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A soft giggle from behind him is what got Katsuki’s attention enough to cause him to turn around to see who was making that (need he say it, beautiful) sound. He glances over all the people behind him before his eyes land on the one who was giggling, a man with green eyes, dark green hair, a head full of curls, and a face full of freckles. The man is very focused on his conversation with his friends, intently listening to the brunette girl next to him who is speaking. Katsuki could probably hear what she was saying if he tried but he was just so focused on the man.
He was not expecting such a kind-looking face, such a pretty smile. He isn’t really sure what he was expecting, to be honest. But whatever it was, it wasn’t that. He’s never seen this guy around here before and he comes to the quad every single day to sit outside and level himself (his therapist told him it might be a good idea for him to get some fresh air, as it could help with his anger, so he’s been taking that advice seriously).
That’s when the brunette girl looks at Katsuki and suddenly stops speaking in favor of pointing over at him. The people with their backs facing him turn around to look at him before turning back to their friends and whispering something to the group.
The green-haired man looks over and makes eye contact with Katsuki, looking him over for a moment before breaking the eye contact, gorgeous eyes widening as a blush creeps on his face and he gasps, whispering something to his friends.
Katsuki hears one of them say something along the lines of, “Go talk to him.”
The man shakes his head furiously, “I can’t talk to him, I don’t even know him.” The words are quiet but Katsuki strains his ears enough to be able to hear what he’s saying.
“So get to know him!” Another friend encourages.
The man glances back over to Katsuki, who is still shamelessly looking over at the group. He looks away, bringing his hands up to his face and slapping it a couple of times before mumbling something into his hands.
Katsuki bites his bottom lip in nervousness before mumbling, “Fuck it,” to himself and shoving his phone into his pocket. He does a quick once-over of the table he was sitting at and when he decides that he has everything, he walks over to the fountain where the group with the man in it is standing.
“Hey,” Katsuki crosses his arms, singling out the man that caught his attention.
A couple of his friends squealed, pushing him over to Katsuki, while the others gave him some kind of a look.
“Hello,” The man gulps, raising his hand up to wave briefly.
“What’s your name?” Katsuki asks, wanting to know as much about this man as he possibly can, “I’m Bakugou Katsuki.”
“Midoriya Izuku,” The man answers simply.
Katsuki decides to get straight to the point, “You wanna get out of here?”
The brunette girl gasps and answers for him, “He totally does!”
“No,” Midoriya answers in place of her, “he totally does not- That’s so dangerous, Ochako,” He whispers, “I don’t know him.”
“What?” Katsuki smirks, “You think I’m gonna kidnap you? Murder you?” He scoffs, chuckling softly, “With all these people to see just who I am? That would be a rookie mistake, even for a first-time murderer.” He jokes sarcastically.
Midoriya’s mouth drops open and scoffs out of it, trying to hide a smile, “That doesn’t give me comfort!”
“I believe that he does have a point,” A man with very square glasses and a way too nice getup for a college campus intervenes, “Taking somebody to murder in broad daylight with so many witnesses is not the best idea. You’d want to get a person isolated and-”
“Tenya,” Midoriya looks over, an annoyed look crossing his face, “not the time.”
“Apologies.”
Katsuki sighs, “Do you wanna see my ID or something? Make all your friends take pictures of me so that they can avenge your hypothetical murder?’
“I am not getting murdered,” Midoriya exclaims before taking a deep breath and continuing on, “because I am not going with you. That would be foolish,” He says and with a fury of protests from his friends, mainly the brunette girl. He snaps his head over to them and whispers, “That would be foolish.” He puts an emphasis on the last word, almost as if he’s trying to convince himself more than his friends.
“I just wanna get to know you, pretty boy,” Katuski drops his arms from their crossed position and pulls out his wallet. He opens it and goes to where his school ID and his government-issued ID sit in there, “I can’t believe I’m actually fuckin’ doing this,” He grumbles to himself as he pulls the cards out, “look, two forms of identification.” He passes them to the man’s friends, who pass them around to the whole group.
They end up with Midoriya who stares down at the two cards with a look of awe on his face.
“You literally just said that you thought he was cute,” The brunette girl knocks her shoulder into his.
“Ochako!” Midoriya scolds, a flush of embarrassment rising to his face quickly, “Shut up.”
“You said that you thought he would never give you the time of day,” Another friend says, one who has yet to speak. He has two colors in his hair (Katsuki thinks that’s a bit excessive but whatever), “but now he is.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m gonna go with a stranger,” Midoriya reluctantly holds the cards out in front of him for Katsuki to grab.
Katsuki chuckles under his breath, he licks his lips and then smirks up at the man, “Look,” He reaches to grab his IDs from the man, purposefully brushing their fingers as he does so, “you can text all your fuckin’ friends here exactly where we’re going, share your location and shit. I just wanna take you out,” He pauses, “and get to know you,” he lets out a faint breath, “Those are my only intentions. No murder involved.”
“C’mon Izu,” The brunette girl places her hand on his shoulder and he looks over to her, “he’s a student here and he’s shown us his ID. He’s not gonna murder you. You are just nervous and so you’re trying to come up with excuses to avoid going out with the handsome man who wants to take you on a date.” She pouts.
Midoriya stays quiet, just looking at his friend for a moment. She has a great point and Midoriya has to be realizing that by now, right? Eventually, after another look of encouragement from the woman, he gulps and nods, “Okay,” He laughs, stepping away from the safety of his group and toward Katsuki, “Where to?”
Katsuki grins, “I know just the place.”
“I don’t know if I like the sound of that,” Midoriya mumbles, turning to look back at his friends.
“Go!” One of them shouts, a girl with long green hair.
Katsuki grabs Midoriya’s hand and drags him away from his friends before he can change his mind, he begins to walk toward his car, “So, are you new here or some shit? I’ve never seen you around before and the campus isn’t that fuckin’ big.”
“Oh!” Midoriya lights up, smiling, “Yeah, actually. I’m really excited to be here. I used to go to a different college, in a whole different country, so this is a lot closer to home and I got to reconnect with all of my friends. It’s pretty awesome.”
When Katsuki feels confident enough that Midoriya isn’t going to run off, he drops his hand (reluctantly so, missing the touch) just because they did just meet and they’re probably not of hand-holding status just yet. “What’re you majoring in?”
“Oh, uh,” Midoriya lets out an awkward chuckle and tugs at his fingers, “It’s kinda boring.”
“I don’t think anything you do could ever be boring,” Katsuki tells him truthfully. He may have only known the man for literally 5 minutes but he feels like there’s something different about him than most people. Like he can make anything he talks about (even his possible murder) easy to listen to. Katsuki has a feeling that this guy is going to just completely change his life and he isn’t sure yet if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
It gets a small laugh out of Midoriya and the man seems to calm down a little bit if the fact that he drops his hands is anything to go by, “I’m a computer science major. What about you?”
“That’s fuckin’ awesome,” Katsuki tells him, honestly impressed, “I took a computer science class in high school once and it was the one thing I was shitty at so props to you.”
Midoriya laughs, “What’s your major?”
“Criminal justice,” Katsuki answers. They're getting close to his car now so he starts to reach for his keys from his pocket, “so, y’know, it seems kinda stupid for me to murder someone when I’m going into law.”
“Oooo,” Midoriya awes at the man, looking over to him, “What do you wanna do? Do you wanna be a police officer? A lawyer? Have you always been interested in stuff like this? You must-”
“Okay there, pretty boy, I’m gonna need you to slow the questions down,” Katsuki slows at his car, clicking the unlock button on the remote to unlock it, “I can only process so many questions at a time.”
“Sorry,” Midoriya chuckles sheepishly, “I get a little excited sometimes.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Katsuki grumbles, walking to the passenger side door to open it for Midoriya, “there. Get in.”
“Oh,” Midoriya blushes, “Thanks,” he gulps and walks next to Katsuki, standing there awkwardly for a moment before getting inside.
Katsuki shuts the door and walks around the car to the driver’s side. The moment he gets in, he starts answering Midoriya’s questions, “I wanna be a detective. Used to watch that shit on the TV all the time, people solving murders or missing person cases and shit and thought it was pretty fuckin awesome,” He sticks the key into the slot and starts the car.
As he drives them, the conversation never stops. It flows nicely and Katsuki is beyond happy with it all. Everything seems like a blur, he’s barely even sure how he got here, but he likes it. The fact that he actually walked up to Midoriya is what’s crazy to him. The fact that Midoriya actually agreed to go (albeit with a little push) is what’s even crazier to him.
Katsuki knows he’s not the nicest-looking guy. He’s been told by plenty of people that his eyes always look angry (so unlike Midoriya’s, whose eyes look soft and warm and kind). He’s been told that his resting face being a scowl is uninviting and that he’s not going to make friends that way. Ever since he was a little fucking kid, he’s been told he won’t be able to make friends or find a relationship because of the way he acts and the way he looks.
So, he’s worked on himself a crap ton since high school. He’s gotten less snappy, he’s worked on dialing back his language, he’s gone to therapy to help with his anger issues, and he’s done this all so that he can feel better about himself. So that people will stop constantly berating him for things that he’s never known as any different. Everybody is always criticizing him for the way he acts when it’s simply what he was raised around, it’s all he knew back then. Everybody always had something shitty to say but, somehow, someway, this guy feels different.
Katsuki is so sure that Midoriya is going to change his life, even if this is the only day they ever hang out. Even if Midoriya doesn’t want to go on another date after this, Katsuki is so sure that everything will change because of him. Why is he sure? It’s just something about the man that connects with Katsuki.
Maybe it’s the feeling of butterflies in his stomach or the intense need to make up for lost time but whatever it is, Katsuki wants to get to know him better. He wants to find out his motivations in life, what keeps him going, and who he looks up to. He wants to find out his favorite color and what he likes to do in his free time. He wants to find out whether he’s a dog person or a cat person and whether he likes chocolate or vanilla more. He wants to find out what his dreams are, what he wants to really accomplish in his life.
He wants to get to know him the best he possibly can.
So far, all he knows is the man’s name and his school major but Katsuki wants to more. He’s been selfish his entire life and for once he wants to be there for someone else. Someone who he met 10 minutes ago.
So, Katsuki brings Izuku to a place he used to go to all the time as a kid and teenager. Somewhere he used to go to in order to try and get to know himself. He used to constantly ask himself questions, asking himself why he is the way he is. Berating himself because that was all he knew. He never got compliments back then and if he did it was about how strong he was or some stupid shit like that and that just fed into his cockiness.
“Here we are,” Katsuki interrupts their flowing conversation as he parks in an empty space, not that one is very hard to find seeing as there are no other cars in the parking lot.
“Okay,” Izuku glances around, “are you sure this isn’t a plan to murder me? This place is creepy.”
“Yeah, it was my plan all along,” Katsuki says sarcastically, “a totally not shitty plan, introducing myself to all your friends.” He gasps dramatically, “Maybe I’ll have to flee the country after I murder you.”
“Okay shut up,” Izuku rolls his eyes, “I get it. You aren’t gonna murder me, I get it.”
“Congratulations, you are more than just a pretty face,” Katsuki quips. He turns the car off, pulling the keys out and shoving them deep into his pocket. He gets out, running over to the other side of the car to open Midoriya’s door before the man can do it himself.
Midoriya giggles that same giggle that got Katsuki to look over at him in the first place, “I’ve never had someone open the car door for me before. It’s weird.” He breathes out the last word.
“Well, get used to it,” Katsuki says, gesturing toward the outside world, “and get out.”
“Right-” Midoriya suddenly remembers that he’s still in the car and he springs into action, unbuckling his seatbelt and damn near hopping out of the car.
Katsuki shuts the car door behind him and walks off toward the place they arrived at, Midoriya follows him by his side.
“What is this place?”
“Used to be a skate park,” Katsuki says as they finally get to the skate park part of the abandoned skate park, “it was really popular when I was in elementary and middle school but the excitement of it dwindled down by the time I was in high school, nobody ever came here anymore but I still liked it, so I still came. I’m surprised you’ve never heard of it if you grew up around here.”
“Oh no,” Midoriya shakes his head, “I didn’t grow up around here. My mom’s place is, like, 30 minutes in the other direction of the school.”
“Oh,” Katsuki nods his head, walking deeper into the park and sliding down into it, “I guess I kinda just assumed.” He shrugs, “Now, c’mon down.”
“Are there no… stairs?”
“No, idiot,” Katsuki rolls his eyes, “not in this part. Just take my hand, you’ll be fine.” He reaches his hand out toward Midoriya who reluctantly takes it and starts to step off the edge to slide down.
He stumbles a bit but Katsuki catches him by the time he gets to the bottom, placing his hands on his waist to stabilize him.
They stand like that for a second, looking into each other’s eyes before Katsuki settles on looking away, supposing that it’s not the greatest idea to look like he wants to kiss Midoriya after only having met him 45 minutes ago.
Katsuki clears his throat, turning his back toward Midoriya, “So, yeah, I used to come to this place all the time. To just sit and think, mostly.”
“Let’s sit then,” Midoriya replies to him, walking past him and heading toward the middle, before sitting down, criss-cross.
Katsuki catches up with him and sits down directly in front of him.
With that, the two just talk for hours until it’s getting so late that the sun is setting. Katsuki hadn’t even realized it had gotten that late, it only felt like it had been a couple of minutes.
In reality, it’s been quite a few hours.
Katsuki glances down at his watch, “Shit, it’s getting late. I should get you back before your friends think I did actually end up murdering you.”
Midoriya laughs, finally taking that joke for what it is, a joke, “I really enjoyed this, Bakugou,” Midoriya smiles and Katsuki knows that if he was unsure whether he was falling for Midoriya or not, that smile solidified it.
“Thank you,” Midoriya says, “It’s been a while since I’ve been able to go do something like this. I feel like I’m always stuck at home, studying.”
Katsuki shrugs a playful smirk on his face, “It’s nothin'.”
“Oh my god, can you just say ‘you’re welcome’ like a normal person?”
“Absolutely not.”
“I hate you.”
“You don’t.”
“I do.”
“Are you sure?”
“No,” Midoriya finally admits in a mumble, “I do not actually hate you, Bakugou Katsuki.”
Katsuki breaks into a fit of laughter. When it dies down he speaks again, “Well, Midoriya Izuku,” He says the man’s full name just as Midoriya did with Katsuki’s, “if you ever need a break from studying, you can call me to take you to another abandoned park any day.”
“That sounds nice,” Midoriya’s gaze traces Katsuki’s face, landing on his lips, “I know we just met but,” Back up to Katsuki’s eyes, “can I- Do you mind if- Can we-” He lets out a frustrated breath, almost a chuckle of sorts, “Bakugou, can I kiss you?”
Katsuki smirks, “I thought you’d never fuckin’ ask, pretty boy.”
Midoriya’s smile reaches his entire fuckin’ face, not just his eyes; It lights up the entire thing. He inches closer to Katsuki and slowly leans in for the kiss. It’s so slow that it’s almost a tease but when their lips finally touch, the slowness was totally worth it.
Katsuki reaches up to grab the back of Midoriya’s head, carding his fingers through his curls. He’s wanted to do that since he saw this hair of his.
Midoriya’s gentle fingers are suddenly touching Katsuki’s face, they’re a bit cold but Katsuki’s always run very warm so the chill of his fingers feels nice on his cheeks.
The kiss lasts longer than a first kiss probably should but, eventually, they stop and opt to actually head home. Katsuki drives Midoriya home and they exchange numbers, then the man gives him a very chaste kiss over the console before running into his apartment building.
Afterward, Katsuki drives himself home and all he can think of is Midoriya. Everything he told him about himself, his smile, his laugh, his nervous habits, all the touches they shared, and, especially, their kisses.
Katsuki finds it hard to go to sleep that night but not because of anything bad but just because he was too damn busy thinking about Midoriya. He’s busy wondering how he’s not had this guy in his life until then. He’s busy thinking about how he possibly went about his life without Midoriya there. He’s busy thinking about how maybe it’s all in his own mind, maybe Midoriya doesn’t feel like he does. He’s busy thinking.
When he wakes up the next morning, all he thinks about is Midoriya. As if he’s the only thing Katsuki knows. He thinks about his freckles, his smile, his laugh, his eyes, his nervous rambling, his hair, his interested rambling.
He thinks about everything and he realizes just how far he’s already fallen and he realizes just how quickly it all happened. His life has already completely changed over the course of -- he reaches over to the nightstand to grab his phone, clicking it on to check the time (and sees a text message from Midoriya, letting him know that he had a really great time and wants to do it again, which tells Katsuki that it wasn’t all just in his mind) -- 18 hours.
18 fucking hours and everything has changed.