Work Text:
Working late into the night was nothing new for Izuku. He was always up and about at strange hours, working hard for those who wouldn’t necessarily appreciate it at the ridiculous hour of 3 am. He looks up into the clear, cloudless sky at straight at the moon. The pale light it reflects down onto the world washes it in an eerie glow.
Being a police officer was all Izuku wanted to be, protecting those asleep around him and ensuring no harm came to them and if finishing his shift at 3 am was a sacrifice he had to make to have his dream job, he was damn sure to take it in his stride. It worked out anyway, the streets were always empty at this time, giving him some quiet to decompress from his stressful job in preparation for whatever sleep he could manage. He always had a gym routine to fit in before a shift to ensure he kept his stocky but strong figure.
Picking up his duffle bag that contained his uniform Izuku rolls his shoulders to relieve some tension and heads into his apartment building, unlocking the glass door and trudging wearily through the empty lobby.
Well, empty except for one person.
One of Izuku’s neighbours was always up at this time, heading out every time Izuku would head in. He was tall, broad and muscular, he obviously had a gym routine as intense as Izuku’s. Even for this time of the morning his deep red eyes never looked tired and his ash-blonde spikes atop his head always mussed to perfection. If he rolled out of bed looking like that Izuku didn’t think he could survive seeing him dressed up, the man was a bombshell. Every time Izuku rolled out of bed his curly mop of a green undercut had more knots than a ship’s rigging and the green of his eyes looked closer to a murky pond than the bright Caribbean Sea.
The man looks to Izuku, gives a quiet grunt and nod of acknowledgment and heads out into the world, to start whatever he has on his agenda today. Izuku turns and watches as he heads out the door and around the corner, following him with his gaze until he’s out of sight, silently wishing his neighbour luck and safety for the day as he continues making his way to his apartment to get some well-deserved sleep.
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It had been a testing day for Izuku, his precinct had been involved in a huge operation, stealthily taking down a whole drug ring. They had been working tirelessly on this, collecting the evidence and making sure they did it right. They couldn’t have anyone get away, especially any of the kingpins. With all their preparation they were able to successfully take in everyone who they were after and more, making Izuku ridiculously proud of himself and his colleagues.
Being too tired to do his usual and head back to the precinct to change out of his uniform into casual clothes, Izuku headed straight home, walking up to his apartment fully decked out in his police regalia. As he began to put his key into the front door to let himself into the lobby, the door swung wide open, almost hitting him in the face. Izuku quickly stumbles back, thanking his police trained reflexes for not letting him fall flat on his ass and looks up to see his hot, blonde neighbour leaving the building.
He looks over and notices he almost knocked Izuku over, stopping short in his step out the door.
“Oh shit, sorry dude, I didn’t see you there. You all good?”
The man continues to look at Izuku with concern, eyes widening with more surprise when he takes in his uniform and its dishevelled appearance.
“Yeah, I’m ok sorry. I’m so tired I really wasn’t watching where I was headed,” Izuku responds sheepishly, rubbing the shaved back of his undercut.
“It’s no problem,” the man says moving closer, “must have been a hard night at work. Thanks for that and everything. The protection and shit.”
Colour starts to creep across the man’s pale cheekbones and he starts shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably. This is the closest Izuku has ever been to him and the faintest waft of caramel reaches his nose, coming from the man.
Izuku finds the man’s embarrassment adorable and it causes a small grin to stretch across his face, making his 3 am all the more entertaining.
“Thank you, but its not necessary, seeing everyone safe is thanks enough.”
“Oh, well, thanks anyway but I’ve got to head off now, I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess? 3 am?”
“You got it, it’s a date,” Izuku says, finishing with a wink and heading inside to his apartment, missing the bright red that flushes all over the man’s face as he turns in shock and almost runs to his car in haste.
It takes Izuku’s work addled brain the entire trip up to his apartment to realise just what he said to his very attractive neighbour, slapping his cheeks in surprise at his stupidity.
“God I’m never that smooth, I should hang out with hot guys more often when I’m tired,” he mutters quietly as he heads to bed, wondering what his next 3 am finish will have for him.
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The next 3 am finish rolls around and after all the mind-numbing paperwork to complete in regards to the huge bust the previous day, Izuku has all but forgotten what had transpired the day before. He walks into his apartment lobby, duffle bag containing his uniform in hand and heads to his mailbox, stopping short when he realises there’s one (1) very hot blonde leaning against it.
“Officer Midoriya Deku, off duty, are we?” the blonde says with a grin, sex oozing from every word.
Izuku is caught by surprise, the blonde was hitting on him.
The blonde was hitting on him.
The incredibly hot, bench presses trucks for fun, rolled out of the bed looking like a model blonde was hitting on him.
After yesterday’s cringey performance.
“U-uh, um yes! I’ve finished for the day,” Izuku squeaks out, “An-and also, my name is Izuku.”
“Ah yeah, thought that was a weird name when I saw it here on the mailbox,” the blonde replies, rapping his knuckle on the metal door to Izuku’s mailbox, “Thought I might find your whole name, only caught your last name on your uniform yesterday, officer.”
The blonde finishes his sentence with a wink, walking over to where Izuku is frozen. He pulls out a box from behind his back. It’s a long, rectangular box made from thick, glossy white cardboard with the word ‘Boom’ emblazoned across the front of it in bold, black lettering.
“These are for you,” the blonde says, leaning in to whisper into Izuku’s ear when he hands over the box, “I hope you like them.”
The blonde turns and begins to walk out of the door, leaving a very shocked Izuku in his wake.
“Oh, by the way, the name’s Bakugo Katsuki, Deku. You’d better remember it,” he calls over his shoulder as he exits the building and heads over to his car across the road.
Izuku practically runs up the stairs to his apartment, completely forgetting to check his mailbox. He tears open the door to his apartment and dumps his stuff on the floor before heading to the kitchen to gently place the white box down on his kitchen bench. The box had a faintly sweet, caramelly smell coming from it, not unlike the smell coming from his neighbour, Bakugo.
The box opens on one of the shorter sides, revealing a smaller box inside to slide out. Inside were the most beautiful macarons Izuku had ever seen. Six macarons, each a different colour, with shiny, smooth tops and sumptuous smelling fillings.
After removing the cover, a small note fluttered to the bench below it. On it, scrawled in neat writing is the flavours of all the macarons in the box to ensure Izuku knew what he was eating. Izuku was excited, the first one was a bright teal with a creamy white buttercream that was vanilla flavoured, followed by one with a dark brown shell and an even darker brown filling that was chocolate flavoured.
Izuku devoured them, too excited to wait. They tasted amazing. The crispy shell gave way to a chewy inside which was quickly followed by the smooth creaminess of the filling. Each macaron was baked to perfection, not a single defect in their shells or fillings.
Izuku continued his gluttonous adventure, popping a white one in his mouth that had a strangely salty smell to it. The flavour was exquisite and unexpected, notes of butter and sweetness covering his palette.
“Buttered popcorn?” He muttered to himself as he read the note that accompanied the sweets, surprised at the choice of flavour and how well it was executed.
The rest followed quickly, a bright red one that was raspberry flavoured, filled with a punchy raspberry jam, then a deep purple one with a bright yellow filling, the note informing him it was a passionfruit macaron with passionfruit curd filling. He then reached the final one which was his favourite. A salted caramel macaron with a sticky salted caramel filling it. The notes of caramel were sweet and danced on his tongue, brought back and tamed by just the right amount of saltiness. Not only did this macaron taste the best but it also reminded Izuku of his hot neighbour with his own sweet caramel scent and looks which are both brought to their knees, yet strengthened with his brash personality.
Izuku heads to bed dreaming about macarons and floating in caramel scented clouds with Katsuki, excited to see him the next morning.
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This became routine for the next few weeks. Izuku would come home to find Katsuki leaning against his mailbox only to hand him a box of macarons and leave. Izuku would go upstairs, demolish them and proceed to go to bed in awe of the amazing flavours he had tried that day. Then the next morning Izuku would gush about his favourite macarons, thanking Katsuki profusely for them. The macarons were never in the same configuration, but there were so many flavours it took two weeks for the flavours to start repeating themselves.
It was Izuku’s day off so he decided to check out the bakery Katsuki kept bringing him macarons from. He thought maybe he could get the man a different cake or something as thanks for all the macarons he had bought him.
He googled the place, not at all surprised by the five-star rating it boasted. It was only a short drive away so Izuku hopped in his car and headed over.
The place was clean and sleek on the outside, black frames for the windows that allowed you to see into the bakery and all of their pastries lined up neatly. The name on the front in large, orange letters, letting everyone know they had indeed reached Boom.
Izuku wondered if they named it that for the way the flavours in your mouth just exploded on your palette as soon as it touched your tongue.
He walked in, pushing the door that jingled to inform the staff someone had arrived and took stock of the place. A man with spiky red hair behind the counter looked up at the sound, smiling brightly and widely.
“Hey! Welcome to Boom, what can I help you wi-“the man cut himself off in shock, recognition washing over his face, “Are you Midoryia by any chance?”
“Yes, but how did yo-“
“EXPLODO BOY GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE, YOUR PLAN FINALLY WORKED!”
“Uh, wha-what, I’m sorry what’s going on?”
“My plan?” A voice says as it rounds the corner from the back of the store, presumably where the actual baking happens. Izuku looks over and is greeted with the vision of Katsuki in a tight black tank, hot and flustered from the temperature of the ovens. A black apron with orange straps covering his clothes that had a light dusting of flour over it from his hard work. He looks over at Izuku and smirks.
“About time Officer, I was starting to think when you said our morning meeting was a date you would never follow through with it.”
“Ah, you- uh, me? You, um, I- what?” Well, at least this explained why the man was always up early, leaving the house at 3 am.
“Come, sit. I own the place so I’m free to take a break whenever. Don’t mind shitty hair at the counter, he’ll be our waiter for the day.” He turns to the man behind the counter “Bring me the Grenade cake and the Nitro slice, and I know I’m still working on it but the green apple slice out the back, or what I’m gonna call the Deku special.”
Izuku flushes at the attention, looking down into his lap in embarrassment “I- uh, thank you Katsuki. This is amazing.”
“Only the best for our first date, Deku.”
“Da-date?!”
Izuku looks up to see Katsuki smirking at him as he hands the man a cake with white layers but topped with a bright green jelly top.
It was the first of many cakes to be eaten on the great number of dates the two would share in the near future.