Work Text:
For the students of class 1a, there was only one way to get closer to Osamu Dazai and Chuuya Nakahara. And that is with a trip to the mall.
Once Dazai had properly recovered, Present Mic had managed to convince Chuuya to start speaking about some of his hobbies from Yokohama with the rest of the students. When he had mentioned that he and Dazai went to the arcade back in Yokohama at least once a week, the students happily suggested going to the arcade in the nearby mall. Despite assuming that nothing would ever actually come out of this suggestion, here they are, standing at the entrance of a large, modern-looking mall.
“Eee!! This is going to be so much fun!” Mina exclaims while walking, the rest of the class following along. Everyone was there besides Mineta. They originally invited him out of pity but when he started making weird comments about the girls’ outfits that morning, Sero took it upon himself to tape him to the wall.
Mina was surrounded by Kirishima, Sero, and Denki: the self-proclaimed Bakusquad minus the man himself. He stood towards the back of the group, grumbling with his hand in his pockets.
Everyone was shocked that he had even bothered to show up. Usually, they had to force Bakugou to join them on these group outings. However, they had decided against trying that since their mission was to get closer with the new guys and bringing Bakugou along would be counterproductive. They didn’t want Bakugou to start blowing up at them, ruining any potential bonding moment. However, despite claiming he didn’t want to come, Bakugou was there, waiting downstairs at the assigned hour of departure.
“Stop squealing, raccoon eyes! This is just going to be lame.” He grumbles at her.
“Oh, come on man, lighten up!” Kirishima falls back from the front and puts an arm around Bakugou’s shoulder. “We’re going to the arcade! Your competitive nature will shine.” Bakugou looks up and catches Dazai staring at him intensely before turning his head toward Chuuya, exclaiming something about a bet and dogs. Bakugou shrugs off Kirishima’s arm and grumbles some more.
They navigate through the mall as a group, occasionally getting distracted at clothing items in the displays–and hero shops in Midoriya’s case–but they continue onward without entering any stores. Since some of them had plans with their families later in the day, the class had unanimously decided to stop by the arcades first. Then they would go off on their own adventures throughout the mall after some of their classmates started heading out.
The arcade was in the middle of the huge mall, but they arrived there quickly enough.
“Ah! Last time I went here, there was a Pikachu plushie that I really wanted to get in the claw machine. Sadly, I kept failing until I ran out of money.” Kaminari tells the rest of the class with a frown at the memory as they start entering the arcade. It was a lot cleaner than the one in Yokohama and seemed more modern. It was nice but didn’t have as much character in Dazai’s opinion. Kaminari turned toward Kirishima. “Bro, I need to get that plushie this time! Wanna join me after we pay for our cards?”
Chuuya’s eyebrows tighten in confusion. “Wait, we have to pay?”
“Oh, silly Chibi, of course we have to pay! We’re trying to be good people now! No more rigging the machines to give us unlimited turns sadly.” Dazai sighs, feigning devastation.
“Shitty Dazai, I don’t know if you’ve forgotten but we’re broke here.” Chuuya reminds his partner. The rest of the class look as though they’re uncomfortable for a moment, pitying the duo once more.
Dazai hates pity.
He notices that Bakugou isn’t pitying them.
He turns to the blond: “You’ll pay for us, right Kacchannn~?” The melancholy atmosphere is quickly broken by Bakugou’s yelling.
“HAH?? What the fuck are you on about? There’s no way in hell I’m paying for your sorry ass. And don’t fucking call me that name unless you want to die!” Bakugou curls his lips as sparks emanate for his palms. Dazai just smiled back innocently at the exploding boy.
Todoroki turned to face Chuuya. “I can pay for you and Dazai. I have my father’s credit card and am planning on wasting his money anyways, so I don’t mind.” He said to Chuuya in a monotone voice. Dazai approved of his pettiness. He would definitely do the same thing if he had Mori’s card on him.
“Aww Todoroki! You’re the best! I love you way more than I love Bakugou” Dazai completely ignored the still fuming guy next to him and approached Todoroki. Dazai pushed himself into Todoroki’s personal space while managing not to make any physical contact with him. He didn’t exactly like physical touch. The spilt haired man did not seem to notice his hovering but one glance at Bakugou’s even deeper scowl tells him that someone did.
Interesting…
Bakugou didn’t know why he decided to come.
Even the thought of spending more time than necessary listening to that bandaged idiot talk set off a bad taste in his mouth. The only reason he came along was because he knew Pinky and the others would bother him if he didn’t like they usually did.
Even though they normally bother him to come before, not after.
That was the only reason.
But since he was here already, he would make sure to fight that bandaged asshole properly, without any weird ass comments this time throwing him off. He was just being a freak on purpose to catch him off guard last time they fought to get the upper hand.
Bakugou wasn’t going to let him be perturbed by his antics this time.
They had all gotten their arcade cards and split up to different parts of the arcade. Shitty hair and Dunceface left for the claw machines, Raccoon Eyes went to the Dance Dance Revolution, somehow managing to convince Four-eyes and Pink Cheeks to join her.
A smirk grows upon Bakugou’s face. He turns toward Bandages. This time he will win: Even if it won’t be a real combat match, he’ll destroy this asshole so hard that he’ll never even consider messing with him agai-
“Hey Chuuya, I bet that you can’t beat me at Streets of Rage 4!”
Bakugou stills, frozen for a moment.
“Hah? Of course I can beat your dumbass. I’m better at every game!”
“Oh yeahhhh? You wanna bet? Loser has to be the winner’s dog then!” He giggles as he skips childishly off toward the machine, Chuuya following behind with his hand in his pockets while complaining about the dog business. Bakugou’s shoulders hunch as he grimaces hard.
He was planning to prove to that bandage asshole that he was stronger, better than him in every way. Beat him once and for all in a stupid game until that fucker respected him. But he had to go challenge that short extra instead.
He feels a lump of hatred in his throat…
…Or is it jealousy?
He scoffs at the thought. Why would he be jealous?
He just wanted to fight that asshole and beat the shit out of him.
Bakugou was not jealous: He just wanted to fight Dazai first.
“Kacchan? Are you okay...?” He snaps his head toward the voice to see that stupid Deku looking worried about him. Bakugou only just realized that he had stopped in the middle of the arcade, blocking his remaining classmates behind him. He tsks momentarily in embarrassment.
“Of course I fucking am Deku. Fight me right now loser! I’m going to destroy your sorry ass.” He yells at the concerned boy. Deku’s face morphs into one of happiness and determination: “Okay Kacchan! I’ll try my hardest. Which game are we planning?”
Bakugou scoffs. “Just follow me and shut up.” He said before stalking off past Dazai and Chuuya’s machine.
The two had started playing, with Chuuya cursing every time he got hit. Dazai was clearly winning but his eyes weren’t on the screen. They were trained on Bakugou.
The boy was glaring hard.
Almost as if there was a lump of jealousy in his own throat.
– – –
The games went on for a while without any matches transpiring between him and Bakugou. Every time Chuuya would lose, he would demand a rematch–which was every time they played. Eventually, most of the students ran out of money on their cards and did not wish to refill them and waste more money. They still wanted to save some for shopping. Even though Todoroki offered to pay for them instead, everyone eventually made their ways out of the arcade. Denki exits, dejected and without a Pikachu plushie.
“It’s okay bro, you’ll get it next time!” Kirishima put a hand on his shoulder for comfort.
“But I spent all my money this time…I’ll have to head back to the dorms.”
“I’ll come with you bro!” Kirishima gives his friend a thumbs up, “We can play videos in my room.” Denki starts tearing up.
Several people start splitting up their own ways: Koda going to a baking store he passed by, Sero going to get some food with Momo and Jiro, Midoriya and his friends heading to the hero store, and Tokoyami walking toward a bookstore. Chuuya turned toward Dazai. “Don’t follow me.” He orders abruptly before turning around the way they came. The remaining students were confused but Dazai spoke out before they could say anything.
“Awww! Is Chuuya worried that I’d make fun of him for buying a dumb hat? Don’t worry, I already saw you eyeing that store on the way here. You can’t hide anything from me.” He says with a creepy smile on his face. He was about to start yelling when Todoroki offered to come with him.
“Heh? Why do you wanna join?” Chuuya hunches his shoulders defensively. Todoroki just tilts his head.
“Well, you don’t have any money, right? I would like to spend some, so it is a win-win situation.” Chuuya laughs before walking in the direction of the store with Todoroki by his side.
Dazai sighs. “Well, I don’t want to be left with you guys, I'm going to go explore on my own!” He says to the remaining students which only consists of Mina and Bakugou. Before he can turn away, Bakugou grabs him by the elbow of his coat, not making any physical contact but causing the boy to still nonetheless.
“Do you really fucking think we’re just letting you go on your own? You’re broke and a villain.”
“Bakubabe, don’t call him that!” Mina beseeches, “But yeah you should join us.” Dazai sighs dramatically before shrugging off Bakugou’s grip on his coat. “Fineeee. What’s the game plan?” He asks.
“Ooo! Well, I really wanted to go clothes shopping! Plus, we should get you something Dazai. You’re basically just wearing your hero uniform right now with that black coat. Follow me!” Mina told the two of them before heading in a random direction. Bakugou scoffs and mutters a complaint about her ordering him around too much before following suit. He glances back at Dazai, his fiery red eyes meeting Dazai’s brown ones. Dazai gives him a smirk before following as well.
– – –
They had gone to too many stores and Dazai was beginning to get bored. He got some clothes that Mina picked out and convinced Bakugou to pay for. He will admit that it was fun watching the boy stiffen at his fabricated gratitude, not knowing how to take his niceties. But after a while, Dazai just got bored.
“Hey, why don’t we go into that store?” Dazai asks when he catches Mina glancing at a dress in the display. She turns to him, aghast.
“We can’t go there! It’s so expensive, I definitely won’t be able to afford anything there.” She explains to the confused boy. His expression does not change.
“Then why not just try on that dress you’re eyeing though?” He asks. He did that all the time with Chuuya and Kouyou back in Yokohama and nobody cared when they didn’t end up buying anything, even in the really expensive stores.
“Because! We don’t look rich: we’re high school students!” She explains to Dazai, exasperated. “Ugh, if only we dragged Todoroki with us. Lots of people recognize him as Endeavour’s son.” Mina states as she begins to walk away from the store, Bakugou following her lead. Dazai looks inside and sees only one female worker patrolling. An idea pops into his head.
“No Mina, we can go in, trust me.” He says and starts walking in before either of them can argue. Bakugou swears and they both follow him inside. The sales lady eyes them immediately and steps forward with a strained smile.
“Hello uh- students. I would just like to inform you all that everything here is very expensive.” She said with a clear sense of annoyance in her voice.
Dazai doesn’t even glance at Bakugou and Mina before starting to flirt.
“Oh Miss! Of course this place is expensive if you’re working here. Such a beautiful lady would have to be working somewhere… higher class.” Dazai says in a flirtatious tone while walking further into the store. Blush starts to take over the lady’s shocked expression, but he quickly continues. “I apologize for the intrusion, but my friend here would like to try on one of your beautiful dresses. Could we… strike up some sort of deal?” Dazai runs a hand through his hair, roughing up his hair in an attractive way and intensely meets her gaze. She flusters further.
Mina and Bakugou stare at him, shocked. His smirk grows.
“I- um- suppose I can permit her to try something on.” Then she composes herself, straightening her shirt and clearing her throat. “Um- but what kind of deal are you implying?” She mutters out, not able to completely meet his eyes.
“Ah, can you help my friend first? We’ll have plenty of time to chat while she’s trying the dress on.” Dazai softens his gaze: “Please?”
She relents immediately.
Mina looks conflicted about the situation but joy spreads over her face when she is handed the long, flowy, purple dress. She excitedly hurries to the changing rooms. Dazai looks at Bakugou for a moment as the lady heads back to Dazai’s side.
He looks angrier than ever, his eyes trained on the lady.
Why is he mad at her?
“So… what were you proposing?” The lady asks him eagerly. He focuses back on her.
“Oh! I mean, I’m sure a lovely lady like you must be busy,” he starts, “But I’d hope that you’d be able to make some time for me.” Dazai says, looking at her through his eyelashes. She blushes as a smile blossoms on her face at the flattery.
“A lovely lady like you is sure to deserve a candlelit dinn-”
Dazai’s eyes widen as he is pulled away before he can continue his flirting. He turns his head to the culprit only to find a head of spiky blond hair pulling him out of the store. His eyes fall to the hand wrapped around his bandaged wrist. It tugs him forward but not roughly, almost as if the boy knows not to press too hard against the scars.
The touch isn’t uncomfortable…
Which is unusual for Dazai.
Finally, they round a corner near the store which would eventually lead to a bathroom. Nobody is around. Bakugou drops his wrist after a moment and leans against the wall before shoving his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched uncomfortably. Dazai tilts his head to one side, still shocked at the prior contact of their hands.
“Why did you stop me?” He asks, dazed and confused. Bakugou’s shoulders hunch and his face turns red and a grimace reaches his lips.
“You were being a fucking dumbass. Just throwing yourself at that lady and leading her on. Stop fucking manipulating people you asshole.” Bakugou spits out with anger that doesn’t fully match his face.
Something about this anger seems wrong to Dazai. He’s been around Chuuya enough in his life to really know anger.
This is off.
His face is too red. His body language displays too much nervousness for him to be genuinely angry. He keeps looking away, his head slightly positioned downwards in a sort of shame. He does display some sort of anger but more so directed at himself than at the boy in front of him.
Dazai’s eyes widened with realization.
Oh.
A smirk works his way onto his face, mirroring the one he was wearing earlier.
“Kacchan… are you jealous?” Dazai asks, his voice pitched lower than usual and drawing out each word.
He stiffens once more and his face grows an even deeper shade of scarlet. “Fuck no. Why in the hell would I be jealous?” He lies straight through his teeth. Dazai’s smile grows larger and his eyes cloud over, “Oh Kacchan… you could have just told me,” He murmurs, leaning closer to the spiky haired boy, “I would never want to make you jealous.”
Seeing Bakugou’s crimson eyes widen at the comment brings a bubble of… something he doesn’t usually experience when fake flirting.
For some reason, he’s happy that he can make Bakugou blush.
“What the h-hell are you on about?” Bakugou stutters out, looking even more embarrassed at tripping over his own words, his eyes never meeting those of Dazai. He decides to test something. Dazai reaches out a hand and sternly places it on Bakugou’s chin, pulling his face up and forcing the other boy to look down at him. Normally, he would avoid touch but it didn’t seem to bother him before.
The warmth of Bakugou’s skin doesn’t burn him.
“Oh Kacchan… I can call you pretty instead if you so desire.” He purrs out to Bakugou, eyes narrowed.
“W-why would I want that d-dumbass.” He tries to place anger in his voice but Dazai doesn’t buy it. He hasn’t even attempted to wretch his face out of Dazai’s grasp. Dazai softens his grasp and brings his hand further up his jaw, cradling his face.
Bakugou gulps and his breathing picks up the pace. Dazai steps closer, making more direct contact with Bakugou than he’s ever had with anyone other than Chuuya. He leans in, his breath tingling Bakugou’s eyes. He feels the boy shiver.
“What’s wrong Kacchan~? Too scared to flirt back?” He chuckles slightly, “At this point, I might just be better than you at flirting… You worried you’re going to lose?”
His words cause Bakugou to still slightly. Dazai pulls his face away from Bakugou’s left ear to catch a glimpse of his expression. A flash of competitiveness courses through his face: exactly as Dazai had expected.
“Fuck no would I lose in a flirting competition with you.” He states confidently, the redness still ever present on his face. He takes a deep breath and tries to dissipate all his nervousness. Dazai lightly works his fingers up and down Bakugou’s jaw
“Oh yeahh~? Prove it to me then.”
Both of their smirks grow as they meet each other's eyes, blazing with competitiveness. Bakugou quickly grabs Dazai’s waist and flips him over, pressing him against the wall. Dazai’s hand suddenly moves from Bakugou’s cheek to grab the back of his neck, running his hands through his spiky blond hair. Dazai looks up slightly to meet the taller boy’s eyes.
They’re closer than he expected.
His own face starts to feel hot.
Fuck.
“Hey Bandages, where did all your confidence go?” Bakugou flirtingly asks.Since when did Dazai get flustered? He composes himself quickly and tries not to think about their close proximity but Bakugou’s knees brushing against his own makes it hard.
“You call that flirting?” He laughs with a smirk, “Flirt with me more Kacchan~ I want to enjoy myself.” His face heats up even more as the words exit his mouth. The heat of Bakugou’s body together with the layers on clothing and bandages Dazai has on causes him to practically start panting.
“Oh, don’t act all coy with me. I can tell by the redness of your face that you’re more than enjoying yourself.”
“Don’t be a hypocrite Kacchan, your face is burning too.” Bakugou scowls at his words and Dazai realizes that he just wants to kiss that expression off. Bakugou notices the eyes trained on his lips but Dazai beats him to the first move.
He pushes the Bakugou’s neck forward, crashing their lips together.
He feels Bakugou still for a moment against his mouth before he closes his eyes and presses back. With that confirmation, Dazai pushes the blond’s head closer, resulting in a rough noise of shock. Dazai grabs a fistfull of hair, causing more noises to emerge for the other. Bakugou growls in annoyance at Dazai’s control over him and moves his left hand from Dazai’s waist to the back of his head, protecting his head before he pushes Dazai harder against the wall, resulting in Dazai opening his mouth in shock at the rough gesture. The pressure feels nice.
Bakugou takes advantage of his reaction and deepens the kiss further. Dazai regains his composure and slots his lips against Bakugou’s bottom lip. He sucks on his bottom lip for a moment, his mind focusing on each area of his body in contact with Bakugou’s: his waist, his knees, his head, his hand, his lips, his teeth…
“Ow shit!”
Dazai loses the pressure against his lips abruptly and blows open his eyes. The hand grabbing his head disappears too as Bakugou brings it up to his lips. Dazai sees Bakugou, panting as a pearl of scarlet forms on his bottom lip. He wipes the bead of blood away with his thumb and examines it with narrowed eyes.
“You fucking bit me.” He states, dazed and confused. Dazai giggles slightly, annoyed at his own yearning for Bakugou to kiss him silly again. He’s never wanted physical contact more.
“What?” He says with fake confusion, “Can’t handle a little blood? Never knew you were so weak Kacchan~”
His teasing works because Bakugou’s eyes leave his thumb and lock with Dazai’s. He must’ve noticed the dilated pupils trained on his bottom lip because he just tsks and wipes the blood against his black shirt before pulling himself closer once more.
“No more biting, asshole.” He commands, pressing his free hand against the wall. Dazai brings his own hand to Bakugou’s lip and smudges the newly formed drop. Bakugou hisses as Dazai presses down on the cut with his thumb.
“But it matches your eyes so well, Kacchan” Dazai purrs, looking at Bakugou through his eyelashes running his hand down to his neck. “So pretty~”
Dazai pulls in Bakugou for another kiss, tasting metal and slotting their mouths together and moving his hand through his hair-
“OH MY FUCKING GOD”
They break apart quickly and snap their heads toward the corner leading out to the rest of the mall to find a girl with pink hair and pink skin. Mina’s mouth is agape and she stutters some unintelligible words before she loses consciousness and falls to the ground.
Bakugou is separated from Dazai in an instant and hurries to Mina’s side. Her mouth is still open in shock but there are no signs of her being hurt from the fall. Bakugou exhales.
“Aww! Is Kacchan worried about his friends? How cute!” Dazai innocently makes his way forward, catching Bakugou’s eye once more. He shows no physical signs of what just happened, having already fixed his hair and straightened his coat. The only tell that he just kissed Bakugou silly was the slight reddish tint of his lips.
Bakugou on the other hand, was bleeding from his lip, face still as red and hair ruffled.
“Don’t worry, Kacchan. We can continue this little competition of ours later.” Dazai winks as he leaves the flustered Bakugou and the unconscious Mina. Bakugou curses at him but Dazai pretends not to hear.
– – –
The next time the class goes to the arcade together, Bakugou pays for Dazai’s game without any protest.