Chapter Text
Oh, shit.
He didn’t know what to do. What the fuck was he supposed to do?
Katsuki Bakugou hated Valentine's Day. Absolutely fucking hated it. All the stupid couples that were likely to break up anyway, all the stupid overpriced flowers and chocolate, the high expectations, and the confessions. Every year it seemed like he got confessed to at least three times on Valentine’s Day. Most of the time, he didn’t even know the girls who confessed to him. If he did know them, there’s no way they would confess to him. But somehow it happened every year. But this year was worse. Much worse. He didn’t really know it could get much worse. But he should never forget that it can always get worse.
His mom set him up on a date. And of course, it wasn’t the person that he wanted to go on a date with.
What was he supposed to do?
He doesn’t even know the girl that it’s with. How did his mom even find her? He felt bad for the poor soul having to deal with the old hag.
“I’m not going.”
“You’re going.” Mitsuki Bakugou was sitting on their couch when her son popped his head into the room.
“I won’t. So either tell her I cancel or I just stand her up.” Mitsuki looked up from her magazine, her eyes bullets in Bakugou’s eyes.
“If I find out you stand her up, I will make your life a living hell.”
“You already do, hag.”
“Ooh. I can do so much worse.” Her glare would have been enough to kill a squirrel. But Bakugou was no squirrel.
“What would make you let me not go?” God, he was getting desperate.
She sighed. “If you can somehow, miraculously find a different date. I’ll cancel your date with Mindy.”
“Ew, her name is Mindy?” Mitsuki glared daggers at her son. “And what makes you think that I can’t get a date. I have plenty of options.”
She laughed. She fucking laughed . Bakugou was about to chuck something out the window. Possibly a person. “Your people skills are shit.”
“Oh my people skills are shit?!”
“Yes. You may get a few confessions, but the second anyone discovers what you’re really like, they’re going to run as far away as they can.”
“As my mother, aren’t you supposed to support me?”
“As my son, aren’t you supposed to respect me?”
---
“What’s got you so down, Bakugou?”
“I’m never down, shitty hair.”
Kirishima gave him a deadpan look before taking a bite of his sandwich. “Mhm.”
“Guess what day it is tomorrow?” Mina slid into the seat next to Kirishima, wiggling her eyebrows.
Bakugou grunted in response.
“Oh so is that what’s got you all moody?” Bakugou looked up at Kirishima and his mocking look was enough to make Bakugou punch him in the gut.
“Bakugou’s going to get at least four confessions tomorrow.” Mina was staring him down.
“People are still confessing to you, dude?” Denki slid into the spot next to Bakugou, his mouth half-full with rice.
“When are they not? Honestly, I’m actually kind of shocked. You’d think that people would understand that Bakugou isn’t really the relationship-type.”
“Fuck you, Mina.” Six eyes turned towards Bakugou.
“Are you saying that you are the relationship type, Bakugou?”
He tried to fight it. He tried to fight it so fucking much. But he could feel his face get warm. “I can be anything I want to be, you wannabe bubblegum wad.”
“Wait a second. Does Bakugou have,” Denki lowered his voice, as if he was about to deliver some top-secret information, “a crush?”
Bakugou’s face increased a degree. “How many watts did you just burn? Of course not. But anything you idiots can do, I can do better.”
Mina gave an unconvinced hum and gave Kirishima a look that Bakugou wanted to slap clean off her face. He settled for storming away from the table in a very ‘I don’t have a crush’ manner.
That’ll show them.
---
Bakugou was struggling. Bakugou did not like this feeling of struggling.
The school day was almost over and he was still no closer to finding a date. Valentine’s day was tomorrow. There was no way that he was going to muster up both the courage and the idiocy to ask the nerd out today. What the fuck was he going to do? And then there was another issue that Bakugou completely forgot to acknowledge: Round Face.
You’d have to blind to not notice the possibility that Ochaco Uraraka had with Deku. They were best friends. And Uraraka didn’t constantly insult people.
He took a deep breath as the two of them walked into the room, invested in some sort of conversation.
He groaned and threw his head on the desk, and apparently that leads to attention from other people, because the moment he looked back up, everyone in the room was giving him a weird look.
“What the fuck are you idiots looking at?!” Maybe his mother was right. Maybe he did need to work on some people skills.
But everyone quickly went back to what they were doing. Everyone except for Deku.
“You okay, Kacchan?”
“I’m just peachy, Deku.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I literally just said I was ‘peachy’.”
Izuku stared at him and Bakugou wondered how it was possible for anyone to lie while staring into the nerd’s eyes.
He put his head back down on the desk, a bit gentler this time. “I fucking hate Valentine’s Day.”
Izuku snorted, which shocked Bakugou a little. Was Deku making fun of him now? “You’re pissed because other people are in happy relationships?”
Bakugou looked up at him. “That’s not what I said at all, are you even listening to me, Deku? You were right, your hearing really is going.”
His eyes seemed to sparkle. “Told you.” He slunk down into the seat in front of Bakugou so they were more level to talk. “Why do you hate Valentine’s Day?”
“I said I fucking hate Valentine’s Day. Not that I just hate it. There’s a difference.”
Izuku looked puzzled. For being such a nerd, he should be smarter.
“I hate you. I fucking hate Valentine’s Day.” Was that too forward? Oh god, for Bakugou, that was basically a confession.
He began to panic, but thankfully, Deku still seemed just as confused. “Wait do you hate me or not?”
Bakugou had never tried to dodge a question harder. So he hit his head back against the desk. He was going to have to stop soon or he was going to suffer from more brain damage than Denki. “You’re so stupid.”
“Am I stupid or am I fucking stupid?” Bakugou shot his head back up again. (He was either going to get brain damage or whiplash.) He had heard Izuku swear a total of maybe twice throughout all the years he had known him. And it was never for something so casual. Normally it was right before he was going to die. Why the fuck did Deku swearing turn him on so much?
“Depends,” He responded, trying so hard to keep his voice even and casual.
“What am I right now, though?”
Bakugou looked him up and down. Or up and down as much as the desk would allow him to. “Just stupid right now.”
Deku smiled his stupid, adorable, illuminating, gorgeous smile and Bakugou wanted to go back down on the desk, but he refrained himself this time. “Good to know. Now why do you hate Valentine’s Day?”
“The hag.”
Deku laughed and Bakugou felt himself lose even more self-control. “Mitsuki is a wonderful lady. What did she do? Don’t tell me you’re going on a date with her.”
Bakugou threw up a little in his mouth and Deku just laughed more. “She set me up on a date.”
Deku stopped laughing, which was honestly not the response that Bakugou was expecting. He was expecting Deku to find that absolutely hilarious. “With who?”
“Some girl named Nancy or something.”
Izuku gave a small smile. “You don’t even know her name?”
“Why would I? I really don’t fucking want to go. But the old hag is forcing me to. And the only way I get out of it is by finding another date. But it’s literally to-fucking-morrow.”
“Don’t you get confessed to every Valentine’s Day? Why not just go on a date with one of them? At least then you get somewhat of a choice of who to go with. And you might actually know their name.”
“I don’t want to go out with any of those extras.”
Izuku rolled his eyes. “They probably wouldn’t either if they knew you called them ‘extras’.”
Bakugou groaned. “You’re just like the witch.”
Deku shrugged, but before he had the change to answer, Aizawa hopped into the classroom and Deku scurried to his seat behind him.
Bakugou only had half of his attention to the baggy hero at the front of the room. The other half was focused on much more important matters: Valentine’s Day and Deku. This would all be a lot easier if he could just go on a date with the broccoli head. That would be the best-case scenario. But in order to get there, he has to confess. Which was hard. Tonight. Which was harder. And Izuku had to reciprocate. Which seemed near impossible. What the fuck was he going to do?
Bakugou had decided that jumping out of the window and running away from home was currently his best action plan when his attention was returned to the classroom.
They were to construct a sort of carnival game. And they had to complete a sheet of a bunch of different probabilities and outcomes. Half of the grade was going to be based on the probability math and the other would be based on the game itself. Bakugou immediately wanted to argue that this was math class and not art class but Aizawa continued and he decided against it.
“You will work with partners. I don’t care who you work with, just don’t be stupid. And since I know that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, it’ll be due the day after .” There were groans throughout the classroom as Aizawa gave an evil grin. “We wouldn’t want you to have too much fun.”
And with that, Aizawa retreated and the classroom erupted with people trying to pick partners for their newest assignment.
He had to get to Izuku before Ochako could . It was a sudden realization that this could be the most beneficial project that Bakugou had ever completed.
He did something that Bakugou would have never imagined doing two years ago.
Bakugou placed a hand on Izuku’s shoulder to get his attention, and the moment he turned around Bakugou spoke, “Be partners with me?”
Deku honestly looked so shocked that Bakugou thought he was going to malfunction. But after a few seconds, he smiled, nearly stopped Bakugou’s heart, and said yes.
---
They were back at Deku’s house. Bakugou refused to be around the old hag any more than he had to.
“Do you want anything to drink?” Deku asked as they threw their bags down onto the floor of his room.
“What are my options?” You?
“Water.” Izuku stared at him and Bakugou had to fight the urge to laugh.
“Sure.”
Izuku ran out of the room and Bakugou began scheming. When Deku came back, he would say ‘thank you’. It would be difficult, but he could do it. He practiced it once aloud and the words felt foreign on his tongue. But he could do it.
Izuku returned a minute later with a glass in each hand. He handed one to Bakugou as he sat next to him on the bed. This was it. This was the moment he had been waiting for.
“Thank.” Shit.
Deku looked at him, shock and confusion flooding his features. “What?”
He corrected himself. “You. Thank you.”
He watched as the blood rushed to Deku’s face, it turned a light shade of pink, and he had no doubt that his own face looked the same. Slowly, Izuku smiled. Didn’t he understand that he was going to have to stop doing that if he didn’t want Bakugou to make out with him? “You’re welcome.”
His eyes. Oh my god, his eyes. Bakugou had to force himself to tear his eyes away and focus instead on the floor. He cleared his throat. “So, uh, what do you want to do for the project.”
“Oh yeah, that. I have no idea.”
They pondered for a little while, each of them throwing out ideas and the other quickly shutting it down.
“A balloon popping thing?”
“Ew no. Too boring. Most people would miss.”
“Oh, and a racing track is just the most exciting? They’d literally just be going down a ramp.”
“Balloons are annoying.”
“Okay fine. What about one of those games with the ducks in the pool and you pick a duck?”
“That may be the most boring one yet.” Bakugou gasped, “I’ve got it.”
“What?”
“We do your stupid duck idea, but with apples.”
“I repeat. What?”
“Like bobbing for apples.”
“Do you think that people would actually do that?”
“Sure. They’re all pretty dumb. Or a good amount of them are. And I can’t wait to watch them struggle.”
Izuku took a deep breath before responding, “Fine.”
“Wait really?”
“Don’t make me regret it.”
Bakugou smiled at Izuku and maybe it was scary or something because all of a sudden, Izuku was up and moving towards his desk.
He returned with a notebook and a pencil. “To prevent the murder of any more pencils, I will be writing.”
Bakugou lightly his shoulder with his own, causing Izuku to mess up on the second word. Izuku glared at Bakugou out of the corner of his eye and fixed the mistake.
Izuku muttered to himself as he wrote out all of the materials they would need and Bakugou took the time to again study the room around him. Izuku was a very organized person, and it was shown explicitly in his dresser and desk. Everything in the drawers of his desk was perfectly arranged, and the cups on top of it all had very specific items they held. The dresser was the same from when they were much younger, but Bakugou guessed he could hold much fewer items then he used to be able to. If it was the same on the inside as when they were 5, it would be a very organized space. But Bakugou wasn’t about to go through Deku’s dresser.
Bakugou couldn’t help but focus on the bed. The mattress was really comfortable. There were many things that he would like to do on that mattress.
Izuku’s voice dragged him out of his fantasy. “Are you okay?”
“Hm, what?”
“You were making a weird face.”
“Well, at least I’m not always making a weird face like you, Deku.”
Deku frowned at him and he immediately regretted his decision of saying what he said. “Wanna help me find what we can around here,” Deku passed him the notebook, “And anything that we can’t, we’ll run to the store.”
Bakugou looked down at the list. It wasn’t too complicated. They really just needed a bucket, some paint, a bunch of apples, water, and some prizes. Bakugou never really noticed how nice Izuku’s handwriting was.
“Uh, thanks.”
Bakugou jolted his eyes up to Izuku’s. “Hm?”
“You said my handwriting was nice. And I thanked you. You know what that’s like.” He gave him a smirk, referencing his mistake from before.
So, now he was mumbling like the nerd? He was going to have to get a hold of himself before he accidentally said something he regretted.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I never said I was. Let’s go find this shit.”
---
They found a plastic bin that would work pretty well for bobbing for apples, and Izuku’s mother said that she wouldn’t mind if they took it. The paint was the same place that it always was in Izuku’s desk and they got right to work. Bakugou let Izuku have the honor of painting most of it, only helping out when Izuku asked for it and he busied himself by doing the probability sheet that Aizawa gave out along with the project.
“You better be painting the shit out of that bucket. It’s half of the grade.”
“Actually, the whole project is half of the grade. That sheet is actually half of the grade, so you better be good at probability.”
Bakugou scoffed, “I’m good at everything.”
“Right. Sorry, I guess I forget sometimes.”
Bakugou decided that rolling his eyes was better than destroying his crush’s desk.
His crush. He never really thought of Izuku as that. But it wasn’t incorrect. For some reason, acknowledging it made his heart feel like it stopped and was restarting itself. How was he supposed to tell him? He should’ve looked it up before coming over. The internet probably had some ideas for him.
“I can pick up the apples when I head home.”
Izuku looked up at him from his work. “That may have been the nicest thing that you have done in your last 16 years of life.”
“Why not 17?”
“I’ve heard you were actually a pretty good baby.”
“Doesn’t mean I was nice .”
“You say it like being nice is a bad thing.”
Bakugou shrugged.
“Thank.”
He slowly blinked. “I’m going to take back my apple offer if you don’t stop.”
“You. Thank you.”
“That’s it. Get your own apples.”
Izuku jumped up and ran over to him. “No no no. I’m sorry. I take it back. Please get the apples.”
Bakugou crossed his arms. “I warned you. You made your choice.”
“Please.” Oh god, his eyes.
“Don’t try to use puppy dog eyes on me.” Bakugou turned slightly away, pushing Izuku’s arm away slightly. Pushing Izuku’s arm that was connected to a hand away slightly. Pushing Izuku’s hand that was holding a wet paintbrush away slightly. Pushing a wet paintbrush into Izuku’s face (slightly).
Izuku looked at the paintbrush, mouth agape in shock, and then up at Bakugou. And Bakugou realized that he should probably have just said he’d get the apples.
Before he could register what was happening, Izuku had rubbed remaining paint from the brush across Bakugou’s forehead.
Now the look of shock was mirrored in Bakugou’s features.
They stood there for a moment, neither really knowing what to do.
“Truce?” Izuku said weakly.
Bakugou looked him up and down, and then slowly touched his forehead and brought it down in front of his face. He knew he’d see the paint, but he just wanted to make sure before he killed Izuku on his very comfortable mattress.
Izuku yelped as they went down onto the bed, the paintbrush quickly snatched from his hand and thrown onto the floor.
Izuku’s eyes bounced around his field of vision as if looking for an escape, as Bakugou towered over him on the bed. They finally settled on the bed and Bakugou knew what was about to happen before it actually did.
Izuku stuffed his hands into Bakugou’s armpits once again (at least this time they weren’t incredibly sweaty) and Bakugou practically collapsed against Izuku. The blonde may have been considerably heavier, but Izuku was still strong, and he managed to spin them around so that he was now the one on top.
His victory didn’t last very long and Bakugou used a considerable amount of effort to flip them back to their original position, but now with Izuku’s arms pinned down.
“What the hell was that? You called a truce on the tickling.”
Izuku bit his lip and Bakugou let his gaze linger as Izuku formed his next sentence, “All’s fair in love and war?”
Love.
Bakugou let out a small laugh.
Love.
“I hate you.”
He said love.
They made eye-contact again. “Do you hate me or do you fucking hate-”
Bakugou dodged the question once again.
By smashing his lips against Izuku’s.
The action shocked both of them. Izuku went tense below him and he felt the wrists within his hands jump slightly. But as quickly as he went tense, he relaxed again. And as quickly as he relaxed, Bakugou pulled away.
“I’m sorry I did-”
The moment that Izuku’s hands were free from Bakugou’s he reached up and grabbed his shirt, tugging him back down.
This time it was Bakugou’s turn to freak out at first. But he was pretty sure that he handled it quickly. Pretty sure.
Izuku wrapped his arms around Bakugou’s neck, keeping him close, and as the kiss went on, they both got a much better idea of what they were doing. Bakugou was pretty sure that he would never feel as good as he did in that moment.
Izuku’s lips were slightly chapped, but Bakugou would be willing to bet money that his were much worse. And it was so warm. He determined that everything about Izuku was always warm.
Their lips were awkward against each other at first, but they were slowly beginning to understand more of what was going on. (Bakugou was mostly driven on a need to be the best.)
Bakugou had no idea how long it was lasting, but he didn’t think he would mind being lost in Izuku for the rest of his life. Every time they broke for air, the kiss would quickly resume.
There was a knock at the door and they jumped apart a few inches, now frozen in terror. Deku looked at Bakugou with panic and then over at the door. Through it, Inko’s sweet voice came, “Izuku?”
“Yeah?” His voice gave a little crack.
“Dinner’s ready.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
They made eye-contact again, and Bakugou slowly removed himself from the bed, breathing heavily. He offered his hand and Izuku took it, both of them focusing on anything except the other.
“We should uh,” Deku made a swinging motion with his hands towards his face and then waved a hand over his blushing cheeks.
He hated to admit that Deku had a good idea, but he grunted in agreement and followed him to the bathroom to try to get rid of their heated faces and paint stains.
---
The meal was great, and Bakugou found himself wishing that he could eat here every night. Inko had always been a great cook. He should’ve appreciated it more when he was younger and practically lived with the nerd and his mother. But in this moment, Bakugou wished that he would have left ten seconds ago. This conversation was going to go nowhere good.
“So Katsuki, I was talking to Mitsuku earlier today.”
Bakugou practically choked on his piece of chicken.
“And she mentioned that you have a date tomorrow night with the daughter of one of our friends from high school.”
He felt heat flood his cheeks, looking from Inko to her son. “At the moment, yes.”
Deku studied his lap and Inko looked at him with the same look of confusion that her son always seemed to give him. “Do you not want to go?”
“Not at all.”
Inko frowned and then realization hit her, “She set you up.”
He nodded, taking another bite of the rice.
“Please don’t tell me you’re going to stand the poor girl up. She’s really nice. I’ve met her a few times in the past.”
“Naw, the hag practically threatened my life if I stood her up. She did say that I could cancel if I found a different date before tomorrow.” He locked eyes with Izuku, and both of their blushes increased. Inko didn’t notice though, taking a bite of her own food.
“That shouldn’t be hard for you, Katsuki. I’m sure you have all sorts of girls who would be willing to go on a date with you.”
He gave a slight chuckle and stuffed his face with food rather than responding.
---
After they had all finished eating, Inko got up to begin doing the dishes, only to have Izuku jump up and stop her halfway to the sink, pulling the dishes out of her hands. “Kacchan and I can do the dishes. Go rest. It was really good, mom.”
Inko tried to resist at first but eventually gave into her son’s demands.
Bakugou was not overly excited to do dishes and he was definitely not excited for the awkwardness that he was probably about to experience while doing dishes with Deku. “Do you want me to wash or dry, nerd?”
Deku threw a rag over his shoulder, not moving from his spot at the sink.
Bakugou assumed that meant he was assigned drying duty, then.
They worked in silence for a few minutes, neither quite knowing how to deal with their current situation. Bakugou’s mind was running at a million miles an hour. It wasn’t like the feelings were one-sided, right? Unless it was just in the heat of the moment. Maybe Deku just wanted a friends-with-benefits thing. But that didn’t sound very Deku-like to Bakugou. Deku was all mushy-gushy feelings. Not stone-cold and sex-driven. Bakugou was about to bang his head into the cabinet.
“You keep making weird looks, Kacchan.” Deku had set down the bowl he was working on and had turned towards him.
“I’m just thinking.”
“That’s kinda scary.”
Bakugou hit him with his rag.
“What about?”
“I’ll give you three guesses.”
“You’re wondering if my luscious curls are natural. To answer your question, I have this fantastic shampoo, I-”
Bakugou hit him with the rag for a second time.
“Sarcasm does not need a response.”
“I beg to differ. If I never responded to any of your sarcasm, we’d never talk. And then where would we be?”
“Happy.”
Deku frowned.
“Don’t give me that frown, Deku.”
He frowned deeper.
“Deku, stop.”
Oh god, the puppy eyes.
“Deku.”
How does this nerd tear up so easily?
“Okay okay. I would be not-happy. Is that what you wanted?”
A smile overtook all of the sadness on Izuku’s face. “Not all I wanted.”
He was going to kill him. Bakugou was going to have a heart attack right here on the kitchen floor. “Do elaborate.”
Izuku shrugged and went back to the dishes.
Why did Deku have to be such a fucking tease? “Fuck you.”
He looked back over at him. “Not quite what I had in mind, but okay.”
And just like that, Bakugou was probably the reddest he had been in his life. He inhaled so quickly that he choked on the air, sending him into a spiral of coughs.
The coughs must have lasted for longer than Izuku found normal because he turned off the faucet and placed a hand on Bakugou’s shoulder. “Are you okay, Kacchan.”
Bakugou sent a glare over his shoulder and returned to his coughing.
After a few more moments, he finally settled. “Sorry.”
“You can’t just say stuff like that, Deku.” Especially not if Bakugou didn’t know if it was a joke or not.
He pouted as they went back to their work.
---
“We should talk.”
Bakugou groaned. His heart rate increased.
He had finished the probability sheet ten minutes ago, and the bucket was almost finished. Deku had painted it in an effort to try to make it look like a wooden bucket. The words “Bobbing for Apples” were stylized in a reddish-orange and green in an effort to allude to an apple’s coloring and boys’.
“Or we don’t have to if you don’t want to, I guess.” The look that Izuku was currently giving Bakugou bordered on absolutely terrifying.
He crossed his legs and leaned back against the back of the bed. “I love talking.”
Izuku nodded, putting his brush down to the side. “What do you want?”
“You’re the one who started the fucking conversation. I should be asking you that.”
“You know what I mean.”
Shit. “I do?”
“You kissed me. What do you want from that?”
“Actually, if I remember correctly, you also kissed me, Deku.” His heart continued to pound at an increasingly alarming rate.
“You started it.”
“Holy shit are you five years old? And you didn’t really stop it.”
“Oh my god. Okay. We both participated in the kiss. Now, what do you want from it? Where do you want to go from here?”
“You answer it first.”
Deku groaned. “Are you five years old?”
“If I’m five years old, that makes you a pedophile.”
“You called me five first.”
“Don’t dwell on the past, Deku.”
“Why can’t you just talk to me like a normal person.”
“Because I’m not a fucking normal person. And neither are you.”
Bakugou didn’t know when it happened, or how it happened, but they were both standing at this point. Deku’s voice was loud, but it was nothing compared to the sound of his heartbeat. He was pretty sure that Deku could hear it too. He focused on the bucket. He liked the way their colors looked together.
“I like you, Izuku.”
It felt like time had stopped, but Bakugou’s mouth and heart continued on.
“A lot. I’m not quite sure how much. And I’m definitely not sure how to do this. But I want you. As more than a rival. As more than a classmate. As more than a friend.” He was pretty sure his heart was about to leap out of his throat. He didn’t really know what this feeling was, but he didn’t like it. “I want to be there for you. And I want you to be there for me. If you’ll let me.”
He took a deep breath and looked back up at Izuku. Tears were gathering in his eyes, and he watched as the first fell on top of his cheek.
He rushed over to Izuku, and placed his hand against the side of his head, removing the tear much like he had done a few weeks earlier after their exam together. “Why are you crying?”
He leaned into his hand. “Because I’m happy.”
Bakugou gave him a confused look.
Izuku smiled. “Tears aren’t always sad, you idiot.”
Izuku tilted his face upwards and was met halfway.
Bakugou was convinced at this point that the kisses continued to get better and better. This was near perfect. He moved his hands to Izuku’s waist and decided that it was his new favorite place to keep them. Izuku wrapped his arms around his neck the same way that he had done earlier on the bed.
Izuku was the one to pull away and Bakugou tilted down so that their foreheads were touching. He closed his eyes again, focusing on the feel of Izuku’s body against his own.
He waited another minute before speaking. “Would you go out with me tomorrow night?”
He opened his eyes and the look on Izuku’s face was one he was pretty sure he would never forget. “I was beginning to think you’d never ask.”