Work Text:
From villain attacks to moving into dorms to the provisional license, Bakugou’s 16th birthday appeared to be the last thing on his mind. In fact, when he checked his phone when he woke up one morning and saw the message of “Happy Birthday Katsuki!!!” from Kirishima, he realized what day it was.
When he reached the kitchen, he was greeted with a chorus of “Happy Birthday Bakugou!” from his classmates. Bakugou scoffed as he made his way to the coffee pot. “Didn’t think you fucks gave a shit.” he said as he reached for a mug.
“Of course we do!” Ashido shouted out.
“What kind of classmates would we be forgetting a fellow classmate’s birthday.” Iida added.
“Sane ones.” Bakugou shouted before sitting down to eat.
Halfway through his breakfast, Midoriya shyly approached Bakugou and handed him a small bottle. “My mom made extra this year.” he said with a small smile.
Bakugou looked at the bottle in his hand as a smirk slowly grew on his face. “Tell Auntie thanks, Deku.” he said before putting the bottle in the fridge. “In any of you fucks touch that, you die.” he announced to the room.
“What even is that?” Sero asks.
“Deku’s mom makes some stellar fucking hot sauce for my birthday every year because she’s the only sane person who understands actual taste.” Bakugou explained.
“Are you telling me that’s hotter than your lunch from last week?” Kaminari asked in shock. “I felt myself go into cardiac arrest after one bite.”
Bakugou only gave a deceptive smirk before finishing off his breakfast and started heading off to class.
It was no surprise when Kirishima did the equivalent of kidnapping Bakugou and taking him to the training room to practice, after all, with those quirks they were basically made for each other.
An hour in the two stopped to take a quick rest and water break. The boys were laying down on the ground with their feet facing opposite directions and heads next to each other, taking a moment to catch their breaths.
“You’re getting better Shitty Hair, you almost caught me by surprise.” Bakugou chuckled.
“Thanks Katsuki!” Kirishima said, beaming. “It means a lot coming from you.”
Bakugou’s quiet chuckling came to a slow stop as he turned his head to look at Kirishima. “The fuck is that suppose to mean?” he asks.
Kirishima turned to look him in the eye. “Well, I mean, you’re not really one to hand out compliments left and right.” he says.
“I can be plenty fucking complimentary.” Bakugou proclaimed.
“Well now maybe.”
“How about you stop being so damn cryptic and give me a straight response.” Bakugou said angrily.
Kirishima sat up and hesitated a bit before answering. “Think back to the beginning of the school year. You were brash. You were cocky. Now though? You still got some flaws but something changed over the past few months. Specifically more recently.”
Bakugou turned his head to look away from Kirishima as he thought over what he said, not planning on telling him that it was the talk with Midoriya and All Might that was the big change to him. He was more concerned with the first thing Kirishima said.
“Why waste your time then?” he asked, still looking away.
“What are you talking about?” Kirishima asked.
“You just described how awful I was at the beginning of the year.” Bakugou sat up and turned to Kirishima, genuine confusion written all over his face. “You, the class, why the fuck did you bother with me?”
Kirishima sat in stunned silence staring at his friend. In all his time knowing Bakugou, he has never seen that expression on his face.
“Shitty Hair.” Bakugou shouted. Kirishima remained silent.
“Kirishima.” he said quieter, although he was still met with silence.
“Eijirou.” he finally whispered.
The name drop was enough for Kirishima to snap out of his daze and scoot closer to Bakugou before giving his a soft smile.
“Simple. We like you, stupid.” he says to him.
Bakugou stared for a moment, processing what Kirishima told him. In the end, he simply shook his head, a small “sure” muttered under his breath, and got up and left for the dorms, Kirishima concerned cries getting closer as he followed behind.
Bakugou has walked in on a lot of strange things entering the dorms including Aoyama chasing Iida with glitter, Uraraka using her quirk to punt Kaminari across the room, and Aizawa chugging coffee straight from the pot. But a surprise party was definitely the strangest of them all.
The loud chorus of “SURPRISE!” when he entered the common room startled Bakugou enough for him to accidentally let out some small sparks from his hands. He looked at the crowd of 18 students in front of him, all smiling and many holding gifts or in Satou’s case, a cake. Decorations in the shape of little explosions hung on the wall, most likely courtesy of Yaoyorozu.
Bakugou turned around accusingly to Kirishima who responded with a sheepish shrug. “They sent me to distract you.” he explained.
Bakugou turned back to the expecting crowd and let out a loud sigh. “I was serious when I asked you fucks why you gave a shit.”
The class looked at each other in confusion before Iida finally spoke up. “Why wouldn’t we?” he asked.
Bakugou responded with an over exaggerated gesture to himself. “Because it’s me?”
“What’s wrong with you?” Sero asked. “Wait, did we get your birthday wrong?”
“No it can’t be. We double checked with Midoriya.” Kaminari added.
Slowly the class started muttering to one another about whatever reason Bakugou would have for being confused. Patience wearing thin, Bakugou lifted a hand and set off an explosion to get everyone’s attention.
“You do this shit for Glasses. You do this shit for Deku. You do this shit for Ponytail. I am nothing like them. So why did you do it?”
“I already said it’s because we like you, Katsuki.” Kirishima answered as he moved to stand with the class.
“Like me? After everything I’ve done? You all must be out of your-” Bakugou’s rant was cut short by Tsuyu clearing her throat.
“Done. As in past tense. If you really think we wouldn’t notice such a positive change and instead be hung up on things we probably don’t even remember, maybe you’re the one out of your mind, kero.”
Bakugou took a moment to register her blunt words. It was after she was done talking that the ball started rolling.
“Dude. We’re young. We aren’t like this forever.” said Kaminari.
“Everyone grows, not just physically. That’s why we’re here.” Ashido added.
“Honestly? You’re still a dick but that doesn’t mean we hate every part of it.” Jirou said.
“What would our day be like without a classic Bakugou outburst?” said Sero, earning a glare from Bakugou.
“You really think we went out and saved you for shits and giggles?” Todoroki bluntly stated.
“Okay first of all, you didn’t really ‘save’ me I just-” Bakugou started before being interrupted by the laughter of the class.
“There’s our firecracker!” Kirishima exclaimed.
Bakugou felt his face begin to heat up as he looked as his classmates. The praise from his childhood was different from the ones he received from his class. Those praises dealt in absolutes. Comments telling him that he will be a great hero, as though he made no mistakes. Although those words didn’t hurt him, it did deal some damage to others. But the class, their kind words had the flaws woven in. It gave him a semblance of a goal, and what kind of person would Bakugou Katsuki be if he wasn’t up for a challenge? Who would he be if not someone who works to earn what is theirs, respect included.
Bakugou stomped his way over to Satou and took the cake from his hands, now noticing that there were sparklers instead of candles. He turned and headed towards to kitchen quickly before anyone could notice his pink cheeks, yelling, “Hurry up before I eat it all, fuckers!” over his shoulder.
Being the center of attention was something Bakugou usually thrived in, but lately, with everything that had happened, he would give it a hard pass. Today though? It was refreshing. No danger, not threat. Only laughter and cake and a sense of belonging.
Bakugou got up from the couch and headed towards the empty kitchen. As he was filling his drink, he was shorty met with Tsuyu who was grabbing more food. Bakugou stared at her for a moment before speaking.
“Oi.” he said as Tsuyu turned around.
“What is it Bakugou-chan?” she asked.
“I’m only going to say this once so you better listen closely, Frogger.” he began. “What you said, I needed that. It got everyone talking.”
Tsuyu blinked up at him before responding. “I just said what was on my mind.”
“And some people need that.” Bakugou said as he crossed his arms.
“Are you thanking me?” she asked.
“No.” he said immediately.
“Bakugou-chan, if you want to be better this isn’t how.” Tsuyu stated.
Bakugou sighed and rolled his eyes. “Fine. Thank you, Frogger. Now I’m going to bed.” he said as he turned and headed towards the door.
“Call me Tsu-chan.” was her only answer.
Bakugou turned around and raised an eyebrow at her. “What?” he asked.
“Call me Tsu-chan.” she repeated. “That’s what all my friends call me. Kero.”
Bakugou let out a soft chuckle. “It’s gonna take some time to get to that, Frogger-chan.”
Turning away from Tsuyu’s smile, Bakugou made his way up to his room. As he was about to sit on his bed, he stopped, noticing a bundle on top of it. Upon closer inspection, he realized it was a sweater. Picking it up, he immediately recognized the blue, yellow, red, and white that makes up an classic All Might design. He unzipped it to try it on and paused and he looked inside the sweater. There, sewn on with as much care and detail of the All Might design was another hero outfit design. His hero outfit design. The sweater was reversible, so the hero outfits could be easily displayed with a simple switch. Bakugou stared in awe before looking at his bed for a note, not that he needed to. He knew exactly who knows him so well to get him this.
A few minutes and one swift kick to the door later, he was in Midoriya’s room.
Midoriya yelped and fell off his chair over the sudden noise. He turned to Bakugou in confusion. “Kacchan??” he asked, slightly distressed.
Bakugou lifted up the sweater. “How did you know?” he asked.
Midoriya answered by getting up and walking towards the shelf above his desk. He grabbed a book from the far left side and flipped a few pages before handing it to Bakugou. “It was actually your idea.” Midoriya said.
One look at the cover and Bakugou shortly recognized it. “Hero Analysis for the Future #1.” Bakugou helped fill out half this notebook before finding out Midoriya was quirkless. He looked down at the page and recognized his own, barely illegible, four year old handwriting. The page had a crudely drawn sweater that was coloured in along with a note on the side describing how it looks. The description matched the sweater exactly.
Bakugou looked up and met the nervous eyes of Midoriya. “I asked the support department if anyone was good with textiles and could make that.” he explained. “It’s made of a fabric that won’t be affected by your explosions.”
“Why… why would you get me this?” Bakugou asked in shock.
“Because it’s your birthday? You’ve always wanted your own hero merchandise as a kid so I figured-”
“I’m not talking about that!” Bakugou exclaimed, making Midoriya jump at the sudden outburst. “You of all people should not be thinking about me like this. You shouldn’t care so much. You heard me down there. Sure the class can deal but you?” he asked, pointing a finger at Midoriya before he began pacing around the room. “You have every right in the world to hate me.”
“You think I don’t know that?” said Midoriya. “You put me through hell every single day, Kacchan. It’s not something to forget so simply.”
“Then why would you do something this kind for me?” Bakugou asked, voice rising.
“BECAUSE I’M ACTUALLY PROUD, KACCHAN!” Midoriya shouted, stunning Bakugou.
“You were awful. You’re still sometimes awful. But the fact of the matter is you are not the same person you were a year ago. People can change for the better. Yeah you still got some work to do and no this doesn’t mean we’re perfectly fine with each other, but it’s something. You and I have a long way to go, but ever since you and I talked with All Might, something changed.”
Bakugou stared at Midoriya, realizing for the first time ever that Midoriya made him speechless. But his encouraging words did affect him for long.
“And what makes you think I won’t go back to how I was?” Bakugou asked.
“I actually have a simple answer for that.” Midoriya said as he sat on his bed, patting the space next to him, signalling Bakugou to join him. Bakugou took a seat. “Todoroki and I talked about the provisional licence redo. I’m not going to lie, I was kind of worried about the mix of you and children. That worry disappeared when he told me what he overheard. You told a kid that if all he does is look down on people, he won't be able to recognize his own weaknesses. I know a lot about you Kacchan, which means I know you don’t go back on your own words.”
There were a lot of things Bakugou wanted to say at that moment, but he couldn’t find the right words. Instead he mumbled two short words under his breath.
“What was that Kacchan? Did you say thank you?” Midoriya asked absolutely genuinely.
“WHAT? No! Why would I?” Bakugou yelled out quickly, refusing to meet Midoriya’s eyes.
Midoriya let out a soft chuckle. “I’ll get one out of you before the year’s up.” he said.
“I’d like to see you try.” Bakugou retorted. Then, in a move far more reckless than his final tournament fight, far more reckless than jumping in to save All Might at USJ, and far more reckless than the expedition to Kamino Ward, Midoriya hugged Bakugou.
Bakugou sat there paralyzed, arms above his head as he stared down at the top of Midoriya’s head. He looked around for a moment as if the All Might figurines would come to life and save him before letting out a heavy sigh.
“Alright, now you’re pushing it.” Bakugou said before shoving Midoriya off both him and the bed. He saw Midoriya’s body shake a little and let out a small noise. Bakugou began to panic slightly. “Oh fuck. I broke him. It hasn’t even been five minutes.” he thought to himself before Midoriya turned over and laughter filled the room. As Bakugou looked down upon the giggling nerd, he realized that he much prefers this reaction.
Bakugou laid in bed as the thought over the events of the day. He ended up coming to one conclusion. He has always fought in order to get things, working hard to earn what will soon be his. The respect of his classmates will be no different.