synopsis: after turning down every christmas party invitation out of habit (except for the obligatory one his agency put on every year) shoto realizes he is in fact alone on christmas. he managed to not throw out the invitation for his apartment building’s party, so he finds himself there for the evening, thinking he’ll just steal some complimentary cookies and call it a night. He finds himself spending the day much better than expected, despite being by himself this year.
content:mentions of christmas and all that it brings, lonely shoto, todoroki-family-issues, strangers to more, alcohol, sassy shoto, funny shoto bc he truly is, fluff, pro hero au, mention of sibling-like relationship between shoto and katsuki bc um yes, mainly me talking about shoto and christmas
word count:1.7k
a/n: merry christmas if you celebrate and happy holidays!! I hope you guys like this <3
In retrospect, his situation really was really his own fault.
Every single one of his friends had invited him to some sort of Christmas party. Well, any friends that were currently in the country. His closest three friends had all gone abroad and were spending Christmas there, flying their families in as surprises. It was incredibly sweet, but it did not keep Shoto from deadpanning to them that he had been “abandoned.” Thankfully, as the foundations of his humor, his friends all laughed at his lack of enthusiasm and saw through his bad pout and wished him happy holidays. Shoto had never been very good at sarcasm, even all these years later.
His other friends, bless them, had all invited him to holiday parties. “It’s fun to go to all of them,” Kirishima had explained when Shoto had asked how it was possible to RSVP to every single one of them, as he and Denki had been doing right in front of him during their get-together at the bar they all liked two weeks ago. “Last year Denki and I managed to go to all of them twice!”
As he listened to their stories he’d decided he would not be participating. It seemed way too overwhelming for him, even on a day where he’d had three cups of coffee. No one took any offense, which Shoto had been very concerned about. But everyone who invited him knew him enough to understand his reasoning, which led to him feeling excellent about turning down every invitation until he realized, as he was at his agency’s yearly Christmas Eve party, that he had no party to go to tomorrow.
Shoto thought about calling his siblings, but instantly shut that idea down. They all had their own families to be with, and he really didn’t feel like being the odd uncle on Christmas. Plus he was pretty sure they’d caught on to the fact that he’dbeen the one to give everyone the cold at Thanksgiving, and he really did not want to be harassed about that.
For now, he decided, scanning the agency with careful eyes. He’d hunt for leftovers to take home with him.
Which meant he’d have to be the last one standing. He eyed his coworkers, sizing them up as threats. Some of them were already tipsy. He took a class of whatever was being served for himself and chugged it quickly, knowing he’d need a little alcohol in his system in order to survive however long this social event chose to be.
An hour and a half later, after he’d helped clean up and offered to take the leftovers with him, he successfully made his way home, not able to keep the small smile off his face. The leftovers were some finger sandwiches he’d grown very fond of, a bottle of sparkling cider, and half of a cheesecake. No Christmas cookies, but that was excusable. He’d look for some tomorrow. Plus, his leftover hunt was more of an odd tradition Shoto had started at every party he went to. Sometimes he failed, but more often than not he was successful. People were always more than willing to get rid of leftover food that would just sit in their fridge for a week, untouched.
The doorman of his apartment building helped him open the doors for him, which he thanked him for gratefully.
Skillfully balancing his treasures on one arm as he pressed the elevator button for his floor, Shoto saw the flyer for the Holiday party to be held in the lobby tomorrow evening. The art of the cookies is what caught his eye the most, and as he scanned the flyer he saw the bolded words: “Cookies will be provided.”
“Cookies?” he heard someone quietly say beside him. He jumped, almost dropping his things in shock before quickly regaining his composure.
“Sorry!” they cried, reaching forward as though to catch the things in his arms, dropping their arms to their side in relief when nothing fell. “I’m sorry.”
“That’s alright,” he replied. “I’m quite excited for the promise of cookies, too.”
Y/N—that was their name, Shoto wasn’t the type of hoodlum to forget the name of his own neighbor—smiled at him, almost nervously.
He resisted the urge to frown at himself. Most people thought he was too scary to approach, which was something he’d grown accustomed to over the years. Didn’t mean he liked it very much, though.
Thankfully, Y/N didn’t seem to be one of those people.
“Sorry, do you need help carrying that?” they asked, already moving to take the top two containers away from his pile, leaving him with the remaining two.
“Oh, thank you,” Shoto said, stepping into the newly arrived elevator with them and hitting the button for their floor.
“So, do you think you’ll be going to take advantage of the free cookies?” Y/N asked as the elevator made its journey upwards. And for once, Shoto wasn’t dreading the painstakingly slow speed the elevator went at. Y/N really was quite pleasant to be around, he quickly came to remember.
“Probably,” Shoto replied. “Will you?”
Y/N shrugged. “Most likely.”
If you go, I definitely will, was what Shoto wanted to say. But it sounded like something he’d tell his friends when he was younger when they both wanted to go do something but needed motivation to do so.
The elevator arrived at their floor, and Y/N patiently waited for Shoto to unlock his apartment and set down the things he was carrying on his table before handing what they were carrying over. Too late, he realized in horror his rude mistake.
“Oh I’m sorry, come in,” he hurriedly said, praying it wasn’t too late and that Y/N didn’t think he was the worst person in the world and that any chance of them sharing Christmas cookies was ruined all because he’d forgotten his manners. Fuyumi and Katsuki would be ashamed of him, being the siblings they were.
“Oh, no, that’s okay!” Y/N rushed. “I’ll see you tomorrow in the lobby!”
And with that they were gone, disappearing into their own apartment after giving Shoto another smile he had quickly grown to like.
Shoto went to sleep and arose the next morning feeling very excited for Christmas, a feeling he’d missed. He had his cup of hot chocolate in the morning while he watched the news and flipped through the channels before finding a cheesy holiday movie, and then settled in to open packages.
Some he’d ordered for himself, some had been shipped by family and friends. From Izuku he got a new pair of gloves (a running joke they had), from Ochaco a lovely keychain of a mini chibi version of himself, from Tenya a gorgeous planner for next year. Katsuki had gotten him a knife sharpener (Shoto laughed at that. He did have dull kitchen knives). Denki got him a delightfully horrible Christmas sweater, Kiri a new set of weights decorated to fit his quirk.
By the time he’d opened everything and put them in their respective places, it was only 10AM. He still had the whole day ahead of him. And Christmas cookies.
Since he’d worked on Christmas last year, this was the year he had the day off. So he spent the day in his apartment, called his siblings to wish them a Merry Christmas, watched cheesy holiday movies, and made himself his favorite foods.
When 6PM rolled around Shoto was already ready and heading towards the elevator, smiling to himself when he realized Y/N was already there, waiting for it.
They smiled and waved at him, grin growing when they noticed his new Christmas sweater. They were sporting one of their own.
“Apparently the apartment complex owners do this every year,” Y/N said as they entered the elevator, which was surprisingly full of other neighbors. They all nodded in greeting, offering smiles. Shoto loved Christmas, since it put people in good moods like these.
“Oh yes,” an upstairs neighbor said. A nice old lady Shoto usually helped with her groceries. “They do it so we won’t complain about small things they change, like the elevator music or the plants in the lobby. Keeps us happy.” He and Y/N shared a small smile as their neighbors chatted amongst themselves before they all arrived in the lobby.
The lobby was decked out, Christmas tree and all. There were even small gifts waiting for each of them (a hand towel, but a rather nice one, Shoto realized upon further inspection). He and Y/N mingled among the residents. Shoto was glad they stuck together. He was still a little drained from all the socializing he’d done yesterday—having a partner in it all helped his energy levels significantly.
It was like an unsaid agreement between the two of them, to be joined at the hip for the whole night. He found himself having a lot of fun, eating cookies and talking with the neighbors. A lot of them would shyly converse with him, a few little kids asked for autographs. It was hard not to feel the infectious spread of joy that was created with the Christmas lights all around him, with Feliz Navidad playing in the background, with Y/N, his newfound friend, smiling with him the whole evening.
As far as he was concerned, this was a great way to spend Christmas.
synopsis:izuku goes abroad on a hero mission and it breaks his heart to leave y/n, but he comes to realizations about the two of them while he’s away.
content: pro hero au, fluff, relationship discussions, i throw in some marriage talk
word count:1.5k
a/n:this song makes me feel warm and fuzzy but sad at the same time and after listening to it on repeat for awhile it reminded me of izuku :,)
It was three in the morning. He was on another plane going on another mission abroad, and all Izuku could think about was the way Y/N had cried at the airport the first time he’d left for an overseas mission a year ago.
“I’m so excited for you!” she had screamed when she heard the news, immediately jumping into his arms and rambling about all of the food he’d get to try and the amazing people he’d meet. And his nerves had vanished right then and there, and they both spent the night making a list of things he’d take with him, neither of them pausing to think what six months away meant for their relationship.
They’d been dating for two years, having officially gotten together after graduating high school. Y/N was currently in college studying to be a teacher, and was doing her training at UA. She was almost positive she’d go back to UA to teach, and was thrilled at the prospect of being a mentor to so many young aspiring heroes while doing some hero work at the same time. She was happy, and seeing her happy made Izuku happy.
Since he was in the limelight a lot, the relationship was hard on Y/N, no matter how hard she tried to insist it wasn’t. Izuku was an expert at avoiding the media, but it was still irritating when Y/N was referred to as nothing more than his girlfriend, when she was a part time hero and student, something he thought was far more impressive than what he was doing. The first chance he got he bought them a house near UA and Y/N’s university with a great security system to scare away any paparazzi who would be smart enough to find out where they lived (something no one had done so far).
His trip was something they’d both known would happen eventually, but they’d never explicitly discussed it. Izuku was scared to bring it up, terrified Y/N would mistake his feelings of unease for wanting to end their relationship, which was the last thing he wanted. Whenever he brought it up she’d wave it away, assuring him everything was going to be fine, and that he must remember to bring back a souvenirer, both for her and for the apartment. And, in a team effort with his mom, she’d made him a new scarf to take with him, because it was cold in New York, especially in the wintertime. They didn’t talk about the risks of the mission—they’d stopped discussing dangers on the job after a few months of dating, because it was so normal in both of their jobs they both overlooked it more often than not.
Y/N drove him to the airport, ignoring his advice for her to stay home and rest before her class the next day. Izuku was recognized by the staff, and paired with Y/N’s determined stare, it was enough for her to be allowed to wait with him at his gate until his flight left.
She sat with him for almost an hour, holding his hand the entire time and talking about her classes and the kids she was mentoring, knowing any other topic would make them both remember why they were here.
He was the last one to board the flight. He couldn’t bring himself to get up, to let go of Y/N’s hand. They’d never been apart longer than three weeks for over six years now, and letting go of her hand was the last thing he wanted to do at that moment.
“C’mon,” she’d said, standing up and pulling him along with him. Izuku clutched his boarding pass much harder than necessary, something Y/N had to have noticed. But her gaze was straight ahead, focused on the flight attendant waiting to check his pass and allow him onto the plane.
She turned to hug him, squeezing him tightly and pressing kisses along the side of his face. “I love you so much, have a safe flight, and call me as soon as you land.”
And then she was letting go of him and pushing him forward gently, and Izuku handed over his boarding pass and turned to look back at her.
She was standing right where he’d left her, wrapped up in his favorite All Might scarf. Her cheeks were glistening with tears, and with a startled realization that his vision was blurring, he realized he was crying, too. She waved at him until he couldn’t see her anymore, and it took all of Izuku’s willpower not to jump out of the plane and rush back into her arms. He felt like his heart was breaking, knowing she was crying because of him, knowing her heart would ache just as his was aching now because of him.
He called her the second he landed, and didn’t hang up until she fell asleep and he did too, in a bed 6,000 miles away from the only person he wanted to be with.
“My students keep asking about you!” Y/N chirped, smiling widely at him. She was in the kitchen, eating a late lunch. It was almost midnight for Izuku, but he hadn’t felt this awake all week.
Between both of their busy schedules, they only managed to video call once a week, the rest of their communication being text messages and the occasional quick phone call. But when they did video call, they stayed on the line until one of them fell asleep. Izuku was determined not to nod off for at least another hour. Seeing Y/N, even through a screen, was his biggest motivation to keep moving forward on his mission.
It was going well, all things considering. Winter was hell in New York, but Izuku dutifully took his new scarf everywhere he went and bundled up whenever he went outside. It had already been three months, and he had heard whispers around the agency where he was working that the mission might wrap up within the next month if things continued to go smoothly.
He hadn’t told Y/N, not wanting to get her hopes up in case he did have to stay the full six months.
“Really? Do you tell them I’m kicking ass over here in the states? And that I’ll bring them souvenirs if they’re nice to you?” He asked her now, fighting back a yawn. It was only 1AM, how weak was he? Sure he’d chased down a lead today—literally—but that was no excuse.
“Oh, they’re always nice to me,” Y/N rolled her eyes at him as she took a bite of her lunch. “So they’re all expecting gifts.”
He smiled. Y/N told him more about how life was going back home. She visited his mom weekly, cooking with her and oftentimes calling Izuku with her while she was there. As she was telling him about her last visit, he remembered what his mom had told him before he’d left.
“Y/N doesn’t say it,” she told him, eyes already welling with tears as she spoke. “But I know she worries for you as much as I do. She loves you with her whole heart and more, Izuku. I know you love her just as much.That kind of love is too special to let go. Do you understand?”
He did.
They’d both talked about it—marriage. Y/N had told him she’d agree to marry him in a heartbeat, but she understood that they also didn’t need to formally get married and she was perfectly content with how they were now.
He remembered reading columns about them that the newspapers would sometimes put out whenever he got interviewed on big talk shows and he talked about Y/N. The reporters would go crazy with it for a couple of weeks: speculating when a ring would be spotted on Y/N’s finger, when Dynamight would come home after years abroad to attend the wedding, when All Might would emerge from his peaceful retirement to officiate.
Izuku had been sure he was going to spend the rest of his life with Y/N when they’d moved in together, and the first thing she insisted they both do was plant a flower in the backyard. He’d been in love with her for over two years now, but finally moving in with her, seeing her plant the first flower in their new home together—that had solidified everything for him.
“Y/N,” he said now, quietly, as he found himself being overcome with sleep.
She looked up from her lunch, smile softening. “Yeah?”
“Love you so much,” he said. “Be lost without you.”
“I love you too, Izuku,” she replied.
He fell asleep before he could tell her he was going to marry her the second he got back, that he’d buy her a bouquet of flowers to match the ones in their garden in the backyard.
But he had a feeling she already knew. And it made him love her even more.
synopsis: y/n is the designated grocery shopper in the y/n-tamaki-nejire apartment, and they do not mind one bit if it means seeing the cute costco worker every time they go and getting their favorite food every time.
content:costco worker mirio, swimmer mirio, college au, roomies nejire and tamaki, clueless y/n, y/n can drive yes they can!!, smiley mirio, me and my left up to interpretation endings
word count: 2.5k
a/n:this is entirely self indulgent and came to me in a grocery store parking lot as i was eating my costco chicken bake bc i get one almost every time i go to costco and im scared the cute worker will start to recognize me so here this is lsjfklasjdlkfjsdlkfj. is this a crack fic??? have i finally written one? who knows. this is so niche ong asdklfjsadlfss also this is my 100th post!!!!!
It’s been three months since Y/N accepted their role as the Costco card holder, and they had gone to said store a total of eight times. Eight.
Y/N blamed their roommates. Nejire has so much hair that she loves to take care of, and she sends Y/N on shampoo runs routinely. Tamaki likes the snacks they have, and Y/N finds it very hard to say no to him when he willingly does their share of the chores whenever Y/N goes on Costco runs.
And Nejire always makes breakfast for them, so Y/N feels obligated to do much of the shopping for the three of them. They don’t really mind—going on errands by themselves feels oddly therapeutic. They always go an hour before closing time, since that’s when their shift at the student center on campus ends.
Today’s trip is on a Friday, and Y/N feels almost embarrassed to push by people to get to the food court.
They’d ordered their usual chicken bake, plus ice creams for the kids (Nejire and Tamaki). They carefully glanced at each of the workers, fearing for the familiar friendly face that always seemed to be there whenever Y/N had a Costco run.
They didn’t know his name, because each time he wore a different one. They’d noticed all of the food court workers did that—interchanged name tags, sometimes right in front of customers. Y/N thought it was funny.
“Number 242! Number 242!”
Damn.
Y/N plastered a smile onto their face (completely genuine, despite their previous thoughts). Today the blond guy’s name was “Oliver.” He smiled as he handed Y/N their chicken bake and pushed forward the ice creams. “Have a nice day!”
“Thanks, you too!” Y/N hurried away back to their cart and began to speed walk toward the exit. It was ridiculous, really. A crush on someone they rarely saw. But every interaction left them with their heart fluttering. And they hadn’t had a crush in a while. It was nice to feel like that again.
“Back already!” Nejire cheered when Y/N knocked on the apartment door, taking her ice cream out of Y/N’s hands and giving them a very wet kiss on the cheek, which both Y/N and Tamaki cringe at. Nejire just laughs, going back to her spot on the couch, where she has set up her study station and has multiple papers strewn all over the coffee table in front of her. She carefully set down her ice cream before heading out the door to help unload the groceries. Tamaki thanked Y/N for his ice cream and followed Nejire out the door.
They lived on the first floor of the building, so grocery shopping is never followed by the dread of hauling everything upstairs. Nejire’s green car is also the perfect size for Costco runs, and Y/N loves driving it—another reason they are not so mad about being the designated errand-person.
After everything is sorted away, Y/N sat down with Tamaki at the small kitchen table to eat their chicken bake as he carefully ate his ice cream. Nejire remained on the couch at her study station, occasionally sighing loudly.
“He was there again,” Y/N said through a mouthful of their chicken bake. Nejire had gotten up to stretch and sauntered over to the table to join them, halfway through her ice cream. She brightens at Y/N’s statement, and Tamaki pauses in his ice cream eating for a second.
“Ooh was he as cute as ever?” Nejire teased. Y/N almost choked on their chicken bake, Tamaki reaching over to pat them on the back, although more in a sympathetic way.
“I regret telling you that I thought he was cute,” Y/N groaned.
“We can ask Mirio to poke around and find out who he is!” Nejire chirped, eating another spoonful of ice cream. “Pretty sure he works at a different Costco, but he could still find out somehow!”
Y/N shook their head. “It’s just a crush.”
And that was that until their next Costco run, a few weeks later.
This time he was named “Haru.” And he struck up a conversation, since Y/N was the only one at the food court.
They’d gone early that day, since it was a Saturday and they wanted to beat the rush of other shoppers. They’d been the first on in the store, and apparently everyone else was still shopping, because they were also the first food court order.
“Busy day?” He asked, leaning on the counter in front of him, leaning his chin into his hand. Ridiculously pretty smile on his face. God Y/N was whipped.
“Not much after this,” Y/N replied, fiddling with their receipt. He hummed in acknowledgement, straightening when their coworker started placing the finished food on the appropriate racks.
“Here you go!” He handed them their chicken bake. “No ice cream today?”
“No, not today,” Y/N said, setting their chicken bake carefully onto their cart. They felt like they shouldn’t walk away just yet.
“Well, see you,” he said after a pause. Y/N waved goodbye before walking away, hearing the other food court worker shout something at the guy, who quickly shushed her. Y/N glanced curiously back to see him looking at them, and then quickly duck below the counter. The other worker gave Y/N a little wave, which Y/N slowly returned before rushing out of the store.
They thought about it the entire ride home, naturally. They unloaded the groceries with Tamaki, who was the only one at the apartment since Nejire was working. Since he was so quiet they unloaded in silence, although he did look as though he wanted to ask if something was wrong. He settled for offering to make them a smoothie to eat with their chicken bake, and Y/N brightened considerably.
“Yo, Mirio!”
“Hey Nejire!”
He hopped into her car with ease, buckling up as she sped out of the Costco parking lots. She’d offered him a ride back to his dorm, since she had told him she was studying at a nearby Starbucks after she’d gotten off her own shift at her job.
“How’s work?” Nejire asked as she drove, reaching over to take a sip of her drink while steering with the other hand expertly. Mirio had long stopped worrying about Nejire’s driving habits. She’d gotten a perfect score on her driver’s exams, and had successfully avoided three car crashes. Plus her car was ridiculously cute and well kept, and Mirio knew she’d never dare the risk of wrecking it.
“It’s good,” Mirio replied, shifting in his seat.
“That’s good! Roomie Y/N went grocery shopping there today,” Nejire said. “They always see this cute dude working there, but they’re too shy to say anything, bless their adorable little heart.”
Y/N. Nejire and Tamai often speak of them, and despite having mutual friends, he’s never met them. He knows they’d like them, by what he’s heard. Every time he hangs out with Nejire and Tamaki, Y/N is always busy working or has extra curriculars. Which he understands all too well.
“And how’s swimming going, Mirio? Got yourself a date yet? I’ve heard people thirst over swimmers all the time, how are you not dating anyone? Is it your hair? I can cut it for you!”
They fell into an easy conversation after that. Nejire was always easy to talk to, and Mirio felt terrible that he didn’t hang out with her and Tamaki as much as he used to. It was bad enough that he couldn’t room with them, since he had to live with the other athletes on campus. But swim and work took up all of the free time he had. The rest was filled with homework and classes.
“Bye Mirio! Hand out with us soon, you still have to meet Y/N!” Mirio thanked her for the ride and climbed out of the car, noticing a stray receipt that fell to the ground as he shut the door. He picked it up and turned around to give it back to Nejire only to see she was already driving down the street and rounding the corner.
On his walk over he glanced at the receipt, curious.
It was a Costco receipt, which Mirio figured Y/N must’ve left in Nejire’s car by accident after their trip to the store. As he made his way into his own dorm room, he was about to drop the receipt onto his dresser when he noticed the address.
It was his Costco.
He almost screamed in shock but refrained from doing so, afraid he’d scare the new freshman who lived on the same floor as him.
There was no way. Right? Yeah. No way. Right?
He collapsed onto his bed, trying to remember everything he knew about Y/N from Nejire and Tamaki. They worked at the student center, were a great roommate, and had an odd oddication to Costco food court items.
Oh.OH.
He refrained from calling Nejire. It could all just be a coincidence. No one besides his coworker, Yuyu, knew about his crush on the frequent customer. Mirio had learned Y/N’s name after their third visit, when he’d sneaked a peak at their name on the receipt they presented him. Yuyu had teased him about it, and continued to do so—including today. He’d been so embarrassed when Y/N caught him staring that he dropped to the ground, and Yuyu had laughed at him the rest of the day.
With horror, Mirio realized Yuyu was literally Nejire’s best friend. But she’d kept true to her word and hadn’t told anyone about his crush. Otherwise Nejire would’ve been teasing Mirio about it, too.
He has practice the rest of the weekend, and his free time is spent getting ahead on assignments, so he has little time to dwell on it. But the time he has had he has spent analyzing his entire situation.
Y/N, Nejire and Tamaki’s beloved roommate, famous for their costco food court addiction. Never met Mirio. Nejire and Tamaki had never mentioned the Costco they frequented had been the one he worked at, and he had concluded that they simply didn’t know about that particular detail. The more he thought of it, the more he was convinced that they were the same person.
So on Monday, after his classes, he rushed to the student center. He did have an essay to print, so he wasn’t just going to find out if this was all an odd coincidence. He normally borrowed Tenya’s printer, since they lived on the same floor, but he decided to leave his underclassmen alone for the day and use the printers in the student center.
He made it to the computers, glancing around every which way. There were a few students sitting at the reception desks on the other side of the room, near the printers. But no Y/N.
“Hello, Mirio-senpai!”
“Oh, Izuku!”
His teammate settled down into the chair beside him, logging onto the computer. “Is Tenya out of ink?”
Izuku nodded, smiling to himself. “He was very upset about it. He ran straight to the store to buy some more, so I’m using the student center printers today.”
Mirio momentarily forgot about his original intent to be here and talked with Izuku about how he was liking college. The kid was super enthusiastic about it, rambling about how cool his classes were and how he loved swimming with everyone on the team. They both printed their essays and were about to leave when Mirio heard someone say something behind him.
“Have a good night, Y/N!”
“Thanks!”
He whirled around wildly, startling Izuku, who was about to reach to open the door. But no matter where Mirio looked, he didn’t see anyone. He ushered Izuku out the door, deciding he was in the mood for some off campus food.
“Dinner is on me, Izuku!”
“Really? Thanks so much!”
Y/N loved their job. It was relatively easy, and they had a lot of time to do their own homework while on the clock. Plus, free access to the printers and occasional snacks the student center offered sometimes.
They were getting ready to clock out when they noticed a blond guy walk into the center, and their heart stopped.
It was Costco-man.
Y/N went into a panic, sitting back down heard at the front desk and sliding down so their face was hidden. A little while later, they heard someone greet someone else, and Y/N was almost sure they heard the name “Mirio.”
It took them two seconds to connect the dots.
They packed up, mind whirling with speculations and then confirmations of their now greatest fear. Nejire and Tamaki must’ve not known, assuming Y/N went to a different Costco or that Mirio worked at a different one. Nejire was busy all the time, and Tamaki was too, so the miscommunication was understandable.
They said goodbye to their coworkers and slipped out the back, sighing in relief at their close call.
“Ah, Y/N-san!”
Y/N turned toward the familiar voice, a smile already on their face. Izuku was a part time worker at the student center, too, and they thought they’d heard him earlier. He was a sweet kid, and Y/N had been tasked with showing him the ropes of the job and had basically taken him in under their wing.
And just their luck, he was standing next to Mirio. Costco-man.
Izuku’s bright smile was not enough to blind Y/N from Mirio’s bewildered look, which quickly switched to a growing smile that Y/N hesitantly returned.
“Hi, Izuku,” Y/N greeted, stopping just in front of the pair. “How’s it going?”
Izuku had a glint in his eye Y/N had seen once before, when he had been tasked with reorganizing the filing system and had ended up making it much better than it had been before.
“Actually, I’m quite busy!” he chirped, making Mirio quickly turn his head to look at him in barely concealed surprise. Izuku ignored him. “I’ve got to run, enjoy your dinner, Mirio-senpai! See you tomorrow, Y/N!” And he sprinted away, as though afraid they’d chase after him.
“So,” Mirio smiled, his cheeks tinted pink. “Y/N.”
“Mirio,” Y/N smiled back. “Nice to know your real name.”
He laughed, falling into step beside them as they continued walking idly with no particular destination in mind, rushing back to the apartment long forgotten.
“I was heading to dinner off campus, want to come with?”
Y/N didn’t hesitate. “Sure.”
“Eh? What is this?” Nejire motioned between the two of them, eyebrows furrowed. Tamaki peaked from behind her curiously.
“What do you mean?” Y/N asked, turning towards their roommates. They’d just greeted Mirio with a hug after the other two had invited him to their apartment for a get together so that he could “finally” meet Y/N.
“You know each other?” Nejire asked.
“Well, you see—”
“OH MY GOD!” she gasped in sudden understanding, her eyes glancing between the two of them quickly. Mirio had just finished a shift at work and had brought them all ice creams, which Nejire wordlessly was now pointing at on the table in shock.
synopsis: y/n, with a new spider-based quirk recently given to her, is determined to free a little girl she saw on the street. eri. after eri is rescued, y/n meets her again, in the safety of their new home of ua, alongside her rescuers. one of which helps reignites y/n’s dwindling dream, and reminds her of why she wanted to be a hero.
a/n:thanks to the anon who sent in the request that inspired this!! I deviated from it a bit, hope that’s okay!! This is like the 4th spider-man related thing i’ve written, but i love the concept so idc >:)
The first time she sees her is on her second day of UA, on her way back home from school. She was just about to make it onto the street before a man grabbed her and snatched her back into the shadows, almost too quick for Y/N to see anything. Almost. She’d still seen the frantic look in the little girl’s eyes, the bandages wrapped around her arms.
On instinct Y/N follows after them, sprinting across the street to the alley, sure she didn’t imagine it. The little girl had white hair. Impossible to miss, even from a dark alley.
But when she makes it into the alley they’ve vanished. There’s doors leading to who knows where on either side of the alley’s walls, and Y/N desperately yanks at them, wishing the radioactive spider had given her lockpicking skills, too. None of them budge. Y/N calls the police, waiting impatiently for them to arrive. There isn’t a lot of foot traffic along near the alley—at least, not when she saw the little girl. She might be the only witness, and the police might not believe her.
She still stayed and gave her statement, describing the little girl with as much detail as possible. The police took down everything she said, and Y/N hoped they’d look into it. There wasn’t anything she could do. Her body hadn’t automatically reacted with her quirk, because she’d only received her spider abilities a month ago, and they were not second nature to her yet. If she’d swung across the alley with her webs, or at least grabbed the arm of the man with them, would she have been able to do something?
The next few weeks are a blur. UA was notorious for being a hero school, but the general studies course was jam packed with college preparatory courses. Y/N wasn’t able to apply for the hero course since her quirk arrived… late, so she stuck with general studies. After school, she’d walk the same route where she’d seen the little girl every day, sometimes circling back to walk a different route with more alleys. Y/N couldn’t swing from place to place like she wanted to, since a hero on patrol might scold her for it, or she’d get in the way of a mission in place, so she stuck to walking. She’d checked in with the police about the report she’d made, but they told her they hadn’t found anything. So it was up to her to find the little girl again, and save her from whatever was happening to her.
Y/N started training with her quirk at home, avoiding her parents by practicing on the roof or in the safety of her locked room, getting the hang of the sticky touch and the web shooting. The reflexes were a great added bonus—she dominated in PE class. But she needed to train herself to react instinctively with her quirk, especially if she wanted to follow through on her dream of becoming a hero. She didn’t want to fall behind, even though the odds were literally stacked against her.
The little girl found her the next week.
Y/N was walking along a route behind the alley where she’d first seen her when she felt someone bump into her, lightly enough where Y/N may have mistaken it for the wind. But she glanced down and there she was, big red eyes staring right back at her, as surprised as she was.
There’s no one else on the street—it’s mainly filled with warehouses to begin with, and people are still at work. It’s just Y/N and the little girl.
“Hi,” Y/N dropped to her knees quickly, eye level with the little girl. “I’m Y/N, I’m here to help you. What’s your name?”
She was trembling, and an arm’s length away from Y/N. Her bandages looked new, as though they had just been replaced.
Before she could reply, Y/N sees a shadow approaching from the alley, and she scoops the little girl up, ready to sling away with her webs. She turns to latch onto a building across the street and is met with a man standing in front of her, smiling cruelly down at both of them. “There you are, Eri.”
The man reaches up with lightning speed, before Y/N can even react, and touches his fingers to her temples. She vaguely felt the man take Eri from her before she blacked out, feeling her energy drain out of her as her vision faded to darkness.
She woke up to someone lightly shaking her shoulder. Y/N sat up with a gasp, wildly looking around her. “Where is she? Did he take her?”
The workday seems to be over, because the street looks busier than before. The lady who woke her up helps her to her feet, asking if she needs to go to a hospital. Y/N thanked her before stumbling away, still feeling a bit light headed. She knew there was a police station around here somewhere. The woman who helped her insisted on going with her, and Y/N let her help her walk the few blocks there.
The police took both of their statements, and Y/N goes home long after the sun has set, exhausted and fearing the wrath of her worried parents.
Y/N had plans to go back to the police station at least once a week to bother them into taking her seriously, but then the Heights Alliance dorms were built, and she found herself moving into the dorms.
When they were allowed to return home on breaks or odd weekends, Y/N was sure to take the same routes as before, searching every alley for Eri. A few times she thinks she’s seen her, and she calls out to her, slinging across streets to the alley, only to find it empty. Y/N was starting to think she imagined it, but every time it happened, she finds bandages on the alley’s floor. Eri’s had come looking for her, but either was too scared to ask for help or was dragged back to wherever they kept her.
The police tell Y/N to stop calling, assuring her they are on the case. And she believes them, because this is the first time they’ve told her that. She’s practically on a first name basis with the receptionist at the station, who was always very blunt on where they were in the investigation. The next time Y/N calls, she’s told Eri is safe, but they aren’t allowed to say anything more.
Y/N is pretty sure she scares her dorm neighbor with her loud cheers.
“Hey, Midoriya!”
Izuku screamed, almost dropping his notebooks. He was on his way to his dorm, and hadn’t even noticed Mirio. Even without his quirk he was surprisingly sneaky.
“Yes?” Izuku squeaked, still a bit startled.
“Eri-chan’s been asking for someone lately, and no one knows who it is.” Mirio falls into step beside him as Izuku leads him to a nearby bench where they can sit.
It’d been a while since Izuku saw Eri. She was getting acclimated to her new life living on campus, and was doing better than ever.
“Really? What’s their name?” Izuku adjusts his notebooks to set them on his lap. Mirio leans back into the bench, looking thoughtful.
“Y/N, Eri-chan says. She keeps asking for her. Aizawa can’t get much else out of her, I think she’s still a little shaky, especially when it comes to her memories.” Izuku nods.
“So, how’re your classes going?” They fall into an easy conversation after that, until eventually Mirio heads back to his own dorm for the night. Izuku gets his homework done for the day, the name Y/N in the back of his mind for the rest of the night.
A few weeks later, Izuku found himself wandering around the school during lunch. He was in the mood for a walk, but his allergies had been acting up lately, so he was stuck inside as much as possible. He didn’t even really know where he was—he’d never been in this part of the school before. After some vague snooping into classrooms he figured out it was the general studies branch of the school. He brightened, thinking maybe he’d see Shinso around somewhere.
“Y/N!” he heard someone call from down the hallway. He whirled around, almost activating his quirk in his haste. Someone was at the end of the hall, looking at someone else out of sight. “Wait up!”
Izuku bolted down the hallway, but when he rounded the corner there was no one else there. He kept searching nearby classrooms in vain, sure this couldn’t be a coincidence.
Aizawa had told him and Mirio not even a few days ago that Eri had finally shared who Y/N was, and why she wanted to find her. She’d been the first person to try and save her, but they’d both been caught every time. Eri wanted to thank her for all of her attempts. She’d even made her a card already, with a picture of the two of them. Aizawa had shown it to them, and although it was the drawing of a little kid, the UA uniform was unmistakable. Aizawa said he’d search for a Y/N in the school records that weekend. It was Friday today, which meant he hadn’t yet.
“Midoriya?”
Izuku whirled around, mid inspection of an empty classroom.
“Shinso-kun!”
He quickly explained he was searching for someone named Y/N, and if there was anyone with that name in the general studies program.
“Oh, Y/N. I was about to go borrow their notes. I can take you to them.”
But the bell rings just as Izuku begins to practically glow in thanks. He thanks Shinso for his help, telling him he’ll meet Y/N soon, and hurries back to class, suddenly desperate for the end of the day so he can find Aizawa and ask him about the Y/N search.
But Mirio found him first, right after classes are over for the week.
“Aizawa says he might’ve found Y/N! I’ll come get you tomorrow, he’s taking Eri to meet her in the staff room. She’s taken a liking to it, she’ll feel safe there.”
Izuku could barely sleep that night. He was so excited—both for Y/N, who’d feel so relieved at knowing Eri was safe, and for Eri, who was going to be able to thank Y/N. He finally fell asleep at around two in the morning, but not before going through at least five of his hero journals before he got sleepy.
Mirio kept his promise and showed up at the dorms just after breakfast, and Izuku hurried to clean off his dishes before leaving with him.
It felt odd to be on campus on a weekend, but every door Mirio opened for them was unlocked, probably thanks to Aizawa. Izuku unconsciously sped up, scared he’ll have missed the reunion. He’d become invested in this, determined to see Eri smile more as she learns how to be happy and interact more with others.
He found Eri sitting on the couch, looking nervous and staring intently down at the note in her lap. Izuku took the seat beside her after greeting her and Aizawa, starting a small conversation with her while Mirio and Aizawa conversed quietly before Mirio hurried out the door, probably to fetch Y/N. Aizawa sat himself down at the table and sipped his coffee quietly while Izuku talked with Eri. She relaxed after a few minutes, opening her note and sharing her drawing once more, her eyes shining with excitement.
“I’m back, and I’ve brought a friend!” Izuku whipped around at the same time Eri did.
Behind a grinning Mirio was a girl, who tentatively peeked around him, her eyes searching the room before landing briefly on Izuku, and then on Eri beside him.
He heard her sharp intake of breath and watched, transfixed for some reason, as she walked forward slowly toward Eri, who had got up from the couch and was walking toward Y/N slowly.
“For you,” Eri said, thrusting the note out in front of her. “To thank you.”
Y/N took it gently, as though scared Eri would suddenly bolt. She unfolded it and read it quietly, a smile growing on her face and tears starting to slide down her cheeks.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you sooner,” she said, barely loud enough for Izuku to hear from his seat on the couch. Eri offered her a tissue from her pocket, and Y/N took it with a quiet thanks, wiping away her tears as Aizawa started to explain how Eri had ended up at UA.
Eri led Y/N over to where Izuku sat on the couch and she sat down in between them, beaming at them both as Aizawa talked. Y/N glanced at Izuku when he was mentioned in the story, smiling, which he brightly mirrored back to her.
“I’m glad someone was looking out for her,” Y/N said, looking at Izuku with shining eyes he found very hard to meet the gaze of without blushing. He could practically feel Mirio’s knowing smile from across the room where he sat at the long table with Aizawa, talking again now that the long story was over. Eri was busy showing Y/N her outfit and matching bows, and Y/N was complimenting them. Izuku wandered over to his teacher and upperclassmen.
“I’ll take Eri back soon,” Aizawa murmured. “Mirio, walk these two back to the dorms for me.”
“I can walk Y/N back,” Izuku blurted, almost surprising himself. Mirio’s smile returned, and Izuku rushed to finish. “That way Mirio-senpai can head back with Eri-chan, I know he was supposed to spend the day playing with her.”
“Fine by me,” Aizawa sighed, moving to wash his empty coffee mug in the sink. “Straight back to your dorm, Midoriya.”
“Yes, sir,” Izuku replied quickly, knowing the meaning behind the tone and knowing glare Aizawa sent him. No more spontaneous meetings with villains on campus alone.
After a tearful goodbye with promises to visit often, Izuku and Y/N parted ways from Eri and co, walking the opposite way towards the dorms. He was bursting with questions. Eri had only mentioned Y/N had tried to save her multiple times, but often Eri had only caught a glimpse from her across the street before she was taken back inside. What was Y/N’s quirk like? How had she found Eri the first time? Had she had to fight against Chisaki’s men? Why had she filed two police reports, as she’d briefly mentioned—
“This is my stop.”
Izuku stopped in front of the dorm building, where a giant 1-C Alliance sign adorned the entrance above. Y/N smiled at him, moving to enter her dorm building. “Thanks for walking me. Shinso had mentioned you were looking for me, but we both had no idea why. I would’ve never imagined Eri was involved.”
Izuku could only nod, his voice caught in his throat. He hated the way he froze up around attractive people. He resisted the urge to sprint away from Y/N in the hopes of hiding his blush but fought against the instinct. “I heard someone call your name during lunch, and I remembered how Eri-chan had been asking for a Y/N. It’s very nice finally meeting you.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too.” Y/N had stopped moving towards the dorm entrance, turning to face Izuku again. “I watched you at the sports festival. Has… Has your quirk always been like that?” Izuku didn’t miss the hesitation in her voice, or the way she subconsciously moved to rub at her wrists, which were wrapped in bandages.
“It’s much better now, I’ve been getting the hang of it!” Izuku reassured her brightly. “It just took some getting used to.”
“I can understand that,” Y/N replied, laughing quietly. “Mine is a bit like that, lately. I think I’ve just been over exerting myself.”
“Ah, your wrists?” Izuku asked, pointing at her hands. “I can offer you pointers! If you’d like, that is. I’m not sure how helpful I’d be, but I love learning about different quirks, and I know about a lot, so I think I’d know something to help you out somehow!” He quickly shut himself up, realizing in horror he’d been rambling.
But Y/N is looking at him with that same look in their eye as before, after hearing how he’d been involved in Eri’s rescue. “Would you? I don’t want to be a bother.”
“You’re not a bother!” Izuku hurriedly said. “Does tomorrow work for you, in the afternoon? I know a spot behind the 1-A dorms that’s perfect for sparring and quirk usage.”
“No problem! I’ll come get you after lunch tomorrow!” He waved goodbye, waiting for Y/N to walk inside before jogging back to the 1-A dorms, feeling beyond giddy with himself.
Y/N’s quirk, Izuku quickly decides, is beyond cool. He’s already filled almost two pages with information about it, complete with a sketch of Y/N mid-swing with her webs.
Her main issue is her wrists, she tells him. At first she was fine, but after using her quirk more often, she’s started to feel the strain, and sometimes her skin would crack and bleed. Similar to Sero and his quirk repercussions, Izuku thought to himself.
Izuku does his best to help her, telling her all he can on how to treat her injuries after over exertion, something he is very knowledgeable in, and after seeing her in action for a while, he copies her moves (minus the webs). It’s similar to how he’s adjusted to flying through the air, but Y/N has the added momentum thanks to her webs, and thus uses more of her strength to change directions or stop.
Together, lying on the grass, they write out a workout routine for her while consulting online resources. Shoulder to shoulder on the grass, Izuku forgets about his nerves as he scribbles in his notebook, talking ambiably with an equally enthusiastic Y/N.
After they work out the plan, Y/N offered to show him her “spidey-senses.” Izuku is excited to see them in action and before he knows it they’re sparring. Y/N’s reactions are instantaneous, moving right as Izuku swings to tap her. He only landed a tap once, when she’s laughing at the determined set of his eyebrows and too distracted to doge properly.
They both tire themselves out and lay back down on the grass, panting.
“Hey, Midoriya.”
“Hm?” Izuku hums from his place beside her, still catching his breath.
“I wanted to be a hero. That’s why I applied to UA. But I wasn’t ready for the hero course, so I went with general studies.” Izuku turned his head to look at her. She was staring up at the sky, twiddling her fingers resting on her stomach. “But after meeting Eri, and you, I think I’m going to work for it. With all I’ve got. I’d be happy just working as a nobody in a hero agency if it means I get to help people.”
Izuku resisted the urge to start crying. “I believe in you, Y/N. And so does Eri-chan.”
He yelped when he felt her slap his arm gently. He turned to see her covering her face with her hands.
“Gonna make me cry again,” she mumbled from beneath her hands. Izuku laughed, rolling away from her when she reached out to smack him again.
Their training sessions become a weekly tradition. Every weekend they meet behind the 1-A dorms and stay there for an hour. Mainly they spar together, making a game out of how many times they manage to touch each other. After they get tired they lay in the grass, pointing clouds out to one another and talking about their weeks. Y/N’s been sticking to the workout routine Izuku helped her make, and she tells him it’s been a great help. He notices the difference in her moves, how she doesn’t hesitate as much anymore, trusts herself to listen to her instincts.
After a particularly tiring session, wherein Izuku won, Y/N plopped herself onto the ground, laughing to herself. Izuku sat beside her, stealing glances at her since her eyes were closed and there was no one around to tease him about it. She looked so at peace whenever they finished training, despite the sweat sticking to her forehead and the heavy breaths that escaped her lips.
“Hey, Midoriya.”
“Yeah?” He hurried to glance elsewhere, up at the clouds.
“I’ve never told anyone this,” she paused before continuing, “but I was born quirkless.”
He almost gave himself whiplash as he turned to face her. Her eyes were still closed, but he knows she could still feel his movements despite her sense of vision being obstructed.
“I got my quirk a month before school started, after a spider bit me. It was so scary to figure out alone. You’ve helped me alot.” She smiled at that, reaching over to pat his hand lightly. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said, almost automatically. His brain was still processing what she’d said.
“You’re like me, aren’t you?” He froze, his body going rigid in shock.
“It’s okay if you can’t tell me,” Y/N said, eyes still closed. “It’s just nice to know I’m not alone.”
Izuku didn’t trust himself to say anything. He reached out to take her hand, intertwining their fingers. Y/N’s smile returned, and she squeezed his hand lightly.
“I’m glad I found you,” she said, opening her eyes to meet his gaze.
“I’m glad I found you,” he echoed, moving to lay down beside her to look up at the clouds. He was careful not to let go of her hand.
synposis:assigned to be Bakugo’s partner at the Genius Office, Y/N begins to fall for him, finding comfort in the simplicity of their relationship and how easy it is to be around him. a year after dating, bakugo is left to wonder why they had to say goodbye.
content: cussing, mention of drinking/getting drunk, implied death
word count: 2k
a/n: inspired by one of my favorite songs, waterfall by with confidence. i always like writing for bakugo, but it’s been a while and idk how i did on his character here?? idk he’s a bit quieter… lmaoo. anyways hope y’all like this <333
Please leave a message after the tone
BEEP
“Hey Bakugo, it’s Y/N! From the agency. Your deskmate. Even though you said you’d only sit next to me for a few months and then quit to form your own agency, which is very optimistic of you, gotta say. Anyways, I wanted to make sure you had my number just in case you ever needed something… knowing you, though, you won’t ever call. Okay, see you at work!”
“Morning, Bakugo.”
A grunt in response. Y/N peeked over their computer to see Bakugo starting up his own PC with a yawn, his eyes slowly blinking open. “Late shift?”
“Stupid newbies don’t know what they’re doing,” he replied gruffly. Y/N only nodded and went back to their computer screen, not wanting to point out that both of them were still considered newbies, too, having only been working here for a month.
Best Jeanist had taken them in after graduation, and Y/N was thrilled and surprised. They hadn’t worked with him at all throughout high school, having only interacted with a sidekick of his during an internship, but that recommendation had apparently been enough for the agency to offer a spot as a starting sidekick. On a whim, they’d accepted. The only other newbie was Bakugo, so they were both paired up frequently for missions and patrolling, which Y/N didn’t exactly mind, but Bakugo was just… a lot.
From what they knew, he’d gotten a bit better since graduating high school. But he was still more than what Y/N was used to. At least, he was in the first few days. Now Y/N had gotten more than used to his loud voice and the way he sparked up whenever he was angry.
It was hard to avoid him, since they were basically partners. Neither of them said the word aloud, though. Y/N once referred to it as “the p-word” with another coworker, fearing Bakugo would be summoned through the mere use of it. He was evidently still a bit set on doing the whole “rise to the top” thing mainly on his own, though he did accept help often. Asking Y/N for advice on something, letting them handle a certain part of a mission if their quirk was more suited for it. Going to lunch with them. Small things.
The rumors started six months into their time working together, when Y/N was helping Bakugo with his plans to form his own agency with a few of his old classmates, and of course, with Best Jeanist’s blessing. Y/N walked in early one morning, two cups of coffee in hand, ready to work on hunting for a place for the new agency, when a coworker rushed to their side.
“Have you seen the columns?”
The dreaded columns. The heroes didn’t bother calling them by their proper name, and instead referred to it as “the columns” or “the gossip.” It was the section of the daily newspapers basically dedicated to speculating about heroes, and more often than not consisted of rumors and flat out lies. Naturally, every hero read them. Even if they weren’t necessarily true, they were funny to read and joke about with.
“No, what happened?” Y/N asked, setting down their cup on their desk and placing Bakugo’s on his, where he was already hunched over his computer in deep concentration. They’d been coming in an hour early every week just to plan, so they wouldn’t be scolded for doing non-work related things on the clock.
“It’s about you two.” Bakugo barely glanced up from his screen.
“Huh?”
Y/N pulled it up on their computer, too lazy to go into the break room to grab a copy, and thanked their coworker for the heads up before they walked away.
They almost spat out their coffee. The column’s were normally filled with things about a handful of heroes, and this week was no different. The last bit, though, was about Bakugo and Y/N, rising sidekicks at the Genius Office, and what the column’s described as a “rising power couple.”
“Are you seeing this?” Y/N demanded, to which Bakugo merely nodded. He seemed wholeheartedly unbothered.
“So what?” He took a sip of his coffee, meeting Y/N’s gaze. “Isn’t it true?”
Y/N froze.
“I’m sorry, when the hell did you even ask me out?”
BEEP
“Hey, Katsuki. I’m going to the store after work, don’t forget to send me a list of what I need to buy for dinner today. And please don’t get over specific and list the brands, too. You know I’ll buy the cheap ones just to piss you off. See you later, loser.”
“How’s the agency going?”
“Fine. Everything is finally set up, we finished today. Tomorrow’s the first official day.”
“Congratulations! Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” Y/N frowned at him from across the table, momentarily forgetting about their dinner.
“Busy,” Bakugo replied through a mouthful of food, grinning at Y/N’s wrinkled nose of disgust.
“Hmm, well. I’ll drop by during lunch.”
They’d been dating for almost three months now, and Bakugo had left the Genius Office to found 4A, a hero agency run by him and three other former classmates. Y/N had received an invitation to join, but had declined.
“Why the hell aren’t you joining?” Bakugo had burst into their apartment the morning after they’d emailed Kirishima their reply.
“I like the Genius Office,” Y/N said, completely used to Bakugo breaking into their apartment every now and then. He had a key, but Y/N knew he was always one for dramatic flair. “Plus you leaving left a bit of a gap, and I just got promoted. Dunno, it’s going good. And 4A is your thing, I didn’t wanna impose or anything.”
Bakugo hadn’t said anything after that, just strode across the room to give them a strong kiss, then left. Y/N would never admit it outloud, since he’s ego would expand to the size of the moon, but whenever he did that, give them a surprise kiss, they thought about it for the rest of the week.
Now they were eating dinner together at Bakugo’s house, which was a block away from 4A headquarters. It was routine to see each other after work, crash at each other’s places most nights, and eat dinner together at least once a week. They basically spent all of their free time together, which Y/N was enjoying. Bakugo was a walking furnace, and he was the best cuddle partner. Plus he could cook, liked the same shows as them, and worked in the same field, so he understood a lot of what they went through. Pretty much the perfect partner, Y/N always said to themselves.
They just clicked. Y/N didn’t want to think about it too much, since it was just fun being with Bakugo. Casual. Not too much pressure. Perfect escape from the job.
And Y/N was glad they weren’t the only one who thought so. Bakugo wasn’t over the top romantic, but rather affectionate in other, smaller ways. Making them tea and coffee in the mornings if he left before them, buying them their own set of toiletries to leave at his house, having their favorite snacks in his pantry, always calling them right after they got off work. Y/N always called, too, but Bakugo was horrible about answering his phone sometimes, so they were quick to adopt the habit of leaving voicemails often.
“So what movie should we go watch next week? Know any awful ones we can laugh about?”
BEEP
“Hey Katsu— Bakguo. Fuck. Sorry. Did I leave anything at your house? You can put everything in a box, I’ll drive by and pick it up onTuesday. Thanks.”
“How you holding up?”
“Fine.”
“He’s lying,” Sero and Kaminari replied in unison, not even flinching at the glare Bakugo sent their way.
It had been a week since he’d broken up with Y/N. They’d been dating for over a year, so yeah, it had hurt to suddenly wake up with half of his bed cold, to realize he didn’t have anyone to call after work, to not hear a new voicemail almost every day, to smile at the way their voice always sounded so happy in his ear.
Was he going to admit that out loud, fully sober? Fuck no. They’d have to get him drunk for him to talk about that.
Kirishima ruffled his hair before taking his spot at his desk. “You know you can talk to us, dude. Don’t act like you forgot.”
Kaminari sent him a smile. Sero flashed him a famous grin, sliding him a pack of his favorite candy. Bakugo took it wordlessly and ate it as he stared hard at his computer screen, determined to avoid his friends’ gazes.
What he was most upset about, infuriated, if you will, was the fact that the gossip columns said “it was to be expected.” The breakup quickly spread to the columns and held their attention enough to have over half of it dedicated to the news. They’d gone on and on about how they’d seen the relationship slowly fall apart, how many people had called it from the start, that it wasn’t built to last. They were both “rising heroes,” after all. And young ones, at that. Their entire lives ahead of them. A relationship at this point in their careers didn’t make sense.
And that was the end of that in terms of their relationship in the columns. But as the weeks dragged by, Bakugo kept reflecting on their time together.
Y/N had been the one to bring up ending it.
“I just… I think we both knew, didn’t we?” They’d looked so sad, staring at him with those tearful eyes. He’d searched in vain to find any sign of hesitation in them. “I really liked being with you, Katsuki. I just think it’s time we both focus on ourselves right now, on our careers. I know you feel the same, I just wanted to be the one to tell you I understand.” He didn’t feel the same, he wanted to scream. Why should they break up? Wasn’t everything going well, didn’t Y/N just say that? Why ruin something that was perfect?
They’d hugged him one last time, crying into his shoulder, and then left.
The next week, Bakugo heard on the news Y/N and a few other heroes were being sent abroad on a joint mission. Even hearing their name made his chest ache, so Bakugo elected to avoiding the news. His influx of information on recent events came from 4A anyways, there was no point listening to the news every night waiting to hear Y/N’s name just to feel that ache again.
One night, after a gruelling day of work, he mindlessly left the TV on the news channel, thinking it had been almost a month, he’d be okay now. He was almost half asleep when he heard Y/N’s name mentioned and he sat up, wide awake.
Y/N among one of the ten other heroes who are reportedly missing in action after a villain with an unknown quirk attacked the task force late last night. Other task force members are still searching for the missing heroes, along with local authorities. International agencies are being called to the scene and are expected to join the investigation later today…
Missing.
He’s reaching for his phone before he even knows what he’s doing.
One ring. Two. Three. Four. Five.
Hello, this is Y/N! Sorry I can’t answer the phone right now, I’m probably busy. And I like the way the automated voice lady says it, so lemme imitate it, hold on. Please leave a message after the tone.
BEEP.
You may now hang up to send your message. To review your message press 2. To re-record your message press 3. To send your message—
synopsis: y/n has no intention of making friends in high school. their plan is quickly ruined by a boy with the cutest smile they’ve ever seen (plus his yellow haired friend, and a purple emo kid) and they find themselves willing to be dragged along in this new dynamic, entranced by his smile.
content: quiet y/n, besties denki & hitoshi, friends to lovers, sero hanta is jacked and hot horikoshi himself told me, pro hero au, swearing, not canon compliant
word count:3.2k
a/n: im back!!!! i loved writing this!!! i wrote it in one sitting ahaha. sero is one of my favorite characters and i was outraged to see i haven’t written that much for him :0 so if you see me spam writing sero content its bc i adore him <33 also i graduated from hs a month ago so the graduation scene in this made me a bit sad ;,)
It’s hard not to notice the fact that he’s wearing the same uniform. Y/N had settled on this specific route to school, content with themselves at having figured it out on only the third day, and was under the impression that no one else from UA lived near them.
They realized they were staring way too hard at the back of this guy’s head and they chose to look outside the train’s window instead, intent on distracting themselves. They hadn’t seen him the past two days, since they’d been taking an altered route before settling on this one. Maybe he was switching it up, too? Or was Y/N the only nerd to actually study the train and bus schedules and routes to determine the one that took less time?
They reach their last train stop and are careful not to walk in front of the other UA student. It’s too early in the morning to make small talk, Y/N grumbles to themselves as they follow behind him, heading to the bus stop a block from here that takes them directly to school. The guy hasn’t noticed them yet, and Y/N would prefer to keep it that way. They’ve come to the realization that everyone at UA is a little weird, no matter how you look at it (themselves included) and they really don’t want to talk about the specificities of hero support items this early in the morning if he turns out to be a support student. Or worse, the intricacies of the hero agency world with someone from the management course—
“Hey, you go to UA too?”
Y/N jolts to a stop, a foot away from the bus stop they’ve both stopped near.
He’s staring at them, an easy smile on his face, hand resting on his bag at his side. He looks so aloof Y/N has the irrational urge to become his friend right then and there.
“Yes. I’m Y/N. General Studies.” The crisp introduction is one that’s already been drilled into their heads, since it’s how every student introduces themselves to one another this early in the school year.
“Sero Hanta, Hero Department.” Y/N’s eyes must’ve unconsciously widened at that, because Sero’s smile grows a bit bigger. “Nice to meet you! You must live near me.”
Y/N nods, shuffling in place. They’re saved from saying anything, because thankfully the bus arrives them at that instant.
“Wanna sit next to me?” Sero asks before they both board, still smiling.
Y/N finds themselves nodding before they’re initial goal of being left alone can catch up with them.
Almost begrudgingly, Y/N makes friends. They weren’t like their new friend Shinso, who’d actually voiced the fact that he wasn’t here to make friends. They were quiet about their small goal. Graduate with good grades, go to college or straight into a hero-related field, whichever opportunity made the most sense at the time of graduation. Little to no distractions, which included making friends with people they’d likely never see after graduation.
Their plan was ruined within a month of school.
First came the unlikely friendship with Shinso, who they sat next to in class. They’d been paired up for their first project, and although Y/N had originally thought Shinso was a bit cold and unapproachable, he seemed to have taken a liking to Y/N. He’d sit with them at lunch, sparing them the loneliness and slight embarrassment that came with being “the loner,” and Y/N took it as a sign that they’d be friendless together. They paired up for everything from then on, and Y/N could confidently say they’d already broken their rule, since Shinso was clearly a friend. He’d even admitted it later in the school year, when he’d told Y/N his plan to transfer to the hero course.
At first Y/N was heartbroken. It quickly vanished at the bright light in Shinso’s eyes, at the reminder of the sports festival, and at everything Sero had told Y/N about the hero course at UA.
Y/N’s second proof of negligence to their own rules: Sero Hanta.
They sat together on the train and bus every morning and afternoon until they’d moved into the dorms on campus. After they’d settled into dorm life, Y/N figured they’d never see Sero again, and found themselves gloomy at the thought. They’d enjoyed their commute chats. Sero was very easy to talk to, and he always looked so genuinely interested in what Y/N had to say, it was impossible not to like him.
Sero managed to stay in Y/N’s life, though. Almost too easily. He’d eat with them at lunch sometimes, especially when Shinso was mysteriously absent (Y/N pretended not to know he was off training with Aizawa.) He’d either sit himself down at Y/N’s regular table, or invite them to sit with some of his own friends, which Y/N found overwhelming, to say the least. They were so loud sometimes, but again, hard to hate.
It was lunch time now, after Shinso had been missing half the day because he was testing to become a part of the hero course. Y/N anxiously waited outside of the cafeteria, scanning heads for his purple hair with so much concentration they didn’t even notice someone walking up to them.
“Hey Y/N!”
They jumped, taking a step backward and refraining from activating their quirk. They’d been sparring with Shinso sometimes in PE, something they weren’t quite used to, so using their quirk on instinct was now something they were adjusting to.
But it was just Sero, with that bright smile on his face. The smile directed at Y/N, who always had to refrain from melting at the sight.
“Hi Sero.”
“Looking for Shinso?”
Y/N nodded, standing up straighter to continue looking. “How’d he do?’
“He did great!” Sero said enthusiastically. “I think he went to talk to Aizawa, though. Wanna sit with me for a bit?”
Y/N nodded, tearing their eyes away from the crowd of incoming students to follow Sero inside. He led them to his table of friends, and Y/N braced themselves for the reception they always received.
“Y/N!” Kaminari all but squealed, abandoning his lunch to quickly set down Y/N’s and then engulfing them in a hug. Y/N had quickly learned Kaminari was a very touchy person. And even after Sero had told him to calm down a bit when Y/N had sent him a panicked look the first time he’d done this, the “pikachu-looking-ass” as Bakugo called him continued to pester Y/N with his physical affection until Y/N caved and admitted they didn’t mind. Kaminari had also become attached to Y/N rather quickly, and he considered them their third proof of negligence.
“Hi, Kaminari,” Y/N replied, patting him awkwardly on the back. Sero’s smile faltered a bit as he sat down opposite the two. “Bro, give them some space.”
“Sorry!” Kaminari detached himself and quickly sat down, Y/N doing the same and taking the space beside him. It was just the three of them right now, meaning the others either hadn’t arrived yet or had ditched lunch to do something else.
They fell into easy conversation, Kaminari and Sero doing much of the talking. They were used to Y/N’s quiet behavior and didn’t pry, letting them eat their lunch peacefully. And it was in those moments that Y/N was glad they were lax in following their own rules. Surrounded by friends who understood them and getting to eat delicious food, working towards their own dream. It couldn’t get much better than that.
“Are you sure I won’t get into trouble?” Y/N whispered again, looking around nervously.
“I already said you wouldn’t!” Kaminari insisted, tugging them along with one hand, the other occupied with a fistful of Shinso’s shirt. “Aizawa won’t mind, especially when he sees his favorite student.” Y/N looked over at Shinso, being pulled along by an over enthusiastic Kaminari, looking as though he regretted all of his life decisions that had led to this moment.
Kamainari had come to personally fetch them from their dorms (just Y/N, since Shinso had moved into the hero dorms at the start of their second year at UA. Shinso had been dragged along, since Kaminari didn’t know where Y/N’s room was). It was movie night in the 2-A dorm room, and Kaminari had put it upon himself to invite Y/N, who he had taken to calling “an honorary 2-A kid.”
They were walking up to the dorm entrance now, and Shinso tore away from Kaminari, doing his best to unwrinkle his shirt as he walked beside him. Y/N was still resisting a bit at thisi “blatant display of kidnapping” as the 2-C class rep had called it when Kaminari had shown up to their dorm unannounced, so he was still tugging them along by their wrist.
They made it two steps into the dorm before they were spotted.
“Y/N?”
“Sero!”
Sero ignored Kaminari’s loud outburst of his own name and pulled Y/N away from him, grinning broadly at them as he loosely held their hands in his. Y/N quietly greeted him, fighting hard not to stare.
Of course he would be wearing casual clothes. This was a movie night Kaminari had dragged them too, of course Sero would be dressed comfortably. But did he have to be showing off his toned arms in that ridiculously cut sleeveless shirt? Y/N was pleased he was no longer self conscious about his elbows, but dear god—
“Stop staring into each other’s eyes and let’s watch this fucking movie!” Y/N jumped, tearing their gaze away from Sero to see Bakugo sitting next to Kirishima on a couch, a bowl of popcorn in his lap. Y/N hurriedly moved to sit next to them, anything to hide the embarrassed look on their face and get as far away from Sero as possible. But of course he settled down next to them on the floor, still smiling over at them. Was he blushing? Y/N swiveled their head away to greet the others who had gathered in the room to watch the movie, suddenly grateful for their small talk conversations and how curious they were about how their classes were going.
It was graduation, and Y/N was standing on top of their chair, searching again for the purple haired boy they’d been calling their best friend for the past three years. But they were also searching for two more hair colors who’d wiggled into their life, refusing to leave. And Y/N was not going to leave the UA campus without saying goodbye.
“Y/N!”
They whirled around, almost falling off of their chair. Kaminari had found them first.
Y/N quickly jumped off their chair and squished Kaminari into a hug, laughing at his “oof!” of surprise. It was usually him who initiated their hugs.
“You’re going to make me cry!” he wailed, hugging them back just as tight. Y/N felt tears prick at the corner of their eyes as they squeezed him harder.
“I’ll miss you lots,” Y/N told him when they finally pulled away. It was hard to move with so many other students saying their goodbyes all around them, and soon Kaminari was letting himself get pulled into the crowd to search for his other friends and then his family. He waved at Y/N until he disappeared, shouting promises to keep in touch, and Y/N did too, their arm sore by the time they lost sight of them.
They said goodbye to other classmates and even a few of the hero course kids they’d grown close to over the years before Shinso found them.
Y/N had been accepted into the university only a bus ride away from the agency Shinso would be working at, so the two were mainly congratulating each other for that moment, . Soon Shinso was pulled away by Iida, who Y/N quickly said goodbye too before they both disappeared into the crowd to search for their other friends.
Only one person left to say goodbye too, and for once Y/N was dreading to see his face. They knew they’d burst into tears at the sight of his smile the second they saw him.
They stood back up onto their chair nonetheless, laughing at other graduates who were doing the same. People were starting to trickle out of the auditorium, choosing to head outside instead, which was a good idea. Y/N hopped down and followed the crowd leaving, still keeping an eye out for Sero.
They made it a step outside of the auditorium before they saw him.
He was holding two flower bouquets two feet away from the exit, looking around in the crowd anxiously. Y/N almost didn’t recognize him—he was always so smiley around them it was hard to picture him looking anything but happy.
His face broke out into a grin when he spotted Y/N. “These are for you, my mom got you some!” He thrust the bouquet towards Y/N, his smile never wavering.
Y/N burst into tears as they took their bouquet, startling Sero. They’d never cried in front of him—at least, not like this. He quickly drew them into his side with his arm, resting his forehead against theirs briefly before pulling them off to the side, where there weren’t as many people. Y/N kept crying, not even trying to stop at this point, tears sliding down their face as they stared hard at Sero, determined to memorize every detail of his gorgeous face.
He turned to face them again, a soft smile on his face as he reached up to wipe away some of their tears with his free hand, and then let it fall to rest against their cheek. “I’ll miss you, too.” Y/N only cried harder, burying their face into his chest and wrapping their arms around him. Sero did the same, his shoulders shaking slightly as he cried into Y/N’s shoulder.
“Why did you invite me to this again?”
“Because I didn’t want to go alone,” Shinso replied, tugging at his tie with an annoyed expression on his face. “And it’s free food, which I knew you’d appreciate.”
Y/N grinned at a waiter passing by, plucking an hors d’oeuvre off the plate as they disappeared around the corner. “Maybe you are my best friend.”
Shinso only scoffed at that, going back to scanning the room with seemingly bored eyes. But Y/N knew him enough to know he was up to something, which was surprising for Shinso.
“Is Denki coming?” Y/N asked, suddenly brightening. “Is that why you invited me?”
“No, Denki’s on a mission right now,” Shinso replied, taking a sip of his drink before turning back to face Y/N again. “He says hi, as usual.”
Y/N slouched back against the bar’s counter, stuffing their hors d’oeuvre into their mouth to mask their disappointment. It had been almost a year since they’d last seen Denki—he was always so busy, and it didn’t help that he lived across the country. He’d kept his promise of keeping in touch; they both texted each other quite regularly.
“Turn around, don’t freak out,” Shinso said quietly to Y/N before taking another sip of his drink. Naturally Y/N whirled around and was suddenly very glad they’d finished their snack, otherwise they would’ve comically choked on it because of the sight before them.
Sero Hanta had just walked in, and Y/N was unabashedly gawking at him, grateful he couldn’t see them from this angle. He looked hot to say the least. His suit was perfectly tailored, and despite the fact that he was fully covered Y/N could see how he’d somehow gotten even more muscular and lean, and oh god were those earrings? Shinso snickered quietly from his place beside them, apparently entertained by Y/N’s shock.
They quickly composed themselves, turning around to face the bar again. “Oh god oh god oh god oh god! Hitoshi you asshat!” They smacked his arm, harder than they usually did, and he looked as though he was going to return the smack before his eyes trailed to something behind Y/N and he dropped his hand, choosing to pat Y/N’s arm instead. “I’ll be over there.”
He greeted whoever was behind Y/N before going off to chat with someone, and before Y/N could let their nerves get the best of them, they turned around to greet their old friend with a smile.
Sero was already smiling before he even properly greeted Y/N, and his eyes sparkled when he saw them smiling back just as wide.
“Hey.”
“C’mere you dweeb.”
Sero laughed but accepted the hug, wrapping his arms around Y/N’s waist and hugging them the same way they’d been hugging at graduation—so close they could feel their breaths on each other’s cheeks and practically feel one another’s heartbeats.
“Missed you,” Y/N mumbled from his shoulder.
“Missed you, too,” Sero replied, not making any move to break apart their hug.
“God you’re so jacked,” Y/N blurted, making Sero laugh and pull away so he could look at them. His arms didn’t leave their waist, Y/N gleefully took notice of. They didn’t let go of his shoulders either.
“I told Shinso to bring you,” Sero admitted, looking away from them briefly, his cheeks gaining color. “I needed to see you.”
Y/N could only stare at him. Huh? HUH?
They’d both been texting consistently, too. Sero sometimes conversed with them daily, sometimes disappearing for a few weeks before sending a meme out of nowhere to let them know he was okay. Y/N thought they’d been doing a good job of keeping their friendship alive, but if he didn’t agree—
“I’ve been meaning to ask you out since high school,” Sero continued quickly, and now Y/N was truly speechless. “And I think I’ve been putting it off for too long now, so here I am.” He laughed nervously, his grip around Y/N’s waist slipping.
Without thinking, Y/N lunged forward, pulling Sero toward them. He let out a small noise of surprise before Y/N’s lips collided with his own. It was almost painful, but Y/N truly did not care. After years of daydreaming about this, about Sero’s impossibly soft lips against their own, about his arms wrapped around them, about finally letting him know how they felt, they weren’t going to wait even a few seconds before making it happen.
Y/N broke away first, breathing heavily from both the kiss and the sudden adrenaline rush. Sero’s eyes fluttered open, and Y/N almost cried over how beautiful he looked standing there in front of them, his lips bright red from the kissing, his cheeks dusted pink, and his eyes half open as though he was just waking up from a nap.
It was Y/N’s turn to smile at him cheekily, like he’d done so many times before. “I’ve wanted to do that since you asked me to sit with you on the bus.”
Sero grinned, a smug expression on his face as he leaned in again, smiling into the kiss and pulling Y/N even closer to him.
snyopsis: y/n always winds up in the same corner of the third floor of the library, studying near the guy who always has his headphones in. and the one that always smiles at them in a silent greeting.
content:college au, smiley shinso, nerdy y/n, greek myth references at the end bc IM a nerd
word count: 1.7k
a/n: 5/5 of my 500 follower celebration. last fic ahh!! I had a lot of fun planning the event out and working on all of the fics :) thank you guys for supporting my blog!! i love reading through your reblog tags or seeing your responses, they truly make my day and motivate me to write more!! luv u <3
Oh, him again.
It’d only been a few weeks since Y/N had finally found their favorite spot in the library. They remembered an upperclassmen commenting that the higher up you went, the quieter each floor was. This particular library on campus had five floors, but Y/N found that in a small corner of the library, where there was one table and four armchairs, was usually perfectly abandoned and just the right amount of quiet.
Apparently someone else had discovered this, too, because the purple haired boy was somehow always there when Y/N arrived every week, earbuds in and attentively staring at his laptop in an armchair or reading at the table.
At first Y/N was scared they were stealing his spot—they usually sat as far away from him as possible so as to not annoy him—but the second time they showed up he offered them a small smile. Y/N decided to take it as a friendly sign, and they smiled back tentatively.
It was sort of hard to be far away from each other, since the area was a bit small, but Y/N did their best to stay out of his way. He sometimes took naps during his break times, and Y/N would move quietly so as to not wake him. He usually dozed off when Y/N was deep in the study-zone, and he snored softly, which is how Y/N would notice he’d fallen asleep. Then they were touched for a bit, realizing he must trust them somewhat enough to fall asleep near them. This perception was quickly destroyed when Y/N discovered he was a light sleeper, though.
It was now almost time for finals, and Y/N was determined to escape the hectic atmosphere of the dorm rooms and escape to the library.
They almost ran into the purple haired boy, who was also just arriving.
“Sorry,” he said quietly, keeping in mind the quietness around them both. He smiled before setting his things down at one end of the table, and Y/N smiled back at him as they settled down on the opposite side.
He plugged in his headphones and got to work, and Y/N did, too. They always felt oddly motivated to study near him—they’d tried studying with their friends a few times, but they got…distracted easily. And studying alone was something that they’d become accustomed to, for a while, but now that earbuds guy was always around, Y/N became used to the presence of someone else.
They both stayed in their area the entire afternoon, only leaving to use the restroom or to stretch for a bit. Y/N loved walking through the shelves of books, idly noting authors and running their fingers against the book’s spines gently. Sometimes they ate a small snack, but they usually held off on eating until their study session was over.
In the middle of reviewing a new topic, they heard the now familiar sound of purple haired boy’s snoring. They peeked at him from behind their laptop to see him fast asleep on top of his books, his face mostly hidden as he rested his head in his arms. He looked so peaceful, Y/N was envious. How he could just fall asleep so easily they’d never know.
He awoke just as Y/N was finishing up reviewing the topic, yawning quietly. His movement caught Y/N’s eye, and they glanced over to see he was staring right back at them.
They quickly looked away, intently scrolling on their laptop through lecture notes and review sheets frantically.
Purple haired guy let out what sounded like a quiet laugh, but Y/N was sure they’d hallucinated. Too many hours in this library.
They started to gather their things, and realized he was doing the same. Y/N tried to pretend he wasn’t there, intent on not subconsciously slowing down to let him leave first so they wouldn’t have to take the elevator together.
Y/N darted for the stairs as soon as they were done collecting their things, weaving in and out of the bookshelves. The stairs were actually a bit nice—the windows showcased nice views of campus.
The purple haired guy had reached them first. He held the door open for Y/N, who mumbled a thanks and hurriedly started their descent, suddenly very desperate to get away from the guy who looked ridiculously cute when he was sleeping. Horrified by their own creepy thought, Y/N all but burst out of the library and ran back to their room, slamming the door shut behind them as though someone were chasing them.
They avoided the library for a week after that, instead choosing the study lounge in their dorm, which was tolerable during finals season, and with headphones, even more so. They spent the rest of the week there, although their eyes were constantly scanning around the room in case someone was coincidentally friends with the library boy and had invited them over to the dorm lounge, which Y/N knew was an irrational thought to have.
They found themselves back in the library before their last exam, though. It was just so tranquil there, among the books, they couldn’t help it.
Purple haired boy was right where he always was, sitting at the far right end of the table with his things splayed out around him.
When he noticed Y/N he gave them a wider smile than usual and shuffled a few of his things closer, knowing Y/N also liked to have their things surround them as they studied. Y/N brightened at his show of kindness and offered him a much cheerier smile than usual before setting their things down and getting to work.
“Missed you the past week.” Y/N almost jumped at his words. The most they’d ever spoken to one another was that time they almost ran into each other.
“I was trying out the study lounge at my dorm,” Y/N answered, waiting for their laptop to turn on. “It was fine, I guess.”
He smiled at them, again. Two in one day? Damn Y/N and you thought of trying out a cafe instead of the library.
“Do you come here every day?” Y/N asked, genuinely curious. He always seemed to be here when Y/N showed up.
“Usually, yeah. I do my homework here everyday, and study when I need to.” They’d both abandoned their notes for a second, turning to face each other better in their seats. Y/N had never really noticed it before, but he had noticeable eyebags, which somehow made his eye color more vibrant and made him look more attractive.
They held back any emotion of embarrassment on their face at the thought.
“I’m Y/N,” they said, fearful they’d blurt out “You’re hot!” instead.
“Shinso Hitoshi,” he replied, eyes never leaving theirs. “Do you like cafes, Y/N?”
“You know, I almost started studying here regularly instead of the library.”
Shinso and Y/N were at their usual table in the cafe a few blocks off campus. After Shinso had invited them over after their study session, Y/N had fallen even more in love with the atmosphere, and they spent some days there doing homework together. It had been months since their first real conversation, adn right after that the winter semester had ended and they’d had winter break, so they didn’t see each other again until the start of next semester.
Now they switched up their study sessions and homework sessions regularly, agreeing where to meet over text. Shinso had picked the cafe today, saying he was in the mood for some coffee, which he always seemed to be.
“But then we never would have met,” Shinso said, in a voice devoid of any emotion indicating this made him sad. But Y/N had learned to read him the past few weeks—his eyes were twinkling as he teased them.
“I know, right? Lucky I like the library so much, like a huge nerd.”
“And lucky I talked to you first.”
“I was going to talk to you eventually!” Y/N said indignantly, scoffing when Shinso laughed into his coffee cup. “I’m just shy!”
“Are you, or do I make you shy?” He was watching them in what appeared to be a nonchalant way—Y/N couldn’t decipher what he was thinking.
“Shut up,” they mumbled, failing to hide a sheepish smile. Shinso nudged his foot with theirs under the table.
“Remember when you practically ran away when you looked at me after I woke up?” He laughed at the memory. “I’ve never seen anyone pack up their things so quickly.”
Y/N had no retort for that. They focused back on their laptop, staring at their blank word doc.
Thankfully they were just getting ahead on homework today, and nothing was due this week. Doing work in the cafe was always a bit lazier, since Shinso was more talkative when he was caffeinated and Y/N loved to try the pastries they sold and got distracted by the extensiveness of their options.
“Hey.” Another nudge to the foot.
Y/N glanced up at Shinso, who was staring at them attentively from his side of the small table. “Wanna go out for dinner?”
Y/N froze. “Sure, if you’re buying.”
He laughed again, and Y/N couldn’t help but smile. “Is this like your fourth cup of coffee? You’re so friendly I should switch out your vitamins for caffeine pills.”
“I’d die,” Shinso said stoically. “And I meant that in a date way, Y/N.”
“Huh?Huh?”
“I’ll pick you up at seven, hows that sound?”
“Fine,” Y/N answered quickly, not wanting Shinso to think he’d caught them off guard. He was always trying to do that, and it was endearingly annoying. “Will we be crossing the river Styx together? Should I dress in all black?”
“Wha—”
“You said you’d die, and meant that in a date way,” Y/N explained slowly, as though Shinso were inebriated and not just caffeinated. “So, when is Thanatos coming?”
“Y/N I swear you’re too much of a nerd sometimes.”
They laughed, nudging his foot under the table. One point for Y/N.
synopsis: monoma, new to the pro hero world, moves into his new apartment near his agency. his neighbor leaves him their number on a sticky note plastered on his door, along with a corny joke. bored, he texts back. and it begins.
content:and they were neighbors, monoma likes crepes, he’s also so smitten hehe
Monoma had only lived in his new apartment for a day, and he already loved it.
He’d been able to snatch the one bedroom apartment away before anyone else at his agency, and his coworkers were jealous. It was only two blocks from the agency, it was surrounded by great places to get food, and there was even a movie theater nearby. Even the rent wasn’t so bad.
Monoma had been concerned it would be too good to be true—there had to be some sort of catch.
“Maybe your neighbors will suck,” Pony had supplied, looking at him hopefully. The two were eating lunch together at their new desks in the agency. “Then you can move out and I can take the apartment.” For such a nice person, she certainly had learned to use her innocent demeanor to her advantage.
Monoma was still unpacking his things, so he hadn’t had much time to sneakily spy on his neighbors to see if his friend was right. He could always move in with Tetsutetsu, who lived nearby. But he’d been looking forward to his own place, and now that he’d got it, he didn’t want to have to move out.
Since he’d moved in a Wednesday, he couldn’t fully unpack until the weekend. Work kept him busy throughout the week, especially because his new boss, Phantasm, was keen on easing new recruits into the busy life of being a pro hero. She was so nice to all of them, overseeing their first week herself, that Monoma kept forgetting she’d defeated six strong villains by herself a few years ago, with no backup.
Sometime throughout the week, a neighbor had left him a post-it note on his door. He’d brought it inside along with his groceries and had left it on his kitchen table all week, until he was doing some cleaning on Saturday and was reminded of it.
It was bright yellow, so he wasn’t sure how he’d managed to ignore it all week. On it someone had scrawled a knock knock joke, along with a phone number.
Knock, knock, [Who’s there?]
Olive. [Olive who?] Olive next door. Hi neighbor!
Here’s my number in case you ever need anything!
- Y/N
Monoma actually laughed aloud, and then slapped a hand over his mouth as though afraid someone would hear him. He sat down at the kitchen table and saved the contact to his phone, then quickly moved to look up his own joke. He’d already unpacked all of his belongings, put away his groceries. Nothing to do with the rest of his evening but reply to this text message and go to sleep ridiculously early.
Hey, Y/N. Thanks for leaving your number and that corny joke. Let’s see if mine can beat yours.
What do you call a man that irons clothes?
Iron Man.
- Monoma Neito
He was giddy with his cleverness the rest of the day. Unless Y/N happened to be a UA Hero follower, they wouldn’t recognize him for his job just yet. And yes, it was possibly the dumbest joke he could find, but he thought it was stupidly funny, and Y/N seemed like the kind of person to enjoy it.
Monoma got ready for bed the second his message had sent. He put his phone on silent as he did, not wanting to get woken up by a random call from his parents or a friend. He had an early shift tomorrow, and he really didn’t want to have to chug five cups of coffee by the end of it.
His alarm woke him up a few hours later, and he scrambled to change out of his pajamas and into jeans before running out the door. He could get breakfast while on patrol.
On his short walk over, he realized Y/N had answered his text.
AHAHAHAHA thank you for that! And thank you for not being super loud, the last person who lived there loved to blast music at ungodly hours so it’s nice to have a quiet neighbor for a change :)
There wasn’t really anything else to say—and normally Monoma would’ve let the conversation die out, and only speak to his neighbor when he had to. He walked into the agency, greeting everyone without looking up from his phone, and migrated over to the locker rooms to change into his costume.
Oh i’ll be an excellent neighbor no need to worry about that
He was still holding his phone when he left for patrol. It was his first time being out alone—normally another sidekick would be paired with him. But Phantasm was easing them into being alone more often, and he was glad there wasn’t anyone else around to see him constantly checking his phone for a reply from Y/N.
Monoma wasn’t sure why he’d grown attached to them so quickly, especially since he’d never even seen them before.
Then he realized it was 4AM, and Y/N was probably asleep. Which made him feel even more pathetic.
He didn’t have time to think about it much, though. After his patrol he went back to the agency and was bombarded with more paperwork, talk of insurance policies through the agency, and a bunch of other things that gave him a headache.
The next week wasn’t much better. The only time he felt less exhausted was when Y/N texted him.
He’d looked them up, and wasn’t at all surprised to see they were cute, even in their ID photo. He had yet to meet them in person, but the text messages were more than enough to leave him with butterflies in his stomach every time his phone pinged with a notification.
Y/N quickly deduced his job was at fault for his odd response times. Monoma was careful not to say too much about it, not wanting to give specifics, and Y/N didn’t pry. They talked about virtually everything: Y/N shared gossip on their fellow neighbors, he talked about his coworkers, and they both speculated on which new businesses would get the highest ratings. They lived near streets of businesses, and Monoma was surprised they’d never run into each other there, since they both frequented them so often.
Monoma refused to tell any of his coworkers about his new friendship. Pony seemed to think something was up, though, because she was always glancing at his phone when she sat down to do paperwork, as though expecting a phone call to happen in that instant so she could eavesdrop.
After a particularly tiring day, Monoma almost asked Pony to give him a ride home, two blocks down. But he ended up shuffling out of the agency alone after changing back into his regular clothes, yawning tiredly. Phantasm had shown everyone the gym the agency had, and then he’d sparred for a while with his coworkers, which had tired him out.
Monoma immediately straightened when he entered the apartment building to see someone setting down groceries in front of the door beside his. They were struggling with their keys, four bags of groceries behind them as they did.
“Need any help?”
They whirled around to face him just as they got their door unlocked. Recognition settled onto their expression.
“Likewise, Y/N,” he answered, easily lifting all the bags of groceries in his arms and following Y/N inside to their apartment. It was the same layout as his, but Y/N had considerably more decoration and furniture, since they’d been living here longer. Monoma was still hunting for a few last finishing touches to his own apartment.
“You can set them down on the table,” Y/N said, hurrying to remove the mail that was on it. “Thanks so much.”
He set them down and glanced around their apartment. It was cosy, way cosier than his. “You’re welcome.”
“Do you want to stay for dinner?” Y/N asked, flying past him to start sorting groceries. “I bought lots of things to make…” They paused, looking at their groceries laid out on the table. “You know, I didn’t have anything planned. But I don’t have guests a lot, so I thought I’d offer!”
Monoma smiled as they studied the ingredients they’d bought. “How about crepes?”
Y/N brightened considerably at that. “Great! Do you by any chance know how to make those, because I do not.”
Monoma got to work. Y/N grabbed the ingredients from around the kitchen as he read them off his phone, and they both got to measuring everything out.
“Isn’t it unwise to let in a strange man to help you cook a delicious dinner?” Monoma asked after a long stretch of silence. They were both watching the crepes cook in the skillet.
“It would be, yes,” Y/N said, expertly flipping over the krepe. “But I googled you.”
“Oh.”Oh.
“Oh I’m not trying to say—” They quickly took the skillet off the stove top and transferred the finished krepe onto a plate where Monoma then added the powdered sugar and fruit. He set it down next to the other finished plate and they both sat down to eat. “I just didn’t want to be texting a creep, you know? I really didn’t expect you to be… you.”
He laughed at that. “I’m just teasing. I looked you up, too.”
Y/N laughed along with him. “Nothing too interesting, right? I tried not to read about you a lot, since that would’ve been super weird, especially since now you’re sitting in my kitchen and we’re eating together.”
Monoma happily ate his crepe. His wonderful cooking skills had paid off again.
“Such a shame. I’m a very interesting person, you know.”
“Oh I don’t doubt that,” Y/N closed their eyes as they ate the crepe. “This ish sho good!” they said as they chewed. “Thank you!”
“You’re welcome.” They ate in silence for a while, the only sounds filling the small kitchen the clinking of their forks against the plates.
“You’re probably wondering why I left you a corny joke,” Y/N said after they’d finished their crepe. “Truthfully, the landlady told me you were a handsome young guy moving in next door, and I just wanted to have a good relationship with my neighbor. And she wasn’t wrong about the handsome either, so that doesn’t hurt.”
Monoma almost choked on his krepe. Y/N frantically smacked his back and he managed to swallow his last bite.
He hadn’t gotten this flustered since… since forever. He was a bit of an asshole, he knew that, so he didn’t always make a good impression on people.
“So you looked me up and decided to shoot your shot with a knock knock joke?” He sputtered out, gratefully taking the glass of water from Y/N.
“I mean, yeah,” Y/N looked embarrassed. “And hey, it worked didn’t it? You just made me dinner.”
Monoma tried to hide his smile as he drank water.
“How about tomorrow we go out to that restaurant you’ve been meaning to try?” he asked innocently. “The one next to the flower shop.”
“It’s a date,” Y/N smiled cheekily, as though they already knew this would make him blush. Was he that easy to read, or did they just know him that well already? They’d been talking over text for a few weeks, even over the phone a few times. But being here in person with them was different. He felt like he’d accidentally say something way too real way too quickly, and his heart was constantly beating much too quickly to be healthy. He was whipped, and he knew it.
“Great. See you then.” He helped Y/N wash dishes despite their complaints. He washed, and they dried, both of them standing close enough to press against each other each time they moved.
When they’d finally finished Monoma was feeling sleepy, so he wished Y/N a good night before heading next door.
“Night,” he murmured, his eyes already drooping. Y/N was holding back a smile. “Good night.”
He kissed them on the cheek before he walked out the door, then stumbled into his own apartment to fall asleep, his lips warm where they’d touched Y/N’s cheek. The thought of what he’d just done almost jerked him into a state of full consciousness, but he willed himself to fall asleep instead, smiling at the pleasant feeling in his stomach just at the thought of Y/N’s surprised face when he’d kissed them.
synopsis: izuku is a terrible friend. he’s been lying to his best friend, y/n for over two years now. they’ve been friends since they started high school, but izuku can’t bring himself to burden y/n with a secret that could be dangerous for them. and he also hasn’t fully realized his feelings for them, so he’s just full of struggles at this point.
content:superhero stuff, makeout sesh at the end, clueless izuku
“Language, Midoriya!” Izuku contained a scream when he realized this was a livestream and not a pre-recorded video of his mentor talking to him.
“Sorry!” he squeaked. He adjusted his seat on the rooftop, his legs dangling over the edge. He’d gotten a message from an unknown number to leave his apartment for a while to answer a call, so he’d swung up to one of his favorite rooftops (while wearing his suit to avoid extra attention as some random kid using web shooters to travel from rooftop to rooftop). He was glad he’d kept his suit’s mask on, if only to conceal the way his jaw dropped when he realized it was the one and only All Might who’d called him.
A week after that spider had bitten him two months ago, just as he was starting to adjust to his heightened senses and finally learning to control his “sticky” touch, he’d gotten a single card in the mail, with no return address. It had a number written on it, with the symbol of All Might on the bottom. Izuku had spent that entire day freaking out, contemplating whether this was some government trap to capture him and study him, or whether it was actually his favorite superhero trying to get into contact with him.
Finally, he’d caved. He’d left his apartment to call the number, afraid that the second he called it someone would trace it to his apartment and kidnap him.
Someone had picked up on the first ring.
“Midoriya Izuku!”
He’d almost fainted right then and there.
All Might was on the other line, and he spent over an hour explaining to Izuku what exactly had happened to him, and how he could use this new power to help people, if he was willing. Izuku immediately accepted the offer, not entirely sure what he was getting himself into. Two weeks later, his mom told him a package had come for him. It was an otherwise inconspicuous box, with no return address. Izuku opened it in his room, and he was very glad he did.
It was a suit. His suit. After his call with All Might, and after he’d been recruited on his team (that still felt way too surreal to even think of) he’d started designing a suit, mainly for fun. He’d been a superhero nerd ever since he was little, and he’d had his fair share of old costumes his mom had made him. But none of them matched his new abilities, so Izuku designed his own. He’d sent a picture of it, plus his notes on it, to the number All Might had left him, and now he was looking at it come to life, sitting in a box on his bed. The second he tried it on he knew he hadn’t made a mistake.
Every small detail he’d included in his notes had come alive in the suit. Whoever had made it had even left a note on how to perfect his web formula, and clear instructions on how to tweak the suit to upgrade it if Izuku wanted to. It was perfect.
He was only allowed to use it, and his new abilities, when he got “the phone call.” The call was always from an unknown number, and always from a member of All Mights team, a man who insisted Izuku call Radio. Radio would send him out on small missions, always in the afternoon, which All Might explained was to ensure his work would never interfere with school. It was the summer before he started high school, so this wasn’t a major concern. That, and the missions were always pretty low risk. Capture this bad guy, drop him off at the police station. Take back this dangerous chemical, leave it at the All Mighty lab at HQ. Small stuff.
But not small enough to avoid the internet. Pretty soon he had his fair share of fans, and it flustered him. He was still just a kid, and he’d already been dubbed Spider-Man from countless enthusiastic strangers online. If he were in their shoes, an innocent bystander/hero geek, he would’ve done the same, so Izuku couldn’t really blame them.
Radio had gone silent for a month, which concerned him. All Might’s call had been the first one in a while, and Izuku had assumed it would be Radio when he answered. He started high school in two weeks, which had been a great distraction. He was scrambling to get everything he needed together.
“Holding up well, my boy?” All Might asked him now. He looked like he was sitting in his office at HQ, which Izuku had only seen in videos posted online. Izuku nodded mutely, still in shock. He hadn’t talked to All Might in a while: since he’d asked Izuku to join his expanding team of emerging superheroes. Izuku wasn’t sure how many members were on the team now, since more and more had been appearing, and they all remained anonymous for safety purposes, and to avoid government intervention. Many of them were thought to just be rumors, because no one had ever seen them in person. But Izuku was fairly confident every single rumor was true. HQ had overflowing resources, he’d come to realize. Much more than they let on.
“I’m just calling to check in,” All Might continued. “And to let you know you won’t be getting anymore odd calls from Radio.”
“I won’t?” Izuku tried to keep the sadness out of his voice. Hadn’t he been doing a good job? He thought he’d been doing a good job. What had gone wrong? He’d kept his promise of secrecy, telling his mom those afternoons and evenings he disappeared were because he was doing an internship at one of All Might’s tech hubs (which wasn’t technically a lie).
“We don’t need to coddle you any longer, Radio reports,” All Might said. “We will of course call you for any missions, but for now you’re free to use the suit for hero work, whenever you’d like. Radio told me you chose an internship alibi—very wise, young Midoriya. I’ll have someone leave a paper trail of that in case inquiries are made.” Izuku heard background noise, and All Might’s eyes travelled around the office, looking at things out of camera shot.
“I have to go now, my boy. Remember to be discrete, don’t do anything too dangerous without calling Radio. His number’s been left in your phone. Goodbye now!” And with that he hung up, leaving Izuku dazed and sitting on a rooftop to contemplate this new burden of freedom.
Izuku started high school soon after. He’d kept up with his workout training, which consisted of walking upside down all over his room, lifting the odd broken down car or two, and regular workouts. And he’d started patrolling the city’s streets every afternoon, after he’d shown his mom the email congratulating him on his acceptance into the daily internship All Might had forged for him.
Izuku was pretty nervous about starting high school, and his nerves were heightened the second he stepped into his homeroom class.
“Not this nerd,” he heard the familiar drawl of an old friend. “Get the hell out, Deku.”
Izuku didn’t pay him any attention. Ever since he’d realized he could literally swat Kacchan away like a fly if he really wanted to, his taunts didn’t bother him much. Still, Izuku chose the seat farthest from his corner of the room, where he’d already sat down and was talking with classmates. He sat down in the far corner, near the windows.
“Why’s he say it like that,” he heard someone say from the seat behind him. “Deku,” they breathed, in an over exaggerated but otherwise accurate mocking of Kacchan’s voice.
Izku couldn’t contain his laugh, turning in his seat to glance behind him.
Apparently his classmate didn’t think they’d be heard—they had a sheepish expression on their face. They offered him a small smile. “Sorry. Just hate jackasses like him.”
“He’s not so bad,” Izuku confided in a low voice, fearful Kacchan would somehow hear them from across the room. “That’s just how he is.”
“Hmm. If you say so. I’m Y/N, by the way.”
“Midoriya Izuku.”
“Nice to meet you,” Y/N beamed, and it made Izuku feel a new kind of warmth. He hadn’t had a lot of friends in middle school, what with being the kid people picked on and all. And here he was, in a new school, with a secret identity, and with a friendly classmate who didn’t hate him.
Maybe high school wouldn’t treat him as badly as middle school.
“Nice to meet you too, Y/N.”
Sometimes, Izuku felt like his mom knew what he was up to. He’d had to excuse one too many black eyes, and the bruises not hidden by his clothes. He was constantly refraining from blurting out “I’m Spider-Man!” every time they sat down to watch TV together.
Izuku had been “Spider-Man” for a little over two years now, and he’d managed to keep his identity hidden. He hadn’t been sent on any more missions, and hardly got any phone calls from HQ anymore. Radio still sent him a “keep up the good work” every few weeks, especially if he ever ended up on the local news. But he’d just been patrolling the neighborhoods of the city, and helping the local police out by catching the odd criminal or two. He’d become a familiar friendly face to the city, and he was perfectly happy with how things were going.
With his superhero life, that is. His civilian life was a bit different.
His grades slipped sometimes, because he spent a lot of his free time swinging around skyscrapers and kicking bad guy butt and less time working on homework, but he always managed to catch up and avoid failing out completely. And a lot of that was thanks to his friends.
Izuku didn’t know what he’d do without Iida, Uraraka, and Y/N. Iida was never shy about expressing his disappointment in Izuku and his missing homework assignments. But he always lent him his notes to catch up. Uraraka would fling pencils at him in class if he ever fell asleep, and would help him convince teachers he’d do better next time, since she was well loved by everyone on the staff. And Y/N…
Y/N kept Izuku afloat, and had been doing that ever since they became friends when they started high school. They were put into practically all of the same classes, and they’d bonded over group projects, late study nights, and even bus rides to school since they lived in the same area. If he ever came home late at night, and his mom let him know Y/N had called to check in, he was never too tired to talk to them. Even though he had to cancel plans with them a lot, and they covered for him the few times he skipped afternoon classes to chase a lead, they still stuck by his side.
Every time it was just the two of them hanging out, which was becoming a dishearteningly rare occurrence, he almost blurted out the truth, too.
But then he remembered the promise he’d made to All Might, and to himself for that matter.
“No one can know who you are, my boy,” All Might had said. “If the truth about you reaches enemy ears, they may get to you before we can. And I do not want the government hunting you, either.”
If Izuku told Y/N, he was sure they wouldn’t tell anyone. But there was the risk of someone finding out that they knew who Spider-Man was, and taking them hostage to lure him out. He’d thought of the possibilities and consequences of his secret getting out too many times, and the dangers outweighed the positives.
So he lied. To protect everyone around him.
“I’ve got the internship, sorry!” Was probably his most used phrase. His close friends had stopped inviting him out after school, knowing he was more available on weekend mornings. Y/N showed up to his house at night sometimes, around the time he came home. Inko chatted with her until he returned, or went to bed early to get up early for work. Y/N would sleep on the couch in the living room, or on a futon in Izuku’s room whenever they showed up late at night. Inko never minded, and Izuku would always reassure Y/N of that. “I’m pretty sure she likes you more than me,” he’d always joke.
Now, sitting in Chemistry with Y/N beside him, the irrational urge to whisper his secret returned. Y/N was actually a pretty big Spider-Man fan, and Izuku knew they’d freak out if he told them who he was. They turned slightly to stare back at him, making a funny face before turning back to face their teacher. Izuku breathed out a laugh and went back to his halfhearted note taking. Chemistry was his best subject, and he got along with the teacher very well. So much so that he was allowed to do experiments on his own, as long as he didn’t use anything from the locked up dangerous chemical cabinet in the back of the classroom. So Izuku used what he could to make his webs, making it quickly in between classes or before school and stashing it in his locker.
The rest of the day crawled by. Izuku was constantly checking the time—he’d come to memorize where every clock in the entire school was placed. He was chasing a breadcrumb trail of some small scale grocery store robberies, and was so close to getting something big enough to call it into Radio, who could compile everything neatly and report it to the appropriate authorities. Spider-Man never got credit for situations like that, but Izuku never cared about the attention. He’d see the arrest story on the news and feel giddy all week, knowing he’d played a role in taking down a bad guy.
The second the end of the day came Izuku was off, waving goodbye to his friends and promising Y/N he’d be done before the sun set, something he was for once confident in.
A few blocks away from school, he stashed his backpack and quickly stripped off his clothes. A few times he’d been caught, half naked, by people who lived nearby, but he hadn’t had an incident like that in a while. He slipped on his suit, stuffed his clothes into his backpack hurriedly. He then put his backpack into a clean trash bag he brought with him, and put it in the dumpster. It wasn’t trash day, no need to worry about that. And he hadn’t seen anyone keen on digging through the dumpsters in this area, so it was safe.
And then he was off. He’d restocked on webs for today, but he still did his best to conserve what he could for emergency uses. Pretty soon he was closing in on what he thought would be the next robbery site, when he got a call. Not on his phone, but through his suit. HQ.
He stumbled onto a rooftop, almost failing to stop his momentum and tumbling over the edge. He sat down hard to answer the call.
“Hey kid,” Radio’s voice sounded from inside his suit, as though Izuku was wearing headphones.
“Hi,” Izuku replied. “I was in the middle of—”
“Yeah, I read your texts,” Radio yawned. “No worries kid, what you had was enough. Cops already got them.”
“Really?” Izuku let out a sigh of relief. “I was a bit scared it happened while I was in school. Thank you, Radio!”
“Good job on it, spidey boy. Keep it up.” And with that he hung up. Izuku smiled, letting out a loud shout of happiness on the rooftop where no one would hear him. He decided to call it an early day—Radio would have told him to keep patrolling if he had something pressing for him to do, but he hadn’t. And Izuku could easily slip on his suit again at home and swing out into the night. It was Friday, which meant he could stay out as long as he wanted to (without his mom knowing, of course).
On his way home, he made small stops to help a few people after getting his backpack back. Helping a dog walker get untangled from a hoard of leashes, giving a tourist directions, and helping shut off an old lady’s car alarm. By the time his apartment building was in view, he felt he’d done his part in helping the city out today.
He quietly opened up his window, afraid his mom might be home, although she usually went out to visit Mitsuki on Fridays, and rolled onto his bedroom floor with ease, landing in a crouch facing his bed.
He wasn’t sure who was more surprised to see who—Y/N to see their favorite superhero, here in their best friend’s room, or Izuku to see them, crying on the floor of his bedroom.
For a second they both froze. Izuku was glad he hadn’t slipped off his mask yet. At this distance, there would be no way Y/N didn’t recognize him.
“Wrong room!” he said, willing his voice to sound a bit deeper than what it actually was so Y/N wouldn’t recognize it. He didn’t move from his position. “So sorry for intruding but… are you okay?”
Y/N was still frozen, staring. “Wrong room?” they repeated.
“Yeah, my place is near here and this is actually the second time I’ve messed up on the window entrance,” he said quickly. “Sorry for barging into your room like this.”
“It’s okay, not my room,” Y/N wiped the tears off their cheeks. “It’s my friend’s.” A few more tears slipped down their cheeks as they spoke.
He went from his crouching position to sitting with his legs crossed, scooching a bit closer to Y/N. “What’s your name?”
“Y/N,” they replied, giving him a watery smile. “I’m actually a big fan of yours. Didn’t expect to meet you like this.” They laughed quietly.
Izuku had never wanted to hug someone more. Just wrap them up in his arms, tell them everything was okay.
“I’m here now,” he said, as cheerfully as he could. “Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?”
Y/N sniffled and eyed him suspiciously, as though just now realizing there was a strange arachnid man in their best friend’s room.
“Thank you,” they said. “That’s really nice of you, everyones right when they call you the friendly neighborhood superhero.” They took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m just a bit confused, that’s all.”
“Confused?”
“Mhmm,” Y/N said, reaching up to place a hand on their chest. “About my feelings.”
“How so?” He hoped he didn’t slip up and use his real tone of voice. Y/N would recognize it, even in the state they were in now.
“I think I’m in love with my best friend.”
Izuku froze. Y/N was too busy staring down at their feet to notice, and he quickly composed himself, hoping his heart didn’t beat out of his chest in shock.
“Really? Isn’t that a happy topic, love?”
“I guess,” Y/N let out another quiet laugh. “But I think this love is more one-sided. And besides, he deserves way more than me.’
“Don’t say that!” He couldn’t help himself. Y/N stared at him with wide eyes. “Look, I don’t know you, but you seem really nice and you’re really cute, and if your best friend doesn’t see that then that’s on him!” Wow, way to fix the fact that your best friend probably hates you and your cluelessness, Izuku.
Y/N smiled, tears no longer flowing. “Thanks, Spider-Man.”
“No problem,” he responded, getting to his feet. “I should get going. Tell him how you feel, Y/N.” He walked back over to the window, climbing halfway out before turning around to say one last thing. “He might feel the same way.” He waved and then swung out of view, landing onto the rooftop. He quickly stripped off his clothes, not really caring if anyone saw him. He changed back into his regular clothes and hurried down the rooftop stares, desperately trying to get to his apartment before Y/N decided to take Spider-Man’s advice literally and leave Izuku behind for being a love blind idiot.
“Y/N?” He burst into his apartment, panting slightly.
“Yeah?” Y/N’s voice came from his room, sounding way less nasally. “You’re back early.”
He walked into his room to find Y/N sitting on his bed, not looking at all like they’d been crying. He must’ve been in here not five minutes ago, and they already looked so composed.
“Yeah, finished up early today!” Izuku chirped, setting his stuff down in the corner of his room, kicking his backpack into his closet so Y/N wouldn’t study it closely and realize it was the exact same one Spider-Man had been wearing. “My mom’s going to have dinner with Mitsuki today, want to go out and grab some food?”
“Sure,” Y/N responded. “Your turn to pick.”
Izuku ended up not confessing his feelings for Y/N that afternoon. They’d run into Iida, who was buying a new set of No. 2 pencils for testing season, and the three of them had gone out to get dinner. Izuku had asked Y/N if they wanted to sleep over that day, but they declined, saying they hadn’t given their parents the heads up. So the three parted ways after they ate, and Izuku was left alone with his thoughts.
He’d stepped into the doorway of the apartment before deciding that no, he wasn’t about to chicken out and let Y/N think they weren’t good enough for him for a second longer. He slammed the door shut, much harder than necessary, and hurried down the stairs, dialing Y/N’s number as he did.
“Hello?”
“Where are you?” Izuku asked, bursting out of the building and running towards Y/N’s address at full speed.
“You just walked me home you dweeb. I’m in my room,” Y/N replied. “Why?”
“Stay there!” Izuku yelped and narrowly avoided running into someone. “I have to tell you something.”
“Are you running?” Y/N asked, hiding a laugh. “What is it, did you finally realize I stole your All Might shirt? You have plenty, and I wanted to see how long I’d get away with it!”
He was flying up the stairs to Y/N apartment, and finally reached their door. He knocked before letting himself in, knowing Y/N was bad at locking it after they got home.
“What—”
He dropped his phone onto Y/N’s bed, where they were staring at him in confusion, and, before he could talk himself out of it, took their face into his hands, and leaned down to kiss them.
If his entire body had been buzzing before, it was on fire now. Y/N’s lips felt so nice against his, they felt so warm. He hated himself for waiting so long to kiss them.
When he broke away he was panting slightly, running his tongue over his lips. Y/N opened their eyes to stare into his, and touched their lips with their fingertips.
“I’ve wanted to do that for a year now,” Izuku breathed, still standing over them and still holding onto their face. “I like you a whole lot, Y/N, and I—”
They tugged him down to kiss him again, hands gripping onto his shirt before pulling him onto the bed on top of them, never once letting go of him.
“Y/N,” Izuku broke away for a second, unable to hide his smile. He was carefully hovering above them, hands on either side of their face, not wanting to rest his entire body weight on them “Sorry for not telling you sooner.”
“Hmm, that’s okay now,” Y/N said, running their fingers through his hair and tugging at it lightly. “Especially now. You’re a great kisser, Izuku.”
He smiled and leaned down to kiss them again.
He’d never been more grateful for being Spider-Man—to think he was going to keep these feelings all to himself before today. He felt guilty about making Y/N feel that way, and he made a mental note to find a way to make it up to them. But right now, he was focused on the present, the way their lips felt against his, the way their hands were in his hair and then underneath his shirt.
Sure, swinging from building to building and getting that feel of freedom was nice, but this feeling was a thousand times better. Incomparable, really.
synopsis: after planning a special, all-day date with y/n, mirio falls asleep thrilled for the next day. only to wake up to rainy weather. he arrives at y/n’s house, completely soaked and disappointed in the weather. y/n quickly cheers him up, and they spend the day baking.
Y/N had been the angel sent from heaven who’d introduced him to Pinterest (and was also the love of his life, yes that too). Mirio had grown very attached to the app, and had most recently been using it to gain inspiration for a whole day date with Y/N. He’d had lots of fun planning the day and adding things to his board.
He’d been telling Y/N about it for a while now—both of them were excited. They’d been so busy the past few months, and their outings consisted of grocery shopping together and napping on each other’s couches when they were too lazy to get dressed and go for ice cream.
But Mirio was determined to put an end to this sleepy, albeit very enjoyable, romance they’d fallen accustomed to. He was determined to have a nice, fun, romantic day with Y/N. So he planned when he could, although there wasn’t too much to do. He just liked speculating on how they’d spend their day.
He’d made a Pinterest board, and the universe had punished him for his wishful thinking.
The night before the eventful date day, Mirio double checked his weather app. Cloudy clear skies, it had reported. No chance for rain.
When he awoke, he almost screamed in surprise. The perfect day had been ruined before it even began. Rain was falling, heavily, outside of his window, washing away his plans.
Still, he got dressed. He’d promised to spend the day with Y/N, and the rain would make for a perfect day indoors. They could have another movie marathon. Cheerful at the thought he hurried to get dressed and out the door, only to be drenched. Of course it was also windy that day, and his umbrella did little to shield him from the wetness.
By the time he reached Y/N’s place he’d practically abandoned his umbrella. Y/N opened the door to find their boyfriend soaked through and through, looking more like a dejected puppy than ever.
He wordlessly walked inside and accepted the towel Y/N already had ready for him. He did his best to dry himself off, but the towel did very little to help.
“I’ve got some of your clothes laid out in the bathroom,” Y/N said sympathetically. “Go on and change, I’ll look for something to do!”
Mirio brightened slightly and hurried off to change. He’d noticed Y/N was still in their pajamas, and the clothes that were waiting for him in the bathroom were some spare pajamas he’d left from his last few visits. He changed and went to place his ruined clothes in the laundry room. When he returned to the living room Y/N was nowhere to be seen.
“Kitchen!”
Mirio shuffled into the kitchen to find Y/N scrambling around, pulling ingredients out of the fridge and pantries, with a wide assortment of bowls and measuring cups laid out on the table. Mirio was quick to help them, starting to unbox the cupcake batter and get to work.
“I had lots of leftover stuff from our last baking day,” Y/N paused to start some music on their phone. “And baking always cheers you up, so I thought we could do that today.”
“Did you know it was going to rain?” Mirio was still disappointed in himself and his lack of weather acknowledgement.
“No,” Y/N answered honestly. “I was actually going to save all of this for next weekend! I love spending time with you no matter what, and seeing you plan out a special all day date for me was so cute I wanted to do something for you.”
Y/N talked about their own planned day as they both worked, and by the time they’d put the cupcakes into their molds Miri realized they’d planned a lot of the same activities.
“We’re just that in sync,” Y/N grinned at him. “Okay, while they bake let’s go watch some TV!”
Mirio was surprised they managed not to burn the cupcakes. They found a movie they’d been meaning to watch, and they became so engrossed in it they barely heard the timer going off, signaling the cupcakes were done.
They brought them over to the living room floor to eat after they’d topped them off with icing, and continued watching the movie. Y/N was so into it they didn’t noticed the icing on their nose, and Mirio thought it was so cute he didn’t want to tell them to wipe it off.
The rain was pattering against the windows, more gently than before, and Y/N’s presence against his was so warm. He didn’t mind the rain very much, in that moment.
synopsis:bakugo usually refrains from reading articles about him, since all they do is tick him off. the media never seems to paint him in a positive light. that is, until he reads an article that does. y/n is an up and coming journalist and avid hero fan, and is the first to interview the rising sidekick ground zero.
content: swearing, strangers to friends to lovers, bestie kirishima, hero geek y/n, bakugo is nice sometimes, speculation on the hero world bc the possibilities are endless
Bakugo had read his fair share of articles on other hero’s growing up, but ever since he actually became one he started to steer clear of them. At first he was glad people were writing about him. It was about time he was noticed for his actions.
And yes, he was acknowledged for whatever heroic act he’d done that week, but there was always a but, an although, a however. Journalists loved talking about how he scowled at photographers, refused to do any one on one interviews, and was never very warm with fans. In Bakugo’s defense, that was just the type of person he was. His coworkers assured him that his fans didn’t mind his “bitchy” demeanor (he hated this particular description of himself. He was anything but bitchy). And it was hard to not scowl at those annoying reporters, who always shoved aside any of his fans for the sake of taking a picture of him.
“They’re just doing their jobs,” Kirishima had said when Bakugo shared his frustrations with him. The two were at his apartment getting a drink, a once a month tradition that had begun when they both started working as sidekicks in the prohero world. Kirishima worked for a different agency, but Bakugo still ended up seeing him much more than he would’ve liked. Still, he was one of his best friends, and he couldn’t push him away, especially since he offered annoyingly good advice.
“I’ve met my fair share of annoying reporters, even though we’re still fairly new to all this,” Kirishima continued. “But there’s a handful of respectable ones. At least that’s what I’ve heard from some of the veterans at the agency.”
Bakugo scowled at the memory, drinking his morning coffee even faster than usual. He had yet to meet one of those more “respectable” reporters. He huffed to himself as he finished his coffee and quickly got ready for his shift, rushing out the door before the sun had even risen.
He was fond of the earlier shifts, the ones at odd hours. He didn’t get them often, and he wasn’t exactly able to request them, since his hours were odd enough as it was. But when they did happen he relished in the quiet of the city at midnight, at the peacefulness of the office when he went in for a bit to do paperwork. Sure, he missed out on action those days, but everyone in the agency had slow days at least once a month. Boss said it kept them sharp.
Bakugo popped into the agency to sign in for his shift, nodding idly at anyone just finishing their shifts. He changed into his costume and left once more, walking along the dark city streets. He was on high alert, especially since it was way too quiet. Usually he’d hear a car alarm, help out any police units with an odd cat burglar. But today it was eerily silent. As though the city were preparing for something big.
An hour passed; the silence remained. Bakugo kept checking his comms, ensuring they were still operational. He’d been checking them periodically for the past hour, but now he didn’t hear the familiar buzz when he checked it. Instead he heard static and a high pitched beep, so piercing he yanked his comms out of his ears.
He radioed in to the agency, and was met with more static. He was on his own.
It was almost 3AM, he was halfway across the city, much too far to run back to the agency for backup. Bakugo scowled at the thought. He didn’t need any help. And if anyone in the area was patrolling, they’d figure out what was about to happen, too.
The past few weeks the news had been filled with the story of two otherwise low-life villains who’d teamed up. One of them had an unconfirmed technology-based quirk, and the other one had a pyrokinetic quirk. Bakugo was up to date on their whereabouts thanks to the agency, and how close they were getting to their district. They’d gone silent a week ago, but now it looked like they were back.
They weren’t much of a threat, in Bakugo’s opinion. They mainly messed with the police and blew up an odd abandoned building or too, and no one had been hurt yet. It did cost a lot of damage to surrounding businesses and houses, though. More of a nuisance than dangerous attack.
But this particular part of the city was filled with apartment complexes. If they were close enough to mess with communication systems, then they were in the neighborhood. Miles away from the lone warehouses they’d been blowing up. Bakugo cursed under his breath as he jogged, scanning dark alleys for anything suspicious. He only encountered a few people as he ran, and told them to get inside, quick. They quickly obliged. He didn’t know how far these two villains were willing to escalate, but he couldn’t risk them taking an innocent hostage off the street. And he highly doubted they would blow up an apartment building. The entire hero and police force would be after them if they did.
He was nearing the shopping area of town when he heard whispering from an alley behind a cafe his coworkers often frequented. A few blocks from any residential areas. And every business on the street was closed—he was the only person around.
The whispering grew louder as he cautiously approached the alley to his right. His communications were still down, and he noticed the lights around the street were off as far as he could see.
“You need a doctor!” he heard a voice hiss, and another quickly shushed it.
“No,” the second voice replied, sounding a bit breathless. “I’m fine.”
Bakugo risked a peek over the cafe’s wall. Two people were sitting at the very end of the alley. The guy was sprawled out on the ground, a small puddle of blood near his leg. The girl was frantically applying pressure to the wound, but Bakugo figured that would do little to help. The guy did need a doctor.
He leaned back, hiding himself from view. It was safe to assume the guy was the pyro, and since he was injured it should be safe for Bakugo to use his quirk. The girl must’ve been controlling the tech around her, though he wasn’t sure how she’d messed with the lights. The only light source was the full moon above him and the odd star or too visible despite the light pollution. He could easily take them both in, though it’d be better to have someone else handle the arrest and containment. And they’d naturally try to attack him when they saw he wasn’t friendly.
He started hiding any visible weapons or obvious pro-hero things that were at his side behind him, shifting his belt. He slipped off his arm cannons and set them down carefully. His costume was the biggest issue, but thankfully he always had a spare t-shirt stuffed into a side pocket. He slipped it on over his costume, pulling it over his hidden support items, and stepped out into the alley.
“What’re you dumbasses doing?”
The guy immediately sat up, shooting out a feeble spray of fire that barely reached the ground in front of Bakugo’s feet. The girl scrambled to her feet, her hand in her hoodie pocket, gripping something. They were a few years older than him, by the looks of it. Hard looks of defiance in their eyes, ready to put up a fight. He almost snorted.
“Who’re you?” the girl snarled, bringing out a taser from her pocket. It was missing its outer casing, and she was holding it by the wires while pointing the front of it at him.
“I live here,” he answered, just as nasty. The two glanced around at that, eyeing the dumpster a few feet from them and the trash littered in the alley.
Okay, maybe not the best approach. Bakugo was suddenly very grateful for the courses he’d taken as a mandate to enter the hero agency he worked at now. One of them had been an undercover course, and at the time he thought it was a stupid waste of time. He wasn’t planning on being a spy, or infiltrating some villain gang anytime soon. But in a situation like the one he was in now, the tips he’d learned were coming in handy.
“Yeah, well, we’re a bit busy, so go find some other place to sleep,” the girl replied, still pointing the taser at him. The guy was still sitting up, though his face was quickly losing its color.
“Get back!” the girl screeched suddenly, the wires sparking with electricity. Bakugo felt someone else standing behind him. He half turned to see a somewhat familiar police officer, who was resting his hand on his gun at his side.
“Is there a problem here?” The officer was looking from Bakugo to the villains and back.
“No, officer there isn’t—”
But it was apparently too late. The girl shot a line of electricity straight at the cop, and it would’ve hit him in the face if Bakugo hadn’t intercepted it with his fire. It hissed as it went out.
He vaguely heard the officer calling for backup, shouting down the street, as Bakugo lurched forward, tackling the villains to the ground. The girl screamed and kicked at him, the taser whirring to life in her hands, but he quickly chucked it out of her grasp. The pyro was pinned beneath him, but he still somehow managed to wriggle an arm free and shoot a strong line of fire out blindly. Bakugo cursed and used his free hand to grab an anaesthetic shot he had in his array of “goodies” as Kirishima loved to call them. He jammed it into the guys arm and he went limp, and he used the other one on the girl. He climbed off of them, breathing hard. His t-shirt was full of holes from the near miss of both the taser and the fire, but he was otherwise fine.
He signaled for the police to come closer, and he got out of there way as they handcuffed them. The officer who’d found him bowed in apology, but Bakugo waved him off, finally walking out of the alley and into the street. He’d thought the pyro’s wild burst of fire had been random and a resort of his panic, but he’d been aiming, it seemed, for the only shop visible from the alley.
It was on fire, its windows shattered from the force of the pyro’s blast. The police were already keeping a crowd of concerned people away. Bakugo moved to radio in for firefighters when he heard someone screaming louder than anyone else in the crowd.
“The shop owners are still in there!” The man yelled, the crowd loudly agreeing. “They live up there!”
Bakugo dropped his radio and sprinted inside, ignoring the police’s shouts to wait for backup. He noticed this was the only shop that was two stories, one for the business and the other for residents. At first glance it just looked like a normal two-story business, and Bakugo hadn’t noticed it much when he was talking to the villains, but this must’ve been what they were going to sabotage next. The pyro had shot out a line of fire straight at it, and the alley was right in its line of view. How he’d gotten hurt before they could finish the plan, Bakugo didn’t know. That wasn’t his concern at the moment.
The heat was almost unbearable inside, but he didn’t stick around enough to feel it. He hurried up the stairs, which were barely beginning to catch fire. Upstairs the layout was like any apartment, and he saw the shop owners huddling as far away from the door as possible. They looked old, and the smoke was probably wearing them down too much for them to walk down the stairs on their own. Bakugo scooped them up easily, one over each shoulder, and was about to leave with them when the woman shouted for him to wait.
“Our cat!” she yelled. “He’s still here!”
Bakugo cursed and glanced around wildly for it, and spotted it trapped out on the fire escape, howling and scratching at the open crack of the window. Fire escape.
Bakugo slammed the door leading to the stairs closed and instead clambered out the fire escape, carefully setting down the wife and then her husband, then climbing out himself. He scooped them back up as best as he could and descended down, the cat resting on the woman’s back, its claws digging into Bakugo’s shoulder. Somehow he made it down fine and was able to lower them into the paramedics awaiting arms as the window they’d just made it out of exploded above. The crowd cheered when he clambered down from the fire escape, covered in soot and coughing from the smoke. He gave them a small smile before following a paramedic, desperate for an oxygen mask. He hated smoke.
Two ambulances sped away with the couple (and their cat—Bakugo had made sure to set the cat down on the woman’s gurney) and soon reporters were on the scene talking into mics and facing cameras. Bakugo was away from the fire and crowd, and his coworker found him easily.
He couldn’t remember getting back to the agency, or home for that matter. The paramedic must’ve cleared him, and then his coworker and deskmate, Affable, had to have dragged him back to the agency and then his apartment. Bakugo was grateful he wasn’t taken to the hospital—the press somehow always found him, and he hated being seen in those hideous hospital gowns. It made him look weak, small. He could sleep off sheer exhaustion and a smidge of smoke inhalation on his own.
And yet, what he couldn’t escape was Kirishima.
“Morning!” Bakugo groaned and stepped aside to let him in, still too tired to argue with anyone. It was the ass crack of dawn, and since he’d been given the day off to rest, Bakugo had planned to do just that. Kirishima had others plans, it seemed.
“I’m off work right now,” Kirishima said, sitting down on the couch and dropping the newspaper he was carrying onto Bakugo’s coffee table in front of the TV. “And look what I picked up on my way to check on you.”
Bakugo sat down on the other edge of the couch, snatching the newspaper off the table to examine it.
The front page was unimportant, something about a politician Bakugo didn’t care very much about, but Kirishima told him to flip to the next page. He did, not sure why he was listening to him, and saw what Kirishima must’ve been talking about.
Why this picture and its story that followed weren’t front page news, he didn’t know. It was a shot of Bakugo heading down the fire escape with the shop owners and their cat, the fire blazing around him. There was an article below it, taking up the top half of the page. Kirishima settled down for a short nap on the couch as Bakugo read it.
The newspaper was pretty well known—Bakugo himself read it online weekly. He even remembered seeing the journalist’s name a few times. Y/N.
They were damn good, whoever they were. Bakugo assumed they were on the scene from how well written the article was. But everything was taken directly from the eyewitnesses on the scene: the shop owners who’d been among the crowd in the street, and even the old couple themselves. We’ve written to the young man’s agency, and if he reads this article I hope he knows we are very grateful for all he did for us!
“It’s good right?” Kirishima was eyeing him from the other side of the couch, a small smile on his face. Bakugo just scoffed and tossed it back on the couch, reaching for the TV remote.
“I guess.”
It was better than good, if he was being honest. It reminded him of the articles he used to read when he was younger, the ones about his favorite heroes. There wasn’t an iota of bad mouthing directed at him, everything was simple and straight to the point, which would seem average to anyone else. But in the hero world where trivial things were always getting blown out of proportion or where a single second could make or break you, it was a great thing for his career. He hoped.
When he returned to work he found the newspaper clipping hung up on the bulletin board specialized for news articles on the agency’s heroes. Seeing it considerably brightened his mood to the point where he didn’t mind extra paperwork. He was to remain on desk duty for the whole day, and then return to his regular shifts. Normally he would’ve demanded to be on patrol, but he quietly took the desk duty with no complaints (which raised a few eyebrows) and sped through his tasks for the day. By lunch time he had some freedom to do as he pleased, so he sat with his lunch and read past news articles.
They were all from the newspaper that had published his fire rescue, and all by the same author. Y/N seemed to be an up and coming journalist from what Bakugo gathered. All of their pieces were great, with personal eye witness accounts and even some with the heroes themselves, which Bakugo knew was hard to get often. They’d even done some sit down interviews, although not as big as those hour-long sit downs they aired on TV sometimes. These were all through the newspaper and online. No video or anything, just a typed up transcript of their conversation with laid out background information on the hero being interviewed.
Bakugo had always refused one-on-one interviews, and his agency had let him avoid them. He was still pretty new to hero work, and Bakugo had figured such a personal interview was something he could do when he had his own agency or something (which he had planned out to happen in a little over a year from now). Right now he was focusing on his job.
But the fact that this Y/N person had made him actually want to read a one-on-one interview with Deku that they’d done a few months ago made him reconsider.
He abruptly stood, startling a few of his coworkers that were eating lunch around him. He stalked towards Boss’s office and opened the door after he knocked. Boss was eating her lunch, too, it seemed, and she waved Bakugo inside. He stood in front of her desk, waiting for her to finish chewing before he spoke.
“I saw that article the Daybreak wrote on you!” She beamed at him, momentarily forgetting about her sandwich. “Great job.”
He bowed stiffly, not wanting to get scolded (again) for being rude.
“So, what can I do for you?” She leaned back in her chair, eyeing him with sparkling eyes as though she already knew what he was going to ask.
“If they ask for an interview, I’ll accept.”
Boss smiled at him. “Okay, I’ll let PR know you’re willing. Y/N-san, right?”
He contained his surprise, nodding stiffly instead.
“Yeah, they’re great, best of the best right now. Good eye Bakugo! I’ll let the correct people know. Get out so I can eat!” She smiled and went back to her food, and Bakugo bowed again and left. As he closed the door behind him he saw heads turning away from him swiftly. Nosy ass coworkers. He went back to his desk, satisfied.
The weeks crawled by. Bakugo did a group interview with a few of the other sidekicks in the agency, and it went well in his eyes. He was told the agency was bombarded with more requests, but they’d declined them politely. There was a limit to how much time they could be off prancing in front of cameras in Boss’s eyes. But the times interviews and public things of the sort were presented to anyone in the agency, they were big opportunities that had big results. No one questioned Boss much, and Bakugo had learned not too either.
“Bakugo!” she barked, making him jump slightly in surprise. His deskmate snickered quietly and immediately went back to his paperwork when he glared at them, standing to walk to Boss’s office. Sometimes she’d call all of them in randomly, just to check on them, or ask how patrol went. He figured this would be one of those times.
He stepped into her office and immediately noticed someone sitting in the chair in front of her desk.
“Sit, sit,” Boss said from her seat. “Exciting news for you!”
He sat, eyeing the stranger warily. They offered him a tentative smile in greeting.
“This is Y/N from the Daybreak Times. They reached out wanting to interview with you, and PR accepted on your behalf.” Y/N was watching him closely, almost anxiously, as though expecting him to decline on the spot.
“Okay.”
“Splendid,” Boss smiled at them both. Y/N’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “I’ll let you guys work out the details, and if you need anything Y/N let me or anyone in PR know! This’ll be great for the agency and especially for Bakugo, we’re pleased you wanted to interview him.” She escorted them both out and then disappeared deeper into the building, leaving the two of them alone at Bakugo’s desk. His neighbor Affable had apparently left for patrol, and Bakugo realized he was supposed to leave soon, too.
He sat down and motioned for Y/N to do the same. They scrambled to sit down across from him, taking out a small notepad and pen.
“Thanks so much for accepting this interview offer, Ground Zero,” Y/N said, flipping to an empty page in their notepad. “I’ve interviewed two of UA’s top three, and with you that makes all three! It’s truly an honor.”
Bakugo raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t realized that until they’d mentioned it. Shit, was this a mistake?
But Y/N seemed perfectly fine. Not that Bakugo had anything to base this experience off of, since this was his first interview.
“I read that article you wrote about me,” he said. “That’s why I agreed.”
Y/N paused in their fidgeting, the pen falling onto the desk. “The fire rescue one?”
He nodded.
“Wow, I honestly didn’t think… Thank you.” Any nervousness they seemed to have had before faded away. Bakugo realized he must be tearing down every single misconception and assumption about him. He’d changed quite a lot since high school, and Y/N seemed to be an avid hero follower, so they must be figuring that out as they both talked, too.
“So this interview really goes anyway you’d like it to,” Y/N continued to fiddle with the pen. “I’ve done enough to know that every hero steers them in unique directions. Have you by any chance read or seen any recently?”
I’ve read all of the ones you’ve done.“Yes.”
“Great! Boss told me you have patrol and will be back in the evening, which gives me some time to work on the preface of the interview and do some more research. I’ll be here when you return.” They pulled out a laptop from their bag and set it down on the desk. Bakugo was already dressed to go, so he just strapped on any gear he needed before he left.
“Are we doing the interview when I get back?” He did have the rest of the night off, just to catch up on paperwork.
“If you’d like, sure. We can also go to a cafe or anywhere else you’d be comfortable. I’m fine doing it here, too,” Y/N glanced up from their laptop. “All up to you. I know you’re busy and I don’t want to take up a lot of your time.”
He nodded and left, raising his hand in goodbye when Y/N wished him a good patrol.
He spent the next few hours idly thinking of interview responses. From the ones he’d read, it was more of a conversation between them, excluding much of Y/N’s added commentary he was assuming. Deku’s had been a bit more personal, but Bakugo was sure it was because he’d been okay with that. Half and half’s had been strictly about his hero work and had no mention of his father. Y/N really meant it was up to the hero being interviewed, and that made Bakugo feel glad he’d agreed to this.
It was a surprisingly quiet afternoon. Bakugo only bullied a few old ladies into walking across the street with him and helped a kid look for their dog. Boring any other day, but just what he needed today. He wasn’t too tired to talk with Y/N.
Bakugo had been looking forward to this way too much. It was out of character for him—even he was aware of that. He wasn’t exactly sure why, either. It was ridiculous to assume he had a crush on Y/N. He hadn’t met them before today, and he wasn’t dumb enough to waste his time with a relationship right now.
Y/N was exactly where they’d been a few hours ago. There was a half eaten muffin beside them and a cup of coffee, and they were rapidly typing away on their laptop when Bakugo sat down across from them.
“Hello. Affable let me use his desk, he said he was done for the day anyway,” Y/N paused from their typing to greet him “This place is incredible, I can’t believe even your deskmate is so cool.”
Bakugo was briefly reminded of Deku because of the way Y/N was awed by something as small as his deskmate. Affable was nice, yeah. He put up with Bakugo, and he guessed that was precisely why Boss had sat them next to each other. It was sort of hard to hate the guy, as much as Bakugo had tried the first few days he worked here.
“Lemme just go change,” Bakugo finished signing his timecard on his phone and stood back up. “Be right back.”
Even the locker room was pretty quiet. Evenings were odd at the agency, since most people were out on patrol. But Bakugo had had his schedule adjusted today, probably by Boss herself so he could have time for the interview. He wouldn’t have to go out on patrol again until the next night. He changed into his civilian close, hung his costume back up in his locker, and went back to his desk.
“So,” Bakugo said, sitting down at his desk across from Y/N. They’d moved their laptop to the side and had a voice recorder set where the two desks met. They were fidgeting with their pen and notepad again. “Why’re you a hero nerd?”
Y/N cracked a smile at that. “How do you mean?”
“I read your articles,” Bakugo confessed. “Most of them are hero centered. Just wondering why.”
Y/N had that same look from earlier when he’d told them he’d read the fire rescue article. “You know, I didn’t expect you to do your research on me.” They smiled at him again, easily, like they hadn’t just met him today. “Anyway, I’m a ‘hero nerd’ because my parents were heroes.”
Bakugo raised his eyebrows in surprise. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it hadn’t been that.
“They retired when I was born, since they wanted to stick around and raise me. Now they teach other young heroes and stuff. I knew I never wanted to be like them, though. I loved learning about heroes more than pretending to be one as a kid, and that sort of stuck with me. What about you, are you what you’d consider a ‘hero nerd’?” Y/N tapped the voice recorder to let Bakugo know they were recording, and he realized that just like that, the interview had started.
Y/N was incredibly easy to talk to, he learned. They let him steer the conversation, asking questions they seemed to come up with then and there and only checking their laptop list occasionally. They took notes as they talked to him and nodded a lot in understanding to let him know they were still listening. They talked for well over an hour, until Y/N finally reached over to turn off the recorder.
“Thank you, Ground Zero,” Y/N beamed. “Wasn’t so bad was it?” They hesitated. “You know, the Daybreak reached out for an interview a while ago. Before I started doing them. Why’d you decline then?”
Bakugo didn’t even know they’d asked. The agency must’ve declined for him after he’d let them know he wasn’t up for any of them yet—at least not the longer, more intimate ones.
“I wasn’t willing to do them before,” he answered. “And reporters love to taint my name, I wasn’t about to give them even more chances to. But your writing is different, so I said that if you asked, I’d agree.”
“To me? Specifically to me?” Y/N looked as though they were on the verge of tears. Bakugo stared, unsure of what to do. He didn’t have any tissues at his desk, did he?
“Sorry!” Y/N sniffled, rubbing at their watery eyes. “It just… means a lot that you liked my writing so much. I’m still sort of new to this, like you are, and I’m really happy you were willing to sit down with me. Especially because of how the media treats you and how you feel about it. I’m really sorry about that.”
They smiled at him, and Bakugo knew he was fucked in that moment. What sort of lovesick moron finds someone they’ve just seen almost burst into tears at a nice comment attractive?
This moron, apparently.
“Why’re you bringing me along again?”
“Because. I don’t trust myself right now.”
Kirishima laughed, loudly at that. Thankfully they were both in “civilian disguises” of baseball hats and sunglasses, so no one recognized them.
It had been a few weeks since the interview. It was Bakugo’s day off, and Y/N was meeting with him to share the final interview that was to be published next week. They’d explained they usually did this with interviewees, a tradition they hoped would catch on between both fields of work.
Since Bakugo had shared why he wasn’t fond of interviews and the press in general, Y/N had been a whirlwind of text updates. (They’d exchanged numbers after the interview to set a date to meet before publication.)
I offered to proofread lots of hero articles this week >:) that means I can discourage the talk of meaningless shit like off duty outfits and attitude bc tbh its not relevant in journalism. We aren’t the fucking paparazzi
Bakugo cackled out loud whenever Y/N sent updates. He thought they wouldn’t react well to his profanity, but they swore as much as he did when they were talking about “reforming hero journalism.”
He occasionally sent back reactions, but mainly he just read the messages. A few days ago he had the brilliant idea to invite along Kirishima, thinking Y/N would love the chance to meet another hero and as an excuse to have someone to chaperone him, because that’s just where he was at right now.
Bakugo hadn’t had a crush in years, and he wasn’t about to fall for the only reporter that was nice to him and willing to go out of their way to change the constructs of journalism for him. When he’d shared this with Kirishima, his friend had wiped away an imaginary tear. “That’s so fucking romantic dude. If you don’t marry Y/N I will.” Bakugo had chased him around the apartment for a few minutes after that comment.
But Kirishima agreed to go to lunch with him. “You should be glad my schedule left me with lunch free today,” Kirishima grinned as they neared the restaurant. “This place is perfect! Secluded, not too much foot traffic. Y/N’s smart.” It was a small restaurant with outdoor dining, with trees all around.
Bakugo agreed—even the food smelled great. They both quickly spotted Y/N, who was sitting in the back, farthest from the entrance. Y/N waved them over, already smiling.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” they practically squealed at Kirishima after they were properly introduced and sat down. “Bakugo-san has the coolest friends.”
Kirishima was smiling as bright as Y/N, and he turned briefly to wiggle his eyebrows at Bakugo. He’d told Y/N they could call him Bakugo if they’d like, and Y/N had started to oblige.
The three sat down and ordered, then Y/N pulled out the article as soon as the waiter was out of earshot. “I printed it this morning! Everyone’s jealous since I’m the first to ever interview you.” Bakugo had never seen Y/N this happy. “Our editor loved it! Thank you so much for being willing to have the interview, Bakugo-san.”
Bakugo grinned. “Damn right they should be jealous.” Kirishima laughed and nudged him.
“Move it over here so I can read it too!”
Bakugo set it down between them, and they started to read. Y/N fiddled with their drink while they read, something he’d noticed they did when they were nervous.
They had no reason to be nervous. The article was beautifully written, and he was totally unbiased in his opinion.
By the end of it Kirishima was laughing so hard a few people glanced over, and Bakugo had to shush him with a swift kick to the shin. He slapped a hand over his mouth, his eyes full of mirth.
“This was great Y/N,” he whispered, much quieter than necessary. “I never knew Bakugo had a sense of humor.”
Bakugo sat back in his seat, satisfied. Y/N had stopped fidgeting and was smiling again, wider than he’d ever seen. “I’m so happy you guys liked it! And also, there’ll be a picture of you online Bakugo-san, the one my coworker took last week.” Bakugo nodded. His mom had sent him makeup tips when he’d made the mistake to tell her what he’d been up to, but his skin was “perfectly-fucking-fine” and didn’t need any.
He was actually excited for it to be published.
Kirishima was asking for Y/N’s phone number, and Bakugo was pissed for about a second before he realized Kirishima would never do something like that, and his intentions were pure. “If you ever want to interview me just ask!” Y/N was nodding enthusiastically and saying they’d be sure to get back to him as soon as they asked their boss about it.
Their food came and they ate as they continued talking. Kirishima talked about his favorite heroes with Y/N, recent missions he’d been on, and his coworkers. Y/N practically fainted when Kirishima said he’d tell Kaminari, who was always enthusiastic about getting “some press attention,” that Y/N was searching for more heroes to interview to add to their portfolio and impress their boss.
Y/N asked how Deku and Shoto were doing. Bakugo wasn’t very close with them, but Kirishima had kept tabs on everyone they graduated with, so he was more than helpful in filling Y/N in one probably too much “gossip.” It made Bakugo happy, seeing them talk as though they were old friends. It must’ve shown on his face because when he wasn’t looking Kirishima snapped a picture of him and proceeded to gush about it with Y/N.
“Look, he’s practically smiling!” They both erupted into a fit of giggles similar to what is expected of grade schoolers. Bakugo glared at them without malice and finished up his food to hide his smile.
The next week the interview was published, and the second he walked into the agency for his shift everyone hurried back to their desks, failing to hide smiles. They’d been crowding around the bulletin board, where Bakugo’s interview picture had been pinned. He looked damn good in his picture, so he sat down without any complaints.
“Morning Bakugo!” Affable was as cheery as ever. “I read your interview, great stuff.”
“Thanks,” Bakugo answered. Boss waved at him from her office and went back to her phone call, amiably gesturing as though whoever was on the other line could see her. He turned back to his desk and saw that Affable had tears in his eyes.
“Woah what—”
“You’ve never said thank you to a compliment before!” Affable all but sobbed. Bakugo refrained from visibly cringing away from him.
“That’s not true,” he said defensively, wracking his brain for an example. “I’m nice to you aren’t I?”
Affable nodded and blew his nose with a tissue he’d summoned from somewhere. His quirk was heightened senses, and Bakugo had always assumed it also meant his feelings were heightened since he was a pretty emotioinally smart dude. Bakugo admired him quite a bit, and he was a good deskmate. Had he been that terrible to everyone? No. He would’ve been scolded thoroughly—Boss valued friendliness in the agency.
“Sorry,” Affable replied. “That interview just showed a side of you I’d never seen. I also watched way too many sad commercial compilations this morning so I guess that’s still affecting me.”
“Cheer up Saito!” someone called from far away. Affable raised a hand in thanks. “Y/N-san did a great job with your interview, can you pass that along?”
“Sure,” Bakugo said, already sitting down to text them. “They’ll be happy to hear that.”
Affable stopped mid nose-blow, realization on his face. “Oho!”
“Don’t.”
“Okay,” Affable, or Saito, as Bakugo figured he should be calling him, hid a smile behind his tissue. “I don’t need my enhanced hearing to know your heart rate spiked Bakugo. Have you told them?”
Bakugo was suddenly grateful he had warmed up to Saito the past year. He realized he had one or two friends in the agency and wasn’t the badass lone wolf he thought he’d been. Y/N’s interview had also opened his eyes to that.
“No, I haven’t,” he replied gruffly.
“Hmm. You should!” He stood suddenly. “Well, patrol time. See ya.” And with that he rushed out of the building, before Bakugo could harass him about what the hell that meant.
And then, almost on impulse, he reopened his texts and typed out a message for Y/N.
Hey wanna go out sometime?
He slammed his phone back onto his desk, along with his forehead. The buzz of a notification startled him into an upright sitting position again.
Ofc ;) i’ll pick u up after ur shift we can go out for late night tacos <3
He held back a scream when he realized he’d texted Kirishima instead of Y/N.
SHITTY HAIR I SWEAR TO GOD I AM GOING TO MARCH OVER THERE AND KICK YOUR ASS WHY DIDNT YOU TELL ME THIS WAS THE WRONG NUMBER I FUCKING HATE YOUSIDJFLASDKJLASDJGSL
AHAHAHAHAHAH I’M SENDING THIS TO THE GROUP CHAT WE HAVE WITH Y/N
Needless to say, Y/N did end up picking him up after his shift, and they did go out for food. And the next day, and the next.
Bakugo hasn’t done a one-on-one interview since, because he feels like they’ve already served their purpose.
midoriya izuku |sending pictures of dogs on the train to friends, reorganizing your room for no reason, going to sleep after a good day, the first few days of spring, forehead kisses, starting a garden, smiling just because, watching a really good movie, watching a super specific youtube video for fun.
todoroki shoto | waking up before the sun rises, warming your hands by the fireplace, taking naps on the ride home, whispering with friends in class, opening a window when the weather is perfect, enjoying time spent by yourself, feeling a cool breeze, receiving a package in the mail, humming a familiar tune.
uraraka ochaco | doodling on class notes, rewatching a favorite movie, smiling at your own joke, handwritten letters, eating marshmallows, smiling at dogs you see, sleeping in on weekends, fuzzy warm socks, lighting a candle, going to a playground you used to play at, swimming in the summertime, buying a plushie.
yaoyorozu momo | baking sweets for your friends, reading late at night, sharing clothes, wearing your favorite sweater, being excited about buying school supplies, seeing a butterfly, getting what you wanted as a present, planning an exciting trip, the smell of a bookstore, a warm cup of tea.
jiro kyoka | walking down the street with your headphones in, inside jokes, sharing an earbud with a friend, driving super early in the morning, laughing until your sides hurt, eating a really sweet piece of fruit, hearing your favorite song on the radio, getting a haircut you love, going home after a concert.
togata mirio |sharing snacks, admiring flowers on a walk, holding hands, warm hugs, receiving good morning texts, making someone laugh, the smell of a bakery, candid pictures, making a new friend, trying and loving a new food, going for a walk at sunset, realizing everything turned out okay.
shinso hitoshi | coming home after a long road trip, petting friendly stray cats, waking up to see the moon is still out, finding a penny in your pocket, watching rain fall, taking a nap after a long day, realizing you have the afternoon off, buying a journal and sticking with it, watching a movie on opening night.
request:can u do headcanons for tsuyu realizing she has a crush on reader who is quiet and painfully shy and isn’t really friends with anyone in 1A except for tsu. and can u also do headcanons for reader confessing their feelings for tsu despite how shy they are, how would she react to finding out they feel the same way?
a/n:hello! so sorry for being mia, my life got surprisingly busy I’m so surprised that I’m almost at 500 followers??? ily all so much if I hit 500 I’ll be sure to do something special!!
it doesn’t take long for tsuyu to realize she was crushing on y/n. she’s embarrassed about it for about two seconds, before she realizes there is no one else that knows, and it isn’t at all embarassing to have a crush on someone like y/n. they were a great friend, and this is what kept tsuyu quiet about her crush.
she was aware y/n didn’t really talk to anyone else in class besides her, and she was scared of disrupting the friendship they had with her confession. so she keeps on acting as she used to around them, although she often finds herself hiding blushes
while tsuyu is thinking over her crush, so is y/n. they would’ve thought it was a bit obvious that they liked tsuyu, considering she was the only one they talked to in class. but y/n was shy, and that reputation was enough for favoring tsuyu to be understandable.
but it’s always the quiet ones that do the most thinking. and y/n has been planning how and when they were going to confess to tsuyu for weeks, and they’d finally perfected the plan.
they invite tsuyu out one day to go shopping, knowing she’d enthusiastically agree. y/n chose a day when tsuyu’s friends and y/n’s acquaintances/classmates would all be busy, leaving tsuyu and y/n to go shopping alone
it was on their walk home from a successful day of sampling lots of food and buying some things they didn’t really need that y/n told tsuyu how they felt, feeling self conscious despite how great the day had gone and how they’d been psyching themselves up for this moment
tsuyu is stunned into silence for a second, and then her eyes fill with tears as she hurriedly says she feels the same way
she’s very relieved, because honestly she didn’t know how much longer she could’ve gone pretending like she didn’t want to be more than just friends. she’s very happy and pleasantly surprised that y/n is the one to confess.
“Sorry to come by so late.” Y/N bleary looked at him, fighting back a yawn with one hand and rubbing at their eyes with the other. Izuku was in his usual All Might pajamas, and still in his All Might slippers despite how cold out it was that night. And with no socks on either.
Y/N pointed at his foot as if they were actually speaking out loud, but Izuku understood. He laughed breathily, his breath visible in the cold. “I just needed to see you. I had a bad dream.” Normally Y/N would be one to tease him for such behavior, especially after Izuku had shared a nightmare of him turning into a broccoli stem, but Y/N knew his dreams could get serious.
“Come inside.” Y/N quickly ushered him in, shivering at the cold and at the brief contact they had with Izuku cold arm as he walked inside. “Lets warm you up. Come on.” Izuku followed Y/N wordlessly down the hall to their room. Unfortunately this was a routine they both found themselves doing monthly, when Izuku’s nightmares worsened to the point where he felt as though he had to leave the comforts of his room and talk with someone else.
Y/N was lucky to have a larger than necessary mattress—perfect for sleepovers and sleeping like a starfish. They quickly snuggled under the covers and lifted up the blanket, letting Izuku settle in beside them. His arm pressed against theres, and Y/N instinctively reached over to rub their hands up and down his arm in a vain attempt to heat it up. Izuku sighed at the warmth of Y/N’s blankets and their touch, his eyes already drooping with sleep.
“Just being with you helps,” he mumbled as Y/N took his hand and moved around to get comfortable. Y/N smiled sadly, squeezing his hand gently. “Get some sleep, Izuku.”
synopsis: a little sleep deprived and susceptible to spilling secrets as a result, y/n lets it slip to hanta that they want to fall in love. want to know what it feels like for your heart to hurt when you’re not around someone, what it feels like to slow dance in the rain with someone, to stay up for hours just to spend time with them. what it feels like to get heartbroken, to hurt so badly because the love runs so deeply. hanta wants to be the one to do all of those things with y/n—so he creates a plan to accomplish everything they listed off when they were truthful in their sleepy state.
content: college au, friends to lovers, sweet boy hanta, just a whole lot of fluff
word count: 4.2k
SERO HANTA’S LIST OF FALLING IN LOVE ACTIVITIES:
1. Romantically plot in secret
It had started as most chaotic things to: at a sleepover.
To begin with, the sleepover had not started out as an actual sleepover. Y/N had invited Sero over because they were both busy cramming for upcoming finals, and Sero’s apartment was not the best place to cram. He loved his roommates—truly, he did. Just not as much during finals season. Y/N always offered him refuge in their apartment, because somehow they had gotten lucky enough to snag the studio apartments before everyone else and had the pleasure of having relatively nice, quiet neighbors. Sero hid from the noise that was his apartment complex here more often than he should, but Y/N never seemed to mind too much.
They sat at Y/N’s kitchen table in comfortable silence, their laptops and various notes spread out around them. They had not moved from their spot in a while, and finally Sero felt his eyes start to tear up from staring at his laptop screen for too long, so he decided he had had enough for the night. He closed down all of his tabs and failed to hold back a strangled noise of surprise when he noticed the time.
“It’s one in the morning.”
Y/N’s reaction was delayed, only eliciting a small noise of acknowledgement that Sero had spoken at first. Then they snapped their head up from their work, eyes wide. “One?”
Normally, staying up this late was a normal occurrence—especially when it was the two of them together, and they were hyper-focused on studying. But it was the last day of dead week, meaning that they had to be ready to take their first exams in roughly ten hours.
“Shit,” Sero cursed, quickly putting away his notes. “Sleep. Now.”
Y/N laughed a little as they also hurried to put away their notes and shut down their laptop. They both scurried around the apartment; Y/N to their room to file things away, and Sero into the living room area to find his backpack. His apartment should have quieted down by now, since it was quite literally the day of finals.
“You can stay here!” Y/N called from their room. “I already pulled out your futon.”
Sero wilted with relief, nearly dropping his backpack at the door. He set it back against the couch and walked over to Y/N’s room, yawning with sleep he had not been aware of ten minutes ago.
Y/N was already snuggled under the warm comfort of their covers, and right beside their bed was the spare futon that was basically Sero’s at this point. He had arrived to the study session in his pajamas and had done his nightly routine a few hours ago (shamelessly borrowing Y/N’s face wash) so he quickly snuggled under his own covers and turned to face Y/N, like he always did when he slept over.
They were already drifting off, but were also facing him and smiled when he turned to stare. “Your exam is at 10, right?”
Sero nodded. “Yours at 11?”
Y/N nodded and yawned again. “Good luck.”
“Good luck,” he echoed, moving the covers up to hide his smile of endearment. Y/N was always cute, but sleepy Y/N was on a different level.
Yes, Sero had a massive crush on his friend. He had come to terms with it a few months ago, when they both started hanging out more and getting closer. Sero did not mind the unrequited feelings too much, and was currently in the process of dealing with it. Sleeping over was not a big help, but he did not want to ruin the friendship they had, so he decided it was a worthy sacrifice to his efforts.
“Can I tell you something?” Y/N asked, blinking at him. Sero stifled a small laugh. He knew Y/N always had the tendency to get honest moments before they drifted off to sleep. The first time it had happened, they had shared that they had been the ones to accidentally drop Bakugo’s bamboo toothbrush onto the floor and then quickly wash it with soap (which Bakugo tasted later that day and was very mad about). Kaminari had taken the blame, and Y/N had never come clean as a form of revenge for all of the times Kaminari had eaten the last of the cookie stash and never replacing it.
“Of course you can,” Sero replied, adjusting so his head was propped up in his chin and he could see Y/N better.
“Have you ever been in love?”
Sero almost dropped back down onto his pillow. “You said you were going to tell me something, not ask me something,” Sero said, successfully recovering. Stay cool, Hanta.
Y/N blinked at him again, apparently now more awake and willing to engage in a conversation.
“I’ve never been in love,” they said. “What’s it like?”
Sero gave up on trying to maintain eye level and snuggled back under his covers, leaving his eyes uncovered to hide his blushing cheeks. This really was not helping him with ending his crush.
“Dunno. I don’t think I’ve ever been in love, either.”
“Really?” Y/N seemed surprised. “Haven’t you dated anyone, like before I met you?”
They had only met last year, in their second year of university. Y/N had never asked him about these things. Sleep deprivation must have made them more curious, and maybe a tad bit more blunt and daring.
“No,” Sero answered, still hiding under his blanket.
“You were supposed to be, like, the wise one in this,” Y/N said, rolling around in their bed as they said it. Sero laughed at their reaction.
“Sorry to disappoint.”
“No! Never apologize,” Y/N whirled around to face him again, eyes considerably more drowsy than before. Sleep was overtaking them. Sero wondered how long they would keep talking before Y/N passed out.
“It’s just,” Y/N sighed, now turning to face the ceiling. “I want to fall in love. I want to know what it feels like for your heart to hurt when you’re not around someone, what it feels like to slow dance in the rain with someone, to stay up for hours just to spend time with them. You know?” They turned to face Sero again.
He did not know what to say to that. This must have been the most honest Y/N had ever been with him, about this topic, anyway. They had never really spoken about this before.
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I do.”
“Even heartbreak sounds just so full of love, because that just means the love was so deep and real that it hurts when the person causing it isn’t there anymore,” Y/N’s blinks were slowing down now, signaling they were very close to sleep. “Dunno, it just seems…nice.”
And with that, they were asleep.
Leaving Sero wide awake, staring up at them. Peacefully sleeping and blissfully unaware of what they had just done to him, of the plan he was now making.
He spent the next hour making a list on his phone. Specifics would come later, when the sun was up and he was not driven by nerves and adrenaline like was now.
One point done, more to go.
2. Spend lots of quality time together (basically done?)
Finals disrupted much of Sero’s next point that he had written down, but not as much as he would have previously thought. Now that he had decided to let his crush take hold of him and do his best to woo Y/N, he was realizing how much their friendship had evolved, and how much he had neglected to notice the things that made it more special. He had ignored this in favor of trying to squash his crush, but after embracing it, he now understood why it had formed in the first place.
He and Y/N just fit. They understood each other, probably better than anyone else. And Sero had been downplaying their relationship for weeks—Y/N was easily his best friend (something Kaminari would be devastated to learn, seeing as he was the one who always proclaimed himself as Sero’s BFF).
His second point on his list was spending lots of time together, which was relatively easy, because they already did it so much in the first place. Their friends overlapped, which was the reason they even met in the first place, and the reason they grew to be so close and spend so much time together. Even final exams didn’t keep them apart for very long.
Y/N often realized they had sleepily confessed something, and confronted Sero about it the next morning. This had not been the case this time, because Y/N had gone off to their exam before Sero had even woken up. He had been nervous about how they would react, but he hoped for the best, trying to stay optimistic.
He had not expected Y/N to be there after his exam, with his current obsession (an iced matcha latte) and a hesitant smile on their face as they waved at him from the bench just outside the building.
It was impossible to keep the smile off his face. “Hey, didn’t expect to see you here.”
“My exam ended a little while ago, so I decided to stick around and wait for you,” Y/N replied, handing him his drink. “How’d it go?”
They both walked idly through campus in the general direction back to Y/N’s apartment, probably a bit subconsciously. This was their routine every Thursday, when they had a class that ended at the same time in the same vicinity of one another. Still, Sero knew why Y/N had come to find him. But the addition of the matcha latte was a very nice touch that left him jittery with happiness and butterflies.
“So,” Y/N started as they left campus and began the walk through the residential areas, back to Y/N’s apartment. “The latte is an apology drink, since I remember I overshared last night.”
“No need to apologize,” Sero quickly replied, nudging them with his shoulder as they walked. “I basically overshared too. Anyway, what are besties for?”
Y/N nudged him back. “Have I replaced Kaminari?” They were smiling at him, and it made Sero’s own grin widen.
“Don’t tell him I said that. Anyway, I’ll take you up on that.” He took a sip from his drink, nervous of where this would leave him. Had he planned this? Absolutely not. But he decided to be a little daring. Maybe it was the matcha giving him bravery.
“On what?” Y/N asked, turning to look at him.
“Fall in love. With me, I mean.”
Y/N stopped walking, and Sero turned to face them.
His plan would never work if Y/N wasn’t aware of it. It would have been a bit odd if he started doing all of these romantic things with no explanation, and it would have ultimately led to a failed plan. Sero had decided last night he did not want to try and hide his feelings anymore—and he had, for once, decided to listen to the constant teasing of his friends. They had been saying he and Y/N were practically an old married couple for weeks now, but he’d waved them off because he thought they were poking fun at his crush.
Seeing Y/N after his exam had made him decide maybe they were right, and had convinced him that the plan he’d made last night was worth a shot.
“What? Are you messing with me?” Y/N asked, an accusatory tone surfacing. “Not funny, Sero.”
“I’m not!” Sero quickly replied. “I promise.”
They stared him down, narrowing their eyes in thought.
Despite knowing each other for only a year, they knew each other. Sero wasn’t lying, and he knew Y/N could tell. And some realization came into their eyes, followed by embarrassment as they hid their face in their hands.
“Oh my fuck,” Y/N practially shouted, laughing up at the sky. “How did you know before I did?”
Sero smiled again, cheerily linking his arm through Y/N’s when they continued to walk. “I did say we were besties, didn’t I?”
3. Go on some dates
“Why are you here?”
Sero pouted before walking past Y/N into their apartment. “Rude, much?
Y/N closed their door and followed Sero, sitting beside him on the couch. “It’s summer now. Weren’t you heading back for a week?”
Most of his friends stayed on campus for the summer, either to work or to take classes. Sero was no exception, though he usually went back home for a week.
“I’ll be going back home in a few months,” Sero explained. “My family has a long list of weddings and events to attend, and you know I’d much rather avoid nosy relatives asking when I’ll start dating and instead actively get you to start dating me.”
Y/N threw a pillow at his face at that, which Sero easily dodged as he laughed. His mom had freed him of the obligation of attending the family events since he wasn’t very close to any of the relatives hosting them, and his room was currently occupied by visiting cousins. That said, he was expected to call her twice as much (she knew he had more free time now) and to visit before the fall semester started.
Sero planned to take advantage of this summer as much as he could. It was shaping up to be much better than the last one. This time he wasn’t buried in classwork—his schedule was much more manageable, and he had a part time job he liked. The best part was Y/N, though.
Since the acknowledgement of the feelings they both had for each other, their relationship had taken a small, almost unnoticeable turn. They noticed, of course. The thin layer of caution they had acted with earlier was gone. Now Sero unabashedly stared at Y/N when they were doing simple tasks, replying to their questioning stares with “You’re just so pretty.” And Y/N was no better—constantly sneaking glances at Sero when he changed into his pajamas in their apartment and telling him he had very nice hands whenever they laid down to fall asleep (holding hands).
Slow, tiny steps. Toward his next thing on the list: dates.
“I thought we could spend the day together,” Sero said, turning to look at Y/N on the couch. They were already looking at him and smiled when their eyes met.
“Okay. What should we do?”
“I’m so glad you asked,” he replied, still not looking away from them. “The first activity of the day is of course watching a movie.”
After some discussion, Y/N quickly got dressed to head out for the movie theater downtown. It was a sequel to another action movie that they had seen years ago, and Sero had been waiting for finals to be over before watching it. He slipped his hand into theirs on the walk over and smiled when they glanced over at him. They’d held hands before—just last night they had, right before falling asleep. But they both knew this time was different. Y/N lightly squeezed his hand and swung their arms back and forth as they walked, laughing quietly enough for only the two of them to hear.
The movie was very action filled, which kept them so energized they decided to head to a nearby arcade afterwards. Sero was excellent at arcade games, Y/N quickly realized. He won them both a lot of prizes, and they left the arcade with two bags full of miscellaneous items and matching plushies.
From there, they wandered around the shops downtown, stopping to get ice cream and then finally sitting down at a bench. Only then did Sero realize how tired he was. He turned his head to ask Y/N if they were also tired, only to find them already facing him.
“Yeah, let’s go back,” Sero laughed, intertwining their fingers and pulling Y/N off of the bench.
When they reached Y/N’s apartment, they moved to walk in and pull Sero inside along with them. But he gently slid his out of theirs. The reaction was immediate—Y/N turned to glance behind them, a questioning look in his eyes and the slightest frown on their lips.
“I can’t sleep here every night,” he teased. “I still pay rent for my real apartment, you know.”
Y/N narrowed his eyes at him in mock hurt. “Yeah, yeah.” They mumbled something else before waving and moving to close the door.
“What was that?” Sero asked, a smile growing on his face as he stuck his foot out just before the door closed. He was having too much fun, but he couldn’t help it.
Y/N avoided his gaze. “Hmm? Nothing.”
“No, I heard you say something,” he said, unable to keep the teasing tone out of his voice.
“I said I’ll miss you,” Y/N snapped, before successfully slamming the door shut to avoid looking at him.
“See you tomorrow!” Sero cheerfully called, laughing at Y/N’s embarrassed knocks to let him know they had heard him.
4. Dance in the rain
Sero patiently waited for summer rain, knowing it would come.
His patience was wearing pretty thin until it finally started to rain while he was walking back from his shift. Letting out a small yell of excitement, he changed course and ran back to campus, where he knew Y/N was currently in class.
They had not had the chance to see each other all week, resorting to texting instead. Classes had started, so things got a bit more hectic and they had not found out the best way to balance everything just yet. After this week it would even out, he was sure of this. Still, he had missed Y/N more than he realized. The rain reminded him of that.
He waited outside of Y/N’s classroom, watching the rain steadily get heavier. Soon students started filing out, a few actually pulling out umbrellas. Y/N was the last to leave, and Sero didn’t miss the soft look in their eyes when they saw the rain, and how the look seemed to only grow fonder when they realized he was outside, waiting for them.
“Hi,” they said, taking his outstretched hand. “What’re you doing here?”
“It’s raining,” Sero said, as though that would make everything clear. Y/N smiled at him.
“Yes.”
Sero tugged their hand in protest of their teasing, earning a laugh. “Your backpack is waterproof, right?” It wasn’t pouring, thankfully, which made Sero’s plan much easier.
“Yes,” Y/N said again, realizing what he was saying. “Hanta, wait—”
He was already pulling them along, out from underneath the protection of the overhead roof and into the rain. Y/N laughed and didn’t pull away, instead pulling him further out until they were running hand in hand in the direction of Y/N’s apartment.
Not exactly dancing, but not exactly not dancing. They leapt over bigger puddles and stopped sometimes to catch their breath before tugging each other along, clothes and skin damp from the sprinkling rain and laughing the entire way.
Sero had always loved the rain, but this made him love it even more.
When they made it to Y/N’s apartment the rain had stopped and the sun had started to peak out from behind the clouds. They both quickly changed out of their wet clothes and collapsed onto Y/N’s couch, leaning onto each other and still laughing a little.
“That was on your list?” Y/N asked, leaning their head against his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around them and pulled them in closer, hoping they did not notice the way his heart was pouding.
“Of course,” he said. “You mentioned it, remember?”
Y/N slipped their hand into his. “Yeah. I also mentioned staying up late, didn’t I? Are you crossing that one off today, too?”
“Anything for you,” Sero replied, kissing the top of their head. “Except, not the heartbreak part. I physically cannot do that to you.”
Y/N made a noise of surprise before burying their face in his neck, moving so they were practically sitting in his lap. “You’re so sappy.”
Sero laughed, wrapping both his arms around their waist and sitting them fully in his lap. “I know.”
5. Stay up together and cuddle
Sero did end up sleeping over that day. He also decided to share the rest of his list with Y/N.
He got ready for bed in their bathroom, smiling to himself as he looked around and saw how present he was in Y/N’s life. They had a toothbrush for him there, the hair ties he used sometimes, and his damp clothes had been hung to dry.
He walked back to Y/N’s room, ready to get comfortable on his futon. Only to realize it was not there, and Y/N was already in bed.
They patted the spot next to them, and Sero needed no further instruction. He snuggled up beside them, reaching out to wrap his arms around them and press his cold feet against their warm legs. Y/N laughed and playfully shoved him away.
He’d always been a very touchy person, but he knew boundaries. When he realized he had a crush on Y/N all those months ago, he had been even more careful about physical contact with them, mainly for his own sake. Now, holding hands was so common for them Sero reached for Y/N’s the second he saw them, and whenever they sat near each other they were always pressed against one another. They were always touching in some way.
Cuddling was his last straw—he could not stop blushing and trying to hide his face in the crook of Y/N’s face, which they noticed immediately.
“You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed,” Y/N gushed in a teasing tone, knowing this only made Sero more flustered.
“Shut up,” he mumbled, poking their side to make them ticklish. Y/N just laughed more and ran their fingers through his hair, tugging in the way they knew he liked. He sighed against them, melting further into their embrace and feeling sleep already creeping into him.
“Want to hear the rest of my list?” Sero asked. He moved a bit so he was on his side and facing Y/N, and they turned on their side to face him.
“Of course,” they replied. “I want to know what your steps are to completely woo me.”
Sero breathed out a short laugh.
“Well, obviously I won’t share all of it, because that ruins some things, but we are currently on point five.”
“Five?” Y/N asked. “I thought we were basically done.”
“Howdare you,” Sero gasped in mock offense. “We haven’t even said the L-word yet.”
“What, love?” Y/N asked incredulously. “I have to have said it by now.”
That shut Sero up. Said it by now? As in they were in love with him? As in his love was being reciprocated?
He realized he was in love with them when they had sleepily told him they had never been in love. Sero was sure he had actually been in love for months, but in that moment he had finally realized it. He realized that he did not want Y/N to experience any of the things they listed with anyone else but him, and that now he needed to tell them how he felt, otherwise he would never forgive himself. He realized he missed them whenever they were not together, that he wanted to go on cheesy dates with them, dance in the rain with them, stay up late just to spend time with them.
“You—what? What?” Sero practically squeaked in shock.
Y/N smiled at him. “I thought I’d said it already! I feel bad now. I love you.”
Sero turned to bury his face in the pillow they were sharing, Y/N laughing at him and running their fingers through his hair. “I love you,” they repeated, earning another strangled groan from him.
“I love you, too,” he replied. He turned to face them again. “I think I have for a while, but I only realized it when you told me you’d never been in love.”
It was Y/N’s turn to hide in the pillow. “God, I’m embarrassing.”
“When did you know?” Sero asked, unable to help himself. Y/N quickly turned back to face him.
“When I brought you matcha after your final,” Y/N said immediately, still playing with his hair idly as they talked. “You just… looked so happy to see me. No one’s ever looked at me like that before. And I realized that’s probably how I looked at you every day.”
Sero reached up to take Y/N’s hand in his and intertwine their fingers together.
“Who’s the sappy one now,” he said triumphantly, not letting go when Y/N tried to pull their fingers away and laughing at their embarrassed expression.
“The list is long, by the way,” Sero said. “Hope you’re up for it.”
“I am,” Y/N replied instantly. “Pinky promise.”
They both fell asleep after that, pinkies intertwined and symbolizing a promise they both knew the other would never break.
friends with benefits seemed easy enough—until one of you started to catch feelings, and you knew it wasn’t him.
pairing: bakugou katsuki x reader
content: fluff, mild angst, some adult content but it doesn’t really go there. the characters are all grown up for this by the way!
warnings: none! just some mentions of smut like i said but its p fine
inspired by the niki song of the same title. i suggest u listen so u can ~feel~ it a bit better !!
YES I AM ALIVE casually disappeared for like a year to focus on academics and applications and stuff but it’s almost christmas break and hey i missed writing so why not ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) anyw i hope u guys r doing fine and to those who were waiting for me to post something… anything… i’m sorry it took a year here’s an honorary cookie for ur wait ily
HOPE U GUYS LIKE THIS ONE MWAH
This was where you found yourself every Friday night.
Him atop you as he stole kisses in between ragged breaths. Steady hands securing your hips in place, digging into white duvet, moaning each other’s name like a mantra that slipped out of your tongue with every thrust of pleasure you received. He was always so strong, so determined, that your highs were always quick to come once the two of you got onto it.
And you’d wake up, Tokyo morning sun radiating like rays dancing on the white cloth, waking you out of your dazed trance. Intertwined between sheets, his worn-out t-shirt on you as he laid there by your side shirtless, staring down at his best friend he brought to heaven the night before. Whenever he felt like everything was going to hell, he’d call you, the first number on his contact list—the only person who had seen him through his short-fused explosive phase to the number two hero he was now. His crimson red eyes were always the first thing to greet you on those fateful Saturday mornings, but they were no match with the content smile on his face that he showed no one else but, well, you.
Bakugou Katsuki was a gentleman. As hard as it was to believe, especially for those who were around during high school, it consistently rang true. Like in these mornings as he asked you to stay and made you breakfast in his exquisite high-ceilinged apartment. He always wanted to hear your thoughts about his cooking, on what he could improve, and if ever you were staying over again, what you’d want next (but you already knew the answer to that).
One thing about Katsuki was he never got tired of listening to your drabbling about work. Right now, it was about that stupid sidekick that has been hitting on you for weeks now, despite you blocking them with a clear dragged out no every time. He would chuckle at your little gestures, carefully observing every detail his best friend had, and thought about how he was the lucky man to run his hands through them every week.
He had told you before to move to his agency. Though these little rants of yours were nothing short of entertaining, Katsuki was well-aware that in between those tales lies a bitter truth that you were not well within his reach, and he couldn’t protect you if another pervert tried to touch you again. And you always told him you wanted to—needed to, even, but your boss kept shrugging off your now-piles of resignation papers down the shredder. You were a big asset, after all—a UA graduate, top of your class, a pretty strong quirk, and an excellent internship rating. But Bakugou knew they only saw you for your credentials, not at all as a human who was protecting other humans,and made a mental note to blast your boss’s face sometime he’s free within this week. He reasoned to himself: it was only make him aware of what he was going to be dealing with if he keeps on treating you any less of the hero you are.
It was those little things about your best friend that had you lying awake at night, legs still sore from the action just a few days prior. You had been trying to sleep for the last hour, staring up at the ceiling, basically memorizing its patterns. You wanted to be frustrated with yourself—angry that you thought he could even look at you in thatway.
You see, when two people have cramped-up schedules, half a decade of youth still left to live, and raging hormonal impulses—they resort to a little arrangement called friends with benefits. In short, they do stuff couples do: kiss, make out, stay over, call each other and ask them about their day, take care of the one who’s sick from overpatrolling, but most of all, meet each other at a certain time, a certain place to make love.There was no commitment, no red strings, no feelings involved, just two people trying to satisfy their needs through someone else’s. That’s what you told yourself every night.
Until that time he sent you a bouquet of tulips to your office and the blood on your cheeks told you otherwise.
“Katsuki,” you whispered through the phone, voice rough from the bloodrush. “What in the world is this?”
“A gift?” he replied, so casually that it was driving you insane. “I thought you’d like it.”
“I do, but,” you sucked in a breath, looking at the florist holding out a contract for you to sign. “Did you really have to do this at my office?”
“You overwork yourself hard enough,” he nagged, hearing him adjust something on the other end of the phone. Katsuki shouted something to the person calling out at him, then returned to you. “Listen, I’m on patrol right now, but take those. I already paid for them. And don’t feel obligated to come to my apartment later tonight because of that. I just don’t want to be a shitty best friend, that’s all.”
The flowers laid in a vase on your desk, causing your co-heroes to gawk at the stunning arrangement of black and orange tulips adorning your otherwise plain workspace. You weren’t big on decorations, after all, since you were a hero and didn’t stay there often. The flowers finally gave your desk some much needed color.
And it pissed you off. It pissed you off how he said it so casually, how he managed to make your heartbeat not too far from a hummingbird’s, and how he took time out of his day, his most beloved hero job, to get you a gift.
But what pissed you off the most was the fact that all of the grandeur was because he thought of you as his best friend who needed relief.
You mentally slapped yourself. You were being distracted. You were not falling for Katsuki, you just liked how he felt inside you, how perfect he fit into you, and the rest of those feelings for him were platonic.
But why did he have to rummage through your thoughts every single night?
“Do you ever get tired?” you blurted out.
He poured the freshly-brewed coffee into two mugs, adding milk on yours just the way you liked it. “Doing what?”
“Running through my mind every night.”
Your hands flew to your mouth as soon as the words came out, cheeks starting to redden from embarrassment. You were not supposed to say that. Right then and there, you wished for anything that could get you out of there—maybe even a dang UFO—so it could spare you from the shame about to come.
But Katsuki turned around, two mugs in hand, putting them on the counter behind you to look you straight in the eye. His calloused hands, shaped by years of explosions, made it to your heated face, not really helping with the fluster you were feeling at that moment. He carefully pulled your fingers away, setting them on your lap to hold your chin tenderly.
“Only if you tell me why you made me fall for my own best friend.”
And then you woke up.
Feeling slightly frustrated for whatever reason, you threw your pillow to the wall, running a hand through your hair and catching shaky breaths.
Great, he made it into to your dreams, too.
Your stare buried into the duvet covering your lower body. You ran a hand through your face, planning on getting up to get a cup of water and watch Netflix instead. Because dreaming of him again would not help with your current predicament.
This is all your fault, Bakugou Katsuki.
“Oi, what’s your problem?”
And you forgot that you were sleeping over at his place that night.
His voice was low and gravelly as he turned around to look at your side of the bed. You averted your gaze, wanting to shrug it off.
“Nothing.” You raised your chin up. “I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not,” he simply responded, getting up to his knees to sit next to you. “Bad dream?”
You tried not to look at his chiseled chest just there for your gazing glory, and the sweatpants that you swore were about to fall off with how loose they were around his waist. He was so oblivious to the thoughts running around your head it was insane. Why did he have to be shirtless at this time?
“No.” You wanted to be adamant. “I told you, I’m fine.”
“Waking up at 3AM practically having an asthma attack isn’t fine, (Y/N).” Katsuki crossed his arms, looking at the side of your face. “You’re choosing the wrong person to lie to.”
Your hands flew up in defeat. “Fine, then I’m not fine. How could I ever lie to you, huh?”
“Damn right you know. You’ve been my annoying best friend for two decades. I practically have you memorized, whether I like it or not.”
There it was again. That damned best friend title. The situation was starting to become tolerable, but that label just had to come up, right? You felt your chest tighten, knowing well what you were about to say next.
“I think we should stop this,” you said, finally meeting up to look at him.
The blonde let out a guttural chuckle until his eyes met yours, seeing no hint of mischief behind the irises he knew too well.
“But… why?” was all he managed to stutter.
Of course, a half-ass excuse would be better than to tell him hey, I’ve been constantly thinking of you quite unhealthily for the past two months now, and if I don’t pry myself away from you in the next three minutes I might just ruin our friendship.
so… ik i’ve already said that nothing i’ve been posting has been showing up in the tags lately but this doesn’t make sense anymore @staff where did i go wrong my dudes </3
anyway, in case some of u guys missed it, i posted something new ((a new kacchan imagine yeet)) on the blog!! it would be great if u guys read it because it hasn’t really been showing up anywhere and :<<<
you come home drunk and katsuki has to take care of the aftermath.
pairing: bakugou katsuki x reader
content: fluff! kinda short but who doesn’t love teddy bear katsuki :>
warnings: implications of alcoholism
“Oi, don’t move too much,” Katsuki groans. Your right arm is slung over his broad shoulder for support, the other holding onto your shared apartment’s door for dear life. Your legs are wobbly and you feel like you’re about to fall when he catches you by your waist, hoisting you up and resorting to lifting you instead.
He lays you down on your side of the bed gently, taking off your high heels and unzipping the tight wine red dress you had on.
Ochaco had invited you for a bachelorette party, and you made sure to free up your schedule for your friend’s once-in-a-lifetime event. Unfortunately, an all-girls party meant that Katsuki wasn’t allowed to come. It’s not that he wanted to, anyway. The only reason he would do so much as to consider it was to watch over your alcohol consumption. You were a lightweight and always went past your limits, which he constantly reminded you that it was not what Plus Ultrameant.
“I have a boyfriend, go away,” you slur, patting your hand across his face and pushing him away. He lightly takes it off and places it on your side, a tinge of red starting to adorn his heating cheeks.
“I’m your boyfriend, dumbass,” he whispers. His hands make quick work of the dress and you’re laid there half-naked, which Katsuki minded to not take glances of. It was wrong to stare when you were drunk and he had work to do with you. “Stay there.”
“You look funny,” you giggle, your hands flying to your mouth. “You look like… a fluffy pomeranian.”
Katsuki makes his way to the kitchen, adding water to the electric kettle and leaving it on to boil. He then goes to the bathroom inside your bedroom, pulling out what looked like the make-up remover you used everytime you started your skin care routine. Your routine was fairly simple, at least enough for Katsuki to catch on to as he watched you do it every night.
“Katsuki,” you whine, pulling the covers over you. A light breeze had made it through the wide area of the room, resulting in a chill on your half-naked glory. “I’m cold.”
“Wait a minute, woman,” he replies. The explosive blonde sits beside you, just hovering enough to carefully hold your jaw in his hand. He takes a cotton ball and starts to gently rub across, trying not to miss a spot, or else you’d throw a fit in the morning over a breakout and he would have to deal with it.
At least that’s what he told himself—deep inside, he knew it was because he cared for you and your skin, which you always seamlessly took care of. But he’d never say that out loud in the name of his image and dignity.
Your boyfriend finishes with practically nothing left on your face, just in time as the kettle turned off. He disappears into the kitchen and comes back with a cup of your favorite tea, setting it on the bedside table before making his way to the bathroom. His hand turned the faucet, eyes landing on the different bottles on the shelf.
Your bathroom had a lot of bottles, and only 2 of those were Katsuki’s. The other 6 were yours—conditioner, bottles of different-smelling body wash, and of course, shampoo. There were times he’d ask you why you needed that many, when even just one could do the trick. You had to explain to him that it didn’t work that way, at least not like him who picked up whatever smelled good on the shelf and dumped it into the grocery cart. He found himself complaining less though, as even just the scent of you would calm him down on nights his nerves were getting the best of him. You just had that effect on him, and he was more than satisfied to accept it.
“Water’s ready,” he announces, holding your hand and lifting you up. You follow his guide, but not without some few slip-ups here and there, his hands quick to steady you again and again. You make it to the bathroom in one piece, and he takes off your underwear. “Can you manage on your own?”
You nod, slipping into the bathtub and giving yourself a bath. He prepared your favorite bath scent along with the warm water. It sobered you up a little, giving you enough consciousness to call out for him when you were done.
“Be careful,” Katsuki warns. But as he saw that there was a chance his future fiancé was going to slip and hit their head somewhere, he wasn’t taking any chances. Wrapped up in your orange towel, he picks you up and places you on the bed. He pulls one of his old shirts and a clean pair of boxers over you, then sat behind you to start brushing your hair.
“You’re so quiet today,” you comment. “Not like you at all, Kacchan.”
He cringes at the nickname, but continues untangling your messy hair.
“Hey,” you call out. “Why aren’t you answering me?” Your voice dragged out, sounding like a child throwing tantrums.
“I’m brushing your hair, stupid. Stop moving and drink your tea.”
“But you’re soooo quiet,” you whine.
Katsuki leans over to your temple to kiss your forehead, pulling away, but not quite, as he whispered: “You need to rest.”
“I’m fine,” you say, but your body betrays you with a hiccup. “I want to cuddle.”
“Let me finish your hair and you can get all the cuddles you want.”
“Okay.” You pout, crossing your arms, but Katsuki finds it absolutely adorable.
Once he’s done with the rest of your hair, he plugs in a blow dryer to finish off the job, leaving you ready for bed. After he cleans up rather quickly and closes the doors, he settles beside you, your back turned against him.
“I love you,” he whispers onto your shoulder. You move a little, hand reaching out to his cheek. He takes it with his open one and leaves individual kisses on your fingers, pulling you closer with a leg slung over yours.
“You’re so warm,” you giggle with what little strength you have. He finds himself mirroring your grin. “You’re like… a big teddy bear.”
Katsuki stays quiet, feeling sleep take over his body.
“You’d be a great dad,” you say aloud, making him freeze.
“Are you…”
“I’m not pregnant, silly,” you reply, brushing over his blonde hair to calm him down. “I’m just saying, if ever the time comes and we have little grenades running over the apartment, you’d make an amazing father.”
“And why is that?” he asks, resting into the pillows.
“Because you’re warm. Like a teddy bear. And kids love teddy bears.”
He chuckles at your half-drunk explanation, “and I love you.”
“You’re so cheesy,” you tease, turning over to face him. You pinch his cheek playfully and he smiles. “I love you too.”
“When the time comes,” he starts. “I’m sure you’ll be a great mother to our little grenades, too.”
“I’ll have to take care of how many Katsukis running around,” you teasingly groan, leaning on his shoulder. “I’ll be retiring at like, 40.”
“Five. Five would be nice.” He pats your hair absentmindedly, daydreaming into the scenario he made up in his head. “But I’d want them to have your quirk, too. You’re right, five exploding babies probably wouldn’t be too good for the two of us.”
You don’t reply, and he takes it that you’ve fallen asleep. He was about to wish you good night, when you pull him closer.
“I love you, teddy bear,” you coo with your last strength and immediately fall asleep.
“I love you, too.”
note:henlo i disappeared for like a week but i am bacc!! i hope u guys liked this one hdhhsbsn i am a Big Ball Of Fluff for this explodo boi .. and his name is DynaMight!! i’m so proud he’s so happy with his name imm gonan melt bye
everyone knew ground zero was one of the strongest heroes in the business, but little did they know how weak he really was for you.
pairing: bakugou katsuki x reader
content: a bit mature, but not nsfw. characters are aged up in this btw! also fluff because yes
forgot to put this the first time, but if you want to ~feel~ the imagine more, you can listen to taking me back by lany ((yes like the title)) !!
warnings: some strong language, very mildangst
A knock on your door startled your Saturday night Netflix binging. You set your popcorn on the table rather loudly, annoyed at whoever had the guts to interrupt the only free time you could get at 11PM. Your hand hurried to the doorknob to stop the vigorous knocking, and you were met by a tired-looking Ground Zero, looking big with his grenades and hero costume intact.
You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at the sight. “Work got you again?”
“Let’s not talk about it,” was the only thing he muttered before you let him in, taking off his large weapons and placing them on the side of the door along with everything else that was bothersome to him. He was left in a black tank top and baggy jeans.
“You know, you need to come home sometimes,” you tell him, setting your hands on his sturdy biceps. “Your mom’s probably thinking you’re dead by now.”
His eyes closed in pleasure as your hands started to knead, hitting him in all the right places. “Please, the old woman’s enjoying the house to herself.”
“What about Masaru?” you asked, taking a better look at his attire. You had no idea he looked this good without the extravagant hero accessories on.
“Left for a business trip. I don’t know where.” He groaned, leaning into your other hand that raised to caress his cheek. “You’re seriously a martyr for taking me in after everything I’ve done to you.”
“Past is past, I suppose,” was all you could say.
Bakugou—or as you called him, Katsuki—was your ex-boyfriend. Unknown to others, and most of Class 1-A, since you decided that keeping it a secret would be best, given the constant danger your lives were put in. Any kind of secret that would reveal a rising hero’s weak spot can and will probably be used against them. And unfortunately, Bakugou’s weakness was you.
It ended when the both of you decided it wouldn’t work out with the way things started to change pace. He was completely set on becoming the best hero in Japan that he barely went home to your shared apartment. He found an agency that would take him in—much to his dismay, working with Half and Half Bastard under Endeavor’s Hero Agency.
You, however, had different plans. You were working to become a minor hero in your prefecture, as you didn’t want to be under the constant stress of fearing for your life at the top. Bakugou constantly tried to coax you out of that mindset, saying that he knew you could do way more, but you just weren’t having it. The lack of time and different outlooks caused a major fallout that eventually resulted in a mutual break-up.
However, despite moving out and getting rid of everything you shared, Bakugou always found his thoughts drifting back to you. He shrugged it off the first months, thinking it was part of the shitty moving on process. Until he couldn’t take it one fateful Thursday night and found himself crying on your doorstep, practically begging you to take him back.
It struck a heart string to see him like that. He never ever begged anyone for anything, and to hell with showing his emotions to people. The fact that he was completely sober, had the right state of mind to rethink his decisions, and still came back to you—it was too much. You, too, were having trouble with the moving on process, but nothing was going to be fixed with this set-up. If you took him back, you’d argue over the same things all over and over again.
So it ended up with you letting him sleep over, and making the pro hero promise to leave the next morning. A part of you still cared deeply for him, and didn’t want to see your Katsuki cry, staying in his embrace the entire night and having to fight back your own tears. As expected, the promise was broken, and he stayed over for another night, and another,—maybe just one more?—until coming back to you became an unspoken habit of his whenever he “needed support after all his missions”. You knew it was just because he missed you.
And you missed him, too, deeply.
“Do you mind if I…” he suddenly started, snapping you out of your thoughts as the both of you sat down on your couch.
“Go ahead. It doesn’t matter anymore,” you replied. Katsuki rested his head on your shoulder, closing his eyes and basking in the sweet smell of your perfume.
A comfortable silence wrapped you both, only the television volume giving light to the ambiance that settled.
“You should shower,” you mentioned. He didn’t necessarily smell bad, you just wanted him to move away and stop your thoughts.
“Do I smell?” he asked, a genuine tone laced in his voice.
“No.” You couldn’t hold back the hand that made it to his spiky hair, patting gently. “I’m just worried you might be tired.”
“I think I’m good here,” Katsuki insisted, leaning further into you.
His left hand started to wonder places, landing on your right. His thumb rubbed mini circles on yours, matching the pace of his calm breathing. After a few more circles, his arm moved behind the small of your back, switching your positions quickly and letting you lean on his stern chest. You adjusted yourself to sit in between his lap, faces dangerouslyclose.
You could kiss him then and there, and you knew he wouldn’t be opposed to that.
Or would he?
You could test your hypothesis, but your brain was telling you otherwise. It was impractical to let your heart rule over you again. The way that he was coming back to you even though you were supposed to move on was dumb enough. A kiss would just cross the line.
You sighed in defeat.
“What?”
“Nothing,” you brushed off. But you knew he wasn’t going to let that slide.
“If I’m bothering you—“ he started, but you were quick to interrupt.
“No, you’re not, Katsuki.”
He lifted his head, looking straight into your eyes. “Then why do you look like that?”
You raised an eyebrow. “Like what?”
“Like you can’t wait for me to fucking leave.”
Apparently, your facial expression gave it away. It’s not that you wanted him to leave, though.
“I probably should,” he retorted, getting up from his seat. “None of us is going to move the fuck on with this, right?”
Bakugou rose and made his way to the door, carefully gathering his stuff. The sight made the pain in your heart worsen—every step was a dagger to your already tainted heart. He was hesitant, too, slowly moving as he took jagged breaths.
None of you was willing to break the awkward tension in the room, until you choked out the only words you could make out from the flurry in your head.
“What if I don’t want to move on?”
He turned around. “What the fuck do you mean?”
“I don’t want to fucking move on,” you repeated, harder and angrier this time. The lump in your throat seemed to let go of its grip when the tears came out, blurring your vision completely. “I don’t want to fucking lose you anymore.”
It seemed like you cried for an hour with how unexpectedly painful it felt. Not once in your solo crying sessions did you feel something quite like this, and seeing him make his way to the door was reliving it all over and over again.
You wanted to remind yourself why you hated him—why you hated that everything he did was a reason for you to love him even more.
You hated how he always managed to disrupt your thoughts without him even being there. You hated the way he used to tease you about the way you cooked, but held you safely in his arms as he taught you how to do it better. You hated the way he would talk to you in your sleep, sweet nothings that would never come out in broad daylight. You hated how he comforted you when you needed it most, telling you he’ll be your shield when the world’s out to get you. You hated the way he looked at you on dates, like you were the only woman on earth, and nothing and nobody else mattered. You hated how the two of you used to dance to the same Arctic Monkeys song on the radio, and pointed to every sappy love song that came on and told him it was your song. You hated that he stayed up with you on the nights you had to study, and took you to new midnight diners downtown if he decided you needed a break. You hated waking up next to his stupid face staring back at you, waiting for you to wake up so he could finally be with the love of his life.
But most of all, you hated how your heart still belonged to him after all this fuckingtime.
Warm hands made their way to the back of your head, pulling you closer and rubbing your back.
“I don’t want to fucking move on, too.”
You looked up at him. His face mirrored the same expression as yours, tears in his eyes and lips trembling as his crimson eyes found yours.
For once in his life, he was completely sure of taking a risk for something—no, someone—he was completely, head over heels weak for.
But if you were there, none of that mattered anymore.
“I still love you, Katsuki,” you whispered, leaning closer into him and feeling the warmth of his shaking body radiate onto you. “I don’t want you to slip out of my grasp anymore. I know you might not feel the same, but please—please—let me kiss you one last time before you go.”
Katsuki pulled you up, his arms resting steady on your back. “I’m not leaving, you idiot.”
Leaning in, his lips touched yours, and slowly, the sparks, the cliche sparks you once felt with your teenage love came back. He was still the same red-faced boy who accidentally cursed you as he confessed his attraction, stray flowers from UA’s grass fields in hand. In another held a tiny teddy bear that was wrapped in an orange box with a note attached in rather messy handwriting—I like you, dumbass.
“I was hoping you’d take the hint after all this time, but I still love you, idiot.” Katsuki moved your messy hair out of your face, wiping the tears that kept coming down, not minding his own. “I’m not leaving you ever again. And I’m not letting some other extra take away what’s mine.”
“You’re such an asshole.” You laugh at your own teasing, and he does too. “We’ve got to do a thing about our problems, though.”
“About that,” he responded, a little smile forming on his face. “After shitting on myself for months on end, I realized how much of an asshole I was to you. You should never have to compromise your dreams just because of my shitty opinions. Be the hero you want to be, love. I’ll always support you if that meant your happiness.”
In shock at the Bakugou that was in front of you at that moment, you were at a loss for words. You hugged him with all your might. That was the only thing you wanted to do as you realized he finally changed, and was willing to make your relationship work the second time.
“Stop crying, dumbass! You’re going to make me cry, too,” Katsuki teased.
“Idiot, you’ve literally been crying for the past ten minutes. Let it slip for today.”
He chuckled. You rested into his embrace, feeling contentment fill up your heart.
note: hullo humans !! this was very self-indulgent and the result of my 1am brain rot™️ again. anyway,,, i’d like to thank u all for 300 notes on the past two imagines like whUT. u guys,,, i ams o Grateful nd i wanna cry and hug u all individually but i cnanot so pls have a virtual cookie each instead. i love u all
“the word ‘chill’ does not exist in kacchan’s vocabulary.” —izuku midoriya
pairing:bakugou katsuki x reader
content:fluff!
warnings: (some) strong language
Bakugou always went hard on training sessions. No matter who it was in front of him, they better be ready to fight if they didn’t want to be blasted into the thermosphere. To him, it was second nature—if he couldn’t give it his all, he couldn’t be the number one hero. Due to this unfaltering determination, Recovery Girl was on standby everytime Class 1-A trained. Almost all of his past opponents needed to heal from an injury or burn mark somewhere—and you, his girlfriend of a year, were noexception.
After a strong blow to your right leg left you limping, Yaomomo assisting you as you made your way to the clinic, Bakugou could only stare in disbelief and shock. He impulsively ran after you, but Ochaco and Jirou blocked his path, giving him death glares that practically screamed, “you fucked up.” The worst part is, it was no accident.
Of course, you always tried your best to understand your boyfriend’s rather violent demeanor. It was definitely worse when it came to combat, but the pain in your leg was too unbearable to let you think straight—and everyone in the class saw that. You were sent home early to the dorms with your leg under a thick layer of bandages, a care package from Yaomomo and the girls, and a small “sorry” note from Kirishima, which you had no idea was for.
So there you laid—in whatever oversized shirt you pulled from your drawer, loose shorts, and a single sock on your uninjured leg. Recovery Girl told you you were fairly lucky to walk away with just a rather big scratch and a torn ligament, which she managed to heal. It wasn’t your fault, after all. You were sure Bakugou received an earful from the old lady for doing such thing to a poor girl—moreover, his own girlfriend.
You weren’t exactly mad at Bakugou, but you definitely weren’t pleased, either. He didn’t visit you in the clinic, nor even text and ask how you were doing. Nada. Your tsundere of a boyfriend was surely rock-hard when it came to lowering his pride, but you thought he’d at least show a bit of care. You tried giving him the benefit of the doubt though, that maybe he was just in shock at what happened. He accidentally hurt you, after all—something he never wanted to do to you, and you knew that very well. Wanting to get everything off your mind, you threw the covers on and tried to drift off to sleep.
You wanted to call him and ask for an explanation. Limp to the elevator and wait for him in the lobby to hear it as soon as he came home. But it seemed too petty, and your leg was too fucking painful to walk. Moving it around in your bed had a tolerable amount of pain, so that solidified your decision of staying in. Plus, you were independent, you could survive the healing phase on your own, angry explosive boyfriend or none.
Thirty minutes passed and you found yourself dumbstruck at the wall. Sleep has long abandoned you, not even visiting you once that afternoon. You picked up your phone, looking for a game to distract yourself with and hopefully fall asleep to. You decided on Subway Surfers, playing a few rounds, when you felt your eyelids get heavy. Finally, you drifted off to rest, but you were interrupted by someone opening your door without a warning.
“Oi,” Bakugou called. Your boyfriend was wearing a grey pullover over black knee shorts, and the same Fire Princess socks you got him for Christmas. His tone was soft as he passed the door, rough voice laced with concern. “Are you alright?”
You were about to answer with a sarcastic retort when a cough lodged in your throat. “What do you think?” you asked rather silently.
You didn’t look at him. Bakugou groaned and sat on the edge of your bed.
“I…” he started. You lightly craned your head to his direction, waiting for the apology you were sure was coming. “I… think your bandages need to be replaced.”
You rolled your eyes. They were dirty from walking around your room without a slipper, not to mention the grass that stuck to it from when you almost fell flat on your face outside. “Tell me about it.”
Katsuki suddenly placed your leg on his thighs, carefully peeling off the wrap. Your eyes widened, jumping up to stop the ash blonde. “Do you have any idea how to do that?”
“Shut up, the old woman taught me how to,” he reassured. Once the last inch of cloth was removed, Bakugou stood up and went to the mini first aid kit he conveniently brought with him.
He sat back down, being extra gentle with your leg. You crossed your arms, sitting up and watching his large hands sanitize your tender joint.
“I’m still mad at you, by the way,” you grumbled.
“I know,” Bakugou retorted, pulling you closer by your waist to get a better grip. His gaze was completely set on the task at hand, not wanting to make your injury any worse. You pulled your leg away stubbornly, his hand moving quickly to take it back. This went on for multiple times, making his face contort into one of annoyance. “Hey, I know you’re fuckin’ angry, but stop being a brat. You’re leg’s gonna break off if you keep doing that.”
You stuck your tongue out at him. “I wasn’t the idiot who blasted my fuckin’ leg.”
Bakugou seemed to not care at all at your insult as he massaged your leg. He was in the middle of your knee when he mumbled something under his breath, making you ask, “What did you say?”
“I said, I’m fuckin’ sorry, dumbass.” He looked up to meet your gaze for the first time in that visit. “I really went overboard with you.”
You pouted. “You know I’m okay with your anger issues, but please, if you want to see me alive by our marriage date, don’t go blasting me off places.”
Katsuki blushed at the thought of a wedding with you, but was quick to shake it off. “Yeah, whatever. I’m sorry.”
You could tell it was taking a lot of his pride to apologize as it was all genuine. “You owe me a bowl of ramen for that.”
He stopped wrapping the bandage and planted a kiss on your forehead. “I owe you more than that, dork. But next time you’re going to pretend to be mad at me, don’t wear one of my shirts while you’re at it.”
You quickly looked down at the black skull shirt loosely hung around your frame, making you internally swear. “It was just the first thing in my closet, asshole.”
Katsuki rolled his eyes playfully, a smirk adorning his sharp features as he finished the job with a stable wrap of medical tape.
“If you move too much, I’m going to tape you to the bed.”
“How dare you use your kinks on me when I’m sick?” you asked with a feigned offense. He chuckled.
“Between the two of us, I think you’re the kinkier one here,” the blonde shot back. “Remember when—“
“No, I do not!” you screamed, hurriedly tackling your boyfriend down to shut him up. His arms moved like reflex to steady your broken leg before it fell down the bed.
“Be careful, dumbass!” Bakugou laid down beside you, adjusting your position to where it would be comfortable for you. “I told you once, and I’m not going to say it again.”
“Are you threatening me with medical tape, Kacchan?” you taunted. He cringed at the nickname only his green-haired nerd of a childhood friend called him.
“Stop that,” he ordered, burying his head on the crook of your shoulder. “You look really hot wearing my stuff.”
You thanked the Heavens for not letting him see your lovestruck reaction, or else he wouldn’t have let it slide. This caught you in a lack of words, to which he happily filled.
“I’m going to have to control my style if I don’t want to lose my girlfriend,” Bakugou said, wrapping his arms around your waist.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to back down on you, either. I have my own battles to prove too, you know,” you replied with a content smile, playing with the spikes of his hair. He smelled vaguely of caramel.
“Whatever.” It was silent for a few minutes, when he started speaking again. “Can you manage to shower?”
That aspect of being injured never slipped into your mind yet, and the thought of possibly slipping in the bathroom and bumping your head was terrifying. Shit.Bakugou must have sensed your worry, though, as another smirk grew on his face.
“You need help?” your explosive boyfriend teased. “I think I can sleep here tonight, it’s a Friday after all.”
“You pervert!” you exclaimed, lightly patting his head, making him giggle. “Just say you want to fuck me and go.”
He looked at you with a deadpan look on his face, arms still tightly wrapped around your torso. “Oi, you may look ridiculously enticing with my shirt on, but your health comes first. You are not getting any action until your leg heals completely.”
You pouted again. “What a bummer.”
“Who’s the pervert now?” he inquired, switching your positions a bit so now you were below his head.
“I hate you,” you retorted, not meaning any second of it.
“You love me.”
“Shut up.”
“I love you too, dumbass. I’m sorry for nearly killing your leg.” Bakugou ran a hand through your hair, neatly massaging it as the other turned off the nightlight. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a bowl of ramen to prepare and a whiny girlfriend to feed.”
You didn’t respond as you fell asleep smug on his toned chest, having the best rest you’ve felt in years.
note: henlo this was just pure ✨Fluffy Brain Rot✨ so i hope u guys enjoyed it :D
in which kacchan doesn’t know what a hug feels like
pairing: bakugou katsuki x reader
content:fluff!
warnings:some strong language because come on it’s bakugou ,,
It was another one of Mina Ashido’s extravaganzas in the lobby of 1-A Alliance. The pink-haired extrovert felt that the energy in the dorm was extra heavy, and she, knowing her classmates weren’t usually like this, decided to throw a party with a wide variety of games. Being down at that time wasn’t avoidable though, as it was the day Aizawa gave back the test papers and they found out that almost 80% of them flunked his test. Though Mina was one of the unfortunate majority, this didn’t stop her from wanting to lift the heavy atmosphere up. After thirty minutes of persuasion, everyone was convinced, and here you were, seven rounds of alcohol-free spin the bottle in.
You were sitting beside your boyfriend, Bakugou Katsuki. He was a bit adamant about the whole thing, wanting to stick to his strict 8:32PM sleep schedule, but your puppy eyes and pleading were too much to handle. You had to drag him all the way, though, his entire body feeling like 5 sacks of rice even though he was walking behind you, hand in hand. Not to mention the fact that he was grumbling the whole way, but it was nothing out of the ordinary when you got used to it after 3 years of knowing each other.
“It landed on (Y/N)!” Kirishima announced, beaming with pride (and relief) as it stopped right at the boundary of you and the redhead. You see, since alcohol was banned, Mina improvised by making everyone take a BeanBoozled jelly bean every time they were chosen by the almighty bottle. At first, it seemed like a fun idea, until Kaminari got canned dog food and had to run to the bathroom for his life.
Hesitant, you grabbed a jelly bean from the bowl in front of you, circled by 1-A. Though not everyone was in on the game, the non-participants stayed closely outside the circle, watching attentively. One of them was Izuku, who was already traumatized by sweaty gym socks after Mirio and Eri decided it was a fun game to play last month.
“Truth or dare?” Jirou asked. You tossed the bean in your mouth, tasting the refreshing pop of berry blue as it melted.
“Dare,” you bravely responded, and Iida started to look confused.
“There’s not a lot we can ask (Y/N) to do. She has a boyfriend and as her classmates, we should respect their rights,” he announced, arms waving in the air. Everyone nodded in agreement.
Sero clapped his hands, like he just solved the world’s hardest calculus question. “Well then, why don’t we ask her to do something with Bakugou?”
“Hah? It’s not my fuckin’ turn,” your boyfriend retaliated, turning to the tape man. “I’m not eating any damn beans.”
“Oh, but you won’t need to eat any, though,” Ochaco bravely chided. “Just for the dare.”
“Okay! I think I’ve decided,” announced Mina. “(Y/N), I dare you to hug Bakugou.”
Kaminari nearly spit his soda. “That’s so lame, Mina. They probably do that and more in the janitor’s closet every lunch break.”
“Yeah, it is pretty lame,” Hagakure added. “Can’t we add a bit of spice in here?” The invisible girl purred, doing a cat hand signal, not like a lot could see.
“But it does seem like a good dare,” Todoroki entered, everyone suddenly turning to him. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the both of them act like a proper couple.”
Bakugou stood up, ready to blast Endeavor’s son into the thermosphere. “What did you fuckin’ say, Icyhot? It’s not like you know anything about love, hah?”
You laughed and held him down like he was a feral dog ready to attack. “I mean, we’re fairly new too, so I guess that would be nice?” you replied.
Your relationship with Katsuki was going on a short but steady 3 months strong. He was the type of person to let things come naturally, not wanting to do anything just because he was your boyfriend. He would never half-ass anything, especially his relationship with you.
But that also meant that he almost never got physically affectionate. Sure, there were stolen kisses and light hugs before you left for school sometimes, but that was about it. All the times you spent together in his room were spent having talks about life, homework, laying next to each other, or sitting by the balcony, naming the constellations after your classmates. One was Half and Half Bastard, the other, Round Face, and the one way up with the moon was Shitty Hair. Though you were content with him and how everything between the two of you was going, you wouldn’t mind at least longer hugs, or cuddles, or maybe even more. You were in your third year, after all. But you didn’t want to push it, as you respected his personal boundaries and would never do anything he was uncomfortable with.
“Calm down, Katsuki. It’s just a hug,” you reassured, trying to hold back a giggle. Bakugou grumbled in response. Todoroki seemed to not care at all, though, as he continued to nibble on his soba beside Yaoyorozu. “Let’s get this over with.”
You pulled him into your arms. The first thing that struck you was he was stiff. His body was weirdly spread out in front of yours, spiky blonde hair covering the lower half of your face, and hands frozen in the air from his rage quit at Shoto. You felt his heartbeat quicken, and though you couldn’t see it due to the awfully unnatural position, Class 1-A noticed his eyes widen, pupils dilate, and a faint blush creep upon his cheek, getting redder at his ears. This went on for a few seconds until he finally relaxed into you, heaving a sigh and moving his arms to try and hug you back. You could have sworn you heard Izuku in the corner gasp in shock.
When you pulled away, he looked so flustered, it was cute. His expression was rather pouty, looking into your eyes with a spark of admiration you’ve never seen before. It was a stark contrast to his rough-edged personality, a part of him he could only show to you.
He was lovestruck.
If you had your phone, you would have taken a photo and embedded it into your mind.
Kirishima’s cheer brought you out of your trances, and the game resumed after a few whistles and whining from Mineta, who nobody let into the game, and badly wished to be hugged too. Bakugou, on the other hand, found himself having trouble focusing on the game, and instead had his mind stuck on you and that awkward ass hug. It was terrible, but something about it lit a dreaded spark in him, one he wanted to ignite as soon as he got you with him alone. He was so distracted that he didn’t realize the bottle had landed on him. Bakugou momentarily forgot about the beans’ disgusting nature until his mouth started to taste like actual grass, and just like Kaminari, he ran to the bathrooms for relief.
The game ended when Aizawa nearly kicked the doors down, lightly scolding the lot of you that it was way past your curfew, which most of you had no idea existed. Deciding on the fact that maybe your grumpy yet lovable adviser just wanted some undisturbed sleep, you all said your goodnights to each other, and you left the lobby with your hand in Bakugou’s.
Odd enough, he wasn’t speaking. He was definitely the type of person to be grumbling about something in an event like this, when the fun was just getting started. But he even looked relieved—and that was something for you to figure out when you come into his room, crashing on his bed like it was yours. He still wasn’t speaking.
“Katsuki,” you called out to him, who took off his tank top and changed into a gray shirt. The first one got wet from the faucet at the bathroom from rinsing his mouth. “Katsuki.”
“What do you want, woman?” he replied, heading into the bathroom to brush his teeth. You yawned and took a look at his slightly messy room, feeling your eyelids fall. After what seemed like a lifetime, he finally crashed next to you, facing up.
You turned to him, touching his cheek. “You seem quiet.”
“I’m not,” he argued, but even he wasn’t convinced.
You raised an eyebrow at your boyfriend playfully. “It was the hug, wasn’t it?”
Surprised but prideful that you debunked his facade, he rolled his eyes. “You wish it was.”
“Oh, really now?” you taunted, scooting closer. “It’s okay, Katsuki. I won’t judge.”
You yawned before falling asleep dangerously close to him. He could have sworn his heart was beating out of his chest, and before he knew it, he turned to face you, running his hands through your hair carefully as to not disturb you.
“I love you, dumbass,” he whispered. It was very out of the ordinary for him to profess his love like this, but something about it felt like lifting a weight off his chest. “You could do so much better than me, you know? I’m an asshole, but I’m trying my best. I know you know that.”
Slowly feeling sleep take over his body, too, he put his arms securely around you. You were his comfort, where he could put his armor down and come home to. You were Bakugou Katsuki’s peace in the storm.
What he didn’t expect was for you to hug back.
“I’m still awake, dum dum,” you whispered. “And I love you, too.”
“Shut up,” was the only thing he could manage to say.
“And if you want hugs,” you started, poking his chest playfully. “Don’t be afraid to ask for them, you big baby.”
“I’m not a baby,” he argued. He wasn’t in the mood to fight anymore that night, having found his new comfort zone.
for the longest time, you avoided Bakugou Katsuki in fear of being called an extra or getting blown up alive.
pairing: bakugou katsuki x reader
content:fluff!
warnings:may contain foul language, maybe?
If you were to describe how he felt like, it would be satin sheets. Rose essence, scented candles, and warm nights—your head buried in his chest as you drifted off to dreams and found solace in each other’s arms.
He was loud, ambitious, explosive (both literally and figuratively), and vulgar. Almost like a firework, as Denki would describe him. Your first glance at him in the UA entrance exams immediately told you he was not someone to mess with, so for the longest time, you stayed away from him. You avoided ever getting in his way, not wanting to get called names or screamed at.
Not even when you were asked to choose a partner and the both of you were the only people left unpicked.
Not even when you were awkwardly placed next to each other in the lunch table after Mina threw a post-exam pizza party courtesy of Momo, trying not to pay attention to the subtle glances he gave you as you dully picked your food. Not that he’d want you to notice, anyway.
Not even when he was innocently asking you a question about your chemistry homework, seeing him stutter for the first time since you’ve met him, face heated up and red—isn’t he in contact with nitroglycerin on the daily? He should know that. He’s one of the top students. And not even when he sat next to you on the field trip, his excuse being I didn’t want to sit next to the invisible girl, your favorite snacks and two drinks in his bag.
It was only when he offered you his other earphone, his face sulky with a hopeful glint in his eyes, saying, “You look more shit than usual and I don’t want you puking on me,” that you realized, maybe he wasn’t as bad as you thought. But of course—he was Bakugou Katsuki, and damned be those who ever see him without his signature scowl on. He was stiff as a rock the whole ride, head turned away from you, in contrast to the hand that offered you a bottle of orange juice. Occasional rambles went on for the rest of the ride, you even found yourself joining in and sharing your own tales with him, but not quite—until all of Class 1-A silenced and noticed the new bickering coming from the far back seat.
Bakugou Katsuki—or as Midoriya called him, Kacchan—was smiling. The boy everyone swore was emotionally constipated, was here, having a debate with (Y/N) about how dinosaurs might have had hair or not. His explosive “I’m right, shut up” personality still lingered, but it hid in the shell of a boy who looked like he woke up on the first morning of Christmas Day. They all decided it would be best if they ignored the way he looked at you—not shy of admiration, or maybe even love?—and the way the smile remained on his face as he drowned out the world around them. Class 1-A wasn’t ready to die as a whole.
Katsuki never put his guard down. He was always ready to defeat whoever came before him, knowing his own ability would prove why he deserves number one. Emotions didn’t matter to him so long as he stays on top. So when he found himself blankly staring at the wall, three hours after they got home from the field trip, progress stalled on his Geometry homework, he knew something was off.
She smiled at me.
No, that’s not it, he thought, taking his pencil and shoving it into the sharpener rather aggressively.
She called me funny.
He slowly turned the knob on the small machine, lead flowing over the paper, leaving gentle marks where gravity took hold of them.
She apologized for ignoring me.
She said I was cool, and wanted to hang out with me more. Maybe he can corner Shitty Hair in the kitchen tomorrow before they leave, and ask him another question about her, pretending that he didn’t do it before when he asked him what shit you usually bought in 7/11 before the dorm system came. After that, maybe they can talk, and even spar, she’s got a quirk that almost rivals him, fairly social and had a good standing in class, almost number one in his book, so if there’s anyone worthy of his love then it’s—
Wait, what?
He slammed the pencil down on the table, inevitably breaking the same lead he sharpened as he tried to drown out his thoughts.
What is this shitty feeling that makes his heartrate berserk?
Little explosions unknowingly started to form on his sweaty palms, almost in sync with the rising of heat on his face. He’s tasted many spicy foods, but nothing made him as red as the thought of your head on his shoulder, earphones blasting whatever The Neighbourhood song went on shuffle, just quietly enjoying each other’s presence.
Millions of stars would have to explode before Bakugou Katsuki would ever believe that was he was feeling was love—that disgusting four-letter word he kept hearing from Ashido as she loudly gushed about her crushes. He thought nothing of the way he always found his gaze coming back to you in that cramped lunch table. He thought it was a coincidence that he picked you for that partnership project, even though a small part in the back of his head silently wanted it to happen. And he certainly thought nothing of the way he found his feet moving on their own once he saw the seat beside you empty on that damned field trip. Nothing with the way he prepared your favorite snacks, with the help of Kirishima, for you to eat with him without even asking you to be his buddy beforehand. He knew Ochako was supposed to be your seatmate, but to hell with her, right?
“Kacchan?”
His head whipped to the side, a furious (constipated?) look on his face as he mentally scanned whoever had the audacity to enter his room uninvited at 11:54 PM on a Thursday evening. A confused and flustered Izuku Midoriya greeted him with a shy smile on his face, aware of how feral his childhood friend can turn especially when stressed, which he obviously was.
“What the fuck do you want?” Katsuki hissed as he crumpled up his scratch paper in a hostile manner.
Izuku let out a nervous chuckle, seeing death from the corner of his eyes. “So, uh, I was just passing by the corridor, not that I was spying on anyone, but I was so hungry, so I got some leftover cake, there’s still some, if you want, Kacchan, and I was about to leave when—“
“For fuck’s sake, cut to the chase already!” the ash blond shouted, nearly making Midoriya’s soul depart his earth-sunken body.
“I came across (Y/N), and she told me to give this back to you.”
In his shaking hands laid Kacchan’s black earphones, neatly tied with a note adorning where the cable organizer and the cord met. His face betrayed him when his lips tugged into a smile, one that Izuku didn’t miss.
“You seem happy, Kacchan.” The green-haired boy smiled back at him. Bakugou realized that Midoriya was still in the room, making all traces of happiness disappear completely.
“Go away, Deku.” His gaze shifted to the note as his childhood friend carefully closed the door.
He shouldn’t have been that anxious to see that note.
He shouldn’t have silently wished for it to be one of his innocent fantasies.
And he shouldn’t have felt his heart race when he saw that it was.
I can’t sleep. Can you?
Not that I’m wishing you to not be. But in the miraculous event that you’re as much of an insomniac as I am, my room is well open for a guest at this late time of night.
His feet acted before him, instanty walking out of his room, fresh out of a shower, wanting to look his best for he didn’t know what. As long as it had you in the equation, he immediately knew the answer.
And Bakugou knew that was not like him at all.
You—in all your glory—with that stupid face, and that stupid smile, that stupid laugh I can’t get out of my head even if I tried. What have you done to me?
And that’s how he found himself tangled in your embrace at 3AM, answering each other’s questions about life, dumb stuff, or anything in general. You started to know more about this explosive boy in your arms, and as quick as they were, you acknowledged that hell, you were falling for him—avoiding him for the longest because you didn’t want to confirm your suspicion and coming into terms with the shitty excuse of “I don’t want to get in his way” you made and letting it go.
Bakugou Katsuki now had to get used to the weird explosive feeling of love in his chest.
note: hi!! this is actually my first imagine here on tumblr and it’s like 3am and my back Hurts hurts so please excuse any typos bc i haven’t properly proofread this yet D: i hope you guys liked it!! i’m actually kinda nervous ish hshehshsh have a good evening <33
↝ After some peculiar messages appear on a phone you found in your mailbox, you are led to a mysterious apartment by an Unknown number. What secrets will you uncover in this mysterious place along with a secret chatroom with 6 strangers?
