"What was that, dude?" Kirishima says each word with increasing disbelief, every syllable knitting a crease in Katsuki's brow. They watch Izuku walk back to his table and sit down by Todoroki.
Katsuki gathers his things and exits the cafeteria as quickly as possible without drawing any unnecessary attention. Kirishima is at his tail, with Mina skipping close behind.
"What was he saying about Eraserhead's early costume design? He really went off on a tangent," she says.
"But Kacchan didn't bite his head off or anything." Clasping his hands over his heart, Kirishima really lays on the melodrama. "You let him go on for like - ten whole minutes!"
Katsuki tries to intervene, but it's far too late. "It wasn't -"
"It was adorable!" Sero catches up with them. "You're talking about Bakugou's crush, right?"
Katsuki steams. "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
"Do I see a blush on those cheeks?" Mina pokes Katsuki in the face.
He growls and bats her hand away. "WILL YOU MORONS LAY OFF?" He bulldozes through the hallway, first to reach the locker rooms.
Katsuki doesn't get crushes. The word alone strikes a match on his brain, and he winces, hanging up his class uniform with such force that he warps the wire hanger. No. Katsuki doesn't get crushes. Even if he did, it wouldn't be on Izuku, of all people.
As he puts on his training uniform, he tries to think of a single instance that he's ever felt any kind of "romantic" feelingsfor someone. He's gotten a lot of lovesick fan letters in his time, and there's no shortage of googly-eyed girls checking him out on the street or even in the hallway. His idiot friends have tried to set him up on dates before, but he's never felt more than a slight admiration for another person - if that.
It's just not how he's made. He's got far more important things to think about, like becoming the best hero the world has ever seen. It's insulting, honestly, that his friends would think he'd waste his time on that bullshit.
When Katsuki gets out to the field for practice, he sees Izuku before he sees him. Izuku scans the crowd, searching for something, his mouth slightly ajar, his movements erratic as his eyes dart over the group of students. It suddenly dawns on Katsuki - he's looking for him.
Katsuki swears under his breath and ducks behind Koda just as Kirishima spots him. A confused smile grows on his face as he walks over.
"Avoiding someone?"
"No."
Koda turns around, and Katsuki scrambles to instruct him to stay put. Kirishima raises his eyebrows, his lips pursed.
"Shut up."
"Didn't say anything!"
His idiot grin says enough, and a pit starts to grow in Katsuki's stomach.
/
Kirishima and Kaminari follow Katsuki to Gym Gamma. Different rock structures fill the gym, and the three of them find a section that's unoccupied to train.
They talk about developing their quirks for a while, but eventually, Kirishima brings up his girlfriend, and it's all downhill from there. Katsuki wishes they could just practice in silence, but that's never been an option for Kirishima.
"Mina's great, you know? Two years together in May. Can you believe it?"
"Would you focus, moron?" Katsuki continues to land punch after punch onto his rock-hard body.
"I am! That's the great part!" Katsuki scoffs, but Kirishima continues. "It's just so easy with her. I'm so dang lucky."
"I'm happy for you, man." Kaminari leans up against the wall, recharging after using a full-powered blast (without becoming dull as a doornail, this time).
"Hey! Was thinking we could go out tonight, last-first day back and all." He grins. "What do you say? Mina wants to go to that new place on the corner next to the market. We could invite Jirou? And -"
"Yeah, um! Actually… Kyouka and I… broke up."
"What? When? What happened? Why haven't you said anything?" Kirishima turns to face Kaminari as Katsuki continues to use him as a punching bag.
"Last night. But it's been coming for a while now. I just… didn't see it. I don't know. It's kinda complicated." Kaminari holds his arms, trying not to look pathetic but failing miserably, in Katsuki's opinion.
"Damn, dude, I'm sorry." Kirishima walks over, leaving Katsuki to punch the air for a second before following in a huff.
"That sucks," Katsuki manages to say. But that's just what relationships do. You can't rely on them. You can only count on one person - yourself. He wants to tell him this but holds his tongue.
"Thanks, guys. I was pretty bummed last night, but I don't know. I'll be okay. There's plenty of other girls out there."
Katsuki coughs. "Yeah, no shit."
"And we're still friends! It's not… it's not weird or anything," he adds, looking away.
"Oh, that's why you were gone this morning!" Kirishima says.
"Yeah, my mom took me out to our favorite restaurant! It was the only time she could with her busy schedule or whatever." He laughs. "I'm sorry I missed you guys at lunch, though. I heard it was eventful!"
"Ah, jesus." Katsuki turns to walk away.
"You really should've been there. Kats gets all doe-eyed -"
"Did he do the thing where he's not an asshole?"
"Mhm!" Kirishima does his best Mina impression, his voice cracking into a higher octave. "Totes adorbs!"
"Forget you losers!" Katsuki puts his hands behind him to blast himself towards the door. His fuse is a little shorter today than he realized.
"Awe, c'mon, Bakubro, we were just kidding!"
Katsuki stomps out onto the grass, emotion flooding through his limbs to his white-knuckled fists. It's started to rain, cold and slick against his uniform. He focuses on raising his body temperature with tiny continuous explosions in his palms. Everyone else has gone inside, leaving the entire field to him.
The rain starts to let up, but a chill runs down Katsuki's spine. He lets the water put out his blasts for a split second, then releases a battle cry, blasting explosion after explosion at an unknown target. All the day's frustrations animated into an imaginary foe in front of him. He could not lose. For the final blow, Katsuki shoots himself up a few meters into the air to come down hard onto the soft earth below.
"Bakugou."
He pauses a moment to catch his breath before he stands and sees Aizawa nearby, unbothered by the drizzle. He hadn't even noticed him.
"Can I speak with you for a moment?" He doesn't wait for a response. "How are you doing?"
"Fine. How are you?" Katsuki resists rolling his eyes.
"Fine." Aizawa takes a breath before continuing. "Have you given any thought to what we talked about?"
Katsuki shivers, much to his chagrin, but declines to respond.
"Miruko would still like to meet with you."
Right. He'd mentioned before break that she was willing to see if Katsuki could be a good fit for her agency. Miruko is the Rabbit Hero, one that Katsuki has always admired for her intensity and strength.
"Call her up."
"Is that what you want?"
"Who cares?"
"If you didn't care, you would've decided by now." Aizawa scrutinizes him. "It's not a life sentence, but you need some type of affiliation if you want to work with the authorities after you leave here. You won't be a UA student anymore."
"I'll start my own agency."
"Then do so." His face softens, and he catches Katsuki's eyes. "Whatever you choose will be fine. You just have to be honest about what you want." He pauses. "What is this about, really? It's unlike you."
"Tch." Katsuki turns away. Truthfully, he's not sure how to answer that question. He admires plenty of heroes, and he's certain working with any of them would be fine. But something stops him, and he can't put a finger on it.
Aizawa sighs. Before turning to go inside, he says, "Is there someone you can talk to about this, then?"
Katsuki frowns, then shouts, "I don't need anyone's help!" after his teacher, but he doesn't look back. Whatever.
He blasts himself down the opposite end of the field. What does Aizawa know? Who is he to say how Katsuki's feeling, or what he needs?
The next time he looks up from his training, the sun's about to set. Some days, time slips through his fingers like sand.
/
The next day, Katsuki wakes to the blurry memory of the night prior, dread washing over him like an instant sunburn. He'd had a bad dream, went for a run, and -
He slams his fist against the wall, surprised he's able to resist punching straight through, not surprised when he hears Kirishima's muffled voice from the other side. Ugh.
"Kats?"
Katsuki holds his pillow around his head as he turns toward the wall.
"I'm sorry about what happened Friday."
Katsuki groans. It didn't make any sense. And he was an asshole about it, of course. He remembers the look on Izuku's face, how his brow fell, his chin tucked in, how he chewed on his lower lip. It was painful then, and it's painful now.
Katsuki had all but managed to put that night at Momo's out of his mind, finding it supremely uncomfortable to dwell on for more than a minute. Even now, he feels his cheeks flush, frustrated he can't control his body's reaction to the mere thought of being alone in that kitchen with him.
There's a knock at the door, and Katsuki pulls himself out of bed to answer it.
"Hey!" Kirishima stands akimbo, all ready to go in his uniform, and leans to peek his head in. Katsuki glares at him, but he ignores it. "You okay, man? I don't see any hot babes, so I'm gonna assume all that grunting was just you."
Katsuki lets out another exasperated groan before slamming the door shut in his face.
"Okay! I'll wait for you downstairs then!"
He takes a deep breath before getting dressed in his uniform white shirt and blazer. He looks in the mirror and runs his hands through his hair to try to tame it, but quickly decides it's good enough.
"Were you okay? It just… It seems like something's wrong?"
What's with everyone lately? Katsuki's just fine, damn it, and the next person to imply otherwise is gonna get socked in the face.
/
The day passes agonizingly slow, but somehow Katsuki makes it through the morning (the boring part - all schoolwork and not even a little fighting). After lunch, Class 3-A and Class 3-B meet at the P.E. Grounds. Dark clouds still hang in the sky, but at least it's not raining today.
Katsuki's friends join him to kill time before Aizawa arrives. He's definitely not going to tell them about running into Izuku last night. He'd gotten enough shit from them yesterday and would much rather avoid a similar situation in the future, if it's up to him.
Finally, Aizawa shows up, looking worn out as usual, with Class B's homeroom teacher, Kan Sekijiro, close behind.
"In the real world, you will have to work with heroes you haven't met at a moment's notice. You must be able to conjure a plan while using your quirks in tandem. Over the next few weeks, we'll be pairing you up with students from Class B to test your skills."
Finally, something he's good at - fighting. Katsuki doesn't give a shit who he's paired up with, only half-listening when Aizawa announces the groups and everyone scatters.
"Guess we're partners today." A voice drones behind him.
Katsuki doesn't turn around.
"Great."
He sees Izuku running towards him and his whole body tenses up.
"Kacchan! Shinsou!"
He sets his jaw and turns to confirm what he fears - that his partner is the one-and-only Shinsou Hitoshi.
"Hey." Izuku smiles as he catches his breath. "Are you excited to face off with Shishida and me?" The beast in question comes up behind Izuku, looking rather indifferent to the whole situation. Katsuki doesn't pay him any mind.
"I'll beat you both into the dirt, easy."
Shinsou sighs. "Any tips for working with this guy?"
Izuku laughs and scratches the back of his neck. "If you figure it out, would you let me know?"
By the time Katsuki thinks of something half-good to say in reply, Izuku's already walked away with Shishida.
"YOU'RE GONNA WASTE ALL YOUR TIME COMING UP WITH SOME STUPID STRATEGY, AND YOU'RE STILL GONNA LOSE, DAMN NERD!"
A reasonable distance away now, Izuku turns and waves, perhaps not having heard him fully over all the chatter, or maybe just to piss him off.
Shinsou clicks their teeth. "Good one."
"SHUT UP!"
Katsuki storms off toward the bleachers to wait for his turn. He doesn't have the attention span to watch whoever goes first, his one-track mind on how to take down Izuku and the beast.
The game is simple. There are two flags, each placed on either end of the field, guarded by each team of two. Whichever team can retrieve the other team's flag first, wins.
He and Izuku have fought more than a handful of times by now, and Katsuki usually won (besides maybe once or twice but he can't recall), so he's not very worried. Even with all the power Izuku's inherited from One for All, he's still predictable in his moves, at least to Katsuki. If anything, Shishido might have some tricks up his sleeve he hasn't seen.
"So. Do we have a plan?" Shinsou walks up to him. "We are going second if you didn't know."
Katsuki doesn't respond.
"Look, you know I'm not going to brainwash you, right."
"Do I? And of course I know we're next, dipshit."
Shinsou lets out a long breath. "Whatever. Tell me the plan."
"I'll tell you the plan. You stay the fuck out of my way, got it?"
"Yeah, that'll go well." They shake their head and walk over to the fence to watch the rest of the first match: Momo and Kendo versus Tokoyami and Komori.
Nothing really of note happens until Momo creates these massive reflective balls that Kendo bounces with a flick of her giant hand, a distraction as well as an attempt at hindering Dark Shadow, which unfortunately doesn't work. Tokoyami uses Dark Shadow to carry Komori across the field. She drops spores all along the way that turn into mushrooms as quick as an ocean wave.
Momo produces gas masks in a second as the mushrooms grow toward them. Almost everything is covered in splotches of fungi - even the flags.
"Come on, Yaomomo!" Jirou shouts. "You can do this!"
Katsuki looks up to watch the end of the match: Momo's produced a human-sized slingshot that's pointing towards the other end. They position themselves at the end of it, and, hanging on behind Kendo's oversized hand, they fling themselves across, mushrooms flying everywhere. Kendo then uses her hand to grasp at the mushroom-laden ground until she finds the flag. Everyone cheers and the horn sounds, signaling the end of the match.
"Yaoyorozu and Kendo win. Very well done, both teams." Aizawa takes notes on his clipboard.
"That's it?" Katsuki fumes. Is this really a good test of their strength? It's silly, is what it is.
"It's an exercise in cooperation, Bakugou. You could learn something from it," Iida lectures a few rows behind him. Katsuki backs down, only swearing faintly under his breath.
/
Once the mushrooms have been dealt with, Katsuki and Izuku and their partners take their places on opposite sides of the field.
"Good luck, Kacchan!" Izuku yells across. Katsuki just rolls his eyes.
The taste of adrenaline laps at the back of his throat and he takes three deep breaths. He's ready for this.
As soon as the horns blare, Katsuki flies across the field, teeth gritted as he readies an attack on Shishida. The beast barrels toward him, a deep snarl coming from the depths of his belly. At the last second, Katsuki fakes him out, pivoting into the air and clipping him in the back of the head before stepping away to prepare a distanced attack.
Shinsou sprints toward the beast, throwing their scarf at him to fling themselves forward. Then they use the scarf to blind him and tip him off-balance. Katsuki takes advantage of this, shooting bullets of fire to knock him out, one eye always on the flag.
"I don't need your damn help!" Katsuki shouts at Shinsou, who just looks at him like he's crazy, but for a second - this beautiful second when his enemy is wiped out - all feels right in the world for Katsuki. That is until he catches a glint of lightning out of the corner of his eye, and, sure, he's only a few steps from the other team's flag, but he'll be damned if he lets Izuku get even close to winning.
"DAMMIT!" He bellows, breezing past Shinsou to double back to where Izuku races toward his goal. Katsuki checks him in the side and they tumble to the ground, Izuku skidding face down across the grass. Katsuki gets to his feet to prepare another attack when he hears his own voice behind him, almost gentle,
"You okay, Deku?"
What the fuck? He whirls around to see Shinsou using their voice adapter to imitate Katsuki, which starts a fury in him that he can't name. He's about to snap on his own teammate when he feels a dull pressure on his head, his vision closing in, and the cold, dark earth on his face.