Archive of Our Own ^beta

He smiles to himself when he realizes how much Bakugo has changed; he's getting stronger now and has learned a technique or two in order to make his explosions last longer.

It's amazing; his lips part to say just that (as he always does) but he stops when he remembers the conversation he had with Uraraka earlier. He takes a deep breath and takes more notes instead.

The only good thing is that he doesn't have to stop himself from praising the rest of his classmates.

"That was great, Uraraka!" He says, beaming at the girl as she slowly gets down until she's really close to him. "I can see you can control better your need to puke. Also, I heard you could make a plane float the other day, that's pretty impressive."

Pleased, she smiles back at him before going back to her spot.

Izuku can hear a few explosions in the background.

"Todoroki!" The boy mumbles in awe; this time he's the one to approach since his break officially ended. "That's a whole new level of heat! How many degrees are we talking about?"

"I still don't know," the boy with mismatched hair says, staring back at him with a soft grin. "I'll let you know as soon as I find out."

"Great! Thank you!" Izuku beams, prompting Todoroki to look away as his cheeks turn slightly pink.

He keeps trying to exercise on his own for a couple of minutes before he gets distracted by Kirishima. He gasps when he realizes the boy can last longer with his body completely hard.

He mentions it out loud, as another furious explosion is heard next to them, and Kirishima giggles, rubbing the back of his neck, almost flustered.

"Thank you, Midoriya," he says, clearly pleased.

There's another explosion, this time louder, followed by a very angry scream. Bakugo has just blown up a huge column of cement.

"That's very manly, Bakugo!" Kirishima comments. Kaminari and Ashido praise him as well, although he doesn't seem to be paying too much attention to his friends.

Izuku realizes he's staring right at him with a frown upon his face.

His lips part, ready to tell him how amazing that was, but stops himself quickly, knowing it'll just end up with the other boy insulting him.

Turning around, he gets closer to Todoroki as he hears a growl, followed by another explosion.

"That's quite enough, Bakugo!" Aizawa scolds him.

***

"Alright. We'll start the sparring sessions today," Aizawa informs, as he walks around the room. He looks at the group quickly before pointing at Todoroki. "You're first. Alright, who wants to go against him?"

"ME!" Bakugo snarls, taking a few steps forward. Nobody is surprised, the blond has declared Todoroki his rival a couple of times already.

"Go, Bakugo!" Kaminari smirks.

"You can do it, Todoroki!" Izuku says almost at the same time. The boy looks back at him with a very pleased, but shy smile. He's blushing. "You have become quite stro–"

Before he can finish the sentence, Bakugo bares his teeth and tackles Todoroki to the ground.

Fortunately, Todoroki has had quite experience sparring so he manages to get Bakugo off by kicking him on the chest. However, he looks really pissed now.

They both do.

"No," Aizawa scolds before they can jump at each other's throats again. "I said sparring. Not dogfight."

He orders Bakugo to step back and chooses Ojiro instead.

Todoroki wins the new encounter pretty quickly.

"You both did great!" Izuku says immediately, already walking towards the boy with mismatched hair. "Todoroki, that was really impressive!"

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course! I think you've also become a little taller and stronger as well! You look ama–"

Bakugo tackles Todoroki a second time that day.

"That's enough!" Aizawa snarls, clearly angry. "Bakugo, get out!"

***

"Did you watch me, Deku?" Bakugo mumbles with a satisfied smile on his face. His team defeated class 1b team in five minutes.

It was amazing to watch. Especially considering that was all Bakugo's plan. Izuku can't help but grin when he realizes that he can actually work as a part of a team.

The frown upon Bakugo's face softens when he notices Izuku's smile.

When Ashido makes a comment to Bakugo about the way he used his explosions to fly on the air, Izuku reminds himself that Bakugo doesn't want an opinion or praise from a "nerd" like himself.

"Jiro! The thing you did with–"

Behind him Bakugo growls in frustration. Ashido is the only one that looks amused by his reaction.

"I was the one in charge!" He stomps in his direction until he's a few inches away from him.

"I... know?" Honestly, Izuku has no idea what Bakugo's problem is now. He wasn't even talking to him!

"Everything was my idea!" Bakugo growls.

"I didn't say it wasn't, Kacchan!"

Bakugo keeps glaring at him, it's almost like he's expecting something else from Izuku, but he has no idea what.

"Whatever!" He huffs, irritated, although he looks a little bit disappointed. He storms away quickly.

***

"I see you have... better control of your quirk now. That's... good."

For a moment, Izuku thinks he's dreaming or that Bakugo is being mind controlled. The rest of the class must be thinking something similar because they all look in utter shock.

They're back in the classroom; they had a training session earlier and spent almost an hour trying to come with special attacks.

Bakugo has turned on his seat to face him, even though his eyes are looking down the whole time.

"Uhh..." Izuku is flustered; he's not used to receive compliments from the other boy. "Thank y-you. You did great today."

The blond doesn't look up, but he nods as the ghost of a smile almost curls his lips upwards.

***

It keeps happening. Bakugo starts giving him advice as well; he gets closer to Izuku after each session and actually talks to him (instead of yelling) about his quirk.

Izuku doesn't understand.

He's also working harder than anyone else, to the point where it starts affecting him physically.

Izuku is amazed by his progress and part of him would like to tell the boy how impressed he is (like he used to) but Bakugo seems to be responding better when Izuku's compliments are not... that enthusiastic.

"Bakugo, even though you're doing an excellent job, you have to take it easy," Aizawa tells him, right after watching him blow up another rock that was on his way.

"I'm fine," he growls, prompting Izuku to roll his eyes at him.

He starts getting worried.

"You need to talk to him," Ashido corners him the next day, making Todoroki narrow his eyes at her. "It's getting worse. He's in the living room now, but he's planning to go to the gym."

"I don't think he'll listen to–"

"He will. Come on, Midoriya!"

Nervous, Izuku nods and shakes his head when Todoroki offers to go with him, he knows he has more opportunities if he goes alone.

"Deku," Bakugo turns his head up to look at him; there are shadows under his eyes. However, he doesn't frown at him.

"Kacchan, uhh... Why don't you take a break?" Izuku smiles shyly, rubbing the back of his neck. "You have surpassed all of us already and–"

"It's not enough."

"What?" Izuku can't hide his concern anymore. "What do you mean? You'll only exhaust yourself!"

Bakugo looks away, clenching his teeth.

"I'm not good enough for you..."

The last thing it's said in a furious whisper, but Izuku manages to hear it anyway.

"I never said that!" He's alarmed and confused. Worried about the way his voice gets louder, he looks around, but realizes they're still alone.

"But it's different now! You don't... praise me anymore!"

Izuku blinks as Bakugo finally gets up from the couch to look at him in the eye.

"I thought you didn't like it! At least when I did it!"

"Are you kidding me?" Bakugo hisses. "All my life I've been trying to impress you!"

Feeling his cheeks like they're on fire, Izuku covers his face and groans.

This doesn't seem real, but it must be otherwise his body wouldn't be hurting from the training session.

"You always yelled at me whenever I complimented you so I thought–"

"I'm sorry," Bakugo cuts him off, voice rough. He's staring at his own feet. His eyes are hidden by his own hair, but he sounds like he's desperate. "I did that so you wouldn't notice how much I liked it. It's not an excuse... I just–I'm truly sorry."

Taking Bakugo's face in his hands, Izuku makes him look up.

"I forgive you," he mumbles, cheeks turning red. When he notices that Bakugo seems relieved he keeps going: "I... didn't say anything to you about your progress for the past weeks... But I have a few notes in my journal if you... want me to read them."

"I'd like that," Bakugo says after a couple of seconds. Izuku has never heard his voice sound that soft... ever.

"Great!" Izuku beams, taking out his notebook. Bakugo sits on the couch, trying to fight the smile curling his lips up. "However... You have to promise to go to bed early instead of going to the gym."

"Fine," Bakugo rolls his eyes. He takes Izuku's arm and pulls him closer to him.

"Wait! How do I know you're not lying to me?"

Something changes in those red eyes, something that tells Izuku their relationship will evolve somehow.

He's not sure he's ready for that.

There's a dangerous glimmer in his eyes, but it's completely different from everything Izuku has seen before. It makes him shiver.

"Well... you can always come to my dorm and make sure I stay there the whole night," Bakugo smirks.

Izuku freezes for a moment, feeling as the blush spreads down to his neck. No. Bakugo cannot be flirting with him, because Izuku doesn't know how to deal with that.

He starts missing the insults and the yelling.

"There's n-no need," he stammers. "I believe you."

"Come here, Izuku," Bakugo takes him by the waist and sits him on his lap.

"Kacchan, wait!" Izuku squeaks, knowing he'll die soon if things keep like that.

"Read me your notes," the blond blatantly ignores him, putting his arms around his waist as he settles his chin over his shoulder.

"O-Okay," he mumbles, giving in.

The others find them just like that when they walk back in the living room. Izuku tries to move, but Bakugo's arms are like they're made of steel around him. He cannot move.

Ashido winks at them.

"Glad to see you're in such good terms now," she giggles before joining the other girls.

Oddly enough, after the shock vanishes, the others keep talking to each other as if nothing had changed. Uraraka gives him a reluctant thumbs up while Todoroki narrows his eyes at Bakugo.

"You promised to read to me, Deku," the boy whispers, pulling him closer while Izuku nervously starts looking for Bakugo's page.

He's not sure if he'll ever get used to this (whatever has changed between them) but he must admit he kinda likes it.