Two weeks went by and Izuku grew more and more confused with every passing day. It started with little things; asking to borrow notes, then sitting with their group at lunch – dragging Kirishima and Kaminari along with him – and even so far as cracking a smile at a stupid joke Izuku had made.

The more time passed the less hostile Bakugou acted towards Izuku – unless you made the mistake of calling him on it, that is. One comment about how well those two were getting along and Bakugou went right back to acting like a complete asshole. Class 1-A learned pretty quickly that if they wanted to keep the peace they needed to keep their mouths shut.

The only person this didn't seem to apply to was Kirishima. As long as he brought it up when no one else was around, anyway.

"Just admit it."

"No."

"Come ooon."

"Hell no."

"You can't hide behind that scowl forever, big guy."

"Oh, fuck off, Shitty-hair!"

Kirishima bounced away laughing as Bakugou swung at him. It was late, somewhere around midnight if Kirishima had to guess. They were hanging out in the common area of the dorms. The original attempt was to get some extra studying in, needed more on Kirishima's part than Bakugou's, but he was up anyway so what the hell, right?

The studying thing only lasted for about 20 minutes before Kirishima started poking around where Bakugou didn't want him. What could he really do, though? Kirishima was the only other one who knew about Bakugou's soulmark, and while he was loath to admit it, he needed to talk about it with someone.

The placement of the star-shaped scar was inconvenient as hell, considering Bakugou's hero costume didn't cover that part of his upper arm. His solution to this problem? Wrap his entire shoulder in bandages. If anyone asked what had happened - the obvious assumption being that he had been injured - his response was generally along the lines of 'fuck off' or 'It's none of your god damn business'.

Bakugou knew this solution wouldn't work forever. People were already beginning to get suspicious. But for the time being, it was all he could think of. Even Kirishima couldn't come up with a better plan. So the bandages stayed.

What the hell was he supposed to do? Just waltz up to Deku and admit he had the same mark as him, that he was his soulmate? Not a chance. While Bakugou was slowly beginning to admit that maybe he didn't totally hate Deku, that didn't mean he was planning on saying anything anytime soon, if ever.

"He's not so bad, you know," Kirishima interjected, derailing the mental trainwreck that was Bakugou's thought process. He glanced over at the redhead, jaw working as he ground his teeth in frustration.

"Whatever," he grumbled, turning away again. Kirishima sighed.

"Is it-" Kirishima stopped, considering his words, "Is it because he's a guy?"

Bakugou's head snapped up, his eyes wide, brows knit together. To be honest, the thought had never actually crossed his mind. Of all the reasons he'd come up with as to why he and Deku just didn't fit, their genders had never been one of them.

Maybe it had to do with the fact that his mother was with another woman before marrying his dad. Whenever his parents tried to talk to him about relationships, gender was never a barrier. Love was love, and that was that. Nothing else to discuss.

He'd never thought much about his own sexuality, too focused on his hero training to care about romance. He'd been confessed to plenty in middle school, his sour attitude apparently not enough to scare off the more determined suitors. He'd even been confessed to by a few guys. He turned them all down, just the same. Not interested.

Now, though, as a teenager, things weren't so cut and dry. Bakugou had urges just like everybody else. It was perfectly normal for someone his age. Thus far, he'd dealt with it himself and moved on. Now, though, he couldn't help but wonder -

"'Course not," he said, finally. "That's got nothing to do with it. I'm gonna be the number one hero and he's just a shitty nerd. No way I'd ever stoop so low as to fall in love with someone like him." There was no real bite to his words though, and he knew it.

Bakugou mumbled something about being tired and having to get up early, then he was gone. Kirishima was left alone on a couch, grinning like an idiot as the explosive blond retreated into the elevator, the tips of his ears bright red.

Progress, he thought.

X

Stupid Shark week, with his stupid hair and stupid ideas. Who does he think he is poking around in other people's business? I'm gonna kill him...

Ever since that night, Bakugou couldn't stop thinking about what Kirishima had said. And, as a result, Deku. That stupid little broccoli-head occupied his thoughts almost non-stop these days and it was seriously irritating. Not because he hated Deku – not that you could get him to admit that under threat of death – but because he couldn't figure out what was going on in his own head.

Sometimes he'd look at the shitty nerd and he'd feel that familiar contempt and irritation settle in; the jealousy, the rage. But other times, he'd look at Deku and he'd smile that ridiculously childish smile, laugh in that 'not a care in the world' way and Bakugou just...

He wasn't angry, or upset, or irritated. He didn't feel the urge to crush him under his boot or throw him up against a wall... well, actually -

No.

That was happening far too often lately, and Bakugou was not happy about it. It was like he wasn't in control of his own brain anymore. And the fact that Deku wouldn't stop going on and on about the damn soulmark and fantasizing about what his soulmate might be like was not helping matters. Especially since, like himself, Deku didn't seem to care what gender his soulmate turned out to be.

"I'll love them no matter what," he said defensively, puffing out his chest a little. Mineta had had the balls to insinuate that Midoriya's soulmate would never be a guy because that was gross and unnatural. Deku had quickly put the little bastard in his place. Deku almost never resorted to violence outside of battle, but he wacked that little pervert on the head hard enough to give him a headache that would last for days. A lesson that diaper-boy wouldn't soon forget. The swell of pride Bakugou felt at that made him want to hurl.

What the hell was wrong with him?

X

"You're in loooove," Kirishima sing-songed in the showers after their last class. He got a bar of soap in the face for that one. Didn't matter that Bakugou couldn't see him through the curtain hanging between the shower stalls. Bakugou never missed.

Despite the stinging in his eye, Kirishima laughed. Bakugou's face was bright red when he came out of the shower. He insisted it was because of the water temperature, but Kirishima wasn't buying it.

"Dude, come on. You've been sweet on the guy for weeks now, you're just too damn stubborn to admit it." Another bar of soap. This one Kirishima was ready for. He ducked to the side and the bar of soap went right over his shoulder – straight into Midoriya's face.

"Oh, shit! Sorry, Midoriya," Kirishima apologized, running over to where Midoriya now lay splayed out on the floor. He'd been coming in for a shower himself. He always seemed to have the worst timing.

Kirishima helped Midoriya to his feet, making sure he was alright. Bakugou wouldn't look in their direction, and Kirishima was getting fed up with all the tension built up between the two of them. Something needed to be done, or this would never end.

"Welp... I'm out!" Kirishima shouted before bolting from the locker room at top speed, leaving Bakugou and Midoriya completely alone.

They stood there in silence for a while, neither of them quite sure what to say to the other. The silence stretched on, becoming awkward veryquickly.

"So," Izuku started, wanting to break the ice in some way, "I, uh, I overheard some of what you guys were talking about. I didn't mean to, Kirishima just doesn't seem to have a solid grasp on volume control."

He said it nonchalantly, like admitting to eavesdropping wasn't the most idiotic thing in the world he could have done just then. Sometimes his mouth just moved on its own before his brain could properly catch up. Izuku found himself in a lot of awkward situations that way. This was no exception.

Katsuki froze. He was in the middle of pulling on a clean shirt which now lay abandoned on the locker room floor as he stormed over to Deku, clearing the space between them in a flash. He grabbed the front of Deku's shirt and hoisted him up, moving in intimidatingly close, his eyes filled with rage. A front to hide the fear.

When did he get this heavy?

"What the hell did you hear?" Kacchan hadn't sounded that angry in a while. There was a tinge of fear in the way his voice shook, if only a little. Izuku dismissed it, too busy dealing with an angry Katsuki whose face was far too close to his own. He wasn't blushing. Nope. Because having your childhood friend shove you up against a locker and invade your personal space on a monumental level was nothing to get worked up over...

"Just the last part!" Izuku squeaked. "About you liking a guy, nothing else, I promise!" He'd only caught the very end of their conversation before he was so unceremoniously pelted in the face with a bar of soap.

Bakugou growled deep in his chest, but backed off, desperate to hide the crimson blush he felt creeping up his neck.

Dammit.

"It's not a bad thing, you know," Izuku muttered from where he was still slumped against the lockers. "I know people say bad things about guys liking other guys, but there's nothing wrong with it."

It was his tone of voice that got Bakugou's attention. He sounded defensive, almost like he wasn't so much saying this for Bakugou's benefit, but his own.

"Love is love, and damn whoever thinks otherwise because they're wrong!" He was shouting now, a passion behind those words that spoke of personal experience. But as he realized what he was saying he shrunk into himself, turning away from where Bakugou stood speechless across the room. His cheeks couldn't have been redder.

Love is love.

Brain off, legs moving. That is how bad decisions are born.

Bakugou didn't realize what he was doing until it was too late. He crashed his lips into Izuku's, hands cupping his face like a lifeline. It was sloppy and wet and toothy, but damn if it didn't set a fire under them both. Izuku froze at the initial impact but was quickly swept up in the moment. Neither of them knew how to kiss. This was a first for them both. But damn if they didn't give it their all.

Izuku seemed particularly fond of the planes of Bakugou's torso as the two started to explore. The curves and creases. The dense muscle hidden under unnaturally soft skin. Bakugou was less concerned with where his hands were going so much as his mouth. He left Izuku's lips, kissing a trail from his cheek to his jaw. He traveled down, tasting every inch of skin in his path, marveling at the sounds his actions elicited from the boy before him.

An accidental grind of Bakugou's hips and Izuku's head fell back into the lockers with a bang. He didn't feel it, though, or at least he was too hazy to care. Bakugou experimentally rolled his hips into Izuku's again. The response was the same, and Bakugou would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying the hell out of this, too.

Damn the consequences, he didn't care anymore. All that built up tension had finally been released and there was no going back. Bakugou could worry about repercussions later. Right then, the only thing he wanted was more.

Bakugou sank his teeth into the pulse point between Izuku's neck and shoulder. Izuku trembled beneath him, the most delectable noises coming out of his mouth. A mouth Bakugou would very much like to get back to. He wasted little time in reattaching his lips to Izuku's, groaning when Izuku sunk his teeth lightly into Bakugou's lower lip. This boy was going to be the death of him.

Izuku's hands continued to explore. His hips, his abs, his broad shoulders. Izuku trailed his calloused hands around Bakugou's shoulders and down his arms. His fingers ran across a raised scar on Bakugou's left arm and he froze.

No way. That can't be what I think it is...

Bakugou, realizing what had just happened detached himself from the other boy. He didn't get far. Izuku was a lot stronger than he used to be. Green eyes stared into red, neither one of them moving, barely even breathing.

"Hey, Bakugou! You still in here?" Kirishima's voice rang out into the locker room as the door swung open.

Man, was this something he never needed to see.

Bakugou had Midoriya pinned between himself and the lockers. Midoriya's hands were wrapped tightly around Bakugou's wrists, holding him in place. Bakugou was shirtless and sweaty and there was a line of fresh hickeys forming along Midoriya's neck.

"Holy crap, it worked."

Bakugou used this opportunity to escape. He made it out the door and into the elevator before Izuku had time to process what was happening. But not before he caught sight of the star-shaped scar on the back of Backugou's left bicep.