Archive of Our Own ^beta

If Katsuki Bakugo has learned anything in his 22 years of life, it’s that life can go wrong in a split second.

He likes to think he’s always prepared for it. Bakugo’s not known for being an optimist, even when everyone would say he’s “mellowed” with age. He’s strategic, his thoughts always collected enough that nothing can go past him without him noticing.

But tonight… tonight he completely lost control.

Bakugo slams open the doors to the dingy bar bathroom, walking inside still shaking his fist a little to alleviate the pain. “Motherfucker” he mumbles under his breath.

Above the ache deep in his hand and the throbbing, what’s consuming his thoughts is the absolute fucking indignation still making his blood boil. Bastards these days think they can just say anything and get away with it. And now, because he punched one of those bastards in the face, he’s the bad guy.

Kirishima walks in, giving him a stern look, “He finally calmed down. He’s super drunk and his girlfriend agreed to come pick him up”.

That makes Bakugo scoff, “That piece of shit has a girlfriend? You should’ve told her what he said”. The fucking nerve on that guy, seriously.

The red-head scowls deeper, and Katsuki already knows what’s coming. “Seriously?!” he huffs, walking up and helping his hand under cold water to ease the pain a little, “Dude, you know punching civilians in the face isn’t manly! Or ethical!”

“He had it coming and you know it” Bakugo grumbles, still admitting to himself that his best friend is right. The punch was uncalled for, and quite frankly, kind of automatic. He didn’t even think about it. His body just moved.

Sighing, Kirishima concedes, “Look, yeah, he made a pervy comment about Mido-bro, I know that’s shitty, but we’ve heard shit like that before. About Mina, about Mido-bro, even Kaminari gets shit like that! Mineta is a factory of pervert comments!” Bakugo simply rolls his eyes, “This isn’t about that stupid comment, this is about you being frustrated! You took it out on that guy!”

“Frustrated about what?!” the blonde asks, very well knowing the goddamned answer.

Sighing and drying his hands, the red-head points out “You spent all of tonight beside Midoriya. Side by side. At one point you had your arms around him to push him away or something… this has been going on for months! You guys dance around it closer and closer but you never do anything about it!”

To that, the blonde scoffs, “ We ’re not dancing around anything, I am. Alone. And I’m fucking dancing around it because there’s no reason to say it! It’s just gonna make things awkward”. It’s the sad truth of the matter. Izuku is all lovey-dovey and connected with his stupid feelings. In his past attempts at relationships, it took him all of two days max before he was blabbing to the other person about feelings and first dates and shit.

Their friendship has lasted beyond a decade by now. And nothing.

“Dude, you’re pent up! You guys basically act like a couple but you haven’t talked about it yet and you’re just going crazy with the mixed signals!” Kirishima argues. “Look, I know you think it’s all gonna go terribly bad if you say something, but sooner or later you’re gonna have to. You know that, right?”

Like hell he’s gonna be forced to admit anything. Fuck that. “I won’t. Not necessary. I’m not delusional, Red, I’m not thinking Izuku’s acting like anything other than a friend. I’m not frustrated” Bakugo growls, sounding frustrated enough for his point to be sort of useless.

Kirishima sighs, “Come on dude… what’s the worst that could happen?”

Good question. The answer is quite simple. “The worst that could happen is that he could HEAR ME!”

“Dude-“

“NO! I get that you’re trying to help, Red, but I’m fine, okay?! Everything’s fucking fine. I didn’t lose control because of some delusion, I acted on instinct because that was a fucking drunk pervert that could’ve endangered anybody!” Bakugo exclaims, talking loud enough that his voice could surely be heard outside, even over the booming music of the bar.

Trying to not make things worse, Kirishima tires to gently stand his ground, “All I’m saying is that talking about it would make all this suspense go away. If he says no, then you’ll be completely sure”.

“I am completely sure!” Bakugo yells, “Saying anything’s just gonna ruin it, Red! What are you not getting?!” Taking off his jacket because it’s hot as fuck down here, he continues with a mocking tone, “Besides, what the hell do you want from me, huh?! You want me go up to the moron outta nowhere and be like, ‘Hey, look, we’ve been friends for so long, and I know this might sound incredibly fucking weird ‘cause you probably hate me for being a rude and violent asshole, but I’m madly in love with you and I was wondering if you-‘“

In that exact moment, through the door stumbles none other than Izuku Midoriya himself, nearly dropping to his knees but catching himself at the last second and staring up between Bakugo and Kirishima. He looked… horrified .

Reacting quickly enough, Izuku fills the silence with nervous laughter, “Hi guys! Sorry for interrupting like that, I uh… I didn’t see that last step”.

The way he’s avoiding eye contact and his whole demeanor screams ‘uncomfortable’ is enough for Bakugo to walk out. Just like that. He walks the fuck out of the bathroom, out of the bar, and walks straight to his apartment in record time.

What did he just do?!

“Seriously, dude, Midoriya told me himself he’d literally just walked down and tripped. How much of it could he have heard?! Plus the music was super loud!” Kirishima tries to reassure over the phone.

For Bakugo, this isn’t enough, “Did you point blank ask if he heard?”

“Well… yeah” the red-head admits, sounding a bit nervous.

“And?”

Kirishima has to sigh, “And he avoided the question….” Exactly. This is exactly what Katsuki thought would happen. Fuck!

Just in case this idiot wants to keep on trying to deny the obvious, Bakugo drives his point home “How many times did he avoid the question?”

“…Six”.

See that? That’s his thirteenth fucking reason right there. “He heard , Red! He fucking heard me say all that stupid shit! So no. I’m not fucking going. Not in a million years”.

“Come on, dude! We’ve all been planning this trip for a year and a half! It took ages just to synchronize our days off, you can’t do this! You already paid for your room and everything!” Kirishima argues. And yeah, whatever, maybe he has a point. But with how things are, the last thing Bakugo fucking wants is to be stuck on an island with the guy that pulled the most horrified face he could muster up when he overheard an accidental confession in the bathroom.

That’s a humiliation he just doesn’t need in his life.

“He hasn’t even said anything to you, has he?!” the red-head tries. “You said it’s been radio silence”.

“That’s not good , dumbass!”

To that, Kirishima grabs his phone from where it was propped against the wall and brings it closer, “Yes it is! You know Mido-bro! If he heard something like that he’d be fussing all over you and letting you down easy or telling you he feels the same a billion times over! The radio silence probably means he just saw you get pissed and has no idea why, which is exactly what he told me !”

It’s true. Somewhat… Izuku wouldn’t stand this suspense over something so serious. On the contrary, he’d want to talk it over at least ten times before he was satisfied that everything was fine between them. The bastard would bend over backwards just to make sure his friend was fine.

“He has the worst timing ever, I’ll give you that” Red snorts, “But this isn’t how he’d act if he heard you, bro. Trust me” he tries reassuringly.

Bakugo’s not so sure about that. In a normal situation, Izuku wouldn’t act like this, granted, but what about a situation in which he’s genuinely disgusted and weirded out? “I still don’t wanna go”.

“Give him all week, dude. See how he acts” Kirishima suggests, “If he looks chill and like nothing happened then just tell your paranoia to calm down and come on the trip… you’re driving me bro, you can’t just bail at the last second”. To that, Katsuki does snort.

“If he did overhear something I’m gonna rub it in ‘til you cry every damned time, you hear me?!” Bakugo huffs grumpily.

“Yeah, yeah, can I go back to patrolling without distractions now?” Kirishima teases.

Scoffing and rolling his eyes, Bakugo reminds him “ You called me !”

Humming in surprise, the red-head laughs, “I forgot! Okay then, try not to let your paranoia win over, ‘kay? Bye bro!”

Katsuki hangs up the phone and stares at it, scowling. He sometimes appreciates Kirishima’s optimism, truly he does. But in situations like these? The guy fails to see how everything has been thrown off balance, and getting it back to normal again could be impossible.

Something shifted last night. This silence from Izuku isn’t normal…

He’ll just have to use this week to figure out if Izu heard what Bakugo said or not, and gauge from his behavior if it’s a bad idea to go on that stupid trip.

That Sunday, nothing happens. Not a call, not a text, not a visit… nothing. It’s as if Izuku completely forgot they’ve been religiously texting daily for the past three years. Which, granted, there are situations in which that could organically happen. But paranoia is an insistent bitch…

He keeps thinking that maybe, just maybe , this silence is bad fucking news.

His day off isn’t even seized properly because he can’t stop checking his phone obsessively. Bakugo keeps expecting some kind of confrontation. Some sort of yelling match, a few gigantic paragraphs over text, or even a nervous “I don’t like you like that” talk over the phone.

The words are already so familiar: “we’re better off as friends, Kacchan” “I don’t think we’re all that compatible, Kacchan” “I’ve always seen you as my best friend, Kacchan, I don’t like you like that” “I like someone else, Kacchan, why the fuck would I go for an asshole like you?!” Shit like that. Anything .

Instead, this silence is just slowly killing him.

That night, Bakugo goes out on patrol just because. It’s not like he can sleep, anyway. It’s fine. He’s sneaking back into his room at 5 ish in the morning, exhausted enough to that he just might get some sleep.

Except he doesn’t. He’s woken up at 7:30 am by an alarm labeled “UA STRAT CONF”. He was invited by the idiot he’s trying to avoid to go give a talk to his snotty brats about battle strategy and how to not fuck up. As much as he wouldn’t care if it was anyone else… he can’t just leave Izuku like that.

So sighing and trying to pretend he’s not terribly sleep-deprived, he heads out in his hero gear again and walks into UA feeling like for once, he’s understanding Aizawa’s mood. This is what happens when you get old. You live long enough to become the lame parent figures in your life.

He walks in class just in time, which was sort of calculated, since he didn’t want to have to make small talk with Izuku before the conference.

Bakugo’s succinct, clear and concise. He saw some kids widen their eyes with understanding, so he’s counting this a win. Those who didn’t get it are gonna get it eventually. Look at Kaminari. Bastard’s still an idiot, but he’s an idiot that can perfectly strategize when he’s in the field.

With his little speech over, dread starts creeping up his spine, and Bakugo shifts his weight several times as Izuku finishes the class up. But once the bell rings, some of the kids just surround Dynamight to ask follow up questions that have fuck all to do with what his speech was about.

As he’s barraged with questions one after the other, he watches as Izuku gathers up his stuff to move classes, waves Bakugo goodbye with a barely there smile and that was that.

No “Thanks, Kacchan”. No “You wanna grab a coffee, Kacchan?”

Nothing. Not even an attempt to talk.

Tuesday rolled around, and the group chat was blowing up. It wasn’t as usual as it used to be, so it did get Bakugo’s attention early in the morning, when he was about to get to the shit ton of paperwork’s he needs done.

Turns out that, despite having booked the right amounts of rooms and beds, the group is just now realizing they never agreed on sleeping arrangements. Since some rooms have two beds, or even three (counting an extra cot), they need to agree who is sleeping with who.

Most importantly, they need to agree where Mineta’s fucking sleeping so he can’t harass anyone.

Sadly, most of the conversation happened last night, when Bakugo was already fast asleep. As he read through it now, he realized everyone was choosing each other as room buddies, which meant that he was left for last. Since he didn’t answer last night.

Someone gave a list of which people hadn’t decided how to sleep: Bakugo, Izuku, Kirishima, Denki, Mineta. There was a three-bed room and a two-bed.

In the while it took Bakugo to read through the whole thread, Izuku had texted back, deciding for all of them.

>> “Kacchan and Kirishima can take the two-bed room!”

What the hell is that supposed to mean?!

———

The texting picked up around Wednesday. Nothing wild, Izuku needed something he left at Bakugo’s place and wanted to come by to pick it up.

What kept disconcerting the blonde was that the tone of those goddamned messages was casual. Like nothing was wrong. He didn’t address the three days they didn’t text, he didn’t talk another it what happened in the bathroom… nothing.

Bakugo kept trying to push the line, questioning why he didn’t text sooner about this, but Izuku didn’t fold. The bastard kept saying vague shit like ‘I forgot’ and ‘I’m sorry to bother you Kacchan’.

Being as desperate as he is, Bakugo even shoots off a:

<< “Got anything else to say, nerd?”

After a few minutes, the reply came,

>> “Uh… thank you?”

Seemed all suspiciously fine. But Bakugo’s instinct told him something wasn’t fucking right. He’d prove it. Especially because Izuku conveniently picked up his jacket when Bakugo went to get some groceries, using his spare key. Not only that, he left the spare key on the counter. For no reason.

And after that? No texts again.

This isn’t normal, dammit!

Now that the little broccoli idiot has his stupid suit, patrol is always interesting. Must be a coincidence, but he always has nearly an identical schedule to Bakugo’s. The universe truly does hate him.

This time, it’s Izuku, Kirishima and the blonde himself trying to figure out how best to cover ground. It was going fine, it’s not like there’s a lot of science going into patrolling. It’s work, not a goddamned social event.

Still… he has the distinct feeling like Izuku’s avoiding him completely. He keeps leaving them alone immediately after they discuss where to go, and doesn’t even stop once to chat.

Which, for someone like Izu? That was concerning as fuck.

“He heard, Red. He’s acting weird, I told you!” insisted Bakugo under his breath as they land on the same building.

Kirishima looks over to the adjacent building’s roof, assessing their friend, “He’s being awkward, that’s Mido-bro”.

Bakugo huffs and rolls his eyes, “No, he’s avoiding me like the plague”.

“He’s being kind and smiling like always” argues the red-head with a shrug.

Dammit, why is this idiot trying to gaslight him?! They both know this isn’t normal! “I know he heard”.

“If he had he would’ve said something already dude. Seriously. No reason to act like this” Kirishima brushes off, jumping to their next roof.

After a bit more patrolling, they come together again, and this time, despite ending up in the same roof as his friends, Izuku smiles and mumbles something about ‘giving them space’.

Face growing sad and guarded, Bakugo points out, “See that? He’s trying to pretend nothing’s wrong but he can’t even be near me”.

This time, at least Kirishima stares after Midoriya, lips pressed as he thinks, “I don’t think that’s what this is”.

Bakugo sighs, “I don’t know what to think anymore”.

Approaching, the red-head claps his shoulder firmly in reassurance, “If you want a straight answer just ask him. Face to face”.

That has to be the single stupidest thing this idiot has ever did. It makes the blonde huff, and he was about to reply when Izuku’s voice comes from below, “Uhh, guys? I’m really sorry to interrupt but I kinda need help?”

When they both walk to the edge and look down, they catch Deku suspended in the air, tangled in some spider web thing. Why didn’t he say anything?! “God fucking dammit” is all he huffs.

During this godforsaken patrol, Bakugo kept visualizing the same thing over and over, and it was distracting him severely. The look on Izuku’s face when he’d entered the bathroom… He’d looked haunted . Horrified. Like he’d wanted to cry.

It was like a punch to the gut.

The next day wasn’t much better. Bakugo hadn’t offered to drive just Kirishima, but Denki, Mina and of course, Izuku. None of them are confident in their abilities to drive in the open road, so they asked (begged) the blonde for a ride.

After much consideration, and a bribe from Deku himself, he agreed.

Today, though, Bakugo’s sort of cursing his inability to say no to those bright green eyes, because this means he’s gonna be trapped in the same car with that fucker for hours .

Red keeps insisting it’s a good thing, they can talk about the incident and see what he thinks, but the blonde would rather just blow himself up on the spot and take everybody with him.

The seating arrangement was… uncomfortable.

Kirishima wanted to sit with his, uh… polycule? Who fucking knows. But they were giggling and whispering nothings amongst themselves every so often, which Bakugo would rather not listen into. But with Izuku in the front, things weren’t any better.

Instead of chatting his ears off like Izu usually does on roadtrips, the asshole put on a huge pair of headphones and blasted music so nobody could talk to him. Which felt like a personal attack.

Every so often, the bastard would glance at Bakugo, then at the back, and he’d get this weird frown like he pitied the blonde for having nobody to talk to. But it wasn’t enough to take those stupid headphones off.

When Denki and Mina finally crashed after several energy drinks and nerds ropes, Kirishima sighed, noticing the tension. “He’s probably just tired, bro, it’s not-“

“Don’t”.

Arriving at the hotel was a whirlwind of absolute chaos. All of what once was class 1-A was packed into a single lobby, trying to check in at the same time, while the rest mingled loudly and greeted each other for the first time in a while.

Bakugo himself hadn’t seen most of them in a couple weeks at least, he should be excited. Or mildly happy. Instead, his eyes are trained in Izuku’s back. Mostly because, ever since they arrive, that’s all he gets to see. The bastard doesn’t turn to him once.

It’s hard not to think the nerd knows something when he’s acting completely different. But whenever the blonde tries to point it out, he feels like a delusional moron.

He can’t say “He’s always all over me when we travel and now he’s barely paying attention to me” without sounding delusional.

He can’t say “He once told me that babbling about nonsense was his ‘love language’ with his friends and now he just won’t talk to me at all” without sounding bitter.

And he can’t say “It’s never like this when it’s just the two of us but it’s like he doesn’t even want to come near me” without sounding pathetic.

But it’s the truth. Shit… maybe Kirishima was right. Maybe all this time he’s misinterpreted that ‘special’ attention as something it wasn’t. He’d gotten delusional enough to think that even when Izuku wouldn’t really consider a relationship, Bakugo was still important to him. More than anybody else.

And he’s gotten so insane with it, his ego so inflated, that a week without those special attentions he just… what? Freaks out?! Has a melt down?! Red light as well be right! Bastard probably didn’t listen in on anything and Bakugo’s just been throwing a tantrum because he doesn’t feel special anymore.

Jesus Christ, how low can he get?!

In that moment, the crowd pushes people around and Izuku is shoved right against Bakugo’s chest, dropping his wallet and keys to the room.

“Shit! Sorry!” Izuku apologizes.

Leaning down to pick his stuff up, Katsuki sighs, “It’s fine”. He hands the keys back to their rightful owner, and their gazes cross for a moment. Clearing his throat, the blonde straightens, “Good luck with Mineta, I guess”.

To that, Izuku cringes, “Worst case scenario my feet end up on some dark kinky webpage”.

“Worst case scenario I punch him in the throat” Bakugo replies honestly, realizing immediately his mistake when the green-haired man made some kind of awkward constipated face.

After a moment of just staring, Izuku forced out a chuckle, “You’re with Kirishima, right?”

“‘S what you decided, yeah” Bakugo shoots back trying to make this nerd feel bad about it, like his situation wasn’t pathetic enough.

“At least now you guys are gonna be able to talk about important things in peace, right?” Izuku laughs awkwardly. Katsuki is frozen in place. “No more nerds stumbling in at the worst possible moments and all…”

Just as the last word leaves his mouth, Denki and Mineta drag the bastard away without another word, leaving a very horrified Bakugo, afraid to move a muscle.

“That motherfucker!” Bakugo yells as they unpack the essentials.

“I’m telling you, you’re reading too much into it, bro!” Kirishima tries, secretly hoping their room isn’t blown up from this. “Mineta probably asked Mido-bro to switch with me because he didn’t wanna be third wheel”.

It’s such a fucking shame that this idiot can be so smart and at the same time so incredibly dumb, naive and stupid. “He told me-“

A knock comes on their door, and Kirishima grabs his sunglasses, ready to go. “I know what he told you dude, doesn’t have to mean anything. It’s the same I’ve been telling you all along. He thinks you’re mad over him interrupting but he has no idea what you said”.

That would be fucking convenient, wouldn’t it?!

Anyways, the conversation’s left at that, and soon enough Bakugo’s dragged out to the pool for some stupid reason. It’s ten in the goddamned morning. Why the fuck are they playing around like children in a pool?!

Whatever the case, Katsuki swore to himself that even despite his friend’s craziness, he would make this vacation worth the money he paid for it. So he settles in on the best seat there is, with just enough sun and just enough shade to be comfortable. He puts on sunscreen, takes out a book, puts on sunglasses and earphones, and tries to rid his mind of idiocy to focus on his novel.

Two hour into it, Bakugo was satisfyingly disassociated from every stupid problem he’s ever had, and his only worry was where could he get a decent meal around here.

He asks one of the waiters around, who tells him there’s a spot like two minutes away that sells sushi and some other shit. At least that sounds like more of a meal than whatever is in those corn dogs Kaminari keeps shoving in his mouth.

He gets up, gets his food, eats over there to avoid messes on his way, and when he comes back… there’s someone on his chair.

Looking over the bastard with his jaw locked and a glare he hoped denoted anger instead of fear, Bakugo waited.

Panting with his eyes closed, Izuku moves a hand to wave him off, “Go away, Todoroki-kun! I need a minute to grab my breath if I wanna beat you… holding my breath isn’t my strong suit…”

Bakugo clears his throat, and gets to watch the exact moment this nerd realizes who he’s actually talking to. In a second, the panting melted mess that was in his chair turned into a tense bundle of nerves. Sitting up, Izuku’s eyes trailed all the way down and back up the blonde’s body, and the embarrassment made his cheeks redden. “K-Kacchan!” he laughs nervously.

“You’re in my chair” Bakugo grumbles.

Looking down, it’s as if this idiot is only now realizing where he is, “Sorry! Sorry, I think I got a little confused- I had water in my eyes, and I tried to hold my breath for three minutes, I just-“

What’s disconcerting is not the babbling. No. That’s the usual. What confuses Katsuki is the way those green eyes rake greedily all over his chest and arms. And the way those freckled cheeks grow redder and redder. What the actual hell is going on here?

“-haven’t seen you all day so… you know?” Bakugo didn’t know. He hadn’t paid attention to a fucking word out of his mouth. “Speaking of which, you don’t wanna play waterpolo with us?”

Now that’s hilarious, “No”.

This doesn’t deter Izuku, “Kirishima’s gonna play with us!” he says, as if that was gonna make it better to splash around in the water and ruin his possibility to use his quirk for the next three hours. “You’ve been sitting here alone all day, Kacchan…” Izuku tries, sounding a little more serious, “You don’t wanna show all of us how great you are at waterpolo?”

Flattery? Why is this happening?! This bitch went from ignoring Bakugo all week to chastising him for not being with his friends and inviting him to play some stupid made up sport?! “I don’t need to show anyone I’m great. I just am” he snaps lowly.

“Come on… just one game? Give it all you’ve got and I’ll give it all I’ve got! Hit me with everything!” Izuku encourages for some reason.

As pent up as Bakugo was… suffice it to say he’s banned from playing any sports in the pools. It took two hours to refill it.

“He checked you out?!” Kirishima whisper-shouts, “That’s great news, dude! That’s he-probably-likes-you-back kinda news!”

Bakugo scowls, “No it isn’t you fucking moron, it just means he was nervous and couldn’t look me in the eyes. Plus, remember the part where he IGNORED ME ALL WEEK?!” he growls back.

Kirishima, apparently, has had enough, so he calls his girlfriend with a single whistle. Mina walks up to them and immediately asks what they’re gossiping about, so without giving too much away, the red-head shares “If a guy ignores you for a week and then checks you out several times, what does that mean?”

“Oh, he 100% likes you” Mina affirms, as if she knew what the fuck she’s talking about. Just because she managed to somehow seduce two guys at once doesn’t mean she’s an expert. “It’s called being intermittent. It’s the best way to get anyone hooked. Look up those idiots that call themselves ‘alphas’ on TikTok, they talk about it a lot” she informs them.

Rolling his eyes, Bakugo cuts in “He wouldn’t fucking do that!”

“Who?” asks the pink alien, prompting Katsuki to turn to Kirishima, asking him with a single look to get rid of his gossipy girlfriend. Obedient as ever, the red-head leans in, whispers something in her ear, and she giggles and moves away.

“If I find out you actually told her, I’m gonna kill you” Bakugo huffs.

Tripping over the sand as it gets looser the more they approach the shore, Kirishima waves him off, “Promise I didn’t. But seriously dude, everything that’s happened has just proved my point! Nothing’s changed other than him trying to make you less mad. That’s why he pulled you into playing waterpolo when we all knew that was a bad idea”.

Defeated, Bakugo simply grunts in response. His concerns are going unheard, and even if he does appreciate the efforts to keep him distracted and optimistic, he feels like he’s going insane here. Especially because Izuku keeps looking back at him and smiling awkwardly whenever their eyes lock.

He heard… he’s almost fucking positive that bastard overheard him in that bathroom.

But obsessing over it would mean to waste his vacation time, so he’s simply gonna put it aside for the time being. It’s gonna be great because this time, there’s a lot of space and everyone’s swimming except for him. No one’s gonna bother coming all the way back where he is, reading the afternoon away.

Sure, they all left their stuff around Bakugo, not wanting to leave it unattended, but so far he hadn’t been bothered once.

He was nearing the middle of his novel when, “I’ll be right back!” Izuku calls back to his friends, walking straight to where Katsuki is.

Thankfully, there’s no awkward conversation at first. Bakugo pretends to keep reading and Izuku starts applying sunscreen again. Or for the first time, by the looks of his already rosy freckle skin. He gets so lost just watching the ripple of muscles under that white expanse of skin, that he doesn’t realize he put his book down completely.

“S-Sorry” Izuku chuckles nervously. All this time, the idiot had been trying to apply the sunscreen evenly over his back, but it seems like he was having a really hard time. “I’ll just finish this and get outta here…” he says, and then five whole minutes go by of just excruciating struggle. For some reason, Bakugo can’t look away. “Can… can you help?”

God exists. This has got to be divine punishment of some kind. He’s sure of it. Because why else would he end up applying sunscreen over Izuku’s back?! He hopes it’s not evident, but his hands are a little clumsy with nervousness, and his eyes kept getting hooked on the weirdest spots, just counting the freckles here and there as if this would be his only chance.

“You should come hang out with all of us” Izuku tries, voice sounding incredibly casual. Here was Katsuki nearly having a stroke… and the nerd was completely fine.

“No”.

Turning his head to send him a pitiful look, Midoriya tries, “I know you hate the water, but it’s no reason to be all alone, you know?” Right. Because it’s the water that has him shitting bricks right now. “I could stay here and look after everyone’s stuff. Go hang out with everyone… don’t let me ruin it”.

Gods, either this man is so incredibly oblivious or he’s incredibly cruel. Wiping his hands off on his swim suit, Bakugo backs off, not wanting to entertain that experience any longer than he had to, “I wanted to stay. I’m reading”.

Sighing, Izuku replies “Okay. I won’t make a sound, then”. And with that… he proceeded to keep Bakugo company for the rest of the afternoon. For no reason other than he wanted to. The blonde never asked him to do this. His friends were begging for him to go back to the water, but he refused.

Why?!

That night, they return to a campfire of sorts near an outside bar on the other side of the hotel. It’s sort of a public hangout and there’s a lot of fucking booze, so all of them decide to stay and get worryingly drunk.

Bakugo doesn’t like alcohol. At least, not that much. He enjoys the taste and he’s particular about what he’ll drink, but he’ll be damned if he’s gonna lose his mind over some stupid substance. Plus, knowing himself very well, he’s aware that his personality mixed with tipsiness could result in a natural disaster.

However, the warmth of the fire, the dark and the fact that the food here smells great put him in a good mood. Enough that he lets his guard down a little, doing his best to enjoy the ambiance even with that strident beat of the music Sero requested. It’s in Spanish, of course, which sadly doesn’t make it any less annoying.

Reguetón should be banned from every public facility in existence. Who in their right mind wants to hear about a guy thirsting over a girl and singing about how much he wants to grind against her?! And if he hears some dude vowing to give a girl more ‘gasoline’ he’s gonna punch Sero in the throat.

As another obscene song takes over and everyone starts twerking around him, Bakugo rolls his eyes and smirks. Idiots. Most of them don’t even know what the fuck they’re dancing to. Case in point? The nerd approaching right now… with an extra drink in hand. Bakugo’s favorite: wine.

With a huge smile, he hands the blonde the glass, “You having fun yet?”

Taking it with furrowed brows, Katsuki nods, “It’s not that bad”.

They stay there as the music changes again, and this moron has the gall to say “Oh, I’ve heard this one before! It’s great!”

Bakugo snorts, “You know what it says?”

“Not great?” Izuku asks, already dreading the answer.

Remembering the little bits he knows of the song, he starts translating, “Get out of the closet, uncover, get rid of the varnish, stop trying to cover up, nobody’s gonna paint your body, come on, get up and get hyper… and it has worst parts than that one”.

Izuku blinks a few times, goes completely red in the face, “Is it…?”

“Talking about getting a girl naked with a lot of unnecessary metaphors? Yeah… the song’s about how this girl’s wild and shit, and she’s not like other girls with sticks up their asses” Bakugo sighs, wondering when the fuck did he start learning this useless information.

His memory could be put to best use than this, that’s for sure. “I’m never trusting Sero’s music again” Midoriya sighs, clearly horrified. The sight of his eyebrows so tightly knit over a stupid song makes the blonde smile softly.

“So you’re not mad anymore?” Izuku asks, simply.

Blinking, Bakugo has to snap back to reality, “Mad?” Eyes narrowed, he asks, “Mad about what?”

The green-haired man shrugs, “About, uh…” he gulps, thinking for a second before nervously supplying, “You know… whatever’s got you mad…” This is suspicious. This is suspicious as fuck. “You should go dance with someone!” the moron tries to distract, “There’s still a few people that haven’t joined in, you could pick one up! I’m sure Mina’s tired but she would love to dance with you”.

Right. Right… so Bakugo should dance with someone that’s available… “Is that your stupid way of asking me to dance?”

Izuku’s face flashes deep sadness for a second, before he forces a laugh out, “Me?! No! Not me, obviously ! Literally anybody else! I’m sure Kirishima would love to get to dance with you”.

Right…

Placing his glass on the bar he’d been leaning against, Bakugo turns away completely, “I’m going to sleep”.

“NO! Kacchan! Wait!” Izuku tries, doing his best to get through the crowds, “I’m sorry!”

That bastard… that bastard knows exactly what he’s doing. He heard . He’s been trying all of today to push Bakugo towards anybody else, as if this was a stupid pathetic game of hot-potato. He knows .

What’s he playing at?! Is he just feeling pity?! Is this his stupid prolonged way of letting him down easy?! Struggling to understand, Bakugo just gets to the room and flops on his bed. For the first time in a couple years at least, he cries out of frustration.

———

The next day, Bakugo wasn’t in the fucking mood. They still had three days of vacation and as it was, he didn’t care anymore. He wanted to rest, he wanted to be away from that green-haired bastard, he wanted to stop thinking.

So he did the only thing that was in his control, and he lied. He said he felt sick, let everyone else leave to their planned activities, and remained in the room. Alone. Blasting his music as loudly as he could and ordering room service. At least, he did for breakfast, and he was thoroughly disappointed.

For lunch, he simply texted Kirishima to buy him something, and he’d pay it later. He was just done going out. Especially if that freckled fuck was gonna be around trying to apologize like last night. He had fifty text messages right after he left the campfire. He never read them, but he knows they’re there.

This morning, he has several phone calls and a few more texts from other random people, but he’s decided to just let his phone run out of battery eventually. He couldn’t fucking care less about those texts right now.

It’s been eight hours since his eyes opened and refused to close again, and he couldn’t feel more miserable. Clearly he’s doing a good enough job to torture himself, but he’s aware that Izuku’s face right now is beyond what he can handle.

A knock on the door comes, and Katsuki gets up. Dragging his feet all the way to the door, he can’t really muster up enough fucks to give for not being properly dressed. It’s just Red bringing him lunch, what’s so fucking special about it?

He slams the door open and there, right in front of him, is none other than Izuku fucking Midoriya. Holding his food with a terrified look on his face. “H-Hey!” the moron tries, “Uh…”

Bakugo had been right. Seeing him like this, trying to act like nothing’s wrong and scratching the back of his head like he hasn’t been the biggest coward trying to shoot his feelings down… it’s unbearable. He just stands there. Staring. Feeling hurt and betrayed and fucking annoyed.

The fake playful smile falters as Izuku realizes how upset Katsuki is. “Kacchan…?” he prods gently.

“My food” is all he grumbles, grabbing his bag of take out in one swift move.

As he’s checking it’s all there, Izuku clears his throat, “Kirishima mentioned you didn’t feel well, uh…” he searches Bakugo’s face, worried, “Is everything okay?”

“Peachy” is all he snaps, slamming the door in Izuku’s face.

Once he’d done that, he just stands there, on the other side of the door, wondering what the fuck to do now. A big part of him feels like Izuku betrayed him by not broaching the matter head on. He overheard something he shouldn’t have, but it was cowardly and shitty to ignore him all week and then try to act like everything was fine. He’s trying to sweep what he heard under the rug.

But only Bakugo’s allowed to do that to his feelings.

So he doesn’t want to talk. At all. He feels like letting that bastard know how much he’s hurting is like losing for real. So he won’t. He’ll never fucking know how much it really hurt to be dismissed like that.

It’s just that… another part of him is asking ‘what the fuck else do we have to lose?’

And imagine with surprise when that last voice is the one that wins over, so Bakugo opens the door again. He’s Katsuki fucking Bakugo. Did he forget?! He was already shot down. Yeah, it broke his heart, but he’s still standing. And he’s not about to play stupid fucking mind games.

“Inside” he barks out, gesturing for Izuku to come in the room, “We need to talk”.

Gulping half his tongue down, Izuku nods, lowering the fist he’d had poised to knock again, “S-Sure”.

As they walk inside, Katsuki tries to breathe, but it’s useless. He has lost all patience and all hope this is gonna go well. No. This is gonna be a shit fest . He needs to accept it.

Without waiting a beat, Bakugo drops his food on the counter and turns, glaring straight through Deku. “I know you know” he declares, loud and clear. Izuku blinks, and then blinks again, “I know you heard me in the bathroom” the blonde tries again. Izu averts his eyes. Jackpot. “You gonna say something?”

“Y-Yeah” Izuku nearly whispers, sighing, “I heard”.

The confirmation makes Bakugo’s chest constrict painfully. He fucking knew it. “And?” he prods.

Shrugging, MIdoriya keeps his eyes downcast, “And nothing. It’s none of my business. I’m sorry I overheard”. None of his business… it’s… it’s none of his business, he says…

“What?” Bakugo lets out, a shaky exclamation as his hands turn to fists.

Shrugging again, Izuku doubles down “It doesn’t concern me. You can feel whatever you wanna feel… I’m sorry I ruined it”.

Holy shit, this is… this is the coldest fucking rejection Katsuki could’ve ever received. ‘It doesn’t concern me’?! That… that makes it sound like he’s delusional. Grinding his teeth, he turns his face towards the ceiling, trying to conceal how his face is contorting in pain and anger.

Still, Izuku catches it, “Is there something wrong with that? I’m just trying to make up for interrupting you, Kacchan, I swear I never meant to do that. I’m really sorry… I figured you were so mad at me you needed some space, but I don’t know what to do anymore”

Sorry for what? Nothing to be sorry for. Bakugo’s the one that broke his own heart. Trying to hide the tears rolling down his cheeks, he turns to the balcony on the other end of the room, “Right”. His voice sounds raspy and pained, “Yeah, well… if you really wanna help just… give me all the space”.

“W-What?” Izu tries, the word almost sounded like a plea for mercy.

“Stop texting me. Stop talking to me” Bakugo instructs, “I’m gonna… I’m gonna need all the space”.

With a small breathy voice, MIdoriya begs “Are you serious?”

Nodding, Katsuki confirms “Yeah”.

With a shaky inhale and breathing heavily, Izuku starts walking out of the room. “Okay…” is all he says, accepting the terms without second thought. He must realize it’s for the best. “I’m gonna go now” he sighs, dull thuds on the carpet signaling his departure. He stops just shy of the door, “I really do wish you the best in your relationship. Seriously. You deserve to be happy”.

That’s about when amidst the pain and anger, a little confusion started sprouting in Bakugo’s mind. “What?” he asks, his face doing an excellent job at communicating ‘what the fuck did you just say to me’?

“Your relationship?” Izuku asks, as if reminding him of something nonexistent, “With Kirishima-kun… or- not relationship, but whatever it is right now… I just hope I didn’t completely ruin your confession before” he says, doing his best to smile but managing only to look desperate. Confused. Hurt. What the hell is going on?! “I’m sure he’s happy to know how you feel now, the little bit I know of your confession to him was really sweet and-“

Wiping his face with his sleeve, he turns completely, “What?! I never confessed anything to Kirishima” he states, noticing how Izuku’s barely holding it together, “We’re not in a relationship, what the fuck?”

Trying to subtly wipe the tears off his face, Izu clears his throat, “That doesn’t make any sense- That’s what I heard. In the bathroom”. After a moment of hesitation, the green-haired man says with genuine sympathy in his voice, “Does he not feel the same?”

Oh shit. Oh fuck… the blonde is starting to put two and two together, “I wasn’t telling him that!”

“Oh… I didn’t see anyone else in the bathroom” Izuku mutters, confused.

That’s it. Bakugo walks up and past Izu to close the door and lock it. Nobody’s leaving until shit starts making sense again. “Tell me what you heard” he instructs.

“What? Why?!” Midoriya squeaks, clearly not comfortable with the request.

“Just do it!”

As his eyes glaze over while he remembers, Bakugo can finally notice the absolute sadness in them. The way they look as desperate as his own. “I didn’t hear much, I swear…” he starts, lowering his head, “I just heard you talking about Kirishima probably hating you for being… and then you told him you were madly in… in love with him…”

All at once, the air leaves his lungs, “You didn’t hear anything before that?”

Shrugging, Izu explains, “It’s not polite to eavesdrop, I overheard on accident. I wasn’t there even a second. I just tripped when I…” he seemingly doesn’t intend to finish that sentence.

“So all this week… you thought I confessed to Kirishima…?” Bakugo asks.

Izuku shrugs and then, “Well, yeah. You did . I figured you were super pissed that I interrupted so I didn’t wanna say much of anything”. Shit… so Red was right.

“That’s why you have nothing to say…” Bakugo mumbles, walking in front of Izuku, “That’s why you said it was none of your business just now”.

“Yeah…” Deku confirms, quirking an eyebrow in confusion, “That’s it. Why are you-?”

His eyes go from jumping everywhere to locking in on Izuku, “You didn’t hear the whole conversation” he concludes.

“I wasn’t trying to hear any of it!” Izuku repeats, still ashamed that he overheard at all.

But after going this far, after the roller coaster of emotions that overtook him the last sixty seconds… Bakugo can’t keep hiding shit anymore. “I’ll tell you” he resolves, pushing Izuku to sit on the bed, and pulling an ottoman closer for himself. He sits for all of two seconds before he stands up again, unable to contain his nerves.

Deku seems considerably concerned, “Are you really feeling okay?” Bakugo tries to pace in order to clear his head enough to have this conversation, but knowing that Izuku’s watching, nothing is fucking working anymore. “Kacchan?”

“Remember that night?” he starts, still pacing like a madman. “We played video games together. All night. Remember that?” Izu nods. “Then IcyHot came up with the brilliant idea to dance and you went off…”

“I remember” Izuku clarifies, “I didn’t have anything to drink, you know it”.

Right. Right. Okay. “But you don’t remember this part. You didn’t see it” he sighs, wringing his hands, “Some rando that was hanging out near the arcade made a comment about you being fuckable as long as you were drunk enough… and he said a bunch of other bullshit”.

“Jesus”.

Yeah. “So I punched his face in”.

Eyes wide, Izuku straightens “Kacchan!”

He’s had enough lectures for the rest of his life about how unmanly that was, thank you very much. “I did it without thinking, dammit. I didn’t mean to” except he did, but he should’ve just opted for berating the bastard so hard he went home to his girlfriend to cry.

“Did you help him after, at least? Did you knock him out?” Deku asks, annoyingly concerned for the pervert that objectified him. But whatever.

“Had to. Kirishima wouldn’t stop yapping about punching others not being manly or whatever” Bakugo recounts, rolling his eyes. “Whatever, point is, Red told me to meet in the bathroom and that’s when we started… talking…” he sighs, wiping his whole face to try and brace for what’s to come.

Concern was written on Izuku’s face still, “Talking?”

Clearing his throat, Katsuki pushes on, “He told me that we both knew why I reacted like that without thinking. He said I was pent up… sort of tried to say I should do something about it already” he admits.

“Pent up?” Izu prods, head tilted.

Ignoring the question, Bakugo keeps going, “I told him I couldn’t do anything about being pent up. I could just accept that what I wanted was never gonna happen and move the fuck on”.  At this point, Deku looked incredibly lost. “Red kept pushing me and pushing me about being honest to release some tension… he, uh… he wanted me to be honest with you”.

“With me?” Izuku says surprised, “About what?”

Taking a deep breath, Bakugo covers his face, takes a minute and then lets it out, “Honest about… being in love with you ”.

The following silence leaves the blonde’s ears ringing loudly. “Huh?!”

Still nervous as all fuck, Katsuki looks away, “I told him I couldn’t just be fucking honest, you’d Detroit smash my fucking pride and I wouldn’t recover. But he kept pushing me so I went ‘What do you want me to do, huh?! Do you want me to go up to him and say ‘Hey, look, we’ve been friends for so long, and I know this might sound incredibly fucking weird ‘cause you probably hate me, but… but I’m madly in love with you’… ”

Izuku’s eyes widen in recognition of the words he’d overheard that night, his whole face going slack and freezing in place. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, those wide green eyes started filling up a little.

“That’s… that’s what you heard… I don’t like Kirishima like that, I was just… it was a hypothetical… of you …” he confesses lowly, growing antsier and antsier the more seconds passed them by.

The nerd’s expression goes from confused to empty, and then, just when Bakugo was about to bolt and never look back, he lets out a huff. Then another. And then he’s chuckling, but his eyes are filling with unshed tears. He pinches the bridge of his nose as if he’s trying desperately not to cry, but the sad watery smile breaks the blonde’s heart.

“What?”

Smiling genuinely, even while still crying rivers, he chuckles “I’m so relieved”.

Relieved?! Well, there’s a reaction he never expected. Either happy, pissed, disgusted… he’d anticipated all that. But relieved? What did that mean?!

“I…” he hiccups, and just like that, the incessant babbling begins: “I was so sure you’d confessed to Kirishima and then he went after you when you ran away that night and all I kept thinking was that I had no right to feel sad about it. This wasn’t about me. I needed to be a good friend. I was supposed to be happy for you. I was so scared to even text you because I was gonna be the suckiest friend just because I was in love with you and I was jealous… All this trip I’ve been trying to make up for interrupting, I thought that’s why you were mad! I figured I needed to protect our friendship, to… to… support you” he presses his hands to both his eyes.

The confession finally sits Bakugo down.

Chuckling again, Izuku shakes his head while wiping the last of the tears on his face, “I can’t believe this…”

“You…” Bakugo starts, throat straining a little, “You’re in love with me?”

That gets an honest-to-god laugh out of Deku. “We have endless nights just talking ‘til 3 am, Kacchan. We get coffee together, just you and me, like three times a week. I look at you like you’re perfect…” he explains with a soft smile, “I would’ve thought that gave it away”.

Blinking to try and process what was just said, the blonde mutters, “I thought I was just seeing things”.

“Yeah” Izu smirks, “ Real things, Kacchan”.

The sass sort of breaks the delicate spell the confession had brought on, “Alright, dipshit, why didn’t you say anything, then?!”

“I didn’t wanna rush it” Izuku shrugs, “I figured we were on our way… we get along much better than anyone. And we obviously like spending a lot of time together… I figured it would happen when it happened…” Smile faltering, he gulps, “It’s kind of why it hit a little too hard when I thought I heard you confessing to Kirishima… ‘cause I thought…”

This is it… this is when they clear all of this shit up once and for all. “What do you want then?” Bakugo demands, trying not to sound too desperate, “What do we do now?”

Sinking and curling in his seat, Deku shoots back, “What do you want?”

Fine! Whatever, “I want us to be… more… than friends. A lot more”. At this, Izuku’s face is lit up like a Christmas tree. “What do you want?”

Taking in a deep breath, Midoriya goes for it, “I wanna be your boyfriend”. Well, fuck. That felt like somebody took Bakugo’s heart out of his body and thrust it back in recharged to a 1000%. “But I thought maybe you could feel weird just… being that overnight, you know? Even after all we’ve been through, it took time to be good friends… That’s why I wasn’t rushing anything, I figured I had to be patient”.

Shit… yeah, that brings up another important point. “If we do this…” Katsuki sighs, leaning forwards and looking down at his knees, “We could be fucking it all up”.

“Yeah…” admits Izuku, and silence follows once again, making the room feel cold and unforgiving. That is, until Izuku slides off the bed, kneeling right in front of the blonde, “Can I be honest?”

Katsuki nods, distracted by that hand so up on his thigh, completely nuking his ability to concentrate.

“I don’t wanna be your friend anymore” Deku states simply.

It takes all of three seconds before Bakugo picks his head up and stares at Izu bewildered, “What?!”

Smirking, Izuku tries, “I don’t wanna be just your friend. That’s what I realized just now. I love our friendship, but if I have to go back to being just your friend I’m gonna pull my hair out. I could totally do it. If you wanna take your time, I won’t be mad, I won’t even bother you. But believe me, there’s nothing I’d hate more right now than keep being just your friend… especially if you really… do… feel …” he trails off, searching those deep red eyes.

Instead of confusion, concern or even shock, for the first time in years, Bakugo felt absolute clarity. “You’re a lousy friend anyway” he mutters, bringing up one of his hands to cup Deku’s cheek.

After a beat, Izuku catches on to the joke, “I’m a great friend!”

It makes Katsuki smile, wide and genuine, “So if you’re not my friend anymore…” This is the moment of truth. Ask, Katsuki, goddammit! You’ve been to war at 15, this is nothing! Just do it! “Can I-?”

“Fuck yeah” Izuku chuckles, leaning up as their lips met for the first time.

It’s just one chaste kiss. One . But as soon as they part, they both know where this is heading. So in tandem, they stand up and get moving.

Bakugo makes quick work of rolling Kirishima’s luggage into the room with Denki and Mineta. That done, he puts up the ‘do not disturb’ sign, and sends off a single text to Kirishima: “thx”.

Meanwhile, Izuku went for his own stuff, notifying his roomies of the change and leaving his key over at the room.

That done, the door is slammed shut and locked, and Izuku wastes no time throwing himself at Bakugo, immediately resuming their kiss with newfound passion. Fuck it was like going to heaven. His hands were firmly holding up Izuku’s ass, and the nerd was kissing him like he needed it to survive.

“Kacchan?” comes a breathy voice minutes after Deku was slammed against the wall. Barely aware of what’s going on around them, Bakugo takes a second to reply with a single hum, while he sucks a hickey on the slightly burned skin. “What did you think I heard?”

Popping off Izu’s clavicle, Katsuki admires his work, “Heard about what?”

“I still don’t get why you were so upset, is all” the nerd pries, as if they didn’t have more important things to worry about.

Bakugo turns to stare into those green eyes, blurting out the truth before he can think better of it, “I thought you heard what I said and you were avoiding me”.

A blink, and then, “Why would I avoid you?”

Sighing, Katsuki lets him have it, “I dunno… ‘cause you thought it was disgusting, ‘cause you thought it was obvious I had no chance, ‘cause you thought it was creepy… I kept expecting you to just shoot me down but you acted like nothing was wrong. So I sort of figured you were just gonna dismiss me and act like nothing happened”.

Pushing at Bakugo, Izu’s feet touch the ground again, “ That’s what you’ve been thinking all week?!”

“Who cares?” the blonde appeases, trying to lean back in for a kiss, but Izuku refuses it.

“ I do!” he replies vehemently, cupping Bakugo’s face in both his hands, “You’re my best friend ”.

Sure, yeah. But, “It was possible! I’m an asshole!”

Izuku scoffs, clearly indignant, and pushes the blonde towards his bed, throwing him back. Once his back hit the mattress, Deku climbs over him, “You’re insane! You’re honestly crazy! How can you be so smart and so stupid?!” Leaning down to kiss just once, he whispers, “ ‘I’m madly in love with you’ is the best thing you could’ve ever said to me”. That took Bakugo’s breath away, but then came the finishing blow, “I love you, too”.

Chest feeling like it was collapsing, Katuski lifts a hand to Izu’s face, letting his thumb toy with that plump bottom lip, “You’re disgusting, did you know that? A disgusting fucking sap”.

———

Afternoon became night and neither really noticed. Not one second were they bored. No, they were, uh… engaged in certain other activities and then they had a nap.

Eventually (and after several calls from their friends) they convinced each other to go get some dinner with everyone else, with the promise that they’d come right back.

They were met at the little picnic spot where they’d rented a grill with wolf whistles and cheers. Bakugo pretended to hate it while Izuku literally attempted to bury himself underground. It was… nice. Felt like a victory lap of sorts.

But just as Round Cheeks and IcyHot took his brand new boyfriend away, Bakugo was aware there was one thing he should probably do. Sighing, he beelined to where his friends were congregated.

Without a word, he just shoved Kirishima to turn around and hugged him. Just like that. TapeBoy dropped the tongs he was using in the grill, Pikachu spit out his beer and Pinky immediately took out her Polaroid camera took a picture.

Shitty hair himself just smiled and chuckled, clapping Bakugo on the back a couple times, “Next time I tell you I know people, you can’t call me a clueless idiot”.

Bakugo chuckles and pulls back, shoving Red a little too hard and making him stumble back. “Stop rubbing it in, asshole” he huffs.

“Oh come on! If anything, we all deserve a hug! Raise hands who here knew Mido-bro was cuckoo crazy for Blasty!” she declares and the other two bozos raise their hands.

Snorting, Sero turns to the hotdogs he’s grilling “I’d bet my car that even All Might fucking knows, dude, you’re so stubborn about the stupidest shit”. Serving him a hotdog, the idiot sighs, “Just sucks that now I’m the only one single in our group”.

“Didn’t Pinky ask you to join in and you said no?” Bakugo reminds them, smirking as the Denki and Kirishima gasp in horror.

Sero rolls his eyes, “I told her I didn’t know how to handle a polycule!”

The idiots start arguing about the validity of preferring a monogamous relationship over a poly one and all the while, Katsuki can’t help but smile at the floors completely zoned out. Flashes of what they just did not even two hours ago keep coming back and reigniting this little fire in his chest that he can’t quite name.

This is probably the best thing that’s happened to him in a while. Up there with graduating and coming back to life after having a hole carved out of his chest.

“Right Bakubro?!” Kirishima calls, and they all turn to him, catching him smiling softly at nothing. Pinky snaps another picture.

Shaking his head, he growls “What?! I was just thinking!”

Kaminari chuckles, “If you’re gonna ‘ think ’ so loud, go do it near Mido-bro, dude. He’s sitting down over there”

“Idiots” he mumbles and walks back to where Izuku’s sitting. He’s unable to help when his lips quirk up again as soon as their eyes meet. “What did they want?”he asks curiously.

Izu chuckles, “They wanted to know how come I said I’d be right back and then I never came back and when I did I had a boyfriend”. Shrugging, he adds, “To be fair, I’d be confused too”.

“So you told them?” Bakugo pries, curious as to how the nerd squad took it.

“Yup. Uraraka-san tried to climb a palm tree ‘cause she was so excited. Iida-kun offered to counsel us on gay relationships if we ever needed it, Tsu offered to babysit our future kids, and Todoroki-kun asked if I was sure I wanted to deal with you forever” Izuku relays, smiling widely. “How’d it go on your end?”

Bakugo smirks, “Good. Those idiots love you”.

The statement surprises Izuku because he swallows his bite and hurries to ask, “They do?” Right. As if anyone could ever hate fucking Izuku Midoriya.

“They’ve been begging me to tell you for years” he confesses for no particular reason. In this moment, he’s just really appreciating his idiot friends. “They’re decent friends, at least” he jokes, “Don’t tell ‘em I said that”.

Izuku rolls his eyes as he finishes his hotdog, “Gods forbid they hear you actually appreciate them”.

They smile and eat a little, just basking in the lighthearted mood and the sound of laughter. “So are you?” Bakugo asks after a second.

“Hm?”

“Are you sure you wanna deal with me forever?” he smirks, knowing he’s just fishing for compliments here, but still wanting to hear the answer.

Izuku huffs a laugh, “We haven’t even had our first date yet, Kacchan. Aren’t we supposed to wait a little before we-“

“I don’t half-ass anything” the blonde replies bluntly.

It’s really okay if Deku doesn’t feel as intensely just yet, they’ll get there. But for some reason, Katsuki wanted to make it abundantly clear where he stood. After a moment of staring, the freckled man dusted off his hands, and turned completely to face him with a smile, “I’m super duper sure”.

How can someone so incredibly badass say cringe shit like this? Bakugo will never know. “You sound like a dumbass when you say super duper”.

“You’re no fun” Izu smirks, leaning in.

“You’re no cool” Kats replies, leaning in as well.

They kiss chastely, just a barely there press of lips, that immediately sends Bakugo into deep euphoria. “I’m super duper cool” insists the nerd.

“Can you fucking stop with the super duper?!” he chuckles, leaning in again before being interrupted by a cough… well, a cough, and the sudden realization that everyone else had shut up suddenly.

Both turn to find the rest of their class staring, wide-eyed and horrified.

It sends Bakugo into a mild rage, “You bitches want a lesson in minding your own damned business?! Huh?!” To his surprise though, nobody responds to the threat. “Oi!”

Izuku chuckles, “I don’t think you;’re all that scary anymore Kacchan, they just saw you kiss me ‘cause I said ‘super duper’”.

“It’s like an idol has fallen” Denki mutters under his breath, looking terrified.

“I’ll be damned” says Kirishima, smirking.

“This is eerie as hell” chimes in Round cheeks.

“It’s probably a bad omen. The world is gonna end soon” IcyHot supplies stupidly.

“Who knew…?” Mina mutters, in awe.

That’s when Mineta approaches and sits between him and Izuku, bleeding from his nose already and hugging the two men close, “We can do whatever we want now! Group kiss!”

Yeah, no. Bakugo grabs Mineta by the head and blasts him towards the horizon, until they can’t hear his screams anymore. Turning to everyone else, he shouts “Anyone else wanna test me out?!”

Then his threat had weight to it again, and everyone quickly turned to initiate conversations again.

Once again, the cheeky bastard beside him laughs, “I can’t believe I used to be afraid of your threats”.

Scoffing, Bakugo shoots back, “I can still kick your ass!” This bitch thinks just because they’re boyfriends, he would take it easy?! Hell no.

“I could kick your ass, too” Izuku remarks smugly. And he means it too. Which, inexplicably, turns Katsuki on so much.

So he sighs and stands up, “Okay, where was our room again?”

Snorting, Izuku remains seated, sipping at his pina colada, “We just came out here, Kacchan, we promised”.

“We came out. We’re bored. We should go back!” Katsuki tries, feeling like a little kid throwing a tantrum for some reason.

Catching Bakugo standing up and pulling Izuku up too, for some reason, Kaminari assumes they’re going somewhere. “Oh, guys! You going out?! Could you pick some stuff from the convenience store? There’s one down the street”.

“Bring sunblock!” begs Froggy.

“Soba, too” supplies IcyHot just to be unhelpful.

“And ice! Bring allll the ice!” Round Cheeks begs.

Bakugo was about to send them all straight to hell when Deku leans in, “We said we needed condoms and lube, Kacchan, there might be some on that convenience store”.

Growling, he gives in, “Fine. Assholes” he huffs, rummaging around in his pocket for his keys.

“We could get an ice cream too!” Izu suggests as they start walking out to the parking lot. “Or a deck of cards to play! And skittles to bet with!”

Huffing, Bakugo retorts, “Sure, anything else, princess ?!”

Izuku smiles sweetly up at him, “I’m a princess that can and will Detroit smash your balls if you don’t treat me right”.

Katsuki smirks, “ God that’s hot”.