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This was stupid.
This was so stupid.
Bakugou stood before the front door of an apartment he hadn’t seen up close in years. There was music thumping from the other side and a chorus of screaming from the inside. How people his age did things like this regularly for fun would never make sense to him. He didn’t even want to be there now, much less regularly.
So why was he here?
Because the shitty nerd was here, and he wasn’t going to chicken out. Not again. He promised himself that he would be the number one hero once he graduated, and he would be.
You can’t be the number one hero if you can’t even admit to what you did wrong when you were a shitty kid.
He had grown a lot since middle school. UA may be a psychotic school, but even he can admit that it whips people into shape. After just his first year he had grown astronomically. He’s not perfect (some of the time, he’s a big enough man to admit that) but he hasn’t been the little bitch that would do and say unforgivable things to people out of some misplaced superiority complex in a long time. Not since the kidnapping.
His first year in high school he was kidnapped by the League of Villains. He was fine, his friends (and him admitting that is already showing years of growth) showed up and everything worked out. But there was a period of time, when it seemed like UA was giving up, and he was so sure that none of the extras would even want to look for him (they’re probably too busy throwing a party now that the biggest threat to their hero ranks is gone he had thought) where he wasn’t quite as sure that everything would end up well.
This is when he made his promise to himself. Before he graduated, before he could be the hero he was meant to be, he would resolve any and all regrets he had.
And his biggest regret was somewhere behind this door.
For a long time he didn’t think he would see or hear from De- Izuku again. Katsuki went to UA (obviously) and Izuku went to Shiketsu as a part of their Gen Ed program. Bakugou never reached out, and neither did Deku.
Why would he reach out to the person that he purposely chose a different school (over his dream school) in order to avoid? He wouldn’t. And honestly, he probably wouldn’t think Bakugou would want him to in the first place.
The last time Bakugou had interacted with Midoriya it had been after he had attempted to save him from the sludge villain, and Bakugou had been less than thankful. Midoriya had probably been (rightfully) hurt by the encounter and proceeded to avoid him for the rest of the school year. He wished he had paid more attention at the time. He’s since tried for hours to think back to what Midoriya had looked like during that time when they weren’t speaking, but Izuku wasn’t the only one doing some avoiding. Bakugou, looking back, can recognize that he was being cowardly then too. He avoided Midoriya like the plague until school ended. He had been embarrassed and angry (what kind of low life needed help from a stupid Deku?), but even more than that, he had been ashamed. That was a new feeling for him. He wished he could blame that on the villain too, but it wasn’t the sludge villain that caused that feeling. It was himself. Himself and the wrong (villainous) words he had spit at Izuku earlier that afternoon.
Just pray you’ll be born with a quirk in your next life, then take a swan dive off a roof!
Who said shit like that? And where would he have been if Midoriya had listened? Likely dead. Dead and in hell before he could even realize the shitty repercussions his bullshit words would have had.
It may have taken three years, but it’s time that he finally acknowledges how wrong that was. How wrong he was for most of his life.
He had wanted to apologize to Izuku since the kidnapping, but now was his chance. For a long time he had no clue how to even find where Midoriya ended up, much less how to contact him and convince him to hear Katsuki out. Bakugou wished he could say that he found Midoriya of his own merit, that his investigative training had been to thank, but really it was dumb luck.
Dumb luck in the form of his best friend, Kirishima.
~
A week ago Bakugou and Kirishima had been in the dorm's kitchen, eating lunch in peaceful silence when suddenly Kirishima’s phone went off. He grabbed it and flipped it over, only to burst out in a huge grin and immediately start typing at a supersonic rate.
“What the hell are you on, shitty hair?” He may have grown, but he was still Bakugou.
He kept typing for a minute, grinning like a loon, before replying “oh, you remember that guy I ran into at the store over break? The one from the news story? Well he and I have been keeping in touch a bit and he invited us to a party this weekend! You’ll come right?” he looked up at Bakugou hopefully.
About a month ago Kirishima had apparently bumped into some kid that was featured in a minor news story a few years back. Normally no one would remember someone from a small story that long ago, but this kid was apparently the reason Kirishima decided he wanted to be a hero, so it had made a large impression on him. And, being the friendly gremlin that he is, he struck up a conversation with him and they exchanged contact information. Bakugou knew they had kept in contact a bit (it’s hard not to know things like that when you’re best friends with such a loud mouth) but he hadn’t realized they were close enough to start hanging out.
He didn’t want to think about why that felt a little threatening to him.
“Why would I want to go to some shitty bastard’s party? I don’t even like hanging out with all these extras, much less the extras of my extras”
“Okay, I don’t think you realize how oddly swee that was.”
“Wha-!” He was cut off.
“But c’mon man! He said I could bring some friends. We could all go so you’ll know some people! And I think you’d like him in your weird Bakugou way! He’s super sweet, but weirdly headstrong and stubborn. You guys are actually pretty similar now that I think about it!” Bakugou didn’t like the feeling in his stomach that arose.
“Don’t compare me and some no name!”
“C’mon man! You know what I meant. And instead of coming up with a bunch of names you could always just ask me what to call him.is name’s Midoriya in case you were wondering.” Kirishima huffed.
His name’s Midoriya.
His name’s Midoriya.
“Hey man are you okay? You got kind of pale?”
No. Bakugou did not, in fact, think he was alright.
~
From there it had been pretty simple. Explain to Kirishima, as vaguely as possible, why he was in so much shock. And, more importantly, why he should give the party address to Katsuki, but let him go alone.
It had taken a while, but eventually Kirishima seemed to pick up on how important this was to Bakugou and relented. He would be showing up to the party eventually, it would be too rude not to after asking for the address, but he would let Bakugou go alone first and (try to) have his moment.
Turns out that he didn’t even need the address in the first place. Midoriya had never moved. He didn’t know why that surprised him as much as it did.
It was time. He had been staring at the front door for a long time. Too long. One of the neighbors kept peeking out their window to see if he was still there, and now he was pulling out a cell phone. Probably best to go in before some stupid cops come and force him out.
He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. The sound of laughter grew louder and then the door was moving as it was pulled open.
What the hell?
The person in front of him was Izuku. It had to be. But it wasn’t. He had the same green hair and neon green eyes. The same smile (that was beginning to go down as he got a good look at who was at the door).
“Kacchan?” The same voice.
But he wasn’t the same too. He wasn’t the sad and scrawny middle school kid he had been. He had filled out (ridiculously so). He had gotten taller. He was more tan, like he was outside regularly. He had laugh lines in the corner of his eyes.
He had hardly laughed at all back when Katsuki knew him, much less had lines from doing it so much.
Maybe this was a mistake.
He finally looked at Izuku’s face and tried to take in what he was feeling rather than just the differences (and there were so many differences). He looked shaken, frozen, like he wasn’t sure how to react.
But he also wasn’t shaking and crying so Katsuki would take it.
“Um, hi. I know you kind of have something going on right not, but uh… could we talk? Just for a minute and then I promise I’ll get out of your hair.” he tried to inflict some confidence in voice, but it was difficult. He had never been less confident of something before in his life.
Midoriya continued to stare at him for a minute, before seeming to shake himself and taking a step back, opening the door wider. “Oh, um, sure. You can come in if you want. Some of my friends are in the living room, but we can go to the balcony? Mr. Natsue next door can be kind of nosy.”
“Ya, I’d appreciate that,” he took a step in and followed Izuku towards the sound of laughter coming from down the hall.
When they both appeared in the living room, everyone seemed to get quieter, looking at him curiously. There were people everywhere, probably twenty or more packed into the small living room yelling over one another, but it was obvious that they were all very familiar with one another. It was obvious they knew that he was an intruder.
“Hey Deku, who’s this?” Katsuki whipped to the left to stare down the extra who dared to use that name for Izuku. The name that, as mean and cruel as it was, was his.
Izuku put a hand on his arm, as if he knew the reaction that Katsuki would have despite the years of distance between them, and turned to the shitty loser who had yelled that, “haha just an old friend Shindou, no worries!” he laughed nervously as he herded Katsuki towards the balcony door.
Once they exited the living room and Izuku closed the door behind them Katsuki whipped towards him, “why the hell is he calling you that?” He tried to keep the aggression from his voice, but if the way Izuku backed up was any indication, he failed.
Izuku raised his hands up as if to calm a raging horse, “It’s just a nickname! I mean you know that, of course, but it’s not… like it was.”
“Oh really? Then what's it like?!”
Izuku seemed to be losing his patience a bit, “What does it matter to you?! Why are you even here?! The last time we spoke was three years ago and one of the first things you do after showing up at my door is yell at me?!” He took another step back and held in a deep breath for a moment, calming himself down. “What exactly are you here for, Kacchan?”
That was different too. He had never lost his cool like that on Bakugou before. To Katsuki’s knowledge, he had never lost his cool period.
Katsuki mimicked Izuku and held in his own deep breath, counting to ten like his therapist (yes, he had a therapist. How’s that for growth, bitch) had taught him before replying. “You’re right. That… wasn’t cool of me. I’m not here to get mad at you. I don’t have any right to get mad at you.”
Izuku took a step forward and looked at him cautiously, “then why are you here, Kacchan? I haven’t seen you in years. Why now?”
Katsuki took another deep breath, “I graduate in a few months. Well, we graduate in a few months I guess. And, a few years ago, I made a promise to myself. I wasn’t in the best shape at the time, and all I could think about was how shitty I had been as a kid. I was… awful to you. And I don’t have an excuse. I’m not asking you to forgive me, by all means, please don’t. But I needed you to know. Izuku, I’m so sorry for how I treated you.” Izuku’s eyes grew wide in surprise, “I was terrible, and you never deserved that. You were only ever kind and thoughtful and a friend and I just spit on you in return. Sometimes literally,” Izuku gave a muted chuckle, although his blatant surprise didn’t go away, “which I’m also sorry for. So ya, I just… needed you to know that. I’ll go now.” He started to turn towards the door to leave when Izuku grabbed his wrist and turned him back around.
“No! Don’t leave yet. Sorry, I was surprised, but I don’t want you to go! I don’t really know how to reply right now, but… maybe you could stay a little bit? Hang out, meet everyone and we could talk later?” He looked up at Katsuki hopefully. “Please?”
As if he was going to say no.
“Ya, uh, ya I think I can do that.” Izuku smiled before grabbing his arm again and leading him back inside.
“Great! I’ll start introducing you to everyone. I really think you’ll get along!” Bakugou laughed.
I need to work on how friendly people are starting to think I am. I shouldn’t be hearing this so much.
“Ya, I’m sure I will.”
~
Izuku had kept his word and introduced him to everyone, finishing up right as Kirishima, Mina, and Denki walked in.
“Hey, Midoriya! I hope you don’t mind that I brought a few friends!” He looked over at them and his eyes got big in surprise, “Oh! I wasn’t sure that you’d, uh, still be here. But, I’m glad you are blasty! This’ll be fun!” he began smiling through his confusion. The plan had been for Bakugou to apologize and then vacate before they showed up, which obviously did not happen.
Plans rarely ever work out the way they’re meant to. But, for once, that might actually be for the better.
“No I don’t mind at all! I’m glad Kacchan’s friends could all make it!” Izuku smiled, still standing right next to Katsuki, as if there had never been any distance at all.
“Kacchan?” Mina whispered to Denki, as Kirishima’s smile widened and Bakugou’s ears grew pink.
Damn nerd.
“Ya! All of Kacchan’s friends!” Kirishima laughed, shooting a vicious smile at Bakugou.
Something told him he wouldn’t be living that down any time soon.
~
The night passed with lots of laughter and happiness. To his surprise, Bakugou actually did get along with most of Izuku’s Shiketsu friends quite well (aside from that Shindou bastard. Who invited him anyway?), but the main reason for all of the joy was Izuku. He had never seen him like this before. He was open, and loud, and obviously in his element. The person that boy had become was someone so different, so much lighter, than Katsuki thought possible. He never realized how contagious happiness was until that night.
It also helped that Izuku never left his side.
It was like they were four years old again. They would bring up old inside jokes, elbow each other in the side whenever one would begin to tell an embarrassing story, and even had some quiet time to catch up on how their families were doing and how time at their separate schools were going.
Bakugou had asked, but he hadn’t needed to. He had only been with him for a few hours, but he could already tell that High School was one of the best things to ever happen to Izuku Midoriya.
Eventually the party began to clear out as the hour grew later and later. Every so often Bakugou would think about heading home, especially when all of his friends announced that they needed to leave and actually get some sleep that night, but whenever he would go to say goodbye he couldn’t bring himself to get it out. What if this was it? Izuku never said how he felt about his apology, much less if he’d ever want him in his life again? And what right did he have to ask for more?
Eventually he looked up from his conversation with Izuku (an argument over whether or not Midnight’s costume was designed correctly or not, of all things) and noticed that everyone had left. Midoriya seemed to notice at the same time when he saw Bakugou begin to look around in confusion.
“Ya, I guess it’s pretty late… everyone headed out a little bit ago.” he said, scratching his head awkwardly.
“Oh ummm… ya, I guess I better go too. I’d hate to keep you up…” Bakugou began to get up from the couch, before Midoriya beat him to it.
“Oh um, you can! Don’t feel like you have to stay, but I was hoping we could talk a little bit more about what you said earlier? If that's okay?” he looked at Bakugou hopefully (how he is constantly so full of hope, Bakugou will never understand).
“Ya. I can do that, no problem.” He began to sit back down on the couch, but Midoriya grabbed his arm again and began pulling him back outside.
How he went from spitting on him for daring to consider them friends, to always being pulled a step behind him, he couldn’t say. But he also couldn’t say he minded.
“Sorry, I just… was hoping we could go outside again? It kind of just feels like the place to be, I think.” He looked back at Bakugou nervously, but didn’t pause in his trek to the balcony.
Once they were standing outside he took a seat (on the ground, of all things) and pulled Bakugou down beside him. “I just wanted to say that I really appreciate your apology. I’m sorry, I should have said that earlier, but I did. I was just surprised.” Bakugou opened his mouth to tell him not to apologize, but Izuku carried on before he could. “And I also wanted to make it clear that I forgave you a long time ago. You know I’m a hero fanboy,” he smiled up at Bakugou, “so it probably doesn’t surprise you that I’ve followed your career pretty closely too. I’ve seen how you’ve changed. I’ve noticed the things you’ve done to try to make up for it. Like the quirkless charity gala you attended?” He looked at Bakugou with watery eyes, “How could I not notice that?”
About a year ago Bakugou had accepted an invitation to a small gala with the focus being raising money and attention towards the issues the quirkless face. It wasn’t something that he got really any publicity for, but it wasn’t too long after the kidnapping, after he made his decision to be better and not go into his pro career with any regrets. And he knew he would have regretted not putting his money where his mouth is and making a difference in any way he could. He hadn’t realized that Izuku would have heard of that, though. Or really that there was any publicity on it at all to hear about.
“I just… wanted you to know that I forgave you whether you apologized or not, but hearing your apology. That… that meant a lot.”
“Thanks, nerd.” He lightly tapped their shoulders together. “I’m not sure how you heard about that gala, but I’m glad you did, if it meant that much to you.”
Izuku smiled at him nervously, “It did.” He looked down again, “Can I ask you a question?”
“Ya, anything.”
“Was today just your way of making up for middle school, or… or did you actually have a good time?”
Katsuki looked at him in surprise, before smiling slightly, “I had a good time, nerd. Actually, I’d like to do it again sometime, if you want.”
Izuku finally looked back up and gave him a blinding smile, “Ya! I’d really love that, Kacchan! We do this just about every week and it’d be amazing if you came!”
“Ya, nerd. I think I’d like that too.” He looked down again, “Can I ask you one more question? You don’t have to answer though… not if you don’t want to.”
Izuku looked nervous again, but shook his head up and down, “ya, ask away.”
“Your friend earlier, he called you Deku. How… why do they call you that? You don’t deserve that. Not from me and not from them.” Katsuki said, softly, still gazing at his lap.
Or at least he was until he heard Izuku giggle. His head shot up to look at his amused face, “Oh, Kacchan, that name hasn’t hurt me in a long time. Back when High School started I had a bit of a rough patch. I wasn’t great at making new friends and, despite everything, I really missed you. I know we didn’t get along, but you were my constant for so long, that when we weren’t together anymore I felt sort of… at drift. Then all of a sudden I needed a nickname, and I missed you so much that hearing it sort of… made that better. And it’s just stuck ever since.”
Bakugou looked at him with soft and surprised eyes. He wasn’t sure how to reply to that. At least not until it all digested, “wait… what do you mean you needed a nickname?” He asked, confused. Why would someone need a nickname, especially someone in Gen Ed?
All of a sudden Izuku looked nervous again, before suddenly straightening up in a steely resolve, “well… that’s kind of complicated. Can you keep a secret?”
Bakugou stared at him for a minute in open curiosity before deciding yes, he can keep a secret. Especially a secret belonging to Izuku Midoriya.
“I won’t tell anyone your secret, nerd.”
Izuku took a breath before looking Katsuki dead in the eye, “Okay. Have you heard of Dekiru?”
“What does that have to do-.... Oh.”
Oh.
Dekiru. One of the hero commission’s biggest nuisances. They (or he, Katsuki is now finding out) are one the most up and coming vigilantes in Tokyo. From the little information Katsuki has gained, they came on the scene shortly after his kidnapping a couple years ago, and have only gained traction since. It’s been said that Dekiru is basically untouchable. Not based on pure strength, no their strength is not contested, but also not very known, largely because of their obvious intelligence. Dekiru has never been found on scene. The slogan ‘Dekiru: the Ghost Hero’ had even been used in multiple news printings. The only reason the public even knows of their existence is the small purposeful paper trails that have been left behind. Dekiru has been known to have their fingers in just about every pie there is. They’ve stopped robberies, helped old ladies across the straight, busted a drug cartel or two, and even have been linked to… multiple fundraisers. Specifically those dealing in the up and coming quirkless rights movement.
Katsuki gazed at him in shock, his hands sparking in his surprise.
“Ah haha surprise! I was worried you’d find out right after we started because my name was originally just supposed to be Deku, but I guess a civilian misheard and it’s been Dekiru ever since! Kind of funny right? Uh… right? Kacchan… are you okay? You look mad. Are you mad?” Izuku laughed nervously..
“You… I… what the fuck? You’re… running an underground vigilante operation?”
“Oh well up… yes! But don’t worry it’s not just me. Most of my friends are in on it helping out so…” he started scooting away from Bakugou nervously.
“You’re running an underground vigilante operation… with fucking SHINDOU?!” Bakugou started to stand uo as Izuku shot up and backed away with his hands up, still giggling slightly.
“That’s what you focus on?! C’mon don’t be mad! He’s been a great help so far!” He said, still backing up slowly.
Bakugou advanced towards him, snarling slightly, “Fuck that shit nerd. You’re letting me in on this shit! Ain’t no way he’s watching you’re back right!”
Izuku suddenly shifted from nervous and pleading to sly and mischievous. He shot Bakugou a sneaky smile before saying, “Hmmm… you’ll have to prove you can handle it I think. You can’t watch my back if you can’t catch me!” He laughed before sprinting back inside, Bakugou screaming, running after him.
If Mr. Natsue was really a worthwhile nosy neighbor the cops were likely already en route. He’d better catch the nerd fast, before they got there. No way he’s giving him any reason to think that Shindou is a better vigilante handler than him.