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As so many unpleasant things in life, Katsuki’s issues with dentists started with bad childhood experiences.
The first visit Katsuki remembered – at the ripe age of four – was with a wry-looking woman whose platinum blond hair was pulled back in such a tight ponytail it was probably a primary cause for her receding hairline. Katsuki thought, sitting in the chair that had seen better days, that she smelled bad and the mole on her nose was gross.
She was in an irritated mood from the start, repeatedly glancing at the clock which told her that his appointment had begun eleven minutes late, and seemed determined to catch up. She pushed her fingers and instruments around in Katsuki’s little mouth, complaining that his tongue was in the way or telling him to open up wider. Katsuki wasn’t a patient child under any circumstances, and the situation got on his nerves very quickly. Eventually he grabbed the dentist’s wrist with his little hands to shove her off and give her an assortment of the nastiest words he knew and definitely wasn’t allowed to say aloud.
Unfortunately, his sudden movement caused the scalper to change its angle and scratch a long gash in the sensitive inside of Katsuki’s cheek. That particular appointment ended with even more delay to the schedule than when it had started, with Bakugou Mitsuki having a shouting match with the dentist about why her son was spitting blood and glaring at the entire staff.
Katsuki never saw the uptight ponytail hag again, but a precedent had been set. Whenever he needed to visit the dentist’s office, he went in like a little gladiator into the colosseum, ready to fight at the smallest provocation. He gained a bit of a reputation and soon most clinics in the small town recognized his name, none thinking of him too fondly.
He might have been banned from a couple of them for biting the idiots who were foolish enough to put their hands into the mouth of a beast.
Long story short, when Katsuki was finished with the last mandatory check-up in high school, his mind was made up. He was never going to go to a dentist if he could help it.
Of course, he actually could help it quite a bit. Katsuki was very particular about his oral hygiene, brushing thrice a day, flossing religiously and making sure to always clean his mouth with water whenever he ate or drank something. No snacking between mealtimes, either.
It was that same ironclad self-control and determination bordering on obstinacy that helped him power through the notoriously difficult exam and hellish training required to be able to finally fulfil his lifelong goal and don the orange uniform of the Musutafu Fire Department Special Rescue Squad. Even after Katsuki began work as a full-time firefighter in the squad and spent his 24-hour shifts at the fire station, his colleagues could sometimes hear him muttering “die, germs, die” as he went through his methodical process of cleaning every bit of his mouth to keep his chompers in peak condition.
Having made it this far without a hitch in the plan to avoid dentists for the rest of his life, Katsuki really believed he had this in the bag – until his body betrayed him.
“What’s up, Bakubro? You’ve been staring for a while – got something stuck in there?”
Katsuki put down the hand mirror he had been holding in front of his face to peer into his mouth and gave his colleague Kirishima a withering look.
“Gross, I don’t just leave stuff hanging in my mouth. It’s just...” he tried opening and closing his jaws a couple of times, wincing at the sensation. “It feels weird.”
“Weird how?” Kirishima plopped down on the bench next to Katsuki.
Katsuki briefly described the throbbing pain that had been ailing him for a couple of days. It was so far back in his mouth he couldn’t really see what was going on, but it wasn’t normal.
“Man, that really sounds like you have an issue back there.” Kirishima tilted his head. “Your jaw looks a bit swollen. Mine was like that when I had to have a wisdom tooth removed back in high school. It really sucked.”
“What’s up?” Kaminari entered with his hands full of his equipment, dropping the whole bunch on the floor and joining Katsuki and Kirishima on the bench for routine maintenance.
“Bakugou’s wisdom tooth is acting up, probably.”
Kaminari whistled.
“Commiserations. I never got mine but I remember Kyouka telling me about hers, it was a real pain to deal with apparently.”
Katsuki just clicked his tongue, trying to stretch his jaw open despite the pain to get a better look at his right molars once more.
“You really should get that looked at, it can turn nasty really quick. What clinic did you go to, again?” Kirishima asked.
“I don’t ‘go to’ any of them,” Katsuki quipped, snapping the hand mirror closed and picking up his helmet instead. The whole thing was attracting rather more attention than he wished.
“Well, I can recommend a place for you if you’d like. Or hey! I’m actually going there right after work tomorrow morning, you can come with!” Kirishima’s face lit up in the way it always did when he got an idea.
A chill of sheer dread ran down Katsuki’s spine. Him, letting some no-name extra into his mouth?
“Absolutely not,” he said with finality.
He’d rather rip the offending tooth out with his own hands if it came down to it.
Unfortunately, Kirishima was a very influential guy – or alternatively, Katsuki was particularly susceptible to his influence. It happened to be a quiet day at work with very few incidents that required their attention, which meant that Kirishima had many long hours to chip away at Katsuki’s resolve, talking about how great this clinic was and how important it was for Katsuki to get treated. The ailing tooth itself may have played a part, as well: Katsuki had trouble eating and focusing on his tasks all day, and at night he could hardly sleep from the constant throbbing and increased sensitivity.
So, when Katsuki walked into the communal kitchen of the fire house near the end of their shift, he let Kaminari’s gleeful greeting (“Morning, sunshine!”) slide without comment and sat at the breakfast table opposite to Kirishima.
“...Let’s go see that fucking amazing clinic, then.”
When he followed Kirishima into the clinic at the bright hour of 8:30, the first thing that greeted them was a bespectacled receptionist, whose face lit up in recognition when he saw who had entered.
“Kirishima-sama, good morning,” the man said, standing up and proceeding to bow politely. “I trust you have been well since your last appointment?”
“You know it!” Kirishima said, flashing a toothy smile. “Actually, I also brought a friend today. My bro here has been having some trouble recently and he doesn’t have a regular clinic. Do you think someone could take a look at that?”
Four-Eyes sat back down and peered over the monitor for a few moments.
“Normally, coming without an appointment would be difficult, but today there seems to be a cancellation. First, I need to ask you to fill in this form...”
Katsuki took the papers from Four-Eyes and scribbled in his personal information as Kirishima continued to chat with the receptionist. Who the fuck was that friendly with the office staff of their medical provider?
The second page was all about his past history with dental work. They only asked for the month and year of his previous appointment, but Katsuki put in the exact date as well, for good measure. He could have included the time, too – the very moment he had decided to never return, yet here he was. He felt like he was signing his way to Hell.
He simply skimmed the rest of the questions, scribbling his signature at the bottom just as Four-Eyes addressed him again.
“Sir, you can have a seat and continue-“
“Nah, I’m done,” Katsuki grunted, handing over the papers and his health insurance card. Four-Eyes straightened his glasses with one hand as his eyes scanned the form.
“Very well...Bakugou-sama. Please have a seat, one of our experts will call for you shortly.”
The two took their seats in the waiting room. Kirishima was chattering about something or other, and Katsuki gave half-hearted responses as he took in the atmosphere of the clinic. The waiting area was definitely nicer than most he could recall: the furniture wasn’t exceedingly tacky although not exactly to Katsuki’s taste, the smell wasn’t too bad and there were only a handful of terrible oral health infomercial posters on the walls.
“Pretty comfy for a doctor’s office, right?” Kirishima bragged when he noticed Katsuki observing their surroundings. Katsuki scoffed.
“...It’s a trap,” he muttered under his breath.
“Sorry, what was that?”
“Never mind.”
Katsuki wouldn’t be fooled by some barely competent interior design. The pastel-coloured sofas and the smiling faces on the posters were there just to lull him into a false sense of security before the torture began.
“Bakugou-sama! Is there a Bakugou-sama?” a bright voice called from down the hall. Katsuki’s jaw clenched, which made his tooth sting as he stood up. The voice belonged to a round-faced brunette, who gave Katsuki a pleasant smile.
“My name is Uraraka Ochako. Please come this way.”
After leading him into a room marked with an X and closing the door, Round Face looked at Katsuki, then at the file in her hands.
“Pardon me, Bakugou-sama, but I must make sure. It says here you haven’t had an appointment in...more than six years?”
Katsuki shrugged.
“Never needed it.”
“...Right,” Round Face said blankly. “In that case, let’s start with an X-ray so we get a better idea of what might be going on.”
Taking the X-ray wasn’t painful, or at least it didn’t increase the discomfort that Katsuki would have felt anyway. He just felt extremely silly standing alone in the room while the pictures were taken.
“Okay, all done!” Round Face chirped. ”Please return to the waiting room, it shouldn’t take too long until you can see your doctor.”
Kirishima was no longer in the waiting area when Katsuki returned, probably having been summoned to enter one of the cream-coloured doors across the hall. Katsuki sat down on one of the sofas, expending nervous energy by bouncing his leg. There was only one other patient in the waiting room, an elderly woman engorged in a gossip magazine. It was remarkably quiet: aside from the soft bossa nova music playing in the background and the intermittent clicking of Four-Eyes typing away on the computer, there was practically no sound. Sometimes there was a muffled voice behind the doors, or even something that sounded like laughter.
Door number three opened and a girl no more than seven years old came out.
“Thank you, sensei!” her voice was clear like spring water and full of glee. Katsuki lifted his eyes slightly, doubting his ears, but it was no fluke: inexplicably, the girl was smiling.
“You’re welcome, Eri-chan. You were really brave today! Is Mirio-san picking you up again?” a man in a white coat, probably the dentist, came to the doorway. Not bothering to raise his head properly, Katsuki only took note of the man’s coat and the hideous red sandals he was wearing.
“Yes! He said he’ll come find me here,” the girl replied, beaming with pride.
“Good, just wait for him in the lobby then. See you again, Eri-chan!”
The door closed again and the girl jumped on one of the pastel green sofas a good distance away from Katsuki. He watched her from the corner of his eye with deep-seated suspicion. The girl had just been to a dentist, right?
It was so completely at odds with everything Katsuki knew that he couldn’t help but frown. His visits at that age had always ended with at least one of the participants bleeding, crying, or both.
This girl was nothing like that: she just sat there, dangling her feet and humming to herself while admiring a glossy sticker in her hand. Even when a blonde with an irritating face and an overly cheery voice came to pick her up, all she did was happily chatter away about what “Midoriya-sensei” had said about her teeth.
It was so uncanny it gave Katsuki chills.
After a few more minutes, door number three opened again and the red-sandal man called out.
“Bakugou-sama!”
Katsuki bristled. This guy was going to stick his fingers in Katsuki’s mouth?
Regardless of his thoughts, Katsuki stood and walked to the room with his head held high so as to not show any weakness. The dentist was smaller than Katsuki, at least, and his daily schedule probably didn’t entail professionally mandated workouts. Katsuki took some small semblance of comfort in the idea that if push came to shove, he technically had the upper hand.
Only it seemed that his enemy wasn’t too concerned about such things.
“Sorry for making you wait! Next time should be smoother if you make an appointment. Now, just have a seat and make yourself comfortable.”
Comfortable, huh? Katsuki seriously doubted it, but settled on the dental chair all the same. Just the sight of the equipment after so long put him on edge.
He noticed that Round Face was in the room as well – tch, two against one, he should have expected that. Well, he was still confident in his ability to overpower them both if necessary.
Katsuki glared at the sandal guy’s name tag.
“ ’Midoriya Deku’?” he scoffed. The name certainly matched his stupid face and messy green hair.
“Midoriya Izuku,” the broccoli-headed man said without missing a beat, smile not faltering in the slightest. “You read it like in ‘Izumo shrine’.”
Katsuki really couldn’t care less about that. This dork was a useless Deku to him until proven otherwise.
“Well, Bakugou-san, based on the X-ray I believe you have an impacted wisdom tooth that’s been causing the pain you’ve been experiencing. However, I’d like to take a look before we decide on any procedure, especially since I heard from Uraraka-san it’s been a while since you’ve had an examination.”
Katsuki suppressed the urge to glare at the woman for ratting him out. Instead, he very reluctantly leaned back into the chair as Deku lowered the back of the seat until Katsuki was in a near-horizontal position. He was handed a pair of dark glasses to put on before Round Face adjusted an obnoxiously bright light towards his face.
The dentist donned a mask to cover the lower half of his face and expertly wiggled a pair of sterile gloves in his hands. The mint green of the equipment stood out from the darker shade of his hair.
“Well then, Bakugou-san. Shall we begin?”
Katsuki had to begrudgingly admit that Deku...wasn’t too bad. He manoeuvred the instruments in Katsuki’s mouth without poking at his gums unnecessarily, didn’t stretch his mouth too painfully (the discomfort that was already there trumped anything caused by Deku’s intrusion) and seemed to know when Katsuki was starting to struggle with the amount of spit gathering in his mouth, letting him swallow before he choked or drooled all over himself. Deku’s fingers were thick and firm, the pressure not ticklishly light but also not overly strong. His soft voice continued reciting words and numbers to Round Face that were utterly meaningless to Katsuki, but strangely pleasant to listen to. It almost made Katsuki forget where he was.
After a moment, Deku pulled his hands away and straightened his back.
“I must say, that is a beautiful set of teeth you have there, Bakugou-san. I can see you’ve been very diligent with them.” He sounded mildly surprised, and Katsuki grinned inwardly as he relished the feeling of being able to wet his mouth properly. As soon as his mouth was firmly closed once more, the warning bells in his head started functioning as before.
So Deku hadn’t expected him to have been soooo diligent, huh? Was the motherfucker disappointed that he wouldn’t be able to torture Katsuki any more than absolutely necessary today?
“That being the case, the impacted tooth is all we need to worry about right now. Looking at the X-ray...” Deku pulled out the black-and-white image and gestured at it with a pen he had procured from his chest pocket.
“The right side is the one that’s causing problems now, but I do believe that the one on the left also has a large chance of coming out in a similar manner judging by the angle. We could take them both out at once if you’d prefer.”
“Just get it over with,” Katsuki grunted. He could feel his heartrate increasing at the very prospect, but he willed to ignore it and breathed purposefully slow so as not to make himself dizzy. If this was the last time he ever needed to return here again, he could take anything. Just calm the fuck down.
“Very well. Now let’s review your options for pain relief. The simplest one is local anaesthesia injected directly to the area of the operation. The advantage of this method is that it only numbs-”
Deku shut his mouth when a cracking sound was heard. All three pairs of eyes turned towards the armrest of the chair, which had nearly broken off from the sheer force of Katsuki’s hand clamping down on it – without even realizing.
Well, fuck.
Round Face gawked at the chair and even Deku seemed speechless for a moment. He was still the first to recover, rolling his own chair towards a cabinet near the wall.
“I’ll show you the sedation options, okay?”
Eventually, they went with conscious IV sedation after Katsuki managed to assure Deku that no, he didn’t have any issues with being injected as long as it wasn’t anywhere near his damn mouth and yes, he did have someone to help him home after the thing was over.
While Round Face went outside to let Four-Eyes know that he should inform Kirishima to wait for Katsuki, Deku prepared the equipment for the IV. He hummed to himself a melody that sounded like...the theme tune of the first season of All Might’s Plus Ultra Adventures, a superhero cartoon that Katsuki had been crazy about when it was airing in his childhood years.
For the first time, Katsuki looked at his would-be tormentor as a human being and not an adversary in a bizarre battle of wills. Deku was probably about his age, so it was possible he had watched the show as a kid, too – nowadays, the character was mostly forgotten, thanks to a reboot attempt so terrible that the studio had decided to quietly bury the show altogether several years earlier.
Katsuki was distracted by the familiar tune for just long enough that Deku managed to finish the preparations and Round Face had returned to the room.
“Alright, here we go,” Deku said as he dabbed Katsuki’s arm with disinfectant that immediately felt cool on his skin. “Let me know if you something feels particularly unpleasant.”
For a few seconds, Katsuki didn’t feel anything aside from the slight sting of the needle and the sensation of liquid entering his veins. Then, the medicine flowed into his head and hit him like a sack of potatoes. Tension bled out of his muscles and he slumped against the chair, feeling like he was an hour into an alcoholic all-you-can-drink buffet.
Deku asked him some questions about how he was feeling, and Katsuki answered rather noncommittally, distantly wondering why he had been so antsy just a moment ago.
“Okay, please open your mouth, Bakugou-san.”
Katsuki couldn’t help a little rumble of laughter escaping.
“Oh I’ll f’ckin....open up for you alright,” he said and did good on his word. He didn’t notice Deku freezing for an instant before continuing without comment.
It was a peculiar feeling: Katsuki was aware that Deku was rummaging around in his mouth, but he couldn’t really feel it and certainly couldn’t bring himself to mind – which was probably the point of the whole sedation thing.
Since the blaring alarms in Katsuki’s whole system had quietened down, he was left with a great deal of bandwidth to notice other things. Things like Deku’s eyelashes and the tufts of hair surrounding his face. Or his neck and arms, which were actually pretty muscular now that he had his sleeves rolled up – maybe the dork did work out after all? Katsuki wanted to get a better look, but as soon as he tried to raise his head, Deku’s voice came from above him.
“Bakugou-san, I need you to stay very still for me now.”
Katsuki immediately relented. Historically, he didn’t respond very well to commands, but for some inexplicable reason he wanted to be good for Deku. Wanted to impress him. If Deku wanted him to be still, then fine. Katsuki would be a statue.
Completely still, he only let his eyes wander. He lamented that most of the freckles and the squishy cheeks were hidden under the mask, as well as most of the man’s jawline. Straining his eyes, Katsuki looked further below, and he noticed that the two topmost buttons of Deku’s shirt were undone. It hadn’t been at all noticeable when covered by his white coat, but this angle gave Katsuki a generous view of Deku’s clavicles and the soft dip of his chest.
This man had kids for patients, for crying out loud.
Katsuki’s thoughts didn’t have time to progress much further when Deku pulled away with a satisfied huff.
“All done. You can close your mouth now, but don’t try to get up yet.”
It was so delightful to see Deku finally take off the mask and smile at Katsuki with his full face as he removed his gloves, not to mention Katsuki himself getting rid of the dark glasses and being able to appreciate Deku in all of his natural colours. Round Face was fiddling with Katsuki’s arm to remove the IV, but Katsuki only had eyes for Deku, preening as the dentist praised him for the successful operation.
As Round Face moved to taking his blood pressure, gears turned in Katsuki’s mind, a decision taking shape.
“Are y’married?” he asked, aiming for a conversational tone.
“Am I... er, no...?” Deku averted his eyes. Katsuki hummed with satisfaction.
“Good. Faster that way, don’ hafta divorce some dumb extra.” The words were thick and muddled in his mouth, but the goal was crystal clear in his mind. He knew that right now he wasn’t in the ideal condition, mouth still numb and full of cotton, but under different circumstances...
“We haven’t had one of these types in a while...” Uraraka muttered under her breath. “But I guess it’s refreshing that someone’s hitting on you instead of me... Um, sensei, are you okay?”
Unfortunately, the dentist wasn’t listening to her. His eyes were transfixed at Katsuki, who was soaking the attention like a sponge.
“Look, D’ku. When I decide somethin’, I don’t half-ass it.” He frowned at the difficulty of getting the words out properly. “Yer prob’ly the best thing that’s happen’d in a long time so...’m not gonna fuck it up. I’m not done with you.”
Katsuki swinged his hand for emphasis and Round Face barely managed to take the blood pressure equipment off before he swiped them on the floor. By the time he got out of the chair, she was already on her way to the door like she couldn’t be rid of him soon enough.
Katsuki was just about to make his dramatic exit that would leave Deku swooning for days, when something caught his attention. It was a little inconspicuous basket on a drawer near the exit, full of colourful stickers.
The little girl had held one of these when she left Deku’s room.
“What’re these?” Katsuki asked.
“They’re, uh...gifts. Like rewards for the procedure.” Deku seemed to have finally regained his ability to speak.
Katsuki hummed and picked up one of the stickers, watching the light reflect from it like it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen. He was pretty sure he had just aced this appointment, so it only made sense that he claimed his prize.
“Taking this,” he flashed his chosen trophy to Deku, whose eyes grew wide.
“Uh....sure, that’s. Okay. But, uh...are you sure you want...that one...?”
Katsuki put the sticker in his jacket pocket and looked at Deku over his shoulder. He attempted a confident smile, but that was a bit hard considering his mouth was still numb. However, the words that came from his mouth were remarkably clear.
“...I know what I want.”
“Oi, Shitty Hair!”
Kirishima wasn’t particularly surprised when he heard Bakugou’s voice calling him as the door of the examination room opened. It wasn’t hard to guess from Bakugou’s demeanour that he had some complicated history with dentists and the fact that the staff had specifically checked there was someone to accompany him home meant that he had undergone some considerable treatment – it was no wonder if he was cranky about it afterwards, so Kirishima braced himself for some misplaced anger.
However, what Bakugou said next came completely from the left field.
“Why the fuck didn’t y’tell me this place had a hot dentist?”
Kirishima’s eyes went wide.
“A what?”
“It’s Deku! Keep up, Shitty Hair.... also hand me a pen,” Bakugou looked around for a moment before swiping a pen from the waiting room table. He took one of the free leaflets and began to write something.
Kirishima’s eyes wandered back towards the open door just in time to see a white-coated man come out and swiftly escape through a door that said “Staff only”. If his beet-red face was any indication, Bakugou had probably said a fair bit of things to him as well. Uraraka was standing outside the examination room, wide-eyed and dumbstruck.
Bakugou put his pen down and squinted his eyes as if that made it easier to find what he was looking for.
“Where’s he?” he slurred.
“You mean the...dentist?” Kirishima asked warily.
“Obv’sly,” Katsuki slurred, waving the leaflet in his hand. The cryptic scribble he had drawn on it was probably supposed to be his phone number, but Kirishima would be hard pressed to actually manage to dial a valid number based on it. He glanced in the direction of Uraraka, who shook her head slightly at Kirishima’s questioning look.
Right. He needed to take control of the situation.
“...Weeelll, it seems that sensei is busy with another appointment, so we should get going. You’ll meet him again in a week for your follow-up, so you can talk to him then!” Grabbing Bakugou’s arm, Kirishima began to pull him towards the exit. To his great relief, Bakugou seemed pleased at Kirishima’s proposed plan, so he didn’t fight too much on their way out.
Even in the car, Bakugou wouldn’t stop talking about this dreamboat of a man and his extremely detailed plans for their first date. Kirishima couldn’t help a smile creeping to his lips. He had known Bakugou since high school, all the way through the years of grievous training, and never seen his friend get quite like this.
“Must be one hell of a guy,” he said as he used his turn signal to Bakugou’s home street.
Katsuki had no clear memories of getting home, but he woke up alone in his bed after sunset. On the kitchen table, he found an instruction leaflet for aftercare and a note from Kirishima to call him when he woke up.
“Mornin’ Bakubro! You all good there?” Kirishima’s chirpy voice made a corner of Katsuki’s eye twitch. He plopped on the sofa to talk.
“It’s almost night. Did they suck out your brain at that clinic?”
“Sounds like you’re okay,” Kirishima laughed. “Soo... how’d you like the dentist?”
“He was...fine,” Katsuki conceded. Super nerdy and with a dumb name to go with that dumb face, but...overall the whole thing had gone better than Katsuki had anticipated.
“Oh I do believe he was fine alright,” Kirishima laughed. Something about his voice made alarm bells go off in Katsuki’s head. He was using a tone that very rarely appeared without Dunce face and Soy sauce man around.
“What does that mean,” Katsuki deadpanned.
“What does what mean?”
“That thing you said. About Deku.”
“Who’s Deku?”
“The dentist. Green hair, dumb shoes.”
“Ohh, right. You did call him that. I just said you- hold on, how much do you actually remember of your appointment?”
Not exactly a reassuring thing to hear.
“Crystal clear until they stabbed me with the IV. After that, I don’t really have a clue.”
Kirishima was quiet for a moment.
“...Now I’m not sure if I should tell you this...”
“...I know where you live.” Katsuki cracked the knuckles of his fingers with one hand for good measure. He would not hesitate to break Kirishima’s pitiful excuse for a door in, and they both knew it.
“Okay, okay,” the redhead relented. “Look, this happens all the time. People get loopy and weird and they talk about all kinds of stuff. The staff is super used to it.”
None of the words Kirishima was saying were doing anything to reassure Katsuki in the slightest.
“What. The. Hell are you talking about?” Katsuki hissed through his teeth. Pressing them together hurt quite a bit but it was better to focus on that than the dread threatening to boil over in his body.
Kirishima gave a little sigh before delivering the killing blow.
“...When you came from the examination room, you wouldn’t stop talking about how hot you thought the dentist was and tried to give him your number even though you couldn’t draw a straight line to save your life. And you were really excited about getting one of those cartoon stickers they hand out to ki- patients.”
Katsuki was at a loss for words. Whatever he had expected, it hadn’t been...that. He wanted to get mad, to tell Kirishima to stop bullshitting him, but unfortunately the words had triggered some vague memories that Katsuki had repressed during his sleep.
He got a haunting feeling he had dreamt about freckled cheeks and laughing green eyes and thick fingers pressing against his tongue...
Kirishima was still talking, something about how it really was no big deal, but Katsuki was hardly listening. He was still holding the phone to his ear mostly just because he forgot he even had the option of ending the call, hurrying to where his jacket was hanging and plundering his pockets with his free hand. His fingers immediately found a small piece of paper and as Katsuki took it out of the pocket, he knew he was doomed: a glossy, multicolour cut-out sticker featuring All Might in his signature victory pose, outstretched fist bent at the elbow from being stuffed in Katsuki’s pocket.
For the next ten minutes or so, Katsuki kept spiralling deeper into the pits of despair as he grilled Kirishima on the exact details of what had transpired. With each passing moment, his shoulders crept up as if to hide his reddening face. He wanted to detonate something. Possibly starting with himself.
To Katsuki’s great distress, he still had the follow-up appointment to go to – he knew the importance of aftercare and definitely wasn’t going to mess up his teeth by skipping it. He considered using a different clinic, but quickly found that he had no will or interest to look into any of them. The one Kirishima had lured him into was miles better than anything he had ever experienced, complete humiliations notwithstanding.
When Katsuki braved his way back inside the establishment exactly one week after the first time, Four-Eyes was behind the reception desk again, glancing at his computer screen as he saw Katsuki walk in.
“Good afternoon, Bakugou-sama. It seems that you don’t have an appointment, so unfortunately I must inform you that Midoriya-sensei’s schedule is-“
“Not him!” Katsuki cut he man off. “Anyone but him.”
Four-Eyes raised his eyebrows slightly but turned back to the computer without further comment.
“...Well, there is a slot for one short appointment, but you’ll need to wait for two hours. Is that alright?”
“Sure, whatever.”
“Very well. Todoroki-sensei will see you at two o’clock.”
Long story short: it didn’t go too well with Todoroki.
The guy had an annoying face and an annoying voice and slender fingers that all really pissed Katsuki off. One of his hands felt hot while the other felt cold, which didn’t seem to make much sense. Did he have circulation issues?
Katsuki didn’t really have the presence of mind to be afraid or nervous, but everything about the situation just felt so wrong – even though Icyhot was probably doing everything correctly, he was nothing like Deku. Katsuki couldn’t stop fidgeting, which made the doctor remind him over and over to hold still.
Just as Katsuki was ready to consider repeating the biting stunt of his youth, Icyhot pulled out and informed him that there was nothing wrong with him: the extraction spot was healing nicely and the socket didn’t seem exceedingly dry.
Katsuki took the mug of water he was offered to wash his mouth, and went to the small sink.
“...Would you like a sticker?”
Katsuki spun around to face the motherfucker with the audacity to make fun of him, but Icyhot’s face was completely blank as he held out a sticker with a slender man completely dressed in denim. Like he was sincerely offering.
After a few seconds of incredulous staring, Katsuki nabbed the sticker from the other’s hand and left with a huff.
...Only because he also really liked Best Jeanist.
The door of room three opened just as Katsuki was leaving the clinic. He hastened his steps and hoped that green eyes didn’t catch sight of him disappearing through the exit.
On the following Sunday, Katsuki’s squad got their first big emergency call in a while. A malfunctioning heater had started a fire in a nearby mall and the situation had gone out of control quickly.
When the squad arrived at the scene of the fire, most of the people had already evacuated successfully. There were people mostly talking among themselves and throwing worried looks towards the building, but a single girl was screaming her lungs out, being held back by the onlookers. The girl fought against the helpful stranger’s hold, the strap of her dress falling off her shoulder and her twin tails in disarray.
“Someone went back inside!” one of the adults called out to the firefighters. “This girl’s brother is apparently still missing and he went to get him!”
Katsuki grimaced. Every now and then, there was a wise guy like that. Someone with perfectly good intentions and a raging hero complex, trying to help out but more likely just giving the professionals an additional person to save.
As the rest of the team began the preparations to put out the fire, Katsuki and Kirishima put on their breathing apparatuses and the latter grabbed a handheld thermal camera before they ran inside.
The inside of the building was full of thick smoke. The bright lights attached to Katsuki’s uniform were basically useless since all he saw was a blanket of black and grey reflected back on him. He had to follow Kirishima, who was scanning the area around them as effectively as possible, moving quickly but carefully so they didn’t accidentally miss a spot where a victim could be lying.
Katsuki gritted his teeth. With the absolutely miserable week he had had, there was no way he was going to be losing lives today.
After what felt like an eternity, something promising appeared on the screen. It was only a muddled white form in the middle of the dark, but it might as well have been heaven’s light itself judging by the glee with which Kirishima exclaimed into his communicator:
“Something’s showing up on the TIC! Looks like it’s an adult.”
Closer inspection showed that they had run into what was arguably the best-case scenario: the guy who had run in had managed to locate the child as well, so they could both be recovered at once – not an entirely fruitless effort on the civilian’s part, then. Kirishima took the lead, swooping the child into his arms while holding the camera in his other hand to ensure their safe exit. Katsuki manhandled the adult into a firm grip and followed his partner from the hellscape back to sunlight and, more importantly, fresh air.
Katsuki eased his cargo off his shoulders and finally got a good look at the idiot who ran into the fire – leading to his train of thought immediately crashing and burning.
Deku.
Katsuki pulled of his helmet, mask and hood away to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, but it was undeniably Deku. The hair, the freckles, everything matched although he was barely a shadow of the man Katsuki remembered.
It felt surreal. Deku didn’t belong to this scene. Not to the fiery, smoke-filled hell that was Katsuki’s chosen path. Not to the noise, the chaos, the sound of sirens and people shouting everywhere.
Katsuki was snapped out of his shock by the sound of Deku wheezing and coughing as he desperately tried to pull oxygen into his lungs. When he managed to turn his face to look at Katsuki, his face melted into a soft, teary smile.
“Kacchan...”
Deku extended a hand to rest on Katsuki’s thigh.
“Don’t you think heroes...should smile at a moment like this?” he was clearly struggling to get the words out, but he kept trying all the same.
“Kacchan has...such a nice smile...”
Katsuki didn’t have time to say anything to that, because then Deku passed out and the paramedics swooped him away from Katsuki’s arms and into the ambulance. For a brief moment, Katsuki was motionless, frozen in time with his hand slightly outstretched towards the direction where Deku had been taken, but he was awoken from his trance by his boss’ roaring order for him to help the others to put out the fire as the ambulance speeded away with sirens howling.
The next days were nerve-wracking for Katsuki. He couldn’t stop thinking about Deku, about the panic he had felt when he had realized who the idiot putting himself in danger was, how much smaller and more vulnerable Deku’s body had seemed when he was lying on the ground instead of smiling at Katsuki from above in his white coat and ugly sandals, how familiar his voice had sounded when he had teased Katsuki for not smiling, still the same soft tone even while roughened by the smoke and soot.
He was constantly haunted by the sight of Deku being carried away by the medical staff, taken away from Katsuki to a place he couldn’t reach. Rationally, he knew that was what was supposed to happen – Katsuki wouldn’t have been able to do half the things needed to help Deku – but he still couldn’t stop worrying. Was Deku okay, or had there been complications? The kid that he had rushed in to save was alright: his father had sent a thank you note to the fire station soon after the incident. That meant the odds were in Deku’s favour, but there hadn’t been a peep from him.
Maybe he resented being saved by Katsuki.
Maybe he was so shaken by the incident he hadn’t really given thought to what had happened.
He probably didn’t even remember much considering the state he had been in. If Katsuki and Kirishima had found him only a few minutes later...
Katsuki stalked the website of the clinic Deku worked at, but the system only showed him that it wasn’t possible to make appointments with Deku.
After four days of uncertainty, Katsuki hit his limit. As his shift ended in the morning, he headed straight for the only place he could think of to get information about Deku’s wellbeing: the clinic.
Four-Eyes frowned when he saw Katsuki enter.
“Bakugou-sama, I really must insist on the importance of booking an appointment-“
“Forget about that. I want to ask about Dek- Midoriya. Is he here?”
The receptionist stared at him wordlessly for a moment before speaking in a strained, flat tone:
“Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to answer that question. If you are not here for an appointment, I need to ask you to leave.”
...Right. From Four-Eyes’ perspective, Katsuki was just a client who had made a ruckus wooing a member of the staff while high on medication. Now he probably seemed like a weird stalker... which he wasn’t, for the record.
“Look, I’m not even asking to see him. I just want to know if he’s going to come back to work or-“
“Kacchan?”
Katsuki turned his head towards the voice so quickly that he nearly sprained his neck. Deku was standing only a few steps away, the cardboard box he had been carrying dropping to the floor with a thud and its contents scattering all over. He was wearing a forest green cardigan instead of his white coat, but the horrendous red sandals were still in the picture.
Abandoning the reluctant receptionist in an instant, Katsuki walked closer to Deku, who had begun to frantically scoop packets of toothpaste samples back into the box.
Now that Katsuki had Deku in the flesh before him, he had no idea what he actually wanted to do or say.
“...You uh, working or?”
Deku kept his eyes on the floor.
“No... I’m still technically on leave, but just sitting still at home made me anxious so I came here to clean the storage a bit...”
“Right...”
Deku picked the box up again and for a moment, they stood face to face while trying to avoid eye contact. Eventually Round Face made her move before anyone else, taking the box from Deku and saying:
“I’ll handle this, so...please do this literally anywhere else.”
Suddenly Deku seemed to realize where they were and that there were patients sitting in the waiting area, all curiously staring at them. He let out a strangled sound.
“Erm... There’s a café nearby...if you don’t mind?”
Katsuki had nothing but time, so of course he complied.
Getting to the café was easy enough, buying drinks similarly so (Deku tried to protest Katsuki paying for both of them, but the attempt was doomed to failure). It was when they got to the table that the true difficulties began – Katsuki still didn’t have an action plan for what he wanted to accomplish.
He wanted to apologize for the clusterfuck that his appointment had been, but he was notoriously terrible with apologies. He wanted to affirm that Deku was alright, but he knew very well he was already overstepping by coming to meet Deku like this.
He wanted to express how he still very much wanted to overstep even more.
“...So what’s up with ‘Kacchan’?” he blurted instead. Deku flushed a wonderful pink colour and looked at his drink as he stammered,
“Um, that... I’m sorry, I have a lot of younger patients so I, er...often give them nicknames. I don’t generally do it to adults, but you were just so...ah, never mind that. Anyway, I never intended to say it to your face like that. It was unprofessional and I apologize.”
Katsuki blinked at Deku, who was still fidgeting with his yet untouched beverage, still avoiding Katsuki’s gaze. He looked so uncomfortable it made Katsuki’s stomach tie itself around several scout’s honour-worthy knots.
“What are you apologizing for? I called you ‘Deku’, which is objectively worse, and then borderline harassed you!”
“And then you saved my life,” Deku insisted. “Besides Ka-... Bakugou-san, that was just the sedative talking, believe me that people really do say the strangest things-“
“You think I would be this fucking pressed about this if it was?!”
Deku’s mouth was left hanging open but no sound came out. By now, every single soul in the café was listening in, holding their breaths and hunching their shoulders in anticipation but not daring to look in the direction of the table in the corner.
An uncomfortable amount of time passed in silence, and Katsuki was almost certain he was going to be either ridiculed or pitied like never before. However, Deku’s next words were something completely different.
“Do...do you really like All Might?”
Katsuki had no idea how the conversation had suddenly taken that turn.
“...Yeah. I was obsessed with that character as a kid and in some ways never grew out of it.” Katsuki cracked a smile at the memories. “He’s the reason why I ended up wanting to do the kind of work I do. Being a hero or whatever. Reality’s a lot different, though.”
He rarely felt like a hero, especially not now.
Deku hummed and fiddled with his spoon for a bit before speaking.
“I bought a bunch of those stickers when I first started at the clinic. I’ve restocked a couple times since some characters are really popular, but...I’ve had that single All Might since the very beginning. Kids nowadays don’t really know him that well and adults barely spare a glance at the stickers so All Might just stayed in the box. But then you looked at a character sticker like it was the best thing and I couldn’t help but want to get to know you better.”
Katsuki considered Deku’s story briefly. It sounded quite heart-warming on the surface, but...
“So you’re saying you became interested in a guy because he wanted a sticker?” He failed to mention that the initial spark of his interest in Deku had been the same character’s theme tune.
“N-not only that, obviously!” Deku protested. “I mean...it was pretty clear you were miles away from your comfort zone there, but you still had the courage to come and put your trust in me enough to let yourself be vulnerable. That’s really admirable.” Deku dropped his eyes and the volume of his voice, barely mumbling the next words while gesturing at Katsuki vaguely.
“Plus you have this whole thing going on...”
Katsuki raised an eyebrow, unable to resist the temptation to tease the man of his dreams who he somehow hadn’t scared off yet.
“What’s that? I couldn’t quite hear you...”
“Oh, come on! You already know I have a thing for it. Heroism and stuff... You definitely don’t need me to tell you you’re attractive.”
“Maybe not, but I sure as hell want to hear it. Besides, I may not remember what exactly I said after the operation but it was probably true, so you’ve already had your turn.”
“Nice try, but I’m only willing to count compliments you actually retain memories of,” Deku said before his expression turned slightly more bashful. “So... I guess the ‘wanting to get to know you’ bit is mutual?”
“...I did sort of imply I’d ask you out.”
“Yes you did, and then you had your follow-up appointment with Todoroki-kun and didn’t say a word to me,” Deku said with faux outrage. “I was devastated.”
Katsuki grimaced.
“That’s a mistake I’m never going to repeat.”
For a good minute, their faces had been inching closer to each other across the tiny table – slowly and inevitably as if by accident.
Just before contact, Katsuki pulled back slightly.
“When did you last brush your teeth?” he asked with a small frown. That was one of his rules – he couldn’t avoid some germs being exchanged during kissing, but he was definitely going to minimize the damage. His past partners hadn’t been too wild about it, admittedly...and Deku didn’t seem to be far off. The dentist rolled his eyes before reaching for Katsuki’s head to pull him in again until their lips met. The kiss was brief and rather chaste – perhaps its purpose was just to make a point rather than anything else – but it left Katsuki light-headed as Deku moved away just enough for his green eyes to come fully into focus again.
“If you have any complaints later, Kacchan, I’ll be sure to take responsibility.”
~ Art by TillyTheStrange