Work Text:
Just a Game?
Katsuki Bakugou was never in the mood for games, but Kirishima weaseled him into the circle of teenage guys currently within the UA dorm homeroom. Iida, Kaminari, Kirishima, Sero, Mineta, and Midoriya were in a crooked circle around a freshly opened box of cards.
From what Bakugou understood, this was a new and wildly popular upgrade to the infamous “Truth Or Dare”. Each card had a random dare or question, which had either one or three options corresponding to the way the player answered with points awarded with each option. Skipping a question or dare resulted in a deduction of points. There were 6 rounds and the player with the most points won, with a few exceptions Bakugou didn't care to pay attention to.
Bakugou already felt his competitive nature swelling up.
“I think… the girls really would have wanted to play this game!” Everyone collectively glared at Mineta’s whining scheme.
“Yeah, well they didn't ya little perv!” Bakugo snapped.
“I'm surprised you're playing, Kacchan.” Izuku muttered, gluing his green eyes to the carpet.
“Pah,” his fist clenched, “Dumbass got me to,” He nodded to Kirishima, who gave him a bright and sharp grin.
“Let's do our best!” Iida crowed with his usual sharp arm movements, “No cheating, and nothing inappropriate!”
“You're just taking all the fun out of it,” Sero grinned, shuffling the stack of cards and setting them flat in the circle.
“I'll go first,” Kirishima scooted forward and drew the top card.
So began their heightened game of truth or dare, Midoriya quickly made a ledger to track scores. The usual petty dares and questions of “Your first crush?” and at some point Sero had his arm hair shaved off and Mineta was crying from the hot sauce he drank. Kirishima had himself braced against the wall for a five-minute handstand.
Bakugou had been lucky since he only had pulled Truths, and one simple dare of holding his breath for as long as he could.
But his insides twisted with shock and sudden anger when he read the content of the dare on the card.
Kiss the person in front of you (both get the points)
Hand (5 points)
Cheek (10 points)
Lips (30 points)
30 points could almost guarantee him a win, but on the other hand, the person he would have to kiss was Izuku Midoriya.
His silence and flush on his cheeks spelled an immediate curiosity from the other guys. Iida adjusted his glasses, “Well, Bakugou, what did you get?”
But the explosive teen ignored him and instead fixed his eyes on Midoriya, who suppressed a flinch from his crimson eyes. He said nothing, sliding the card across the floor to the timid, green haired boy.
Izuku watched Kacchan give the card wordlessly to him. His head tilted and he gave it a glance, only to have his entire face turn bright red. Bakugou hardly blinked as he watched Izuku, when their gazes locked he shrugged, ever so slightly, hands smoking and tightening into fists.
Izuku was pretty behind in points… his timid nature rejected the personal questions the others boasted up to. 30 points would help, but he'd still kiss Kacchan.
He hadn't kissed anyone before.
“Fuck it, you don't wanna? Don't do it,” Kacchan groused and folded his bare arms and glanced away.
“Uh,” Kaminari looked between them, “What uh, what does it say?”
Apparently Iida peaked over his shoulder, because he shouted, “BAKUGOU! ABSOLUTELY NOT, IF MIDORYIA--”
“Tenya!” Izuku hushed him, “I-It’s a game… a-a game,” he was still flushed and he looked at the ground, “It's fine.”
Bakugou snorted and leaned across the small circle, Izuku was the only one who could see past his outward display of confidence, the quiver of his eyes avoiding his own as he neared him. Bakugou cupped Izuku’s face with a rough and warm hand, steadying the swaying the smaller teen felt.
It was brief, the touching of their lips and Izuku's hand pressing slightly to Bakugou’s chest, to feel the same raging heartbeat as his own. The blond pulled back and for a second Izuku saw a flicker of vulnerability, surprise, even shyness to match the blush on his cheeks.
Stunned silence followed until Mineta let out a keening wail to go along with the gray tone his face had taken.
“Damn nerd,” Bakugou made a show of wiping his mouth on the back of his hand and hissing through his teeth, “Better add those 30 points!” He grinned and allowed his shouldering confidence to return.
“30 POINTS?!” Kirishima yelled, none of the other dares or questions exceeded 15 points.
“Uh hah,” Bakugou smirked, crossing his arms to try and calm his raging heart.
His lips were so soft.
Izuku tired to brush off the sudden and embarrassing moment by jotting down the additional points for both of them. Iida seemed highly suspicious and kept an eye on his small friend. Iida was practically shaking.
“Midoriya, if he did that against your will I’ll--”
“What, four eyes?!” Bakugou let out a wicked grin, “He let me and we got the points, let it drop!” The ragged edge of his tone set aside the tint of emotion he clearly held from the action.
Kirishima tried not to giggle and pulled up another card to continue on, dropping the subject for the moment.
Bakugou’s eyes kept getting drawn back to Midoriya like a magnet, the latter’s feet were tracing circles on the floor through the pair of worn socks. He seemed just as distant as the blond in front of him.
In the end, Bakugou did win. But he didn't stay long, stalking off to his room with explosions barely containing themselves in his sweaty palms. The door to his room slammed shut.
Bakugo smelled his pillow burning from his hands gripping it ferociously. His grip eased up and he let out a muffled yell. Damn this feeling, damn Deku, damn that game for bringing up what he didn't want to acknowledge.
In his moments of introspective thoughts -- which were rare, but becoming more frequent -- he found that he felt something... something for Deku.A feeling he'd smothered since childhood with all the force he could muster.
Smothered in ways that only harmed him and Izuku.
The soft hair, warm and wide eyes, and endless kindness with so much passion for good. Deku wormed his way into his fiery and vengeful heart, and now he felt sick with the guilt rolling through his gut. The words he said, the blows he had thrown towards the helpless guy. Bakugou wanted to burn away the self loathing and fear that haunted him, to keep existing in his own manner, but he couldn’t.
He couldn’t muster control over what he felt, especially after the fight they had all those months ago. The feelings and the adoration that still rained on him from Deku, after the horrible things he had done and said… Bakugou knew he didn’t deserve it. So he clutched his chest and sat up on the bed, pausing long enough to wipe the brimming tear from his eye.
“Fuck it,” he snarled and stood up.
Bakugou slipped down the halls of the 1-A dormitory, he had no intention of running into a teacher or any of his other classmates. His stealth ended when he found himself at Deku’s room.
Izuku Midoriya
Three heavy knocks.
“Eh, Deku!”
A surprised thud from inside.
“K-Kacchan?”
“Let me in,” he clenched his fist, “damn nerd,” he hissed under his breath.
The door cracked open and Izuku stared at him with a shy resolve, his brows were furrowed and his mended hand gripped white at his side. Bakugou found himself unable to spit out an insult, only shouldering his way through.
Izuku shut the door and watched Bakugou give almost judging glances at the All Might posters plastered around the dorm room.
“Kacchan,” his voice was deeper and more mature than Katsuki remembered, he wasn't who he was before.
“Why are you here?”
“Why do you think, fuckmunch?”
Deku lowered his eyes and his cheeks flushed, “It was just a game, for points. It wouldn't be any different if-if it had been Kirishima.”
Bakugou’s fists clenched even tighter than they already were.
“Then why was it different, Deku? Eh?!” He rounded on the green-haired boy.
Izuku searched for an answer with wild eyes.
“You…” he gulped and croaked out the words, “You liked it?”
He was already bracing before the explosions sparked into the air around the room, a lot stronger than usual since he was sweating.
“Why the fuck would I like it?” Bakugou loathed the way his voice gave, the wide look in his crimson eyes.
“I don't know,” Izuku muttered.
“Don't look at me with those eyes!” Bakugou roared.
Now anger crossed Midoriya’s gentle face, any quiver of reluctance and timidity faded.
“Kacchan, it was just a game!” His voice rose.
Bakugou cringed.
“No… no, it wasn't.” The blond shoved his hands into the pockets of his sweat pants, blushing profusely. “Why didn't you say no? I wouldn't be feeling like this fuckin’ shit if you had!”
Izuku scoffed.
“You were the one who asked…”
Both boys were now bright red and almost panicking, skirting around the answer neither of them wanted to go at.
They kinda liked it.
“Fuck you, Deku.” He wheeled around to leave and just try and put that little warm kiss far behind him.
But then Deku grabbed his wrist.
“No, Kacchan don't run from this. You'll only be more of a shithead.”
“Say that again to my face you shitty nerd,” Bakugou squared up and realized in a flash of panic that his anger had brought him nose to nose with Izuku.
And Izuku didn't flinch, only stared at him with vivid eyes that seemed to mirror a warm summer field of swaying green grass. Their breath mingled for the second time that night, Bakugou couldn't help but glance down at Izuku’s lips. They were so close again.
But the blond jerked away and swore, shoulders arching and tense with fury, “Did you… like it at all?”
Izuku’s face went lax in shock, eyes zoning out. He couldn't blurt out that the moment had been replaying in his head for the past hour, the roughness and odd gentleness Bakugou showed him. Those fleeting looks of shyness he showed were replaced by his stereotypical coping mechanism: anger.
He rubbed the back of his head and tried to laugh to soften the blow of his answer.
“I uh… I-I didn't not like it.”
Bakugou cringed, but not for the reason Izuku initially thought.
“How… how could you like that?”
Izuku tilted his head.
“What?”
“I treated…” he gulped and Izuku realized this was the first time he'd ever seen Kacchan show guilt of any type
“I treat you like shit.”
The words tumbled out and the problem lay out open on the floor, in view, where Katsuki had never acknowledged it.
“I will still fucking beat you and become number one, you shit! I'm not taking that back!”
“I know, Kacchan,” he breathed.
“But you're the next goddamn All Might, so how much of a fucking chance do I have? You're always looking down on me,”
“Kacchan, you know that isn't true. I've told you… I've told you how amazing I think you are,” a tint on his cheeks flourished again, and he couldn't manage to maintain eye contact with Bakugou’s fiery gaze.
Katsuki put a hand over his chest and hissed through his teeth, clenching the fabric of his tank top.
“How the… hell do you do that?!”
“Do what?”
“Make me feel like I'm falling off a damn building!”
A surprised little chuckle slipped past Izuku’s lips.
“This is a mess,” he ran his fingers through the emerald curls on his head.
Katsuki released a rather aggressive growl and his pocket was smoking where his hands were.
“It wouldn't be such a problem if you weren't so nice,” he said it as if it was an insult.
Izuku huffed and gave him a stern glare.
“It's hardly my fault when you're such an asshole.”
Bakugou gaped and a tendril of smoke came off his body.
“You little…”
Izuku’s tense halted the anger, dispelling it like smoke in a breeze.
Soft, warmth, kindness , and the little trembling hand on his chest.
Izuku Midoriya was all of those things, and had the heart of a better hero than he ever could be. That just left him as the villain.
Maybe that's why he hated him just as much as he adored him.
Bakugou swayed back and let out an irritated groan.
Fuck.
His eyes were stinging.
His heart was galloping, and his stomach was in complete knots. Not to mention he could blow the entire dorm away with the sweat in his palms.
Trembling shoulders lost their tense posture and sagged, his eyes were damp.
“I fucking hurt you.”
“I know,” Izuku breathed, looking at him with those same wide and compassionate eyes that infuriated him.
Deku, the Hero.
Bakugou, the villain who wounded him.
“I'm just a villain to you,”
He dared look at Izuku when he said that, expecting a dark and solemn nod. Only to find green eyes filled to the brim with tears.
“No, Kacchan. You aren't… not to me.”
Izuku’s tender and reluctant hand on his cheek caused the tears to spill over.
“Damn nerd, making me so fucking weak.”
“Kacchan… it's-it's okay… it's okay to feel.”
There wasn't much space between them, Bakugou found himself leaning into the gentle touch. His mother wasn't a cuddler, nor was his father.
It's okay to feel.
They stood in silence for a few minutes as their minds raged with thoughts and feelings. Bakugou exhaled and closed his eyes. Deku should be his enemy, not his…
“Oi, Deku. If I hurt you again, fuckin punch me. Okay?” Bakugou ground out through grit teeth.
“A-Are you apologizing?!”
“... maybe. I swear to god if you tell any--”
Deku leaned up and kissed his heated cheek.
“Aah!” Bakugou snarled, putting his fingers under the smaller’s chin, “Deku if you're gonna kiss me, kiss me right at least.”
Then he leaned down and kissed Izuku, moving his hand to cup the soft and freckled face of the blushing young man. This wasn't a dare, nor was it a game, so their lips melded together and moved timidly. Bakugou quickly showed his dominance, raking his fingers through Izuku’s downy hair.
They pulled apart and Izuku was breathing quick, eyes wide. Bakugou touched foreheads with him, eyes gleaming and he bit his lip wickedly.
“You're kinda cute, Deku.”
“K-Kacchan!” He squeaked and covered his face with his hands, “I-I kissed you! A-and that means you were my first kiss and you apologized? B-But-but that's so unlike you how--”
Bakugou deadpanned as Izuku kept muttering and trying to reason how he and his former bully were standing in his room, kissing.
“Oi,” he snapped.
Izuku stopped his cloud of words.
“It's not like we're datin’...” Bakugou grunted, then flushed.
He'd not want to come out to his mother, she'd be way too smug that she was right. But she'd always liked little Midoriya, since he was so opposite of her own hotheaded son.
If Deku did want to change the title of their relationship… Kacchan wouldn't be completely against it.