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The worst day of Katsuki’s life started with Izuku not showing up for their daily morning run. The nerd had told him he had been ‘researching something’ last night and forgot to set his alarm up.
Katsuki had proceeded to shove the okonomiyaki he’d made down his throat, only to end up coughing on it moments later when Izuku asked him:
“By the way, Kacchan. Can I borrow one of those shoujo manga you read? If Kacchan likes them, they’re probably great, right?”. He took a bite out of the okonomiyaki Katsuki had made for him. (Without cabbage. Despite resembling a bunny in more ways than one, Izuku did not like rabbit food.)
The food had gone down the wrong pipe when Katsuki realised what the greenhead had said. He coughed loudly, thumping his chest with a fist and gulping down the glass of water Izuku had worriedly handed him.
Because what the fuck.
Katsuki did not read Shoujo Manga.
Maybe, occasionally, he got his hands on one… and hid it under his bed… along with the huge collection of them he stored under there…
Okay fine, sue him. He liked reading cringe, overused tropes with heapfuls of pet names thrown in. And if he liked to imagine him and someone (coughcoughIzukucoughcough) in those overused scenarios, then it was his business and his business alone!
“Do whatever you want, nerd. I don’t care.” Katsuki grunted, face flaming. He stormed out of there, food forgotten and leaving behind a confused boy.
Hence why the blond was here, stomping on the longer trail towards their school building and frowning at the ground like it had personally offended him with his hands buried deep into his pockets.
Someone collided with him, before a small zap went through him. Katsuki fell on his ass with an ‘oof!’.
“Oh shit!” The person exclaimed, voice wobbling. Katsuki looked up to see a young girl with orange hair. She had a horrified expression on her face.
“B-Bakugou-senpai! I’m so sorry!” She started bowing feverishly, like Katsuki was going to explode her. She looked to be a first year support course student, judging by her school vest.
Katsuki scoffed, standing back up and dusting himself off. “It’s fucking fine, extra. Just watch where you’re going.” Katsuki grumbled, moving around her to continue his stomping to class.
“U-Uhm,” the girl hesitated, pulling his attention back. Katsuki turned to face her with a scowl.
“What is it?”
“Uh,... I might have hit you with my quirk,” her expression pinched into a wince at the words. “S-Sorry.”
“The fuck’s your quirk?”
“It’s called ‘nickname’, Senpai.”
“Fuck kinda quirk is that?”
“You’re only going to be able to address people by the nickname you most associate them by. Multiple nicknames also work, usually. Pet names are included but you won’t be able to call people by their actual names.” The girl explained, now having calmed down enough to not stutter anymore.
Katsuki’s brows twitched. “What the fuck? How long is this shit supposed to last?”
He could just skip a class. Aizawa would let it go once he explained everything. He was one of the best students, after all.
“Forty eight hours.”
Katsuki scrunched his nose. Well shit, fuck him.
Thus, he decides to storm into the teachers department, explain everything to Aizawa and skip out on everything for two days.
“Hobo-Sensei,” he calls out before his mind catches up to what he’d just said.
The teachers are all spread around the room, All Might’s working on the computer while Aizawa’s sitting at his desk, scribbling something. Mic’s lounging on the bean bag they’ve set in the corner. Midnight seems to be pestering the loud hero about something.
He doesn’t really care enough about the others to look at what they’re doing.
But upon what he says, everyone’s eyes regard him. Mic laughs as Aizawa looks up, raising an eyebrow at Katsuki. Katsuki, knowing Aizawa-speak (or non-speak), knows a who-do-you-think-you're-talking-to look when he sees it. He’s also aware that the man only throws empty threats at their class so…
“I had a quirk accident.”
“Who did you blow up?” Aizawa asks tiredly, placing his hands on his desk to stand up.
Everyone eyes Katsuki like he’s a serial bomber and blows people up for fun.
“Why would you just assume that? Someone ran into me and used their quirk on me!” Katsuki frowns, lower lip jutting out. “Apparently I can only call people by the nicknames I associate most with them or something.”
“Just refrain from talking a lot, then. How long does it last?”
“Two fucken days, old man.”
Aizawa heaves a sigh, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “It’s fine, Bakugou. It’s not like you call anyone by their names anyway. Now get to class, I’ll be there in a minute.”
This fucker just doesn’t get it.
Does he know how many pet names Katsuki uses for Izuku in his head? Of course he doesn’t. That’s a long fucking list and he’s not intent on anyone finding out about those pet names anytime soon. Especially not fucking Izuku himself.
“No. I’m going back to the dorms and quarantining myself for two days. Tell everyone that I have a disease or something, I don’t care which disease you choose.”
Aizawa gives him an unimpressed stare. “Bakugou, I don’t see how this quirk will hurt you in any way. If it mortally or mentally endangers you, let me know. I can’t have you missing two days worth of classes in your final year.” He walks past him. “Now, I will be expecting you in the homeroom.”
It does endanger his mental health! Greatly so! He’s going to call Deku some shit like ‘baby’ or ‘my love’ and it’s all going downhill from there. All the time he’s spent trying to build their friendship back from ground up? Down the fucking drain.
It would be so nice if he’d continued calling him Deku in his head but God’s really forsaken him this time, huh.
Katsuki doesn’t want to call him Deku, either.
It’s not like he can explain any of this to Aizawa.
Or anyone, really.
Katsuki curses him in his head but storms away to the hallway regardless, making his mind up to not talk to any of the nosy fuckers in his class.
He stomps his way to class, slamming the huge door open and taking his seat without looking at anyone, despite the lot of them calling out his name.
Izuku pokes his back, likely to ask what’s wrong with him but before Katsuki can tell the nosy fucker to leave him alone, Aizawa walks in and promptly begins roll call.
Katsuki glares at Aizawa as he begins to explain to the class what had just transpired in the teachers’ lounge.
“Bakugou! You should’ve told us!” Denki says from his seat.
He clicks his tongue. “Shut the fuck up, Sparky!”
“He doesn’t actually think I have a dunce face?” the blond asks. A goofy grin appears on his features.
Katsuki scowls.
“What about me, bro?” Eijirou asks. Katsuki zips his mouth, refusing to speak to any of the idiots.
Being the way they are though, they don’t stop pestering him. Aizawa, the fucker, leaves homeroom after saying that Mic and Midnight will be busy for the day and hence, their next two classes are free.
The sadistic fucking bastard. Katsuki is going to make him regret this, someway, someday.
The sleep deprived man is the least of Katsuki’s worries at the moment though. Trying to hold back from blowing up every nosy fucker in this class seems like a Herculean task and ignoring the lot of them takes priority. Eventually, the constant ringing of “Bakugou! Bakugou!” gets to his nerves.
Katsuki slams his hands on his desk, standing up to glare at each of them. Except Izuku, of course.
“Fucking fine! But whatever comes next is all you little shits’ fault. Don’t come crying to me later,” he warns.
Katsuki points to Eijirou first, “Rocky!”
(“He doesn’t actually think my hair’s shitty?”)
The class laughs at that. They have no idea what’s coming. He didn’t say the second nickname that came to mind for Eijirou. Mina simp.
He points at Mina next, deciding to drop the first fucking bomb.
“Neon lover. Ei’s girl.”
Absolute silence befalls them. Katsuki revels in it. He’s going to get them all together today.
A moment later, all hell goes down.
“Bro, what the hell!” Eijirou screams at him the same time Mina shrieks out a ‘what?’
(Someone yells out an ”Ei?!”)
Eijirou turns to the horned girl, “U-Uh… Mina–”
“Is it true?”
“Y-Yeah.”
Mina rushes forward, out of her seat, to kiss Eijirou. Everyone cheers as Katsuki cackles loudly.
“God, I can’t believe I’ll have to thank Bakugou for something like this,” Eijirou says once he’s done sucking face.
The rest of the class comes to terms with what’s happening and everyone frantically starts telling Katsuki to shut up and sit down.
Katsuki smirks, and points at Jirou. “Earplugs. Momo simp.”
(“Bakugou, for fuck’s sake. What did I ever do to you?”)
Yaomomo, “Vice Prez. Earplugs’ girl.” He sees Jirou go beet red.
(“Kyouka?”)
Shouto, “Daddy Issues. Izuku’s fucking best friend.” Katsuki makes sure to add a curse word there because he’s not happy about that fact.
Half’n’Half actually smiles. Izuku turns around to smile at the dual-quirked boy too.
Goddamn fuckers and their stupid fucking friendship.
Shinsou, “Hobo’s Kid. Denki’s little loverboy.”
(“What did he SAY?”)
(“Denki?!”)
(”I knew other people could see the resemblance too!”)
“Katsuki, shut the fuck up.” The purple fucker hisses through his teeth.
Izuku’s been looking at him with so much fucking interest the entire time. Mind you, Katsuki swore not to mutter a single damn nickname to him, but the puppy eyes sweep him off his feet. They persuade and attempt to manipulate the logical part of his brain. Whenever he glances to his side, those huge round eyes are always there, staring and begging. Over and over and over until—
—until he throws caution to the winds and shuts down his brain.
So he decides to do him next.
_______________
Izuku can’t lie, he’s having fun.
At first, he was worried Kacchan would get in trouble for calling the teachers weird nicknames or something but that was before he realised that Kacchan actually respects authority. The blond just pretends to hate everyone and everything.
Due to Kacchan being hit with this particular quirk, it seems that all the people in this class are going to finally start dating the people they’ve been crushing on for so long.
He’s impatiently waiting for Katsuki to point to him. He’s almost vibrating in his seat. Will Kacchan call him his best friend? His childhood friend?
When his turn finally comes, Izuku throws his biggest smile Kacchan’s way.
The blond opens his mouth, saying “D-”, but cutting himself off.
Was he going to call him Deku? He knows Izuku doesn’t mind it. Izuku knows Kacchan has stopped calling him that since the war, but really, Izuku understands. Kacchan has called him ‘Deku’ for more than half their lives. Maybe he was going to call Izuku a dumbass?
The blond bites his lip to stop himself before opening his mouth again.
“Ba–” Bastard?
“F–” Fool?
Why does Kacchan associate him with all these words?
Kirishima-kun gets called ‘Ei’ and he gets called all these things?
“Deku!” Well, Izuku already knew this one was coming.
“M-” Moron?
“Lo–” Loser?
Okay, Izuku’s beginning to feel a little bad now.
Kacchan grinds his teeth angrily. “Fuck it, I’m fucking done!” he yells, turning around and sitting back down. The blond folds his hands atop of his desk and buries his face into them.
Before Izuku can even ask if Kacchan’s alright, Shinsou gets off his own seat and makes his way over to Kacchan. “Oh no, you don’t get to do that!”
“Yes! That’s so unmanly of you, bro.”
Izuku knows Kacchan can use harsh nicknames but he doesn’t think Kirishima-kun should be calling him unmanly for that. He turns around to tell him as much but Jirou-san cuts him off before Izuku can even open his frowning mouth.
“Bakugou, you absolute fucker.” she spits, poking Kacchan’s back.
“Coward!” Ashido-san calls out.
Izuku’s frown deepens.
“I didn’t know you were such a sissy, Bakugou.” Shouto says from where he’s lounging in his chair. He’s told Shouto to stop picking up words and habits Kaminari-kun tries to teach him multiple times now.
“Stop it!” he says, glaring at all of them as best as he can.
“It takes a long time to unlearn the things you’ve made a habit of when you were young and Kacchan’s been working very hard to unlearn all of it!” Izuku yells at them. “Stop ganging up on him! He’s going to be the reason you all confess after school today, too! And besides, he’s calling me all those things, not one of you.”
At the end of Izuku’s frenzied yelling, Kacchan is up again and staring at him with wide, horrified eyes.
“What do you think I was calling you?”
Izuku doesn’t speak. Kacchan sighs at him.
“I-It’s okay, Kacchan! I know you don’t actually think like–”
“Shut up. Follow me,” Kacchan says, moving out of his seat and making his way to the door. Izuku stumbles on his feet to follow him.
Jirou, Shinsou and Kirishima stand guard at the door, glaring at Kacchan with narrowed eyes.
“Absolutely fucking not.” Shinsou says from the centre.
“Yeah! If you could say our shit before the entire class, you can say yours too.” Jirou scowls.
Izuku can see the vein popping in Kacchan’s temple from where he stands beside the tall blond. He can almost hear the explosions that are going to fire up any moment now too.
Surprisingly, Kacchan turns back to him, a tick in his jaw.
“I’m sorry.”
Izuku is about to tell Kacchan that it’s okay and you don’t have to be sorry, Kacchan! but inhales silence when Kacchan’s hands come up to softly cup his face.
Izuku’s eyes pop wide.
“Deku,” Kacchan whispers, leaning down and Izuku’s sure no one else can hear him. Except maybe Jirou and Shouji.
“Y-Yeah?” Izuku whispers right back, voice breaking as his cheeks heat up.
Izuku can feel his heart beating a mile a minute. Kacchan’s hands are cradling his face and if Izuku were to lean forward just a couple of centimetres, he could be kissing him.
“I wasn’t calling you whatever you think I was. I like you.”
Izuku thinks his heart’s stopped.
“Deku, baby, darling, my love.”
My love?!
Yeah, his heart’s stopped alright. Izuku probably died in his sleep and God’s showing him things he always wished for but never got the chance to experience.
It’s the only logical explanation.
Kacchan gets a forlorn look on his face when Izuku stays standing like a statue. He pulls his hands back and is about to draw himself away but before he can actually move a muscle, Izuku grabs at his open shirt collar.
He pulls the blond forward, using a little more force than necessary and leans up to kiss Kacchan square on his mouth.
The blond’s lips are just as soft as he’s always thought they’d be.
“What–”
“I love you,” Izuku says, face flaming. His heart’s beating so fast, he’s almost sure it’s going to crawl up his throat and run into Kacchan’s arms. “I’ve always loved you.”
Kacchan’s limp arms move, pulling Izuku flush against him. “Me too. Fuck, baby. Me too, I love you too.”
His cheeks warm up further, but Kacchan’s face isn’t any better, completely pink too. So are his ears. The blond’s blush runs all the way down his neck.
Izuku wraps his arms around Kacchan’s neck and lets him guide him in for another kiss.
”Fucking finally!”
”I can’t believe we had to force them into it like that!”
”Oh my God!”
”Go BakuDeku!”
There’s cheering and hollering all around them. Izuku giggles into Kacchan’s mouth, feels Kacchan laugh into his mouth too.
It’s the best day of his life.