Chapter Text
Katsuki Bakugou had always prided himself on being a hyper efficient morning person. He'd go to bed early, wake up even earlier, get his morning workout in, and go to class with a clear head. However, that was clearly not the way most of his other classmates seemed to operate. To be a little fair to them, it was the first class after their third year summer break. He could imagine their terrible sleeping habits were hard to break. Couldn't be him, though. And it couldn't be De- Izuku, either, because unsurprising to no one, the little nerd had arrived only a few minutes after Katsuki himself and was now currently busying himself with reviewing his notes from last class, completely immersed.
His staring into nothing and wishing that their teacher would arrive or something would just fucking happen already was interrupted by the arrival of another one of his classmates. When he turned to look at the door, Jirou, his bandmate and close friend, was distractedly entering the classroom, looking unusually irritable. Sure, Jirou tended to be at least a little irritable during early mornings, but right now, they looked like they were prepared to kill whoever bothered them next.
Katsuki wasn't one to care for threats, though. He preferred to dish them, after all.
“What crawled up your ass this morning?” he asked them as they plopped down into their seat, eyebrows knitted together in annoyance and discomfort.
Jirou rolled her eyes in response. “Same thing that crawls in once a month for everyone who happens to be born a certain way.”
Ah, so she was on her period. Katsuki was familiar. Not that he'd had to deal with them personally, but he was close enough to people who did that he somewhat understood what it was like. Still, he'd never truly get what it actually felt like, and frankly? Thank fuck for that. Being born with a vagina sounded exhausting.
Still, Jirou's sour mood seemed linked to something else as well. Katsuki was pretty sure this was different from the usual level of irritability when it came to periods.
“I know it's not just that that's bothering you.” he grunted. “Someone piss you off?”
Jirou sighed in annoyance. “Just Mineta. Little creep made a gross comment about my body when I was coming out of my room for my coffee.”
“I'll kill him.” Katsuki stated calmly, almost like a suggestion.
Jirou snorted. “You don't have to go that far…” they replied, but there was no insistence in their tone. “What about you? You look slightly angrier than usual.”
“Ei's late.” Katsuki huffed, drumming his fingers on the table impatiently. He and Eijirou had trained together that morning, but the redhead chose to laze around the dorms for a while longer instead of just getting ready and going to class.
The dark-haired girl sent him a look. “Yep, I can tell. Miss your boyfriend?”
“Watch your tone or I'll blast you.”
“Try me.” Jirou sneered, jacks clinking together. “I need something to happen around here or I'll go insane.”
That was something Katsuki could relate to. Before he could make do on his promise, though, the door to the classroom parted again. Katsuki straightened up and snapped his head to look at it like a meerkat. Instead of who he expected (hoped) to see, he was met with Yaoyorozu, prim and proper as she always was, UA uniform so clean and smoothed out that it looked like she'd never worn it before. He almost felt bad for being slightly disappointed, but he should have figured it wasn't Eijirou. His boyfriend would have never opened the classroom door that quietly.
Jirou seemed to perk up ever so slightly. Well, “ever so slightly” was actually a huge understatement. What Katsuki saw was them visibly sitting up straighter in their seat, just as he had when he was checking if Eijirou was arriving, and their eyes lighting up once they saw it was Yaoyorozu.
“Thank God.” they breathed. Katsuki was aware Jirou and Yaoyorozu were quite close, but why did that sound so gentle? Period hormones? That didn't seem right to him.
Unsurprisingly, the newcomer immediately beelined to Jirou's table. Katsuki had learned to not question it. It was a fact of life at that point; every morning, Jirou would arrive at the classroom, either alongside Yaoyorozu or by herself, and Katsuki would eventually bear witness to a sickeningly affectionate display of some kind until more of their peers started piling in. Their friendship was enviable. A few years ago, Katsuki would have been jealous.
Yaoyorozu stood by Jirou's side next to her seat, holding out an arm and gently placing her hand above Jirou's.
“Good morning, love.” she hummed warmly. Katsuki thought nothing of the pet name. It was clear it was a “them” thing. And besides, Ashido called him and their friends “babe” all the time.
Jirou leaned into her arm easily, sighing. “Morning, Momo.”
“Feeling any better since last night?” the tall girl inquired, adjusting her position so that Jirou could use her as a pillow more efficiently.
“Yep.” Jirou replied. “Thanks for letting me borrow your heating pad, it helped a lot.”
“I explicitly told you to keep it.” Yaoyorozu pointed out playfully.
“And I explicitly refused.” Jirou smirked, poking Yaoyorozu's cheek with one of their jacks.
Suddenly, a cramp seemed to wrack Jirou's body, because they visibly folded into themselves, screwing their eyes shut for a second as they laid against the table. They turned to Yaoyorozu after a few pained groans.
“Can I hug you?” she moaned, face contorted in discomfort.
Yaoyorozu spread her arms wide with the usual blinding smile. “You don't even have to ask.”
Jirou practically shot out of her chair and wrapped around Yaoyorozu, burying her head in the taller's chest. Yaoyorozu responded by moving her hands up, one cradling through Jirou's hair and the other rubbing comforting circles on the shorter's back, her chin resting on top of her best friend's head.
“Y'r so w'rm…” Jirou hummed, voice muffled. She spoke so quietly Katsuki was surprised he'd been able to hear her. “W'sh I w's 'n bed…”
Katsuki thought she mumbled something else after that, but she'd spoken even quieter than before, as if whatever she said was intended for Yaoyorozu's ears only. Sure enough, the ponytailed girl's face flushed bright red, the smile etching across it almost giddy, before she removed her chin from Jirou's head to look down at her.
“What do you crave when you're on your period?” she asked gently, one arm around Jirou like she was pulling the smaller girl into a half cuddle. “I could get it for you later. I myself always crave yogurt.”
Jirou took a break from burrowing her face into her best friend's boobs - in a vaguely suspicious manner, really - to look said best friend in the eyes before replying.
“A hysterectomy.” she hissed out, eyes narrowed. Katsuki bit back the genuine laugh he'd been dangerously close to letting out. Distantly, he thought he heard Izuku let out a split-second giggle.
Yaoyorozu herself let out a soft little chuckle, looking at Jirou adoringly. “Not exactly what I expected, but I can technically still get that for you. It's quite the big change, though.”
Jirou gave her a look of serious consideration, before shaking it off like they were forcing themselves to do so. “Nah. I'll live.”
Yaoyorozu huddled closer to them. “The offer's always open if you change your mind.”
Suddenly, with a noise almost akin to the crackling sound of thunder that made all four people in the classroom jump (even Izuku had looked up from his notes, extremely startled), Kaminari entered the fray, looking a little frazzled, and also like he'd ran a marathon. Instead of immediately dispersing, like Katsuki expected (and like it had happened before), the two girls simply looked his way, only splitting apart a little to be able to face him better (Jirou even smirked at him and poked him on the nose with her jack. Katsuki couldn't hear what she said to him, but reading her lips, he thought it was something like 'Morning, dolt.'), and allowed him to join in on their conversation.
Except said conversation had suddenly turned very quiet. Too quiet for Katsuki to hear, and they'd started facing a little bit away from him, so he couldn't attempt to read their lips anymore, either. He huffed in annoyance. Kaminari can't speak quietly for shit! Now that idiot could keep his voice down? Bah.
He didn't get to be annoyed for too long, though, because he knew that wherever Kaminari went, the rest of his idiots would soon follow. Lo and behold, his entire friend group tumbled in not long after (quite literally - they looked like they were about to miss a train), first Eijirou, practically skidding on the floor with how fast he was going, then Ashido, covered in duct tape and pushing Sero back, and finally Tape-Arms himself, yelling out something about cheating while he tried to physically bite Ashido so she'd let go of him. It was a good thing Aizawa had been late that day, but Yaoyorozu still chided them for it, trying and failing not to crack a smile while doing so.
Eijirou strode to Katsuki's side and headlock-nuzzled him (an odd combination, made even odder by how actually comfortable the added pressure makes it), and Katsuki immediately forgot any grievances he'd had as he nuzzled back and listened to his boyfriend tell the tale of the idiotic all-out race he, Kaminari, Ashido and Sero had, where Kaminari had apparently gotten the upper hand by shocking the other three and booking it.
Yeah, Aizawa could take as long as he wanted to arrive now. Katsuki didn't care anymore.
[…]
It was during lunchtime, as he desperately tried to ignore Kaminari's prods and questions about who he thought would win in a battle between a billion lions and one of each Pokémon (it was definitely the Pokémon, he didn't have to be a Pokémon nerd like Kaminari to know that, but he had half a mind to be on the lions' side just to piss him off), that Katsuki's eyes drifted towards a paradoxical display, both usual and unusual at the same time.
Jirou hadn't sat with the rest of Katsuki's friend group during lunch that day. That wasn't exactly uncommon, seeing as she would alternate between sitting with them and sitting with the girls (unlike Ashido, who more often than not gravitated towards the “Bakusquad”, as they called it). What was a little uncommon was how close she was to Yaoyorozu on the table in Katsuki's field of vision.
The two had always been close, of course, so the proximity realistically shouldn't make Katsuki metaphorically tilt his head like a confused puppy, but it did. He really couldn't fathom why he was so confused; he was pretty sure girls were just like that, really physically affectionate and open to talks about feelings and all. He remembered the hag and Izuku's mother were very touchy with each other as well, but that felt different. Ms. Midoriya and Katsuki's mother had dated in their college days - that was sure to fundamentally alter two people's dynamic. Meanwhile, Yaoyorozu and Jirou were just friends. Ugh, why were interpersonal relationships and societal norms so confusing? He hated neurotypical people and their stupid unspoken rules.
“Whatcha starin' at, Bakugou?” Ashido whispered, breaking him out of his thoughts.
“Nothing.” he grumbled.
She followed his gaze regardless. “Yaomomo and Jirou? Oh, yeah, they're really cute, right?”
Katsuki narrowed his eyes. “…Sure?”
“I wonder which one's gonna confess first.” Ashido mused.
Katsuki jostled the table with how suddenly he flinched at Ashido's insane words.
“Confess?” he practically spluttered. She couldn't be serious. “You're fuckin' delusional, Raccoon-Eyes.”
Ashido let out a single bark of laughter, looking extremely amused.
“That's rich, babe.” she snarked.
For the good of the table he was sitting at and everyone gathered around it, Katsuki allowed the frustrating conversation to drift off, inevitably focusing on a different, equally frustrating one soon enough.
“I keep telling you,” Sero drawled, a hint of teasing in his tone. “a billion lions is a lot of lions.”
“I will put a gun to my head right now if you say that to me again.” Kaminari deadpanned.
“What would the lions do about the flying Pokémon?” Eijirou asked genuinely. He seemed to be the only impartial party that was taking the question somewhat seriously. “They can't reach them; they're lions.”
“Lion ladder.” Sero pointed out, Ashido nodding along, a roguish smile growing on her face.
“Pokémon have God! Like, actual God! Do lions win against God?!” Kaminari hissed in clear desperation. He looked sort of like one of the characters from an indie series about a digital circus Katsuki remembered watching with his friend group.
“Lion atheism.” Ashido countered. This time, it was Sero's turn to nod in agreement, snickering.
Kaminari actually physically slammed his head on the table, groaning like a wounded animal. “Why am I friends with either of you.”
Well, it sounded like Katsuki didn't have to rile him up after all; their friends were doing the job for him.
“The lions win ‘cause Pokémon aren't real.” he grunted, a finality in his tone. “Now finish your fucking food. Lunch break's almost over.”
Eijirou snickered a little as Kaminari slowly raised his head. He was clearly unsatisfied by Katsuki's answer, but too sick of Sero and Ashido's shit to complain.
“What the hell, sure.” he sighed loudly, gritting his teeth and grabbing his chopsticks again. “That's the least bad argument in favor of the lions.”
Before long, the bell rang to signify the end of their lunch break and the start of their afternoon hero training. Katsuki speedwalked to the changers, his friends tailing him, and changed into his training gear as quickly as he possibly could to avoid having to deal with another second of Kaminari's hyperfixation-induced anti-lion ranting (which, yes, was still going on; when Kaminari got into a debate, he got into it).
As Katsuki was about to begin warming up, cracking each knuckle on both of his hands to maybe ease the cramping that was sure to follow his training, he spotted Jirou walking alongside Yaoyorozu, the two of them heading in the opposite direction. They were holding hands, their fingers intertwined and their joint arms swinging a little.
Hm. Unusual, but somehow not surprising. Regardless, he just kept up his warmup, wondering when their friendship had progressed to hand-holding level.
[…]
Momo tried, unsuccessfully, to tear her gaze away from Bakugou, who had been staring at her and her partner from the other side of the training court long enough for it to be noticeable, expression chillingly undecipherable and bordering on threatening. He hadn't even paused his stretching. He was just… staring as he went along with it.
“Love,” she leaned down to whisper to Kyouka, who was busy with her pre-training stretches as well. “am I imagining things, or has Bakugou been staring our way for, um… I think three minutes?”
“Hm?” Kyouka nonchalantly turned her head to spare a single glance at her irritable blond friend, before getting back to her stretches. “Oh, yep. Definitely.”
Momo frowned. Kyouka knew how Bakugou's unpredictable mood swings worked much better than she did, and they didn't look worried at all. Maybe it was fine…?
“He's not mad at either of us.” Kyouka reassured her when they noticed her expression. Momo had already long given up on figuring out how they'd learned to be able to tell. “Might have just spaced out. He just kinda looks like that most of the time.”
Momo chanced one last glance at Bakugou. At first, he was still maintaining his unsettling stare, but suddenly, without a change in behavior or expression, he simply turned away, his features only softening into an approximation of bliss when Kirishima jogged to his side, throwing an arm over his shoulder as he rambled on enthusiastically about something or other.
“If you say so…” she mumbled absently, getting started on her own stretches.