Chapter Text
He hated to admit it, hated the snow and the rain and the sun. He hated everything all year round, all day long.
He hated his ability to speak, think and feel. Katsuki hated how he couldn’t help himself from looking around aimlessly when in big crowds.
Hell, even smaller crowds.
He stared at the inanimate wooden door of his classroom everyday, his attention wired to perk up at the sound of the door stopper creaking open when someone walked in.
Is it?- No.
It isn’t. It never is.
He’s just a kid, loud, noisy, untameable. Perhaps only able to create three to four thoughts at a time, but it’s enough to have him on his very small tippy toes at the minimal sound of a girlish giggle all the way on the other side of the playground.
A soft childish scowl is quirking up on his babyish features, annoyed and growing impatient at the racket beside him. There’s a distant sound, the muffled voice of a whiny classmate who’s chirping on about his own thoughts.
He wants to say “I don’t care! Go pester someone else about this, dammit!”
He damn near bursts with the effort to block out the noise, furiously, he turns with the plastic shovel firmly gripped in his hand.
Who is he fooling? He isn’t going to hit anyone.
The angry expression on his face softens a tad as he lays eyes on Izuku’s smaller body sat beside him, knees to chest, a chubby cheek pressed and smushed on his hand as he rants. His unusually long head of green curly hair a sandy mess from all the playing and messing about in the play pen, the sprinkles of sand remind Katsuki of where he is, in the playground with both his and his best friends parents sharing their latest bunch of gossip barely a few meters away.
His hearing becomes clear again and he finally catches on to what the freckled toddler next to him is trying to get through, Izuku looks sadly at the floor, done and tired of making sand shapes with the molds that now lay scattered around the area they both conquered.
“Kacchan,” Izuku addresses “I really miss Y/N.”
Same he wants to say
Instead, he just stares blankly at the grains of bronze sand sticking to his fingertips “I guess.” He mutters, half doubtful, unsure.
“Kacchan,” hm? “do you miss her?”
Obviously.
“It’s whatever.” Bakugou picks his shovel back up to gently smooth out the bumps on his sandcastle, he handles his little creation with care but it’s so fragile that a specific harsher nudge on one of the towers cracks and sends it crumbling, sand softly thudding against Bakugou's shoes when it’s finished falling apart.
“Damn.” He whispers.
“When we get older, can we go visit her in Tokyo?” Deku sighs dreamily, enamored with the idea of visiting a big touristy city and reunite with his best friend again as big grown adult heroes, such a dream right?
“Does that mean she’s really not coming back?” Katsuki questions, contrasting Izuku’s ear to ear smile with his furrowed eyebrows, unamused with the idea that man, she isn’t gonna get see all my cool tricks.
“Apparently not, according to mama her grandma got sick and it’s an emergency so her parents really needed to be there.” Deku cups his cheek with his hand in thought, then pauses “You liked her, right? I mean-! It’s kinda obvious.”
It catches Katsuki completely by surprise, he shreaks sharply, heart almost jumping out of his throat, and all he can remember from that day onwards is how he catapulted himself at Izuku with his palms sparkling violently, ears burning furiously.
He can also remember the set of watchful mothers who sat not so far away having to rip him off the defenceless boy who hiccuped apologies and panicked yips, he ended up having to hold Izuku’s hand for 20 minutes as punishment, Inko being kind enough to just gently scold him with permission from his mother.
He groans quietly, ripped arms throbbing from exhaustion as he does one final push up in his schools gym. Behind him, his friends are going hard on a competition for biggest number of benched weights.
He yelled not even 20 minutes ago for them to watch their necks but Kaminari still ended up somehow almost crushed by weights twice his own despite Bakugou’s warning so all he can do is yell at them some more until they’re begging for him to calm his heartrate down.
Of course. He’s still in steady recovery, never fully cured from the small pinch in his chest when stressed. Not to mention his arm, his hard work payed off excellently to get it somewhat feeling not so numb and useless, despite the numerous doctors underestimating his probability of a complete recovery.
School starts back up again tomorrow, after a long 2 week break he genuinely can’t wait for his idiot group to be distracted with something other than him. He’s somewhat grateful for the attention and care they all pamper him with, however, despite the blood pressure levelling pills he’s been put on, his blood pressure has a habit of peaking when a large group of obnoxious people are constantly up his ass about medication, or exercises or tending to his aid at the minimum noise of pain.
They wrap up shortly, rushed out by the gym coach who allowed the students in only for a couple of hours on a Sunday.
That thing he was thinking about, that was so long ago, why’s he thinking about this now?
During the walk back to the dorms, he makes sure he’s 2 steps behind the group like always, right now he doesn't need suffocating attention that’ll piss him off so he’s conformed to observe the chattering bunch from behind instead.
He didn’t realise he was listening to a word they were all saying until he’s caught up, matching the pace of their steps. His eyebrow quirks questioningly at the gossip, invested in the conversation about some idiots in the business course. He walks steadily next to Jirou who doesn’t pay him any mind.
“-Oh!” Denki abruptly cuts mid sentence, visibly excited to mention something that's occurred to him, he whacks Kirishima’s shoulder blades joyfully who chokes out a hey!
In an instant, everyone’s head has turned to the sound of his voice. Their attention grabbed by Denki who’s trying to find the words, obviously something to worth gossiping about by the looks of it and even Bakugou’s attention is his.
“Check this. Heard Aizawa and some other teachers talking about a transfer student from Tokyo joining the hero course from tomorrow, apparently it’s a she.”
“-No way, seriously?” Sero questions.
”Yeah! Heard it with my own ears!” Kaminari confirms.
Mina woo’s happily, running over to Jirou to shake her shoulders happily whilst the boys question Kaminari’s sudden burst of knowledge “A Girl! Can you believe it?” gasp “Another girl after everything that’s happened, OMG this is exactly what we needed!!! A new girl.”
Jirou chuckles, not as stoked as Mina but still properly considering the positives “Yeah, I mean it would be nice to have another girl in this group. It’s just guys”
Denki lets out a childish bleh at her words and everyone laughs humorously, a girl from Tokyo?
The rest of the walk is everyone indulging each other on how their introductions are going to play out. Much to everyone's surprise, by the time they made it back to the common room to share the news everyone else inside has also heard the news from Aizawa himself, instead of a snooping Kaminari
“Hey! I wasn’t snooping! I just so happened to be around faculty at the time.” he argues in his defence at Jirou’s accusation.
Iida fills everybody in on the new arrival, most things being what Bakugou already heard from Denki like she’s a girl so be respectfully blah blah or starting tomorrow, but a small detail mentioned intrigues his interest the most, how this new student is “moving back”.
Moving back?
“So what, is this new girl from Musutafu already?” Tsu comments from her seat, cuddled up on the couch sharing a cream coloured blanket with Ochaco who’s lathered up in her skin care.
“Yes, apparently.” Iida affirms.
A girl from Tokyo, originally from Musutafu.
Bakugou’s mind wanders, a girl, Tokyo, Musutafu.
He’s heard that before, all he does is hum.
Everyone settles down, a large group create a circle around the big TV to play an intense tournament of Mario Kart to celebrate the break ending, but he chooses to retreat to his room exhausted with the workout instead, declining three offers to a seat on the couch to at least watch. All he needed right now is to lay in bed and watch a movie on his phone or something, to erase the ache in his muscles from the day.
Before going to bed he looks over his bag, the half term homework, his pens all safely in their case, an alarm for 6am tomorrow, extra things he has stuffed in his bag all correctly in their respective places. Yes, everything is good. He knocks out the moment his head hits the pillow.
His final hazy thoughts, against his better judgment, is your name. Playing in synchronised repeat. Your giddy voice calling out Kacchan! And the girlish giggle of his best friend handing him a butterfly and naming it after him.
His foot taps repeatedly on the marble floor of the classroom the next day, he slept well last night. He watches the door intently and suddenly gets an unwelcome rush of nostalgia, the memories of his 6 year old self burning holes into his classroom door waiting for you to walk through, is he nervous right now?
Could this new girl really be you?
Izuku is seated beside him, borrowing Jirou’s seat as she is perched on Momo's desk busy with her own conversation until registration starts.
He nods awkwardly at Deku, agreeing with whatever he’s saying, the emotional attachment they developed towards each other after the war going unquestioned by the others. A touchy subject indeed. “-so I asked Mei if she could install a speed booster, or launcher of some sort into the insoles of my shoes to keep me in the air for greater amount of time since I don’t have the boost that one for all would’ve given me, not to mention I have to work with what’s left of my powers so I wouldn’t have the same equal amount of leg strength as I did at my peak of OFA, well- I uh it sucks talking about it to be honest, and I probably sound ridiculous but I honestly wouldn’t be too against relying on gear to support me, it would actually kind of remind me of-“
“-Ironmight.” Katsuki replied with a grin, finishing his best friends sentence with ease “You’d be like the old man but on crack.”
“Hey! That’s not- don’t word it like that Kacchan…”
Katsuki chuckles softly at Izuku waving his hands around embarrassed “Nerd.” He teases.
Their conversation just starts getting interesting when loud yelling and the squeaky sound of shoes running echo loudly in the hero course hallways, the trained heroes perk up in alert when from the slightly ajar door Mineta and Denki push through the doors heaving and yelling “She’s here! She’s-” a sharp breath “She’s here, Mr Aizawa is coming!.”
Iida lunges forward to the front of the class with practiced relaxation to instruct everyone that’s scattered across the room to find their seats as quietly and as quickly as possible, adding a passing reminder to be friendly to the new comer. Hushed whispers amongst themselves immediately go dead when Mr Aizawa slides the door open with a quick slam.
He strides forward, suspiciously looking over the 20+ kids in the room who are blinking at him innocently, before closing the door behind him and making his way to the desk at the front. A shared noise of confusion echoes from a few individuals in the room and Katsuki cocks his head at door, hating to admit he was kinda curious aswell Is she not coming in?
“Firstly,” Aizawa speaks, clearing his throat and readjusting his scarf comfortably on his neck “ As a lot of you may already know, we have a new exchange student joining us from here on out, secondly, the faculty and myself did discuss whether allowing a new member to join the hero course was the right thing to do as we have recently welcomed Shinsou into the class but she has proven herself to be a strong and reliable individual which will positively influence this class. Please stand and bow to welcome a new addition to the 2A hero course,” he takes a slow step back waiting for everyone’s chair screeches to stop as the students rise to their full height “M’kay, please come in”
He nods at the door, confirming that there was someone standing nearby listening into their introduction from behind the wall.
The gentle rolling of the sliding door vibrates smoothly across the silent room and Katsuki looks back briefly at Izuku who’s calmly standing behind him unaware of his surroundings, they meet eyes for a split second before the blonde snaps his head forward unsure of what he expected to see and from behind the rim of the door frame everybody watches the frame of a girl timidly emerging from the safety of the barrier.
Katsuki feels the world around him begin to rotate cinematically slow, his pupils dancing softly across you, the hair on the back of his neck raising with goosebumps that send shivers down his spine. It’s really you. A wave of tension swooshing from his shoulders as he watches you gently look over every person in the class.
Behind him the surprised voice of Deku yelping “Y/n.?!” pierces through his chest when the reality of the situation weighs his body down. The initial shock of seeing you after so many years being stolen by the person behind him.
He sucks in a sharp, shaky breath as you look over at the sound of your name, eyes going wide when you realise who just addressed you “Izuku.?” He sees your eyes widen, as surprised as your counterpart, Katsuki feels his ears burn tremendously when your eyes move from Deku to him smoothly.
The gloss on your lips glimmering into a small o when your eyes meet and you call out for him exactly how his mind has replayed over and over at night.
“Kacchan?”
A shriek from Kaminari pierces across the room snapping the thin veil of silence abruptly, choking on a peanut Sero passed him he recovers swiftly to heave out a “woah! You-“ Cough “Did- did you just call him Kacchan?”
Katsuki chokes on dry air, slamming his hand on his desk “SHUT UP Dunce face, mind your own business!” He roars.
God, they’re gonna have a field day.
“Settle down. All of you,” Aizawa interrupts, emphasising the you on Katsuki’s sulking, flushed face and avoiding eye contact. Deku whispering small comforts from behind, clearly also red in the face at the sight of you.
“-Please go ahead and introduce yourself, ignore them.”
Awkward, you nod.
“Uh- hello? Name’s Y/n L/n. Transfer from Taketsuka High in Tokyo,” you pause and think “Which is uh-well lowkey kinda far not gonna lie-“
“Excuse me!” A loud voice interrupts you, “You’re so pretty!” Fluffy tuffs of pink hair trides in cutting you cleanly off, dead silence curls around the room and you purse your lips reaching up to fidget with a strand on hair tucked behind your ear. Your eyes flicking from the teacher next to you, distracted with his shoes, and the lined up group of people sitting before you, your gaze plainly zeroes down on the pink gyaru who just complimented you, unsure what to say or where to go from there.
“-Uh thank you!” You chirp back, satisfied with the smile she flashes at you. Score.
“Well in that case, as our new student has familiar relations to Bakugou and Midoriya.” Aizawa pauses, adjusting his scarf calmly once more before clearing his throat and continuing “the both of you are in charge of helping this familiar face here to settle in appropriately”
“No fighting or bickering; see this as an opportunity to bond accordingly, is that understood?”
Everyone is instructed to sit back down.
Katsuki’s mind goes blank with something uncomfortable twisting in his tummy, is this nerves? Nerves of being thrown into a room with you for the first time in so many years? Years that he remembers looking down on because they were the years he would spend embarrassing amounts of time in front of his mirror practicing what to say to you when he saw you again.
The jumbled up combination of sentences he made up in his head for years now becoming mixed and discombobulated.
When he tried to be cool, practicing the deadpan expression in his room. He practiced the pace, the tone, the volume at which he would speak to you, all as he looked into your big, pearly eyes. He waits impatiently as one by one everyone around the room introduce themselves, his heart jumps every time your glittery eyes flick back to him, a small genuine smile crawling onto your lips when the class erupted into laughter at a joke Denki, or Mina, or Sero, or Todoroki said- he lost track if he’s been honest.
He almost even didn’t hear Izuku’s voice behind him introducing himself, catching on in time for his turn to speak. Your eyes tracking his face expectantly and he squeezes his fingers further into his sweaty palm trying to die down the thumping in his chest. Crescent moons on his sweaty palms.
His voice croaks with a sharp edge, when so many years of limerence fall into place, when it all comes crashing down on him. The first words you’ll hear him say in so much time. His chair screeches as he slowly rises from his seat, hesitantly, unsure of where to put his hands or trying hard not to focus on his wobbly footing. His legs tremble, knees weak with nerve and his voice wavers when he clears his throat, but he projects otherwise confidently. “…Bakugou Katsuki, welcome back. Damn Nerd.”
“Thank you.” Your sweet voice replies, just as eager to hear his voice as he was to yours. Deku snorts behind him, nerd. Really?
Upon your arrival, the seating plan was slightly rearranged; you. Throaned infront of him, your dangly keychains captivating his attention when you set your bag down on the small clip-on hanger on the side of your desk. As you take your place, he can’t help but yearn for another smell of that fruity perfume you’re sporting, it’s flowery and sweet on his tongue. His hyperactive mind racing with thoughts, with shame, this war must’ve really softened his rough edges; for Katsuki Bakugou to be needy for details on a dainty princess that has taunted his memories since he was a brat, the heaviness of your presence making his hands sweat uncontrollably.
He spends the rest of that lesson tormented, barely three lines worth of notes scribbled across his crumbled piece of paper, unable to focus or divert his eyes from the back of you, the attention to detail to your hair, the cream coloured cardigan draped comfortably across your shoulders, obviously violating a few of the dress code rules but like hell he’ll let Iida get anywhere near you or that sweater.
Determined to impress you, he answers the hard questions he usually would let the other smart asses in the classroom answer for him, you hum when he gets them all right. As he should.
He finds it hard not to fidget with his fingers, taking a quick peek at Izuku behind him who only smirks knowingly, Deku knows the situation, all leading back to that afternoon after school playing in that stupid park, an explosive confession from Katsuki who didn’t know how to overcome the overwhelming sensation of not being able to see you again. It became a secret between them, an unspoken rule of their friendship.
The dismissing ring of the bell startles him suddenly, and he watches wide eyed how you’re swarmed by pests; all eager and joyful to meet you. He steals another glance at midoriya who’s rearranging the things in his bag before swinging it to fall across his shoulders, disoriented, Katsuki moves away from you and heads the other way, quietly snapping his fingers in Deku’s face in order to grab his attention “Oi.”
“Kacchan?” His friend smiles in acknowledgment, pausing for a second, raising an eyebrow. He tiptoes over to peak above Katsuki's shoulder, intrigued by the commotion behind, woah, looking back at his friend and grinning “So, you excited?”
“Shut up!” Bakugou growls, reaching over to trap Izuku into a headlock to shut him up “you knew this going to happen didn’t you?”
“What?!” Deku squeals, frantically flailing his arms around “No! How was I meant to know?”
“You little-“
“Hey you two.” A familiar voice intervenes from behind, Katsuki’s heart drops when he whips his head back and comes face to face with you, standing awkwardly with your hand wrapped around your bag strap unsure of who look at first. His arms fall helplessly, dropping heavily at his sides, immediately releasing Izuku from the harsh play who also stiffens at the sight of you.
“Y/n!” Deku cheers, brushing past the blonde he bumps his shoulder to nudge him, a non verbal tell for Katsuki to close his mouth and cut out the gaping. Izuku embraces you first, a low rumbling erupting from Katsuki’s throat as he watches you giggle and wrap your arms around his friend’s waist. Obviously still familiar.
“Its been so long, how have you been? How was Tokyo?” Deku removes himself from you slowly, grabbing onto your shoulders firmly to keep you at arms length and you yap shortly about your life since you moved away, small details, nothing too personal or descriptive; barely scratching the surface of your life.
Your eyes dart instinctively from Deku to the blonde, now bigger, stronger, eyes wilder but just as firm as you remember. “Kacchan” you smile softly, playfully bowing at his ‘highness’.
“Har har, very funny you.” He mutters, scoffing he takes a step forward and takes your arm in a steady grip to drag you up into a half-assed hug. Your breath hitches when the soft tissue of his hard pecs brush against your cheek, a small gasp snatched from you when he nuzzles the crown of your head with his face, Definitely way more affectionate than before.
His warmth engulfs your figure, a burn on your cheeks and ears makes your head spin and his expensive cologne attaches itself onto the fabric of your sweater. You press yourself further into him hoping for more of it to stay on you. His chest tightening with pride at outdoing Izuku.
“W-woah Kacchan,” Izuku interrupts “P-people are staring- guys!”
Bakugou’s head grows heavy when your smaller figure shifts around from underneath, unlatching yourself steadily you squeeze his bicep playfully “Good to see you too Kacchan” you chuckle, still flushed and warm in the neck.
“Tch. Whatever.”
Katsuki just stares with a frown at the other end of the corridor, where you’re surrounded and swarmed with girls from both in your year and a few from the year under. They’re asking you questions, and to your misfortune, word got around that you were seen hugging the two most popular guys in school.
What’s your relationship with Bakugou?
Are you and Deku-kun together?
He hears everything, despite denying it when his friends tease him.
He finds himself still scowling hours later, sprawled out lazily on Deku’s rug. You? And the nerd? Together?
It highkey makes him a bit sick at the thought.
He hears Deku above humming a tune as he scribbles corrections on his break homework, his feedback slightly harsher than Bakugou’s. He wants to say something, anything about you. Taungingly silent he just stares holes at the smaller males head unsure of how to start the conversation, Izuku oblivious continues to work on his desk.
“Kacchan.” Izuku eventually speaks up.
“What.”
“I can feel you staring at me,” he drops his pen on the paper, spinning on his chair to look down at Bakugou who’s got one of his limited edition figures between his fingers, he hisses protectively at the toy even though he knows the blonde won’t break it.
He shakes his head, his train of thought recalibrating in his head when he furrows his brows remembering certain details from the day “Also, what the hell was that today?! Huh Kacchan? You looked pathetic.”
Katsuki growls at him in return “Say that again asshole?” He stands up abruptly, towering over his friend and dropping the toy on Deku’s bed.
“I mean! you couldn’t even look at Y/n in the eye, is that what you practiced so hard for, for so many years, huh? Just being honest here I was very shocked.”
Bakugou squeezes his side, of course the nerd is right, he knows he probably looked like a love sick school girl, downright drooling on you when other students approached you to chat you up. The school tour Izuku and him had to do was his own personal hell.
“I’m leaving.” Katsuki spins on his heels, gathering his blazer and bag left at the door, heartbeat fast. He’s half out of the door when Deku yells after him.
“You could always court her?!”
Court. Her?
“What?”
The curly headed boy reaches behind him quickly and shoves the homework that they all received on the last day of school in his face, biology, highlighted text at the header of the textbook.
Bird mating behaviour. On the subject of Courting rituals.
“You could always court her, like attract her attention with actions, you know? People used to that all the time years ago and it actually worked, plus I saw somewhere that women like being courted since it’s not so common anymore, it’s perfect!”
“She’s not an animal!” Katsuki pinches his temple “And plus, that’s for old people, she’ll probably freak out if I start fucking dancing infront of her window or something. God, you’re such a nerd.”
“Noooo! You aren’t dancing, geez,” Deku laughs not like I ever see you dancing anyway “Make it obvious you’re interested, food, time, small gifts, patience, attention to detail. Oh! And don’t forget peacocking!”
“Pe- The hell is that?!”
“Kacchan did you even read what you were writing in your work? Gosh how did you get everything right, it’s like, behaviour and actions to make you extra appealing to ‘potential mates’,” he reads from the book, he looks up momentarily to find Katsuki back in the room with the door closed, touchy subject huh. He snaps back and digs his head back into the book continuing to read out the paragraph “uhm, often presented as a male exhibiting his flashy, flamboyant physical appearance to attract females.”
Bakugou scoffs. He cant really be serious.
“So what, you want me to walk around with no shirt on?”
Midoriya shrugs in response, “Free fan service for her, I guess.” Haha, so funny.
“You’re so gross” the blonde gags, however looking back, he thinks back to you squeezing his bicep after your hug, did you like it? The hard muscle under your small fingertips, did you feel his strong chest and muscles beneath his shirt when you were pressed safely in between his arms?
“Fine.” He mutters, defeated “But I’m not leaving rocks on her desk.”
Deku sets the book down and begins to clean up the space,”Oh-so you did read it”
“Of course I did!”
“Whatever the case, start small. Opening doors and walking her to and fro classes, spending time, getting to know her as she is now, all that gentleness Kacchan.”
“Yeah yeah.” The eye roll gets him kicked out.
They exchange quick goodbyes as Katsuki slams the door behind him, flushed in the neck at the thought of impressing you the same way he always wanted to when you were younger. The times he would get into childish brawls with his classmates over petty things, the feeling in his chest when you cheered for him, all happy and maidenlike, when he would emerge victorious and successfully win the argument despite the small blooming bruises on his arm and the teeny tiniest nose bleed. He really got a real kick out of making you happy.
His mind hazy with tunnel vision, he thinks as he walks across the carpet floors of what he will do first.
A light bulb illuminates in his head. If his duty is to court you,
Tomorrow, he starts by walking you to class.