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Katsuki hated change. He woke at 5 am everyday, even weekends for as long as he could remember. He ate at the same café everyday at lunch. His workout music hadn’t changed for more weeks than he could count on his fingers.
Everyday was the same day for Katsuki lately, the only variable being what new villain he’d be up against. He liked being a cop. It brought some action to his everyday life, and he liked enforcing order. Liked being the one to keep things in check. Keep things the same. Now at 23, he found himself so deeply rooted into routine that he was becoming a regular at restaurants, and “protecting his peace” led to his only damn friend being Izuku, the stupid nerd he used to pick on back in middle school.
He met up with Izuku at their usual Wednesday lunch spot. Lately, Izuku had the evening shift at the station. Katsuki had just finished his morning one. They both graduated from the same police academy, and even the same high school, and joined the same agency, because Izuku was a damn copycat, and Kastuki would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy a bit of the boy’s admiration.
As he pulled up a chair, and brought out his phone, he waited for Izuku. Katsuki liked this hole-in-the-wall cafe, Komorebi. It was quiet. The music wasn’t half bad.
The colour palette was muted, which Katsuki appreciated, as it was easy on the eyes, so it was evident something was out of place when a flaming head of red hair approached his table.
“Hey! Can I get you anything to drink?” The man asked, radiating an energy that made Katsuki uncomfortably comfortable. Katsuki looked up at him. He must be at least 6’3. A giant, to the 5’9 Katsuki. He hated people taller than him. That’s why he always wore chunky platform docs whenever he could. Didn’t want anyone looking down on him.
‘The usual’ is what Katsuki was usually served; all the workers here knew him. This guy was new. He hadn’t cared to remember all the faces of the workers at Komorebi, but he was pretty damn sure he’d remember the crimson haired giant… and the sparkling, matching eyes that accompanied.
“Coffee. Black.” Is all Katsuki’s response was.
The waiter flashed a grin. Frickin’ shark teeth . That’s cool as hell.
“Anything else?”
Katsuki shook his head, although he wished he could’ve been a tad bit more sociable with this man. And anyone who knew Katsuki knew that sociable was the last thing he wanted to be.
“Alrighty! I’ll get it right away!” Katsuki had never seen someone respond so happily to preparing a black coffee, and he didn’t know the last time he had heard someone over the age of 10 say “alrighty”, but the man was already running off the kitchen.
Shitty Hair , Katsuki mentally dubbed him. The man wasn’t wearing a name tag, and even if he was, Katsuki didn’t care to read it.
Izuku arrived five minutes late to their lunch. If it was middle school, that would’ve earned Izuku a punch to the gut and a few insults, but Katsuki didn’t enjoy thinking about his past all that much.
“Sorry I’m late, Kacchan. I know you hate waiting.”
“Damn right.” Katsuki crossed his arms, and the two fell into chatter about their days and the cases they were covering.
Katsuki was working on a case with Shoto Todoroki, the police chief’s son, and they were supposed to be investigating a new drug called Trigger, but Shoto was of no help at all. His only priority was investigating his own family drama- something about his supposedly-dead missing brother. Izuku’s case was much more interesting: locating a murderer who calls himself Stain, and has been killing the supposed innocent to prove a point about society or something. Katsuki would’ve asked to transfer cases, but Izuku is working alongside someone even more insufferable than Shoto: Tenya Ida, who for some odd reason is taking the Stain case on with some sort of personal grudge. Izuku said Ida’s brother knew Stain or something, Katsuki would be lying if he said he didn’t tune out Izuku’s rambling from time to time. Ida is Izuku’s best man, and Katsuki absolutely hates his “stick-up-his-ass” attitude. Even though that’s how Izuku said Tenya had described him .
Whatever, Katsuki was a pretty relaxed guy when he wanted to be.
The café worker came back with Katsuki’s coffee, which took an ungodly amount of time to prepare, and pissed Katsuki off, because he had asked for the simplest menu item in existence, save for water.
“The hell took so long?” He asked as Shitty Hair placed down the mug.
Shitty Hair had the audacity to raise one of his eyebrows at Katsuki, and turned to Izuku. “You asked for both the drinks to be out at the same time, yeah? Or did I mishear?”
The stupid nerd grinned and nodded.
As Shitty Hair placed Izuku’s drink down, Katsuki noticed what took so damn long. Izuku had ordered some over-the-top labyrinth of a drink, topped with mini donuts and an icing rim, that Katsuki was surprised this new barista was able to make without taking the whole day.
“The heck is this?” Katsuki questioned Izuku, eyeing the rainbow-sprinkle covered confectionary drink like an eyesore.
“I saw it on Instagram. Wanted to try it out.”
“You know you’re really playing into the donut-cop stereotype with this one. And why did you ask for both the drinks out at once?”
Izuku sighed sternly, “Because you chug your coffee, and then say you’re ‘ready to leave’, I’m a ‘slowass sipper’, and you don’t end up talking.”
Katsuki rolled his eyes, “Whatever, don’t speak on my behalf next time.”
Shitty Hair quietly laughed a bit and turned to walk away.
“What’s so funny, Shitty Hair?” Katsuki snarled.
“Kacchan! I told you to be respectful to the staff!” Izuku wore a defeated look on his face. As if Katsuki was ever going to listen to Izuku when he chided him like his mother.
Shitty Hair seemed unfazed by the insult. “You just seem like quite the character, Officer Bakushinchi .” He read that last part off of Katsuki’s nametag, squinting at the small print of it.
Izuku stifled a laugh. Katsuki cursed himself for not taking the stupid name tag off.
“It’s Bakugou. I wear a fake name tag so extras don’t start acting like we’re buddies or shit.” Izuku had told him a cop wearing a false name was probably illegal. Bakugou said he couldn't care less.
“Ah, I see. Nice to meet you, Officer Bakugou.” Then the server’s face matched his hair. He tensed up, grinned and walked away, but not without mumbling a “Bakugou, huh,” that he probably thought was out of earshot, but Bakugou was more attentive than most. Bakugou saw his shark teeth again out of the corner of his eye.
Pointy teeth…
Sparkling crimson eyes…
That flustered, embarrassed look…
Did he see a small scar above the server’s eyelid? Or was his mind playing tricks on him?
When the server had gone into the kitchen to get some extra’s order, Katsuki leaned in closer to Izuku, “What’s that guy’s name?”
Izuku looked a little surprised at the question. Katsuki guessed it was a bit out of his role to show some sort of care toward a shitty-haired server.
“Why? Do you know him? He seemed like he recognized your name.” Izuku asked with wide green eyes.
“Answer my question. What’s his name?” Katsuki pressed, repeating himself.
“I heard one of the workers call him Shima. That yellow-haired one you don’t like. You call him Dunce-Face.”
“Shima, huh?” Holy shit.
“And then Mina, the register lady, called him Kiri.” Holy shit.
“Eijirou.” Katsuki whispered on top of Izuku’s mumbling.
“So, it’s either Shimakiri, Kirishima or they’re just using odd nicknames for him. I’d place my bets on Kirishimaaahh- woah wait, what? Did you say Eijirou? Your Eijirou?”
“That’s my fucking Eijirou.” Katsuki realized, eyes widening, pulse thumping in his mind.
“Are you sure, Kacchan? Kirishima’s not that unique of a name. And Kirishima-kun went to Canada for high school. Not sure why he’d come back to Japan almost 10 years later. And Kirishima-kun had black hair.” Izuku counted the points on his fingers.
“Give me a damn break, Izuku. That’s Eijirou.” Katsuki smiled . Only the thought of one person could’ve ever make Katsuki show that horrid, vulnerable expression, and it was Eijirou Kirishima: the middle school boyfriend of Katsuki Bakugou. And of course Bakugou would still find the same guy attractive, he was a man of habit.
“So what are you going to do now?” Izuku asked.
“I’ll ask him out.” Katsuki firmly decided, crossing his arms. That’s Eijirou. The only person on this damn earth that knew him, besides Izuku. Sure, Bakugou had other acquaintances-Camie and freaking Ochako- but never someone as close as Eijirou was.
Sure they had lost contact after the first year of high school, but Eijirou hadn’t lost his thousand-watt smile. And that red hair made him look even hotter than Katsuki had ever imagined.
Izuku’s eyes left his sockets. His mouth dropped open. He started sputtering, “What, Kacchan-no wait, what if he’s-no you can’t just-”
“Give it to me cohesively or shut your damn mouth.” Katsuki was way too used to Izuku's mouth working at a rate his mind couldn't catch up to.
Izuku took a breath in, “What will you do if it’s not him? That’s embarrassing, Kacchan. What if he’s not into you like that anymore? It was middle school, what if he was just trying things out? What if he has a partner already? You shouldn’t get your hopes up, Kacchan.”
Katsuki scoffed, “Thanks for proving your point on why you can’t get your shit together with either Ochako or the Europe guy . Seriously Deku, you’ve got two damn choices who’re both head over heels for you, and all you have to do is say ‘yes’ and you’re not painfully single anymore. I’ll answer all your questions by just asking the damn man out. If it’s not Eijirou, then to hell with him. Too embarrassing? It’s embarrassing hanging around a level ten nerd like you already. You can’t get worse than that.”
Katsuki liked to steel himself by raining down on Izuku. Admittedly, his insults and jabs had gotten less harsh overtime. His therapist should be damn proud.
“Whatever, let’s not bring Rody or Uraraka into this. Just go get your man.” Izuku sighed, and waved Katsuki to go talk to the red-haired server, who was tying his apron up in the back of Komorebi, looking ready to leave for the day.
Katsuki bolted out of his chair, but not without leaving Izuku with some yen to pay. Yeah, he was a good friend.
“Hey, Red.” Katsuki started, wanting to strike up some conversation with this man. Katsuki would never ever put this much effort into making the first move, but this was a completely different case. If this man was Eijirou- and Katsuki was pretty damn sure he was- then this needed to work.
Katsuki had spent the greater part of the 8 years that he hadn’t seen Eijirou thinking about Eijirou. Creepy, but Katsuki had his reasons.
They had met in middle school, and had dated in their last year of middle school until their first year of high school, before Eijirou announced his family was moving to Canada in second year. Katsuki, crushed, wanted to keep in touch with Eijirou, but then they had this whole conversation on how it’d hurt more, and they needed to start their lives.
But Eijirou wasn’t aware that when Katsuki had dated him, that was the start of Katsuki’s life, and Katsuki hated change. He didn’t date for pleasure and experimentation. He dated for commitment, and when he took that step with Eijirou, he didn’t take it lightly. Eijirou had been Katsuki’s first everything and Katsuki always wondered about the kind of man Eijirou would grow up to be.
He wasn’t expecting this giant of a man. Eijirou was shorter than him back in middle school, but to be fair, that was 8 years ago. And if the man in front of him was in fact Eijirou, then damn, he needed his workout routine, because his biceps looked like they were shooting out of his shirt.
“Oh, hey man. Was just heading out- Mina should be there to collect the bill.” The redhead said as he started putting on his jacket. A deep crimson, a few shades darker than his hair.
Crimson… if this was Eijirou, then his favourite colour hadn’t changed.
“Is your name Eijirou Kirishima?” Katsuki asked. It sounded weird and a little stalkerish, but Katsuki didn’t know how else to ask at the moment.
The man nodded, to Katsuki’s relief, and overwhelming success in his correct assumption. Kirishima’s eyes squinted, as if his concentration would solve the mystery of why Katsuki had come up to him.
“Sorry for lashing out at you earlier, Eijirou. It was a long morning at the station.” Did Katsuki purposefully drop honorifics? No, but he supposed Eijirou wouldn’t mind once he found out who he was.
Eijirou nodded, and Katsuki noticed Eijirou scanning him over, almost studying his face, until a moment later, his eyes widened, and the largest smile Katsuki had ever seen lit up the face he had longed to look at for years.
“Wait do I know… Officer Bakugou .”
Bakugou nodded.
“Holy shit, Katsuki ! Oh my god, dude!” And Eijirou threw his arms, his big, muscular arms, around Katsuki, and Katsuki absolutely melted into his touch. Very un-Bakugou like. He couldn’t help it. Bodybuilders got cheat days… Kirishima was like Bakugou’s cheat-person, as bad as that sounds. He never had let anyone be so close to him as Kirishima had gotten.
They hugged for a few seconds, before Eijirou pulled away. Katsuki would’ve never pulled away if it were up to him. Maybe he needed to get out more.
Eijirou was 8 years ago.
Katsuki needed to remember that. Katsuki didn’t want to remember that.
Would Eijirou still be… interested in Katsuki? Was Eijirou already married? Shit, if he was already married then Katsuki would seem like a complete idiot if he asked him out. Actually, whether or not Eijirou was even in a relationship was besides the fact that Katsuki would seem ridiculous regardless by asking out the guy he dated in his preteens… did Eijirou think Katsuki was already ridiculous? A creep, who hadn’t let go of his past? Who remembered the little things about someone who’d already moved on? Did he think he was uninteresting? Boring? Unchanging? Fuck, Katsuki should leave and run far, far away. He should leave and never show his damn face at Komorebi again, he should-
“Sooooo…. I know this might seem a little forward, but wanna go out sometime?” Eijirou asked, ears red and hands behind his back.
And maybe Katsuki should stop getting angry at Izuku’s overthinking. He might be a little hypocritical.
“Hell yeah.” And they fist bumped to seal the deal.
Officier Bakugou had a date with Kirishima the barista on Friday. And Bakugou rubbed it in Izuku's face all week.