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Izuku is sitting on one of the tables in the lab, idly talking to Mei when the door opens to reveal two students he recognizes as Tenya Iida and Ochako Uraraka from the first year Hero course. They’re in Kacchan’s class , he immediately thinks to himself, she went up against him during the Sports Festival and fared rather well, while Iida became an unfortunate victim of Mei’s “babies”.
Izuku cringes slightly at the memory of his friend’s overly bombastic round against Iida and picks up one of his notebooks, content to brainstorm for a bit while Powerloader helps them with whatever it is they need and Mei inevitably butts in.
Sure enough, the moment the hero students see her, Iida’s loud voice blurts out, “Hatsume!”
Mei leans way too far over in her chair to get a look at the two newcomers. “Oh, Class 1A, right? Uh, yeah, I forgot your names already!”
“I’m Tenya Iida! The man you tricked into being a walking advertisement during the Sports Festival!”
“Never heard of ya! Whelp, I’m busy developing new babies, so bye~”
That was quicker than I thought it would be. Izuku thinks to himself, I thought for sure she’d be more interested in them.
“Wait!” Ururaka calls out before Mei can fully turn away, “We’re here to talk upgrades for our hero costumes!”
Izuku watches as Mei's grin grows wide and vaguely frightening as she slowly turns to look at the heroes more properly. "Well~” She starts in a sing-song tone that immediately has Izuku narrowing his eyes at her, “I've kind of been suspended from being allowed to actually work on physical projects until I've passed another one of those ‘instructional safety class’ things, so unfortunately there's not much that I can do for you at the moment, but my friend Izuku over here..."
Izuku blinks slowly, looking from Mei, to the hero students, back to Mei, and finally to Powerloader who seems to be content with just observing. Izuku shakes his head, "No, no, no, Mei, what are you doing, I can't make anything for them!"
"Sure you can! You'll use the stuff here in the lab, I'll be here to supervise the whole time,” Powerloader coughs pointedly from his seat, “I mean, Powerloader will be here to supervise, and when you inevitably do a fantastic job it's going to look great on your transfer application."
"Wait, I'm confused," Ururaka cuts in, "Who are you?"
"Ah, I'm Izuku Midoriya, I'm just a general studies student."
"But, he's hoping to transfer to the Support course next year and he's absolutely brilliant when it comes to heroes."
"Mei!"
"What, it's true! Take a look through one of these journals of his, he's been scribbling away ideas for support items for all you Hero students since the Sports Festival!" To Izuku’s horror she already has one in hand and is passing it over to the hero students.
"No way, really? You already have ideas for all of us?" Uraraka asks as she takes the notebook from Mei.
"Well, I mean, technically? I still don't know the full parameters of most of your quirks, you know the specifics of how they function, their limits, or anything like that, but by watching the festival I was able to get a decent read on at least the general usages of the quirks and how each hero tended to fight, so I've been coming up with sort of half-baked little ideas. I'm not sure how practical all of them are and before trying to implement any of them I would need not only permission from the school and the normal design team, but also the opportunity to sit down with the hero themself and actually talk specifics, so I could improve the designs and optimize them for the Hero they would be used by-"
"Great!" Hastume cuts him off, "sounds like you have it all worked out then! I'll make sure you get the school's permission,” Another cough from Powerloader, “I mean, Powerloader will make sure you get permission, and you can go ahead and sit down with these two here to talk specifics!"
"Wait-"
"Congrats on your first job Izuku!"
"Mei-"
"Some of these designs and notes really are incredible Midoriya!" Ururaka says, flipping through a notebook he'd left sitting on a table.
"Oh, um, thank you..."
"I agree." Iida's loud voice practically jumpscares Izuku from behind. "If it would not be too much trouble I would be very interested in discussing some of these more at length."
"Well... I mean… Sensei?”
Finally, Powerloader takes a moment to look up from what he’d been working on and look over at the students. “I actually agree with Hatsume on this one. Of course there’s a bunch of legal hoops we’ll have to jump through and you won’t be allowed to be the sole person working on these things, but at the very least you can be involved in the design process.”
“Alright, I suppose if… What exactly were both of you looking for anyway?"
“I was hoping to be able to find a way to improve the healing devices for my legs.”
“And I’m looking for a way to help combat my nausea!”
“Okay, sure. I already had a couple of ideas for both of those in… where did it go, oh! Here it is, this notebook! Take a look through and let me know what catches your eye and we can go from there I guess!”
—
Back in 1A’s classroom later, Katsuki is sitting in his seat, pointedly ignoring Pikachu’s useless jabbering next to him and accidentally tuning into Round Face’s instead.
“No, I’m serious Tsuyu! He’s just the cutest! And he’s super smart too, you should have seen the stuff he’d come up with before ever talking to us! Apparently he’s so good that he can watch someone fight just one or two times and already have a pretty good grasp on their quirk and fighting style and stuff, it’s incredible!”
“Who are you guys talking about?” Shitty Hair interrupts them and Katsuki snorts at Pikachu’s betrayed face when he realizes that Shitty Hair wasn’t listening to him either.
“A General Studies student who happened to be in the lab earlier today with Powerloader and Hatsume Mei.” Four Eyes answers.
“Wait, it wasn’t that brainwashing guy, right? Hitoshi Shinso?”
“No, this guy’s name was Izuku Midoriya-”
Katsuki’s whole world comes to a stop as that name enters his ears. He’s sure that Round Face is still talking, but nothing is processing in his brain anymore, everything is too busy being occupied by that name on repeat. Izuku Midoriya. Deku. A General Studies student? He goes to school here? Since when did that fucker manage to get into UA? What the fuck is going on here?
Katuski manages to tune back into the voices around him just in time to hear Shitty Hair say, “Well if he’s that good then do you think he’d be willing to take a couple more orders? I’ve been thinking of getting a couple of upgrades myself, but I’m not really sure where to start.”
“I mean, Powerloader gave him permission to take on projects, so I guess it would be fine. It couldn’t hurt to try at least!” Round Face’s cheeriness sometimes reminded Katsuki of Deku, now that he was thinking about it. Shit…
“Dope! I guess I’ll stop by the lab tomorrow then.”
Before Katsuki could stop himself he found himself declaring, “I’ll go too.” Only to be met with shocked faces from everyone around him. “What?” He snapped, “You expect me to believe some damn nerd that might end up working on my equipment is half decent just on your word? Yeah right! I’ll go down there myself and see if he’s worth his shit.”
Shitty Hair, at the very least, doesn’t seem to question it at all, just smiles at Katsuki and says, “Great! We can go together then!” Yet another person who sometimes reminded Katsuki of Deku. Damnit. What’s with all these rays of fucking sunshine.
—
Izuku is in a backroom rifling through papers when he hears the door to the lab open and a voice say, “Um, we’re looking for Izuku Midoriya? Uraraka told us he could help with suit upgrade stuff.”
“Oh!” Mei’s voice responds, “Yeah, he’s in the back, just give him a minute!” Then she calls back to him, “Izu~!”
“I heard! I’ll be right out!”
A few seconds more of rifling and Izuku finally finds the paper he needs and rushes back into the main room. “Sorry, I just had to find this one-” He looks up and freezes as he finds himself staring into painfully familiar red eyes. Kacchan?! What is he doing here? Oh gosh it’s been months since I’ve been this close to him, he’s still so attractive! Has he put on more muscle recently? No, Izuku, focus, why is Kacchan here? He doesn’t look angry or shocked or anything, so did he already know I was going to be here before he decided to come? Does that mean he came for me? No, that would be stupid, why would he do that, he probably just needs something. But then why hasn’t he said anything? Oh yeah, that’s right, I was in the middle of saying something! “Um… Sorry, I was just… looking for this, uh, thing.”
That’s when another voice speaks up and Izuku remembers that Kacchan isn’t the only one here, his friend(?) is standing right next to him. “You good, bro?”
Kacchan looks away and it feels like it knocks Izuku out of a trance. Finally looking at Kacchan’s friend he recognizes Eijirou Kirishima, the 1A boy with the hardening quirk. “Oh, yeah, sorry I’m just… a little distracted.” Izuku glances towards Mei to find her not at all paying attention to them. Well that’s good, if she figures out that this is Kacchan she’ll never leave me alone about it. Izuku turns back to Kirishima, “Anyway, what can I help you with?”
“I’m not really sure, honestly. I know I want something new, but I’m not much of a creative, so I’ve got nothing! But Uraraka said that you've already got lots of ideas for us Hero students, so I was hoping that maybe you could help me come up with something!”
“Oh, sure. Here, my notes on you should be towards the back of this journal, just go ahead and flip through and let me know if anything catches your eye!”
"Dang bro, there's a lot of info in here! How do you know so much about our quirks and stuff? Does your quirk let you take in a ton of information at once or something?"
Izuku quickly glances at Kacchan, more out of habit than anything else. "Ah, no, I don't have a quirk, I'm just a big hero nerd, so I've gotten pretty good at noticing stuff like that I guess."
"You're quirkless? That's so manly bro, doing all this without a quirk! Incredible!"
Another glance at Kacchan and Izuku finds him entirely avoiding his gaze. "It's really nothing special, just trying to live life with the hand I was dealt. Thank you though."
“Hey Bakubro, come take a look at this stuff!”
Kacchan lets out a dismissive grunt, but walks over to look at the notebook anyway. Izuku suddenly finds himself feeling very awkward watching the two boys in front of him interacting. It looks like Kacchan really has made friends here…
Then Kirishima is suddenly shifting his focus back over to Izuku, “You got any notes on Bakugou? I know he seems moody, but he did say he was interested in seeing what you’d come up with for him before we got here.”
Izuku hesitates, looking towards Kacchan again. “He… did?”
Kacchan just scowls. “Tch. Fuck off Shitty Hair, I didn’t say shit!”
“Oh, come on Bakubro, don’t be like that!”
“Whatever. Deku, you gonna give me your shitty notebook or what?”
"Oh, yeah, sure."
The hero students continue bickering back and forth while Izuku moves to find his notebook on Kacchan.
“Deku? What kind of a nickname is that?”
“None of your fucking business, that’s what!”
“Seriously man, you can’t go around talking to people like that!”
“I can do whatever the hell I want, I’m Katsuki fucking Bakugou!”
Izuku can’t help but laugh at that, drawing both of the boys' attention to him. “Sorry, it’s just, it’s true. Kacchan’s always been able to get away with anything, it’s one of his many incredible talents.”
Something pained crosses Kacchan’s face, but is gone before Izuku can try to decipher what it might have been.
A loud gasp sounds out across the room and Izuku looks up to find Mei staring wide-eyed at Kacchan. Oh no… I forgot she was here!
“Wait!” Mei declares loudly, “ This is Kacchan?"
Kacchan's head snaps to look at Mei and then back to Izuku, looking shocked. Kirishima on the other hand has a look of confusion written across his face plain as day.
“Kacchan?” Kirishima repeats, slowly.
Kacchan is on him in an instant, fire raging in his red eyes, “Repeat that stupid ass nickname again and you’re dead, hear me?”
“No roughhousing in the lab!” Powerloaders voice suddenly rings out from the entryway. “Honestly, I have enough to deal with with Hastume’s frequent explosions, I don’t need rowdy Hero course students coming in here and making even more of a mess of things.”
“Sorry, Sensei.” Izuku says immediately, but Powerloader just waves him off.
“You’re not the one acting out, Midoriya, you’re fine. You two though, if you can’t behave yourselves I won’t hesitate to kick you out.”
Kirishima straightens up immediately. “Yes sir!”
Kacchan just grumbles, but does let the other boy go.
Then Kirishima turns back to Izuku, “We should probably get going anyway or we’re gonna be late for training, but I’ll be back around sometime soon to let you know what I decide on!”
“Okay, I’ll see you later then!”
“Yeah.” Kacchan says quietly as he moves to follow Kirishima out the door, “I’ll see you later, nerd.”
—
“So…” Shitty Hair says carefully as soon as he and Katsuki are out of the lab. “I won’t say the nickname again, because I have a will to live, but… what the heck was that all about?”
“It’s none of your damn business.”
“I mean sure, but like… you were acting weird the whole time we were in there, man. If there’s something I should know about then I’m all ears. Besides, you know that I would never go talking around behind your back, right? You can trust me, man.”
Katsuki thinks about it for a second, mind still racing to comprehend the fact that Deku goes to UA and that they just managed to have a whole interaction that didn’t end in Katsuki getting pissed. At least, not pissed at Deku. That’s progress right? A year ago there’s no way that coulda happened.
Finally, Katsuki just scowls and says, "We grew up together. The rest of it really is none of your damn business."
—
Later that same day, Izuku is walking with Hitoshi back to the lab to grab a few things before going home for the night and Hitoshi wastes no time in asking, “So what’s wrong?”
Izuku laughs nervously and tries to play it off, despite knowing that the question was probably inevitable. “What are you talking about? Why would anything be wrong?”
“I don’t know, you tell me. You’re the one who’s been acting jumpy all day.”
Sometimes Hitoshi is way too perceptive… Izuku sighs. “So, remember how I mentioned that a couple of Hero students came into the lab the other day and I got permission to work on their suit upgrades?”
“Yeah, you were really excited about it. Did something happen to change that?”
“Ah, well, no, I wouldn’t really say that.”
“Then what did happen?”
“Um, nothing much, honestly, it's just that a couple of their classmates stopped by earlier today asking about the same thing."
"Okay. Isn't that a good thing?"
"No, yeah, totally, it absolutely is! I'm super thankful to have this opportunity!
“But…?"
"But… Well… do you… remember when I told you about Kacchan?"
Hitoshi stops dead in his tracks and his face drops into something even more serious than normal. "He didn't."
"He, uh, kinda did… I mean, he didn't really say much and it seemed more like he was just there tagging along with his friend than anything to do with me, but he did show up and he didn't seem surprised to see me there so I guess he already knew I would be there, which is interesting and the little bit that he did talk he didn't get aggressive towards me or anything and he even said 'I'll see you later' while they were leaving so-"
"Stop. Izuku, just stop."
"... Hitoshi?"
"I just-" He cuts himself off with a sigh. "That asshole said he'd come back?"
"I mean, not in so many words, but he seemed to imply it…"
"Fine. From now on let me know whenever you're going to be at the lab and if I can, I'll be there too."
Izuku pouts at him. "I don't need a guard dog."
"I know that, but we both know that you tend to stop thinking when it comes to your precious 'Kacchan', so I want to be there in case he starts acting like an asshole again and you fall back into old habits."
"Mei's in the lab all the time too, you know, she can always be the one to keep me from being dumb."
"Mei's too excitable to do anything but accidentally make things worse. I'd feel more comfortable if I were there myself to check on things." He pauses for a moment and gives Izuku an honest look. "Unless you really don't want me there."
"No, I do want you there, of course I do, I just… don't go picking unnecessary fights with Kacchan if he does come back, okay?"
"Since when do I pick unnecessary fights?"
"Don't think I never heard about your little stunt before the Sports Festival. Honestly, Hitoshi! Going out of your way to provoke him like that, what were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that he's an asshole and needed to be knocked down a few pegs… and I was hoping that you wouldn't find out about it…"
"I'm serious, Hitoshi, no more picking fights with Kacchan, okay?"
"I won't make the first move, but he tries starting something, I'm not going to let him push anyone around."
Izuku sighs. "Alright, that works I guess. Now let's hurry up, I'm starving!"
—
Katsuki does visit the lab again, a few days later, Shitty Hair in tow. This time there’s someone else in the lab too, meaning Katsuki not only has to deal with psycho engineer girl, but eye bags mind control guy too. To make things worse, all of them have been acting damn weird since they walked in. Deku’s basically ignoring Katsuki’s presence in the room, Eye Bags won’t stop glaring at him, Psycho Engineer is just staring with a manic grin, and even Shitty Hair keeps glancing awkwardly between all of them. This sucks ass…
Katsuki ends up being the first one to speak. “We just want the damn notebooks to see if there's anything worth shit in there.”
“Bakubro…” Shitty Hair quietly chastises beside him.
“Wow, way to be gracious that someone was actually kind enough to offer his help to you,” Mind Control snips back.
“Hitoshi!” Deku scolds softly.
Hitoshi, huh? Guess they’re close. Katsuki scowls. “I don’t need anybody's help, definitely not some damn nerds!”
“Sure. You know, maybe if you were a bit nicer you’d actually be able to keep some of your friends.”
“The fuck did you just say to me?” Katsuki yells, but before he can so much as take a step forward, Deku is in between him and Eye Bags yelling,
“Hitoshi!” Katsuki is shocked to hear Deku’s voice sounding angry. It’s not an emotion he’s ever associated with the boy, but looking at him now Katsuki is suddenly struck with the realization that this is far from the Deku he’d known a few months ago. This Deku apparently isn’t afraid to get up into peoples faces and glare them down. “You promised me you wouldn’t start shit.” This Deku apparently isn’t afraid to curse.
“Seriously, Izuku? He-”
“This isn’t about him! You’re the one who promised me!”
“He’s a dick.”
“So are you sometimes. Get yourself together or I will ask that you leave.”
After a few seconds of tense silence Eye Bags huffs out some response that Katsuki can’t hear, but seems to placate Deku well enough, leading him to immediately whip around to glare at Katsuki who can’t help but stare in awe at the fire he finds raging in those green eyes.
“Don’t think you’re fully off the hook either Kacchan, if you go around picking fights all the time I’ll kick you out too.”
Katsuki is too stunned to respond, and is saved from having to by Psycho Engineer, who lets out a loud laugh from the other side of the room.
“Wow, Izu! You know you're kinda hot when you get all intense like that!”
Katsuki finds himself silently agreeing with her before catching himself and shaking his head. No, no way, don’t even go there, that’s a bad road to go down! Ignoring Deku’s stuttering in response to Psycho Engineer’s compliments, Katsuki grabs the notebooks Deku had been about to hand over and starts flipping through his while silently handing the other one to Shitty Hair.
—
It takes a few minutes, but eventually the tense atmosphere of the room calms down as everyone present slowly picks back up the things they are here to do. After a little bit Hitoshi walks over to Izuku, silent at first before sighing. “You’re right. I was an ass. Sorry.”
Izuku laughs dryly. “I’m sensing a trend in myself. I only ever seem to be attracted to assholes.”
“You coming onto me right now?”
That gets a real laugh out of Izuku as he playfully punches Hitoshi’s shoulder. “Shut up! You know that's not what I meant!”
Hitoshi smiles at him. “Yeah, I know… You do mean it that way about him though, don’t you?”
The way he says it, it’s not a question, it’s a statement. Izuku worries at his lip, refusing to look Hitoshi in the eye. “Am I an idiot?”
“Are you really not worried about him hanging around you again? What if the same stuff from when you guys were in middle school starts up again?”
It’s a very Hitoshi way to respond to the question. I’m worried about you , it means, but you know him better than I do, so if you think it’s different now, then I’ll follow your lead.
Izuku takes a moment to glance over to the two hero students, Kirishima flipping through Izuku’s notes on him and loudly talking to Kacchan who barely does more than grunt in return while quietly flipping through his own notebook. “I don’t know how to describe it, but he seems… different. I mean, he’s still Kacchan, he clearly still has a temper, and yet somehow he’s… calmer? I’m not really sure where he and I stand anymore, something’s shifted, I just can’t really tell what. And based on how he’s been acting around here I wonder if…”
“If what?”
Izuku looks up at Hitoshi. “If maybe he doesn’t really know how to interact with me anymore either.”
“Hey nerd!” Kacchan’s gruff voice interrupts Izuku and Hitoshi’s conversation.
“Yes, Kacchan?”
“Come walk me through this version of my gauntlets you’re talking about here. I can’t read your shitty handwriting.”
“I really want to punch him.” Hitoshi says plainly as Izuku starts to walk away.
“Please don’t.” Izuku throws back at him
“You’re handwriting’s not actually that bad Midoribro,” Kirishima tells him, “Just ignore him.”
Izuku laughs at that. “I know, I’m more than familiar with Kacchan’s way of talking by now.”
“Fuck off, all of ya! Just get over here and tell what the fuck you were trying to say here!”
“Oh, that one?” Izuku leans over Kacchan a bit to get a better look at the design the other boy is looking at, but when Kacchan tenses at their closeness Izuku loses his nerve and leans away again. “It’s more or less the same set up as your current gauntlets, the only thing I really changed for that one was a few of the smaller stuff in its design. Your current gauntlets were made with an honestly surface level understanding of how Nitroglycerin functions as an element, so I’ve actually been doing a lot of research into it recently and just threw together a little design tweaking the old to be a bit more efficient. You probably wouldn't notice too much of a difference between this design and your current one until you got into a position where you need to go all out. If my math is all correct, then in theory this version would give you just a little bit more fire power with little to no increase on the strain you put on your arms.”
Kacchan hums a little note. “Not bad…”
Izuku beams at him. “Thanks Kacchan!”
The other boy grunts out a short response and seems to ponder the page for a moment more before abruptly standing up, declaring, “Gotta piss,” and walking out the door.
Izuku stares after him for a moment until Kirishima speaks up. “Sorry about him, he can get kinda weird sometimes.”
Izuku lets out a breathy little laugh. “Don’t I know it.” A moment of silence falls between the two boys before Deku decides to take the moment of Kacchan’s absence to turn to the boy next to him. "Kirishima?"
"Yeah, what's up?"
"I just… well, I guess I wanted to thank you for being Kacchan's friend. I know he can be a bit… much, at times and it just always looked to me like he was kind of lonely growing up, especially in middle school. Don't get me wrong, he was popular, everybody practically worshiped him, but that was part of the issue, I think. He got put up on a pedestal so much that he never really had any proper peers, never really had any friends. So it's really nice to see you two getting along so well, I can really tell he's changed and I think that's probably thanks to you."
"Aw, you're gonna make me cry, that was so sweet bro!" Kirishima mimes wiping away a stray tear. “Actually, I was wondering something.”
“Hm? What’s up?”
“You and Bakubro, what’s the deal there? I tried asking him about it, but he just said you guys grew up together and then nearly bit my head off for being curious at all.”
“Ah, yeah, that sounds like Kacchan. He’s never been the most… open person.”
“Tell me about it! Trying to get him to open up about anything is like pulling teeth!”
“I’m pretty sure he’d prefer that, honestly. But anyway, Kacchan and I… well, it’s kinda complicated and honestly I would rather you hear it from him.”
“Man, that serious, huh?”
“It was… rough for a while there, yeah.”
“The fuck are you losers talking about?” Kacchan’s voice rings out across the room as he re-enters the room and Izuku jumps away from Kirishima.
“Nothing!”
“Tch, yeah right.”
“Don’t worry about it, bro! We were just chatting about some of these designs.” If Izuku hadn’t just been part of their conversation he would have believed Kirishima wholeheartedly. “Speaking of which, I really like the look of this Midoribro, think you can make it happen?”
“Y-yeah, that should be doable. Just give me a minute to grab some paper and we can start talking specifics!”
—
"So." Shitty Hair starts quietly as they walk away from the lab later that day. "I know I said I wouldn't push or anything, but seriously, you're both so weird about each other, what happened between you two?"
"You think he's weird about me?"
"Yes! And that's exactly the kind of stuff I'm talking about! Since when do you care what people think about you or how they act around you?"
"Fuck off! I dont care! Leave me alone!"
"Look, bro, he mentioned some stuff today when you were out and-"
"Wait, what? What the hell did that damned nerd say to you?"
“Calm down, it was actually pretty sweet. He was saying something about how you used to be lonely, but now you have friends and you're nicer or something."
"Nicer…"
"Yeah. It just seemed weird to me cause most people don't describe you as nice. I mean, I think you're nice, but someone's gotta look real deep to see that I think. You guys must've been really close for him to clock that."
Katsuki sighs at that. "Either real close or I was just that much of a shit back then…"
"Oh come on man, you may be a lot to handle at times, but you're not that bad!"
Katsuki's eyes squeeze shut as he feels them burning. Fuck no, I'm not gonna cry over this shit! Not here, not now, not ever!
"So?" Shitty Hair speaks up again, "You wanna talk about what went down"
"Fuck no." But Katsuki's voice cracks as he says it, and he knows that Shitty Hair won't leave him alone now that Katsuki's clearly that emotional over it. So he just sighs and says, "Fine…"
"Bro…?"
"Deku and I grew up together, used to talk about being a Hero team, the Wonder Duo or something. But then he never got a quirk. And I did. And I don't know, maybe it was all the shit people were constantly saying to me or maybe it was just misplaced frustration or something, but I got pissed. At everything, all the time, and I just learned to deal with everything through anger and beating it up and that's exactly what I did to him. I lashed out and I beat the shit out of him and none of it was okay, but it's what happened and I didnt think I'd see him again after middle school, but now-" Katsuki takes a shaky breath in and lets it out. "Now he's here and I don't feel that anger around him anymore. Somethings changed, things are better I guess, and I know I need to bring all that past shit back up because he deserves an apology, but I've got no fucking clue where to even start with that shit! Especially when I cant ever seem to get him alone, cause I'm sure as fuck not sayin it with anyone else present!"
Shitty Hair is quiet for a moment, letting it all sink in before saying, “Well, if you ask me, just wanting to apologize is a good step in the right direction. Plus, he doesn’t really seem to hold a grudge against you anyway. I mean, he yelled at that Shinsou kid for arguing with you and when he was talking to me about you he seemed to really care.”
“Care?”
“Yeah. Honestly before you just dumped all that on me I thought that your big thing with him had to do with some bad middle school breakup or something.”
“Breakup! As if I’d ever wanna date that damned nerd!” But Katsuki could feel his cheeks heating up at the implication and based on Shitty Hair’s shit eating grin he knew that the other boy noticed.
“Not that I blame you for wanting a piece of that.” Shitty Hair teased, “I mean really, did you see those thighs?”
Before Katsuki can catch himself he finds his mouth blurting out, “I know right!” He feels himself flushing darker with embarrassment. “I mean, it’s just that the loser was tiny back in middle school, not a hint of muscle anywhere on him and now suddenly he’s out here looking like a damn bodybuilder!”
“So that’s your type, huh? Short, cute, and buff?”
“Fuck off, it aint like that!”
“Yeah, right. Maybe it wasn’t back then, but the way you’ve both been looking at each other the past few days…”
Katsuki just turns and starts stalking back off towards the classroom without responding, but in the back of his mind he registers his heart racing at Shitty Hair’s words. Both. The way we've both been looking at each other. Deku’s been looking at me too?
—
It's been a few weeks of Hero students from Kacchan’s class gradually coming by to ask Izuku and the proper Support department of UA to help with costume design upgrades. Most of them come by once or twice to discuss the specifics and leave the people in the lab to their work. Kacchan and Kirishima, however, keep finding various reasons to stop by and their near constant presence means that Hitoshi has taken to rarely leaving Izuku’s side as well. That combined with Mei’s tendency to spend all of her time in the lab already means that, from Izuku’s point of view, he has been surrounded by friends nearly all day every day for the past few weeks. Which makes today feel extra strange, as suddenly Izuku finds that lunch time rolls around with only him and Kacchan in the lab.
“Where the fuck are all the extras?” Kacchan asks gruffly as he takes in the mostly empty room.
“Ah, well Mei is taking the support item safety exam again, Powerloader is supervising that, and Hitoshi was actually called away by Mr. Aizawa a while ago.”
“Aizawa, huh?”
“Yeah, I think it has to do with him wanting to transfer into the Hero course.”
Kacchan just grunts in response and sits down at one of the tables in the room.
“So…” Izuku continues, awkwardly. “Why didn’t Kirishima come with you today?”
“Cause I didn’t fuckin want him to. Those losers were giving me a headache, I didn’t wanna put up with it during lunch.”
“Oh, did you want to be alone?”
“If I wanted to be alone I wouldn't have come here.”
Izuku feels stunned at the comment. He wanted to see me? No, wait, snap out of it Izuku, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything, he didn’t know that no one else was here, he just wanted to get away from his friends, that's all… but that still means that at least on some level he finds me preferable to his friends… right?
"So…” Kacchan starts slowly, “You managed to get into UA.”
Izuku is so shocked by the sudden change in topics that he lets out a short laugh. "Yeah, I figured it couldn't hurt to try. At first I was pretty bummed about only making it into the General Studies course, but my mom was so excited that I managed to get in at all, so…” He shrugs, “Here I am."
"I had no idea you went here till Round Face came walkin into class one day blabbing on about you."
"You mean Uraraka? I did notice you weren't surprised to see me that first day, I thought she might have been the one to tell you… so, are you two close?” Izuku asks hesitantly.
"Me and Round Face? Fuck no. I mean, she's alright I guess. Certainly league's betters than most of the other extras in my class."
"I should have known that fight she put up in the Sports Festival would have earned your respect. It was a good round, definitely one of my favorite matchups!"
"Tch, too bad everyone else didn't see it that way."
"True, but since when do you care about the opinions of others?"
"I don't!"
"Exactly! Anyway, if she's not one of your friends, then who do you hang out with? I already know about Kirishima, obviously, but who else?"
"Shitty Hair's got a squad of losers that tend to hang around most of the time."
"Oh? Like who?"
"Ears, Elbows, Pikachu, and Raccoon Eyes mostly."
"Hm, let's see. That would be Kacchan talk for… Kyoka Jirou, Hanta Sero, Denki Kaminari, and… um…"
"Mina Ashido.” Katsuki mutters.
"Ah, that's right, that makes sense! So that 's who you're friends with, huh? They seem like fun!"
"Those losers aren't my friends, they’re annoying little shits is what they are."
"Sure thing, Kacchan. Well at the very least Kirishima seems really nice. I'd love to meet the rest of them sometime!"
"Keep up the good work in this lab and I'm sure you'll get plenty of business out of the lot of them soon enough."
"Good work, huh?"
"Yeah… you've really got a knack for all this support item stuff."
Deku beams at him. "You really think so? I wasn't so sure about all of it when I first got here, but then I befriended Hitoshi and he was telling me about his dream to move to the Hero course someday and it really inspired me!"
"Eyebags, huh… you two seem close." Izuku’s heart races at the question, at the implication that Kacchan cares who he’s close to.
"We are. I kinda didn't leave him alone for, like, the whole first week of school because I thought his quirk was super cool and I guess somewhere in there I won him over or something because the next thing I knew he was offering to study and train and stuff with me-"
"So you do train, then? I noticed you'd bulked up, was wondering what that was about."
Deku flushes at that, "Well, it's just, I realized that I wasn't going to stand a chance at all on the entrance exam if I did nothing to prepare, so I spent most of the break at the gym. Not that it helped much, I still did horrible on the physical part of the exam, but I actually really like feeling a bit stronger, it makes me feel like I can handle more, I guess, so I just kept it up."
"And now you train with Eyebags?"
"Yep!"
Kacchan is silent for a moment, glaring daggers into the table before he suddenly asks, “You dating?”
Izuku’s heart stutters in his chest. “D-dating?”
“You and Eyebags. You said you’re close.”
“Wait, you think I’m dating Hitoshi?”
“Well I just fuckin asked that, didnt I!?”
“We’re not- I wouldn’t-, I mean not that I don’t find him attractive or anything, but- it’s just that- he’s not really my type.”
Kacchan huffs quietly. “What, not a fan of guys?”
It feels like a trick question somehow, like there’s something else to Kacchan asking that and Izuku just can’t figure it out. “Well…” Izuku mutters hesitantly, “I wouldn’t say that, necessarily…”
Kacchan finally looks up from the table and locks eyes with Izuku, the blazing intensity of his stare knocking the air right out of Izuku’s lungs.
“Are… are you dating anyone?” Izuku asks a little breathlessly.
“No.” Kacchan’s voice sounds a little coarse.
The two stare at each other for a few more seconds before Izuku squeaks out a soft, “Okay,” and forfeits their staring contest to go find the homework he had been working on before Kacchan showed up. “Well, I was just going to work on some classwork, so…”
“Yeah, sure, go for it. I’ll just… eat my lunch…”
—
He's single. He's into guys. So maybe I stand a fucking chance after all… If I could just work up the damn courage ask him out… Those are the only thoughts running on repeat through Katsuki's head as him and Deku sit through the remainder of lunch in silence. Katsuki would describe the silence as comfortable if it weren't for the fact that he's pretty sure his heart is gonna beat right out of his chest as he tries to talk himself into asking Deku to go on a date with him. This is bullshit. Bullshit! I've faced down actual real life villains for fucks sake, I barely batted a damn eye during the USJ incident, but now I cant ask one damn nerd out on one fucking date! Bullshit! I just gotta go at it from the right angle, something like… Hey nerd- no no no, do not call him nerd while asking him out, that's shit. Fuck, but calling him Deku right now would also be kinda shit… fine, alright, fuck it.
“Izuku” The use of his real name has Deku sitting up straight and looking immediately flustered.
"Kacchan?" He practically squeaks.
Good, I got his attention without insulting him, now to just say the damn words and fucking ask him. “I-”
A bell sounds throughout the room and Deku is out of his seat in an instant. “Oh gosh, I’m going to be late for class! I need to go! Oh gosh, where did my backpack go? There it is! Sorry Kacchan! Wait, you were talking, weren’t you? What was it that you were saying?”
But Katsuki’s nerve is already waning, and he can’t seem to force himself to form the words he actually wants to speak. He tries to take a few seconds to work the nerve back up, but Deku is standing in front of him, fidgeting and antsy to rush off to his classroom, so Katsuki just does his best to scowl and brings a hand up to scratch at the back of his head. “I was just gonna ask if you’d wanna train together sometime. Not that it’d be that helpful for me or anything, but I’m curious how well a loser nerd like you could actually keep up. That’s all.”
Deku beams at him and Katsuki can feel his heart unwittingly stutter over it. “That sounds great Kacchan, I’d love to! You’re about to have midterms though, right?”
“Yeah, I’ll be pretty busy till after summer actually. They’re shipping us off to a training camp for the break.”
“Oh, that should be fun! I guess we won’t be able to do anything until after that then…”
“Probably.”
“Well, that’s fine! Good luck on your midterms Kacchan! And I expect to hear all about the training camp when you get back, okay? You can tell me about it over training.”
“Sure thing nerd, see you then.”
Deku flashes him one last heart-stopping smile and rushes out of the room, Katsuki following much slower as he starts his own trek back to 1A's classroom. He's not even in the door two seconds before the self proclaimed "Bakusquad" are hounding his ass with Shitty Hair at the forefront.
"Bakubro! Where were you?"
"I said I didnt wanna eat lunch with you losers, that's where I was."
"Oh come on man," Pikachu practically whines, "Usually that means you'd be in the classroom the whole time, but you were the last one back here!"
"Yeah, where'd you run off to?" Ears asks.
"I bet he was visiting his boyfriend~"
"Shitty Hair!"
Raccoon Eyes squeals, "Wait, Bakugo has a boyfriend?"
"No, I don't!"
"Ah come on man, there's no need to be embarrassed!"
"I already told you, ya damn nuisance, it ain't like that!"
"Wait, I'm confused, who are we talking about?" Pikachu asks.
"The guy Bakubro's been crushing on since childhood."
"I swear Shitty Hair, if you keep runnin your mouth like that you're gonna lose it!"
"Alright, alright, I'll shut up!"
"Damn right you will."
"Hang on, I wanna know more!"
"And I want to start class," Thank fuck Mr. Aizawa chooses that moment to walk into the room and unknowingly save Katsuki's ass, "So everyone get in your seats."
—
It once again doesn't take Hitoshi long after getting back to the classroom to notice something is off about Izuku, so by the time they get out of class Izuku has fully prepared himself to answer the inevitable questions.
"Did Bakugo ask you out?"
Or so he thought. Izuku squeaks loudly in surprise at the blunt question and can already feel his cheeks heating up as he starts to frantically wave his arms around and stutter. "What- I don't- that's not-"
"I'm not hearing a no."
"That isn't what happened!"
Hitoshi raises an eyebrow at that. "But something did happen though? Did you ask him out?"
"No!"
"If nothing happened, then why have you been all blushy and smiley since we got back from lunch?"
"No, wait, I didn't mean- I mean no as in I didn't… I didn't…" Jeeze, I cant even bring myself to say the words . Izuku sighs. "No one else was in there. Hatsume and Powerloader left so she could take her exam and it just so happened that no one else was in there."
"Right, I knew that already, I guess I just figured that one of you would have the balls to make a move once you were finally alone."
Izuku finds himself getting flustered all over again as he states in disbelief at his friend. "Wait, you knew we would be alone?"
Hitoshi just shrugs. "So, what happened then?"
"I… I mean, not much honestly. We talked a bit, it was nice. He was curious about me going here, I asked him about his friends, he asked about you-"
"Me?"
"Yeah, he, uh… he asked if, uh… ya know, if you and I…"
Hitoshi seems to take in Izuku's embarrassed features, put together the rest of that sentence and promptly starts howling with laughter. "Wait, wait, wait, you're telling me that asshole was jealous? Of me? Holy shit, he really thought I'm, what, competition or something?" Hitoshi keeps cracking up and Izuku's embarrassment only grows.
"It wasn't jealousy! It was- I don't know, curiosity! He just asked if we were dating is all! So I told him we aren't and that was that!"
Hitoshi, still recovering from his laughing fit, gives Izuku a look that says, you're a dumbass . "Izu, are you seriously going to look me in the face and tell me that a guy, who has been making up every excuse under the sun to come and see you for nearly a month now, asked you if you were single for absolutely no reason at all?"
"I…. I don't know, its just…" Izuku sighs and looks away. "I don't want to get my hopes up only for it to be nothing to him. I don't know if I could handle that."
Hitoshi stares at him intensely for a moment, expression undecipherable, before he nods sagely and says, "As someone who's had to put up with both of your pining asses for a month know, I say take the leap. Besides, if he does end up being an ass who breaks your heart, I'll gladly use my quirk to humiliate him for you."
Izuku doesnt know if he should blush at the implication that Hitoshi thinks Kacchan likes him back or scold him for threatening to use his quirk in a very not heroic way. In the end he settles on laughing and grabbing Hitoshi's arm to drag him through the halls faster, "Come on, you weirdo, I wanna stop by the store on the way home and you're coming with me!"
—
The hero class's training camp doesn't go as anyone planned. The League of Villains attack, Katsuki gets taken, and though he's rescued quickly the consequences of his kidnapping run deep through everyone around him. Long after all of it went down, he finally gets to go back home, but he's barely there for five minutes before he's yelling to his parents that he's gonna run over to the Midoriya's for a bit.
It takes him no time at all to reach the Midoriya's door and for it to open to reveal small, comfortable, Inko Midoriya, looking so much like her son that Katsuki has to fight the urge to pull her into a hug. "Oh! Katsuki, dear, what are you doing here? We were following what was happening on the news, we were so-"
"Mom." Deku's soft voice cut in from behind her, "Can you finish up dinner? I think Kacchan and I are gonna hang out in my room for a bit."
Looking at Deku now, the boy looked just about as wrecked as Katsuki felt. Part of him wanted to wrap Deku up in a hug and tell him everything. Part of him wanted to cry. Part of him wanted to scream. Part of him wanted to punch something. Instead, Katsuki found himself silently stepping into the Midoriya household and following Deku through the familiar halls to his bedroom.
The moment the door closed behind him, Deku's breaths were hiccuping with barely contained sobs. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I know you hate it when I cry it's just-"
His voice cracks and Katsuki doesn't even think twice before finally wrapping his arms around Deku and clutching tightly to him. Sobs wrack Dekus body as Katsuki finally allows silent tears to fall from his cheek onto Dekus hair.
"I was so scared!" Deku finally gets out between tears. "They told us you'd been kidnapped and I was just so terrified and angry because I couldn't do anything! My mom and I, we went with your parents down to the police station, I tried to get them to let me help, I talked to some of your friends and they wanted to help too, but no one would let us do anything! I felt so useless!"
"Shut up! You're not useless!"
"What?"
Now that he's started, Katsuki finds that he can't stop, the words just keep spilling out of him. "I never shoulda said that shit to you. I never shoulda done any of what I did to you growing up. I was an ass and I was wrong and I think part of me knew it was all bullshit even then, but I was working through my own shit and that's not supposed to be an excuse but it is what it is."
"Kacchan, where is this coming from? You've just been through a lot, you don't have to-"
"Yes, I do." Katsuki's voice cracks and he bites down hard on his lip before continuing. "Those damn villains grabbed me because they thought I'd make a good villain and… and lookin at the shit I used to say and do to you, I don't blame them for thinkin that. So I'm sorry, Izuku. I'm so sorry."
"Kacchan, you're not a villain and I never held a grudge against you for that stuff. Yeah, you were kind of awful, but even during the worst of it I never once thought you could be anything other than an absolutely amazing hero!"
"I know. Even when you shoulda hated me, I know you never did, cause you're just a forgiving dumbass like that."
"Hey, some would say that's a positive trait!"
"It's good to see you, nerd." It came out a lot softer than Katsuki had meant to say it and he could see on Deku's face that he'd noticed that softness too. His green eyes widening in shock before settling into an expression so fond that Katsuki's convinced he feels physical pain over it.
"I'm glad you're back, Kacchan."
—
After that, the students get moved into the dorms and the new semester starts, to much excitement from everyone, Izuku in particular. He finally gets word that he will be permitted to attempt to test into the Support course closer to the end of the semester, to then be put into effect the following year, but in the meantime he needs to design a prototype support item to be theoretically used by a current pro Hero. The item cant be too similar to items that the hero already actively uses or has used in the past and he cant constul the hero themself, any information used needed to be gathered and researched on his own.
Izuku was excited, it was all he could think about. He spent the first few weeks of the new semester frantically coming up with different ideas for different pro Heroes and hurriedly finding as much information on all of their quirks as he possible could. All the while, Kacchan continued stopping by the lab for lunch two or three times a week and listening to Izuku ramble about his studies, even throwing out his own thoughts from time to time.
In the end, Izuku decides on refining a support item he had designed a while back for a pro Hero with a quirk similar to Kacchans, only his explosions weren't based on nitroglycerin sweat and were instead a bit more akin to pyrokinesis. The only issue with this choice is that Izuku rather immediately found himself stuck on one small technical issue that he just couldn't figure out how to fix.
That is until one Saturday morning when he has a eureka moment and rushes off to the first years Hero class dorm building, bursting in without a second though
Four faces blink up at him from their seats in the living room, he easily recognizes them as Ururaka, Iida, Tsuyu, and Todoroki.
"Midoriya?" Iida speaks up first. "What are you doing over here?"
"Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to barge in like that, I guess I just got a little too excited and got carried away. Um, would any of you happen to know where Kacchan is?"
Ururaka tilts her head at him. "Kacchan?"
"They don't know that dumbass nickname, nerd." The boy in question chastises as Deku looks up to find him walking out of the kitchen.
"Kacchan!"
"Yeah, yeah, what the fuck do you want, I'm busy."
"I think I finally figured out what was holding me up on my project!"
"Oh shit, really?"
Izuku nods excitedly as he rushes over to a nearby table to lay down all of his things and start pointing out the new stuff to Kacchan.
"Holy fuck. You really did it."
"Well, that's only the first step, now I have to figure out the rest. I figured, since we have the day off today, that I could hang out here and you could help me talk through some of it?"
Kacchan seems to study him for a moment and Izuku can feel himself getting nervous. He'd been so caught up in the excitement of figuring something out that he hadn't even considered that maybe Kacchan didn't want to hang out with him on his day off.
"You wouldn't rather do this with that engineering chick?"
"Mei? I mean, she's great and all, but she tends to get distracted with her own stuff, so theres only so far that can go. Besides, I... wanted to hang out with you..."
Kacchan grunts out a dismissive sound, but Izuku can see where his ears are flushed red. "Fine. You go ahead and get started, I'm halfway through makin breakfast, I'll join you when I'm done."
Izuku beams at that. "Kacchan's cooking? Can I have some?"
"Yeah, whatever, theres plenty to go around, so you might as well I guess."
"Yay! Kacchan's cooking is the best!"
"Damn straight it is! Now get to work!"
"Yessir!"
—
Having Deku over at the Hero class dorms all day is simultaneously a blessing and a curse for Katsuki. On the one hand, he gets to hang out with Deku all day, which is a win no matter what, but at the same time, them being in the common space means that the whole damn class feels the need to be butting in throughout the day. First it was fucking Round Face, Four Eyes, Icyhot, and Frog girl getting all up in their business, then it was the damn "Bakusquad" who somehow, blessedly, managed to not spout some embarrassing ass shit about Deku being the guy Katsuki's crushing on, but do still annoyingly stick around basically all day, and other than that basically the whole fucking class comes down at one point or another to either meet the damn nerd or say hi and hang out cause they've already met him through his work in the lab.
Despite Katsuki's very local grumblings about their constant interruptions, Deku seems to thrive off of the attention and interaction, his face absolutely lighting up anytime any of those losers came over to talk until Katsuki could get him back on topic again. That being said, one potential upside to the constant interruptions is that with new people continually deciding to sit down at their table with them, Katsuki has the perfect excuse to sit right up next to the damn nerd. They were so close that at times they would bump arms as they both reached for the same pencil or one of them would shift in their seat and their legs would bump under the table. Each small, accidental touch would be the primary thing occupying Katauki's mind until the next. It was driving him mad. He couldn't get enough.
Another downside to whole encounter though, is that Katsuki still cant seem to work up the guts to ask the damn nerd out. Each time they would have a few glorious minutes with no interruptions Katsuki would try his damndest to get the words out, but each time just when it felt like he was on the verge of finally doing it, someone new would walk in and his opportunity would be gone.
So, after the fifth time of that happening, Katsuki made a promise to himself. By the time Deku goes home, I'm gonna have damn well asked him on a date.
—
After a full day of working on the project they come away with something mostly completed and Izuku is absolutely ecstatic as he leaves. Kacchan walks him to the door and as he's about to leave suddenly calls out to him.
"Izuku!"
Izuku can feel himself blush at the use of his real name. "Yes, Kacchan?"
"Would you, ah... I was just thinking that... maybe... you'd wanna get lunch together sometime or something..."
Izuku's heart rate skyrockets and he lets out a nervous laugh as he tries desperately to convince himself that there's no way Kacchan means it like *that*. "Lunch, Kacchan? We eat lunch together all the time."
"I don't mean... I'm trying to... fuck! I meant like a date! Would you wanna, ya know... go with me... on a date... or whatever."
"A... date?" Izuku could swear his ears had started ringing, his brain full of cotton balls, heart utterly stopped in his chest. Katsuki Bakugou. Had just asked him out. On a date. Had he heard that right?
"Well?" Kacchan snapped, clearly embarrassed and annoyed at how long Izuku was taking to answer, but Izuku couldn't help it, he couldn't think, he couldn't breathe, it was all he could do to stand there and stare at Kacchan. Who had just asked him out. On a date. And was now starting mutter, "Fuck it, forget I asked," and walk away. That kick starts Izuku's heart again and he finds himself rushing forward to grab the back of Kacchan's shirt.
"Wait! I didn't-, sorry I just-, oh goodness this is a lot to take in and I need a moment for my brain to start functioning again."
"What the hell? Let go of me!"
"You didn't let me answer!"
"You were taking too damn long! If you gotta think about it that much then nevermind!"
"I wasn't thinking at all, that was the problem! You said it and my mind just went blank and I started to panic because in what world does Katsuki Bakugou actually like me back?"
"In this world, dumbass!"
Izuku falls silent again and stares at Kacchan, whose ears are slightly flushed in embarrassment, but who's eyes tell nothing but the truth.
"You like me?"
"No shit, Sherlock, we just established that!" Kacchan snaps, then adds quieter, "You... like me?"
"Yeah... yeah I do."
"Then why the hell haven't you said yes yet?"
"Oh! Yes!"
"That's it?"
"Um, yes? What else did you want me to say?"
"Tch, nevermind. Mark your calendar, I'm taking you out next Saturday!"
"Okay! Have a goodnight, Kacchan!"
"Night, nerd."
—
Months later, Izuku has long since submitted his application for transfering to the Support course and he and Katsuki have been dating since that night and there once again comes a night when Izuku suddenly bursts into Class 1As dorm building. This time, Katsuki is on the couch and looks up as his boyfriend enters the room, absolutely beaming and holding up a letter from the school.
Katsuki doesn't even need to read the letter to know what it says. "You got in."
Somehow Izuku's smile manages to get even brighter, "I got in!"