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Recently, Bakugou has been gaining popularity in the hallways of U.A. Although he still has the same bad temper, something has softened around him lately.
Bakugou was infamous for having an explosive temper, so if you happened to become a bother to him no matter how unintentionally, you would be met with his yelling and occasionally his threatening sparks.
But now, starting his third year at U.A., Bakugou hardly spared these people a glance. If someone bumped into him in the hallway, he would continue walking. A rare phenomenon!
Steadily, his popularity began to grow, particularly among the incoming first year girls. Having heard the rumours of Bakugou's fierce temper, they knew that he was vulgar and ill-mannered, but they were also able to form an impression of Bakugou without encountering his intimidating threats personally.
"Just as I thought, he can keep up that ikemen image if he keeps his mouth shut!" One girl wondrously spoke as she cupped her cheeks, imagining the romantic potential of Bakugou Katsuki.
Indeed, Bakugou was more attractive than the average high school boy. His natural blond hair looked soft, like the fur of a long-haired cat, ultimately bringing up his appeal. Its jagged shape brought out his sharp eyes, which held a beautiful shape now that Bakugou wasn't glaring as often as he used to. His pupils were a captivating shade of red, and now that they weren't carrying a sense of deep rage, the colour looked as if dyed with rose petals. Truly, to look into his eyes was to feel a serene sense of calm. He doesn't lash out at everyone anymore, but the way he carries himself shows you that he is strong. His gaze carries a sense of strength, a belief in himself and his classmates, the allure of a hero.
Little by little, the girls of U.A. started sharing rumours about their romantic encounters with Bakugou Katsuki. The "romantic encounters" being their experiences running into Bakugou and escaping unscathed.
One girl spoke about the time when she suddenly ran into Bakugou while playing in the hallway. She looked into his dark red eyes as he said, coldly, "Don't run around."
The girls screamed excitedly. "He talked to you!" One chimed.
"Maybe I should be the one to give Bakugou his first Valentine's chocolate," continued the girl who was telling the story, clasping her hands together as she imagined the scenario. Thanks to Midoriya Izuku, Bakugou's childhood friend, it was now common knowledge that Bakugou had never received Valentine's chocolate in the past, to the point of never even receiving Just Friend's chocolate!
"Not if we give it first!" Multiple girls argued.
This is how Bakugou Katsuki ended up with a locker filled to the brim with romantic red and pink cards and chocolate hearts.
Annoyed about where he would put his shoes, he put all the letters and chocolates into his bag, and then changed his shoes.
"Wow! You're amazing, Kacchan!" an all-too-familiar voice chimed as a figure of about the same size ran to catch up to Bakugou's side. "You've never gotten letters before!"
"Idiot, that's not something to say so proudly," Bakugou spoke. He wasn't embarrassed, though, of course. Bakugou didn't care about Valentine's day, after all, since the person he was interested in wasn't a girl.
He tossed the Valentine's notes from his bag into the trash, saving the chocolates. He wasn't about to let a good treat go to waste.
Shocked, Midoriya turned to Bakugou, "You didn't even look at them! What if one was from a person you'd like!"
"Idiot, a person I like wouldn't be in there."
"Oh, I see." Midoriya spoke, pondering for a moment. Bakugou wondered what part of his response made Midoriya think so deeply, but he dismissed it as the nerd's regular (and excessive) analytic thinking.
***
A few days later, Bakugou got another letter in his locker, this time a pink heart-shaped card.
Kirishima saw Bakugou about to throw it out when he stopped him. "Whoa, dude! Throwing away someone's courage like that is so unmanly! You should at least read it first."
Letting out a tired exhale, Bakugou decided to read it. If not, Kirishima would be giving him an earful all day about it. As expected, the note was from a girl who had given him Valentine's chocolate. She was asking to meet him after school today under the cherry blossom tree at the back of the main U.A. school building.
Annoyed, Bakugou moved to toss it out again, but Kirishima insisted that it was unmanly. "You should hear her out, dude. You don't even know what she's like yet."
"Yeah, yeah! What if she's a beauty!" Kaminari offered, following the conversation as the three of them entered the classroom.
Midoriya was already there, setting his notebook and pens on his desk. He glanced at the situation as Bakugou and the others entered the room.
"I told you, I don't want to see this girl." Bakugou pushed back, tired of the pestering.
"Come on, you never do anything after school anyways," Kaminari continued, "You'll just head straight back to the dorms, so what does it matter if you take a few extra minutes to leave."
"Ah, Kacchan!" Izuku suddenly interrupted the conversation, causing the three boys to stare at him from the entrance of the classroom.
"Um, you're still going to the store with me after school…right?" Midoriya stammered.
A moment of silence passed as Kirishima and Kaminari looked at Bakugou.
"Yeah," Bakugou answered.
"If you had plans, it can't be helped. You should've said so," Kirishima thoughtfully acknowledged.
To tell the truth, Midoriya neither had anything he needed from the store, nor did he ever ask Bakugou to accompany him.
***
Yet here Bakugou was, ready to go to the store with Midoriya after school.
"If you're heading to the store, can you pick up some steamed buns as well!" Uraraka requested.
"Me too!" Other students joined in, one after another.
"Ok, Ok! We'll get one for everyone," Midoriya answered as he quickly walked away before they could ask for more.
Silently, the two continued walking down the sidewalk. Midoriya led the way as Bakugou followed.
As they were getting closer to the store, Midoriya snuck glances back at Bakugou. He thought he was being sneaky about it, but Bakugou of course noticed. It was after the third glance that Bakugou got too annoyed not to comment.
"What's up with you?" Bakugou spoke sharply.
Midoriya jumped. "Um... It's just— Uh," He struggled to find his words.
"Spit it out already!"
"Ok, Kacchan!" Midoriya complied, shielding himself from any flying sparks that might come his way. It was true that Bakugou was much calmer these days, but that was about an unprovoked Bakugou, and of course, Midoriya would always somehow be able to provoke him.
"It's just that... I don't have anything I need from the store," Midoriya confessed, his feet stopping at the doorstep of the very store he had supposedly made plans with Bakugou to visit this afternoon.
Bakugou stared at Midoriya. He didn't know whether to start questioning Midoriya's stupidity or his goal in dragging him out here. In the end, he decided to just be silent and wait for whatever explanation the nerd came up with.
But the silence itself was too threatening to Midoriya, who suddenly came to the conclusion by himself that he only had 10 seconds to explain himself before he was blown to smithereens.
He began speaking rapidly, "B-but this hasn't been a complete waste of time! We still have to get the steamed buns for the others!" He flailed his hands in front of him as if it would aid his explanation. "And, and, at least you don't have to go meeting that girl after school!"
Checkmate.
"You didn't want me to meet that girl?" Bakugou started, curious. He was careful, only repeating what Midoriya had told him. He wouldn't go further into the realm of imagination that was too dangerous. He isn't the type to dream about a world where Midoriya would like him back, but if he found any evidence that the nerd did, he wouldn't complain.
"Yeah, actually... That's why I lied in the first place..." Midoriya confessed softly.
Was this it? Was this really happening? The moment where Bakugou's feelings for Midoriya would become mutual.
"I know your secret," Midoriya clued.
And Bakugou's heart skipped a beat. The excitement and anticipation traveled lower into his stomach. He felt nauseous. His crush liking him back would be great, of course, but the more his hope grew, the greater his sense of danger felt. It was like Icarus flying too close to the sun. To make his dream a reality would make the reality he knew no longer exist. Life would become unfamiliar. How would their relationship change after this? What if he has it all wrong, and Midoriya never thought of him like that. What if Midoriya finally found out about his feelings after all these years, but he didn't feel the same way.
"I know..." Midoriya came closer to Bakugou's ear, lowering his voice to a whisper.
Bakugou froze.
"I know... you're asexual."
...
???
Bakugou didn't know what to say.
"Don't worry, I'll keep it a secret for you." Midoriya patted Bakugou's shoulder twice and walked into the store, leaving Bakugou outside the entrance.
Bakugou stood there for a minute trying to put the pieces together. Somehow Midoriya's nerd analysis went so wrong that he came to such an absurd conclusion.
***
On the way back to the dorms, Midoriya continued talking about Bakugou and his supposed asexuality.
"You know, maybe every Valentine's day from now on, you could make plans to hang out with Todoroki. He's also ace, so he'd get your struggle with all the girls on Valentine's day. He's so popular now that Iida has to protect him," Midoriya recalled.
"Why can't I just hang out with you," Bakugou questioned. He was too tired to consider Midoriya's mental gymnastics right now. If it was a sport, Midoriya would have won a scholarship.
"Hm, that's also possible," Midoriya considered carefully, "but I think Todoroki would be best since he's also ace. Then people would know you two aren't dating. If it was just us, it would look like we're dating... not to say ace people can't date or anything!" His voice began climbing to a higher pitch as his speech grew faster, his hands flailing in front of him again. "I know some ace people might want to date, but at least from what Todoroki's told me, it must be uncomfortable for a girl to pursue you so strongly. I just wanted to save you from that..." Midoriya winced, afraid he had offended the supposedly asexual Bakugou.
Bakugou didn't say anything in response. At this point, he was just humouring him. Even without Bakugou's input, however, Midoriya continued thinking, perhaps too much.
Midoriya's voice turned into a mumble. "But if people don't know Todoroki is ace, then it would be even more likely for people to think they're dating... and for Bakugou to come out as ace just to put an end to those rumours, it would be too much. Does Auntie even know he's ace yet? Am I the first person he's told?" In fact, Bakugou hasn't told anyone this so-called secret.
"I'm not ace."
"Don't worry, Kacchan, you don't have to lie to me. I guess I was coming off a little strong," Midoriya said sympathetically.
"Goddamnit, stop jumping to conclusions by yourself!"
***
Soon, Bakugou and Midoriya arrived back at the U.A. dorms.
"Here's your damn steamed buns," Bakugou said as he handed Uraraka a bag.
She was about to thank him before she gasped. "What happened, Deku?!"
Following behind Bakugou was a soot-covered Midoriya, with his hair poofy and burnt.