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“There’s been an explosion downtown at the Shimura Center!” Katsuki’s head whipped up and he looked at Kirishima who was already grabbing his camera. His best friend threw a sharp-toothed grin his way.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Katsuki grinned and pushed away from his desk and grabbed his jacket. While pulling it on he pointed a finger at the person sitting opposite of him.
“Don’t even think about it Deku, this one’s mine!” His green-haired colleague jerked once as if he had been far away with his thoughts and blinked owlishly up at him.
“Uhm… whatever you say Kacchan! Oh, it seems I’ve forgotten an appointment I had. I better get going!” And with that, he jumped up from his chair and practically ran from the room. Katsuki just rolled his eyes. Sometimes he really wondered why Deku still had a job with them. As often as he left work for some kind of appointment it was a miracle that he hadn’t been let go yet.
The reason for that was probably the excellent articles he wrote, but Katsuki refused to think about that. Sure, Deku was his rival in the news station, but he was also Deku, his childhood friend who had nothing better to do than follow Katsuki around for their whole lives.
Seriously, that guy needed to grow a spine and make some decisions for himself and stop copying Katsuki. He didn’t need to stop following him, because that would mean Deku wouldn’t be around anymore. Not that he cared particularly about that or anything.
Hurrying, both Katsuki and Kirishima opted for not taking the elevator and jumping down the stairs instead. Done on the street they decided not to brave the chaos with a taxi and instead run. There was a reason their daily work out included a lot of cardio. As a reporter, you needed to be quick on your feet.
The closer they got to the explosion the denser the masses got. The people were either running away or running towards the explosion. And some of the dumbest were just standing around, eyes fixed firmly on the sky. Katsuki scoffed. Pathetic.
“Bakugou, look!” Kirishima suddenly exclaimed and pointed upwards. Katsuki’s eyes followed to where his friend was pointing. The skyscraper was smoking, with several floors seemingly damaged. But that wasn’t what his friend had meant.
Some people around him started muttering.
“What’s this? Is that a bird?”
“Maybe a plane?” When he heard the beginning of this exchange, Katsuki groaned.
“Oh my fucking god, are you kidding me?!” He asked out loud, rounding on the citizens next to him. “As if you morons don’t exactly know what that is!”
“Aww, come on man! It’s a funny joke!”
“Sorry for my friend, he’s just a bit tense! No hard feelings, yeah?” Kirishima interrupted before Katsuki could start screaming for real. He let his friend push him away from the bystanders and closer to the building in a huff.
“Come on man, let’s start,” Kirishima said and readied his camera. “Maybe we can even convince All Might to give a statement. He has a soft spot for you after all.” Katsuki grimaced. It wasn’t exactly true, but it wasn’t completely false either. He had tried his best to keep a professional distance between them but somehow the Superhero had a knack for always appearing just in the nick of time to save Katsuki.
Even though he always had perfect control over the situation, thank you very much! He didn’t need the other man to intervene every time, he was perfectly capable of keeping himself safe.
“Let’s just get this over with,” Katsuki grumbled before turning back to the scene. “Make sure you get some good shots for the article.”
“You can count on me, boss!”
Together they made their way closer to where the police were trying to contain the masses and to get a semblance of order into the chaos that had occurred after the explosion. The building was still smoking dangerously and after the initial sighting, no one had seen even a hair of the city superhero, which meant he was also still in the building. Katsuki wasn’t worried about him. He had seen him take a bullet point-blank, that guy could handle himself.
He wasn’t thinking about how that bullet had been meant for him and that if it hadn’t been for All Might intervening he might not be standing here right now. It hadn’t been Katsuki’s fault that the rat had decided to throw over the garbage and clue the drug dealers into where he had been hiding.
They managed to push their way through the last line of people and were standing directly at the police line. With practiced ease, Katsuki turned to the officer right in front of him who, going by his eye roll, recognized Katsuki.
“Please Sir, keep behind the line and let the police and fire brigade do their work.”
“Officer Iida, care to give a statement on what happened here?” Katsuki asked, his phone with the voice recorder in his hand.
“There is no official statement to be given out yet, Bakugou-san. I ask that you wait like everyone else for the official press release after the investigation has been completed.”
“There was a massive explosion in the Shimura Center, which is strictly an office building. Coincidentally that building and the company is owned by none other than Shigaraki Tomura, a known offender of the Law. And you want me to believe that there’s nothing else going on? Try again, Officer.” Iida sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.
“You know I can’t say anything about that Bakugou,” he answered with a grimace. “You're close to All Might, why not ask him about it?”
“I am not close with that dumb mountain of muscle!” Katsuki practically shrieked out. “Why is everyone saying that?”
“Dude.” Kirishima gave him a blank look. “Really? I bet even now with the burning building if something was threatening you All Might would come flying. That guy is totally whipped for you.” Next to them, Iida nodded in agreement. Katsuki could feel his face heating up in embarrassment.
“It feels like a villain abducts you twice a month or so to try and force All Might's hand,” Iida added. Now it was Kirishima’s turn to nod.
“Can we focus on the fucking suspicious explosion in that skyscraper?” Katsuki screamed, his face as red as those obnoxious shoes Deku still insisted to wear. Thankfully All Might chose that exact moment to reemerge from the building, carrying several people over his shoulder. He carefully placed them with the authorities before flying off again. Katsuki used that distraction to slip past the police officers who were still trying to control the public.
He didn’t bother to tell Kirishima where he was going. His best friend knew him well enough to guess what he had done when he noticed he was gone. And Katsuki refused to let the police get away with their excuses of something like a gas leak.
Yeah, right.
A gas leak in the Shimura Center? Try again. If that company was involved in it that meant Shigaraki was up to no good again. As a reporter, it was Katsuki’s duty to expose his plans and bring him to justice. His mother had always questioned why he hadn’t simply gone into law enforcement if he was so obsessed with justice, but he had laughed in her face.
As if the police actually cared about that. Sure, there were exceptions to the rule, like Iida, but most of them were only after their own gain and the privileges the job gave them. Katsuki wasn’t like that. He wanted to know what was happening and he wanted to make sure that all the extras out there knew exactly what was going on too.
Was it dangerous to run into a burning building that was still wrecked with tiny explosions? Sure. But Katsuki had never been afraid of a little bit of danger. Another reason why he loved his job and why he wanted to be the best at it. If you excelled as a journalist you could get access to all kinds of interesting places.
Most of the building was empty, as it had already been evacuated. The only people remaining would be the ones working above the exploded floor and they were been rescued by All Might at the moment. So there should be no one to bother Katsuki while he did a bit of snooping.
It seemed to be his lucky day, as most of the computers weren’t locked. The employees had probably panicked after the explosion and forgotten about it.
Score.
He wasn’t an expert when it came to technology but he had picked up a few things over the years, including a bit of coding and hacking. Nothing noteworthy, but enough to get into the company’s network and find out that there were files that someone didn’t want to be accessed by anyone. And they didn’t seem to be your ordinary run of the mill company details.
After he had verified that there was indeed something shady going on - no real surprise there - he continued his way through the building. From his previous dealings with Shigaraki, and yes sadly most of those had been kidnapping incidents and not professional meetings, he knew the guy was kind of traditional. So the chance of finding something that wasn’t digital was high.
He was getting closer to the epicenter of the explosion. The air was slowly beginning to smell like smoke and he was starting to have trouble breathing. But still, he pushed through. From his last excursion into the building, again less than legal which seemed to be a reoccurring theme for him, he knew that around here were some of the offices of Shigarakis top executives. If he could find some kind of evidence in there he knew where he needed to start his investigations after this.
He hoped that if there was another evil plot in the works it would be a bit more creative than the last few times. Honestly, how often could one build a decaying laser to hold the city hostage?
The first office didn’t have anything useful but the next one seemed more promising. Several locked, inconspicuous drawers basically screamed his name. Quickly but precisely he took out his lockpicks, again maybe not the most legal of practices but what the authorities didn’t know couldn’t hurt them, and got to work.
Hey, it wasn’t as if he was a lawyer.
He found a few blueprints that looked suspiciously like a kind of gun and a few buildings. He quickly got out his phone and took pictures of everything he deemed interesting before replacing the documents and carefully locking the drawers again. Leaving traces was a rookie mistake. As soon as it was discovered that someone had snooped around the plans were getting thrown out of the window and all that hard work had been for nothing.
He was still standing at the desk when a tremor shook the building. He sincerely hoped it wouldn’t collapse. That would just be his luck. The smoke in the air had intensified and the heat was getting stronger too. Had the fire spread downwards? If that was the case he needed to hurry and get out of here.
He took a step towards the door, but in the next moment there was an almost ear-shattering noise and Katsuki felt himself be flung backward.
Right through the floor-length windows in the office. Pain was exploding all along his front and his back as he was catapulted out of the building. He didn’t know where up and down was, the only thing he knew with certainty and a swooping stomach was that he was in pain - and that he was falling.
The wind was rushing past his burning face, too sharp to bring any relief to his tender skin and roaring in his ears. His eyes were still closed to protect them from the heat of the explosion that had ejected him from the building.
But Katsuki wasn’t afraid. Because for all of his blustering and posturing earlier there was one thing that he was sure of, one thing that he would never question - if Katsuki needed him and was in danger All Might would always be there to save him.
Almost as if summoned by his thoughts, even though it was more likely that he had been summoned by that new explosion, Katsuki felt strong, muscular arms wrap gently around his frame and slow his fall down, to not injure him further. The falling, swooping sensation in his stomach resided.
Slowly Katsuki opened his eyes. His gaze landed on a big, well-defined chest in a skintight, deep green outfit. Emblazed over the sprawling mass of muscle was a symbol in red and orange which looked almost like an A and an M pushed together as one, the symbol which had been the origin of his name. His eyes traveled upwards over a sharp jaw, surprisingly plush looking cheeks which were covered by an array of freckles, unearthly bright green eyes, and soft, wind tousled green locks. But the most breathtaking feature was the glowing smile.
Katsuki felt his heart skip a beat and his traitorous brain could only conjure up one thought:
My hero .
Immediately he hated himself for thinking that. He was Bakugou Katsuki and he didn’t need saving from anyone. Sure, saving himself from falling out of the 18th floor of a building would’ve been hard, but he was sure he would’ve managed somehow.
“Bakugou-san, you need to be more careful. What were you doing in that building?” The Superhero asked with a concerned frown on his face.
“None of your business,” Katsuki countered. “Now put me the fuck down, you overgrown helium balloon!” The smile on All Might's face was amused, almost as if Katsuki was a petulant child or a small pomeranian. It made his blood boil. That’s why he would never get along with this overconfident, cocky asshole, no matter how charming he pretended to be. Katsuki hated being looked down on.
They safely landed on the ground and before All Might could put him down Katsuki had already jumped out of his arms. In the next second he pushed his phone into the superheroes face, the recording app running.
“For the record, I didn’t need you saving me. But now that you’re here you can answer some of my questions.” The superhero gave him a wry smile.
“You’re welcome anyway. And if you have questions concerning this incident you should just talk with the police, I’m sure they are way more qualified to answer them than me.”
“Don’t try to bullshit me All Might. You know as well as I do that the police aren’t going to tell me what’s going on if they even figure it out. This has Shigaraki Tomura written all over it and I am going to find out what he’s planning this time.” All Might let out a sigh and rubbed a hand over his temples.
“I would rather you didn’t Bakugou-san. Why do you insist on always running into danger?”
“Because someone has to do it,” was his immediate response.
“Isn’t that kind of my job?” The superhero asked with a wry smile that did nothing to the butterflies in his stomach. Nope. Absolutely nothing.
“Well, then you should hurry up and get to it. Up, up and away or whatever your shitty fans like to scream.” And with that Katsuki turned around and walked away. It was important to get in the last word. He didn’t quite know why, but the hero managed to push all of his buttons. The only other person who had ever managed that was shitty Deku and that was only because they had been stuck together for so long.
Still fuming, Katsuki made his way back to where Kirishima was still waiting for him behind the police line. Iida tried to stop him and give him another lecture about 'appropriate behavior at the site of a catastrophe' but Katsuki ignored him and brushed right past him. Kirishima fell in step with him and soon enough they were escaping the crowds that were still gathered around the building.
"What you did was dangerous," Kirishima said in a forced casual tone.
"Fuck off, Shitty Hair. I didn't ask for your opinion."
"No, but I'm your friend and I was worried about you." Katsuki thought for a second about ignoring him, but that would be shitty even for him. So he bumped his friend lightly with his shoulder before answering.
"Don't bother, I'm fucking fine." Kirishima let out a thoughtful hum.
"True. Good thing All Might was able to catch you in time. Did he say anything? It looked as if you two had a lively conversation."
"Piece of shit was trying to get me to stop looking into Shigaraki and let the police handle it. He's making me sick with his tone-deaf and idealistic views." Kirishima winced at the viciousness in his voice. He pulled out his camera and scrolled through the pictures he had taken.
"I mean you're not completely wrong, he is a strong defender of the police and maybe that's not the best call nowadays. But he's also the Symbol of Hope and it's his job to keep people safe, including nosy reporters."
"It's his self-proclaimed job, no one's paying him anything. Remember the fucking legal disaster a few years back?" That made Kirishima pause in his scrolling and throw his head back and laugh.
"Aw man, his face! It was amazing to see him so uncomfortable." Katsuki snickered.
"It was hilarious," he agreed. "Anything good?" He gestured to Kirishima's camera. The redhead nodded.
"Yeah, I think so. I got some good shots of him catching and carrying you too if you want them." The look he threw back at him wasn't even subtle anymore. Katsuki groaned.
"Drop it! There is no fucking tension between me and that floating idiot except maybe the one where I would like to strangle him if he wasn't made of concrete!"
"Sure, sure," Kirishima said, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "And the heart eyes you made at him right after he caught you were just my imagination." As to prove his point he turned his camera for Katsuki to see. The small screen showed a scene right after he had been thrown from the building. All MIght was floating in the air, his cape billowing in the wind, the sun framing his rather handsome profile, and making his hair and eyes shine. In his muscular arms, he held Katsuki, who was looking up at him with a look of pure wonder, his cheeks flushed a rosy red. If it was from the proximity to the hero or the heat of the explosion was anyone's guess but Katsuki knew what kind of headline the press would choose.
' Beloved Hero All Might saves favorite damsel in distress ace reporter Bakugou Katsuki '
Hell no.
"Delete that," he pressed out from between gritted teeth, his face already flushing again from anger and embarrassment.
"I don't think I will," Kirishima answered, pulling the camera back to him and wrapping his arms around it in a protective gesture. "It's a great photo and I'm proud of it. I'm gonna print it and frame it and hang it in the office."
"You're dead!" Katsuki bellowed before throwing himself at his best friend who just laughed and ran away. Still screaming, Katsuki took chase.
They ran all the way back to the office like that.
Kirishima managed to stay alive and protect his camera much to Katsuki's chagrin. With a frustrated huff, Katsuki threw himself down into his chair and booted his computer again.
"U-Uhm, Kacchan?" The timid voice of Deku made him look up. The other was sitting at his own desk, a look of concern on his face.
"What?" Katsuki barked out not in the mood to deal with his dumb childhood friend after the day he just had. Deku shrunk back meekly.
"I-I just wanted to know if you're okay? I heard you were involved in something...?" Unsure of himself Deku trailed off, but his eyes never wavered from Katsukis. At least that's what he assumed. Deku's eyes were hard to see sometimes behind the slightly tinted glasses that he had to wear for some kind of eye condition ever since they were children.
The frames were bulky and round, taking up most of his face and making the rest of it seem even rounder and wider than it was. They also covered up a big part of the freckles that were splattered over his cheeks. It also didn’t help that his curly hair fell over his forehead in an unruly mess that could make hairdressers cry.
Katsuki groaned at the question. News certainly traveled fast, especially in the, well, news department.
"How do you know about that already?" he asked. Then, slightly more panicked: "Kirishima didn't say anything, did he? He didn't show you any pictures?"
"N-no, he didn't," Deku hurried to assure him, raising his hands in a placating manner. "I just heard someone talking about it, that's all." Satisfied Katsuki sank back into his chair.
"Good. Nothing happened."
"So you weren't caught in an explosion and thrown out the side of a burning building from the 18th floor?" The sarcasm in Deku's voice made Katsuki take a double-take. That little shit had been gaining more and more confidence over the last few years. Katsuki couldn't say that he didn't like it and didn't enjoy their occasional verbal spars with each other. But Deku was still too meek for Katsuki's taste. Not that he was interested in Deku in that way. Or in any way.
Nope. Not at all. He wasn't cute or anything. The way he always wore at least four different layers at all times and in every weather didn't create the urge in him to unwrap Deku like a Christmas present and find out what he was hiding underneath. Because he was hiding something. Katsuki wasn't sure if it was muscle or fat with the way the different layers covered him but both options were equally exciting. It felt like a secret and Katsuki had never been able to resist those.
If you were interested in Deku. Which Katsuki wasn't.
He could understand how someone might find Deku cute or even attractive despite his rather plain appearance. From an objective standpoint. Nothing more.
With a deadpan look in his eyes, Katsuki met Deku's gaze head-on and said in the most convincing tone he could muster: "No."
"Huh," Deku answered, the same deadpan look on his face. "Could've fooled me. You know with the burn holes in your shirt and all." Out of reflex, Katsuki looked down at himself. No holes anywhere. Thank god, that was one of his favorite shirts, he would've been pissed if it was ruined.
"Asshole," Katsuki answered with less heat than he could've. Deku noticed and gave him a shy smile in return.
"So how was All Might? Did you talk to him?" Immediately Katsuki's mood which had steadily gotten better since arriving at the office soured again. An ugly expression crossed over his face and he snarled.
"He's a self-centered, good for nothing idiot who thinks the investigation should be left to the police. He was a useless muscle for brains, as always." Deku frowned.
"You really don't like him, huh?"
"No, I don't," Katsuki scoffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"Except for the fact where you totally want to get into his pants!" Kaminari chimed in from his own cubicle, making a few other people in the office laugh.
"Dunce face, I'm going to fucking end you!" Katsuki shrieked, half rising out of his chair and ready to launch himself across the room and straight into the other blond's face.
"No violence in the office," came the reminder floating out of Aizawa's office. Still fuming with righteous anger Katsuki sank once again back in his seat. Deku was still looking at him strangely and Katsuki felt the sudden urge to clarify.
"I fucking don't," he insisted. Deku's face morphed into an understanding smile. Funny how earlier in their lives Katsuki found his smiles condescending when now he knew them to just be genuine and supportive.
"I know Kacchan," Deku smiled at him. It reminded Katsuki of the fact that Deku was one of the only people in his life that Katsuki had felt comfortable enough to open up about himself. The other people were his parents and Kirishima.
"After all," Deku continued now with a slightly mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "You're a professional, ace reporter." Katsuki groaned and let his head hit his desk to hide the wide grin on his face.
"That was a terrible pun Deku, you should be fucking ashamed of yourself." Deku just shrugged and turned back towards his work. Katsuki allowed himself a few more seconds of grinning like an idiot before he too got his act together and started on his article.
He was still a bit pissed about Kaminari's comment but he could see where everyone was coming from, even though he would never admit it. All Might did save him quite often and they had been seen several times. And since Katsuki was a reporter he'd already conducted several interviews with the man in green.
So, of course, some people would start to interpret their relationship in that kind of way. The problem for that theory was just that Katsuki wasn't wired that way. Sure, the few times he had sex he enjoyed it, but it wasn't something that he needed or sought out. Whenever people fawned over how hot someone was all he could do was stare on in confusion. Sure, objectively some of these people were good-looking or attractive, but they never stirred any of those feelings or desires in him that others described. He had no problem with being that way, it gave him more time to focus on his career and his goals.
It only bothered him when other people assumed things about himself and his relationship. Especially when it concerned All Might. There was no way in hell that Katsuki would start anything with the superhero. He threw a glance over the divider between their cubicles where Deku was frowning at his desktop in concentration, his hands absentmindedly tugging at his hair.
If Katsuki would ever think about dating, and he wasn't, All Might wouldn't be his first choice. But he'd rather die than admit that to anyone, admitting it to himself had been a battle already. He didn't need to deal with the rest of the world too.
It was a few days later when Katsuki was home after work. Since the incident at the Shimura Tower, he had followed several leads in his Shigaraki investigation and gotten some promising hints where to look next.
Today had been a close call where he was almost discovered while listening in on some of Shigaraki's favored contacts in the underworld. But he had made it out unscathed and was pretty satisfied with the results. He was rewarding himself with cooking an extra spicy curry for dinner when a sound caught his attention. It almost sounded like... someone throwing stones at his window? Except that was impossible. He lived on the 6th floor.
Still, he took a step out of the kitchen and threw a glance towards his living room window. He almost dropped the knife he was holding when he made eye contact with someone. Furious he placed the knife on the counter and stomped over to the window.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing here?" Katsuki demanded to know as soon as he had opened the window, nearly breaking it in the process. "How do you know where I live? Are you stalking me now?"
"Good evening, Bakugou-san. I've come to talk to you about the case with the Shimura Center. May I come in?" Katsuki stared for a few seconds, debating whether to let him in or to tell him to fuck off. In the end, his curiosity got the better of him and he took a grumpy step to the side.
"But you better make it quick," he said. With a frown on his face, he crossed his arms across his chest and leaned against the wall. "Talk."
The superhero carefully floated through the window and stood up straight again. It was surreal seeing him here between Katsuki's dinner table and his couch. It was a good thing he had stored all the embarrassing things that he didn't want anyone to see ever in his bedroom.
"I know that you've been investigating certain individuals that are connected to Shigaraki," All Might said, his hands resting lightly on his hips. Katsuki thought he looked stupid in that pose but conceded that it must suck to not have pockets to put your hands in. That must be what women with their fake pockets felt like.
"What about it?" he said with a challenging look.
"You know how dangerous all of these people are. Why can't you let the police or myself handle this?"
"If you just came here to fucking berate me again, don't bother. There's the window, get the fuck out of my house." All Might's face scrunched up in an annoyed grimace.
"Ka-a-an't you understand where I'm coming from, Bakugou-san?" All Might said, but the way he stuttered at the beginning and the faint flush on his cheeks told Katsuki something important. Had the superhero been about to call him by his first name?
"I just want to protect you and keep you safe!" Katsuki narrowed his eyes.
"I'm not some damsel in distress that needs saving. I can take care of myself."
"I know that!" All Might insisted. "But if you go after those criminals without backup even you can get killed one day."
"So what do you suggest?" Katsuki sneered at the hero while taking a threatening step forward. He knew there was nothing he could do against the superhuman, but it was the principle of the thing. "Stop doing it? Let the police handle it? No fucking way. I'm not going to stand by and let the truth be swept under the rug."
"Get some backup. Tell someone where you're going to go."
"And who would I tell? The police? Fuck off, All Might."
"Me." Stunned, Katsuki fell silent. All Might gave him a determined look and once again Katsuki couldn't help but notice just how green his eyes were. "Tell me. If I know you're going to do something dangerous I can keep an ear open and come for you if something goes wrong." Gingerly All Might placed a watch on the table between them, and where the fuck had he that pulled from? His costume didn't have any pockets!
"If you press this button it'll give off a sound that's too high for human ears to hear, but not for me. This way you won't give away your position but I'll be able to find you." Confused and a bit flustered himself Katsuki stared at the watch. This wasn't something you just had laying around. The superhero had planned this. Because he was worried about Katsuki's safety.
Why did this thought evoke butterflies in his stomach? This was not a reaction he should have to anything concerning the hero! He should be angry that the other was looking down on Katsuki's ability to take care of himself!
Die, stupid bugs!
He glared up at All Might.
"It looks fucking tacky. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing this."
"You don't need to wear it. Just please keep it with you, alright?"
"Your time is up now. Leave." The superhero let out a deep sigh and turned towards the window. But before he could leave he threw one last look at Katsuki. There was something in his eyes that he couldn't place. Almost something familiar.
"Take care of yourself," he said but stopped himself for a second before continuing. "Bakugou-san." And with that, he was gone.
Katsuki stared at the watch laying innocently on his table. His first instinct was to throw it out the window and be done with it. He didn't need help, especially not from this self-righteous Wonder Boy. But then he thought back to all those dangerous situations that All Might had already saved him from.
He would be a fool to waste this opportunity. If he knew he had All Might at his beck and call he could take even greater risks. That probably wasn't what the superhero had in mind when he gave the watch to Katsuki but he didn't care about that.
Satisfied with his reasoning for keeping the present, completely ignoring any other feelings he might be having, he pocketed the watch and walked back into the kitchen. He had a curry to finish.
When he walked into work the next morning the watch was tugged securely into the inside pocket of his jacket.
Throughout the whole morning, Deku kept giving him strange looks over their desks. At one point Katsuki couldn't take it anymore. He slammed his hands down and directed one of his fiercest glares across at the other man.
"What the fuck is your problem? Do I have something on my fucking face?" Deku was quick to shake his head and bring his hands up in a placating manner.
"N-No! I just... I don't know, you seem tense...? Did something happen yesterday?" Crap, did Deku notice that Katsuki's thoughts were distracted? But he had taken such care not to let anything about his nightly visitor and the feelings that had inspired in him show on his face or his demeanor. Katsuki cursed the fact that Deku had known him for almost all of his life and could read him like an open book some days.
"Nothing happened," he grumbled while sitting back down again. With a quick look around he made sure that no one was listening to them before he leaned a little closer to the other to whisper. "All Might came by my apartment yesterday."
Predictably Deku's hands flew up to his mouth and he let out a low gasp.
"No!" he said, obviously awestruck. "But why?" Katsuki rolled his eyes, both at the fanboy-ish antics of his friend and at the flying nuisance.
"He wants me to be more careful or some shit. He was being his usual patronizing, shitty self."
"I have to agree with him," Izuku frowned. "I'd wish you were more careful too."
"Haah?! What does that mean, shitty Deku?"
"Just that I'm worried about you. I don't want anything bad to happen to you ever Kacchan!" Izuku's earnest and even more importantly cute reply made his anger turn to smoke. He just couldn't be mad at the other man anymore. Somewhere after puberty had hit he had lost that ability. Katsuki just hoped the little shit would never figure out that particular secret or Katsuki would be done for.
"Why do you feel he was patronizing you?" the green-haired man asked.
"I can take care of myself, I don't need a fucking babysitter. I'm capable and I worked hard to get where I am, I don't need some flying meatloaf to tell me how to do my job."
"I'm sure he didn't mean it like that Kachan."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let's just drop it." Deku still seemed a little reluctant but headed Katsuki's wishes and started talking about a new string of robberies downtown.
The next few days were uneventful. Katsuki did follow more leads, but nothing came of it. He was starting to get a bit frustrated with his progress and had vented about it to Deku earlier in the day who was always willing to lend a sympathetic ear to Katsuki's rants.
He had just slammed the door shut behind him when someone was knocking on his window. Furious he ran over and ripped it open.
"Is this going to be some recurring shit? Because then I need to fill a fucking restraining order!"
"Good evening Bakugou-san. Could I have some of your time? I have a problem that I could use your help with." Katsuki cursed his greatest weakness, his curiosity, and pride. Grumbling he stepped aside and let the man in green float into his living room again.
"What do you want?" The Superhero put a small flash drive on the table between them. Again, where did he pull that out from?
"This is a lead I got from an anonymous source. It concerns the Shigaraki case." That managed to grab Katsuki's interest and he stood up straighter.
"I thought you didn't want me anywhere near that?"
"I said I want you to be safe about it, not that I don't want you working on it. I have great respect for your work and value your input, that's why I came to you with this." Katsuki blinked, confused. All Might respected his work? That didn't fit in with his opinion of the Superhero. Maybe Deku had been right and Katsuki had misunderstood the intentions of All Might?
"So you want me to take a look? What about you? Wouldn't it be easy for you with all your abilities?" All Might shrugged.
"Some things are made easier, true. But other things become suddenly a lot harder and my secret identity isn't quite as intimidating or awe-inspiring than this." He gestured to himself as he explained. "I like it that way, but it makes investigating things harder sometimes." That made Katsuki snort.
"I doubt that. How can you not be intimidating with that size of yours?"
"You would be surprised." All Might gave him a crooked smile. "People only see what they want to see. If they're not expecting to see All Might they probably don't."
"Sounds kinda lonely." Both Katsuki and All Might looked surprised for a moment. Katsuki didn't know why he said that, but now that he had he knew it was true. "Does anyone know your identity?"
"I'm not supposed to tell you that, you know. It wouldn't be a secret otherwise."
"But you're going to anyway." Katsuki couldn't help himself from sounding kind of smug because he knew he was right. All Might chuckled and rubbed a hand over his face.
"My parents know. But that's it."
"Really?" Katsuki was intrigued. He took a step closer to peer into the Superhero’s face. "You never told anyone? Not to a friend or a lover? No one ever found out your secret?"
"No, no one. I've always been very careful. And believe me when I tell you, behind all this," he gestured to himself again "I'm actually a quite boring person. I'm not interesting enough to be noticed." Again, Katsuki highly doubted that. Someone who was able to offer this kind of presence and reassurance to the masses couldn't be ordinary. He hated to admit it, but it was a fact. There was a reason this man was a hero and it wasn't his supernatural abilities.
"Have you ever wanted to tell someone?" Katsuki's voice had gone a bit lower, a bit softer, almost as if he was the one telling a secret, not asking about one. It could be a trick of the light but All Might's eyes seemed to soften a bit when he looked at Katsuki. He let out a wistful sigh.
"There is one person I wish I could tell. But I don't think he would take it very well." Those damn butterflies were at it again, but Katsuki rigorously pushed them down. He was close to something big, something monumental here. He didn't know why, but he needed to know what All Might was going to say next.
"And why is that? If you trust him that much to want to tell him, why do you think he wouldn't react well?"
"I've known him for almost all my life. I don't want him to think I've been lying to him." Katsuki was silent for a moment. How would he feel if Deku turned out to be All Might? He would be pissed, certainly, maybe even betrayed. All Might did have a point.
"I can see how that would be bad. I certainly would be furious if that happened to me." Something in All Might’s face closed off at his statement. The Superhero took a step back and gestured to the flash drive. Katsuki felt a weird sense of loss at that.
"I'll leave you with this. If you find anything you know how you can contact me." His face softened the smallest amount. "Thank you for listening, Bakugou-san. It's good to have someone to talk to sometimes. Good evening." And with a last nod in his direction, All Might was floating out of his window and was gone.
Katsuki was left staring after him. That had been weird and not at all like his usual interactions with the hero. But he felt like he understood the other better now. With renewed determination, he picked up the flash drive and plugged it into his laptop. Confused feelings aside he still had a job to do.
That evening started a strange routine between the two of them where All Might would drop in on him in the evenings sometimes with new information, sometimes to check up on Katsuki’s progress with his investigations. He had learned a lot more about the hero in those visits. For one he was a dork. Katsuki couldn't believe that he had never picked up on that. He was almost as much of a nerd as Deku was and that was saying a lot.
Another thing he noticed was that without the cameras or the public looking at him he was a lot more awkward than he pretended to be. He was also a bit shy and had trouble meeting Katsuki's eyes when they were alone.
Katsuki hadn't been sure what that was about so he had asked Deku about his opinion. The green-haired man had gotten quite red and gotten so flustered that Katsuki had blurted out the first horrible conclusion that his mind came to:
"Deku, do you have a crush on All Might?"
That had led to a ten minute long laughing fit between the two of them. At first, Katsuki had been angry because he thought Deku was making fun of him, but after a while when it became clear that the other honestly found the thought hilarious and couldn't stop giggling Katsuki couldn't help himself and joined in. Deku's laugh was simply too infectious for Katsuki not to.
But Katsuki hadn't just noticed changes in All Might's behavior. Deku had been acting strange too. It was almost as if he was hiding something from Katsuki. He didn't know how he felt about that. He didn't want to force Deku to tell him all his secrets, but wasn't Katsuki his best friend? His oldest, most trusted friend? They had shared everything, knew every secret the other had ever had. It made him think back to what All Might had said that one evening. He did feel angry and betrayed, but he was also sad. Had Katsuki done something? Was that why Deku felt like he couldn't trust him anymore?
The tension between the two of them had only gotten worse the longer this went on and with the Shigaraki investigation still ongoing Katsuki didn't have the time to confront his friend about it. He tried to distract himself with work, but his usual coping mechanism didn't seem to be working, so he tried to simply ignore the problem until he could deal with it.
Another problem that he simply couldn't ignore was his confusing feeling for All Might. Up until a month ago, Katsuki had been certain the only feelings he had for the Superhero would be annoyance and grudging respect, and thanks. Now, however, those pesky butterflies never seemed to leave Katsuki alone. They were present when he was at work looking at Deku and they were also there when All Might dropped in on him to talk about the Shigaraki case.
Katsuki had been very comfortable all his life without any of those feelings. Now that he had them for not one but two people he was emotionally exhausted. How did other people deal with this?
One night he even found himself having the crazy thought that it would solve a lot of his problems if Deku just turned out to be All Might. Katsuki wouldn't even be too mad about the fact that he had lied. But that was ridiculous. There was no way that Deku had been a secret superhero for all of his life and Katsuki did not know about it.
Everything came to a head one evening a month after the Shigaraki building had exploded. Katsuki had finally found the reason for it all: Shigaraki had been building and testing a new decaying laser. After finding out that fact Katsuki had been severely disappointed in the villain. Talk about unoriginal ideas.
He told All Might about it and the location of the laser. He planned on infiltrating the warehouse and getting evidence to bring the man to justice. The superhero was not amused.
"No way, that is way too dangerous Bakugou-san. I can't allow it." That statement alone was enough to raise Katsuki's hackles.
"Oh, you won't allow it, will you?" he asked, his voice dangerously calm. All Might apparently knew him well enough to sense the impending danger.
"That's not what I meant. I only wanted to say that I can't let you walk into such a dangerous situation. You don't know what could happen there. Let me handle it. You did your job, it's my turn now."
"Bullshit!" Katsuki roared and slammed a fist onto the table. "If you bust his operations his just going to go quietly into prison and the public will be none the fucking wiser. There needs to be indisputable proof of what he's done so he can't get out of it again. That has happened too many fucking times already!"
"I can get the evidence and make it as public as possible, you don't have to put yourself in danger for that!"
"Well, you haven't done it before, because of some kind of honor complex you seem to have! If I don't do it I can't trust that you'll do it!"
"Why can't you trust me, Kacchan?!" Both men reared back as if slapped. All Might pressed a hand to his mouth, his unearthly green eyes wide in his face. The freckles stood out stark against his suddenly white face.
"That would be the reason why, shitty Deku." Katsuki's voice was quiet, his confusion and betrayal clear to hear. Katsuki watched how right in front of him the great hero All Might turned into his old childhood friend. The longer he looked the clearer it was and Katsuki was questioning himself. How had he never seen this? It was so obvious. But like All Might, no, like Deku himself had said a few weeks ago if people don't expect to see something it's easy to overlook.
At Katsuki's voice, Deku's face crumbled and tears sprang into his eyes. He averted his face and shrank in on himself.
"I'm sorry Kacchan. This is not how I wanted to tell you."
"I'm pretty fucking sure you didn't want to tell me at all, shithead." Deku let out a sad chuckle, filled with self-loathing. Katsuki's heart ached hearing it.
"You're right. I didn't." And suddenly Deku was gone. A gust of wind was all that was left of him, making the papers strewn around his place flutter to the ground.
Katsuki called in sick the next day. In his entire career, he had never missed even a single day, but he just couldn't face his new reality yet. He needed to figure out how he was feeling first.
There were the obvious and familiar feelings of anger and betrayal that Katsuki had anticipated. He was angry that Deku had lied to him for so long. Had he laughed to himself every time Katsuki had come to him to complain about All Might? Had he pitied Katsuki when everyone thought he had an unrequited crush on the hero?
But no, Katsuki knew that wasn't the case. Not only would Deku never do that, he knew that All Might had feared this exact outcome. He had told him himself that he was scared of how his friend would react. Come to think of it, after Katsuki had told the hero about how he would react Deku had started to act strangely. Was he worried about losing Katsuki?
Then came the more complicated feelings. He was ashamed of himself for not realizing what exactly Deku had been hiding. They had spent almost all of their time together since they had been children and when Katsuki thought back to that time there had been some weird incidents that he had forgotten about. But now, knowing what he did they all made a lot more sense.
The good news about all of this was that his crazy thought about Deku and All Might being the same person wasn't all that crazy anymore. It also helped him with his feelings for both his childhood friend and the Superhero. Of course, Deku turned out to be All Might. He had always been the only one capable of making Katsuki's heart race and Katsuki had been a fool for not realizing.
He was also sad that Deku had felt like he couldn't trust him. He knew why he had hidden the truth from Katsuki, but the fact still hurt. He needed to do better in the future for himself and for Deku.
And Katsuki hadn't been honest either. He never told Deku about his feelings. Maybe it was time to change that.
With newfound determination, Katsuki arrived at work the next day only to find that Deku had already left for a story. He decided to be patient and not try and hunt the other man down. His patience was put to the test when his friend managed to avoid him for three days straight.
Katsuki even went as far as waiting for Deku in the front of his apartment but he never showed up. When even Kaminari asked him if something had happened between the two of them and Kirishima took him aside to show him a few blurry photos of All Might hovering in front of a very familiar apartment complex he had found on the internet, Katsuki knew that drastic measures had to be taken.
Katsuki waited for another few days before enacting his plan. He needed to make sure that Deku wouldn't have anything planned and no major catastrophes were getting in his way. After he ensured that the nerd should be available he climbed the stairs to the roof of their office building. It wasn't the highest in the city, but it would do nicely.
He walked up to the edge and looked down, careful to stay far enough away as to not accidentally fall. He took a deep breath before putting a hand in his pocket and retrieving the watch that All Might had given him. Without another moment of hesitation, he pushed the button and waited.
It only took a couple of seconds. A gust of wind accompanied the arrival of the Superhero and made Katsuki's hair stand even more on edge than usual.
Hovering in midair still a few paces away was Deku.
Well, it was All Might but it was Deku. Right now in bright daylight Katsuki couldn't believe what a fool he had been for not recognizing him.
"Kacchan. I’ve given you that for emergencies, you know."
"Deku. This is an emergency. You've been avoiding me. Why?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Deku frowned at him. Now that Katsuki looked closer he seemed exhausted. "You made it pretty clear how you felt about me lying so I thought I'd spare us both the grief."
"Well, you thought wrong." Katsuki snarked back. He couldn't help himself, even though he wanted to convince Deku that he wasn’t mad at him anymore. “I haven’t made it clear how I felt because I didn’t know. I needed time to think about it, to process this fucking bombshell that has just been dropped on me.” He took a deep breath to calm himself. Starting to shout wouldn’t help anyone right now. “But now I have. I know what I feel and you are going to hover there and fucking listen to what I have to say.”
Deku was silent, staying where he was but he wasn’t leaving which was a win in Katsuki’s book. So he began talking.
“I was mad, you’re not wrong about that. Still am a little. Probably will be for a while longer. But that’s not news to you, you know I’m always angry about something. I’m also betrayed and sad that you didn’t think you could fucking talk to me about this shit. I mean what the hell Deku? You asked me why I couldn’t trust you. But why didn’t you trust me?” Deku’s face began to crumble and Katsuki knew he would try to interrupt him, so he barreled on.
“But the most important thing that I’m feeling is that I fucking miss you right now. The last few days haven’t been the same without your annoying face around. I don’t wanna do that again. I don’t care if you can shoot lasers out of your ass, you’re my best friend and I don’t want to lose you.” He took a deep breath before looking Deku square in the eyes. This was it, no backing out now.
“Also, I haven’t been entirely truthful either. There’s something I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t think it would change anything. But I’m sure that thinking that way was one of the reasons why you didn’t tell me your secret, so I decided to come clean to you too. Deku. No, Izuku, you’re not just my best friend. To me, you are the most important person in my life and the only one I don’t want to imagine my life without. Izuku, I love you. Have for a long time if I’m completely honest.”
He refused to turn his eyes away from Deku’s face, so he could see all the different emotions playing across it. Confusion, happiness, sadness, despair but most importantly he could see love. If Izuku could read him like an open book then the same was true for Katsuki. He knew Izuku inside and out and he knew what Izuku’s love looked like. He could feel his heart skip a beat at the thought that his feelings might get reciprocated.
“Kacchan…” Izuku’s voice sounded broken and was close to a sob. “Kacchan, I can’t.” Everything came to a halt. Katsuki looked back at Deku, confused.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t get close to you again.” Izuku was full-on crying now. The tears were running down his face but were dried from the wind before they could fall. “You’ve already been the target of so many villain attacks. What happens when someone finds out about us? People have already seen me in front of your apartment Kacchan. I made a stupid mistake and didn’t keep an eye on my surroundings when I came to visit you. It’s only a matter of time until someone finds out.”
He reached up and rubbed at his eyes, trying and failing to stop the tears. Katsuki was torn. On the one hand, he wanted to comfort Deku, on the other he wanted to try and shake the stupid out of him.
“Don’t you think that’s my decision to make, shitty Deku?”
“No, not this time Kacchan. Your life is too important to me that I can just treat it this frivolously. I’m not going to do it.” Katsuki kept on pressing.
“But is it what you want?”
“What I want is for you to live!”
“What about your feelings? Don’t they matter? Don’t you love me?” The look on Izuku’s face told Katsuki everything he needed to know. He gave Izuku a victorious, almost feral grin.
“Whatever you say won’t convince me. I know you love me. And I’m not going to stop chasing after you. You may be able to fly but there’s no place where you can hide from me. I will find you and I will convince you to stop this bullshit.”
“Kacchan, please stop.” Izuku’s face was twisted into a grimace of sadness. But Katsuki wasn’t stopping. He was stepping closer and closer until he was standing right on the edge of the building.
“No,” he said. “I won’t stop.” And he took the last step.
Falling off of a building was a weird sensation that Katsuki was sadly quite familiar with. But he wasn’t afraid of the short feeling of weightlessness and the swooping sensation in his belly. No, he was excited. Because those things would always mean just one thing for him.
And as always he wasn’t wrong.
Strong arms wrapped around him, slowing his fall down to not hurt him. Katsuki’s eyes, that he had never closed this time, landed on a familiar chest which was emblazoned with a familiar sign. His gaze wandered up, over a sharp jaw, surprisingly chubby cheeks covered in tear tracks and freckles. The green locks were wind-tousled and fell into green, green eyes that looked at Katsuki like he was crazy.
Which was probably fair.
“Kacchan, what the hell was that?” Katsuki reached up and wrapped his arms around Deku’s neck to pull him closer.
“I wanted to show you how serious I am. And I needed you to come closer.”
“What? Why?”
“So I could do this.” And he pushed himself up towards Deku’s face and kissed him. His lips were a little chapped but soft. It took a few seconds before Dekus was wrapping his arms tighter around him and kissed him back. Katsuki knew the swooping sensation in his stomach wasn’t just because he was flying.
When they pulled apart Katsuki leaned his forehead against Deku’s. One hand was still wrapped around the hero's neck while the other traveled up to his cheeks and wiped at the tear tracks.
“Do you get it now, shitty nerd? You’re not getting rid of me again.” Deku’s answer was a wet chuckle as even more tears started to fall. Though Katsuki could tell these were from happiness rather than sadness.
“Kacchan, I love you.”
“I know,” he said in a very smug voice.
“Stop looking like that or I’m going to drop you.” Katsuki shrugged his shoulders.
“You’re going to catch me before I hit the ground either way.” Deku laughed and pressed another kiss against his lips. When they pulled back this time they just gazed into each other's eyes for a long time, both not quite believing how their lives had changed over the past week alone. A thought brushed through Katsuki’s mind:
My hero.
But this time it made him smile.
The whole office was glad to see that the two of them had made up again. Kirishima was the only one brave enough to ask about their fight to which Katsuki just shrugged. Kaminari was the only one who didn’t accept that answer.
“It’s obvious why they fought,” he said loud enough that everyone could hear him. “Midoriya was mad that Bakugou cheated on him with All Might. I mean, all of you have seen the photos, haven’t you?”
While he was chasing the other blond through the office yelling bloody murder he could see Izuku out of the corner of his eyes. His head had dropped onto his desk and it seemed like he was laughing heavily. Katsuki would’ve joined in if he hadn’ been busy trying to shove Kaminari’s head into the shredder.
They were interrupted by Aizawa yelling about a new incident downtown. Katsuki’s eyes landed on Kirishima and both grinned. The redhead dove for his camera while Katsuki grabbed his jacket from his chair. When he stepped up next to Izuku he leaned down and whispered into his ear:
“Up, up, and away you little shit. I’ll see you there. You better not be trying to steal my story.” Izuku’s face emerged from between his arms. The thick glasses were sitting a bit crooked on his nose but could do nothing to hide the pleased flush all over his face. Katsuki felt his stomach doing flips at seeing the brilliant smile on his boyfriend’s face.
“Race you there, Kacchan.”