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Midoriya grinned at Bakugou, who was scowling. Midoriya had insisted on taking a photo of the cake slices that were just placed on their table, which Bakugou thought was ridiculous, but Midorya thought it’d be a waste to not preserve the memory of how pretty these were. And if Bakugou happened to be in one of the photos it was just a nice bonus.
Everytime they wanted to leave campus, they had to get permission from the UA staff, so they couldn’t go out too much. Midoriya wanted to ensure he made the most of each of their dates and recorded the events properly.
***
Bakugou grumbled to himself, sending a text to Kirishima asking if he was up for some sparring. The response was immediate and contained far too many emojis, which just served to make Bakugou even more irritated. He shoved the phone in his pocket and started making his way to Ground Beta to meet Kirishima.
“Hey--” Kirishima’s enthusiastic greeting was interrupted by an explosion, rather a series of explosions. Bakugou was practically on top of him the second he stepped into the training grounds. Kirishima barely managed to harden his arms to defend against the agitated bursts aimed at him.
Kirishima shucked off his singed coat, tossing it to the side as he deflected Bakugou’s attacks before diving whole heartedly into the fight. Bakugou wouldn’t be satisfied with a half-assed sparring session, especially when he was worked up like this.
By the time Kirishima and Bakugou had worn themselves out entirely, the sun had long since sunk beyond the horizon. The two teens lay on the ground panting.
“What’re you so worked up for dude?” Kirishima finally asked once he caught his breath. Bakugou growled, annoyed, but gave in to Kirishima’s curiosity.
“I caught feelings for stupid Deku and I’m pissed about it.” He hated to admit it, it made him even more angry to admit it. Midoriya not returning his feelings just added insult to injury. Kirishima sat up quickly, balking at Bakugou.
“Uh, Bakubro… aren’t you two dating?”
“Hah?” Bakugou glared up at him. Did he hit him too hard?
“For real? You’re not?”
“No, of course I’m not fucking dating Deku.”
***
Bakugou glared at his ceiling. Where the hell had Shittyhair gotten the idea that he was dating Deku? Bakugou seethed. If Kirishima thought they were dating, that probably meant that Bakugou’s interest in Midoriya was obvious. Which is the last thing he wanted. Midoriya wasn’t interested in Bakugou. Not like that anyway. He had a one track mind. He wanted to be a pro hero, and feelings got in the way of that.
If Bakugou was smart, he would shove these troublesome feelings to the back of his mind and forget about it. He couldn’t be the number one hero if he was too busy pining for a green-haired nerd that didn’t reciprocate.
Bakugou rolled over, the red numbers on his alarm clock informing him he’d laid away thinking about this for far too long.
***
“Oi, Deku!” Bakugou didn’t wait for Midoriya to turn around, his fingers wrapped around Midoriya’s wrist tightly. He drug him away from Todoroki and Ochako and around the corner. Most students had already begun filtering into their classrooms, so the hall was relatively empty. Bakugou had Midoriya pinned against the wall, his emerald eyes wide and confused.
“Kacchan--”
“What are we?” The question was practically a growl, since Bakugou’s jaw was clenched so firmly. He’d hardly gotten any sleep, emerald eyes and freckles that were definitely not cute plaguing his mind. Midoriya blinked a few times before tipping his head to the side.
“What do you mean?” Midoriya frowned. Bakugou suddenly looked very uncomfortable. The tips of his ears shifted to a soft pink hue and his eyes suddenly wouldn’t meet Midoriya’s. He’d known this was a bad idea.
“Are we… friends?” Bakugou coughed, biting his lower lip before continuing. “Classmates?” Midoriya had never seen Bakugou look so unsure of himself.
“I-- We-- Kacchan… We’ve been dating for three months…” Bakugou recoiled from Midoriya, finally allowing him to unplaster himself from the wall behind him. “Did you-- I-- I just assumed when I asked you out--”
“ You asked me out?” More than just his ears were red at this point, Bakugou was turning into a tomato. Normally, Midoriya was the one to get flustered or embarrassed. It was an odd new look on Bakugou.
“Y-yeah, when we went to that movie--”
“And we’ve been ‘dating’ since then?” Bakugou asked, a dangerous tone to his voice as he made air quotes around the word dating. Midoriya swallowed nervously, his head bobbing in confirmation.
“I’d th-thought so… If you don’t want to be--”
“This is bullshit,” Bakugou grumbled, stomping off, hands deep his pockets. The bell rang just as he stepped into the classroom. Their classmates stared as he made his way to his desk and plopped down unceremoniously.
Midoriya stood in the hallway, dumbfounded, for a bit longer. He was waiting for the pain of rejection to set in. He’d been reading the situation wrong this whole time-- a throat cleared, startling Midoriya from his thoughts. He turned to Aizawa, who looked exhausted as always, and very unamused.
“Are you planning to go to class, or just loiter in the hallway all day?”
“S-sorry, sir!” Midoriya scrambled towards the classroom, the tears finally welling up in his eyes. He sniffled and wiped at them as he took his seat behind Bakugou. Their classmates whispered amongst each other, all eyes on Bakugou and Midoriya.
A collective hush fell over the room as the door opened and Aizawa slowly shuffled in. He eyed Midoriya for a moment before reluctantly starting their lesson for the day. Midoriya tried not to think about what happened out in the hallway, but his hand trembled, making his notes scratchy and hard to read, the fat tears that dotted the page certainly weren’t helping either.
Bakugou hadn’t been checked into class, his mind was elsewhere, trying to piece together everything else he’d apparently missed these past three months. He was painfully aware of the muffled sniffles coming from behind him though.
“Did you two break up?” Mineta asked, a little too loudly, as he leaned over his desk to address Midoriya. A vein bulged on Bakugou’s temple, explosions crackling in his palms, his pencil quickly becoming a casualty to his quirk.
“What the fuck? Did everyone know?” Bakugou yelled, whirling around, glaring over Midoriya at the obnoxious grape. Aizawa sighed, leaning against his desk, unimpressed.
“Know what?” Kaminari asked, earning a groan from Kirishima behind him, who had a feeling he knew exactly what was going on now. Midoriya’s bottom lip wobbled, Sero flinched, seeing the look on his face. Midoriya stood up abruptly, mumbling something about not feeling well, before he bolted from the classroom, not even bothering to gather his things.
“Bakugou, what did you do ?” Sero hissed. Bakugou gapped at the anger from Sero, the most laid back guy he knows. He didn’t do anything, why was he the one getting pinned by murder eyes from Sero?
“Delightful.” Aizawa rolled his eyes. “Anyone else want to ditch class?”
“Is that an option?” Kaminari asked, hand half raised. Aizawa glared at him. Somehow the dark circles under his eyes seem to have gotten worse since class began.
“No.”
***
For the rest of the day there were hushed whispers and more staring than Bakugou could handle. Everyone was getting on his nerves. If they had something to say they should just come out and say it. He still wasn’t sure how it was his fault that Midoriya freaked out and bailed on class today. He’s the one who never told Bakugou they were supposedly dating. Who does that?
No one outwardly said anything, but the disapproval and borderline hostility was clear. Well, borderline up until the point Todoroki nearly skewered him during a sparring session, which Bakugou was convinced was intentional.
“What the fuck, Icyhot!”
“Sorry, my hand slipped,” Todoroki shrugged, not sounding the least bit sorry. Bakugou felt his palms crackling again, moments from throwing himself at Todoroki. Aizawa, pinching the bridge of his nose, sent them both off the field to cool off, allowing other students to go at it instead, and hopefully not try to kill each other.
“Bakugou--”
“Not in the mood, Shittyhair.”
“Dude, listen, I think I know what’s going on here.” Kirishima forced Bakugou to stop walking away. Bakugou glared at him and crossed his arms over his chest, but at least it seemed like he was listening. “You talked to Midoriya, right? He thought you guys were dating, but you didn’t know--”
“Oi, are you calling me stupid--”
“We’re telling Bakugou he’s stupid? Can I go first?” Sero asked, propping his elbow on Kirishima’s shoulder and leaning on him.
“Can it, Soy Sauce--”
“What reason could you possibly have for breaking up with Midoriya, he’s like the human embodiment of a puppy.”
“We were never dating!” Bakugou yelled, fists clenching. Kirishima sighed.
***
Ditching class didn’t make Midoriya feel any better. He was just going to have to make up all the work he missed, and train that much harder to make up for lost time. He just felt so stupid. How could he and Bakugou have been on such different pages?
Midoriya’s pillow was soggy by the time he finally stopped crying. He wanted to lay in bed and throw himself a pity party, but he couldn’t allow himself to do that. So what if he thought that he had a chance with Bakugou and was horribly wrong? He was still a hero in training and if he let this break him what kind of hero would he be?
He was still trying to talk himself into getting out of bed and going for a jog or something, when there was a knock at his door. Midoriya sniffled, whipping his cheeks with his hands, trying to remove the evidence of crying. Not that it helped. He didn’t even get the chance to get up before the door opened. Ochako barged in, a slightly reluctant Todoroki following, and Iida was waving his arms trying to lecture them despite it falling on deaf ears.
“We brought ice cream!” Ochako announced, holding up the tub to show Midoriya.
“You cannot just enter someone’s room without--”
“We’re not leaving until you’re not sad anymore. I’ve got some great movies that might cheer you up,” Ochako continued, ignoring Iida and plopping down on Midoriya’s bed, smiling at him reassuringly. Iida looked to Todoroki for help, but he just gave him a half shrug and sat on the other side of Midoriya.
Ochako had been the one to formulate the plan. Once classes were over they’d run to the store to get the emergency ice cream, then they’d cheer up Midoriya, eating ice cream straight from the tub and watching sappy, cliche movies. It was perfect. Except of course her friends were all strange.
Iida had insisted that it was horribly unsanitary for them to all be eating straight from the container, again he was mostly ignored, and Midoriya didn’t request sappy, cliche movies. He wanted to watch documentaries. Specifically about heroes. By the time the ice cream was gone and Midoriya had finally fallen asleep, Ochako was sure she now knew more about All Might than she cared to know about anyone. Why were there four documentaries about the same hero? Wasn’t one enough?
Todoroki had fallen asleep during the second one and Iida had needed to leave to meet with Momo about something for class, so Ochako had been the only one to endure a majority of Midoriya’s taste in movies. However, it made him happy and that was all that mattered. She’d gladly spend her evening watching boring documentaries if it meant she could make Midoriya even just a little less sad.
***
“Bakugou,” Mina sing-songed, sliding up beside him where he was angrily cooking in the dorm’s communal kitchen.
“Go away.”
“Nope, sorry, no can do,” Kaminari laughed, throwing an arm over Bakugou’s shoulders, which was immediately shrugged off.
“Operation fix Bakugou’s relationship is underway--”
“What the fuck did you just say?” Bakugou’s eyes narrowed at Mina, pausing his furious mixing.
“You’ve made a mess of things, and we’re going to help you fix it.”
“No the fuck you aren’t.”
“Oh, but we are,” Kaminari said, shaking his head.
“Not to gang up on you,” Kirishima started, he and Sero joined the group in the kitchen. “But I think this is for the best.” If looks could kill, Kirishima would have dropped dead instantly.
“I thought you were on my side,” Bakugou mumbled. Kirishima gave him a sympathetic smile.
“Come on, you’re both miserable. You just need to apologize and properly confess--”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not.”
“Bakugou! Put your pride aside and do it for Midoriya,” Mina scolded.
“I don’t know guys, he’s already broken Midoriya’s heart once, why encourage him to do it again?” Sero said, leaning against the counter.
“Care to say that again,” Bakugou growled, eye narrowing at Sero. Sero had really been getting on his nerves lately. The two were locked in a harsh staring contest, neither showing signs of backing down, until Kirishima cut in.
***
Bakugou frowned at the box in his hands. His friends were idiots. Some cookies weren’t going to change the fact Bakugou had been oblivious to their supposed relationship for three whole months. Months. How was that even possible.
Sucking in a deep breath, Bakugou knocked on Midoriya’s door, only for his stomach to drop the second he heard movement within. He dropped the box on the floor and bolted before the door could swing open.
Midoriya blinked, rubbing his red, puffy eyes. He scanned the hall, not seeing anyone, before looking towards his feet where a plain, square box lay sat a little haphazardly. Sniffling, Midoriya picked it up, taking it back inside before anyone could see what a mess he was.
He crawled back into bed, settling on his All Might comforter, before taking the lid off the box. He wasn’t sure what to expect, but an abundance of cookies wasn’t it. There was an assortment of everything from classic chocolate chip; simple peanut butter; something that appeared to be coconut cookies, which happened to be Midoriya’s favorite; and even intricate sugar cookies piped to resemble All Might.
There was only one person Midoriya could think of who knew what type of cookie was his favorite and possessed the skills to create sugar cookies of that caliber. Midoriya wiped his nose on his sleeve before taking his phone out and snapping a photo of the box and its contents. Picking out one of the coconut ones, he nibbled on it as he posted the photo to Instagram.
***
“I saw you apologized to Midoriya!” Kirishima draped himself over Bakugou’s back, earning irritated grumbles from the blonde.
“What are you talking about?” Bakugou asked, finally getting Kirishima off of him.
“The cookies,” Kirishima said matter of factly. Bakugou stilled.
“What are you talking about?”
“Midoriya posted a photo on Insta--”
“That shitty little nerd.” Bakugou’s palms crackled. Kirishima blinked, grabbing Bakugou’s forearms and putting them back at his sides.
“Didn’t you guys talk? Figure things out between you?” Kirishima groaned, seeing Bakugou’s cheeks flush. “Seriously? How’d you manage to give him those without actually talking to him?”
“Shut up, Shittyhair.”
“Dude, you’ve got to talk to him--”
“Fuck off, okay?” Bakugou stomped off. Kirishima sighed, unsure how to help Bakugou if he was so unwilling to listen. He followed after Bakugou.
“Look, I know you’re stubborn--” Kirishima paused, putting his hands up, as Bakugou whirled around to threaten him. “No one is mad at you, okay maybe Sero and Todoroki, but what’s important is that Midoriya isn’t mad at you. He’s upset, but imagine how happy he’d be to know his feelings were returned? That there really was something between--” Bakugou slammed his door in Kirishima’s face.
***
It took three days. Three days of awkwardness, Midoriya’s tears, and Kirishima pestering Bakugou, before Bakugou finally knocked on Midoriya’s door again.
Bakugou kept his eyes down, burrowing his hands deeper into his pockets. Midoriya's eyes were wide, blinking owlishly at him. He was sure he'd heard him wrong.
"I'm sorry?"
"You fuckin' heard me," Bakugou growled, still avoiding looking at Midoriya.
"You-- you're asking me out?" Midoriya asked hesitantly. Bakugou huffed in what was meant to be a form of confirmation.
"You said we've been dating for three months now. What's wrong with me asking my boyfriend out?" Bakugou barely managed to keep himself upright and Midoriya threw his arms around Bakugou. Midoriya was small, but he was solid muscle. Steadying himself, and Midoriya, Bakugou stood there stiffly, cheeks and neck a similar shade to Kirishima’s hair.
“What-- what did you wanna do?” Midoriya asked, his bright eyes fixed up at Bakugou, his arms still tightly around him.
“Uh,” Bakugou hadn’t thought that far ahead. “H-hiking,” he stammered. Midoriya either didn’t notice or knew better than to mention it as he launched into a million questions about when or where Bakugou wanted to go hiking.
***
After managing to get permission from Aizawa to leave campus for a whole day, Bakugou took Midoriya to one of his favorite places to hike. He’d normally go alone, enjoying the peace and solitude, but having a certain nerd by his side made his stomach erupt with butterflies and somehow made the journey up the mountain side easier.
About halfway, Midoriya had timidly reached for Bakugou’s hand, but his uncertainty melted away when Bakugou laced their fingers together. Bakugou was pretty sure he never saw Midoriya’s bright, dopey grin slip off his face. Not that he minded, Midoriya’s smile was contagious, and Bakugou took pride in the fact he was the cause of it.
As the pair reached the summit, Midoriya dropped Bakugou’s hand, moving towards the cliffside, admiring the view. For the first time, Bakugou was the one to slip his phone out and snap a few pictures. He bit his lip, trying to suppress a smile.
Midoriya’s hair lifted with the wind, the setting sun creating a halo-like glow around him. Bakugou took one final picture, just as Midoriya turned back to him. Tucking his phone into his back pocket, Bakugou joined Midoriya at the edge, surprising Midoriya with one of Bakugou’s rough, calloused hands landing on his cheek gently. Using that hand, Bakugou tilted Midoriya’s face up towards him, claiming his lips in a timid kiss.
Midoriya’s lips parted in surprise as Bakugou pulled away. Bakugou offered an unsure half smile before Midoriya’s hands found either side of Bakugou’s face and reclaimed his lips. They’d known each other since they were kids, and while their relationship had many ups and downs throughout the years, they were figuring things out and it seemed they were finally on the same page.