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“No.”
Izuku refused to let his voice waver, set in his decision. He looked away from his best friend resolutely and back down to the smoothie in his hand as he stirred the straw slowly around the lip of the cup. He could feel the sun beat down on him from above, the summer California weather no less heated than the gaze directed at him from over his right shoulder.
“Please, Zuzu! I don’t want to go alone,” Ochako pleaded, stepping in the path of Izuku’s feet so he was forced to stop and look up at her, lest they both wind up sprawled across the asphalt hot enough to fry an egg. “I’ll owe you one!”
“I’m pretty sure you owe me something like seven at this point,” Izuku said exasperatedly. He loved his friend, really he did. Just not enough to go to a big event with large crowds, megaphones, sand, and athletes. Growing up on the West Coast, Izuku had yet to meet a single athlete that was less full of themselves than Tony Stark at the beginning of Iron Man 2. The last thing he wanted was to go to an event filled with them.
“I’ll owe you two! No, three!! Just name your price and I’ll pay it.”
Izuku made direct eye contact with her as he took his smoothie’s straw in his mouth and slurped obnoxiously, watching as she cringed at the loud, grating sound.
“I’m only going to say this one more time, Ochako; I will not go to this surf meet with you.”
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Izuku and Ochako arrived at the beach’s parking lot an hour before the competition started.
As Ochako put the Jeep in park, Izuku slumped down in the passenger seat as far as his seatbelt would allow. His arms were crossed in front of his chest petulantly as he looked out at the crowds flocking towards the shoreline.
“You’re too pretty to pout like that Zuzu, you’re gonna give yourself frown lines,” Ochako chided in good nature to his left. Izuku dragged his gaze over to her victorious smirk, jutting his bottom lip out even further for emphasis.
“I still can’t believe you found out about me and that improv performer,” Izuku responded incredulously, shaking his head in disbelief.
“I know you like the back of my hand, Zuzu. And if you don’t want your mom to find out about that actor as well, you’re gonna stay at this meet the entire time. Got it?” Ochako may have been smiling sweetly at him, but Izuku had been her best friend long enough to know the mischievous loyalties that lay just beneath the surface.
A cold chill ran down the back of his spine in fear. Or, perhaps it was just sweat. The Jeep’s dash said it was a solid 98 degrees that morning, although to Izuku it felt more like hell freezing over. He’d promised himself years ago he’d stay away from events like this, even if his life depended on it, and yet here he was just to protect his mother’s innocent heart. That woman was far too sweet to ever have to hear about the salacious things Izuku did the summer before with a man he’d hardly even known.
“Fine,” Izuku sighed resolutely, accepting his fate and the state of his mental stability that would surely be taking some damage over the next four hours.
Together they walked through the parking lot and down a path that led to the beachfront. A line of tents were set up along the edge of the competition area, conveniently marked by tall polyester beach flags. One was marked with red crosses along the perimeter of the tent top, clearly indicating it was the first aid tent. The others down the line had branded merch, a registration table, and refreshments for the competitors. Izuku had to hand it to the event staff for such nice organization.
Inside the competition area, there were platforms set up along the back edge of the beach front with bleachers for audience seating. Nearly every seat was already filled, leaving the overflow to spread out across the beach in front of the bleachers with big umbrellas and lawn chairs.
This was Izuku’s idea of Hell and there was no escape.
“Come on, Zuzu! I wanna get as much free swag as I can before they start the heats!”
And just like that, Izuku was dragged from one brand’s tent to another. Together they spun prize wheels and filled reusable tote bags with free reusable straws, baseball caps, and cheap sunglasses that would more than likely end up in a lost and found somewhere by the end of the summer.
By the time the meet was about to start, Izuku had been saddled with four bags of useless junk, two hanging from each shoulder. If he was lightly sweating before, he was practically dripping buckets full by now. The sun had risen overhead with a vengeance, ready and willing to claim any victim stupid enough to not take advantage of one of the many free water refill stations around the beach.
Ochako continued to drag him along the beach until they were able to find a surprisingly open patch of sand under a public tent near the athletes’ rest area.
Izuku and Ochako watched as the athletes warmed up on the waves, bobbing along in the water beside each other. Just as a new wave rolled in, two surfers split from the shoal a good distance from each other and began to paddle for it, turning their boards and backs to the small wave before popping up to ride it towards the shore.
One surfer, a man with bright two-toned hair, calmly kept his balance as he let the wave passively carry him towards the shore. The other, a blond man with spikes that seemed to defy physics when wet, pumped his back leg against his traction pad down the bottom of the wave, building up momentum as he came around the front of the barrel.
Izuku’s best guess was that neither surfer had noticed the other, because as the second man wrapped around to hit the white wash, he carved right over the nose of the other’s surfboard. Both men looked stunned as their boards went flying from under them, their bodies disappearing as the wave’s white wash crashed overhead.
Ochako winced to Izuku’s right, having just witnessed the same rookie mistake he had. Izuku may not know as much about the sport as most other locals did, but it didn’t take a seasoned pro to know that was a dumb move from the second surfer. How the hell hadn’t he seen the other man before deciding he needed to show off on his last wave before the meet? Most likely a grade-A-asshole, for sure.
Before long, both surfers had waded their way back to shore, pulling the leashes from their ankles as they trotted up the sand towards the competitor rest area.
“What the hell, Icyhot!” the blond surfer scolded angrily, jogging to get in front of the other before he could find a place to relax before his heat.
“I didn’t see you paddle out, Bakugou. You should have kept your head on a swivel,” The two-toned surfer, Icyhot, replied dully. Izuku was almost impressed at how fortified he seemed against the unfounded flurry of anger dripping from the other man’s–Bakugou’s–frame in waves.
Bakugou simply growled something unintelligible beneath his breath before the horn sounded overhead to announce the beginning of the meet.
“Holy shit,” Ochako breathed at his side, her eyes wide in awe. “That’s Bakugou Katsuki and Todoroki Shouto! They’re two of the best surfers of our generation. You’d be surprised at some of the rumors that follow those two.”
Izuku rolled his eyes at the obvious bait Ochako had left in the hopes of starting another conversation filled with gossip about celebrities Izuku had come to expect after being her friend for so long. Choosing to bite, Izuku sighed before urging her to continue.
“What do people say about them?”
“Well, for starters, Bakugou is apparently one of the most unapproachable surfers out there. He’s not afraid to plow through other competitors out on the waves. He even gets docked points or disqualified all the time for ignoring priority for waves.”
Yeah, Izuku thought, that seems plausible. Especially after the behavior they’d just witnessed firsthand between him and the other surfer. It’s a wonder he’s considered such a good athlete with a shit attitude to back it up.
“And then there’s Todoroki. Apparently his dad was some famous surfer before he got attacked by a shark during a meet. He trained his son to compete in his place after that. He’s never really seemed to enjoy it all that much, which is such a shame because he’s clearly so talented!”
Izuku knew a thing or two about picking a calling or career with your parents in mind. Having grown up with a single mother to raise him by herself, he chose to go into the medical field to help pay her back for all she’d sacrificed over the years to support him. She’d been so proud when he told her he’d been accepted into a very highly regarded nursing program for college a couple years back. That alone had made the hundreds of hours he’d spent studying since then all worth it. He honestly hoped Todoroki felt the same way under his appearingly unbothered exterior.
Looking around at the steadily still increasing crowd around them, Izuku decided that would be the best time for him to run to the restroom. With everyone’s attention focused on the meets, he was hoping that would mean the lines would be shorter than they had been when they’d first arrived.
He mumbled his plans to Ochako over the roar of the surrounding crowd’s excitement before slipping away and down the beach. Thankfully, Izuku had been right. The bathrooms had been practically abandoned in the wake of the competition starting. With his business quickly done, Izuku exited the bathroom only to find the beach somehow even more covered in people, more so than it had been before he’d parted from Ochako.
Well fuck.
Izuku could hardly see through the crowd where he was going. Lawn chairs, beach towels, and clusters of wave watchers littered every square inch of the sand. It wasn’t long before Izuku realized he had no idea where he was anymore.
He’d thought he was headed back in the direction he’d come from, but with his head aimed towards the sand to ensure he didn’t step on anyone sunbathing or trip over a chair or three, his sense of direction had definitely been skewed. He couldn’t recognize any of the tents nearby from earlier and the area he’d found himself in seemed a lot less busy than the rest of the beach.
Between the agonizing weight of the sun beating down on him from above and the growing feeling of overstimulation from the noise and massive amounts of people all around, Izuku was one inconvenience away from snapping.
Apparently the universe really wanted to see him reach that point today though, because as he kept turning around in circles to see if he could spot Ochako amongst the sea of tents and patrons underneath, he hadn’t seen a beach goer coming as they chased a flyaway frisbee straight into his back.
Izuku was sent flying forwards down the beach and into a rack of surfboards. Why the random rack for surfboards had been out in the open in the middle of the sands, Izuku had no idea, but as he laid sprawled over their stiff surfaces, he felt that final straw snap.
“What the fuck, dude!”
Scratch that, now Izuku had snapped.
Someone hauled his body up and off the boards before leaving him behind to start pulling the pile of boards apart to reach one at the bottom. Izuku was shocked and appalled that this asshole had clearly been more concerned with his board than whether or not Izuku was okay.
Finally retrieving what they seemed to be after, the surfer turned around and Izuku’s brain only hiccuped for a moment in the wake of his annoying feelings. There, standing before and above him, in all his glory, was Bakugou Katsuki. Damn. He was an asshole, but a beautiful asshole.
“What the fuck, me?, What the fuck, you!” Izuku sputtered as he raked his angry but appreciative gaze all the way up to Bakugou’s eyes. He clenched his hands at his sides to keep them from waving around like a madman in his flustered state.
“I literally don’t understand what you just said. Why the fuck did you throw yourself into the boards? Better yet, what the hell do you think you’re doing in the competitor’s area?” Bakugou looked more so annoyed than anything, but that only served to further fuel Izuku’s indignant rage.
“I didn't throw myself into the boards! I was bumped into and fell, asshole. Who the hell would be more concerned with a board than with someone who could be hurt?”
Izuku was starting to wish Ochako was there to pull him away from what was clearly ramping up to be an inciting incident, but he was annoyed, hot, and ready to go home. This man had just been an asshole in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Bakugou looked shocked, but before Izuku could allow himself to appreciate his face without the marring effect of frown lines for once, they returned with a vengeance as he decided he was ready to add insult to injury.
“First of all, prick, I need a board intact for my heat. Second, that still doesn’t sound like a good enough excuse to be in an area you clearly don’t belong in,” Bakugou sneered, leaning his body weight against his boards as he smirked down at Izuku below.
What.
An.
Asshole.
“Well, if you’re anything like what I’ve heard, it’d probably be better for everyone if you didn’t even surf today, considering you’re more likely to injure the other competitors than beat them fair and square. You probably don’t even have a single good-sportsmanship bone in your body!” Izuku was huffing and wheezing as his heart beat rapidly behind his ribcage.
However, that seemed to finally get through to the guy in front of him. The shock he’d briefly seen earlier was back on his face as he looked surprised that Izuku had even had the audacity to speak against him.
“Oh yeah?!” Bakugou started, clearly struggling to sort through whatever confusing emotions were currently warring within his mind. “I bet you anything I can beat those extras fair and fucking square! Just you watch, nerd!”
“Really?” Izuku taunted, crossing his arms in front of his chest with a proud smirk. “Prove it.”
“Fine!” Bakugou seethed, turning to stomp in the other direction before stopping dead in his tracks. He turned halfway over his shoulder, looking back at Izuku with a smirk that made his stomach flip uncontrollably in its wake. “And when I do, you owe me.”
And with that, he turned back towards the competitor tents and began to make his exit. By the time Izuku had processed what the fuck had just happened and shouted after Bakugou’s disappearing form, “What the hell does that even mean?”, he was already gone.
Izuku wasn’t sure how long he stood there trying to get his anger under control before he decided it was probably best he returned to Ochako. It took much longer than he’d hoped it would, but he finally spotted the large blue umbrella he and Ochako had claimed before his departure.
“You’ll never believe who I just met,” Izuku said, plopping his ass down on the scolding hot sand next to his best friend.
Her focus was on the four surfers out on the waves in the middle of their heat when she noncommittally hummed in response. It looked like they were almost done with the first heat of the day, meaning the next was sure to start within the next ten minutes or so.
“I got a little lost on my way back from the bathroom and I ran into Bakugou Katsuki. Literally. Well, more so his board, but I suppose the same sentiment still stands.”
Ochako’s eyes widened in shock as she slowly shifted her gaze from the ocean to him. “I’m sorry,” she started, voice quiet and disbelieving. “I’m gonna need you to repeat that, Zuzu.”
Izuku blinked at her, not really sure what she wanted him to say to that. She’d clearly heard what he’d just said and she knew he would never make up a story about meeting ‘celebrities’ he would have never wanted to even meet in the first place.
“Are you serious?” Ochako jumped at him, grabbing the arm closest to where she was sitting to shake him violently. “What did he say? Was he as gorgeous in person as he is online? What happened? Tell me!”
“Geez, Chako!” Izuku soothed, pulling his arm from her grasp lest his brain shake around enough to make him pass out before he could even get the words out. “Yeah, he was gorgeous.”
What the fuck?
That was not what he’d meant to start with.
“I mean!” Izuku sputtered when Ochako threw a knowing look his way. “He was an asshole! I got knocked into the board rack his was resting on and he was more worried about his equipment being damaged than my body.”
“Have you seen yourself lately, Zuzu? With abs like that, I think it’ll take a lot more for you to get injured than a little bump.”
“That’s not the point!” Izuku forced himself to stop and take a deep centering breath, lest he blow up at his own friend. Maybe Bakugou wasn’t the only one at fault when it came to how heated their shared argument was earlier. “The point is, he bet me he could win his heat without being an ass on the waves.”
“What does that even mean? What did he even bet on?” Ochako’s head tilted to the side in confusion.
“I don’t know! He just told me I’d owe him if he won,” Izuku shrugged, turning to look back out at the waves as the first heat came to an end. The surfers who’d been out on the water began wading back to shore, some clearly happier with their waves than others.
“Then you and I better hope he does win, because I want to see how this unfolds.”
Izuku looked back to his friend before a foreboding shiver ran down his spine. The look in Ochako’s eyes was never a good one. In fact, the last time Izuku had seen it was right before his best friend successfully blackmailed him into attending a surfing competition with her. The nerve.
This would not end well for him, Izuku thought in resignation.
He and Ochako sat silently as they watched heat after heat take place out on the waves. Each time the names of the chosen competitors were called at the beginning of the next set, their shoulders would both slump. Izuku was grateful every time he didn’t hear Bakugou’s name called over the loudspeaker system, relief flooding him at the prospect of getting a little bit more time to think through things before he would finally grace the beach with his competitive presence.
Izuku could only assume the reason Ochako’s shoulders slumped was because she was gearing up for the spectacle that would more likely than not follow as soon as Bakugou was done with his heat. Izuku didn’t even know how Bakugou was planning to find him after the meet if he did win. It’s not like he knew where Izuku was sitting to watch him either make a fool of himself out on the waves or completely tear his competition to shreds.
Just when Izuku had begun to hope that Bakugou wouldn’t be surfing after all, or had even gotten banned before he could make it to the waves, his name was called over the loudspeakers alongside that Todoroki guy from before and one other surfer.
“There goes your new best friend, Zuzu~” Ochako teased, nudging his shoulder as he ducked his head in embarrassment. Izuku really couldn’t take his friend anywhere, could he?
“Hey nerd!” Izuku’s head shot up from where he’d hung it in front of his chest. His eyes locked with Bakugou’s as he jogged down the beach towards the shoreline and subsequently past where Izuku and Ochako were sitting. “Keep your eyes on me, got it? You won’t want to miss this.”
Then he winked.
He winked at Izuku.
Ochako squealed at an octave he didn’t even think she could hit. And he should know, considering how many nights she had dragged him, Tsu, and Iida out for karaoke. She renewed her earlier efforts of shaking him until he’d potentially pass out in the wake of her excitement.
Izuku was definitely ready to go home.
Despite his growing unease, both at Bakugou’s forwardness and the fluttering feeling in his stomach it evoked, he did as he was told. He kept his eyes on Bakugou the entire heat.
And what he saw left him awestruck. Not only did Bakugou abide by priority rules, but he also showed more restraint when interacting with the other surfers in the water than Izuku had been expecting. And yet, when it came time for his turn to shine and take his top two waves, he never held back. He proved to every last person sitting on that beach that his skill on a board was enough to back up the hot headed attitude he seemed to carry with him wherever he went.
Not that Izuku would ever say it was an excuse for rude behavior, but he could sort of understand where that big ego of his was coming from if this was how he competed.
Izuku thought he was breathtaking.
When the heat disk flipped to orange, signaling the last five minutes for surfers to paddle out, Izuku finally wrenched his eyes from the water and those in it to the person sitting next to him. He was surprised to see Ochako’s eyes already settled on his face, a soft smile pulling at her cheeks as she regarded him fondly.
“You must really be something special to make that much of a difference in someone like Bakugou Katsuki after only one meeting.”
At first, Izuku thought he should feel insulted by such a comment. But then, turning his gaze back to Bakugou’s form bobbing gently out on the waves waiting for the heat to finish, he really hoped what Ochako had said was right.
Maybe he and Bakugou could be good for each other.
Finally, the heat ended and the three surfers came back up the shore towards their towels and tents. In their slow but steady approach up the beach, Izuku could hear what they were saying to each other.
“You were very good out there, Bakugou,” Todoroki said, graciously accepting a towel handed to him by an event employee.
“Yeah, whatever. You too, I guess,” Bakugou said, shaking water droplets from his hair like a dog. Why the fuck did Izuku think that was so attractive?
“Wow,” Todoroki responded, eyes widening slightly as his voice stayed soft but succinct. “I think that’s the first thing you’ve ever said to me that didn’t include a swear word.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Bakugou shouted, his cheeks reddening as he stomped faster up the beach and directly towards where Izuku and Ochako were sitting.
“Nerd!”
And now he was addressing Izuku and approaching with intent. Izuku was definitely only sweating because of the resilient summer heat and no other reason at all. No one could prove anything. Izuku scrambled up to his feet, stepping away from Ochako so they wouldn’t have to talk literally standing over her head.
“See that? I was fucking great out there.” Bakugou smirked as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the ocean’s perpetual ebb and flow. Bakugou’s approach finally came to a stop with Izuku finding himself standing below Bakugou’s much taller frame as he looked down at him appreciatively.
“Yeah, you were,” Izuku agreed, eyes softening at the edges as he smiled up at the taller man.
Bakugou blue screened. It was like he was expecting more fight out of the shorter man. Izuku would never admit to just how much excitement it brought him that he was able to surprise the other man so much with his response.
“Looks like you won, too. Guess that means you win the bet.”
Bakugou’s eyes widened even further in shock, clearly having missed the loudspeaker announcement of final placements due to his surprise only seconds prior. His upper half twisted slightly to look past Izuku’s shoulder and up towards the large screen projecting the competitors’ names in placement order before dropping his gaze back down to Izuku with a maniacal grin.
“Guess it does.”
“So,” Izuku started, taking a short step closer to the chiseled chest barely disguised by the wetsuit in front of him. Izuku fluttered his eyelashes, looking up at the blond’s face under their cover. “What do I owe you?”
“You ever surfed before?”
Well, that wasn’t what Izuku had been expecting.
“Uh,” Izuku gaped, squinting in confusion at Bakugou’s words. “No. No, I haven’t.”
“With a body like that? Damn, what a waste. Guess that just means I’ll have to teach you,” Bakugou said, clear intent dripping from every word only to be punctuated with another one of those winks that left Izuku feeling the need to giggle obscenely in its wake.
“Cool,” Izuku said, his grin lopsided and completely honest as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet in glee. “It’s a date then.”