Chapter Text
Katsuki was having a bad day.
It all started when he woke up a whole two hours later than usual, which meant he’d missed his morning workout alongside IcyHot and Deku, as well as his time to take a shower. He’d leaped out of bed, cursing to himself while he rushed to get his uniform on. When he ran to check his phone, he found that he’d forgotten to plug it in the night before, which was why his alarm hadn’t gone off. He rushed out of his room like a bat out of hell, not even bothering to take the elevator down to the ground floor. By the time he made it to the dining table, there were only a few waffles left to eat.
Fifteen minutes later, he was surrounded by the idiot squad as they all walked to class. Their grating voices practically made his eardrums bleed, but Katsuki didn’t say anything about it. He’d been going to therapy ever since the Final Battle at the end of their first year, and he was shocked when it actually helped him. He learned coping mechanisms to help him with his anger issues, as well as healthy ways to get said anger out without hurting anyone. After only a month in therapy, Katsuki had done something he’d wanted to do for a long, long time; he’d knocked on Deku’s door after hours and got on his knees, bowing and begging for forgiveness. Deku had cried and hugged him tight enough to nearly crack his spine. (Katsuki would never admit that his eyes were a little wet, too.)
Now, in the midst of annoying motherfuckers, Bakugou closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, counting backwards from ten in english in his mind. By the time he reached one, he felt the slightest bit calmer. That is, until twenty minutes later, when he realized he’d left the folder full of his homework sitting on his desk. That little realization had nearly cost them the entire classroom.
By lunch time, Katsuki was on the verge of exploding just from one funny look in his direction. He itched to blow something up, but he knew better than to use his quirk outside of hero training. Instead, he used the forty-five minutes that U.A. allotted for lunch to walk back to their dorm building so he could grab his missing homework. The building was, of course, empty when he got there. The silence was calming as he rode the elevator up to the fourth floor, so much so that he almost believed he would be able to make it through the rest of the day.
After grabbing his folder, he made the trek back to the main campus, taking his sweet time to be alone while he could. His mind obsessively ran over a checklist of things he would need to do after school let out, like getting in a more intense workout session to make up for the one he missed, as well as doing the cooking for his lunches for the rest of the week, since it was Monday. He would also need to wash his dirty laundry, finish whatever homework was assigned, maybe but Yaomomo to give him one or two more of her fancy pens that he loved…
He hardly realized he was on his way to the 2-A classroom until he was given a rude awakening in the form of his body slamming into something hard. He fell to the ground with a startled yell, as did the person he’d apparently slammed into. Katsuki watched in slow motion as a water bottle with the lid screwed off landed right on top of his precious homework folder, spilling the entirety of its contents onto both it and the ground at Katsuki’s feet. His rage sparked up tenfold what it had been the rest of that day, and he lifted his crimson eyes to glare menacingly at where the culprit had fallen across from him. Surprise, surprise, who should it be but Shitty fucking Deku.
Now, don’t get him wrong. Like mentioned earlier, he had apologized to Deku at the beginning of that school year, and would even go as far as to say the two of them had become close friends again. After all, he was the only one left alive who knew the secret of One for All in its entirety, since All Might’s passing. He and Deku knew each other better than anyone, whether it be the way Deku’s eyes crinkled up when he struggled not to cry, or the way the tips of Katsuki’s ears turned red when he lied. Some things you only knew about a person through plenty of close proximity, and that’s what the two of them had.
It also meant that he was comfortable enough with Deku to feel safe losing his everloving shit .
“GOD FUCKING DAMNIT!” Katsuki yelled, rage-fueled explosions popping out of his palms. He scrambled forward into the puddle of water, grabbing at his notebook despite the sparks. “Look what you fucking did, you shithead!”
“K-Kacchan! I’m so sorry!” Deku fretted, crawling forward to grab his water bottle. “I wasn’t looking where I was going while I screwed the cap on-”
“Yeah, I can fucking see that!” Katsuki sneered. “Jesus, you useless fucking nerd, that was all of the homework due today, including two fucking essays ! Can’t you have a smidgen of fucking common sense every once in a while, or is that too fucking hard for you!”
Deku looked startled at the imminent rage Katsuki was expressing, not that Bakugou could blame him. He hadn’t blown up this bad in nearly half a year. “K-Kacchan, I-”
“For the love of god, DON’T FUCKING CALL ME THAT!” Katsuki shot to his feet, waving his sopping wet folder about to try and futility dry some of it out. “You’re so annoying! Why can’t you just leave me alone, for once in your life!”
Deku’s jaw shut with a damning click, his face settling into a blank expression. “Oh. Alright. I’ll, um… I’ll just leave you alone then.” Without another word, the greenet brushed past Katsuki, toward the water fountain he’d just vacated. Katsuki’s fury dimmed a bit at the look of pain on his childhood friend’s face, causing a frown to form on his own lips. Guilt began to eat at him barely a second later, because he really hadn’t meant to do that. Deku hadn’t done anything wrong, and of course Katsuki had to go fuck it up with his shitty personality. He tilted his head back exasperatedly, closing his eyes at the ceiling like he was praying. ‘ God, I’m such a piece of shit. I should go apologize…’ He opened his eyes and glanced behind him. Deku was patiently waiting for his water bottle to fill up again. He didn’t look Katsuki’s way. ‘ No, better wait until we both cool off. After school, I guess.’
With that resolved, Katsuki trudged his way to the 2-A classroom, shaking out his notebook the whole way there.
(x)
Katsuki didn’t catch Deku after their hero training, nor could he find him anywhere in the common room or kitchen when everyone arrived back at the dorms. Normally he and his little nerd squad would hang out in the common room so that they could play video games, or a board game, or do something sociable. Now, none of them seemed to be around.
Katsuki ended up getting distracted when Dunce Face nearly short-circuited the entire dorm building after losing a round of Mario Kart against Tokoyami, the undefeated champion. After that, his mind wandered back to all of the things he had to do, which had him walking himself to the kitchen to start his meal prepping. Pretty soon, the kitchen was infiltrated by the students in charge of making dinner that night, Uraraka and Sero. Sero clapped Katsuki’s back good-naturedly as the blond washed his dishes, telling him that he would take over so that Katsuki could get out. Uraraka shot the explosive boy an unreadable look as he left the room, but he didn’t think about it too hard. Round Face always tended to look at him weird.
It occurred to him what he had forgotten to do by the time dinner was ready and Deku hadn’t come down from his room. He wasn’t the only one who noticed, either.
“Hey, where’s Midori-bro?” Kirishima asked from his seat to Katsuki’s right. Katsuki looked up from his rice ball, directly across the table where Deku’s seat sat empty. Uraraka, who was directly across from Kirsihima, gave him a small, tight smile. Her eyes flickered to Katsuki briefly when she answered.
“He isn’t feeling well,” she informed them both. Realization dawned on Bakugou, and he nearly smacked himself in the forehead. Instead of making a fool of himself in front of them all, he shoved the rest of his dinner down his gullet and brought his dish to the kitchen, quickly throwing together a bowl for Deku. He used the stairs to get to the second floor, finding Deku’s room easily enough, with the hundred times he’d been there before. However, even though Katsuki could see the light on in the room beyond, when he knocked, there was no answer.
He stayed put for a few more minutes, worry beginning to sink in his stomach, but eventually he gave up and put the bowl down on the ground right outside Deku’s room. He figured the greenet must either be in the shower or outside training some more, like he always did. Seriously, the guy took even less breaks than Katsuki , which was really saying something. Katsuki pulled out his phone to shoot him a text not to push himself too hard, only to find that his phone was yet again dead. He’d had Pikachu give him a bit of juice in class earlier, but it hadn’t been enough to keep it alive until that moment, he supposed. He shrugged to himself and began making his way to his own dorm room to charge his phone.
(x)
Izuku hugged his knees, staring at the door from his spot on the bed. He’d heard someone come and knock on his door, but he didn’t feel like answering. When his friend group had confronted him about his weird behavior right after school, he’d confessed that he thought he’d ruined his friendship with Katsuki for good. He’d always suspected that Katsuki never really liked him, but only tolerated him because of One for All, and All Might’s wishes. Now, he knew that he’d been right. He couldn’t believe that he was the reason that Kacchan had blown up so bad for the first time in months. It had probably been building up inside of him every time they’d hung out, and today was the last straw.
Even though Uraraka, Iida, Tsuyu and Todoroki pressed him, he refused to tell them what Kacchan had said. He only explained small parts, like that he’d been mad at Izuku still using his childhood nickname, and that he’d asked for space. His friends gathered around him to calm him down as he cried, since all of them knew about Izuku’s unfaltering feelings for the blond. Midoriya had been in love with Kacchan for as long as he could remember, only stuttering off around middle school when the blond began teasing him pretty harshly. He’d never laid a hand on him, except for the day of the sludge incident, when Katsuki accidentally used his quirk when grabbing his shoulder. To date, that was one of the blond’s worst blow ups, considering what he’d also said to Izuku that day.
Izuku had forgiven him long before, as he knew that Katsuki didn’t apologize verbally. When he did something wrong or pissed someone off, he tended to use actions to apologize rather than words. When he’d accidentally burned Kaminari’s favourite shirt while they were roughhousing, he’d made Denki’s favourite food for lunch the entire rest of the week. When he’d broken Satou’s favourite mixing spoon, the next day the bigger student had found an entire set of spoons and utensils in the kitchen labelled with his name. Everyone in 2-A knew that Katsuki cared about them, even if he didn’t tend to show it. It was visible in the way he interacted with them, despite his harshness and yelling. The boy was a regular tsundere.
Izuku had thought that those feelings extended to him, but he supposed that the bigger boy’s dislike for him hadn’t faded at all. The revelation hurt more than it had any right to. After all, he didn’t have a right to Kacchan’s friendship, no matter how long they’d known each other, or how well they knew each other.
From then on, Midoriya was going to have to prove to Kacchan that he respected his wishes and that he would listen to them. No matter how hard it would be for him to do.
(x)
Tuesday morning found Katsuki waiting at his desk impatiently, watching the classroom door for Deku to walk in with his friends. He’d texted the nerd earlier that morning when the boy hadn’t shown up for their morning run, wondering if something was seriously wrong. He figured the boy had been hurt by their little interaction in the hallway, but shit , Katsuki was trying to apologize! Deku was probably the only person in the entirety of their class who had ever heard the words “I’m sorry” uttered from Katsuki’s mouth, but that was because he damn well deserved them. He’d deserve them more if he actually fucking showed up.
Only three minutes before the bell rang, Deku and the rest of his friends appeared in the 2-A doorway, all out of breath like they’d run the entire way to the main building. Instantly, Katsuki saw the reason they had all been late. Asui, the frog bitch, was looking even greener than usual and had bundled herself up in multiple layers. It was November in Japan, meaning that the girl was beginning to get affected by the cold. Katsuki remembered Deku rambling once in their first year about how Tsuyu had forgotten to bundle up before bed, and had been nearly impossible to wake up from her “hibernation.” Katsuki himself didn’t tend to get cold until the coldest months, from the end of December into the beginning of February. His quirk left him hot-blooded, much like Todoroki’s left side. He and Todoroki were always used as human heaters.
Deku helped Uraraka ease Tsu into her desk, leaving the girl in the care of the others on that side of the classroom. He and Todoroki made their way to Katsuki’s side of the class, branching off to go to their respective seats. Deku settled in behind Katsuki, still catching his breath from the run there (in which they had probably had to lug Tsuyu the whole way). Bakugou didn’t hesitate to turn around, opening his mouth to get out his apology to Izuku. Before he could, Deku’s eyes snapped up to his, widening a bit.
“Oh! Before I forget, I did this for you!” The greenet twisted and dug around in his backpack at his side, before he turned back to Katsuki and handed him a small stack of papers. “I redid the homework I ruined yesterday, and talked to our teachers to let them know it was my fault. I didn’t have access to your essays of course, so you’ll have to re-print those, but that should be all of it.” He smiled a bit, although it wasn’t anywhere close to the blinding grin he usually gave Katsuki. “I’m sorry again, Bakugou-san.”
Record. Scratch.