Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It would be hard to explain just what has been pissing off Bakugou lately. The source is easy enough to pinpoint: Deku, as usual. Fucking Deku. But wait, dammit, not in that sense!

Okay, maybe that actually was the reason for his terrible mood lately. Before, he had been too fixated on his own plans for the future to really pay attention to his middle school classmates practically salivating over girls, or sex, or whatever. He hadn’t even really expected to see any of them again once he’d been admitted into Yuuei.

So of course the one to get admitted with him was the only one he had really noticed, although at the time it was only because Deku was the most worthless, in contrast to Bakugou who was the most worthy.

Now he is surrounded by people worth actually paying attention to, people who are going to become top pro heroes like him, and obviously he isn’t going to lose to them, but it's also clear by now that he can't just ignore them. Still, the person he notices the most is still the biggest fucking dumbass to ever walk this or any planet.

Not only that, but after the battle training shook his absolute confidence in his superiority, after Deku fucking won… Seriously, what the fuck? But now when he looks at that no-longer-quirkless fuckmunch, he doesn’t see the failure or the stepping stone that he used to.

Even when Deku becomes a trembling ball of nerves, it doesn’t annoy him like it used to.

It might be…

A little…

Cute?

“GRRAAAAAARGGGHHHHHHHH!!!” Bakugou immediately leaps at the nearest wall available to slam his head against it.

Heads turn to look at him. Shit. He’d forgotten that he was still in school. One of the hallways of the school just after class let out, but still the school nonetheless, and while he was hardly known for his heroic behavior he wasn’t about to be known for idiotic behavior instead.

After a deep breath, he marches down the hallway like he owns it, fuck anyone who disagrees, and almost makes it out of the building.

“Kacchan, wait a moment!” A hand lightly grasps at his back, causing Bakugou to stiffen, but only he himself, not his no no no stop thinking about it this is so degrading and also not helpful. He grits his teeth before turning around.

“What,” he tries to grind out as menacingly as possible while not quite looking directly at Deku’s panting face. It seems like he made a mad dash to catch Bakugou before he could leave, but Bakugou is determined to squash any endearment that could possibly arise from that and instead cultivate his irritation.

“Er, well, Kacchan, you see, uh,” the kid stumbles over his words for a moment, causing Bakugou to feel more annoyed. Good, that made it easier for him to snap at him.

“Well? Are you going to keep wasting my time?” Bakugou has so many reasons to want Deku to leave, from his mild irritation to how weirdly okay he actually is with Deku being here now, which is absolutely not okay.

It is also not okay how he feels less than satisfied and even a little guilty when Deku wilts just a bit under his glare. Even though Deku isn’t wilting nearly as much as he did when they were kids, Bakugou feels worse about it than he used to, and that is definitely a problem, so he tries glaring harder.

“It’s just, you’ve been in a bad mood recently, right?” The little shit doesn’t even notice Bakugou’s renewed glaring.

“Hah?” Bakugou’s face twists in confusion. What the hell does that have to do with anything?

“And I was worrying that, maybe, I guess, it might have something to do with me, or maybe even it’s my fault,” and suddenly Bakugou wasn’t hearing Deku talk anymore over the panic pounding in his ears, does he know? How does he know, what the fuck is happening anyways how would Deku know what’s wrong with him when he doesn’t know what’s wrong with him, and it’s hard to keep cool and collected when one’s superpower is blowing things up, kind of like his brain is blowing up right now, so he doesn’t hear Deku continuing.

“Because I get on your nerves all the time, right? Especially since I ruined your plans, but don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to apologize for getting into Yuuei, but I do feel bad for riling you up, Kacchan, and some other kids in the class suggested that maybe if you beat me up a bit it would help? Since we can get healed and I know you’re smart enough to restrain yourself, so I guess, uh, what I’m saying is something like, you can use my body to unwind a bit, as long as you don’t kill me?” Deku’s voice slowly degraded into mumbling as he continued on, more than a little confused and worried about Bakugou’s blank, frozen stare.

Bakugou, meanwhile, attempts to piece his composure back together bit by bit, eventually hearing Deku’s words again just as he says “use my body.”

“Y, you…” Bakugou bites back the flood of questions and strange comments welling up and struggles to maintain what little composure he’d managed to retrieve.

“O-oh, I guess that’s a little weird to suggest, huh?” Deku laughs nervously, but apparently Bakugou’s half-assed attempt at a response was reassurance enough that he hadn’t died on the spot or anything. “But you’ve been leaving class without talking to anyone lately, so I was worried too. If pounding into me some would help, I can handle it!”

Maybe if Bakugou were more discerning and less distracted by his distraction with Deku, he’d realize just what a big sacrifice Deku was actually offering, considering that he was already breaking himself regularly thanks to his quirk and Recovery Girl had already pointed out what a strain her healing put on the recipient.

Unfortunately, Bakugou was never very discerning and very much distracted at the moment.

“P-pounding…” He hadn’t really considered that, but a few videos his middle school classmates had been watching in a corner of a room after class comes to mind, and nothing is helped by Deku punctuating his point by punching his fist into his hand. Bakugou isn’t sure if the sound is supposed to be different; he’d left the room quickly back in middle school and can’t recall the exact sound, but just the general idea of the sound of flesh ‘pounding’ on flesh right now…

Bakugou had never believed in any deity besides maybe himself before now, but he prays to whoever that Deku doesn’t see his face before he turns around and runs, accelerating his speed with his quirk to get away as quickly as possible because no, he absolutely is not thinking about it, not even in the slightest, he can’t be thinking about it. It’s Deku, for fuck’s sake, why would he ever think about… pounding… into… Deku…

“ARRRRRGGGGGH!!”

Chapter Text

Why did he run?

His teeth grit with irritation as he kicks things around in his room. Bakugou Katsuki runs from no one! Especially not from weak-ass idiots like Deku! There has never been a moment in the entirety of their lives together in which Deku seemed threatening in any way, shape, or form. At best, he was just a somewhat cute wimp who wilted even when trying to defend someone else, and who had no choice but to give up whenever Bakugou even mentioned his quirklessness. Why the fuck did he run from Deku?

Somehow, something seemed off about the thought process Bakugou had just now… but whatever. More importantly, how is Bakugou going to face Deku tomorrow at school after fleeing like he was the coward instead of Deku? How is he going to reply to Deku’s offer to be, er, pounded?

Shit. Bakugou Katsuki does not stutter, even in his thought processes!

He sits down on his bed and affects his perfect “bored, staring off into space” stance as he tries to get his thoughts in order.

First of all, how to face Deku at school tomorrow.

Actually, Deku is such a sweetheart, wait scratch that and since when was sweetheart in Bakugou’s vocabulary anyways? Never, that’s when, and this didn’t happen, but anyways what he meant was Deku is such a dumb fucking dweeb that he probably won’t even mention it.

Deku is just so infuriatingly nice and Bakugou really just can’t handle that kid, whether it’s due to his pride or whatever it is that’s been screwing with him recently. At least that makes things easier, then.

So that just leaves the real problem: what to say about that. The pounding. Or whatever. Bakugou needs a moment to calm down and recollect, please wait a moment…

Yes. Alright. He can do this, he’s the greatest talent out of his middle school and absolutely in the top of the student body of Yuuei, so he can handle something as simple as talking to Deku about… these sorts of things. It’s not that big of a deal. In fact…

Oh, duh! Why hadn’t he realized that before? He had been overlooking something incredibly vital, something that could have caused the entire endeavor to come crashing down around his ears.

By the time he is brushing his teeth and getting ready for bed, he has an entire plan ready to go for the next day, and he’s determined to have it go off without a hitch.

The next morning finds Bakugou with his head pillowed in his arms at his desk, in hopes that no one would talk to him or notice that he got twitchy and stole quick glances at the door whenever he heard it open.

“Hey, man, are you doing alright?” Fucking hell, Kirishima.

“… Yeah,” he grumbles in response.

“You sure? You seem, Iddaknow, weirdly nervous or something.” Kirishima is almost as frustratingly nice as Deku, and it’s seriously pissing Bakugou off right now. This is absolutely the last thing he needs right now, so of course Kirishima pushes a little harder. “If you aren’t feeling well, you should probably go to the infirmary!”

“I’m fine.” Bakugou all but growls at him, trying to communicate through his voice alone that he really wants Kirishima to leave. Luckily, the guy takes the hint, cheerfully patting him on the head (what the fuck?!) and telling Bakugou that he could confide anything to him before returning to his seat.

Seething, he glances up again only to find that Deku had, at some point, already walked in. In fact, he happened to look right as Deku casts him a concerned glance, and the sudden eye contact makes Bakugou wonder if his nerves had also been capable of exploding.

He breaks the eye contact almost as soon as it was made, hiding his face in his arms and pretending to fall asleep.

Distantly he hears Deku begin to say “Kacchan—“ before their homeroom teacher walks in, commanding everyone’s attention and leaving no room for random and entirely unwanted discourse.

The morning’s classes pass without incident, at least as far as a classroom full of heroes-to-be could possibly be without incident.

Now is the time.

“Deku,” he saunters up to their little trio and begins, but suddenly the words that he had rehearsed, but only a little bit, just a tiny bit, okay? Nothing really. He didn’t need to rehearse or anything. Shut up. Not helping. The words aren’t coming properly, so he just gestures and says, “roof,” and walks out.

Shit, but okay. He was hoping to be a little suave about it but ended up only being maybe a tiny bit nicer than usual. Whatever. Deku will understand. For some reason, Deku always understands Bakugou, and he wants to find it as infuriating as he used to but at times like this it’s useful and maybe just a little bit endearing. Maybe.

Sure enough, footsteps resound from the bottom of the stairwell, easily recognizable as Deku’s. Light, slightly nervous, but purposeful and even prideful… Definitely Deku.

Apparently Deku took a little longer to finish talking to his friends, so Bakugou gets to the door long before him, very briefly considers holding the door for him, and then walks through. He sees a nice place to sit and wonders if he should have brought his lunch, but it’s a little late for that now.

The door opens again as he turns around. Deku is looking at him with an expression of concern and a bit of fear—understandable, Bakugou is sure that Deku is at least as new to all of this as he is—but also the strong resolve that Bakugou knew to expect from him, and maybe just a hint of something else, but Bakugou isn’t sure what exactly that something else is.

“Kacchan,” Deku begins, right as Bakugou begins with “Deku.” Not being one to lose, Bakugou barrels on, and being a polite young man, Deku allows him to continue. “You, yesterday you said you’d let me… pound… you.”

Deku sighs with resignation, then squares his shoulders and walks forward toward Bakugou. “Yes, I did, so I guess you want to do that now? Here? I thought you had more self control than that but I guess if it makes you feel better I don’t mind, but we need to check if there’s anyone else on the roof first, and, uh…” Deku’s voice dwindled down to muttering like usual, thoroughly confusing Bakugou. Shouldn’t the other boy be more bashful?

Bakugou has zero intention of being embarrassed for both of them, so if Deku isn’t then he won’t be either.

He quickly swipes his hands on his pants—sweaty palms work for his quirk but not for this, probably—and takes Deku’s hand in both of his.

While he had been hoping for Deku to finally be a little abashed, the look of utter confusion on his face instead is hilarious. Still, it means something is definitely wrong. Had he misunderstood something in his reference material? What was the point of referencing shoujo manga if it wasn’t foolproof? He’d had to clear his browsing history after that. No one could know that Bakugou Katsuki had read that ridiculous soppy stuff, especially not for a reason like this.

“Uh, Kacchan?” Deku ventures, clearly worried.

“There’s an order to go in,” Bakugou states, trying to remember exactly what he’d planned to do despite the warm feeling of Deku’s hand in his distracting him. “You would get pissy if I skipped it even though you’re the one who offered.”

“Huh?”

Oh, right. He thinks he remembers now.

Dizzy with something like giddiness but also like nervousness (not that he gets nervous. About anything.), he leans forward. It dimly occurs to him that he doesn’t actually know what to do about this and he’s only seen stills of the moment—damn shoujo manga to hell—but he nonetheless stiffly presses his lips to Deku’s.

Deku is likewise stiff against him, and Bakugou, at a loss about what to do next, draws back. The other boy’s face is red, to which Bakugou thinks ‘finally’ and feels slightly vindicated, even though his face might be red too. Might be is the most definitive he’s willing to get even though he can feel heat in his cheeks. He can practically see Deku’s brain working at breakneck pace, which is a little mystifying. What the hell does Deku need to be thinking about?

Suddenly, Deku starts laughing, which is more than a little concerning to Bakugou. It’s a sort of shy, hiccupping laughter, and Bakugou would kick himself in the shin if he could for finding it adorable.

Finally his giggles subside. “Sorry, uh, s-sorry Kacchan!” Upon remembering just who he was laughing at, he sobers quickly. “Not to be rude, or anything like that, but I think you might have misunderstood something.”

Rage briefly wells up in Bakugou’s chest, only to be stomped down by utter confusion, and then his heart plummets to his toes, weighed down with shock and terrible, terrible disappointment.

Determined not to feel it any longer, Bakugou quickly assesses the rooftop area. There’s a tall fence to keep reckless students from jumping off the building, but he can easily blast through it.

On second thought, maybe he should use his quirk to vault over it instead. He’s already likely to get in trouble for skipping the second half of school, so property damage probably wouldn’t help. No matter what, though, there’s no way in hell he can go back to class after this.

“Wait, Kacchan!” Deku exclaims, apparently having read Bakugou’s plan of action. The moment he twists around to make a dash for the fence, Deku’s arms wrap around his waist. The idiot’s arms are better muscled than he’d expected. Not that he had really been expecting anything whatsoever!

They tumble to the floor in a heap, Deku’s arms still firmly encircling him.

“Deku, you fucknugget!” he shouts reflexively and tries to thrash his way out, but the other boy doesn’t let go and instead squeezes a little harder until he stops struggling, which takes a decent amount of time. It takes all of his conscious thought to not try blasting him in the face to escape, but he’s distantly aware that he probably shouldn’t.

Eventually, he stops trying to escape, a tiny bit because Deku is surprisingly strong but mostly because there’s something that isn’t terrible about being held by Deku. Also, his brain needs to stop, right now.

He’s not disappointed at all, and fuck anyone who thinks otherwise, when Deku lets go and sits up, letting Bakugou do the same. His eyes steadily don’t look anywhere near Deku, not seeing Deku’s earnest stare or the embarrassed blush sprinkling the boy’s cheeks on top of the flush from exertion.

“I’m okay with it,” Deku blabs too quickly, the words tripping over one another on their way out. Bakugou is now the one levelling him with a confused stare. What?

“Wait a moment, what the fuck?”

“I’m, I, that is…” Out of the endless kindness of Bakugou’s heart and because he might want to know what Deku is about to say, but don’t get him wrong, this is definitely a one time thing, he waits for Deku to gather his thoughts and start talking again. It takes awhile and some of Deku’s especially quiet mumbling to himself, and Bakugou has never bothered with being this patient before and tells himself he will never bother with it again.

Finally, he starts speaking at a regular volume again. “I meant to let you beat me up, since you’ve been under the weather recently, and that always cheered you up when we were young.”

Oh. Pounding as in an actual pounding. That makes an annoying amount of sense, and he wishes it wouldn’t since it meant acknowledging how badly he fucked up from the start, despite his resolution that he would never fuck up again. He’d had every intention of keeping that resolution, too.

(It doesn’t occur to him to find it weird that Deku’s okay with being beaten up by Bakugou if it’s for his sake. Deku being there for him, whether grating on his nerves or being his example of failure or just being Deku, is as natural as breathing.)

“So?” He tries to keep any uncertainty out of the way and covered with as much gruffness as he can muster.

“So you thought I meant pounding as in…” Deku trails off, face suddenly glowing red at the full weight of the realization.

Damn, he’s never going to get any kind of clarification if he lets things go here, so he says one word, low and quiet and absolute like a grenade rolling into view. “Deku.”

As expected, Deku’s attention immediately snaps to him, though if anything the blushing intensifies. “Kacchan?”

Satisfied with the result, Bakugou nods and indicates for Deku to continue by once more saying “Deku.”

“… Kacchan?”

Okay, that wasn’t as clear as he’d intended. He’ll have to be more forceful to get his point across. “Deku.”

“Kacchan.”

“DEKU.”

“KACCHAN.”

“DEKU!!”

“KACCHAN!!”

“DEEEEEKUUUUUUUUUU!!!”

“KAAAAACCHAAAAAAAAAAN!!!”

Never fucking mind, patience is for dumbasses. “DEKU YOU FUCKER ARE YOU GOING TO EXPLAIN OR NOT, DICKWEED?!”

“?? OH!” They both have to take a moment of staring at each other before Deku began speaking again. “We were talking about, um, pounding?” Bakugou is reassured by Deku’s face turning red too this time, but it only makes it a little better. “I didn’t really mean… that… but your idea was, nice, and, er,” his words again dissolve into muttering as his eyes wander to the floor, and Bakugou is about to lose patience with him again.

Then suddenly his gaze jerks back up and his eyes lock with Bakugou’s once more. “I…” His voice fizzles out again but he steadily maintains eye contact and seems to be working himself up to do something.

Bakugou doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do in reaction to the hands fisting in the front of his shirt and pulling him down a little, or to Deku leaning up just enough, or to their lips touching and Deku’s eyes closing and at least Deku doesn’t seem to know what to do any more than Bakugou does because they just stay still like that for a few moments and it’s downright weird how nice it is and—

It suddenly occurs to him to wonder if his quirk ever extended to explosions on his face because it feels like it with the heat flooding his cheeks and face and spilling over to his ears and neck and why are Deku’s lips so soft, they are not helping, none of this is helping, fuck is he supposed to be breathing right now, and then the moment passes and Deku lets go and Bakugou stumbles backwards a step or two, face still hot and thoroughly… something. For some reason despite his jaw working he can’t make any words come out.

“… Is the next step… dating?” Deku asks, fiddling shyly with his fingers but clearly hopeful.

“Wh… fuck. What?” Bakugou’s not sure what to do with his hands, or with his traitorous, stumbling mouth.

“The order you were talking about. Do you… that is to say, would you like to date?”

How is Deku still looking him in the face? Bakugou tsks and stomps past him, but before Deku can form a proper reaction, he barks that “if anyone asks, I was the one to ask you,” and pulls open the door to the roof.

He can’t see it, but he can practically feel Deku’s stupid, beaming smile radiating on his back, and he doesn’t protest when Deku somewhat timidly laces their fingers together as they walk.

For some reason, he’s not especially bothered by it.

(When they return to the classroom, some money exchanges hands. Turns out there were bets going on about what Bakugou's intentions were, despite Iida's loud insistence that betting and gambling are unacceptable. Among other reactions such as Kirishima's excited congratulations despite having lost the bet and Uraraka's elated cheers, Todoroki remains quiet and calm in his seat and receives his winnings at a later point.)