in front of him.

You had to learn to interpret things a fair bit if you ended up dating someone like Katsuki, Eijirou had figured out. He wasn't going to be emotionally up front, and just say what he felt, or do anything traditionally romantic, except on rare occasions. He didn't like showing that softer side of himself to people that was buried down there – He just didn't. He found it hard. Having a boyfriend, or any kind of partner for that matter, was something that he struggled with. Something that he had to try hard not to screw up.

He didn't really have to though. After months of dates like this, of spending time together, and just exploring this whole romance thing, anyone who could see him – Which he made sure was an exceedingly small number of people – could tell he made the effort. Especially if you compared him to how he was in the first year. That was just how he was, and how better he had tried to be in the last couple of years.

Eijirou let himself smile slightly, before he looked up towards the sky above.

Right now, there was a break in the clouds, so the sight of the evening sky was visible to those below. It was just after evening, and teetering onto night, so the sky remained a dark blue, and there were a few stars just managing to peak their light through the clouds to reach the earth. Snowfall was really gentle, so only the occasional flake landed anywhere near either of them. A few minutes ago, it had been a fair bit heavier. Now it was relaxed, sprinkling the ground occasionally.

And they were laying in the snow, just allowing the time to pass.

It had been Katsuki's idea to go on a walk through the snow. He hated the cold, but he hated being cooped up with little to do more. He invited Eijirou to come along with him, and so there they were.

Honestly, Eijirou couldn't remember how exactly they ended up laying on the snow. He really didn't. It was Katsuki's idea, he was confident, but that was about it. They were just laying there now, in a kind of comfortable silence, and watching clouds breeze by, surrounded by a soft snowfall.

"…You alright?"

"Huh?" Eijirou blinked and looked at Katsuki again, this time raising an eyebrow in confusion. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You looked like you were upset."

Another couple of blinks. "What, you mean my wiping my cheek?"

Katsuki nodded.

"Uh, that was just snow." A small smirk appeared on Eijirou's lips. "What, were you worried about me or something?"

Verbally, Katsuki refused to respond. Expressively, his face turned into an angry scowl, though his cheeks were reddening. This was that softer side of him. The side that really, he only let Eijirou see. A side he had trouble expressing, but was always there regardless, and the side that showed plenty of care for those he was close to.

Even in the times it didn't feel like it, time and time against, Katsuki proved that he watched out for those he was close to. What he lacked in the ability to communicate, he made up for in observations, stepping in when he thought that he needed to.

Even when sometimes he just misunderstood something, or let himself overthink. Both were rare.

But both were quite amusing things to tease him over.

"Aw, I knew you cared!"

"Shut it."

"Man, imagine if I told anyone else about the secret soft side of Katsuki Bakugou. I think you'd be even less intimidating if I did."

"Tell anyone and I'll blast you through a building."

Eijirou laughed and laid back down in the snow. That was about the reaction that he had come to expect. A few of his old habits still remained, but that was fine. He had had more than enough time to get used to them, and they didn't bother him in the least.

Fact was, he was happy that Katsuki showed that much concern, even if he tried to hide it with indifference.

There wasn't really any way that you could call the relationship that they did have traditional in just about any sense, be it how they acted towards one another, or how they expressed that affection, or how just about any aspect of their relationship worked.

But it did work. And that made Eijirou smile.

He removed his glove from around his left hand, shoving it into his puffy jackets' pocket, and then grabbing hold of Katsuki's own exposed hand. Since his Quirk relied on his hands, Katsuki didn't wear gloves that couldn't amplify his Quirk out of sheer discomfort. It made it pretty easy to interlock fingers with him.

The blond didn't seem to respond much, allowing Eijirou to do as he pleased. His red cheeks seemed to actually die down with the physical contact, like it calmed him down, or comforted him in a way he wasn't going to verbally say.

Eijirou smiled. That was fine. He didn't need to. He was content to just lay like this with him. Just to enjoy being in this moment.

Just content.

…

…For about five minutes.

Quickly, the pair of them found themselves shivering from the cold. Which of course they would be. They were laying in the snow in the midst of winter – Neither of them had any idea what the hell they had expected.

"W-We di-didn't exactly th-think this t-through, d-did we?" Eijirou stammered out, wrapping his right hand around and hugging himself in an effort to keep himself warm.

"F-Fuck off."

"…So, you uh, you guys enjoying laying in the snow and catching hypothermia, or, what?"

Looking up, Eijirou found himself being looked down on by a face that expressed both amusement and confusion. Mostly amusement, and – Because he recognized that look on her face – enthusiasm for romance. "Ashido?"

"Yo."

She was about as geared up for a snow walk as the two guys who were laying in the snow in front of her. She had on a green scarf, and a smirk on her face. She was probably just out here by sheer chance, and for the exact same reason the pair of them were out here – To go on a walk. There wasn't exactly much else to do in a park in winter.

Nor was she alone. Next to her, Midoriya was watching with almost a look of resignation, like he knew exactly what was going to go down. Pretty much everyone present could feel it, given how much they knew about Ashido, but he had been the one who had dated her for years. If anyone knew what was about to happen, he did.

"Uh…. Hey, you two." Midoriya awkwardly greeted them. "What's… Up?"

"You two on a date?" Ashido asked, smirking.

"Uh, basically." Eijirou replied, blinking twice.

"Awesome. Same here."

For about ten seconds, there was almost complete silence. Eijirou didn't notice, but for the last tree seconds, Midoriya's hand opened up, and with each second that passed, one of his fingers unfolded. Three, two, one…

After exactly ten seconds, Ashido whipped her phone out of her jacket, and took a picture of the two of them – Making sure that she managed to capture their hand-holding in frame.

"Aaand this is going right on the dorm fridge." She grinned, ear to ear.

"Hey! You fucking delete that!" Katsuki yelled, practically leaping onto his feet to stand face-to-face with Ashido.

"Aw, but it's adorable!" The pinkette protested with a grin, taking a couple of steps back, already knowing what was coming next.

"Delete it!"

"No way, dude!"

"Oh boy." Eijrou muttered.

"Oh no." Izuku muttered.

About two seconds later, Ashido was making a run for it, while Katsuki chased after her yelling about how he was going to break her phone when he caught up to her, and Ashido promising that she'd send him a copy of the photo if he just chilled out.

Their relationship wasn't a secret – Katsuki just disliked affection of any sort being witnessed by anyone. And with Ashido and romance, it became hard to tell when she was just kidding, or if she was completely serious.

Neither Izuku nor Kirishima managed to stop themselves from at least stifling chuckles at their respective partners actions, glancing at one another, and then nearly bursting out laughing at the absurdity of the last couple of minutes.

Before rushing to make sure the two of them didn't injure themselves.

Threw in Izumina and Mina particularly being little shits because I can't help myself and I love them to death, I'm sorry (I'm not).

This was an… Interesting experience though. KiriBaku has been something I've wanted to at the very least try out for quite a while. Decided to base it off of my secret Santa Comic I made for the MHA Shipping Subreddit Discord, where I ended up getting KiriBaku as my ship to make something for. The comic came out nice, and I thought that I could make a little experimental oneshot out of it.

I haven't written a mlm story before, so figuring out that, as well as Bakugou's basic inability to do emotions that don't involve yelling, never mind romance, and the lack of control and experience with relationships like this that would bring, was challenging.

Bakugou strikes me as the sort who hasn't got a Goddamn clue what he's doing about romance, and actively dislikes the fact it takes away the control he's so proud of, but he's got that side to him that enjoys affection, but can't figure out how to express it or be entirely comfortable with it – It's why Bakugou ships for me are insanely difficult. But I'm glad that I made the effort to give this a shot.

I don't have a ton of experience writing this sort of thing, but I do hope that ya'll at the very least enjoyed this mess – If anyone has any ideas on how I could do better in the future with this sort of dynamic, please do let me know – This one in particular is very much a learning experience.

If you'd like to support me and the content I do, I have both a Ko – Fi and a Pat Reon under the name QuirkQuartz that you can donate to me at – While not required, it is highly, highly appreciated, and helps me out an absolute ton

I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you in whatever I make next – See ya!