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When Bakugo was 6, he thought Deku's dad was the coolest.
He was funny, friendly; Always the life of the party. When they were too little to go off by themselves, and he was the "Adult," he had always taken them out for ice-cream or into town, too all the cool shops like the comic book store.
When he took trips to America for work, he always had crazy stories about heroes and their lives and always brought souvenirs back for Bakugo, even though he wasn't even his kid. He had even interviewed All might! Four Times!
He was way cooler than Bakugos own father, who went places for work but only brought back stupid clothes. He was always cautious, and when he was watching the boys, they had to stay inside and watch movies and silly stuff like that.
So, when his parents were in the kitchen with lights turned down low, talking quietly to each other over wine, about how Hisashi was going for longer and longer trips, how he was leaving his over-worked wife all by herself for weeks at a time, little Bakugo had jumped his defense.
He has the coolest job; why wouldn't he spend all his time talking to heroes. Who would wanna spend time with Deku and Aunty? They were boring.
His mother's face faltered, the grip on her glass tightening.
"Katsuki, that not ok to say. Hisashi is a father. He has a duty to his family," His father had said in his usual dulcet voice, but there was an edge to it Bakugo had never heard before.
“So, what?! He’s awesome. Way cooler than you!”
And for the first time in his young life, his father had yelled at him, "Katsuki! Don't ever say something like that again! Go to bed, now!" He was so shocked that he hadn't even argued that his bedtime wasn't even for another hour.
After that night, Bakugo concluded that his dad was a loser. And Bakugo hated losers. So, for the next six months, he barely said three words to his dad. Even when his mom had a business trip, they were all alone for a week and a half.
His mom had picked him up the day she got back and as they were walking home, hand in hand because Mitsuki was the ONLY person allowed to hold Katsuki's hand (“You brat!! I made those hands!! I pushed you outta me!”) talking about his day,
“Did you make money on your trip?”
"Yes, I did," His mother chuckled at him. "I am sorry that there were plane issues, and I missed your birthday."
"It's alright. Dad saved you some cake."
"Are you speaking to him again?"
"No, and he wasn't invited to my party cause he's a loser, so he had to stay inside." His mother chuckled again, "Is that so?"
“Yeah, Deku didn’t come either.”
"Katsuki, I know you don't always like him, but his mother is important to me, so sometimes you just gotta suck it up-”
"No, he just didn't show up, and he hasn't been in school all week either.”
His mother's hand squeezed his. "Hey, baby, can we take a detour? I wanna make sure everything is ok at the Midoriya's.”
It wasn't so much as a request as it was an order as Katsuki was dragged in the direction of the complex.
The rest of that day passed in a blur, full of the noise of Auntie Inko sobs and talks of Hisashi leaving.
When Katsuki was 7, he thought Deku's dad was the stupidest man alive.
He had been so upset that when he had hugged his father that night in tears, he had left a small burn on his left shoulder.
---
When Katsuki was 17, he knew that Deku's dad was a narcissistic piece of shit who left his family high and dry and ran away from his responsibilities like a pussy.
The aforementioned narcissistic piece of shit was standing there with some pretty blonde lady on his arm, talking up Four-Eyes as they walked towards the seats that class 2-A were watching the sports festival. Two firsties were fighting right now, and the whole class was watching. Denki was running a play-by-play commentary that had the entire class giggling. "and she dodges with the grace of... a bumbling toddler and eats shit on the pitch.
The extras exploded into laughter, and even Bakugo cracked a smile as the boy unceremoniously pulled himself out of the dirt.
"Unfortunately, at the moment, he is getting ready for the next bout, but you can watch the tournament with us if you would like," Katsuki watched out of the corner of his eye as four eyes lead the shit-head in their direction. "Everyone!' the group turned to look while Katsuki kept his eyes on the fight as they drew to a close. That means me and Deku are up next. “This is Mr. Midoriya, Izuku's father and his wife. They are visiting from America” The class greeted them kindly, all smiles and waves. “I thought it would be ok if they watched it with us.”
"Of course." "Yeah!" "It would be our pleasure!"
"Not a chance in hell,"
The group paused and looked at Bakugo with differing ranges of anger. "I thought you and Midoriya were cool now," Mina whispered quickly. "We are," he whispered back. Not everyone needed to hear him admit that.
"Oh my, I am sorry for Bakugo. He is quite rude!"
“Oh no, I am very aware.” Hisashi chuckled. "Katsuki has always had a quite a mouth on you, haven't you, my boy!"
In one movement, Bakugo twisted and pushed over the back of his seat, landing with a loud thunk, coming face to face with this older, salt and pepper version of Deku's Father.
“ Huh, we are the same height now. That's creepy."
“ I am not your fucking boy," Katsuki growled out before a wicked thought entered his head. He leaned closer, so close that his lips almost touched Hisahis ear, "If you even think about trying to fuck with Aunty or Izuku, that pretty new wife of yours is gonna have to scrap you off the fucking floor."
“Later losers!” he shouted, causing Hisashi to cringe, as he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked towards the doors. He could hear Pinky and Kiri calling out a “Good Luck!!”
Yeah, like he would need it.
His boots echoed in the hallway as he walked towards the prep rooms hearing the soft chatter of Deku chatting with the girl whose ass was just handed to her.
"This just means you have room for growth! Sorry I wish I could give you better advice..." He chuckled. The girl nodded and turned to leave, almost bumping into Bakugo. He grunted at her, and she quickly scuttled away to lick her wounds.
"Hey, she just lost; you should try to be nicer.” He chuckled from his seat in one of the folding chairs.
Deku turned to look at him, and all the anger Katsuki was feeling seemed to bleed out.
Last year he would fill right up again and rage, but now he took his time and just looked.
When Izuku smiled, it felt like he was staring at the sun. It was warm. Even after everything they had gone through, Izuku's smile had never faltered. All Might maybe the symbol of peace, but Deku was just so fucking hopeful, it almost hurt.
And Katsuki was gonna crush that.
‘Fuck me.’
"Something bad happened, didn't it? Cause you're looking at me the same way you did when you knocked over my collector's edition silver age All Might figure the other day." Deku said, his smile not even twitching.
‘Fuck. me.’
“ Are you going to tell me or what? We have time while Cementoss fixes the pitch.”
Bakugo just kinda stood there, unsure of what to do. He didn't want to tell him anything cause this is gonna suck so bad.
"How's this," Deku stood up and walked towards him till they were standing eye to eye. "If you feel bad about telling me, you owe me. Like we did when we were little."
Oh, that. When they were little kids, they would owe the other a favor when they had terrible news. It made bad news not so bad. And now that seems like the best plan right now.
“Ok, fine.”
Deku grinned at his victory.
"Your dad's here, with his pretty blonde wife, and he's yucking it up with all the extras. He's acting like a fucking angel out there, and I wanna kill him.” Deku looked at him, now with a smaller smile.
"Yeah, I know. He emailed mom and me over the summer. Asked if it was ok if he came and watched," Deku smiled guiltily.
Bakugo sighed and spun on his feet, "You knew, and you let me struggle like that, fuck you. Imma wipe the floor with you."
As his hand reached for the door handle, he felt a gentle pressure of arms wrapping around his middle, the warm feeling of a chest pressing against his back. Holy shit Deku was almost cold compared to how hot Bakugos skin felt. There was soft laughter against his back. He could feel it travel up his spine.
"Sorry, I know you don't like hugs," Deku quickly unwrapped his arms. "We should go,"
Not needing to be told twice, Bakugo practically launched himself at the door, not bothering to wait for stupid Deku as he heard the steps catching up behind him.
His whole body was buzzing, like when Sparky gets too excited playing video games and sent static all over the room. His brain felt fuzzy, and his skin was covered in goosebumps as all his hair stood on end.
They reached the juncture where the hallway split in two, leading to the opposite ends of the playing field. They stood there for a moment.
Deku giggles and they bump shoulders and gave him a glittering smile. They turn, facing away from each other. Bakugo barely can take a step before Deku mumbled, "You know something, Kachaan?”
“Hmm?”
"I can't from the life of me figure out why I said it was ok for him to come because all I can think about is the fact that he is talking to my friends, and it makes me so angry." He took a deep breath through his nose.
“It makes me so angry that if I use One-For-All, right now, I think I could kill someone.” He laughed weakly, his voice wavering slightly.
With those words, the air in the hall grew thick.
"No quirks, for this fight. I have been doing some endurance training, and I wanna see how quick I can kick your ass.”
“Yeah...sounds good.”
Bakugo knows that if he lets him, Deku will keep talking, so he starts down the hall, making sure the unspoken words “I think I'll kill you” remain that way, towards the roar of the crowd and the brightness of the sun.
----
“Can I call in my favor now?”
"NO WAY IN HELL, YOU DAMN NERD!!!"
“Fair enough!”
----
They had run out the clock and fucking tied.
“ Wow, you guys were amazing!” Pink cheeks chattered as she and the rest of the class started to shuffle into the room for the closing ceremony.
“Yeah, it was crazy watching you guys!” Kirishima smiled as he held his fist up to a grumbling Bakugo. He waited for a moment before gently punching him in the biceps. “Weird seeing you guys fight without quirks.”
“It was interesting to watch, nevertheless,” Bird boy said as his shadow bird happily chattered at Izuku.
“WHATEVER! ITS FUCKING BULLSHIT!”
Izuku giggled as Recovery Girl finished wrapping up the scraps on his palms and knuckles, "Well, maybe next time you should try harder."
"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!!!"
Kirishima almost shrieked as he grabbed on to Bakugo's waist. Denki and Sero quickly grabbed at Bakugos elbows as he began to drag the three boys across the room.
The room erupted with laughter; Deke doubled over, he was laughing so hard. "How the hell are you this strong!" Denki squawked. "This is ridiculous!" Sero shouted over the chaos.
"Class 2-A, we have a visitor! Can you please act like normal people for once!" Iida shouted from the doorway.
"Good Lord." And all the joy, Izuku's feet turned cold.
He looked up; His father had aged. Which he knew had happened, but it hurt to see in real life because, in his head, he had always looked the same. He had greyed around his ears, and he had more wrinkles than Izuku had remembered. There was also a blonde woman slightly behind him.
“ Sorry about them!” Iida said quickly.
"Why?" Izuku said. He stood up as the rest of the class looked at him. "We were just having fun; there's no need to apologize." They held eye contact, and the air grew thick with tension. The class looked on helplessly.
“Wow, you have grown so much, I barely recognize you.”
“Yeah, why would you? I haven't seen you in person in what, 10 years?” Izuku could barely recognize how bitter he sounded.
His dad cringed slightly, “Yeah.”
They stood there, intense silent for what felt like years before a cheerful ring tone filled the room.
"Oh gosh, that me, sorry!"
It must be Elina.
In his emails, he talked about her. She was an editor or something like that. He had met her when he had been on assignment, apparently. She was beautiful, and the way his father talked about her...she was very special to him. “ When I meet her, I felt like I was waking up for deep slumber,” His father's email had said, “She brought a light into my life I didn’t know I was missing.”
She ducked out of the room, phone pressed to her ear.
“ Well, I just wanted to say that you did great out there today. You looked like you two could almost be real heroes" Hisashi chuckled weakly.
And suddenly, the tension quickly shifted.
“Could be?! What kind of shit is that?!” Bakugo took a step forward.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with Izuku, the blonde started laughing, “I am gonna be number one, and if Deku keeps up with his training, he might even come in second, and all your just gonna be some shitty guy who didn't even have the balls to leave his kid and wife in person."
And something in Izuku broke. He laughed, "Kachaan, that's mean."
“Yeah, but it true!”
"Fair enough," He looked at his watch, "Look, Aizawa-san will be here any minute to get us for the closing ceremony, and don't you have a train to catch? You got interviews in the morning right, isn't that the whole reason you're here." As if on cue, Aizawa appeared in the door.
“Hey, time to go.”
Izuku and Bakugo moved in tandem, followed by Todoroki and Momo, who placed second and third respectively, the rest of the class hanging back.
“I'll see you in another 10 years, old man. Have a good life...Dad.”
----
To say Izuku looked tried was an understatement. Going through the whole sports festival and then the drama of his dad. He shuffled sleepily towards his room. Trying to repress a yawn, he reached for his doorknob, key in hand.
“You good?”
Bakugo had silenced followed him when they had returned, leaned against the space between Izuku's and Auyomas's room.
“Yeah, I am all good. Recovery Girl healed me up pretty good, so I'll be all good for practice tomorrow.”
Right, Practice with All-Might. Why did that idiot think about that?
“Well, that’s good, I guess. I meant about Shit-head.”
At that moment, Izuku finally managed to unlock his door. "I personally don't love putting all my dirty laundry out for all to see. Quite frankly, I have shown too much of it for one day, so you wanna come in?”
Katsuki simply grunted in response and followed the green-haired boy into his dorm.
Izuku barely made it into the room before he plopped down on the end of the bed, "I am so freaking tired." Bakugo stood awkwardly, unsure of what to do with his hands. So, he just shoved them into his pockets.
"So, the old man was only in Japan for work? Why am I not surprised?"
Izuku shrugged dumbly, "Me neither honestly, I lost faith in that man a really long time ago. I can't remember when I did have faith in him, to be quite honest. I mean, I loved him when I was a little kid, but I didn't believe anything promise he made to me."
"Shit, that's depressing. I forgot how fucking weird you get when you're tired."
Izuku's head tilted to the side, a small smile lighting up his face. "Hey Kachaan, I know what I want for my favor,”
“Oh yeah, and what will it be then?”
“I wanna hug, a real one.”
Bakugo grumbled. O f course, he would say something like that, stupid sap.
There was no use fighting it, so he took a step forward, his feet almost touching Deku's, clamping his eye shut, and spread his arms out wide like how Kiri does it.
Quite frankly, he doesn't like hugs. When his quirk first appeared, his hands and body would heat up if he got too excited or upset. Both his parents had a couple of scars from when he would get too riled up, and after he gave his preschool teacher a pretty nasty burn, he had tried to be super careful.
After a while, it's easy to get into the habit when everyone is afraid to touch the asshole who sweats nitroglycerin.
Izuku grins excitedly and jumps up, throwing his arms around the taller boy's neck. Carefully, Katsuki loosely wrapped his arms around Izuku's waist.
“I feel like I am hugging a wood plank,” Izuku said sweetly.
Bakugos sighed and tried his best to relax his body. As he breathed in, the smell of Izuku filled his nose. Mint and Pine, mixing with the synthetic scent of his deodorant. Looking down Deku's back, he can see that he is standing on his tippy toes. Almost on instinct, his muscles began to relax.
“See, that’s more like it."
And there was that feeling again. Like his whole body was on a live wire. A shudder crawled up from his back and spread over his shoulders and down his arms. He could feel Dekus arm slack and muscles' movement as if he was going to pull away. Bakugo tightened his arms around Izukus's middle, pressing his body back against his own. Wait, what the fuck is he doing.
"Hey...hey," Deku tried to lean back to look at Katsuki's face, but he stubbornly tucked into his shoulder, chin digging in almost painfully to the soft spot in Deku's shoulder. “Are you ok?”
Bakugo stayed silent, clinging to Deku's warm body. He could feel the muscles move underneath the skin, the blood pumping through his veins. He just felt so alive.
What if he lets go, and it all falls apart?
He couldn't let go because he what if he lets go and it all ends. What if this is Deku's way of saying farewell? To live a life without Izuku in it, he didn't even know what that looked like. After he treated him in middle school, he had told a 13-year-old to jump off the roof. What kind of sick fucker does that.
And Izuku had still stayed, had tried his best to be kind to Bakugos cruelty. He had worked so hard to try to be better to, to be more forgiving. It was hard and took almost two years to admit that Izuku was essential to him. Too Important.
“ Kacchan can you look at me please," Bakugo tried to dig his face in deeper, but the feeling of hands on the sides of his face caused him to scrunch his face up. He felt his face gets pushed back, probably so he could see how weak and stupid Katsuki looked.
He couldn’t bear to look at Izuku, so he kept his face scrunched his eyes closed tightly.
"Sorry, I know you don't like hugs." Izuku presses against Bakugo's arms again, "But you don't have to be so dramatic."
Bakugo cracked his eyes open, and it took all of his self-control not to gasp.
The soft multicolor light of Izuku's lights strips filled the room and cast an almost halo-like glow around the wild, grass-green hair of the boy in his arms. As he had gotten older, Izuku had developed more freckles, and now they almost covered his nose, spreading up onto his forehead and cheeks like stars in the night sky. His eyes were wide, reflecting the fade of the fading, changing lights. A small faint smile seemed to create its own light.
With a shock, the truth dawned on him.
I want to kiss him.
“What are you doing?”
The warmth Bakugo was just feeling suddenly turned ice cold. He was mere inch's Izuku's face, so close he could feel the other boy's breath on his face. The 100-watt smile was gone a replaced by a small, confused frown.
“No idea.” He managed to choke out.
“Were you gonna kiss me?”
“No!” He cringed as his voice cracked with fear. Oh, this was not going to go well at all.
“Yes, you were!”
Now it was Bakugos turn to try to pull away, but Izuku's hands clamped on the sides of his neck, holding him in place. "Oh no, you're not going anywhere! You just tried to kiss me!!" Izuku's voice sounded almost giddy. He was probably enjoying this, watching Bakugo make a fool of himself. I bet he's enjoying this.
“Oi, let me go,”
"No way in hell, you are staying right here." Bakugo couldn't look Izuku in the eye, so he just stared at his socks.
"Ok, so I am exhausted so, I think we both need sleep."
Bakugo nodded quietly. He tried to pull away again, but Izuku's hand stay firm on his neck.
“You aren't going anywhere. We are gonna talk about this tomorrow, so I want you where I can see you so you can't run away from your mess.”
Bakugos protests died in his throat as Izuku leaned back, pulling them both down onto the bed. Bakugo allowed himself to be tugged up until his head hit a pillow and a fleecy blanket tugged over the pair of them. Izuku was right next to him, looking at him so gently.
“If your gonna kiss me, you should ask me first."
A shock crashed through Bakugo and chased away any feeling of sleep.
“What did you just say to me?”
“Good night Kachaan!” Izuku grinned mischievously and rolled over.
“Oi!” Bakugo reached out and grabbed Izuku's arms in a vain attempt to turn him back over, causing Izuku to break out into a fit of giggles. They began to wrestle playfully, Izuku's giggling like a monkey, and soon Bakugo was giggling like a little kid.
“Repeat what you just said!”
“You heard me!”
There was his opening! Izuku blinked up at the blonde boy, and his wrists were now pinned above his head, "Repeat what you said, you shitty nerd. Right. Now.”
The colors of the lights were still shifting, so it took a second for Bakugo to realize that Izuku's whole face was flushed. It had spread all the way up to his ears.
“If you wanna kiss me, you have to ask me first." Even if Izuku looked like a blushing schoolgirl, his voice was confident.
“Can I kiss you?” Bakugo said it so quickly he surprised them both.
“No.” He said with an almost comically straight face
“WHAT?!”
Izuku explodes into another fit of giggles. His smile was blinding. It drowned out all the light in the room and enveloped Bakugo in warmth like no other.
"Ask me again tomorrow, Katsuki.”