Chapter Text
The party was gross. The air was humid, all the countertops in the house were sticky, the walls smelt of moisture, there were too many people crammed into the space.
The music rang in Bakugou’s ears and blared through his body. He didn’t have the slightest idea why he agreed to be the designated driver for Deku’s loser squad.
The second he entered Momo Yaoyorozo’s large home, he poured himself a glass of cola and stood in a corner by a window. He pulled out his phone and scrolled his time away.
He had no interest in parties or socializing or anything of the sort. He had went to a few freshmen mixers last year, talked into it by his parents, but quickly learned they weren’t quite his strong suit. He left them all fuming, shouty, and a little too drunk for his own good.
So he avoided most social events, except on the occasion that shitty Deku begged him to come. He found that just giving into the nerds’ plans was a less annoying path than hearing all the reasons Deku had compiled for Bakugou to come.
Maybe you’ll make a new friend! Networking! Time of your life! Only young once!
Deku sounded like his old man, except Deku would prepare PowerPoints to lecture Bakugou on how he should go out more.
Bakugou pulled up a chair by the window and sat there while idiots flailed their bodies around in the background. Call him antisocial, but Bakugou didn’t really give a damn.
As he was scrolling through his Photos app, trying to delete any unnecessary images, Bakugou saw a flash of red hair coming closer and closer to him. He clicked off his phone to see who it was.
"Hey! You’re Bakugou, right?” A guy with fiery red hair and a matching solo cup greeted all too loud, extending the hand that was free of the beverage.
This dude should already know who Bakugou was if he was in the same department, unless he was exceptionally dense in the skull. Bakugou assumed the redhead had taken up a different major, then.
Bakugou didn't need to confirm his name and waste his words, but might as well make a little conversation. He was alone at this party. Deku’s friends hadn’t even entertained the thought of spending time with Bakugou, all too caught up in their own social lives.
Bakugou didn't want to come across as odd to this stranger, not that it mattered what everyone else thought.
This dude was pretty hot, Bakugou had to admit. Red really was his colour, it matched his eyes.
"Damn right." Bakugou puffed, shoving his hands down his pockets. He'd learnt to avoid handshakes at all costs: his quirk gave him hands drenched in sweat.
"And who are you, exactly?" Bakugou questioned, standing out of his seat so he was… was definitely not eye level with the man.
The man in front of Bakugou was easily 6’3. A giant to the 5’9 Bakugou, especially considering Bakugou wasn’t known for his posture and the redhead stood ramrod straight.
A brief look of offense overtook the man’s face before it contorted back into a smile.
So this dude thought he was hot stuff?
"Uh, Eijirou? We went to high school together, man! Mr. Ectoplasm's math class?"
"As if." Bakugou scoffed. He wasn't good with faces, but he sure as hell would've remembered a flaming fire truck head of hair. Was this some sort of sick joke?
"We did! Your locker was a few over from mine, dude." The red head grinned, displaying a set of sharp, blinding white teeth.
The teeth that Bakugou remembered staring at in math class.
"Holy shit." Bakugou muttered. "Kirishima?"
This couldn't be Eijirou Kirishima from Mr. Ectoplasm's math class. That guy had straight black hair, and Bakugou easily had a good few inches over him. Kirishima was a small, nervous boy, with bangs that gave him quite the emo look. Bakugou had always found him cute, in that endearing sort of way. Now he looked… freaking hot.
Kirishima had been his hallway crush. He was shy, yes, but around his friends Kirishima laughed and chatted and god was Bakugou happy to have a locker close to his, though he had never admitted it. Kirishima had this iron will in math class to never give up, no matter how tough the problem was. This inspired Katsuki to do the same.
Sometimes, Kirishima would say ‘good morning, Baku’ when he saw him by the lockers. Those days were the best days.
What’s got you so smiley, Kacchan? Damn Deku never quite figured it out back then.
Bakugou never did talk to Kirishima a lot, nor did he ever have any reason to. They ran in two different circles. Bakugou had chain smoking lackeys while Kirishima's friends were in the robotics club, aspiring to go to Droid Tech.
The man in front of him was broad shouldered and was built like he lived at the gym. Puberty hit him like a fucking airplane. His hair was confidently spiked up and so red that it would've looked shitty on anyone else.
Why was the Kirishima in front of him so... wow.
He still had those boyish eyes though. They crinkled at the corner when he smiled, like they were carved from the prettiest stone.
So Katsuki had a little more than a crush on Kirishima in high school. But he was over that, wasn’t he? But he never expected Kirishima to look so…
Kirishima nodded, "Yeah, Eijirou Kirishima."
"You— fucking, your hair—" Why the hell was Bakugou stuttering? Why was his throat closing up? Why were his hands getting clammy? Why was the world spinning?
Get it together, dammit!
"Oh! Yeah, I changed it up for uni." Kirishima ran his fingers through his hair briefly, as if the strands had just magically spawned there.
You changed more than your hair.
Is this what being a late bloomer meant? Because Bakugou had to look up to even see Kirishima, and he didn’t think he was that short compared to the others at the university.
He didn't know he went to the same university as Kirishima. He thought Kirishima was at Droid Tech with the rest of his buddies.
Kirishima looked damn great. Bakugou wanted to kiss his face off.
However, Bakugou was ready to end this conversation now, before his feelings got any worse and he started babbling like an idiot again.
He scowled at the redhead. He hated feeling this way. Like something was out of his reach.
He knew he'd never get Kirishima so why try? Why not just push him farther away and out of his head, like he had all of high school?
They’d seen each other in math class and in the high school hallways sometimes. Bakugou heard Kirishima’s voice in class, and Kirishima heard his during roll call. Bakugou faintly remembered them working on a few class projects together— Mr. Ectoplasm had paired them up. Bakugou remembered Kirishima sitting way too damn close to him and them getting absolutely everything and nothing done.
"Looks like a fire truck vomited all over your head." He marked off.
Kirishima only laughed at this, teeth on full display, taunting Bakugou. "Ha! Exactly what I was going for!"
Bakugou's eyes trailed to Kirishma's jacket, a letterman one.
"You play college football?" Made sense, really, with his stature and muscle.
"Yeah, you never been to one of the games?" A look of genuine surprise overtook Kirishima’s face, and damn Bakugou for staring at his surprisingly sharp jawline.
Bakugou shook his head. His childhood friend, Izuku, had ended up going to the same university, and him and his little band of nerds tried to get Bakugou to come with them to the football games a few times.
Bakugou had always resisted. He didn't want to sit there and watch people throw a ball around when he had a criminology paper due at 12.
"Seriously, dude? Come out next time, I'm the quarterback, so I'm easy to spot."
Frickin’ quarterback? What romcom am I in?
"I don't remember you playing football in high school, how'd you get on the college team?"
"I dunno if you remember, but I was kinda shy in high school. But! I trained hard and joined a league in summer to practice for a walk-on season. Got on the team first year and then this year they gave me a scholarship." Kirishima counted these points on his fingers, voice trailing off on the later parts. "What have you been up to Bakugou?"
Bakugou shrugged, "Criminology undergrad." It didn't sound impressive yet but when Bakugou was the world's greatest detective, which he sure as hell would be, it'll be the news of the world.
"Nice man, never took ya for a mystery solver."
Bakugou glared up at the man, "What's that supposed to mean?"
Kirishima just started smiling again, like it was the easiest thing in the world. "Just thought you like to get straight to the point."
So he was calling Bakugou impatient? "Whatever, Hair-for-Brains, I'm the best at mystery solving."
"So my big fat crush on you was no mystery in high school?" Kirishima laughed, which made Bakugou freeze up and do a double take on what was just said.
"What?" He feared he said that with a little too much of an edge. Kirishima started chuckling, albeit nervously.
Kirishima patted Bakugou's back with a huge hand, "Oh, come on man! Pretty sure like, half our math class knew. I couldn’t stop staring at you! I just never did anything about it!”
”What?” Bakugou repeated, in both disbelief and shock.
“Well, that's high school, a crazy time to be alive." Kirishima kept laughing, and it was putting Bakugou in some sort of weird trance.
What was stopping Kirishima from doing something about it? Why hadn’t Bakugou have figured that out? What were the chances his crush who he barely even talked to also felt the same way? What the hell? This was a cheap romcom set up and Bakugou was going to strangle the producer.
Bakugou wasn't going to be ignorant and say he never knew the reason Kirishima never approached him. Bakugou was never the most… welcoming person.
Bakugou tried his best to settle into an easy laugh.
"Ha! Right." He sounded uncomfortable and forced and bit the inside of his cheek.
"I always regretted never saying anything to you back then, and I’m working on a new way of life. I wanna live my life with no regrets! So when I saw you sitting here, I was like no freaking way, this is my chance to talk to you!”
They stood in each others’ space for a few seconds longer. Bakugou feared his brain had shut off as he caught a whiff of Kirishima’s cologne: all cedar and vanilla and sexy. He could feel his face heating up.
“Hm, well I gotta get going Baku, nice catching up!" And there Kirishima was, being tugged away from Bakugou by... was that Denki Kaminari? From Mr. Yamada’s English class? What was this, a freaking high school reunion?
Just how much of his high school had ended up at this university? Had he really not looked around his first year to scope out familiar faces?
Bakugou wasn't really keen on meeting new people. In the 2 years he'd been at university, he'd only made a handful of acquaintances, and he barely talked to any of them.
Inasa Yoarashi, a loud guy with an overwhelming personality sat beside Bakugou in some of his classes. He only knew Bakugou because Bakugou had worked a summer job with his best friend Shoto Todoroki (who was a pain in the ass).
Camie Utsushimi, a complete airhead, sat beside Bakugou in the classes Inasa wasn't in. She cracked the occasional joke but the pair said no more to each other.
Sometimes he'd join Fumikage Tokoyami for lunch when he was feeling… lonely. Which wasn't often, since he was always so focused on assignments and being the top of his class, but sometimes Tokoyami would invite him out. He had a cool Belgian Shephard, Shadow, who’d always join them if they went out for coffee.
Tokoyami was a quiet boy who liked poetry. He kept Bakugou some sort of company.
Deku and his band of nerds didn't count as Bakugou's friends or even acquaintances. He wanted nothing to do with them. They weren't focused like Bakugou was, always talking about gossip and being do-gooders and gushing about Deku’s stupid dumbass European boyfriend.
He looked at Kirishima then, smiling with Denki Kaminari. Kaminari had his hand around some purple-haired girl's shoulders and Kirishima was standing close to a girl with a pink wolf-cut.
Damn, they seemed like they were having a good time. Kirishima had obviously moved on from his high school crush. Bakugou just got reminded of his.
Bakugou felt a pit in his stomach. He didn't have anything to lose by going over to Kirishima again.
But why? Why would he do this?
He blamed it on how awkward it feels standing alone in a room packed with people.
So he dragged his feet to where Kirishima was. He almost lost any sense of nonchalance when Bakugou stepped on his baggy pants. Thank god for his reflexes kicking in.
His excuse for coming over was introducing himself to Kaminari, but that wasn't necessary as he approached the group, because Kaminari's face scrunched up as he squinted at Bakugou.
"Kacchan of the Bakugous?! Holy shit!" The idiot exclaimed.
"Hey." Bakugou said dryly, ignoring the stupid nickname as best he could.
Kaminari offered his hand for a shake. Bakugou glared at him and kept his hands in his pockets.
"Kaminari. How's it been?" Bakugou forced the words out of his mouth, small talk being a foreign subject for him. Kaminari looked exactly the same as he had 2 years prior in high school. Same haircut and stupid grin.
"Woah, it's been forever since I've seen ya! I didn't know you went to UA Uni, did you just transfer this year?" Kaminari looked genuine. It annoyed the crap out of Bakugou.
"Piss off, I've been here as long as you have." To be fair, Bakugou didn't know Kaminari went here either.
"Oh. Dude, did you go to the party last Friday? The light show was insane!"
"No." Bakugou avoided parties like the plague. This was the first one he'd been to in months, and only because it was Deku's friend's stupid housewarming or some shit. As if Momo Yaoyorozo didn't host parties every other week, but this one Deku had insisted on Bakugou's presence.
But where was Izuku now? The last thing Bakugou wanted to do was to find out, which was what led him to staying in a corner and scrolling on his phone for most of the party, while loud music violated his eardrums.
For someone who made so much of an effort to drag Bakugou to social events, Deku sure didn’t like spending time with him when they got there.
"Oh, alright. What're you up to, school-wise?" Kaminari looked actually interested in what Bakugou had to say. He always thought the boy had the attention span of a 5 year old.
"Criminology undergrad."
Kaminari smiled, "Oh! You're in that department! That's why I've never seen ya around on campus man! I'm in the electrical course in the trades section. Ya must've seen Eijirou, the boxing gym's right by your section."
"No. My boxing gym's off campus." Bakugou said.
"Wait, you box too?" Kirishima piped up, turning around from his conversation with the pink girl, and Bakugou realized he'd just let that slip.
"Yeah.”
Kirishima smiled so wide Bakugou thought his teeth were going to come out. "Let's spar sometime, man! I'll give you my number and we can meet up one of these days!"
And Bakugou handed his phone over without even thinking. Kirishima typed up his info.
Kaminari pushed Kirishima aside, “Hey, you know that Camie chick? Pretty sure she’s in that department.” Kaminari whistled, “Do you know her? She’s smoking hot!”
As Bakugou was about to lie that he had no idea who that was, the purple haired girl elbowed Kaminari hard.
“Ow! What the what, Jirou!”
She laughed and rolled her eyes, “You’re such a dumbass!”
“I’m just pulling your leg, babe! Especially since you keep looking at Yaomomo like she hung the stars up in the sky for ya!”
Kaminari, Jirou, and Kirishima started laughing.
The conversation then drifted off into talking about someone named "Sero" and how he wasn't there.
Bakugou left the group, clearly not fitting into the conversation. How was he supposed to when it seemed like everyone knew everyone and decided to only talk about everyone they knew?
From the second he stepped on campus 2 years ago, it seemed like everyone had found their friends. His high school friends had ended up not even applying for any post-secondary education, opting to "figure things out on their own time". Which was well and good for them, but Bakugou had different ambitions.
Bakugou wandered back to his corner. Scrolled through his contacts list and chuckled at what Kirishima had listed his name as.
Eijirou Kirishima from Mr. Ecoplasm’s Math Class :)
A voice snapped him out of his happiness. "Hey! Boom boom boy!" God, that could only be one person calling his name like that.
He turned around to find Ochako Uraraka, the most tolerable one out of Deku's little band of idiots, jogging across the room to see him.
"What are you so smiley for? Girlfriend on that phone?” She smirked.
Bakugou pushed her away from snooping. “Fuck off.”
“We're heading out now, are you sober enough to drive us all back?" Her breath smelled like she barely had one drink, but night driving got Uraraka nervous for no reason. She was a perfectly capable driver.
She damn well knew how to drive a motorcycle on the freeway, the irony of it all was enough to make Bakugou smile a little bit more.
"Yeah, yeah." Bakugou wanted to leave anyways, taking Deku's nerds home wasn't that big of a task.
"Aw, thanks! I'll go get Tenya, Izuku..." Her voice trailed off as she shuffled her away across the dance floor.
In a few minutes, Tenya Ida, Tsuyu Asui, and Ochako Uraraka were in front of Bakugou’s car.
Bakugou almost bit his tongue when asking about Izuku's whereabouts. "Is the nerd not coming?"
Asui shook her head, "His man from Europe's at this party right now, so Midoriya will still be a few hours."
A few hours at 11 pm?
Bakugou started up the car and began driving to the closest house, Ida’s, as the three idiots babbled on about the Europe guy.
"Rowley Roul? That was his name, right?" Uraraka mused.
"I believe it was Rodney Salt." Ida remarked.
"It's Rody Soul, guys." Asui corrected.
As Bakugou finished dropping them all off and listening to their insufferable conversations, he bolted straight up to his room, and all he could think about was that flash of red hair and that blinding smile.