Chapter Text
It had happened one seemingly plain, boring Saturday afternoon. In an attempt to “foster camaraderie” (which were Iida’s words, but Denki personally thought he was putting too much weight to a simple outing), Class 2-A had decided to go to the mall again to spend time together.
Keyword being: an attempt.
Most had been more than willing to join—why wouldn’t they, when it was a good way to relax from the stress of hero school life? Until it came to Bakugou, who had promptly shot the offer down with:
“Can’t. I’ve got something then.”
Iida had respected that, seeing as Bakugou in second year wasn’t the type to say no for no reason. Iida had even said, “Bakugou-kun said he can’t, not that he didn’t want to. We can go on the trip as scheduled, but I can schedule another outing to include him next time!”
Of course, Denki didn’t just accept that easily; he had to make doubly sure of that in his own way. Even if Iida was probably right, it never hurt to be more certain—especially when Bakugou had already become a lot more receptive to their offers to hang out recently.
So he’d asked during one of their tutoring sessions, “You know, we really think it’d be cool if you could come along! You sure you don’t want to?”
“I’ll join next time,” Bakugou had huffed, dismissing his worries immediately. “I already had something planned that day, so don’t go overthinking that I’m gonna feel left out or some shit.”
Damn. So perceptive!
“Well, alright…”
“Don’t distract me and answer the second question in the book, dunce face.”
Too perceptive!!
And now, here they were, at the mall where Bakugou supposedly couldn’t come to because he had plans—until they found him from a distance, accompanied by some unknown person.
Sero began, “Is that—”
Denki interrupted before he could finish, bumping shoulders with Kirishima as he blurted out, “It’s Bakugou! And is that,” he paused to squint at the sight of their spiky-haired friend walking beside a taller man, “a friend?”
“You make it sound like he can’t have any,” Jirou said.
“You’re twisting my words!” Denki hissed. “We invited him to hang out with us as a class, I’m just surprised he’d choose to say no then go along with…whoever that is!”
Jirou smiled at him. It was a nice enough smile that Denki got distracted for a moment, until she said, “Are you jealous, Kaminari?”
“Wh-!”
“Shh, c’mon,” Sero said, a hint of a snicker in his voice as he unpeeled his tape off of Denki’s mouth. He waved off the glare Denki shot his way, then explained, “We don’t want him to catch us, do we? Let’s keep it down.”
Ashido gasped at those words, pressing in from Kirishima’s left as she whispered, “Are we spying on him?”
“You don’t have to sound too excited over that,” Kirishima said, laughing. “Anyway, I don’t think that’s a good idea…Bakugou might get pissed off with us! And you know Iida wouldn’t just let us sneak off—”
“Hm? Did you say something, Kirishima-kun?”
Kirishima held a hand to his chest as he looked back, only to find Iida looming over them with a curious expression. “Jeez, you surprised me,” he wheezed. “I thought you were with Midoriya and the others!”
“Yes, but I happened to hear my name!” Iida said with a proud smile. Denki shot a wary look at Sero, who gave a shrug in turn. How good was his hearing that he could hear them in a crowded mall?! “And—ah, is that Bakugou-kun?” Iida asked, making them all perk up in attention. “I see, so he was with a friend…it’s good that he’s still spending his time relaxing, then!”
“Nooo,” Ashido drawled, making quick steps to stand by Iida’s side as she said, “Aren’t we supposed to be building camaraderie? Spending time with each other as a class to get to know each other better? We could always get Bakugou to join us with his friend!”
Iida’s smile swiftly made way for a more serious expression—furrowed brows, set jaw and all. He pushed up his glasses and said, “Of course that’s important, but it’s also important to respect how our classmates choose to spend their time relaxing! If he chose not to join us, then it must be for a good reason!”
Damn, he didn’t bite the bait!
“I got my merch, Iida-kun!” Midoriya said, looking cheerful as he clutched at the straps of his full-to-burst backpack. He paused in his jogger’s pace towards them, probably seeing the conflicted looks on all their faces, before coming closer with slower steps. He asked, “Um, did something happen..?”
“We just caught Kacchan with someone,” Denki said. He grinned when he saw the immediate way that Midoriya straightened up in attention. “Iida said we should just leave him alone, but y’know, I figure—”
“Is that..?” Midoriya interrupted, looking confused as he stared at where Bakugou was standing with his mystery friend. It took another second of him squinting before he blinked back into focus to turn to Denki. “Ah, sorry! You were saying, Kaminari-kun?”
“You know him?” Sero asked. “The guy Bakugou’s with, I mean.”
“Ah, well, I think that’s one of our middle school classmates from before..? He’s one of Kacchan’s friends,” Midoriya answered.
“Oh, interes—is he looking this way?” Ashido half-shrieked, half-whispered, clutching a hand at Kirishima’s shirt sleeve. “The guy’s looking this way! How did we get caught?!”
Denki looked over the moment Ashido started whisper-shrieking, and quickly found himself on the receiving end of an amused eyebrow-raise from Bakugou’s middle school friend. That alone was suspicious enough—more than suspicious given how far away they were (though maybe they were really loud…)—until the guy smirked at them.
“Why is he looking like that at us,” Kirishima murmured, turning his gaze this way and that to avoid the obvious stare being directed their way. “Does he have a hearing quirk, or something? Man, I told you we shouldn’t have even tried to pry!”
A sudden hush enveloped them when they noticed the way Bakugou’s middle school friend wrapped his arm around Bakugou’s waist, before leaning in to whisper something to him.
“Damn, he’s probably telling on us,” Sero muttered. “We’re gonna be in for it when we come back to the dorms later…”
“Or not..?” Jirou said, one eyebrow raised as she watched the middle school friend tucking Bakugou into his side (and Bakugou didn’t even try to pull away?!) before sending them a wink and a salute with his free hand.
They left, without Bakugou once glancing their way.
“…did he just…wink at us?” Ashido asked.
“He put his hand on Kacchan’s waist,” Midoriya murmured, something fervent to his tone as he put his clenched fist to his mouth. “Kacchan wasn’t that touchy even back then, I don’t understand…what could this mean..?”
“So, Bakugou has a boyfriend,” Jirou said bluntly. She didn’t mind the shocked expressions that were swiftly turned her way, and said, “Cool. I’m gonna go buy some new strings for my guitar.”
She walked off into the direction of the music shop.
“You can’t just say that then leave..!” Denki cried, shaking Kirishima’s arm in his grasp. “How the heck am I supposed to just process that?!”
“We should respect it, that’s all!” Iida said. Denki could only stare at the firm resolution in Iida’s expression, because seriously? That easy?! Denki never even thought Bakugou would ever be interested in anyone on a romantic level, now he’s supposed to just process that Bakugou might’ve been gay all along..?!
He took a moment to think, then heaved out a sigh. “Wish he could’ve told us before, at least,” he grumbled.
Kirishima patted him on the back. “It’s okay man, I’m sure we can ask when we get back later!”
“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be honest about it,” Sero assured him, an amused grin on his face. “Maybe he’ll even tell us, “yeah, so? How is it my problem that you didn’t ask?” or something like that.”
“That’s…frustratingly possible.”
“Far too annoyingly possible..!”
Later:
“So, when were you gonna tell us that you had a boyfriend..?” Ashido, the brave soul, asked during dinner.
Bakugou looked up from his plate of fish, not at all intimidated even when he was crowded on all sides by the rest of them. Not that Bakugou was easily intimidated anyway, but that’s irrelevant at the moment! Denki said, “We saw you with that guy at the mall!”
Bakugou chewed on with a frown, uncaring for the impatience in their stares. It was only when he was done chewing (which felt like millennia) that he said, “Hah? How is that any of your business, anyway? And you didn’t ask.”
They all crumpled down as if hit in a variety of ways—in a chair, on the floor—all while Bakugou watched on unsympathetically. “I knew it..!” Denki cried, squeezing his clenched fists on the floor. “I knew you’d say that! How could we have even asked something so specific when we didn’t think you’d be interested in that kinda thing?!”
“Your fault for not thinking of it, dunce face, not mine,” Bakugou said, before continuing to eat.
Argh! He wasn’t wrong..! He wasn’t wrong and that was the most frustrating part!