Work Text:
The UA Class 1-A dorms were anything but peaceful. Someone was always up to something and creating a lot of noise. Jirou’s music blasting up in her dorm room, Mina and Hagakure’s game nights, Mineta’s hentai on high volume, Sero’s pranks and quips, Kaminari’s endless list of shenanigans, Midoriya’s non subtle mumbling, Iida’s loud commands and of course Bakugou’s yelling.
So you could forgive the group of teens if they didn’t really bother paying any attention to Bakugou once he started yelling at them. It became background noise to them with how many times he yelled at his friend group (including Kirishima and Kaminari) or at Midoriya or at Todoroki...or really anyone. Not getting a reaction pissed him off even more.
“DID NONE OF YOU HEAR WHAT I JUST SAID?!” Bakugou yelled out. Jirou covered her sensitive ears and gritted her teeth. “What do you want, Bakugou?!” She said with disdain.
“It’s 7 in the morning, it’s too early for this shit.” Sero focused back on his phone.
“WHO STOLE MY BREAKFAST?!” Bakugou yelled out. Everyone froze.
“What breakfast?” Kaminari asked. The angry pomeranian turned to the electric boy. “Don’t play dumb with me Sparky, who took my breakfast?”
“I’m confused.” Momo stated. “You just got down, how could someone already have taken your breakfast?”
“I make my own breakfast before I go to sleep.” Bakugou replied.
Sero huffed. “You go to bed so early, you’re just now having breakfast? Thought you would’ve woken up by 5am or something. Does Bakugou need that much beauty sleep?” He snickered.
“SHUT UP SOY SAUCE FACE! I go on early morning runs and exercise. Doing something actually useful, unlike your existence.” Bakugou replied.
“We get it, you're a virgin.” Sero said it before he even registered it. Jirou spit out her coffee, Momo choked on her tea and Kaminari started wailing next to him. Bakugou just stood there frozen.
“You're next on my list Tape Face!”
“Your kill list or your sex list? I know your pent up but still-” Kaminari couldn’t even finish ragging on him before Bakugou walked right up to him and intimidatingly grabbed him by the shirt.
“Why don’t you start insulting me when you can actually take me on Dunce Face! You're the lowest in the class and weak as hell, so what say do you have?!” He yelled at Denki’s face.
An uncomfortable silence quickly goes by and Kaminari smirks at Bakugou. “Kirishima! Kiri! Kacchan’s being mean!” He called out.
“I told you not to call me that!”
Kirishima walked into the room looking refreshed.
“This early Bakugou? What happened?” Kirishima said, ever the mediator is going to Bakugou who is still holding Kaminari.
“Someone took his breakfast and now he’s acting like I killed his dog.” Kaminari replied. “Also Sero called him a virgin-”
Bakugou raised his hand up and sparks flew out of his palm. Kirishima grabbed Bakugou’s hand and set it down calmly. “Relax Bakugou, someone probably just did it by accident. You’re not doing any favors by overreacting this way. It was probably just a one time thing.”
At long last, the blonde dropped the other. After giving a curt “tch”, Bakugou walked out of the common room with the redhead in tow.
With that, everyone went back to their usual routine. Kaminari stood up, still smiling at everyone. No one talked to him.
___________________
It was not a one time thing.
A few days later Bakugou’s breakfast disappeared once again. Another yelling fit later and the mystery lunch thief was still undiscovered.
It happened again next week, and then a few days later and the last straw was when Bakugou found out his specially made casserole was eaten and thrown away on a Saturday morning. This time the entire class was sitting around.
“WHICH ONE OF YOU IS STEALING!” Bakugou fumed. No one even flinched, already used to his early morning yelling fits. Jirou downed her coffee and got up. “I’m out. Get your electric guitar for later Tokoyami.”
“You can’t just leave! I need to-”
“I’m not stealing your breakfast Bakugou. It may surprise you but most people don’t actually care about whatever is going on. Whoever is doing it is probably just hungry and messing with you.” Jirou cut him off, an unimpressed look on her face.
Kaminari lifted his head up. “Wait...you’re still giving Tokoyami lessons?”
“Well yeah. He’s talented at it and I offered him lessons.” She replied, already grabbing her belongings to go to her dorm room.
“Why didn’t you offer me lessons?” Kaminari pouted.
Jirou snorted. “It took forever for me to teach you the guitar and I can never get those hours of my life back. You’re kinda stupid.”
Bakugou ignored their conversation, stomping to his chair and pulling out a piece of paper. Kirishima sat next to him with his bowl of cereal, looking concerned as Bakugou started writing furiously in his notebook.
“What are you doing Bakubro?” Kirishima asked, trying to look over his shoulder to see the paper.
“Not now Shitty Hair. I have a thief to catch.” Bakugou's smile contained chaos. Kirishima shrugged next to him and continued eating. He looked at the piece of paper. The suspect list.
___________________
Suspect #1: Deku
Ever since they were five, Deku was a nuisance to Katsuki. Ever since they’ve been attending UA, the green haired boy was the center of every single problem Katsuki had (even the goddamn sports festival when IcyHot took most of his attention).
So of course he was the Number #1 suspect. Katsuki had to wait two days later until he could confront the other boy, knowing any form of threatening during or after school hours would get him in trouble with the class’ golden boy.
Tuesday’s hero training class was a simple spar match, admittedly it was more of a bracket competition and the explosive boy had to fight several people off before he could get to Deku since the spar partners were randomized.
Fighting Mina took longer than Katsuki had hoped, she was very athletic and had managed to dodge many of his blasts. Her constant barrage of teasing insults made him boil internally and he finally managed to get her down. Mina pouted afterwards. “You’re lucky we’re friends asshole!”
He rolled his eyes, what was up with people thinking he was friends with them? Sure he was accompanying several of them and sat with them during lunch but that was only because Shitty Hair insisted and Katsuki couldn’t turn him down. Then there was Kaminari who was always in his face, Mina who never shuts up and Sero who had no fear.
He ruled out Mina, Kaminari and Sero as suspects because of that very same reason. If they were stealing his food, they would outwardly tease him about it and somehow turn it into a prank. Whoever was doing it at least had the shame and ability to be sneaky and those extroverts couldn’t keep a secret if their life depended on it.
The second round had him up against Kaminari who looked hyped, preparing his stupid sharpshooters as if they would help him win against Lord Explosion Murder. He was right, the battle ended abruptly when Kaminari tried to dodge but Katsuki fired another blast where he knew the electric boy would move to.
Kaminari stood up looking disappointed. “Tch, did you really think you could beat me?”
He gave a small smile “...maybe?”
Katsuki walked off, not dignifying him with a response. He looked at the bracket as Aizawa sensei took Kaminari out and re-wrote it. He was up against Deku next. He smirked.
At least Kaminari didn’t short circuit this time around although Jirou looked disappointed at the idea that she wouldn’t be entertained by his Whey Mode antics. She made it a habit to actually record what he does and sent it to the class group chat. Kaminari never said anything about it and usually just laughed along with them.
The third round began, his childhood friend looked determined and focused. The fight began, both of them kept attacking and dodging. Unfortunately the idiot got better at fighting whereas on their first day attacking was a last minute option for the arm breaking nerd.
Aizawa was watching them intently which meant Katsuki had to be subtle, especially with Shitty Hair and Dunce Face watching him up at the monitor room. So he forced Deku into a hand to hand combat fight so he can get closer.
Just when they’re at a standstill, Katsuki starts talking. “I know you’re the one doing it Deku!”
The boy in question raised an eyebrow. “Did what Kacchan?”
“I know you’re the one taking my damn breakfast. You think you can just take what I make for yourself?!”
“Why would I steal your food Kacchan?!” The boy yelled out. “Not everything is about you!”
Suddenly, Deku went on the offensive, managing a sneak attack that he didn’t see coming. Katsuki fired off a blast close to Deku’s face but he dodged and took the opportunity to twist his arm. He did it so quickly that he didn’t have time to shake the nerd off and soon he found himself face first on the floor.
“Midoriya wins.” Aizawa announces. The nerd gives a cocky smile and lets Katsuki go, who is fuming with rage.
“Good luck with finding out who it is, Kacchan!” The green haired boy cheerily said, as if he hadn’t just tackled him to the ground. That bastard.
___________________
Suspect #2: IcyHot
Alright so this one wasn’t completely based on logic. Katsuki and IcyHot have been rivals ever since the Sports Festival and Katsuki’s brain immediately made him a suspect even if the annoying bastard didn’t seem the type to steal food from under his nose.
Speaking of which, the thief struck again. Katsuki got up extra early and even stayed in the common room to keep an eye on where he kept his food. He decided to eat early only to find it was already missing...the bastard was taking the food during the AMs.
The solution should be getting up earlier or staying up but Bakugou’s schedule got him to always go to bed at 8, 8:30 if his group of friends had anything to say about it.
Wait...friends? That can’t be right. Those annoying assholes aren’t his friends...right? He had to admit that he enjoyed their company more and more, and maybe Shitty Hair had stopped inviting him to their table because Katsuki was joining them out of habit. So what if he started helping them with homework? Stupid Soy Sauce Face kept asking for help and wouldn’t shut up, that’s why.
And so what if he kept sneaking glances at the redhead during random times of the day for no reason...other than to just look at him. And okay maybe he started calling him by his first name but that was more out of the guy’s insistence and the principle fact that his hair wasn’t so shitty anymore. It looked nice, especially when the sun shined through it…
Shaking his head, Katsuki narrowed his eyes at the half n half across the classroom. “It’s him. No one would suspect him because he’s quiet and not as obvious as Deku...he’s doing it to mess with me. I just know it.” He thought.
The rest of the class was randomly hanging out, Aizawa taking a nap in his sleeping bag and giving them the last few minutes of the school day off after a massive lecture. Bakugou organized his notes and put them into his backpack, Shitty Hair and Dunce Face probably wanted them considering how bad they were at taking notes themselves.
Katsuki looked at Eijirou’s direction for the eighth time that day and saw the familiar red eyes looking back at him. He turned away from him, a color similar to his friends’ eyes and hair coloring his cheeks.
He spared a glance at the blonde a seat in front of the redhead and the idiot was smiling as per usual, probably laughing about something internally. Katsuki was always annoyed at it, why was he always so happy? Although he could tell that he wasn’t getting much sleep, there were subtle dark circles under his eyes that hid behind a small layer of what seems to be makeup. He would be the type to wear that stuff and Katsuki had seen his skin care routine when he went over to his room beforehand.
Jirou was talking to him, judging by her smirk, probably something teasing. (He heard "No one likes you.") Kaminari pretended to be offended and started talking back to her. The energy was different this time around, Katsuki could feel it but he didn’t have time to worry over it.
“Hey Katsuki? Can I borrow your notes?” Eijirou asked. He sighed and handed his notebook over.
“Pay attention next time. I’m not giving you my notes again so start taking your goddamn own.”
“You always say that!” Eijirou waved him off, giving him a smile. “You and I should have another study session, to catch up and stuff.”
“I’m busy.”
“No you’re not.” Katsuki had the unfortunate disadvantage that Eijirou basically knows his schedule, since he worked out with him and usually hung out with the others in their free time. Even his 8:30 sleeping time had been interrupted several times by the group, usually to stay up and eat junk food which disgusted Bakugou. Yet he didn’t ever reject them, especially if Eijirou was involved.
“Tch. Fine. Thursday night. 6pm, don’t be late.”
“You got it Bakubro!” Katsuki hated how much he liked his smile. He never got tired of seeing it. At least Dunce Face’s smile got tired on him occasionally, the redhead had him wrapped around his finger and Katsuki didn’t want to let go.
The school bell rang, finally ending the day’s class. He heard Dunce Face yell out “Man, it’s only Wednesday!”
The half n half bastard usually left early rather than stick around with his classmates. Apparently training had to happen right after class. Even Deku couldn’t hold him back when the bell rang and he was practically his only friend.
Katsuki caught up to the dual haired boy in the hall, grabbing his arm. Todoroki looked shocked but hid it behind his poker face.
“What do you want?” The guy always kept conversation short, as if social interaction was a band aid to be ripped off.
“I know it’s you, IcyHot!” He yelled. “Didn’t think I would suspect that it was you, huh? I know you’ve been stealing my breakfast.”
Todoroki looked at him with genuine confusion and seemed flabbergasted. “No.”
The boy disengaged from Katsuki and walked away. “THE HELL?!”
As much as Bakugou hated it, Todoroki wasn’t the type of joke around. Katsuki had the suspicion that the boy didn’t know what a prank was. He always looked confused whenever Mina or Kaminari referenced a meme or re-enacted a vine, the guy really needed to get on the internet more.
Defeated, Katsuki crossed out Todoroki’s name from his list. It was a long shot anyway.
___________________
Suspect #3: Eijirou
Bakugou looked at his short suspect list, there had only been three and it pissed him off. It seemed like he ruled everyone out in class for the most basic of facts. Jirou didn’t care, Mina, Kaminari and Sero wouldn’t hide their thievery and would tease him relentlessly for it, Ponytail girl is too mature, Mineta is a coward, Glasses is too uptight, Round cheeks is too innocent and all the other extras didn’t have the balls.
On Wednesday night, Katsuki hid his egg hash brown cups away somewhere else in the kitchen but the thief found it anyway and devoured several of them, leaving him with half the amount he made. Clearly whoever is doing it knows him enough to know where he would hide it and was being very sneaky.
Shitty Hair ended up on the list purely because Bakugou wouldn’t put it past him to eat his food. Eijirou had complimented him several times about his cooking and had begged him to make more since the guy couldn’t make eggs without burning the kitchen down.
So Thursday night had to be the night he would confront the redhead and get him to confess. He patiently waited for him as the clock ticked towards the 6.
In all honesty, Katsuki wouldn’t mind if Eijirou was the one eating his food. In fact the whole situation seemed complimentary once he got past the burning anger that someone was stealing his food. They clearly enjoy it and are just afraid to approach him for it. He wouldn’t mind feeding that person if they liked his cooking that much, especially if it was him…
A few knocks got Katsuki out of his stupor and he opened his dorm door. Eijirou stood there with his textbook and pencil case. He let him inside and they started their study session, consisting of Katsuki literally beating the information into the muscled man’s skull.
A half hour passed. His partner was looking over a math problem while Katsuki watched him, his hand on his chin and his eyes trained on his facial features as he bit his lip while trying to solve the problem. Katsuki really should consider making his practice problems harder if it made the redhead bite his lip more often.
No. Focus! He has to confront him now.
And so Katsuki put down his book (which he wasn’t reading anyway) and looked Kirishima in the eye. The redhead noticed the difference in demeanor and looked at him with confusion.
“Are you the thief?” He asked darkly.
“Oh...no it isn't me. I swear!” Eijirou said, putting his hands up as if to plead innocent. Katsuki deflated, rather disappointed.
He sighed. “Whatever.” Eijirou looked at him weirdly.
“Hey so I know you interrogated Midoriya while training and I heard you yell at Todoroki in the hall yesterday. Why aren’t you yelling at me?” Eijirou explained.
Katsuki blushed. “It’s nothing. Shut up shitty hair!” Eijirou pouted. Katsuki felt bad, his friend had gotten used to getting called by his first name. The guy would be the death of him…
“I’m sorry.” Eijirou looked up. “I’m...disappointed. That it’s not you.” Katsuki admitted.
“Why? Because your little investigation isn’t panning out?”
“No...I just...wouldn’t mind if you liked my cooking enough to steal and eat it.” Katsuki should’ve just shut up and kept beating his partner with the textbook again.
“Aww. Katsuki!” He seemed really excited. Why? “That’s so sweet and manly!”
The explosive boy and the redhead looked at each other, each adoring the other. “I guess I could make food for two.”
“I’d love that. I really like your cooking Kat” Eijirou smiled at him. The new nickname made his heart beat faster.
Katsuki almost forgot about the thief completely. Maybe this was a good way to advance his relationship with Eijirou.
___________________
Alright so maybe Bakugou got a little sidetracked by Eijirou (that diner they usually go to would make a really nice place to go on a date right?). But he still had the thief problem at hand.
He knew his sleep schedule would be compromised. The idiots he hung out with practically lived off movie and game nights. One time they went out to Taco Bell at 1am and got sick the next day.
“Worth it.” Sero said. God what a dumbass. He reminded himself that he was hanging out with him and Kaminari the next afternoon to go to the mall and pick out some clothes. Why did he agree to that willingly?!
And so Bakugou found himself struggling to stay awake at 12am, desperately keeping himself awake. He was hiding in the common room behind a door, ready to see who the food burglar was without them even knowing he was there. It was a Friday night so at least his school work wasn’t being put in danger.
The hour went by and Katsuki got bored, he started looking at his phone for places to go with Eijirou. He technically didn’t ask him on a date but it should be obvious to the redhead what he felt for him. The diner was an option but there were better restaurants in the area and he had to make sure everything went great for-
The lights turned on.
Katsuki shut off his phone, catching that it’s 1am before the screen went dark. Who’s up at 1am?!
Whoever it was stepped into the kitchen, passed Katsuki and went straight for the fridge. He had made veggie sandwiches, this time making more for a special shark toothed crush. That asshole was gonna eat some of his and Eijirou’s food.
They sat at the counter and opened the container. Now it was time, he would catch this person right in the act.
Bakugou stepped out of the door and looked at who the thief was.
Admittedly he shouldn’t have cut Kaminari off his suspect list as quickly as he did, having too much faith in the blonde. Though it was weird…why wasn’t he teasing or joking about it before? That was why he ruled him out as a suspect, the thief didn’t want to get caught. The Kaminari he knew would probably tell it to his face, leave a sticky note and brag about it.
He ate one of the sandwiches but stopped after a few bites. Bakugou was just about to yell when…
A sob.
Kaminari had a tear rolling down his cheek and he started sobbing more. It continued for another minute, making Katsuki pause near the door, still invisible to the other boy as he had a breakdown.
“What...why is he crying? He’s not allowed to do that! He’s always happy.” Katsuki thought, utterly confused. The sound of Kaminari being sad foreign to his ears, the guy looked unhappy before back when they originally got back to the dorms and Aizawa ruined the mood. But all Bakugou had to do was get him to short circuit and everything went back to normal.
The electric boy continued sobbing, his head down on the counter and his arm covering his face.
“I’m...I’m so stupid…” He choked out. He continued mumbling, little words jumped out at Katsuki as he tried to decipher what he was saying behind his sobs which grated his soul.
“Weak....useless...no one likes me…”
Katsuki swore if flashbacks were real then he felt it at that moment. Every insult he ever hurled at Kaminari came back to him. It seems like most of them were actually good and fun but there were some that went out of bounds.
Then he heard additional sounds, laughter and the always memorable “Whhheeyyy!”
Bakugou narrowed his eyes to focus and saw that Kaminari had his phone on and was watching a video. One of the many Whey Mode videos Jirou and a few others recorded. He looked legitimately hurt and more tears came out. It became too much. He shut the phone and put it down on the counter.
Another sob. “It’s just a bad week. It’s fine. Get yourself together you fucking weakling.” Kaminari wiped his face with the back of his hand.
“I’m sorry Kacchan.”
He could hear the blonde, the always loud and excited and always smiling boy, close the container and put it back in the fridge.
Within a few minutes, he left the common room. Leaving Katsuki in the dark, what would he do?
___________________
The case of the Midnight Thief was solved and yet Katsuki had nothing to celebrate. He never told anyone of what he saw. Kaminari came in the next day looking fresh and happy, an early morning smile and a nice greeting on his tongue.
Jirou rolled her eyes at him. Katsuki could see his smile twitch slightly before reverting back into its normal form. He couldn’t bare himself to confront the boy of what he saw, too intimate and too private.
Eijirou was happily munching down on the food he prepared for him. He could tell Katsuki was distracted. “You okay Kat?”
He mumbled out a fine, taking a sip from a cup of coffee. He normally didn’t drink coffee but staying up till 1am and subsequently staying up for a few more hours to contemplate made him tired, even skipping out on his workout routine that day.
“I love your food so much!” He said, his mouth full. Despite his disgust, Bakugou offered a small smile which only made the redhead happier. God he was addicted.
His attention was back on Kaminari who joined them at this spot. “Hey Kacchan, what’s up bro?” He fist pumped Eijirou. “You got him to make you food? LUCKY!”
Katsuki stared at him. He wasn’t pretending, he was happy. But it was foolish to think he would be this way 24/7.
“Maybe I can convince him to make you too!” Eijirou offered.
“Good luck with that, Pikachu.” Katsuki said before drinking more coffee. Kaminari looked surprised at the new nickname.
“I love Pikachu! He and I have the same soul!” Kaminari went on a rant about Pikachu and another Pokemon that he compared himself to due to his quirk.
It wasn’t anyone’s business if that’s the new default nickname he gave to Kaminari because he didn’t want to call him Dunce Face anymore. And it wasn’t anyone else’s business if he deleted all of his Whey videos off his phone. And it wasn’t anyone else’s business if he started giving him advice for training.
It most certainly wasn’t public information that Bakugou gave Kaminari a Pikachu plush while he and Sero went out to the mall. It now sat at his bed, the blonde always hugging it if friends ever came over but he never named who the gift giver was.
And it was between him and Kaminari that Bakugou started making three dishes everyday. One for him, one for Eijirou and one for Kaminari. At first it was part of the Midnight Thief excuse (“If the bastard’s gonna steal my food at least I can make sure he eats his portion only.”) until eventually one day he made three stacks of pancakes.
He put a plate of them in front of Kaminari who looked confused. “Um...who is this for? Eijirou is out now-”
“It’s for you Pikachu. You need to gain weight for more strength. Now shut up and eat.” Bakugou made sure no venom came out. Anytime he insulted Kaminari he made sure that it was in the context of a joke during a group hangout which the former always made sure to return in the form of another friendly roast.
The blonde smiled cheerfully and started digging in.
Deku and a few others asked him if he had found out who the Midnight Food Thief was.
It was none of their damn business what was between him and his friend.