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“Kirishima, come look at this. You’re going to love it!”
Both Kirishima and Katsuki turn around, to see Kaminari waving at them. Well, waving at Kirishima .
“Ah,” Kirishima gives Katsuki an apologetic look, scratching the back of his head. He pats Katsuki on the shoulder as he starts to back up. “I’ll catch up with you later?”
“Yeah,” Katsuki says, watching him leave, watching the way that Kaminari and Sero eagerly encircle him into their group. “Later.”
He hefts his backpack up higher and heads back to the dorms, looking up at the sky and watching the clouds drift by.
~
Katsuki is used to being first in everything. He’s got the best quirk, he’s got a brilliant mind, he knows strategy, his grades are one of the best.
He can cook food meant for celebrities. He keeps everything tidy and neat.
He knows he can be number one.
~
Aizawa tells them to pair up. Katsuki looks to the right. Kirishima and Kaminari have their arms hooked. He looks to the left. Ashido and Sero are already heading out to their part of the gym.
He looks forward to Todoroki, who sighs. “I guess I have you today.”
Katsuki grins, holding up his hand. It sparks. “Ready to eat concrete?”
~
When Katsuki is younger, he is always picked first. First for teams. First for group projects.
Others look to him, to decide what game to play. To decide what movie to watch. To decide what snacks to eat.
When Katsuki is younger, he is wanted .
~
Mic assigns them a project. It’s a simple one. They’re supposed to talk to a few civilians, gather data about what the public thinks of Heroes and then present propositions in order to better Heroes’ reputation in front of the rest of the class.
It sounds stupid to Katsuki. Why do they need to booster their reputation? Their job is to stop the villains. Who cares about anything else?
But he also isn’t about to let his grades slip over a stupid project.
Mic allows them to pick their own partners. As soon as the words leave him, there is tension in the air, so thick you can taste it. Everyone positions themselves. They are ready.
Mic says “Go.” They go.
It’s a mad scramble as people try to grab their partner. Katsuki turns to Kirishima, but Kaminari beats him to it. He looks to Iida, but Iida has snagged Todoroki as Uraraka bounces over to Midoriya.
Jirou and Yaoyorozu are already talking. Tokoyami and Shoji have their heads put together. Sero and Ashido are laughing together, most likely going to leave their project to the last second.
One by one, everyone is paired up. Until it’s Katsuki. And Tsuyu.
The two of them stare at each other. Katsuki scowls. Tsuyu blinks at him. Without saying a word, they get out their notebooks and start planning their data gathering strategy.
There’s a bit of annoyance that thrums in Katsuki’s blood. But he doesn’t say anything. His grades are more important anyways.
~
Katsuki finds out half a year in the school year that Kaminari, Kirishima, Sero and Ashido have a game night.
He finds out half a year into the school year that most of the boys have a manga and anime night.
He finds out half a year into the school year that the girls hang in the common room, just doing a bit of self care.
He finds out half a year into the school year that he is the only one who goes to his room after dinner to study, train, and sleep.
He doesn’t care all that much though. After all, they’re wasting their time. And he’s preparing to be the number one hero. So who is really winning here?
~
His therapist had told him clear communication is key. If there’s something bothering him, he should just talk about it to that person.
And sure, he could do that.
Or .
He could continue to just bottle it up and never speak of it, at all. Never let anyone know about what he’s feeling or what’s bothering him. He has a reputation after all.
People look at him and see someone who is confident. Someone reckless. Someone who doesn’t have a sensitive bone in his body.
They’re right, of course. Bakugou Katsuki has never once cried in his life.
~
Katsuki is out looking up at the stars. He doesn’t get to see them a lot, but he’s in the middle of helping Best Jeanist on a mission in the countryside. Best Jeanist isn’t happy about being out here, but apparently he’s doing a favor for a friend.
Katsuki lays on the back of the truck, looking up at the sky. At the twinkling stars. At the moon that is half full.
Behind him, he can hear the other sidekicks laughing. They had rented a camper, but it was so cramped and hot that Katsuki preferred to sleep out here. Right now, the sidekicks are playing some kind of card game to pass the time.
They didn’t bother asking Katsuki if he wanted to join in.
Which is fine . Great even.If they had been gambling, he would take all their money anyways. And it’s not like he’s friendly with any of them. He didn’t even bother to learn their names.
Learning their quirks is much more useful anyways.
Another burst of laughter has Katsuki scowling.
He hears the crunch of gravel. A blond head peaks over the edge of the truck. Best Jeanist, raising an eyebrow at him. In his other hand, he holds a plate of food. “I thought you might be hungry. I didn’t see you come in for dinner.”
Katsuki grunts, sitting up so he can grab the food. He had been hungry, but he hadn’t wanted to go in. Hadn’t wanted all those eyes looking at him.
He thought Best Jeanist would just leave after that, but he didn't. He leans against the truck. He’s silent. Watching Katsuki.
“What?” Katsuki grunts, around a mouthful of food.
“You shouldn’t talk with your mouth full,” he says. Katsuki debates saying something smart, but he’s too tired tonight. Instead, he continues to stuff his face, doing his best to ignore the Pro Hero.
“You know,” the Pro finally says, “There is plenty of room inside. The others seem to be having a good time playing their game.”
Katsuki grunts. “Who cares? I don’t have time for that. I’m going to be the only one prepared if the villains catch wind of what we are doing and come ambush us.”
Katsuki can’t see his mouth but he gets the feeling the Pro is frowning at him. He can see the eyebrow is being raised at him. “We have people watching out for any villains. All our intel shows that the villains are not aware. You can take one night to relax.”
He frowns down at his food. He pushes some of it around. “I don’t need to relax.” Even to him, he sounds peterlent.
Silence hits him. Only the bugs are talking. Best Jeanist continues to stare at him. So Katsuki tries again. “And they’re all extras. What am I supposed to do, talk to them?”
“That is what most people do, yes.” Best Jeanist leans against the truck. “Forgive me for being forward, but do know how to make friends, yes?
“Of course I do!” It’s immediate and then…he thinks about it. He’s great at making friends! Wait…he has friends, right? Does he have friends? “Of course I do,” Katsuki mutters. KIrishima calls him his friend all the time, right? And….
And….
Well. There’s Kirishima.
Best Jeanist hums. For some reason, the sound makes Katsuki flush. “You have a certain…charm to you. It makes people look to you, in times of crisis. But that charm can only take you so far.”
“What does that mean?” Charm? Katsuki has never been described like that before.
“There is more to being a Pro than fighting villains.”
Katsuki throws his hands up. “I know that! Everyone keeps fucking telling me.”
“Language,” Best Jeanist says, mildly. “I know you know. You are learning and I see that. You have come a long way from when I first saw you in the Sport’s Festival. But. Another lesson is this. Being a Pro means, that for better or worse, you have to work with others. It certainly doesn’t hurt to form workplace relationships outside, so that when you do have to work together, it’s easier.”
Best Jeanist pushes off the truck. He flips his hair out of his face, briefly. “In any case, enjoy your night. And your food. And Bakugou?”
Katsuki looks up from his bowl as the Pro walks away. “Yeah?”
“Give me twenty push ups. For your crude language.”
The Pro walks away. Katsuki can’t help the small smile on his face. “Fucker,” he whispers under his breath.
Then he goes back to looking up at the stars.
~
Texting shouldn’t be hard, right?
Katsuki looks down at his phone. He’s sitting crossed legged on his bed. Next to him, is a couple of comic books. He heard Kirishima say he wanted to read them. Katsuki has them.
They’re friends, right? Friends give each other stuff all the time. So, it shouldn’t be that hard for him to…just tell Kirishima he has them. And that he can borrow them. Right.
Right.
Katsuki squints at his phone. He has his messenger with Kirishima pulled up. There isn’t much there. Mostly, Katsuki reminding Kirishima about their study time and Kirishima replying back with stupid emojis.
Even to Katsuki, he knows that they don’t really talk all that much.
Katsuki sighs, running his hand through his hair. But that doesn’t matter, right? They talk in real life, which obviously means more! They have a real connection.
…right. Ok. So, since they have a real friendship that must mean that it’s ok if he just texts him. It wouldn’t be weird, right? Just texting him out of the blue. He would probably even be happy, since Katsuki doesn’t text that much.
Or. He’ll think it’s weird. He might even show Kaminari and the two of them will talk about how weird Katsuki is. Then Kaminari will show it to Sero who will show it Ashido, who will show it to Jirou who will-
No! Katsuki shakes his head. That’s loser talk. Even if they think it’s weird, it’s not like he cares what they think. If Kirishima does spread it around the school, he’ll just blow him up!
Foolproof plan.
…Katsuki still hesitates to send the message.
Why? Why is this so hard? Kirishima sends him messages without a second thought, so why is Katsuki second guessing himself?
He’s acting like an extra. Quickly, before Katsuki can think about it too much, he types up his text and sends it. Then he throws his phone away from him and gets up, pacing around his room. There are some spots he missed when was cleaning, he can get those real quick.
He continues to focus on them even when his phone dings.
When he’s finally calmed down, he takes a deep breath and goes to check what Kirishima texted back.
Kirishima: Sorry, bro! Kami already lent me them. Thanks for offering!
There’s an emoji of two fists bumping together.
Katsuki stares at his phone for a good, long minute. Then he throws it back on his bed and goes to get his gym gear.
He has some aggression to work out.
~
He knows Best Jeanist isn’t wrong, really. Even as much as he doesn’t like others, he has to admit. It’s easier to command someone from his class, who knows to listen to his orders because they are good ones, than someone who doesn’t know that he is smarter than them.
The problem is…well. Ok. He might be the problem. Maybe starting the school year off by telling everyone he’s better than them and will become the next number one wasn’t the best idea.
It’s all true , but maybe he shouldn’t have said it out loud.
Whatever. What’s done is done now. The problem is how to move forward.
Katsuki is a strategist. He knows how to plan things out. So planning how to make… friends shouldn’t be too hard?
Right?
He decides to start with the easiest. Kirishima always insisted that they were friends anyways. There is no chance for failure there.
Except, getting the fucker pinned down to make plans is fucking hard. The problem with Kirishima is that he is friends with everyone . Which means he’s always got something going on. Katsuki has even seen him talking with extras from the business courses.
He’s always moving, going from room to room. Everyone seems to want to do something, always asking for his help.
Katsuki bites his bottom lip. If he’s going to ask Kirishima to hang out, he needs something that will entice the redhead to hang out with him.
It takes him a bit of research but he does find an old movie theater that plays Hero Movies and is currently running a documentary about Crimson Riot. Katsuki snags two tickets and makes his way over to Kirishima’s door.
Right as he’s about to knock though, he hears laughter explode from inside. It sounds like…the nerd?
“Told you Crimson Riot is cool,” Kirishima says.
“His quirk really is useful, but what’s more, he uses it in interesting ways. Much like you.”
There’s another round of laughter, this time more nervous. “You really think so?”
The two continue talking. It’s so seemingless. Katsuki hangs his head, his eyebrows furrowing. Since when did the nerd get good at talking to other people?
Why is it so easy for him to make friends?
Katsuki crumbles the tickets in his hand and goes back to his room. Back to the drawing board.
~
So, Kirishima is out. Which is fine. They’re already friends anyways, right? Then he doesn’t need to make further friends with him.
Katsuki has one friend down. That’s a start.
His mistake, of course, was going for the friendly person first. He needs someone who is just as lonel-...just as friendless…hmmm. There really is no way to say it without making him sound like a loser, huh?
Anyways, Katsuki decides to go for the next easiest person. Todoroki is always insisting they are friends. So time to be friendly with him.
For as food motivated Todoroki is, the easiest thing seems to be making dinner. One night, when they are relatively alone, most of the class either chilling in their rooms or back home for the week, he decides that making a shared dinner will be ok. He makes noodles, makes his a little more spicier, and places a bowl in front of Todoroki, who is finishing up an essay.
Katsuki waits. Todoroki doesn’t say anything. Katsuki waits some more. Todoroki continues to not say anything. He clears his throat, but Todoroki is so focused on his writing, that he completely ignores him.
Katsuki grits his teeth, before turning away to eat his food in the corner sullenly. He has not sunk so low that he is going to beg someone to acknowledge him.
Instead, he eats his food and glares at Todoroki the entire time. It’s not till an hour later that Todoroki looks up from his laptop, to see the bowl. He looks up at the sky, as if the food could have fucking come from there.
Katsuki decides this is stupid and Todoroki is stupid and making friends is stupid, so fuck all of them.
~
His sulking last a good couple of days before he decides to try again.
He tries to swap recipes with Sato but accidentally picks one that Sato is allergic to.
He tries again with Tokoyami by offering to train with him, but Tokoyami seems to think it’s an excuse to beat him up.
He tries again with Jirou by asking for her tastes in music but he can’t get the conversation started and she seems bored by it, so he just bails out before he can embarrass himself more.
He tries again. He tries again. He tries again.
Until he doesn’t want to try anymore.
~
Katsuki gets it. He does. He had to learn how to fail in order to better himself. He got that lesson, universe, thank you.
But it doesn’t make failing any easier. At least when he saw the gap between his power and the power of his classmates, he had a way to close it. He could train. He could get instruction from his teachers. Every fight with a villain was a way to help him test his skills. He got stronger, even when he was getting his ass kicked. Even when he died. He got stronger.
Talking to other people should be like that. Oop, he couldn’t talk to one person? That’s ok, he did it next time. He could train- talking to himself in the mirror-, he could get instructions- reading books- and then boom, he’s a master at making friends.
But that’s not what happens. He just fails and fails and fails and fails and fails and fails and fails and fails-
And it becomes increasingly obvious that it’s a Bakugou Katsuki thing. That he, himself, is just not meant to have friends. His confidence might serve him on the field, but in interpersonal relationships, it’s only a determinant.
He doesn’t really plan on changing, either. He likes being confident. He likes being the way he is. He has edges, sure, but he’s learning to round them so they don’t cut others and he likes that.
He likes the person he is becoming.
But to be better, does he really need to start shrinking himself? To be less loud? To be less bright?
He’s not sure that’s what he wants to become, especially if it’s to appease others.
So where does he go from here? Where does that leave him?
What should he do?
~
Katsuki spends the next week keeping to himself as he turns the problem over in his head. He has to spend the weekend with Best Jeanist and he’s looking forward to that distraction. He’s got his bag packed, throws his jacket on, and goes to wait for Best Jeanist to pick him up when Deku stops him by the door.
“Kacchan, I just want to make sure, is everything ok?”
Katsuki scowls at him. “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”
Deku no longer cowers under his glare but he does look a little hesitant. Katsuki takes a deep breath through his nose, so he doesn’t get angier. “I’m just checking. You’ve been acting…odd, the last couple of weeks.”
“What? No I haven’t!”
“You have. Just a little bit.”
“I think you’re imagining things.” Katsuki hefts his bag higher on his shoulder, turning away from him. “My ride is here.” He pauses and thinks for a second, before looking over his shoulder. “Stay safe. Or whatever.”
Deku gets that pinched look on his face. “You too, Kacchan.”
His eyes follow Katsuki all the way to the car.
~
“You’ve been awfully quiet today.”
Best Jeanist looks at him over the rim of his cup of coffee.
Katsuki shrugs. “It’s been a boring day. We’ve done nothing but fill out paperwork and answer calls from idiots who don’t know a villain attack from an argument between two people.” He stabs his fork into his bowl of instant ramen and angrily slurps it up.
Best Jeanist watches with a little crinkle of his nose. “I told you. This weekend is all about showing you what it really takes to run an agency. It’s not going to be constantly fighting villains. If you wish to open your own, you too will have to deal with the paperwork and useless calls.”
“I would just hire people for that,” Katsuki grouses.
“Why do you think I have you interns doing it?” Best Jeanist says, with a raised eyebrow and amusement in his tone.
Katsuki sticks his tongue out.
Best Jeanist chuckles to himself. He sets his cup down on his desk and leans on it, getting closer to Katsuki. “Still. Whenever you have to do paperwork, you tend to complain about it. Loudly. But not today. And the look on your face tells me something is wrong.”
Katsuki frowns down at his noodles. He stirs them around in his cup, just a little and avoids looking up. “If…if I didn’t have friends, would that really be so bad?”
To Best Jeanist’s credit, he doesn’t make a sound. He doesn’t scoff. He doesn’t move besides to pick up his cup and take a very long sip. “I see you have been taking my words into consideration.”
Katsuki slumps in his chair. “That doesn’t answer my question.”
“If you have no friends, it does not make you a bad person, no. It might make you lonely. But if I may, I would like to put forth if your inquiry is true or not.”
Katsuki scoffs, rolling his eyes. “Of course it’s true. I’m not a likeable person, even you have said that.”
“And yet, I continue to have you as my intern and you continue to call me a mentor,” Best Jeanist points out. “While you may make a rough first impression, that does not mean that impression lasts very long.”
“I’m your intern because I put up with your bullshit and am good at my job.”
“I have plenty of interns that do the same thing.” Best Jeanist clasps his hands together and leans forward. “I have another observation I would like to put forth. You do not take compliments well.”
“Ok, now I know that is bullshit. I eat up praise.”
“You like praise when it comes to your quirk. If I compliment you on anything else, you find a way to distance yourself from it. Take this conversation. I told you that I like having you as an intern. You immediately dismissed it. Now, you are arguing against my compliment. And this is not a one off thing. I notice your interactions with other interns and your interactions with civilians. Again, if the conversation is about your quirk, you have no trouble with it. If they praise you for anything else, you get defensive. You brush it off. You start a fight with them.”
Katsuki’s mouth is hanging open as Best Jeanist continues to talk. “I-I do not.”
“But you do. I imagine your conversations with your classmates go about the same way?”
Well, when he’s forced to think about it…maybe? He’s not sure. “Isn’t that a good thing? People always say I have a big head, so if I brush off compliments, it just means I’m humble, right?”
“I don’t think that’s being humble. I believe you are being hard on yourself.”
Katsuk opens his mouth, then closes it. His ears are red, he just knows it. “S-So what? How did the conversation turn to this? I was asking about friends!”
“And I am answering you. If you are hard on yourself about others complimenting you, then I imagine you are hard on yourself about other things. Even my original question was not meant to say you have no friends, only that it would be easier for you to be friendly to your fellow sidekicks So, do you truly think you have no friends, or are you beating yourself up about something and assuming that you don’t?
“I’m never wrong.”
Best Jeanist chuckles. “I would like you to consider my observation. The next time I have you over as my intern, I would love to hear your thoughts.”
Katsuki eats his noodles in silence. His brain whirls.
~
Katsuki always tends to stay late at his internships. He likes to get as much knowledge as he can, even if it’s filling out fucking paperwork. Best Jeanist wasn’t wrong, he does want to open his own agency some day. Which means he needs to know everything he can.
But staying late means he gets back to the dorms late. He opens the door quietly, not wanting to disturb anyone that had gone to bed already and sighs, gently taking off his shoes. When he looks up though, he’s surprised to see Kirishima there.
“Hey,” the other boy greets him. “Let me take your backpack while you get everything settled.”
“It’s not heavy,” Katsuki grumbles, even as he passes it over.
Kirishima just laughs. “Yeah, but I bet carrying bags and your gauntlets isn’t that convenient.”
He’s not wrong about that. Still, Katsuki grumbles the entire time as he puts the suitcase holding his gauntlets into the support items corner. As he does that, Kirishima asks about his internship. Katsuki grunts and groans about how hard he had to work and Kirishima laughs at him.
“Fine, see if I give you any sympathy the next time Fat Gum puts you on desk work.”
“You never give me sympathy!”
“That’s because you whine about everything!”
Kirishima hums. He hands the bag back, before he bumps his shoulders against Katsuki’s. “Do you want to play some games before you go to bed?”
“We have classes tomorrow.”
“That’s not a no~” Kirishima teases. “You need a few hours of fun before we have to listen to boring lectures.”
“I’m going to tell Aizawa you said that,” Katsuki says, as he follows Kirishima up to his room. It’s a familiar routine, despite Katsuki’s protests. They always play games Sunday night. Katsuki has come to enjoy it.
“He’s already making me clean the classroom, he can’t punish me further.”
“You wanna bet? Stop day dreaming in class.”
“But I came up with this cool move I want to try out.” Again, Kirishima bumps his shoulders against Katuski. “You and me in the next spar?”
Katsuki smirks. “You’re on. I’m going to wipe the floor with you.”
“You can try!”
~
Katsuki is usually the first person down for breakfast. The only other people are Tsuyu, Koda, and Shoji. They all give him a nod and make space for him in the kitchen.
They have done this enough times that it’s easy for Katsuki to move around them. He gently puts a hand on Tsuyu’s back to move past her. Shoji gets an item from the top shelf for him. Koda hands him a spoon to stir his food.
None of them talk. None of them feel the need to. Eventually, others start trickling in. Katsuki still doesn’t say anything as he pushes a plate full of sausages in front of a sleepy Kaminari and Ashido. He passes over the instant coffee for Shinsou. Then he sits down with his own food. After eating, he gives the rest to Kirishima.
With that, he goes to get ready. Again, he’s one of the first done. But he waits at the door, for Kaminari, Sero, Ashido, and Kirishima, who, awake now, push and shove each other as they follow him out.
He nods to Deku and Todoroki, who wave at him. When he gets to class, he checks his homework answers to Yaoyorozu’s.
Aizawa walks in and the class goes silent, ready for their day.
~
When it comes time for lunch, Katsuki sighs, pushing around his food. He’s still thinking about Best Jeanist’s words.
He can’t be wrong about his assumptions, right? He’s watched everyone closely. They are all just better friends with each other than they are with him. He’s just…there.
Katsuki frowns at that. That doesn’t seem right. Best Jeanist doesn’t think so either. He knows they look to him as a leader, that he’s one of their powerhouses. Maybe that’s what the Pro hero means?
But does that make them friends?
A poke on his forehead has him grunting. He looks up, lip pulling up at Uraraka. Uraraka leans back, putting her hands on her hips. “What has you thinking so hard?”
“Nothing, fuck off.”
“It doesn’t look like nothing.” She frowns. “You’ve been acting a bit off.”
That’s what Deku said too. “No I haven’t.”
“You have. Did something happen during your internship?”
“No.”
“Ah, so it happened before that?”
“No, stop trying to snoop for gossip.”
“This isn’t for gossip! We’re friends, right?”
He freezes. His mouth opens. “Are we?”
Uraraka looks at him. He looks at her.
Then he stands up, grabbing his food and stomping towards the nearest exit. Before he reaches it, he turns around, shouting “You didn’t hear shit!” before exiting. His ears are bright red, he just knows it.
~
Katsuki continues to grumble the rest of the day. He doesn’t make eye contact with Uraraka and avoids her as much as he can.
Everyone else still acts completely fine with him, they don’t say or do anything weird, so he figures that for once, she keeps her mouth shut.
Why did he say that? Katsuki doesn’t know. It had just slipped out.
He groans. Best Jeanist is getting to him again. He can’t stop thinking about his words!
The thing is, Katsuki knows he is right. He’s never been wrong ever! Sure, his perception of the world is a little…skewed. But thanks to the Universe, Deku, and fucking Shigaraki, he’s got the world all figured out now.
Bakugou Katsuki is just not meant to make friends. That makes sense to him. He’s spent so long trying to be the lone wolf and everyone took him seriously on that. Which is why him trying to make friends would always be doomed from the start.
…except Best Jeanist doesn’t think so. Best Jeanist sees something else, something Katsuki can’t see.
And it’s driving him nuts.
Running a hand through his hair, Katsuki decides to say fuck it. He’s too tired for this shit. He’s going to go back to the dorms, make dinner, and go to his room.
As he starts to do just that, an arm wraps around his shoulders, a heavy weight forcing him to bend. He already knows who it is that dares to touch him, can smell their cologne that they use to try to cover up their natural scent. “Fuck off, Kirishima.”
Kirishima only laughs. “Hey, none of that now. I just wanted to check in on you.”
Katsuki tenses, giving the side eye. Maybe he spoke too soon about Uraraka’s big mouth. “Why?”
“You’ve been acting kind of funny, dude. I just want to make sure everything’s ok!” Kirishima shrugs, like what he is saying is no big deal at all. “Hey, Kaminari lent me this new video game he bought. What do you say? You come to my room with dinner and we play it?”
Katsuki is still tense, unsure what to believe. If this is just Kirishima giving him pity. “You just want me to cook for you.”
“Of course, dude!” Kirishima laughs when Katsuki shoves him off. “But also, I just want to see you smile.”
Katsuki doesn’t know what to say to that. Kirishima takes his silence as stubbornness and a mischievous twinkle enters his eye. “Oh I see. You’re just scared that I, Kirishima Eijirou, Master of Video Games, is going to finally beat you at a video game.”
That does get Katsuki to snort. He pushes Kirishima again, a small grin on his face. “You’re not Sero, you can’t just trick me like that.”
“That’s not a no I’m hearing.”
“Fucking fine. I’ll show you who's the master at video games.”
“Yes!” Kirishima thrusts his fist in the air. He runs ahead, calling back over his shoulder. “I’ll get everything set up while you get dinner.”
Then the redhead almost runs into someone and spends a good couple of minutes apologizing to her.
Katsuki rolls his eyes. “Moron,” he says fondly.
His grin grows a little bigger.
On his way to make dinner for the two of them, he runs into Ashido, who stops and points at him. “There you are.”
He gives her a look. “What?”
“Thought you could hide from me? No one gets away from the great Alien Queen!”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
She pouts at him. “Come on, you’re supposed to play along.”
He raises an eyebrow at her and she huffs at him. “Boo, you’re such a loser. Fine, fine. So, I was talking to everyone in the group chat about plans for this weekend when I realized your grumpy ass wasn’t in the chat. So I needed to ask you, would you want to go to the mall this Saturday? We don’t really have any plans set in motion, other than we wanted to try out this new restaurant that popped up.”
Katsuki’s stomach swoops. “You don’t have to rub it in that I’m not in the group chat. If you don’t want me to go, just say that-”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Ashido holds up her hand. “You…want to be in the group chat?”
“I wouldn’t say want -”
“Of course I’ll add you to the group chat!” Already, Ashido has her phone out, no doubt to do just that. “Babe, we thought you would hate it and it would make you feel uncomfortable, so we didn’t add you in. Oh, this is going to make setting up group hang outs so much easier!”
Katsuki’s phone vibrates. Then again. And again. And again. He looks at it. Indeed, Ashido did add him to the Squad group chat and already, Kaminari and Kirishima are going crazy. At least Sero just sends a “Glad to have you here, buddy.”
Ashido squeals, jumping up and down. “Awesome. And you’re coming this Saturday, no ifs ands or buts.”
“But-”
A finger pokes him in the nose. “What did I just say?” Ashido’s smile turns softer as she flicks him again. “Blasty, if I didn’t want you there, I wouldn’t have asked. I’m not exactly subtle about this stuff, remember? I want you to come and have fun with us.”
Then her grin brightens and she runs past him. “I have to go see Hagakure about our manicures. See you later.”
All Katsuki can do is just stand there, blinking. “What the hell just happened?”
“You got hit by the Ashido tornado,” Yaoyorozu says, coming up to give his shoulder a squeeze. “I think someone gave her too much coffee.” Yaoyorozu turns to give him a polite smile. “She is right though. We assumed that you would be angry for being added to group chats. If you do not mind, could I add you to the one I have set up with Iida and Todoroki? To check homework answers, so we don’t have to do it before class. I promise you, it’s very silent.”
Katsuki can’t help blinking at her. “You want my number too?”
“Of course. It would help expedite a few of our morning routines. Of course, if you do not want to, you do not have to. There is no pressure.”
“I-” He looks down at his phone before huffing and looking away. “Whatever. As long as you promise to not bother me too much.”
“Of course! I know you’ll have your hands full with Mina and the others.” Yaoyorozu giggles, covering her mouth with her hand.
She adds him to the chat.
Katsuki looks down at his phone as it buzzes away. He tries to keep his wobbly grin off his face. Whatever. It’s no big deal, right?
~
Todoroki tries to get his number. “Best friends should share phone numbers, right?” He asks, face completely stoic.
Katsuki tries to blow up his phone. “We’re not best friends!”
“Bakugou, don’t do that. Midoriya gave me this charm.”
“That’s disgusting!”
“Would you like a charm too? I’ve gotten into trading them recently.”
“Fuck you!”
~
Todoroki eventually gets his number. Katsuki just knows he has his name as something stupid.
…and yes, he did get a charm too.
~
Katsuki is in the backyard, sitting on the ground. Looking up at the stars. He can’t see them as well in the city. It’s been a tiring day, what with all the idiots from the Squad chattering his ear off. He’s pretty sure his phone is going to explode.
He…actually doesn’t mind it. But he does need a bit of peace and quiet. Which is why he’s out here.
The door opens. He looks over his shoulder, to see Deku walking towards him. He just grunts, before going back to looking up at the stars.
Deku takes a seat next to him. He too looks up at the stars. There’s a few moments of silence and then- “It’s such a clear night, tonight.”
“Yeah.”
“I wish we were out in the countryside. We could see everything better.”
“Hmmm.”
“Do you remember when we went out to my Uncle’s farm? He showed us all the constellations and-”
“Deku,” Katsuki breaks in. “You’re rambling. If you have something to say, say it.”
“Ah, it’s just.” Deku looks down at his hands. “Uraraka told me what you had said. Earlier.”
Katsuki groans. “Great. She did run her mouth.”
“Only to me though! I don’t think it matters though, everyone could tell you were acting off.”
“People keep saying that! What was I even doing to make others worried!”
“Ah, well. You were pulling away from your friends, slightly. Sero mentioned that you weren’t going to as many hangouts anymore. And then you were…asking to help people?”
Katsuki snorts. “Oh what? I’m such a jerk that it’s worrying if I help with stuff?”
“No, Kacchan. It’s the asking part. You always help the rest of your classmates. You notice things. You get stuff done. But you never ask beforehand. It was weird enough to let us know that something was going on.”
Katsuki is silent at that. He leans forward, to rest his elbows on his knees.
“Whatever you’re going through, you know you have us to lean on, right?”
Katsuki sighs. “It’s nothing. I'm just throwing myself a pity party. I’ll get over it.”
Silence settles over them again. A hand lands on his shoulder. He turns to glare at Deku, but Deku only smiles. “Whether you ‘get over’ it or not, we’re still here for you. No matter what.”
Katsuki stares at him. “Even if I’m being a little bitch about it?”
“Even then, Kacchan. We’re your friends. That’s what friends do.”
~
“You look livelier today,” Best Jeanist notes, the next time Katsuki is on an internship with him. “And you are your usual loud self. Am I correct to assume that you got everything figured out?”
Katsuki grins at him. In his pocket, his phone buzzes, no doubt with more messages from his friends. “Yeah, yeah, old man. I got it.”
Best Jeanist huffs. “I’ll have you know, I am not much older than your father.”
“My father is ancient! That makes you older than dirt."
“Keep talking like this, and you’ll be doing everyone’s reports for their patrol today.”
Katsuki laughs, loud and ugly. He doesn’t say thank you. But he doesn’t have to.
He gets the feeling that the older Pro Hero understands anyways.