Chapter Text
Bakugou wasn’t looking forward to this field trip. He knew it was for a good cause, and it would help their image as budding pro-heroes, but he still couldn’t bring himself to care. They’d won a war for fuck’s sake. Wasn’t that enough?
“Okay, I know it’s cramped but it’s the best we can do right now,” Aizawa was saying from the front of the room. “Find your sleeping bags. Girls on the left, boys on the right. You are sleeping according to class order and no, you cannot move around. If one of you brats goes missing or sneaks out, we want to know exactly who’s gone right away, so don’t even think about it.”
Bakugou looked over to the right where the boys’ sleeping bags were set up with nametags. Class order. That meant…
“Hey Kacchan! Guess we’re next to each other,” Deku said with a smile. Bakugou just grunted. Sleeping between the nerd and Icy Hot. Great.
He set his things down on the sleeping bag neatly. They were supposed to be here for five days, to help out with the biggest reconstruction project around, and therefore the place with the biggest risk of villain activity. He was doubtful at how much they were going to be able to get done in less than a week, but figured it was more of a PR campaign than anything. It wasn’t like anyone with bad intentions was gonna just leave this place alone after they were gone.
“Alright, dinner will be served shortly and then we’ll have a meeting to go over the plan for tomorrow and delegate tasks. After that, you will all get ready for bed and be in your sleeping bags with lights out by 9:00 sharp. Got it?”
“Yes, Aizawa-sensei,” they chorused.
* * *
Katsuki was right about the PR campaign. Some of them would be patrolling, some would be helping with reconstruction, and some would be helping with relief efforts, depending on their quirks. However, all of them would be getting filmed at some point. It was annoying, he thought as he brushed his teeth, but not unexpected. Maybe some minor villains would show up and he could at least get some action training in.
He could tell Deku was thinking the same thing, since he was muttering aloud to himself in the sleeping bag next door, even after the lights went out.
“Hey, nerd. Stop mumbling, I’m trying to sleep.”
“Sorry Kacchan!” he whispered. “I’m just… thinking about why we’re doing all of this.”
Katsuki turned towards him and reluctantly whispered back. “Yeah. Seems like a PR stunt if I ever saw one. But whatever. Maybe we can do some good at least.”
He could see Izuku beaming at him through the faint moonlight coming in through the windows of the crappy old gym they were holed up in.
“Yeah, maybe. Goodnight Kacchan.”
“Night, nerd.”
The next morning, Katsuki could hear whispers above him as he awoke. He hoped they would stop so he could drift back off to sleep; he felt very comfortable. He also couldn’t recall any nightmares, which meant he’d had a good night’s rest for once.
The whispers did not stop.
“Take a picture! Before they wake up!”
“I cannot believe this is happening.”
“Shut up! Bakugou’s gonna kill us if he wakes up!”
Bakugou grumbled and turned his head up, opening his bleary eyes to see Ashido, Sero, and Kaminari standing above him. Upon seeing him awake, they collectively jumped and scurried away, Mina snapping a picture on her phone before doing so.
Bakugou only had a brief second to wonder why the hell they were creeping over him and taking pictures — was he drooling in his sleep? — before he realized that he was holding onto something. He looked back down, only to get a faceful of curly green hair. His eyes went wide. The thing that he was holding onto… was Deku. His face was nuzzled into the nerd’s neck and he had one arm on top of Deku’s pillow with the other… thrown over Deku. And he realized with horror that Deku had one hand clinging onto him too, almost as if to pull him closer.
Quickly, quietly, Bakugou came to his senses and started trying to extricate himself. He hoped desperately that no one besides those three idiots had seen him like this. The worst part was that he couldn’t even blame Izuku; he was clearly the one who had instigated this in his sleep. He managed to prop himself up on the arm that had been resting on the pillow and was in the process of gently pulling the other out, the one that Deku was clinging onto as if it was his old All Might plushie, when the nerd started moving.
“Huh?” he said blearily before looking down at his hand, then up at Katsuki, before both of them jumped back from each other like they were on fire.
Katsuki looked around. It seemed like most people were still asleep, thank god.
“Kacchan? Um, what…” Izuku was whispering.
“I don’t know,” he hissed back. “I must’ve… moved in my sleep.”
Deku was bright red. Katsuki knew that he must be too; he could feel the heat in his cheeks.
“Okay. Sorry,” Deku said.
“What’re you sorry for? I’m the one who was… using you like a goddamn teddy bear.” Katsuki couldn’t bring himself to look at Izuku’s face while he said it.
“Okay. Well, it’s fine, really.”
Katsuki grunted. “Ashido… might have taken a picture of us,” he mumbled.
“Oh. Well… okay. It’s not that big of a deal. It’s not like it was on purpose.”
Bakugou scoffed. “Yeah, tell that to those idiots.”
Deku let out a strained laugh. “Yeah. I guess we’d better brace ourselves for some teasing today.”
“They’d better brace themselves for what’s gonna happen to them if they say shit about it.”
Deku laughed again, and for some reason Katsuki felt a little more prepared to face the teasing as he got up and got ready for the day.
There, in fact, wasn’t much teasing. There was a lot of giggling from Ashido, Sero, and Kaminari at breakfast, but it died down a bit after Mineta asked what they were laughing at and Bakugou snapped back, “None of your goddamn business! And you idiots better shut the hell up before I wipe those damn smiles off your faces myself!”
After that, there wasn’t any teasing, at least not to their faces, for most of the day. It helped that they weren’t stationed together. It didn’t help that nothing interesting actually happened; no villain attacks, no natural disasters; so Bakugou couldn’t let off the steam he so desperately needed to expel.
At least this’ll blow over tomorrow. They’ll forget about it and stop fucking smirking every time they see me and Deku together. Things will go back to normal.
With that thought, he settled down on his sleeping bag as far away from Deku as he could without being right up in Todoroki’s space. The last thing he needed was to wake up cuddling fucking Icy Hot next. Finally, he let his body relax and the waves of sleep overtake him.
The next morning, he again woke up feeling very comfortable and well rested. Plus, he couldn’t hear any whispers, and he was lying on his back. He smiled to himself, and cuddled back down into — oh, crap.
He looked down to see thick locks of green hair. Deku’s head was resting on his chest, and Katsuki’s arm was wrapped around him, holding him in place.
He felt a pang in his chest that had nothing to do with embarrassment, though that feeling was steadily rising to the surface.
Please, please let me be the first person awake.
He pulled his arm out from where it was wrapped around Izuku. Izuku did not move away. In fact, he cuddled up closer to Katsuki, nuzzling his face into the crook of his neck and grasping at the front of his shirt with the hand that Katsuki now noticed was on top of his chest.
It seemed there was no other option. Katsuki started to gently nudge Izuku and watched as his eyes slowly opened, and then widened in horror as he realized where he was lying. He quickly let go of Katsuki’s shirt and scurried back onto his own sleeping pad before looking up at Bakugou with shock.
“I’m sorry!”
Katsuki sighed. “I told you, it’s fine! I just… I hope we’re the first ones awake,” he said quietly before looking around. He could see Aizawa reading in the corner, but everyone else seemed to be asleep or at least not looking at them. He glanced back at Deku, who still looked horrified.
Bakugou pushed his hands onto his face.
“Look, can we not… make a big deal out of it, De– Izuku?”
Midoriya nodded, eyes wide. “Okay, Kacchan. I’m just… sorry I didn’t realize what I was doing. I think I was just really comfortable.”
Katsuki blushed. Goddammit, why was he blushing?
“Yeah, well. Me too.” They avoided each other's gaze for another few seconds before Bakugou announced that he was going to go take a shower, and quickly walked away.
This day was just about as boring as the last. The most serious threat that came up was a particularly angry lost dog. Katsuki was starting to go a little crazy from the lack of action. To make things worse, it seemed that his and Izuku’s second accidental cuddle session did not go completely unnoticed. Mid-afternoon, he ended his patrol session and headed over to help with a cleanup site. Halfway there, he ran into Mina, who was moving and dissolving debris alongside Sero, who was tossing her particularly large pieces.
“Hey Bakugou! You sleep well last night?”
He stopped in his tracks and turned towards her, fuming. “What the hell do you mean by that, raccoon eyes?”
She just giggled. “Nothing, nothing! You just seemed super cozy, that’s all!”
“You got some serious nerve saying that to my face,” he said as he walked over, sparks flying from his palms.
“Yeah, yeah,” she said, unfazed. “Don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone. Though I did get some really cute pics! You wanna see?”
“I — what? Delete that shit!”
“Come on, they’re adorable! Really, you’ll thank me later.”
“Like hell I will!”
Bakugou was almost upon her now, but Mina just giggled and ran away.
“Sorry, gotta get back to work!”
Katsuki grumbled, but he let her go and continued on his path, thinking about how mad he was at Mina and definitely not thinking about how much he actually did want to see those pictures.
* * *
Bakugou really didn’t want to do what he was about to do, but he gritted his teeth as he walked up to Aizawa. Something had to change here.
“Aizawa-sensei,” he said in greeting.
“Bakugou.”
“I — I need an extra pillow.”
Aizawa looked up at him with a curious gaze. “Sorry Bakugou, but we don’t have a surplus. Is there a specific reason you need it?”
“I just… I just do, okay?”
“Well I’m afraid I can’t just give you an extra unless there’s a good reason. I assume there’s nothing wrong with your current pillow?”
“No, but—”
“Listen, I know this is not an ideal situation, but we all have to make sacrifices, okay?”
Bakugou was silent for a moment. He could tell he wasn’t going to get what he wanted unless he was a lot more explicit about his reasoning than he could stand to be. In any case, he was pretty sure Aizawa wouldn't consider ‘I need an extra pillow to shove between me and Deku so I stop cuddling him in my sleep’ to be a valid reason.
“Okay. I get it.”
“Sorry, Bakugou. Just try to deal with it.”
Bakugou nodded and turned on his heel. He got ready for bed, then laid down as far from Deku as he possibly could on his sleeping pad.
“Umm, Bakugou? Could you maybe… move over a little bit?” Shouto said from behind him.
“No. Deal with it,” Katsuki snapped back. He realized that he was almost onto Todoroki’s sleeping bag but he needed to try something .
“Uh. Okay, I guess.”
He felt Todoroki shift a little further to the other side. He looked over at Deku, who was facing away from him. He was still pretty close to Katsuki’s sleeping pad, but he did have Mineta on the other side of him, so, fair.
Katsuki sighed, and tried to get to sleep. He normally could get to sleep pretty easily, even if it wasn’t a restful one, but tonight…
He shifted around on his sleeping pad, ending up closer to Deku than he wanted, but he supposed he had to get to sleep somehow. Eventually, lying on his side away from Deku, he drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, the first thing Katsuki checked for upon waking up was green hair. He didn’t find any, and he sighed in relief. He was almost going to go back to sleep when he felt a hand move against his side. His eyes widened as he looked down and saw a scarred hand — Deku’s hand — resting against his hip. He took a deep breath in, then out. He could feel Deku breathing against his neck. It… actually felt really nice. And he was so sleepy. He obviously wasn’t thinking clearly. Which is why his hand, seemingly moving on its own, reached up and pulled Deku’s arm tighter around him, and he fell back asleep.
When he woke up for the second time, the arm was gone. He sat up and looked around. Deku was sitting up, looking intently at his phone. As Katsuki looked at him, they met each others’ eyes.
“Morning Kacchan!” Izuku said before quickly looking away.
“Morning, Izuku,” Katsuki said softly. He sat there for a moment, feeling like a million different emotions were raging inside him. Finally, he got up and headed for the showers, turning the water as hot as it would go.
Evidently, Mina had gotten another picture of him and Izuku cuddling. Or at least he assumed she did, from the way she smirked at him and asked him how he slept when he saw her at breakfast.
“Mind your own business, raccoon eyes. And stop waking up so damn early.”
“How’d ya know I’ve been waking up early?”
“Tch.” He went back to picking at his food.
For some reason, this time he didn’t feel angry about Ashido seeing them so much as… well, upset. Sad? He wasn’t sure. He just knew that he didn’t want anyone else seeing this, but this time it wasn’t because he was embarrassed. After all, she already knew they’d been cuddling for days, and she hadn’t told anyone about it. It just felt like… an intrusion. And he’d felt so comfortable. So… safe. He shook his head. He couldn’t feel like this. What was he doing, thinking about feeling safe cuddled up in Izuku’s arms? He couldn’t… like Izuku, of all people. He didn’t like people in general! He didn’t think like that. He focused on training, on getting better. He didn’t have time or patience for stupid crushes. And if he did, it wouldn’t be Deku. It couldn’t be him. Because he would never…
“Kacchan?”
“Huh?” Katsuki said, pulled out of his reverie.
“You were just, uh, staring into space. It’s time to head out. Are… are you okay?”
“What? Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Okay. Cause, um, if it’s about… you know, this morning…”
Katsuki quickly glanced around. “Shut up about it, nerd!”
“It’s okay, everyone else is gone!”
It was true. It seemed that everyone else had left for the day. Bakugou hadn’t even noticed.
“Look, Kacchan… I just… I didn’t mean to do that.”
Katsuki sighed. “I know. Neither did I. It just… keeps happening.” He chanced a glance at Izuku, who was staring at his shoes. “Listen, we’re obviously doing this in our sleep. Let’s not overthink it, or whatever. It’s not a big deal. We’ll just… we’ll just get through this week, and then we’re back in the dorms, right?”
Deku looked up at him and nodded. “Yeah. Okay. Still, I just—”
“Oh my god, can we please just stop talking about it! I don’t know why it’s happening, I just… I can’t think about it, okay?”
“O-okay. Yeah. We’ll just… forget it. Look, we should head out.”
“Yeah. Be right there,” Katsuki said as he refused to look at Deku.
* * *
Night four. Katsuki stared over at Izuku’s back as he lay on his side. He didn’t bother putting distance between them tonight. It wasn’t working, anyways.
And you like it.
He sighed. Fine, he could admit to himself. He liked it. But it didn’t mean he liked Deku. He just… he hadn’t gotten hugged enough as a kid, and now cuddling with his childhood friend was comforting. People cuddle with their friends! It was fine. It didn’t mean anything.
For some reason, he found himself thinking about sleep-cuddling with his other friends. With Ashido, or Kirishima, or Jirou.
I wouldn’t like that.
He groaned internally. Well, he hadn’t known them as long. It still didn’t mean that he liked Deku.
I bet Deku would like cuddling with his other friends. That’s probably all this is to him.
He buried his face in his hands, and moved closer to Deku. He laid as close as he could get without feeling like a creep, and eventually drifted off to sleep.
Katsuki’s first feeling upon waking was relief. Green hair, he thought, and smiled to himself. He pressed his face into the curls, breathed in, and didn’t make any attempt to move.
He drifted in and out of sleep, content with the feeling of Deku’s head on his shoulder and his scarred hand resting on his chest, until a sudden movement jolted him out of his reverie.
He opened his eyes and looked at Deku, who had quickly pulled himself off of Katsuki’s chest and was looking at him with a panicked look.
“I’m sorry!” He whispered, and Katsuki felt like someone was ripping his heart out of his chest. “I didn’t mean to… it just happened again.”
Bakugou felt like he couldn’t breathe. He had to say something. He had to —
“It’s fine.”
“No it’s not! I know you don’t want me to… I don’t want to make you uncomfortable!” Izuku continued in a frantic whisper.
“Izuku…” Katsuki said slowly. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine,” he said in a barely audible whisper.
“W-what?”
“I — I think I’m subconsciously… I don’t know, I just… I know that you don’t want this. I’m — it’s my fault. I’m the one making you uncomfortable.”
“Kacchan… I– I don’t mind.”
Their eyes met for a moment. Then, the moment was broken by a loud voice shouting, “Time to get up, brats!”
* * *
The entire day, Katsuki could not think about anything except for this is it. This is the last night.
And it was so fucking stupid. He was Bakugou Katsuki! He was not a fucking lovesick puppy. He did not care that this was it. He didn’t care that this was the last night he’d get to sleep next to stupid Deku. He didn’t care! He didn’t want it! He didn’t…
You’ll never get to have this again.
He wanted to cry.
But he wasn’t fucking weak. He could acknowledge his faults now. He could apologize to Izuku. He could own up to his mistakes. But he wasn’t fucking weak, and he wasn’t going to cry over losing the opportunity to fucking cuddle with his fucking rival.
He could tell that he was on edge. The day was uneventful again, but he was still blasting everything in his sight, just because he could. And people were starting to notice. Deku was starting to notice.
“Kacchan, be careful!”
Izuku dodged as Katsuki sent a huge explosion towards him and the minor villain he’d tied up with Blackwhip. The guy wasn’t a real threat. It seemed like he just wanted to steal some purses while people were distracted with the cleanup. Katsuki knew, deep down, that he didn’t need to go that hard. But he still did. He had to get it out somehow.
“I’ve got him Kacchan, we’re good. You can stop now.”
Katsuki pulled back. Not because Deku told him so. Just because it was the logical thing to do.
“Fine. Just don’t let him get away.”
“Yeah, I know. Look, he’s just a petty criminal anyways. Can you chill out?”
The villain looked a little offended at that.
“No, I can’t fucking chill out, Deku!”
“Thought you weren’t calling me that anymore,” Deku said calmly.
Bakugou couldn’t take it. He wrung his hands through his hair and screamed.
“Okay, well I’m fucking sorry, Izuku. But I can’t fucking take this anymore!” He sent an explosive shockwave through the air as he ran away.
Dinner that night was awkward. Katsuki knew that at least half their classmates had heard about what happened with the villain, and he was sure at least some of them knew about how he and Deku had been sleeping. It really pissed Bakugou off. These things should be fucking private. It wasn’t anybody’s business.
Worst off all, stupid Deku wouldn’t look at him, and he knew it was his fucking fault. If he’d just said sorry… no. He shouldn’t have to apologize! It was fucking fine. He stabbed his spicy pork with a chopstick.
He laid down with a heavy feeling in his chest. This was the last night. And Deku was mad at him. And he… he wanted to hold him so badly. He wanted to hold his stupid rival — his stupid nerdy friend — and be held by him and worst of all, he wanted to do it on purpose. He lay there in silence, in darkness, until he heard a quiet sniffling noise from beside him.
“... Deku?” he whispered.
The nerd was definitely crying, and he didn’t respond.
“... Izuku? What… what’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Katsuki scoffed. “Come on,” he whispered. “Something’s up. Tell me.”
“It’s nothing.”
They sat in silence for a while. Katsuki thought he knew what was going on, but he didn’t want to be wrong. Still, he steeled himself.
I’m not a fucking pussy.
“It’s the last night.”
“W-What?”
“It’s because tonight’s the last night, right?”
He heard Izuku take a deep breath.
“Yeah. It’s the last night.”
Katsuki breathed in, then out.
“Okay. Come here, nerd.”
He reached out an arm and pulled him close, until they were flush against each other.
“Ka-Kacchan? Are you sure?”
“I don’t do shit I don’t want to do.”
Izuku sighed. “O-Okay.” He was still tense in Katsuki’s arms.
“Relax, nerd,” Katsuki whispered as quietly as he could. It was pretty easy now that his mouth was right next to Izuku’s ear. “I — I really… look, I’ll kill you if you tell anyone but...” Katsuki’s voice was breaking. “I fucking like this. So just… just let me hold you, okay?”
Izuku sobbed against him. “Really?”
“Yeah. Shut up, nerd.”
“...okay, Kacchan.”
Katsuki woke up to whispers, but he didn’t care this time. He was so content. Izuku had turned over sometime in the night so they were now face to face, curled up against one another with their hands intertwined. He ignored the whispers and pretended to still be asleep. As soon as they saw that he was awake, he’d be embarrassed. He’d have to pretend like he didn’t want to be doing this. So he didn’t open his eyes, and he breathed slowly in and out, and he could smell Izuku’s shampoo and feel his hair tickling his cheek, and he smiled.
He thought he could’ve gone back to sleep like that, even despite the whispering, if Aizawa hadn’t chosen that moment to shout at them to get up.
Bakugou opened his eyes as if that was what had woke him. Above him, he could see Ashido, Sero, and Kaminari scurrying away. He rolled his eyes and reluctantly extracted himself from Deku. The nerd hadn’t even moved at Aizawa’s shout, so Katsuki nudged him gently.
“Hey. Izuku. Time to get up.”
Izuku opened his eyes blearily. They widened upon seeing Katsuki above him, though he was obviously still sleepy.
“Kacchan! Did I oversleep?”
“Not yet. Aizawa’s yelling for us to get up though. I just woke up too. Can’t believe you slept through it.”
“Wow, yeah.” Izuku sat up and rubbed his eyes. “I was really comfortable.”
Katsuki smirked, though it quickly softened. “Yeah. Me too.”
They made eye contact, and for once neither of them broke it. That is, until they were both slapped across the back of the head with binding cloth, and they quickly got up before Aizawa felt the need to do it again.
They had a short day, as they were going back to UA in the afternoon, and Katsuki found himself shockingly cheerful. He barely insulted anyone. Even when Mina asked how he slept, accompanied by a giggle and a knowing eyebrow raise, he just smirked at her and said, “Fucking fantastic actually. Not that it’s your business.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Wow. Well, I’m glad. You certainly seemed comfortable.”
“Yeah, well. Deku’s fucking comfortable,” he responded with a shrug before blasting off to go patrol elsewhere, leaving her in his dust wearing an expression of both shock and delight.
His good mood started to fade in the afternoon, though, when they went back to their lodgings to pack up their stuff before heading back to the dorms. He and Izuku packed up their possessions in silence, without looking at each other. Their eyes only met when they went to roll up their sleeping bags. Izuku looked away quickly, but not before Katsuki could see the sadness in his eyes. Katsuki swallowed. This was it. There was no point in getting upset. Still. He felt a weight sitting heavy in his stomach and a pain in his chest as he set his sleeping bag in the pile and watched Izuku do the same.
Izuku walked onto the bus first. The chest pang came back with a vengeance as Katsuki watched him sit down next to Uraraka. He bit down a growl, went to sit next to Kirishima, and refused to look at Izuku for the entire ride home.