"I'm surprised you were able to get a booking to this place, nerd. My parents usually have to pull a shit-ton of strings just to eat here a couple of times a year," Bakugou said as he pulled off his sports jacket and draped it over the back of his seat. He waited until Izuku had done the same before sitting down.
"Well, it's not often we both have time off together, Kacchan. I wanted to make tonight special. I also got a pair of tickets for All Might's latest movie, though they were pretty easy to get compared to our table here."
After his retirement, All Might realized that he could still make a difference in people's lives even without his power. His charisma as a hero carried over well as an actor and people still found comfort in his presence, though now it was on the big screen. He always offered his successor backstage passes or tickets, but Izuku usually declined due to work. The former number one hero was thrilled when Izuku had approached him to ask for tickets, and even more so when the young hero had explained the rest of his plans for the evening.
Bakugou had been right about the restaurant as well. It was well known for having a long waitlist for reservations. Izuku wanted to downplay how much trouble he had to go through to get them in to avoid Bakugou getting suspicious. This date night wasn't as spontaneous as he wanted his boyfriend of four years to believe. So many phone calls back and forth with the restaurant owner had gotten him to this point.
To the point where he was going to ask Kacchan to marry him.
"Is it the corny romantic comedy or the angsty drama flick?" Bakugou asked as he looked over the menu. He already knew what his order would be, glancing over the elegantly bound menu was only a matter of habit. This fine dining establishment served what he considered to be the best spicy curry in Japan, and he didn't decide that on a whim.
"It's actually his newest movie with the mismatched cop partners. They're having a special screening tonight before it opens next week." What he wasn't saying was that he'd worked with All Might to make this screening happen. His plan was to propose during the ending credits, with their friends and family sneaking into the theater as the movie played.
Bakugou briefly stopped reading to give off a short laugh. "You mean the one with Endeavor? I can't imagine what kind of bet that big bastard must have lost to end up in that movie. Mismatched is an understatement when you put those two side by side. I'm totally down for seeing that guy make himself look like an idiot."
"May I take your order, sir?" Their waiter appeared as if he had been born into his profession. Black hair slicked back with the exception of a tiny wisp that curled against his forehead. His pencil mustache was well-groomed and synced perfectly with his haughty tone and upturned nose.
"I'll have the spicy beef curry, and don't be shy about the heat." Bakugou looked over to Izuku as he finished relaying his choice. His boyfriend's face was the definition of panic and indecision.
"I-I, well, uhm…" Izuku stammered as he quickly read over the menu options. He had known this was where Bakugou had been wanting to eat for months, but he hadn't thought about reading ahead to see what they served. They specialized in hot and spicy dishes and he didn't have his boyfriend's tolerance for heat.
"He'll have the chicken katsudon special, better keep it mild for the wimp."
The waiter looked as though he wanted to say something in response, but held his tongue as the young hero thrust the menu out to him. Izuku meekly offered his as well, bowing his head in thanks. "Your dishes will be out shortly," was all he replied as he stalked away to the kitchen.
"Thanks, Kacchan. The menu was a little, uh, intimidating. But yeah, the movie will be starting at 8 so maybe we could walk off our dinner until it's time for seating. A cool night like this and a nice relaxing walk sounds great for a night off, right? I mean, we do a lot of that during our patrols, but it's a totally different feeling when it's not, like, work, you know?"
Bakugou stared into those nervous emerald eyes and knew something was up. "Out with it, nerd. What's got you muttering this time."
"Wha-What do you mean? I'm just making conversation, that's all." Izuku grinned, his eyes squinting tightly shut with how much force he put into looking calm. It wasn't working.
"You think after all these years I can't tell when you're hiding something?"
The impact and subsequent tremors outside struck in sync with Izuku's heart hitting the bottom of his stomach in panic. The water glasses on the table teetered and tipped over as everything in the building shook.
"What was that?" Izuku said as the two heroes quickly got to their feet. Their night off was quickly forgotten as they rushed to the exit to see what happened outside. Three men with gigantification quirks had blocked off the street, broken asphalt and concrete littered at their enormous feet. All three were identical, the styles of their reddish-orange hair the only way to tell they weren't clones. They faced the playhouse on the opposite end of the street.
"This will teach those hacks to snub our talents, brothers! How dare they insinuate that our performance was sub-par. Our abilities went far beyond what they were looking for in their auditions. They have no business running a playhouse, much less a play if they can't see perfection when it's standing before them!" The first triplet's vocal tone was grating, whiney and considerably overdramatic. Attractive as these three were, their personalities were quite the opposite.
"Hey losers! Can't you see that people are trying to get a good meal?!" shouted Bakugou as he loosened the tie around his neck, baring his teeth in anger. "I'm taking it out of your ass if they can't make my curry!"
The fight didn't last long considering the triplets hadn't expected to run into heroes in the dining and entertainment district of town. Their assumed advantage of size was quickly used against them as Bakugou and Izuku tricked them into running into each other and eventually leading them to get stuck between two buildings before they released their quirks and returned to normal.
"Shit, you bastards made me ruin my suit," Bakugou growled as he finished restraining them. His dress shirt was ruined, the sleeves torn and burnt black at the edges. His pants hadn't held up well under his explosions and aerial tactics either. Izuku's clothes were considerably damaged as well. But he seemed distracted.
Oh no, where did it go?! Don't tell me it fell out of my pocket while I was fighting?! Izuku patted down what remained of his slacks, finding nothing during his search. He scoured the ground looking for the little box that held Bakugou's engagement ring. He silently cursed himself for not leaving it in his jacket pocket, which was still safe inside the restaurant.
The police and press arrived within minutes of each other, and both parties were trying to keep the duo's attention. After relaying the incident to the lead officers and passing off custody of the triplets, the heroes took a quick breath before facing the reporters and cameras.
"It's so fortunate that you were in the right place at the right time, what brought you out to this part of town tonight?" The brown-haired reporter had facial features of a mouse. Her whiskered nose twitched as she waited for their response.
Still very visibly distressed, Izuku scratched the back of his neck and prepared to answer. Bakugou beat him to the punch.
"I was planning to do this…" Bakugou blurted out, pulling the velvet box that Izuku had been searching for from his frayed pants pocket. He dropped down to one knee before he tossed the slightly damaged box to his boyfriend, who had barely managed to catch it and keep it in his trembling hands. "You got something you wanna say to me, nerd? Or do I gotta do it first?"
Izuku opened the box carefully, relieved to find the swirled yellow and white gold band was still in perfect condition. But this was far from the scene he had pictured when he had planned out this evening. He looked down at Bakugou and found that the blonde was holding his own small clamshell box.
"What the hell, Deku, you gonna talk or not?"
Pouting stubbornly through his tears, Izuku pulled the ring out and held it out to Bakugou, kneeling down to his eye level. "This isn't at all how I planned for this night to go, Kacchan. But tonight made me realize that we can't always expect that things will always work the way we want. Even if this isn't how I imagined asking you, the question itself is what's important. Will you marry me, Kacchan, and be my partner, rival, and husband?"
With a smile that could have easily been mistaken for a sneer, Bakugou picked the ring out of Izuku's hand and slid it along his ring finger. "I can't think of anyone else I'd want to challenge me, fight by my side, and annoy the hell out of me for the rest of my life than you, Deku." He pulled Izuku's ring, dark gray metal with highlights of green streaking through it, out of its box and gestured for Izuku to offer his hand, then placed it on his finger. "We getting hitched or not?"
"Yes, Kacchan!" said Izuku as both men rose to their feet. Izuku jumped into Bakugou's arms, too full of excitement to notice the camera flashes going off around them or the rising applause from the crowd that had gathered. His face pressed against Bakugou's neck, Izuku took in a deep breath of air and hugged his fiance tighter.
"Were you really planning to propose today, Kacchan? During our date?" Izuku asked as he held out his hand to admire the ring Bakugou had picked out for him. He felt Bakugou's chest jump against his body as he let out a light chuckle.
"To be honest, I've been carrying that damn thing around in my pocket for almost three weeks. You hardly ever stay still, Deku, which is fine in a fight but shitty when trying to make plans like this. But when you wanted to spend our day off together, I thought it'd finally be my chance to keep you in one spot long enough to ask you to fucking marry me."
Izuku pouted slightly, "Aww Kacchan, I had so much of this planned out tonight. Oh no, the movie!" He jumped out of Bakugou's arms in a flash, earning a scowl from his newly betrothed. "Everyone is probably there now, we should get going!"
"Did one of those idiots smack you over the head or something? The movie is the last thing on my mind right now." Looking Izuku up and down, he continued, "Besides, your clothes are barely PG-13 right now unless you'd like to take things into rated R territory…"
Covering Bakugou's mouth with his scarred right hand, Izuku blushed a deep red across his freckled cheeks. "Kacchan! You can't talk about that stuff now! I was planning to propose to you at the end of the movie, with all of our friends and family in the theater. They're probably all waiting there wondering where we are!"
"Proposing at an All Might movie... I can't even say I'm surprised about that, Deku." Bakugou sighed deeply, his eyes softened as he brushed away some of the dirt and debris from Izuku's wild mess of hair. "We should grab our coats from inside if we're going to make it. That should at least bring you up to PG."
Nodding his head, Izuku grinned, "Sure thing, Kacchan. Let's go!"
Iida looked at his watch for the third time in less than a minute. "Do you think something went wrong during dinner? Perhaps Bakugou didn't appreciate Midoriya's plans or something." The screening of the movie had begun on time and was nearing the end, though the two people this entire scene had been set for were missing. Uraraka was sitting next to Iida in the stadium-style theater, with many of their former classmates seated throughout the room.
"I doubt it would be Bakugou. I heard him as we passed each other in the agency hall the other day and he sounded like he was looking forward to their date tonight. There must be some other reason that's delayed them."
Turning around in his seat, Kaminari faced the two conversing heroes, "I think I know what the problem is," he said as he held up his phone, the light from it distracting within the dimly lit room. A breaking news article described the villain's attempted attack and the quick apprehension by the Wonder Duo. A photo from the scene showed Izuku in Bakugou's arms, their dress clothes in tatters.
"A villain attack? Maybe we should try calling them? It looks like they handled the situation quickly, but there may be more to the story than the article shows." Iida already had his phone out, ready to pull up his contacts list when the back door of the theater opened, pouring light into the room and drawing everyone's attention away from the screen. Although masked in shadow, the silhouettes unmistakably belonged to Bakugou and Izuku.
Walking down the aisle, side by side, the two walked in front of the screen, which was now playing the movie credits. The lights of the theater started to rise, revealing the battle-worn heroes. Dozens of voices started speaking at once, all directed towards them.
"Sorry for causing you to worry over our absence, especially after all of you took time out of your own lives to be here for this special moment. In case you didn't hear, Kacchan and I were involved in a villain incident while we were having dinner."
"-didn't even get my fucking curry, shitty bastards…" muttered Bakugou, earning a quick side-eye from Izuku before he continued.
"But we're alright, so no need to worry! I know that this was the time I planned to ask the question," Izuku said as he turned to look at the credits still rolling up the massive screen behind him. "We kind of got ahead of ourselves while we were at the scene. We did it, you guys! We're officially engaged!" Izuku held up his left arm, drawing attention to his engagement ring. Nudging Bakugou in the ribs carefully, Izuku got him to raise his hand to show his off as well, with an added eye roll.
Uraraka jumped out of her seat, "Oh my goodness! Deku, Bakugou, I'm so happy for you! Don't even worry about the delay, we're just glad you're both safe. But wow, this is such a happy moment! You both have rings, who proposed?"
"I did!" answered the two of them in unison. Quick to stare each other down, their friends recognized the familiar look of rivalry between the two and settled in for a night of bickering and eventual resolution.