He Likes Dogs

by tiniper

Summary:

2 men. Some dogs. Some cats. A bird. A few fish and a frog.
Bakugou is reunited with Kirishima thanks to one of the dogs and things go from there.

Chapter 1: Finding A Dog Called Deku

The shaggy looking dog was getting on his nerves. Or rather shaggy dog’s owners were, wherever the hell those absent losers were. Bakugou watched the lone dog as it roamed around the park, its head ducked down except for when it would occasionally sniff the air only to lower its head again, ears flopping low, pathetically, when it didn’t catch the scent it’d been hoping for. Beside him his own properly leashed dog whined and pulled in the direction of the random dog. Ochako was always ready to make friends with anybody. Damn it all, Bakugou thought.

“Sit,” he gestured to her. She obeyed and he unclipped her lead, “Stay,” he ordered, and she wagged her tail. Never a good sign, that little wag. He needed to catch that random dog before it got hit by a car though. Ochako would be fine off leash since it was an emergency whereas Shag over there clearly didn’t know what was best for him if he thought wandering off alone was a good idea. Halfway to the dog he checked behind him and there was Ochako, sitting just a few feet away. Tail wagging furiously. Willful idiot. “What if it doesn’t like other dogs, stupid,” he grumbled at her. Her tongue lolled out carelessly. Adorably. “Yeah, I know, everyone likes you,” he sighed.

When he turned his attention back to Shaggy he found the dog only a few meters away, head cocked, facing them. “Hey…come here,” Bakugou patted his leg and held his empty hand out for sniffing. Slowly the dog approached. “Good,” he said when it was close enough to smell him. “Good,” he reached up to scratch one of those floppy ears and “Fucker!” he flinched away. Shaggy had flinched first though, when Bakugou reached overhead, “It’s fine, I won’t do it again” he gritted out between teeth, trying to look calmer. “Come here,” he crouched and held his hand back out, the dog inched forward and gave another tentative sniff. Ah, he’s a boy, he noted. This time he tried reaching under his head instead and managed to get a little tail wag from him by scratching his chest. “See, I told you,” he muttered and scratched some more as he set the lead down. The dog had a collar and tags.

“Deku,” he snorted and laughed. The dog jerked back and Bakugou had to lure him in for more scratches. Again. What kind of person names their chickenshit, probably abused, dog ‘Useless’? He checked the tag’s other side. Someone living only a few blocks away if the address on the tags was accurate.

Ochako whined behind him. Behaving but antsy. Deku wagged his tail, ears cocking curiously and started leaning around trying to get to see her. “Wait…” he snapped and snuck the lead under his chin. “Bite my dog and your owners are going to have hell to pay,” he warned before stepping to the side but ready to intervene if needed.

Ochako, ever the social expert, stood up and let Deku circle her and sniff her. Then took her turn. Satisfied with the casual pleasantries Ochako dropped into a fun little bow that was mimicked back to her. If they didn’t move on soon he’d have Ochako launching herself up and all over the place from excitement. “Ochako, come,” he ordered and tugged the lead to get Deku to come also. He did, and nicely to,and gave credit where credit was do. Bad owners or not he at least seemed leash trained. But still... Maybe his careless owners wouldn’t be home and he could just ‘accidentally’ lose Deku’s collar and adopt himself a new dog. The dogs seemed fond of each other already. And Bakugou hated neglectful owners. He wouldn’t even have to feel bad about keeping Deku.

Chapter 2: Deku's Owner

Bakugou was one hundred and ten percent ready to hate Deku’s people. The whole way here he let the expectation of hatred simmer and deepen. Deku, it seemed, lived in a pretty nice house but he could already see where their wussy fence had failed to keep him safe and inside his yard. They were horrible people who did not know how to take care of a dog. He was clearly the superior animal person in every imaginable way. They would take one look at him and his perfect Ochako and beg him to take Deku for himself. If they loved their dog at all.

Deku’s tail beat at his leg as they stood on the porch. His whole body wagging. Nose pressed against the door waiting for it to open. What the hell, he thought bitterly, Deku better knock that shit off. They were going to be family just as soon as Bakugou put his current owners in their place. The door knob turned. Deku’s wagging intensified. The door cracked a fraction of an inch open.

Shitdamn! Deku lunged forward and knocked the door wide open. Whoever was on the other side had to have got a face full of door because they yelled and must have fallen backward enough to leave room for Deku to push through entirely. With surprising strength he pulled and snapped Bakugou forward by the wrist the leash was still looped around. “Fuck!” he tripped over the threshold and landed sprawled on the ground. Ochako bolted in after him and was barking crazily and kept stepping on him as she ran around and over him. Someone was shouting and praising and laughing. There was hissing and scattering coming from somewhere further into the house. And finally Bakugou managed to shove Ochako off her path over his kidneys and flip around to see what the hell was actually happening.

Quickly he loosed his hand from the lead and caught Ochako’s collar to keep her close and out of trouble. Deku was busy fully smothering someone with licks. Whoever it was seemed desperately thrilled at the very least. “Izuku! Izuku! You’re back! Good boy! Good boy!” they cheered. Then “Ahk!” and if Bakugou knew anything about the realities of an over-excited dog then he knew that Deku must have just punched a paw right into the guys stomach, “Izuku! Oh god, sit. Sit!” he shouted frantically. Deku backed up and dropped his butt to the ground and looked over his shoulder, entirely too dopey and too happy, back at Bakugou. Like saying fucking ‘thanks for bringing me home,’ no fucking consideration for that fact that Bakugou had already mentally adopted him or anything. Fucking Deku…

He pulled Ochako closer and let her lick him. That’s right. His dog loved him. Probably more because he knew how to keep her safe. Dogs like security. They didn’t need Deku anyway. He sucked and was too stupid to know a good owner when he saw one. “Give me my leash,” he snapped. Deku flinched which was kind of annoying now that he thought about it.
“What?” shitty-owner asked as he crawled out from behind his shitty-dog. In to view came a man with shitty hair. Bakugou’s mouth fell open.

“Seriously? Your hair is still that bad?” Bakugou absolutely could not think of anything else to say. Old habits.

“Bakugou?!” Kirishima scrambled to his feet, eyes wide, “Dude! This is crazy!” his grin even wider. He reached him and Bakugou was dragged up to standing by his free arm. “You okay?” he asked, checking him over for damage, brushing at his clothes. Handing him Ochako’s leash. Casually helpful. Casually friendly. Bakugou slapped his hands away. This was not what he had spent the park and four blocks expecting to happen.

Was he okay? No. He was not okay, he hadn’t expected this. Hadn’t expected Kirishima of all damn things. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he dragged Ochako forward between them so that he could back up and get some more space. Some more breathing room. Kirishima and Deku took that as permission to meet and get more acquainted with her. Successfully distracted.

He clenched the leash in his hand. He hadn’t expected Kirishima in years. And now here he was. Now the blood rushed to his face. He could hear it in his ears. This was embarrassing even though nothing embarrassing had even happened. How did that make sense. “I’m fine,” he repeated. Feeling even less fine this time. He had stopped expecting Kirishima years ago. That wasn’t the problem. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was… the problem… “If you like your dog you should make sure it can’t get out where it could get run over or some shit,” That was his problem. Kirishima was stupid and almost got his dog killed. Not whatever had happened before.

Kirishima looked up at him. One hand on Ochako, the other on Deku. Eyes looking apologetic and truly puppyish even between two actual dogs. “Bro, I don’t know how to thank you for bringing him back…, I about lost my mind when I saw the fence was broken again. And he was gone. Again,” he grimaced. Bakugou could feel his face contorting with pure judgement. Again? It must show up pretty clearly because Kirishima kept talking, “I know! He just. He always finds that one weak board and busts through. I swear he has, like, super strength! And I know its totally uncool and unmanly of me to be so bad at fencing my yard up but I’m still really glad he’s home safe,” and Bakugou can see that he’s seriously about to cry. There are genuine tears welling up. Apparently his hair isn’t the only thing that’s not changed. He still gets overly passionate and shits on himself too. Idiot.

So, maybe Kirishima was an idiot who didn’t fortify his yard against escape artist dogs. And maybe just this once Bakugou couldn’t muster up that fiery anger he usually could when people didn’t take care of their pets to his standards. And maybe… maybe he was letting himself get a little swept up by everything he remembered about this dumbass from highschool and all those ridiculous little half-hopes-half-expectations he’d had and accidentally harbored for the two of them long after they’d last seen each other.

He needed to leave. He needed to get out of there. He did not want to go back to thinking that Kirishima would always be around. Magically always exactly where Bakugou needed him to be. He needed to take Ochako and go home. Like, 5 minutes ago. He should have left Deku alone at the park and let Kirishima find him dead on the street. That would have showed them both what was what. What he should say right now is ‘Fix your fence, you shitty dog owner. I’m leaving,’. What he ended up saying was: “I’m going to fix your fucking fence.”

Notes:

More to come! I'm currently writing chapter 3 now.

Chapter 3

Later that evening, in his apartment, Bakugou was curled up on the couch with Ochako while he absently rubbed her belly. He stared at his phone. His phone that had Kirishima’s number newly saved in it. The little gray man icon stared back at him. -send me a photo of deku- he texted.

He’d never had Kirishima’s number before. It was a little surreal. Even back in school they’d just been… classmate friends. Forced together, he knew, because teachers and the other kids didn’t know what to do with the angry excellence that he insisted on and brought to every project and interaction. It was Bakugou getting dumped on Kirishima and Kirishima never minding that he was being used. Why was he always so fucking nice about everything? 'I like working with you Bakugou, you always come up with really cool stuff to do,' he would say. As if that wasn't a seriously embarrassing thing to just say to someone. As if Bakugou could have done half the cool shit they'd done together by himself. None of those extras in school could've kept up with him like Kirishima did or challenged him like Kirishima did. Ugh, it all still pissed him off just thinking about it.

Desperately in need of being distracted from his own irritation he flipped to his emails and scanned for new commissions. While absolutely not waiting for a text back. “Mmmroww!” the long drawn out call of hunger came from upstairs. With a frustrated growl, though rather glad to be forced off the phone, he unraveled himself from around his dozing dog and grabbed the new unopened bag of cat food off the kitchen counter and stomped upstairs to his room. No cat was immediately in sight though and that didn't surprise him in the least. Tooru was the kind of cat who easily blended into all kinds of surfaces and surroundings. She was a stealthy little thing when she wanted to be. He opened the bag and filled the very empty very large food dish. It was filled full just this morning.

“If you’re twenty pounds next time I see you I'm buying the gross diet food, got it?” he warned and leaned back against the dresser waiting for her to come get some attention. A soft head bumped his forearm. Without turning around or looking, because she was also the kind of cat who didn’t appreciate being gawked at, his eyes stayed averted for her comfort. He reached up and she basically smooshed her own face into his hand and pet herself against him. He allowed this for several quiet and calm minutes until she suddenly started biting. “Knock it off,” he pushed her toward the food dish and checked his hand. It was fine, no blood, just her getting sick of the attention. She crunched on the kibble, happily, behind him. “Later, asshole.”

Back on the couch, with Ochako still napping, he checked his phone. -here ya go! (attachment)-. The photo was of Kirishima flat on his back with Deku lying flat on top of him with his shaggy head tucked into the grinning man’s neck. You couldn’t even see the dog. -sorry, he’s sleeping-. No kidding. Whatever. This was fine. Twenty minutes later, the really bad photo of Deku (that featured a not terrible looking Kirishima, who he didn't even ask to be in it anyway so it doesn't matter what he looked like) popped up on his screen. It was better than the gray icon he supposed, -hey, want to walk the dogs together tomorrow?-

A moment passed. He considered this. Did he?

-i'll be there at 630am-

He needed to check on Deku. That was all. To make sure that while the fence was still broken Kirishima was still taking proper responsibility for his dog.

-AM???-

There was no reason to respond to that. It wasn't a real question. Kirishima would be there. He knew it. Because he was definitely still that kind of stupidly reliable guy. It’s the exact kind of thing that had fucked Bakugou up so much the last time. Back when he'd let himself think they were whatever he thought they were. And Bakugou was the same kind of idiot too, it seemed. And worse because this current idiot was knowingly going to let it all happen all over again.

He chucked the phone to the other end of the couch and dropped onto his side and shoved his face into Ochako’s fur, “You’re gonna be so goddamn excited tomorrow,” he grumbled accusingly. Her tail thumped against the couch in shameless agreement. His heart thumped in his chest.

Chapter 4

Tooru was a heavy invisible weight on his chest when he opened his eyes in the dark of his room early in the morning. “Mrroww,” she greeted and began kneading her claws into his bare chest.

“Stop it,” he grunted, “Move, I have plans,” he said and blinked slowly into the dark as he laid there and pet her and suffered the pinpricks of pain that came with a happy cat. Rolling his sleepy eyes over to his alarm clock he found that it was just turning to 6am. He had plans...

“Crap! Move, I have plans,” he kicked out and nudged the dead asleep Ochako at the end of the bed with his foot. “Wake up, you lazy dog,” he rolled up and deposited Tooru in the warm spot spot he was leaving behind. He shot out of bed and into the bathroom and threw on his clothes.

~~~

As he turned the corner onto Kirishima’s street he pulled out his phone to check the time. 6:25am. He was a whole five minutes early like some kind of overeager -

“Bakugoooou!” Kirishima, obviously Kirishima, called out. That guy would have to be a hypocrite to call Bakugou an overeager anything with that kind of greeting, so relief flooded through him. It was a sort of whisper-yell, but still definitely too loud for this early in the morning and this close to sleeping people. He whipped his head up he found Kirishima waving huge arches at him and running full tilt at him. Deku at the lead pulling hard and fast forward.

“Shut up! People are probably sleeping!” Bakugou yelled to him and it was decidedly not the whispering kind. Ochako pulled forward too but he held tight because he wasn’t the kind of dog owner who let his dogs walk him.

“Be quiet! My kids are sleeping!” someone yelled from across the street. Bakugou saw red. What kind of asshole?

It wasn’t that early and they weren’t being that loud and if that guy’s kids were sleeping then of all the people who shouldn’t be yelling he was at the top of the list so fuck him. “Shut up!” Bakugou yelled back.

“Oh God! Wait! Wait!” Kirishima cried out. Deku shot close past Bakugou, in between him and Ochako. Leashes tangled and Ochako jumped after Deku, with an excited bark. Kirishima crashed into Bakugou and Bakugou closed his eyes and braced for a hard landing on the pavement. On the way down felt himself being twisted and upon impact heard a loud “Oof- Ow!” and when he opened his eyes Kirishima was under him. “I’m so sorry!”

What? Bakugou definitely should have been the one that ended up grated up on the ground. How did he manage to turned around like that so quickly? “What were you thinking?!” he scolded pushing himself up and off of Kirishima. Both his hands stung from hitting the ground but he was otherwise fine. “Are you hurt?” he caught the dogs leashes, pulling Deku’s out of Kirishima’s hand and held them both off the idiot who probably had a concussion now. He couldn't be in charge of a dog with a concussion.

Kirishima sat up slowly and did a quick self assessment and grinned, “I’m fine, I’m really good at taking hits. You remember. I almost never get hurt. Just, dude, I’m really sorry for that, I started running and Izuku doesn’t do anything by half-measures...” He trailed off and held his hand out and Bakugou reluctantly gave him Deku’s lead back. He took it but also grabbed his hand, “Let me see,” he insisted and turned his palm over for examination.

Bakugou remembered a lot. Kirishima was a popular guy but certain things made him a target regardless and among them being friendly with Bakugou slapped a nice big one right on his chest. Yes, Kirishima could take a hit. No, he shouldn't have had to. Kirishima was a fantastic thing in those situations. He shook his head and dragged himself to the present.

In the present though, he could still feel the shape of Kirishima under him. Could still see Kirishima's face so close. He yanked his hand free of the gentle grip. “Are we gonna walk or not?” he asked and looked away and tugged Ochako’s lead and patted her on the side to get her to move with him. They were only a few steps down the street when Kirishima and Deku hurried up and fell into and easy stride beside them. It was good. It was right.