Chapter 1: they say looks can kill (and I might try)
Summary:
Ochako leans in a little bit, drawling, "Oh c'mon, he was absolutely hot. He was exactly your type. The blonde hair, fiery eyes, strong, all those muscles, the jawline-”
“A police officer,” Izuku counters, “not my type.”
“Oh c’mon, that can’t be a deal breaker.”
“It is, O,” Izuku insists, “sure, he was cute but he also arrested me. Or are you forgetting?”
“He didn’t really arrest you, you’re in the car with me right now, aren’t you? He let you go.”
“I mean yeah, but-”
“But what?”
Izuku chuckles, Ochako can be very persistent when she wants to be, “Ochako, stop. I’m literally never even going to see the man again."
*
Spoiler alert: He does, in fact, see the man again
Notes:
Chapter title from Vigilante Shit by Taylor Swift
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Oh my god,” Izuku laughs because, at this point, what else was he going to do? He runs his fingers through his hair and his laugh turns into a sigh while he tries to calm himself down because jail is not somewhere he can really afford to go right now, “are you serious?” He looks over to his best friend, “Please tell me he is not serious right now.”
Ochako sucks air in sharply, letting it out as a sigh as she shakes her head, “Do you wanna just get out of here?”
“No, that asshole already called the police,” Izuku says, glaring at the man in question so he knows that Izuku is talking about him, “I can’t afford to be running from the police right now.”
"I'm not sure it would really be considered running from them."
Izuku knows better than that, though. Police these days will twist anything enough to make it go how they want it to.
“I don’t get it,” Ochako crosses her arms, glaring at the man, “I’m wearing a more revealing top than him, why aren’t you calling the police on me?” It’s true, Izuku’s just wearing a long sleeve mesh top (something he doesn't even wear often considering all of his clothes are t-shirts with random words or phrases on them but Ochako got him to leave his comfort zone for the night, which was a big mistake clearly) and a pair of jeans.
“Because-” The man begins but Izuku cuts him off.
“Because he’s homophobic,” Izuku gestures at the man, squinting at him, “are you scared of a little skin? Hm?” He begins to lift at the hem of his mesh shirt, revealing more of his skin, “Is this scary?”
“Izuku, stop,” Ochako pulls him away from the man, swatting his hands away from his shirt, “don’t aggravate him more.” She's always been pretty protective over him, he supposes that's because the reason he's previously gone to jail was to help her and she feels indebted to him in some way. He always assures her that she doesn't need to do anything but, well, they've become pretty close friends over the time.
Izuku rolls his eyes, she’s such a hypocrite but he loves her anyway, “Yeah okay, whatever.”
“If you get arrested, I’ll come pick you up as soon as I can, I promise,” Ochako whispers, “just whatever you do please don’t provoke the cop.”
Speaking of said cop, the guy finally arrives after 15 minutes. After getting one look at him, Izuku just mumbles, “No promises.”
He steps out of his car with his hand resting on his gun, he pulls out his badge, “I’m Officer Bakugou, who here made the public indecency call?”
“Me,” The man steps forward.
“Alright, hi, who for?” The officer looks around, clearly trying to find what this call was about. He looks straight past Izuku, not even lingering for more than a second.
The man rudely points at Izuku, “obviously him,” He scoffs, “Do you not see what he’s in? And he’s been harassing me.”
Izuku rolls his eyes, biting at his lips so he doesn’t say something nasty to the man and give Ochako a reason to yell at him.
The officer looks at Izuku (and Izuku could have sworn that he lingered on his chest for a second too long but hey, maybe it was Izuku’s imagination), he sighs before looking back over at the man, “Really?”
“Yes!” The man takes a step back, “Do you not think that’s indecent? You can see everything.”
Izuku chuckles because this guy is just completely absurd, catching him off guard and all. It was taking absolutely everything in him not to say anything back to this guy. Ochako grabs at his wrist and gives it a comforting squeeze, “It’s fine.”
“Yeah okay,” The officer nods, resigned, clearly not wanting to do this but it being a part of his job anyway, “Sir, what’s your name?”
“Midoriya,” Izuku says, only giving the officer exactly what he asks for just to make his job more difficult because he can.
The officer pauses for a moment before muttering out through clenched teeth, “Your full name.”
“Midoriya Izuku.”
“Can I see your ID?”
“I dunno," Izuku deadpans, "do your eyes work?”
“Izuku!” Ochako scolds, smacking him on the arm before bringing her attention to the officer, “I am very sorry, officer. He’s had some not so great interactions with police before and he is being a little obnoxious right now. Of course you can see his ID,” She looks at Izuku, her stare hardening, and speaking to him through clenched teeth, “Give it to him.”
Izuku sighs and pulls his wallet out of his pocket to open it and find his ID. Once he finds it, he hands it to Officer Bakugou, “Thank you. I’ll be right back, stay put.” He walks back to his car, leaving Izuku alone with Ochako and the man that calls the police on him.
Izuku turns to Ochako so that he could speak with her easier, “He is absolutely about to arrest me right now because of my priors. My parole officer said that if I got so much as a speeding ticket, I could go back to jail and now having the cops called on me? He’s definitely arresting me right now as soon as my record pops up and everything is going to be ruined,” His anxiety is starting to get the best of him and he can't calm it.
“You shouldn’t have even gone to jail in the first place,” Ochako crosses her arms, it's obviously her trying to distract him from the anxiety but it's not doing a very great job.
Izuku just nods in agreement, she can say that again. Izuku honestly couldn’t care less, though, now. He’s genuinely just so over it and just wants to be done already but he still has a little over a year to go on his parole. He taps his foot as he waits for the officer to come back, trying to at least not have his anxiety be super obvious if he's not going to be able to get rid of it completely, “I should’ve just stayed at home tonight, honestly.”
Ochako must’ve been able to tell how nervous Izuku actually was, the way his hands were shaking and his breathing was starting to get uneven because she grabs Izuku’s hand and gives it a squeeze, then whispers to him, “It’s gonna be okay. I’ll come get you as soon as I can, okay?” Because of course she could tell, she’s always been able to see straight through his facade. She’s always been able to see straight through it with ease, Izuku should’ve known she’d be able to see through his act this time, too.
A few moments later, the police officer comes back and Izuku pulls his hand away from Ochako and crosses his arms.
The officer hands back Izuku’s ID and begins to speak, “So, I ran your name and due to your past, I will have to take you into the station based on the harassment claims. As an agreement of your parole, you agreed to not cause any disturbances in the-”
“Yeah, I know, can we just get this over with already?” Izuku scoffs and rolls his eyes, “take me in or whatever.”
The officer nods, “Very well, since you currently aren’t a threat, I don’t see a need to handcuff you unless you show me you need it so if you’d follow me to the car?”
Izuku nods, stepping forward to follow.
The officer begins to read him his rights while he leads him to the car and opens the door, leading Izuku into the vehicle, “You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law. You have the right to an attorney but if you cannot afford one, one will be appointed to you. You may have an attorney present to answer questions but you can decide not to, in which case you can also choose to stop answering questions whenever you’d like.”
“Am I going to be interrogated? Over a public indecency charge?”
“You may be asked a few questions about your side of the story but nothing too serious,” The officer answers, “any other questions?”
Izuku shakes his head but that's when Ochako steps forward, “Officer?”
“Yes?” He turns to look at her.
“Listen, please don’t take anything he says to heart, he’s really a good guy and right now he’s acting really tough and snarky or whatever but in reality he’s very anxious and nervous all the time and he really is a good guy, his previous arrest wasn’t even his fault. He had a rough time adjusting to life after he got arrested and-”
“Okay, Ochako,” Izuku interrupts, taking a deep, annoyed breath, “I don’t need you pleading my case to the man. I’ll be fine,” He scoffs and pulls himself all the way into the car, so he’s sitting in the seat normally and putting his seatbelt on. He does really appreciate her but also he doesn’t need this police officer knowing his entire life's story. That's for him to tell.
“Sorry,” Ochako takes a step back, glancing nervously between Izuku and the officer, her eyes land on Izuku, “call me! Okay? As soon as you’re allowed to, call me. I'll make sure to check in with the babysitter.”
Izuku nods, “Thank you. I’ll call as soon as I can.”
“I love you!”
As much as Izuku wants to keep his smile away, he couldn’t help it, a fond one appears on his face easily, his best friend always knows how to get him, “I love you too.”
The officer shuts the door after that and walks over to the drivers side, getting into the car, “Okay look, here’s the deal,” He says while starting the car and shifting it into drive, “I was obligated to-”
“I really could not care less,” Izuku leans back in his seat, “you’re doing your job. I get it. I don’t care, I don’t like you, I don’t want to be here, I just want to get this over with and hopefully not go back to jail so, please, do not talk to me. I don’t like the police, I’ve not had many good run ins with any of you guys. You all think that you’re so mighty and can twist the law however the fuck you guys want and it’s stupid.”
Izuku goes on and on about how terrible cops are and how they should really get a better handle on things. Officer Bakugou promptly ignores everything he says about not speaking to him and tries to make conversation, “So, your girlfriend seems to really care about you.”
Izuku doesn’t even blink twice at the assumption, it’s a very common one so he just mumbles a quick, uncomfortable, “Not my girlfriend.”
“Ah, I see,” The officer nods his head, “you have some very strong opinions.”
“Don’t we all?” Izuku looks through the window in the back, watching all the trees quickly go by.
The officer shrugs, staring back at Izuku through the rear view, “I guess so.”
They pull into the police station shortly after and the officer pulls Izuku out of the back seat, bringing him into the station. He’s left in some seat for what felt like an hour while the officer went to who knows where.
“So, here’s the deal,” Bakugou begins upon showing back up but Izuku wouldn’t let him speak very much.
“I already told you, I don’t care about ‘the deal’, just do what you gotta do so I can be done with this, I’ve already been waiting here for way too long because some homophobe called the police on me,” Izuku knows he’s really not being the greatest man ever right now and he knows that Ochako would be yelling at him if she were here but, honestly, he can’t help it. He doesn’t ever have good interactions with police so he’s pretty sure that’s not going to start now.
The last time he got arrested, it wasn’t his fault in the slightest. Or, at least, that’s what his friends are always telling him. A lot of the time, it feels a whole lot like his fault even though he knows, deep down, it isn’t and what he did was right (depending on your morals), he can’t help but hate himself for it sometimes when the thoughts get to be a little too much. On that day, when he got arrested before, an unseemly number of police officers screamed at him and were unnecessarily rough with him when arresting him so sue him if he doesn’t particularly enjoy being around the police. It’s likely this officer doesn’t even know the full extent of what happened either, Izuku was told that most of the records are sealed since there were minors involved. Still, he obviously saw the terms of his parole.
“Just let me talk,” The officer seems to be getting annoyed now, he pulls up a chair and sits in it, facing Izuku, “I was obligated to arrest you because of your priors that showed up when I ran your name.”
“Yeah, I know,” Izuku rolls his eyes, annoyed that the officer is currently sitting here telling him things he already knows very well by now, “I already told you, you don’t need to-”
“Let me finish speaking,” The officer raises his voice, sighing heavily, “damn, you really think you know everything about all of this, don’t you? I’m tryna be nice here, man, so just let me.”
“Oh don’t even,” Izuku crosses his arms, leaning backward in the seat to try and create as much distance between him and the officer as possible, "nice? Yeah, sure."
The officer’s lips tighten and he makes a few clicking sounds with his tongue, like he's trying to stay calm before he speaks again, “I’m letting you go.”
“My parole officer-”
“I spoke with him and he’s on his way,” The officer assures him, interrupting Izuku before he can get out the full sentence, “I know him, so I called him when I first picked you up and explained the situation. Since you weren’t actually being very publicly indecent, he told me to just bring you in so he could talk to you but I managed to keep you from getting any strikes on your parole.”
Izuku’s eyebrows furrow, he looks at the man with an everlasting confused face, “What? Why would you do that for me?”
“Because you shouldn’t get a strike just because some dumbass homophobe called the cops on you,” The officer says, honesty and genuineness lacing his tone, “besides, the way you spoke to me made me laugh.”
“Sure didn’t seem like you were laughing. At any point.”
The officer just shrugs, “It was laughter of the mind.”
Izuku raises an eyebrow but slowly lowers it down, not even wanting to question that. This guy did something good for him, he shouldn’t be questioning him.
They sit in silence for a few minutes before the officer speaks up, “I have to stay with you until your PO gets here.”
“Right,” Izuku nods. Nothing more, nothing less. There’s more silence following that, neither of them say anything for a while until Izuku decides he should probably throw out something to represent his gratitude.
He mumbles a little, “Thanks. For what you did.”
“It’s whatever,” The officer tells him without skipping a beat, it’s as if he already knew that Izuku was about to speak.
Just then someone who knows Izuku very well came over, taking one look at Izuku and then one look at the officer and then another at Izuku, “What are you doing here? Are you alright?” He looks back over to the officer again, “You’re being good to him, right Bakugou?”
It’s the one police officer that doesn’t drive Izuku absolutely crazy. The one police officer that Izuku knows he can count on. The one police officer that he knows that’s actually a good person. The one he owes a lot to.
“‘Course I am,” The officer grumbles back, uninterested in the conversation with this person. They very obviously have some kind of beef or rivalry between the both of them that Izuku can't quite place.
“Are you alright, Izuku?”
The officer seems to perk up at that, the use of Izuku’s first name. He glances between the two of them, intrigue piqued.
“I’m alright, Shouto, thank you.”
“Alright,” Shouto rests a hand on Izuku’s shoulder, “you let me know if you need anything, you aren’t in violation of your parole, are you?”
“Kinda but your coworker here sorted it out,” Izuku smiles up at him, “thank you Shouto, but you don’t need to be concerned about me.”
Shouto nods and walks off.
“So, you don’t hate every police officer who graces your presence?” The officer inquires, a smirk on his face.
Izuku nods calmly, not really wanting to provoke this officer anymore since he helped him out but also not wanting to talk very much about Shouto, “Not him. I don’t hate him.”
“What, did you guys have a thing at one point? Todoroki says he’s single, so I’m assuming that-”
“No,” Izuku says all too quickly, “definitely not. That- Just… No. It’s honestly none of your business, Officer.”
“Right,” The officer backs off, thankfully sensing the fact that Izuku really does not want to talk about it, “so, uh, what’d you do that was so terrible you got Aizawa as a PO?”
“The records are sealed for a reason, Officer,” Izuku crosses his arms tight, trying to distance himself from the officer while still being as respectful as he possibly can handle.
“You got a good PO, one of the best out there.”
Izuku rolls his eyes, “Yeah I’m sure you know from personal experience, Officer.”
“I do.”
Izuku lifts an eyebrow at that, serious doubt lacing his tone, “Oh, really?”
“He was a probation officer at the time.”
“Ah, alright well, I’m done with small talk, Officer Bakugou,” Izuku leans all the way back in his chair. He really can’t be bothered with keeping up a conversation with the man.
Izuku’s parole officer shows up shortly after that, just as the officer gets called in on his radio for something, “You go, Katsuki. I’ve got Izuku handled now,” He smiles briefly, patting him on the shoulder. The officer listens, hustling out of the police station and Izuku’s PO, Aizawa, turns to face him, taking the officer’s place in the seat across from him. He takes a deep breath and looks at him before letting it out, “Izuku.”
“I’m sorry,” Izuku blurts out, running a hand through his curls, “I know I should’ve just left when that guy started talking to me about my clothes but I couldn’t help it. I got angry.”
“Which is exactly what you’ve got all these mandated therapies for, Izuku,” Aizawa crosses his arms, “I know the time you spent in jail messed with you, you were young and you were there for some very important developmental years in your life.”
“Yeah,” Izuku scoffs, “you can say that again.”
“Izuku, come on,” Aizawa stares at him, “You are a good kid, I know you are. You’ve got barely a year of parole left, you are this close to the finish line," Yeah, well, a year doesn't feel all that close, "to all of this being behind you. Do not screw it up by doing something stupid.”
“It wasn’t even my fault, Aizawa!”
“I know, some guy got uncomfortable with your outfit and if it was just that, then Officer Bakugou wouldn’t have even had to arrest you but you didn’t just leave it at that, you started talking back to the guy, getting in his face.”
Izuku nods knowingly, guilt filling his chest. He’s a dumbass, clearly, “I’m sorry.”
“You’re lucky that Uraraka was there to keep you from doing anything stupid like hitting the guy.”
“I wasn’t gonna hit the guy,” Izuku suddenly starts to get defensive, “I might’ve talked some shit to him but I wasn’t going to hit him.”
“Look, Izuku, I’ve known you for 3 years, alright? I’ve seen you go from this 18 years old fresh out of jail to the man you are right now and it has taken a lot of growth-”
Izuku interrupts him, he really doesn't want to talk about his younger self, “Aizawa, I don’t want this talk right now, can I just go home?”
“Listen to me, Izuku,” Aizawa sits up in his chair, staring right at Izuku, “being in jail as a teenager, so young like you were, messes with a kid. You barely knew the proper societal standards when you got out, jail is a difficult place to be when you're growing up.”
“Yeah, it is, but I’m not there anymore and I don’t plan on going back, okay? I messed up today, I get tha-”
“Yeah, ya’ did,” Aizawa shakes his head, he looks so disappointed, “I’m glad that you were able to keep your hands to yourself because if this was you 3 years ago, I don’t think you would’ve. Even with Uraraka there.”
Izuku stays quiet.
“I don’t wanna see you go back to jail, alright? You’ve come so far. You’ve got a kid, Izuku. Whenever you do anything you've gotta think about her first. You are 21 years old and you own a restaurant, that’s something to be proud of but you can’t be proud of it if you end up back in jail with less than half of your parole left and you sure as hell can’t be a father from jail,” Aizawa scoffs, resting his tapping foot on the floor and leaning forward so that he's closer to Izuku, “You should be glad that Officer Bakugou is the one who picked you up and not someone else. He called me as soon as he found out the name of your parole officer but I cannot keep letting you slip by when you make dumb mistakes like harassing a guy you can just as easily walk away from. I can only cover for you so much.”
“I know, Aizawa, I’m really sorry, it won’t happen again,” Izuku begins to pick at his fingers, the guilt really hitting him. Aizawa has been amazing to him and he just keeps screwing up. He doesn’t want to mess things up with his daughter, that’s the absolute last thing he wants.
“Get in to your next therapy session sooner than later, alright?”
Izuku nods.
“Uraraka is out front for you, I called her. You better get going.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, do better.”
Izuku nods, “Right.”
Izuku gets up and heads out of the police station, walking toward the familiar car that he knows as Ochako’s. He opens the door to the passenger side and climbs in.
“Oh my god, Izuku,” Ochako breathes a sigh of relief, “I’m so glad you didn’t go to jail, that would’ve-”
“Messed things up really badly, I know,” Izuku slumps in the seat and pulls his seatbelt on, “I kinda just wanna go home now, if that’s alright? I’m tired and I wanna see Nia.”
“I get that, do you wanna go pick up some dinner and we can eat at your place? I called the babysitter and she said that Nia already ate, so we just have to get something for us.”
“That sounds good,” Izuku agrees, pulling out his phone to check it. There wasn’t much of anything to see, honestly. One of his managers texted him, asking for some time off. He quickly approved it and moved onto the other messages he got of less importance.
“Mexican good?” Ochako asks, putting the car into drive and making her way out of the station’s parking lot.
Izuku nods mindlessly, “Great.”
“So, that police officer was kinda hot, yeah?”
Well, that sure caught Izuku’s attention. He put his phone down and looked at Ochako, laughing, “You’re so dumb.”
“Hey! That wasn't exactly a denial!"
"Okay, well, this is," Izuku stares right at her, "he's not hot."
Ochako leans in a little bit, drawling, "Oh c'mon, he was absolutely hot. He was exactly your type. The blonde hair, fiery eyes, strong, all those muscles, the jawline-”
“A police officer,” Izuku counters, “not my type.”
“Oh c’mon, that can’t be a deal breaker.”
“It is, O,” Izuku insists, “sure, he was cute but he also arrested me. Or are you forgetting?”
“He didn’t really arrest you, you’re in the car with me right now, aren’t you? He let you go.”
“I mean yeah, but-”
“But what?”
Izuku chuckles, Ochako can be very persistent when she wants to be, “Ochako, stop. I’m literally never even going to see the man again. Can we just go get some food?”
“I suppose,” Ochako sighs, feigning disappointment.
Notes:
WOOO CHAPTER ONE done
I did it :)
I hope it wasn't terrible
Chapter 2: 'cause I know I should be running (for the hills)
Summary:
He hears as the man makes some demands and asks if there’s anybody else in the building. The women both lie and say it’s just them, which is when Izuku takes the chance to call 119. As soon as they pick up he opens with the address of his restaurant before telling them what's going on, “I’ve got a dumbass here trying to rob my restaurant.”
”Okay sir, I’ve dispatched some police units to your location they’re just 5 minutes out, do you think you can stay on the line with me until they get there?”
“No.”
”Why not? Are you in danger?”
“Nope but you might wanna send an ambulance over this way too.”
”Is someone there injured?”
“No but I’m about to be a bigger dumbass than this guy. I’ve gotta go, thanks.”
”Sir, wait-”
*
Spoiler alert: He does not, in fact, wait
Notes:
Okay, I've decided I'll post on Saturdays, which technically is rn, since it's 12:17am as I'm writing this note but I will also be posting chapter 3 in the morning bc it's a pretty damn short chapter and giving it it's own Saturday would feel like a crime.
Chapter title from run for the hills by Tate McRae :)
Anyway, here is this chapter, enjoy :D
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
It's already been almost a month since Izuku almost got arrested and he, thankfully, has been staying out of trouble the entire time. He’s really, honest to god, just trying to just slip by this next year without any trouble. He wants to move on in his life; he wants to finish his parole and just try to forget about everything that he did.
Unfortunately, that’s something easier said than done, especially when someone comes into his restaurant trying to rob the place.
Izuku’s in the back when he first hears all of the shouting, the threats and demands. It’s after hours, so there are no customers here, just some of Izuku’s workers closing up. He’s only in for the end of the day to check everything out and make sure it’s all up to the standard and whatnot. He usually doesn’t even come in on Tuesdays.
“Listen up little ladies," Izuku hears the voice in the front, it's low and gruff but it seems a little nervous, as if it's not ever done anything like this before, "I’ve got a gun here and I am not afraid to use it, alright?”
The two young women at the front are both people Izuku cares about. One of them is only 17 and got a job here to help her single mother support their family. The other one is the same age as Izuku and he’d met her in jail. She got out of jail a couple months back and she needed a job to support herself so Izuku was easily willing to give her one, thinking about himself straight out of jail and how he struggled.
He hears as the man makes some demands and asks if there’s anybody else in the building. The women both lie and say it’s just them, which is when Izuku takes the chance to call 119. As soon as they pick up he opens with the address of his restaurant before telling them what's going on, “I’ve got a dumbass here trying to rob my restaurant.”
”Okay sir, I’ve dispatched some police units to your location they’re just 5 minutes out, do you think you can stay on the line with me until they get there?”
“No.”
”Why not? Are you in danger?”
“Nope but you might wanna send an ambulance over this way too.”
”Is someone there injured?”
“No but I’m about to be a bigger dumbass than this guy. I’ve gotta go, thanks.”
”Sir, wait-”
But Izuku doesn’t wait. Instead, he hangs up the phone and makes his way to the front of the store, stopping by the kitchen first to tell his chef to stay put. Then, he walks out and makes himself known.
The man's eyes lock onto Izuku immediately before turning back to the women, “You girls lied,” The man shakes his head angrily, “I don’t like liars.”
“I don’t like men coming in here to threaten my workers,” Izuku steps out from behind the counter, right in front of the man with a gun. Like a dumbass.
The man scoffs, chuckling, “You think you’re in charge here? Think again, I’m the one with a gun, buddy.”
“Yeah and I’ve got the codes to the cash register. You kill me, I can’t give it to you. You hurt those girls then they can’t give it to you and I’ll refuse to. You kill all of us, this’ll just have been a waste of your time.”
“You got some kinda death wish?”
“Sure,” Izuku shrugs, “if that’s what you wanna think, I couldn’t care less.”
“Dude, don’t make me angry,” He raises his gun up, pointing it directly at Izuku.
Izuku takes a step forward, letting the point of the gun rest directly on his forehead, “Go ahead, shoot. You kill me right now, those girls are going to be inconsolable, I doubt they’ll even remember how to get into the register at that point and the police are 3 minutes away so-”
“You called the police?”
“Of course.”
“Damnit,” The guy mutters, “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted those damn girls when they told me nobody else was here. Fuck,” He moves the gun, pushing it so that it pushes Izuku’s head back a bit, “you’re a real annoying guy. How would you feel if I killed these girls because you were too greedy to just hand over the money?”
“I’d kill you.”
The guy just laughs quickly out of his nose, “You? You couldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Believe what you want, find out the hard way.”
The guy moves, pulling the trigger while the gun is pointed at one of the girls and Izuku hears screaming from both but all he sees is red. He swiftly grabs the gun away from the man, getting into a bit of a tumble with him before hitting the man over the head with it, successfully winning the fight. It took everything in him to not shoot the guy right then and there, “You aren’t gonna like it in jail. It’s not fun at all there.”
“How would you know?”
“How do you think I know how to fight?” Izuku doesn’t even wait for an answer, he just hits him in the head with the gun again, knocking him unconscious.
He places the gun on one of the tables, away from the man and himself for when the police come, that way they don't think he's a threat. He rushes over to his employees who were ducked down under the counter. There’s a lot of blood but not nearly as much as Izuku thought there would be, considering the gunshot, which gives him hope.
“It didn’t get her that bad, she just- It was just a graze, I think, on her arm,” The younger girl, Yui, whispers, her voice shaking as she holds her jacket against the older woman’s, Ema’s, arm, “but, uh- she fell,” Yui stutters, clearly very nervous, “and she hit her head. She won’t wake up.”
“Let me see,” Izuku speaks softly, taking over the pressure on the wound. He had a lot of downtime in jail and read quite a bit on medical stuff. He’s obviously no professional but he can at least make sure his friend isn’t going to die. He checks her pulse and it seems normal considering the circumstances. Afterward, he takes the jacket off of the wound and looks at it. Yui was right, the bullet only grazed her, thankfully. Once she gets to a hospital, there shouldn’t be any lasting issues. She probably just had a concussion.
He just makes sure to keep pressure on the wound and about a minute later, the police rush into the scene, guns up, “Police!” They notice the gun on the table and the suspect on the floor and begin to lower their guns but not their alert, “Anyone else here?”
“Here!” Izuku shouts, raising his free hand above the counter so the police can see them.
Some of the police officers stay with the man on the floor while three of the police officers come around the counter, assessing the situation, they called dispatch for another ambulance, “Paramedics should be here any minute, sir. Can you tell me what happened?”
“Bit busy trying to make sure my friend doesn’t die from blood loss, I will answer any questions you’ve got as soon as the paramedics get here.”
Speak of the devil and they shall appear, the paramedics come through the doors after being given the all clear by the police, a couple of them go to assess the robber while a couple others come around the counter to help with Ema.
“It’s okay, we’ve got her now, sir,” The paramedic urges Izuku away, taking over the pressure and getting her transferred to a gurney and manage to get her awake, she looks around but doesn’t say anything.
Izuku takes a deep breath as they watch them take her off, “What hospital are you bringing her to?”
“Musutafu General.”
Izuku nods, muttering a thanks before turning to the police, “Alright, let's get this over with. Ask me your questions.”
Izuku notices a familiar face in the three cops in front of him, the man who arrested him a month ago. The same man somehow manages to recognize him too, honestly quite impressive considering the fact that he likely meets a whole lot of people every shift, “Midoriya.”
Izuku sighs. He even remembers his name, great.
“You know this guy, Bakugou?” One of the officers asks.
Officer Bakugou just nods, “We’ve met,” He answers the other officer but doesn’t expand on that anymore, instead he just turns toward Izuku, “Where’s the owner of the restaurant, the one who called this in?” He steps forward, taking charge of the situation, “Is anyone else, other than you hurt?
“I’m the owner and I’m not hurt,” Izuku tells him, crossing his arms, “Yui is fine. There’s a chef in the back but I told him to stay put, he should be okay. It was just us four here, all my other employees left already. We were getting ready to leave ourselves in a few minutes. I came out here after I called it in, hit that guy over the head after he shot Ema, beat him up pretty good too.”
“Well, I hate to ruin your plans but we’ve gotta bring you in to take your official statement, hon,” One of the other officers says, her name tag reads ‘Ashido’, she rests her hand on her belt and she does seem genuinely sorry about the circumstances, “shouldn’t take long.”
“You sure you aren’t hurt?” Officer Bakugou looks at Izuku up and down, “You said you got into a fight with the suspect?”
“I’m fine,” Izuku brushes it off.
“You’ve got blood dripping down your face that says otherwise,” Officer Ashido points up at his forehead, “looks like he got a good hit in on you.”
Izuku touches his forehead, looking down at his hand with blood on his fingertips. He wipes it off on his pants and shrugs, “I’m all good, it’s superficial. Doesn’t even hurt.”
The officers seem to find it easier to back down and continue on with their job as police officers and not paramedics.
“Do those cameras work?” Officer Bakugou asks, pointing up at one in the corner of the room.
Izuku nods, “Yeah, I’ll give you guys access or whatever,” He’s distracted, needing to ask the one thing on his mind, “Hey, look, I’m not going to get into trouble for this, am I? I wanna get out of here.”
“Obviously we don’t know the full story but it seems to me that everything here was self defense but we’ll do an investigation, take a look at those cameras. I’m sure you’ll be just fine,” The other officer speaks with a polite smile, the one Izuku hasn’t heard from just yet, his nametag reads ‘Sero’.
“No, you don’t understand, I’m on parole. That’s not gonna mess things up, is it?”
“Not if you didn’t do anything wrong, sir,” Officer Sero tells him, “we gotta get you, her, and your chef into the station. We’ll take your statements, contact your parole officer, and while we do the investigation, you’ll be allowed to go home tonight as long as you stay in town.”
Izuku rubs at his forehead with the side of his thumb, he’s stressing out but he is making sure to avoid the blood and cut, he wouldn’t want to make it worse, “Yeah, alright. You guys be good to Yui, okay?”
“I’ll take her in with me,” Officer Ashido assures, “She’ll be safe," Then she directs her attention to Yui, "Are you a minor?” Yui nods, "Do you want to call your parents.”
“Um, yeah, I should call my mom.”
“Alright, you can do that while we drive to the station,” She helps Yui stand up, “let’s go Jirou, we’re leaving,” She shouts and one of the officers stands up over by the guy who Izuku knocked out.
“I’ll take this one,” Officer Bakugou says, pointing his thumb at Izuku, “his parole officer is Aizawa.”
Officer Sero makes some kind of knowing face before nodding, “Alright, sounds good, I’ll stay here with the suspect until the ambulance gets here.”
“What about my chef, he’s in the back?” Izuku questions.
“Kaminari!” Officer Sero calls out and the officer standing by the robber stands up, looking over.
“Yes?”
“Go to the kitchen in the back, bring the chef there into the station so we can get his statement.”
“Yes sir,” The man speaks with a sort of joking tone, making Izuku think that Officer Sero isn't actually the boss of him. The man begins making his way back to the kitchen.
Officer Bakugou speaks up next, “Alright, let’s get going, Midoriya. Gonna get you in and out as fast as we can.”
There’s something snarky in the man’s tone that Izuku doesn’t like. He leads Izuku out to the car and Izuku climbs into the back seat, “This is uncomfortably familiar.”
Officer Bakugou smirks, “Yeah, tell me about it. Yours was the last face I ever thought I’d see again.”
“Why is that?”
The officer just shrugs, shutting the door and making his way to the front so that he can drive, “I guess I figured Aizawa got through to you.”
“He did, it’s not like I’m the one who tried to rob my own store, officer,” Izuku says sarcastically
“Right, yeah, I just wasn’t expecting to see you here, is all,” He starts the car and begins to drive.
Izuku supposes that it makes sense. It’s not often that a 21 year old parolee owns a restaurant, “I’m surprised you remember me.”
“Well, you left an impression,” The officer says, not expanding any further.
Izuku just hums, “Is that right?”
“Yep,” The officer nods, making a right hand turn, “apparently, you do that often.”
That intrigues Izuku, “Who’d you hear that from?”
“Aizawa," Officer Bakugou says, it's very telling honestly. It shows that the man was asking about him after he had gone home.
Izuku laughs sharply, “Really?”
“You know it,” The officer says, keeping his eyes on the road, focusing, “tried getting some information outta him but he wouldn’t tell me anything. Just asked why I was interested, told him that you left an impression, and he told me that that’s what you do.”
Izuku sighs, bringing his hand up to his cut. It’s actually starting to hurt a bit, he supposes that the adrenaline was preventing that at first but now that he’s starting to calm down, his body is sending him the proper signals. He’s starting to get a headache too and he rubs at his forehead to try and soothe it.
The officer notices, looking back at Izuku through the rearview, “Are you sure you don’t need medical assistance? I can take you to the hospital and you can just come in tomorrow to give your statement.”
“I’d rather just get it over with now,” Izuku insists, putting his hands back in his lap, “I am fine, just a couple of bruises and this one cut,” He gestures up at his forehead.
“Right,” The officer nods hesitantly, bringing his eyes back to the road.
A silence fills the car for a while until Izuku decides he should probably call Ochako and tell her what happened, “Hey, uh, can I make a call?”
“Sure, you aren’t in custody so it’s fine.”
“Perfect, thanks,” Izuku mumbles, pulling out his phone and calling Ochako’s contact.
The call with Ochako is quick, it was mostly just him telling her what happened and her insisting that as soon as they’re done taking his statement, she’s taking him to the hospital. He decided it was in his best interest not to argue with her. He makes sure to ask her to relieve Nia’s babysitter since he doesn’t want to trouble the woman with watching his daughter longer than she agreed to.
After he hangs up the car, the officer decides that he found the perfect subject to make small talk about, “So, who’s Nia?”
“My daughter.”
“Really?” The man asks, skeptical, “You have a kid? I thought you were gay.”
Well. Isn't that forward? “I am. Gay men can have children.”
“Right, but you’re so damn young and I don’t think they let felons adopt.”
Izuku sighs, he kinda forgot that the cop knew about that part, “They don’t but I didn’t adopt my daughter. She’s my biological kid.”
“But you’re-”
“Yes, I am gay,” Izuku interrupts, “and you are very nosy, y’know? It’s none of your business.”
“Just curious.”
Izuku sighs, resigned, deciding to give the officer some information in hopes that he stops asking questions, “She’s just turned 3. I wasn’t positive of my sexuality when I got out of jail and I did some experimenting. Somehow, I ended up getting someone pregnant,” Izuku explains briefly. He leaves out the part where Nia’s mother died while giving birth and he also leaves out the fact that he was going to move in with this girl and marry her to do right by his daughter, even though after having sex with her, he realized he was gay.
The officer leaves it at that, not saying anything more and not asking anymore questions. They pull into the station shortly after and Izuku gets seated near a very familiar desk, “I was sort of expecting to be in one of those empty, cold investigation rooms.”
“Those are only for witnesses on occasion, they’re typically more for people under investigation,” The officer responds, “as of right now, you aren’t. Besides, it’s been a busy night, they’re all full so you get my desk.”
“Awesome,” Izuku says dryly, sarcasm lacing his tone, “I absolutely love it here. Great memories.”
“You still aren’t too fond of me, are you?”
“I don’t like the police. You aren’t the worst though, I guess. Is Shouto working today?”
“Nah,” The officer shakes his head, sitting down in the chair behind his desk, “he took some personal leave this week. I’m surprised you didn’t know, considering you two are such good friends.”
“It’s not like that,” Izuku denies, "we don't know each other all that well, we just talk on occasion."
The officer raises an eyebrow, skeptical, “Really? You call him by his given name and he calls you by yours.”
“We both dislike our family names, that’s all. Can we just get this statement thing over with? I don’t want to be here longer than I have to.”
“Right, yeah,” Officer Bakugou nods, grabbing a few things and getting himself organized.
Izuku gives his statement, telling the officer everything that happened in as much detail as possible. Thankfully, it doesn’t take too long but Izuku still has to wait for Aizawa, “You can go after Aizawa speaks with you. We’ll be in touch to get the camera footage but from what you tell me, you’ll be fine.”
“Can I, uh, step over there,” Izuku motions toward a couple of desks back where he noticed that Yui was sitting, “Her mom isn’t here yet, I just wanna check on her.”
“Yeah, sure, go for it but I do have to come with you just since she hasn’t given her statement yet,” Officer Bakugou gives his approval.
Izuku laughs, “What? You think I’m gonna feed something into her mind, make her change what she’d say in her statement?”
“It’s just protocol.”
“Right, sure, whatever, let’s just go,” He gets out of his seat and walks over to Yui, followed closely by Officer Bakugou.
He pulls up a chair to sit next to her, speaking softly, “How’re you?”
“Just…” Yui takes a deep breath, “scared, I guess? It was a lot.”
“I know, I’m sorry you had to go through that. You shouldn’t have even been in that late-”
Yui interrupts him, “I’m not a little kid. I’m 17, okay? Sure, going through it sucked but also it’s not your fault, boss.”
“Well, as long as you’re alright, I’m good,” Izuku smiles at her, giving her a quick pat on the shoulder, “so you’re good? No issues with any of the police here?”
“Yeah no, I’m alright. No issues, I just can’t give my statement until my mom is here since I’m under 18 so I’ve just been waiting.”
Izuku nods in understanding. He remembers how horrified he was while he was waiting for his mom so that he could give his statement back when he was a teenager. Though, he was quite a bit younger than Yui and he wasn’t just a witness, he was the suspect.
He pushes all that to the back of his mind and just smiles at Yui, “Well, this guy is watching over us like I’m about to commit a crime so-”
“I am not watching you like you’re about to commit a crime,” Officer Bakugou interrupts.
Izuku just continues like the interruption never happened, “I should probably get back to his desk. I’ll talk to you later, alright?”
“Alright, bye boss,” Yui waves and Izuku walks back to Officer Bakugou’s desk with him, retaking their seats.
“How far out is Aizawa?” Izuku starts to ask just before his phone begins to ring, there on the screen is his parole officer’s name, “Oh, well, I suppose I’m about to find out right now,” He picks up the phone and held it up to his ear.
”Hello Izuku, are you with Officer Bakugou right now?”
“Yeah, why?”
”Figured it’d just be easier to talk to both of you at the same time rather than call each of you individually,” Aizawa says, ”put me on speaker.”
“Alright,” Izuku agrees, taking his phone from his ear and clicking on the speaker button, “mkay, you’re on.”
”Perfect, I can’t make it into the station right now. I thought I could but I can’t leave my daughter right now so, Katsuki, go ahead and let the kid go, kid. I’ll be sure to have a talk with Izuku during my shift tomorrow. Izuku, go straight home or to Uraraka’s house so I know where to find you, alright?”
“Yes sir,” Izuku nods, even though Aizawa can’t even see him.
”I’ll be in touch with both of you,” Then he hands up.
“Welp, you heard the man, you can get outta here. I’ll also be in touch with you to get that camera footage.”
Izuku gets up from his seat, mumbling an acknowledgement and dialing Ochako’s number. She tells him that she was already here and he makes his way out to meet her. After getting to the car, he notices that Nia isn’t in the car and is a bit concerned but decides asks why Ochako hasn’t gone to get her before jumping to conclusions. Ochako explains that when she went to relieve the babysitter, she assured Ochako that she had no issue watching the kid for no cost considering what's happened. Ochako, of course, told the babysitter that she’d pay her extra if Izuku didn’t. Izuku is, of course, already planning on paying her double her normal salary.
They make a stop by the hospital, like Ochako insisted earlier, and get Izuku all patched up. The doctors check him out tand conclude that there are no major injuries so after that, they end up going back to Izuku’s place in order to watch some new show that Ochako has been excited about for, like, weeks, while Izuku cooks them something for dinner, nothing too crazy just something simple so that they can have something in their stomach. The next morning, Aizawa comes over and, after his talk with him, - who didn’t really have much to say to him since, apparently, the suspect woke up during the night and confessed to everything he did - he gathers the camera footage from his restaurant and sends it over to the police. Everything is over and done with pretty quickly after that. With the confession and the camera footage, it’s all declared self defense on Izuku’s part and he, thankfully, doesn’t have to deal with any issues whatsoever. It's very much a relief.
Notes:
Hopefully that wasn't terrible (I didn't go over all of it to edit bc I got sleepy but I'll prob do that eventually, gotta hold myself accountable and whatnot- YES I DID I EDITED IT ALL BY MYSELF RN)
Chapter 3: all i've seen since 18 hours ago is green eyes, and freckles, and your smile
Summary:
“Who the fuck are you guys to tell me it’s time? I don’t want a relationship right now,” Katsuki’s actually started to get annoyed at this point because why do they continue to insist on something Katsuki has been trying to refuse, “just fuck off,” Katsuki looks down at his work, determined to ignore anything else they say.
He begins filling out the paperwork and actually doing his job but the group doesn’t leave, “We never said anything about a relationship,” Mina crosses her arms, “Just that you need to get back out there.”
“You’re acting like a bunch of teenagers,” Katsuki does not successfully ignore them.
Mina presses on, “C’mon, promise me that you’ll at least try to put yourself back out there if the opportunity presents itself. Especially if that opportunity is with that guy from the restaurant.”
“If it’ll get you to stop pestering me, then I don’t give a shit,” Katsuki gets up and walks away.
*
Spoiler alert: He gives many a shit
Notes:
As promised, the next chapter.
So, schedule moving forward will be one chapter every Saturday as long as it's not my most recent written chapter because I want to have at least one or two chapters ahead of what I'm posting just in case writers block hits me. So, if I don't have more than one chapter ready to post by Saturday, I'll push the posting date to Sunday or Monday.
When there's a shorter chapter like this (most of the chapters in Bakugou's pov are going to be shorter but I have a couple longer ones planned), then I'll pair it with another chapter, so there will be two posts :)
The chapters should start getting a bit longer since I'll be done with school after next week :)
Chapter title from Everything Has Changed by Taylor Swift
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Mina starts walking over with a huge grin on her face and Katsuki already knows she’s got trouble on her mind, “So,” She drawls out, throwing herself into the chair that that Midoriya guy was just sitting in previously, “what was that about? Back in the restaurant on that call? Don’t think I didn’t see that shit, I saw it. I saw the way you looked at him.”
Katsuki sighs heavily. All he wanted to do was his damn paperwork, “Fuck you, Mina.”
“You’ve gotta tell me!” She insists, leaning her elbows on the table and resting her chin in her hands, “Did something happen between you two?”
“No,” Katsuki denies, shaking his head quickly, “I met him on a call.”
“A call?” Denki suddenly shows up out of nowhere, dragging his desk chair over to join in on this conversation
With Denki’s appearance, Hanta also decides to show up, “This guy sure seems to get into a lot of trouble, what happened to him that time?”
Katsuki notices Jirou watching and listening in from a distance, making no move to surround Katsuki’s desk, thankfully, “He wasn’t the victim that time.”
Gasps are sudden throughout the audience, “You arrested the man?” Mina whispers, “Didn’t you say he’s on parole? How’s he not in jail for violation?”
“Because it was fucking stupid, some guy called the cops on him because he was wearing a mesh top. A total dumbass. So, I didn’t officially arrest him and I spoke to Aizawa,” Katsuki explains, crossing his arms. He really doesn’t understand why his coworkers - friends, they’re friends - have to be so nosy, “he went home that night. Hates the police but he does know Todoroki.”
“Todoroki?” Denki lifts an eyebrow, “Nobody knows Todoroki, the guy is a complete closed book.”
“Well, not-” Hanta starts but quickly shuts his mouth, “nevermind.”
Mina clocks him immediately, holding up her finger as she sits up in her chair, “Wait a second, no. What do you mean by that, Hanta? Hm? I heard that, I saw that.”
“I just- He- Well, we- I-” Hanta clears his throat and whispers, “I’ve been dating him for a few months. He’s not a completely closed book.”
“A few months?!” Mina’s jaw drops to the floor and she jumps up.
“Shut up!” Hanta reaches to push her back down into her chair, “We just agreed on a label last week and agreed to tell people if we wanted. Already filled out the HR forms and shit. That doesn’t mean everybody in our station needs to know, though.”
“Right,” Mina covers her mouth, grinning, “I knew there was something up with you, Han.”
Hanta falls deeper into his chair, “This isn’t about me, this is about Katsuki and his crush on restaurant guy.”
“There is no ‘crush’,” Katsuki corrects him, pointing his pen at him, “I just simply enjoy the view but I will likely never see him again, so there’s nothing to do now.”
“Well,” Hanta smirks, “I could always talk to Shouto and-”
“Given name?” Denki’s head snaps over to him, “You call him by his given name?”
“Well I’ve seen the man naked so-”
Denki's eyes widen, “You’ve-”
“Okay enough!” Hanta waves his hands out of an X formation, “This isn’t about me.”
“It could be,” Katsuki suggests, really wanting the conversation to stop being about himself. If he has to play a little dirty to get it that way, he’ll do what he’s gotta do.
Mina shakes her head, “No, no, no, he’s right. This is about you, Katsuki. You and that cute boy. You can't distract us from it.”
“Don’t you guys have work to do?” Katsuki tries to get them to leave, doing his best to shoo them off.
Mina smiles sickly sweet, “Oh babes, I can deal with my work later. I have some very important matters to attend to right here at this desk. I.E. my friend’s love life.”
“There is no love, nor do I really have a life with how often I work,” Katsuki counteracts, trying everything to just get her to leave. Sure, he’ll admit, the guy is hot. That was, like, the first thing he noticed when he met the man but, for fuck’s sake, it’s not like he’s actually going to do anything with him.
“Why’s he on parole? What was he in for?” Denki asks.
Katsuki shrugs, “Records are sealed.”
“Scandalous,” Mina whispers dramatically, “I wonder what he did.”
“I mean, for Aizawa to be his PO, it had to be something dumb he did as a teenager, right? Aizawa mostly works with troubled kids,” Hanta says.
Katsuki shrugs holding his hands up and bringing them back down , “I don’t fuckin’ know, guys. You’re thinking too much about it, they're just sealed because minors were involved, that's all it said.”
“You should be thinking more about it!” Mina insists, “C’mon, just because you got dumped doesn’t mean you can’t get back out there.”
“She’s right,” Hanta agrees.
Denki nods, “It’s been 2 months, bro. It’s time.”
“Who the fuck are you guys to tell me it’s time? I don’t want a relationship right now,” Katsuki’s actually started to get annoyed at this point because why do they continue to insist on something Katsuki has been trying to refuse, “just fuck off,” Katsuki looks down at his work, determined to ignore anything else they say.
He begins filling out the paperwork and actually doing his job but the group doesn’t leave, “We never said anything about a relationship,” Mina crosses her arms, “Just that you need to get back out there.”
“You’re acting like a bunch of teenagers,” Katsuki does not successfully ignore them.
Mina presses on, “C’mon, promise me that you’ll at least try to put yourself back out there if the opportunity presents itself. Especially if that opportunity is with that guy from the restaurant.”
“If it’ll get you to stop pestering me, then I don’t give a shit,” Katsuki gets up and walks away.
They chase after him, “Wait, where are you going?”
Katsuki rolls his eyes, “Back on patrol. I forgot I can be the one to just leave. You guys can fuck off.”
He makes his way out of the station and to his patrol car, getting in and starting it up immediately. He drives out of the parking lot and lets himself just mindlessly work for the next few hours. He takes calls and gives out a few tickets, among other things. Overall, it’s a nice, peaceful time and he does not think of that Midoriya guy once.
Not even once.
Not even a single time.
Okay, maybe, like, one time but that’s it. Just once. Or twice. Okay, shit, yeah, he thinks about the guy a lot. It’s kind of embarrassing and he doesn’t want to think about his friends being right at all because, well, that’s a whole different level of embarrassing. One of which he’s not dealing with right now.
No way.
Then, he was called to a fire to help with crowd control and that effectively brought his mind elsewhere. He never thought he'd be so thankful to a fire before.
Notes:
As per usual, I hope that wasn't terrible :)
Thanks for reading, leave a comment or, like, don't, idk I'm not the boss of you
Chapter 4: i've been thinking way too loud
Summary:
“You could always, I dunno, go home?” Izuku jokes, knowing he would never actually kick her out of his place.
“Oh you love my company," Ochako decides, "don’t you deny it.”
“I love it more when you aren’t being obnoxious.”
“Oh, really?” Ochako gasps, feigning offense as she laughs and scoffs, “obnoxious? Who is the one who came and picked you up from the police station twice within the last month?”
“In my defense it had been a little longer than a month when-”
“Nuh-uh, don’t give me that, I picked you up both times.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“Oh right," The sarcasm is absolutely overflowing from her tone of voice and Izuku just wants to wipe that smirk off of her face, "I’m sure you were so happy to be in the company of that hot police officer twice.”
“I don’t find him hot-” Izuku starts, trying to defend himself but he gets interrupted quickly.
“You totally do," Ochako argues, a sly smirk on her face as if she knows she's right and, in all honesty, Izuku won't be telling whether she is or not, "you’re just turned off by the fact that he’s a cop.”
*
Spoiler alert: He does, in fact, find him very hot
Notes:
Okay folks, we're getting into the lengthier chapters now :)
This one is about 7.5k words before editing and, I believe, from here on out, they should all hover around that to 10k words - In fact, I'm pretty sure our next chapter is very very similar in word count to this one XD
Anyway, I do hope you enjoy and, um, if you read the chapter summary, I just wanted to let you know that there's something else hot in this chapter. Like. Hot hot. You could even say burning.
Chapter title from Block me out by Gracie Abrams
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“I am glad that that is all said and done,” Ochako says, the relief is clear as she hoists her feet up onto the coffee table.
“You’re telling me,” Izuku agrees easily before he grabs a pillow and throws it at her legs, “get your feet off my table.”
“Awe, you’re no fun,” Ochako complains, reeling her legs back in and close to her body, “I want coffee.”
“I don’t have any," Izuku tells her. He used the last of it the other day and hasn't managed to make it to the store just yet so, really, he's been surviving off of, like, hopes and dreams and wishing for the best. It hasn't failed him just yet but he's probably going through caffeine withdrawals.
“But it’s so early,” Ochako whines, throwing her head back into the couch, “I need caffeine or I will be unbearable, Izu. You don’t want unbearable me. You’ve gotta deal with me for the next 5 hours because my shift isn’t until way later today, do you want to deal with unbearable me for the next 5 hours?”
“You could always, I dunno, go home?” Izuku jokes, knowing he would never actually kick her out of his place, "I'm sure you have coffee there," Except he's not so sure because, honestly, she's at his place maybe just as much as her own, if not more and he's not sure if she's just mooching off of all of his groceries or if she actually buys her own.
“Oh but you love my company," Ochako decides, "don’t you deny it.”
“I love it more when you aren’t being obnoxious.”
“Oh, really?” Ochako feigns offense as she laughs and scoffs, “obnoxious? Who is the one who came and picked you up from the police station twice within the last month?”
“In my defense it had been a little longer than a month when-”
“Nuh-uh, don’t give me that, I picked you up both times.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“Oh right," The sarcasm is absolutely overflowing from her tone of voice and Izuku just wants to wipe that smirk off of her face, "I’m sure you were so happy to be in the company of that hot police officer twice.”
“I don’t find him hot-” Izuku starts, trying to defend himself but he gets interrupted quickly.
“You totally do," Ochako argues, a sly smirk on her face as if she knows she's right and, in all honesty, Izuku won't be telling whether she is or not, "you’re just turned off by the fact that he’s a cop.”
“You’re proving my point right now," Izuku gestures to her.
“What point, Izuku?”
“That you’re obnoxious," Izuku says simply, without skipping a beat.
Ochako's mouth drapes open, “Oh-ho yeah, I get it, I’m just SO obnoxious, that’s why you still keep me around.”
Izuku can’t help but laugh and soon they’re both laughing over how ridiculous they sound, “I will go pick up some damn coffee for you, okay?”
“Yay!” Ochako giggles in delight, “I love you so so much, you don’t even know. From our place?”
Izuku just nods along, getting off the couch so that he can put his shoes on, “You want your usual?”
“Yes sir!”
“I’ll be back in 20 minutes,” Izuku announces, making sure to grab his keys off the side table before stepping out, “You’ve got Nia if she wakes up, right?”
“Of course I do, my niece is in good hands. Don’t you even worry. I will see you later with my coffee,” Ochako grins, waving at him as he leaves his house.
He walks down his apartment building and finds his car in the parking lot, getting in as quickly as possible because, frankly, it’s cold outside and he didn’t bring a jacket because he wasn’t expecting this. He starts the car, making the drive to their usual coffee shop in just five minutes since the traffic happens to be light this morning. He parks because, of course, the place Ochako likes her coffee from doesn’t have a drive through so he has to go all the way inside.
He’s standing in line with his keys in his hand when he drops them and they slide in front of the person in front of him. He taps the man on his shoulder, clearing his throat, “Excuse me, sorry but-”
The man picks up the keys while Izuku is speaking and turns around all at the same time, handing them back over, “Here you are, Midoriya.”
Izuku groans. Full on groans, he really doesn’t mean to but it just comes out so quickly as he accepts the keys from the man because he really doesn’t want to see a police officer while he’s trying to get some coffee, “Officer Bakugou, I almost didn’t recognize you without your uniform.”
“Yeah, that being the only way you’ve seen me might help contribute to that,” Officer Bakugou takes in Izuku, “you don’t have to use my title either by the way, I’m not in uniform.”
“In or out of uniform, a lot of officers are always on duty," Izuku retorts, "In their mind at least.”
“And how would you know that?” Officer- No, just Bakugou questions him, a look of genuine curiosity on his face, somehow softening it up a little bit and not at all.
“Experience.”
“Oh right, I forgot that you know Todoroki.”
That’s not quite what Izuku was thinking but, honestly, it’s easier to let Bakugou believe that than the real thing so he just nods along.
Bakugou nods up at Izuku’s forehead, “Seems like your forehead is healing up nicely.”
Great. Small talk. Exactly what Izuku wanted, “Yep," He says dryly, not caring much to have a conversation with this man.
“So you did end up heading to a hospital?” Bakugou asks and as much as Izuku wants to stop this stupid small talk, there’s something in him that wants to prolong it.
Izuku takes a deep breath, “Yeah, I did. It was the only way that Ochako would bring me home.”
“Yeah? Good on her,” Bakugou nods along, agreeing with Ochako’s choices, “you’re fuckin’ stubborn, y’know?”
“Don’t forget it.”
"Did you need stitches?"
Izuku shakes his head, hating this and just praying that the person in front of Bakugou moves up so that Bakugou can stop with the small talk, "Doctor said it likely won’t even scar," He tells him.
Thankfully, that's when the line moves up and Bakugou turns back around saying, “Looks like I’m up.”
Izuku doesn’t say anything after that, just waits for Bakugou to finish ordering so that he can. Bakugou only orders one coffee and he’s out of the way quickly. Izuku steps forward and grins as he realizes that he knows the barista behind the counter, “Well if it isn’t Izuku, I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages.”
“Yeah, Ochako’s been coming in to do coffee runs for us lately,” Izuku winces softly, actually missing talking to the barista, “I’ve missed you, though.”
“Well I would sure hope so, I am amazing,” She grins, “anyway, what can I get for you today? Your usual?”
“Eh, I’ve been trying to cut back on the coffee lately," Another reason he's put off going to the store to get more for his place, "I’ll just take O’s usual.”
“Got it,” She presses some things on the computer and looks back up, “Is that all?”
“I’ll do a plain bagel too, I’m a bit hungry,” Izuku decides, “then that’ll be it.”
She presses more on the computer and tells him the price. Izuku starts patting at his pockets to find his wallet, only to realize that he forgot it in the damn car, “Oh my god, I think I left my wallet in the car, I’m gonna go run to get it really quick and I’ll be right back, okay?”
“No problem at all but you’ll have to stand in the line again, can’t let you cut even if you’re my friend.”
“Yeah, I know,” Izuku sighs, upset with himself. How could he forget his wallet when he was literally walking in to buy something. He is so stupid.
That’s when Bakugou steps in from where he was standing on the side, waiting for his coffee, “I can cover it, it’s not a problem,” He’s already pulling money out of his wallet but Izuku shakes his head.
“No, I can’t let you do that-”
Bakugou rolls his eyes “Don’t be stubborn, it’s a damn coffee and a bagel, it won’t put me into debt. Besides, look at this line, it’s getting fucking long, you don’t want to wait in that again.”
Izuku hates the fact that Bakugou is making good points, business really picked up the moment Izuku got in line, he'd have to wait for, like, 6 or 7 people to go just so he could reorder his coffee and bagel so he just agrees, he told Ochako 20 minutes, after all, “Fine, you can pay but I’m paying you back.”
“Sure, okay,” Bakugou dismisses him quickly, handing his card over to the barista who swipes it and then gives it back.
Izuku hates accepting help but he also knows when someone’s saved him from a huge inconvenience so he steps out of the line and thanks the man, “Thank you, Off-”
“Oi, quit it with all the damn officer talk," Bakugou crosses his arms and leans against the half wall they're next to, "I’m not in my fucking uniform.”
“Just slipped out, I’m used to it,” Izuku defends himself, knowing damn well he’s definitely not used to it seeing as he barely even called him officer when he was supposed to, “no more officer from now on, I promise.”
Bakugou nods, “Good. Unless I happen to have to arrest your ass again, then-”
“You arrested me once, the second thing was not an arrest,” Izuku clarifies, needing to set the record straight.
Bakugou laughs, “I’m just fuckin’ with you.”
Izuku scoffs out of his nose, “Y’know, your language is quite unseemly off the job.”
Bakugou sticks his hands in his pockets, “Don’t gotta take shit from anybody about my language outside the job. On the job, my boss throws a fit about it but off the job, I can talk however the hell I want, so I do.”
“Right, of course,” Izuku hums just as the barista calls out Bakugou’s name.
Bakugou walks up to grab his coffee, thanking the lady, and then he tries to leave but Izuku stops him by speaking up, “Hey, I’ve gotta pay you back still.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Bakugou insists, continuing to walk off.
“Wait,” Izuku grabs Bakugou’s hand, stopping him from being able to walk further, “I’ve gotta pay you back, it’s the only reason I let you pay for me. I know my wallet is in the car, just wait for me to get my things and we can walk out together so I can pay you the money I owe you.”
“Let me go.”
Izuku holds on strong, “Nope, not until you agree that you won’t go anywhere until after I pay you.”
“You know I could arrest you for this, right? Restraining me?”
Izuku’s mouth goes dry and he lets go immediately. He was starting to get a little too comfortable with this guy that he started to forget who he really is. A police officer. Izuku’s got a pride, not wanting to be in debt to anyone (even if it is just the price of a coffee and a bagel), but he also cannot afford to get arrested. He has a daughter to think about.
“Sorry,” Izuku mumbles quickly, stepping away from him and averting his eyes, “I'll stop. Thank you for paying.”
“Hey no,” Bakugou speaks softly and moves fast, grabbing Izuku’s hand again in what felt so much like a natural instinct that Izuku might’ve gotten some butterflies in his stomach but he promptly ignores them, “I was kidding, I’m not actually gonna arrest you for that.”
The lack of swear words make him sound quite the bit more genuine and Izuku feels a weight lifted from his chest, “Okay.”
“That was a shitty thing to joke about considering the circumstances and I’m sorry.”
Izuku doesn’t really say anything, just mutters that it’s fine and then he's heroically saved from saying anything else when the barista calls his name. He pulls his hand away from Bakugou and goes up to collect Ochako’s coffee and his bagel. Afterward, he makes his way out of the shop with Bakugou trailing closely behind him.
Izuku leads them to his car and unlocks it, his wallet is sitting right there in the driver seat, clearly having fallen out of his pocket while he was sitting down. He curses to himself and rolls his eyes, so stupid. He opens the door and places the coffee in the cup holder, tosses the bagel in the passenger seat, and grabs the wallet so that he can take some money out and offer it over to Bakugou.
Bakugou takes it but then he lingers, just looking at Izuku for a moment before breaking the silence they’ve had going on since being inside the coffee shop, “You’re a really interesting man, Midoriya Izuku. You ever gonna tell me how someone like you is considered a dangerous felon?”
“There’s only a select number of people who know that about me,” Midoriya soon realizes that this conversation is going to go on longer than a quick repayment of debt, so he shuts the car door, “I’m afraid you don’t make the cut, Officer,” He breaks his ‘no more officer talk’ promise pretty quickly.
“Cut it out with that officer shit.”
“Hey, I was disrespectful when we first met, I’ve gotta make it up somehow, right?” Izuku declared, a small smirk on his face knowing that he's just messing with Bakugou at this point.
Bakugou scoffs, “I think you know you’re being annoying and are doing it on purpose.”
“Hm, look at that,” Izuku laughs to himself, “maybe you know me more than we both thought.”
Things go silent after that and Izuku is just standing here staring at this man who is staring back at him and neither of them are doing anything. After a few minutes of this weird silence between them, both of them just looking at each other unsure of what to say or if they should say anything at all, Izuku realizes something. Ochako was absolutely right.
“Right about what?” Bakugou asks and Izuku squeezes his eyes shut, contorting his face uncomfortably because he didn’t realize he said that out loud and he definitely didn’t mean for it to be said out loud. That was supposed to be an inside though. Like, a very deep inside his brain thought, never to be spoken out loud to anybody ever.
Then, he thinks, fuck it, what’s the worst that could happen? Not like he can get arrested for saying what he’s about to, freedom of speech and all, “She said you’re exactly my type. I didn’t realize it because of the uniform and my small dislike,” huge hatred, “for cops but seeing you without a uniform and in a less… fluorescent light," the lights of the police station really do not do this man justice, "makes me realize she was right. You’re hot.” This can get real awkward real fast depending on how Bakugou reacts to this.
“Oh yeah?” And damn if his voice isn’t sultry, he takes a couple slow steps toward Izuku, who walks backward until his back hits the side of his car, “Well I happen to think you’re pretty damn hot yourself.”
Oh, Izuku is about to make so many wrong decisions in a row right now but he can think about the consequences later, right now he is transfixed on the man in front of him and there is no room in his mind for logic, instead he just reaches up and places one of his hands along the side of Bakugou’s face, feeling the light stubble on his cheek.
He really doesn’t even have the thought of this being a mistake until he’s already listening to and agreeing to the question being asked by Bakugou, “Midoriya?”
“Hm?”
“Can I kiss you,” Bakugou’s voice is breathless despite the fact that they haven’t even done anything yet, “I’d really like to fuckin' kiss you.”
“Obviously,” Izuku barely gets the word out before they’re lips are connected and Izuku can feel it through his entire body. There’s no easing into the kiss. It doesn’t start off soft or gentle or sweet, it starts out messy and they both clash into one another but in the absolute best way possible.
Their hands travel along the other’s body, Bakugou’s hands trail up and down Izuku’s back, sneaking under his shirt at one point so that his bare hands are touching the bare skin of Izuku’s back, the warmth of the hands only wanting Izuku to move in impossibly closer while Izuku’s hands trace along Bakugou’s face and the back of his neck and head. Izuku’s fingers get lost in Bakugou’s hair and when he tugs on it a bit, he elicits a sound from Bakugou that he instantly wants to hear again.
Suddenly, he remembers that he told Ochako he’d be back with her coffee within 20 minutes and for all he knows, he could’ve spent 20 minutes on the kiss itself, nevertheless driving and picking up coffee; He’s fairly certain that the kissing didn’t actually last 20 minutes but, at this point, he can never be too sure.
Izuku pulls away, his head all the way back to his car and he has to softly push Bakugou away when he tries to chase Izuku’s lips, not realizing that this is Izuku ending the kiss, “I’m so sorry,” Izuku quickly apologizes, “that was very inappropriate of me.”
“What? Kissing me out in the open? I’m a police officer and I can guarantee it’s not breaking any laws,” Bakugou assures before smirking, “yet.”
“No, I mean the fact that you were just investigating me a week ago and now-”
Bakugou backs away but he doesn’t leave, he clicks his tongue, “Now, nothing. I’m not investigating you anymore," He says like the entire thing is obvious, "you’ve been cleared.”
“Is it not some kind of conflict of interest to be kissing the man you were just investigating?”
Bakugou shakes his head slowly, licking his lips, “Not at all, the investigation is over, now we’re just two men who’ve run into each other at a coffee shop. But, obviously, I will back off if this isn’t what you want.”
It pains Izuku to hear those words because it is exactly what he wants. He hasn’t kissed anybody in way too long, he needed the feeling of something.
“I’ll tell you what I don’t want,” Izuku starts, he takes a deep breath and looks around at all the trees before making his way back to Bakugou’s eyes, “a relationship. That’s something I do not want. I want no strings attached to any of this because I have too much stress to allow time for a real relationship.”
“Never said anything about a relationship, Midoriya,” Bakugou holds his hands up defensively, ironic seeing as he’s a cop, his hands come back down to his side, “in fact that’s at the bottom of my list of wants, too. All I know is you’re a damn good kisser and I wouldn’t mind doing that again.”
Izuku groans, both in desperation and frustration, “God, you don’t know when to quit,” He grabs Bakugou’s face, bringing their lips together once again and he turns so that he’s pushing Bakugou back against the car now. They’re both about the same height so it’s pretty easy to maneuver around. Bakugou is such a good kisser that Izuku is pretty sure his mind will be racing in circles about it for years to come.
They pull apart a few moments later, “I think you’re the one who doesn’t know how to quit,” Bakugou smirks.
Izuku holds a finger up as if he's silencing Bakugou, “I have a coffee to deliver, we can talk later,” He lets go of Bakugou and wipes his hands on his pants, dusting them off, “you know where I work so come see me later if you want. Or don’t. But there won't be any kissing in my place of work, just talking about this.”
“Well when do you work?” Bakugou asks quickly after that, not really letting there be a single moment of silence.
It’s Izuku’s turn to smirk now, “What? You actually planning on comin’?”
“For you? Hell yeah.”
Izuku can’t help but laugh, he laughs loudly without a care in the world, “I go in this Friday.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then.”
“Hm, yeah, sure,” Izuku nods one, single, quick nod and gets into his car as quickly as he possibly can because he cannot believe he just kissed somebody. Don’t get him wrong, he’s kissed plenty of guys since he got out of jail, but nothing like that. Nobody who he actually had any real conversation with. Nobody he’s gotten along with for more than a few minutes. And definitely nobody that’s arrested him before.
Eventually, he’s pulling back into the parking lot of his apartment building and he’s honestly not even sure how he managed to get there because, really, he doesn’t remember driving home at all. For all he knows, he could’ve run every single red light. One second he’s thinking about the kiss and how it makes him feel; the painstaking longing he had to just keep kissing the man, the way he felt like he couldn’t get close enough even though their bodies were pressed up against each other, the feeling of Bakugou’s lips on his, the way Bakugou’s tongue snuck it’s way into Izuku’s mouth, all of the touching they both did, and the way that Bakugou’s hands trailed along his back, tracing what felt like every single muscle, every single nerve.
Parking his car, he shakes his head to snap out of it. He buries his face into his hand, sighing with himself because, damn, this man is absolutely destroying him and he barely knows the guy. He tried playing it cool when he was in front of him but now that he’s in the privacy of his own vehicle in his own parking lot, he’s starting to feel a lot less cool and a lot more like he's spiraling.
He just shuts his car off and grabs the coffee because he’s pretty sure it’s been longer than 20 minutes. How much longer? He’s unsure. But definitely longer.
He leaves his car and gets all the way up to the door of his apartment before he remembers his bagel. The bagel that’s currently sitting on his passenger seat. Whatever. He just walks in and tosses his shoes off the moment he gets into the door.
“Ah! Coffee!” Ochako squeals happily, jumping up to accept the coffee from Izuku while he shuts the door and takes off his shoes, “You didn’t get anything?”
“I got a bagel,” Izuku says, “but I left it in the car,” He starts to walk to the couch, deciding how to tell her what just happened before just deciding to blurt it out, “I also got a kiss from Bakugou Katsuki,” He winces, hiding his face as he sits down.
Ochako gasps way too dramatically for Izuku’s liking, “I knew you were into him!”
“I didn’t even know I was into him!” Izuku argues, no longer hiding his face, “I just- He was at the coffee shop and my wallet fell out of my pocket in the car and he offered to pay for me but I wanted to pay him back so I brought him to my car and, well… We kissed.”
“That’s adorable and you’re so done for,” Ochako takes a sip of her coffee.
“He’s a cop, O, I’m on parole.”
“You’re on parole because you did a good thing that the law sees as bad," Ochako argues.
“Therefore, it’s not a good thing,” Izuku says, staring at her, “there were a lot of things I could’ve done differently in the situation.”
“You were 13,” Ochako argues with him, kicking him gently, “and I, for one, am grateful you did what you did. Frankly, I don't think you deserved prison.”
“I know you are and I don’t regret it, I’ve never regretted what I did,” Izuku assures her, “I just-" He hesitates, sighing, "I dunno, wish the outcome wasn’t so bad.”
“You’ve only got like less than 2 years of parole left," Ochako tries reassuring him now, placing a hand on top of his.
Izuku shrugs, “Which means I’ve only done, like, half.”
Ochako corrects him, Izuku has been working on positive thinking with his therapist and Ochako has been reinforcing it, “Which means you’ve already done over half.”
Izuku shakes his head dismissively, “Whatever. Anyway, I told him I’m not looking for a relationship, I’m too much of a mess right now and, well, I may have invited him to the restaurant on Friday.”
“Like a date? After you just said-”
“No,” Izuku interrupted, “definitely not a date. I think it was just me wanting to leave so I told him that he could come see me on Friday so that I didn’t have to see him in that moment because, god, Ochako, I don’t think you understand how much I wanted to kiss him again. After we had already kissed twice.”
“Twice?”
Izuku sighs, he really is just digging himself deeper into the gossip hole, “It could count as one kiss, really. There was no more than a minute between them.”
“Is this why it took you longer than 20 minutes to bring me the coffee?” Ochako questions.
Izuku just nods guiltily, knowing there's no use lying to her.
“So,” Ochako lets the vowel sound trail until she says her next words, “do you want to kiss him again? Or, rather, you just said you wanted to so are you going to kiss him again?”
Izuku thinks it over, bringing his legs and feet up onto the couch so he could curl into himself, “Want to? Of course. He is an excellent kisser. But am I going to? I don’t know, time will tell.”
“That’s not a no,” Ochako smirks, teasing him like she always does.
“I just feel guilty,” Izuku shrugs a bit, “like not- I can't- I don’t really know how to explain it, it’s not guilt about doing it or something, it’s just that it feels wrong. I mean, he’s a police officer. He arrested me at one point. He told me that’s not any kind of conflict of interest since he’s not actively investigating me but, like, I’m a felon who just kissed an officer. It doesn’t feel right. I mean, like, kissing him felt so painstakingly right. In the moment. Then, I got to thinking a bit too hard and you know how I am.”
“Yep, turn that brain of yours off,” Ochako smacks him on the head with her free hand, “just go with the flow, Izuku. You deserve it more than anyone.”
“I’m really only willing to let it turn into something fun between the two of us. No relationship or anything.”
Thankfully, before Ochako can press on with any more questions, Nia comes stumbling out of her room. Ever since she got her “big girl bed” a couple months ago, she’s been obsessed with the fact that she can come say hi to her dad instead of having to wait for her dad to come get her (which, in his defense, he was about to go wake her up because she starts preschool today), “Daddy!”
“Hi sweetheart,” Izuku smiles big, holding his arms out to receive a hug from his daughter who runs over upon seeing the invitation, “How did you sleep?”
“Was nice,” She claims quietly, still sleepy, she cuddles into her dad’s chest and looks over, “hi Aunty ‘Chako.”
“Hi baby girl,” Ochako reaches over to stroke her hair and press a kiss to her forehead, “I missed you.”
Nia giggles, “But you just saw me!”
“I still missed you!” Ochako argues playfully, tickling her, “It’s been a very long night without seeing my favorite niece.”
“I’m your only niece,” Nia laughs, squirming in her dad’s arms.
“That’s right,” Ochako tickles her some more, “my favorite, favorite, favorite niece!”
Nia giggles some more, kicking and trying to get away from the tickles so Izuku steps in, “Okay, you better leave my baby alone,” He turns away from Ochako and Nia sighs in relief, “only I get to tickle her,” He grins, moving to tickle her and her laughter starts up again.
“Stop it, Daddy!”
“Oh fine,” Izuku relents, bringing his hands back to himself and changing the topic, “are you ready for your first day of preschool?”
Nia’s little eyes widen and her mouth forms an ‘o’ shape, “That’s today?”
“Yep,” Izuku confirms, hoping that there will be no tantrum to follow.
Thankfully, there’s a huge grin instead, “Yay! I’m gonna have fun!”
“Yes you are,” Izuku smiles, matching her energy, “are you ready for breakfast? What are you hungry for?”
Nia nods her little head and jumps off the couch, heading toward the kitchen, “I want, uh,” She drawls the thinking out, “panacakes!”
“Pancakes?” Izuku gets off his couch and follows his daughter into the kitchen, “do you want eggs with your pancakes?”
“Mhm,” Nia hums, tugging open the fridge, “milk?”
“Yeah, I’ll get you some milk,” He grabs the gallon from the fridge, “why don’t you go grab me one of your cups?”
Nia hops to it, walking over to the cabinet where they keep her cups - Izuku made sure to have it low enough for her to reach it. She grabs her favorite cup and brings it over to Izuku, with the correct lid and everything, “Milk!”
He pours some milk for her into the cup and places the lid on it so that she doesn’t make a mess. She gets all excited after he hands it back to her.
“Now, you don’t think I’m doing this all by myself, do you?” Izuku asks while getting out a mixing bowl and the pancake batter, “you’re gonna help me, little miss.”
“Okay!” Nia agrees easily, moving to grab her step stool so that she can reach the counter. She takes a big drink of her milk and places it down on the counter dramatically, “ready!”
“Alright, let’s do this,” Izuku grins.
The pancake making process is made about a million times more difficult when the help is coming from someone who is three years old and insists that she can do absolutely everything by herself. The clean up process is made just as difficult for that very same reason, so he decides to try and get as much of it done while Nia’s eating because as soon as she’s done there, he’s going to have to get her ready and, really, it’ll just be quite the bit of chaos before she gets heading to school. Her first day of school.
“Daddy! I’m all done,” Nia pushes her plate away from her, “I don’t want more.”
Izuku glances over at her plate, just to see how much she ate. She did pretty well and he makes note of the time, seeing as they should be getting out of the door in about 30 minutes, “Okay, that’s fine,” He walks over to her and unbuckles her booster seat on the chair, “put your plate in the sink, please.”
She hops down from the table and steps on her tiptoes to be able to reach the plate on the table, once she does so, she kind of tosses the plate in the sink because she’s not quite tall enough to reach it on her own.
“I’m going to finish cleaning up, you can try your best to get dressed, okay?” Izuku tells her, “The outfit we picked out last night is on the seat at the end of your bed.”
“Okay!” Nia runs down the hall and back toward her bedroom. Izuku wipes down the counters and tries his best to rinse off a few dishes but, looking at the time, he doesn’t really have anymore to spare.
He makes his way to his daughter’s bedroom, the door is wide open and he finds her there in her outfit but struggling to do up one of the buttons on her overalls.
“Want me to help you?”
Nia huffs, she’s always liked to be independent but she also loves to be the center of attention so, with those two very conflicting personalities within her, she’s resigned to angrily accept the help from her dad.
He walks into the bedroom and kneels down in front of her to make sure everything is in order, “Alright, how do you want to do your hair this morning?”
“Hmmm,” Nia puts a finger to chin, tapping it a few times and Izuku just laughs because, damn, his daughter is such a character at only three. She perks up and grins, “Pigtails! With bows,” She points a finger at him, her face suddenly very serious.
“A man forgets the bows one time,” Izuku mumbles.
“C’mon, Izu, you should know better,” Ochako appears in the doorframe, “the bows are the most important part of the look. You can’t forget them!”
Nia nods, a serious expression still written all over her face, “Yep.”
Izuku takes a slow deep breath, “Let’s just do this hair of yours.”
And, well, they do. Izuku brushes out her hair before putting it in some pigtails with a pink bow on one and a purple bow on the other as per Nia’s insistence.
They end up leaving the apartment exactly one minute before they’re supposed to and, therefore, get to the school right on time. Izuku greets the person at the front desk, signs his daughter in, and kneels down to say goodbye to her. Honestly, he’s about 97% sure that this is more difficult for him than it is for her. She seems antsy to get inside so she can learn and play but Izuku is, sort of, having a difficult time letting her go. There’s so many bad things that could happen and he’s got a really bad feeling, one that he can’t shake even though he knows it’s just his anxiety talking.
“Okay daddy, I go gone now,” Nia pushes out from the hug that her father had her encompassed in.
Izuku forces a smile and a, “Right, I love you.”
“I love you too!” Nia grins and skips inside the classroom being led by a teacher as she waves goodbye.
“It’s always tough for parents to say goodbye for the first time,” The lady at the front desk makes conversation, “I see it all the time, you aren’t alone.”
Izuku stands up and looks at her, sighing in desperation, “I just- She’s so little, y’know? I know it’s only for 4 hours but so much could go terribly wrong in 4 hours and she just seems so eager to get in there.”
The lady smiles empathetically, “I get it, I really do. My first was so clingy and she just did not want to leave my side for the life of her but my second, god, he couldn’t seem to get away from me fast enough when school came around. It was total whiplash. I assure you, though, we take the best care of the children here.”
“I know,” Izuku nods, “I actually went here when I was a kid. My mother used to work here.”
“Oh really?” The lady’s smile gets larger, “I’ve worked here for years, maybe I know her. What’s her name?”
Izuku hesitates, unsure if he wants this lady to know who his mother is because then that might mean she sort of knows who he is but, well, he tells her anyway, “Midoriya Inko.”
The lady pauses, staring at Izuku in shock, she’s barely able to get out the words, “You’re Inko’s son?”
Izuku nods, his chest filling with dread and a lump sorting itself out in his throat, “I was afraid you’d know her,” He mumbles, “and me. You know what I did,” It’s not a question, really at all. Just a tough acknowledgement of the truth, he swallows heavily, “I should go.”
He’s suddenly filled with shame, all of the voices telling him off for what he did go straight to his head, echoing deep inside his brain and he wants them gone. He wants them out.
“I think what you did was brave,” The lady finally speaks and Izuku sort of just freezes for a minute. Nobody has ever worded it like that before except maybe Ochako but, even then, she tends to use other diction.
“What?”
“You were a kid,” The lady shrugs as if that’s a simple enough explanation, “I don’t know what I would’ve done in that situation when I was that young. I don’t think I would’ve had the guts to do what you did.”
So she doesn’t think he’s evil? That’s new. And sort of comforting. It eases his anxiety, to say the least. She seems to sense the need for a change in conversation and does just that, “How is your mother? I haven’t spoken to Inko in years, we used to be close.”
“Oh, uh,” Izuku shakes his head unknowingly, shrugging a bit, “we don’t really talk much nowadays but from what I’ve heard, she’s doing really well. She doesn’t live here anymore, moved to Tokyo, actually.”
Just as the lady is about to say something, their conversation is interrupted by a parent running late rushing into the door with two kids, seemingly twins and Izuku does not envy her at all.
“I’ve gotta go,” Izuku decides, smiling politely at the lady, “I’ll be back to get Nia at 1:00.”
There’s a thumbs up his way and he’s out the door. He’s not really sure what to do while he waits, normally his days are just filled with Nia, his whole life is always about her and, well, not he’s sitting in his car debating whether he should eat this bagel that’s been sitting in his passenger seat for, like, what’s gotta be a couple of hours at the least by now.
He settles on not eating the bagel and, instead, going to the library across the way from the school. It’s been a while since he’s been able to go to the library without a kid dragging him to the kids section and forcing him to read her stories.
He’s having a fairly peaceful time in a seat in the corner of the library just reading a book he found after about 15 minutes of browsing. That is until he hears sirens and a whole bunch of chatter. He doesn’t bother setting the book down on the table or anything of that sort, he just rushes up and out, his eyes widening as he sees a huge fire across the way. The school that he just dropped his daughter off at. He sprints as fast as he can across the street, barely taking into account that there are cars trying to drive in the street. A lot of kids and teachers are already out and frantically trying to figure out what to do and, as Izuku looks over all of them, none of them are Nia.
He tries to go into the school, he needs to get to his daughter, he needs to make sure that she’s safe but a hand on his chest stops him, a firefighter who was clearly put in charge of helping with crowd control, “I’m sorry sir, but we need to let the firefighters do their jobs, I need you to stay out of their way and out of the school so they can do so.”
“My daughter is in there,” Izuku explains frantically, “I need to get to my daughter, she- She has asthma, she- I need to get her and-”
“Midoriya!” A familiar voice calls out and it’s not one that Izuku is ever particularly expecting to hear, but even moreso unexpected in this frantic state.
He turns to see Bakugou in front of him, obviously called here to also help with crowd control. Izuku is shaking so badly with fear and he can barely even see straight but he just needs to get into the school, he needs to get his daughter, “My daughter is in there, Bakugou, I need to-”
“Take a breath,” Bakugou grabs at Izuku’s wrists, squeezing just enough to get Izuku to go quiet for a minute, “look at me and take a damn breath, Midoriya. The firefighters are here. You’re no firefighter. You going into that school wouldn’t do anything to help, it’d just make their jobs more complicated and make it so that they have less focus on getting your daughter out of there.”
“Right, yeah, right,” Izuku bites at his lips, “I just- She’s all I have, Bakugou, it was her first day of school today, she’s my kid, I can’t lose-” He stops before finishing that sentence. He gets a funny feeling in his nose and tears well up behind his eyes but he ignores it, pushing all of it away because he needs to be strong right now, his daughter is in there and he needs her to be okay so he can’t waste time on crying.
Bakugou lets go of Izuku’s wrists, “I get it, Midoriya, but you’ve just gotta wait for her to come out those doors, okay?”
Izuku nods absentmindedly, focused intensely on the door watching as kids and teachers get escorted out but no sign of Nia or the teacher that took her into the classroom or even the lady at the front desk, which Izuku finds particularly weird since she should’ve been one of the first people to get out, being so close to the door.
Izuku picks at his fingers so much that one of them starts to bleed but he doesn’t even notice the pain, he doesn’t care to notice it either. The next five minutes are the absolute longest of his life, feeling more like hours. His eyes are glued to the door, scanning the face of every child to walk out, praying that the next one will be his.
Then, when it finally is his kid, a gasp gets stuck in his throat and he springs into action, running toward her and the firefighter carrying her. The other firefighter from earlier tries to stop Izuku but Izuku doesn’t let him, “That’s my daughter, I have to go to her,” He yells before pushing past him and running over.
He strokes her hair and notices that she’s barely awake, “Hi baby, hi, how are you?”
“Daddy,” Nia can barely speak, a cough overtakes her.
“We’ve gotta get her over to triage to get her some oxygen,” The firefighter tells him.
“She has asthma,” Izuku tells him frantically, “I- She has asthma. Thank you for getting her out.”
“Don’t thank me,” The firefighter looks back to another firefighter helping a woman walk, “thank her, that lady was guarding this kid when we found them.”
It’s the lady from the front desk, Izuku recalls. He notices burns along her arms and a sob gets stuck in his throat, “You- Oh my god, are you okay?” He rushes over to her, knowing his daughter is in good hands and he needs to let the professionals tend to her, “You helped my daughter? You guarded her?”
“I had to,” Her voice is rough and hoarse, likely from the smoke inhalation, “I told you we take the best care of the children here, couldn’t break my promise. She was scared, didn’t want to leave and there was too much fire, I couldn’t pick her up and get her out so I did what I had to do.”
“Thank you so much, thank you,” Izuku lets the tears escape him, “I would hug you but I don’t want to hurt you-”
She laughs as much as she’s able to, “I’ll be fine, kid, go to your daughter. I’ve gotta get these looked at,” She motions at the burns along her body.
“Yeah, we’ve gotta get you to triage,” The firefighter supporting her agrees.
Izuku makes his own way to triage, spotting his daughter in the green section with a paramedic and an oxygen mask over her face. A smile spreads across her face and she makes grabby hands to her dad. The paramedic looks over, following the view of where the kid was making grabby hands toward and sees Izuku, “I assume you’re with her?”
“My daughter,” Izuku answers quickly, settling down beside her and pulling her into a hug, stroking at her hair to soothe both him and her, “You’re okay, sweetheart. Just fine,” He whispers.
“I’d like to get her into the hospital as soon as an ambulance is available,” The paramedic explains, “we’ve got some more critical patients taking priority but there should be one available for her soon, for now just make sure she gets a lot of oxygen. She inhaled a lot of smoke and the firefighter told me that she has asthma? Do you have her inhaler with you?”
Her inhaler is in her backpack but Izuku always carries her backup inhaler in his pocket, he pulls it out and pulls his daughter away from his chest, slowly lifting the oxygen mask off of her to hold the inhaler up to her mouth. After that, he puts the oxygen mask right back on her and holds her close again. He hums a familiar song to her to keep her calm and, honestly, mostly to keep himself calm.
A while later, after ambulances and people start filtering out and home or to hospitals, Izuku hears footsteps approaching them and when he looks up, he sees Bakugou. He looks concerned and just asks a simple, “How is she?”
“Okay,” Izuku tells him, pressing a kiss to his daughter’s forehead, “She’s having trouble breathing but the checked her out and said she’s not in any kind of critical condition.”
Bakugou nods as Izuku speaks and then, when he’s done, he asks, “How are you?”
“What? I’m fine, I wasn’t in the fire-”
“Midoriya,” Bakugou scoffs and, honestly, Izuku doesn’t know why because he has no reason to be scoffing right now, “you may not have been in a fire but your daughter was. How are you doing?”
“I’m fine,” Izuku insists, “Nia is okay, so I’m fine and, honestly, it’s none of your business.”
Nia looks up from the cuddle and makes eye contact with her father, she clearly wants to say something but can’t due to the oxygen mask.
“It’s okay, Ni, we’re going to go to the hospital soon, okay? And then we can go home and watch movies,” He comforts and assures her, “I love you.”
She nods, humming some kind of semblance of, “I love you too,” Before cuddling into Izuku again.
Bakugou opens his mouth to speak, a paramedic comes over to tell Izuku that he’ll be escorting him and Nia to the hospital. Saved by the bell.
Bakugou keeps talking anyway, though, “Midoriya-”
“Look, I’ve gotta go,” Izuku tells him, getting up to follow his daughter and the paramedic to the ambulance, “I’ll be at work on Friday still, okay?”
Bakugou nods, staying still.
Nia whines, pulling the mask off of her face, “Daddy, I wanna go. Want home.”
“I know sweetheart,” Izuku brings his full attention to Nia, putting the mask back on her face and he doesn’t even think about Bakugou for the rest of the night. He had more important matters to attend to.
His daughter gets cleared by the doctors quickly, one of them recommends a few therapists and says it’d probably be a good idea to get her into one of them because of the traumatic experience, and they go home the same night. The next morning, Nia seems mostly back to herself so Izuku doesn’t feel guilty at all about going into work on Friday, which is in just a couple of days.
Notes:
Like always, I hope it wasn't terrible
Thank you very much for reading and I've really been enjoying all the nice comments so thank you guys :D
Also I'd like to to know if you guys would like to see more or less of Nia because originally, I wasn't planning on having her be a character that's super prevalent but as I write, she sort of shows up more and more but I can def change that up.
Also also please drop some lyrics for chapter titles bc I am STRUGGLING to find some I like - there will be happy chapters, sad chapters, angsty chapter, and all the sorts so drop any kind of lyrics you think could make a good chapter title PLEASE
Thank you :)
Also also also, just lowkey, if anybody is down to beta this for me, lmk and I'll drop my discord or something bc that would be very helpful as editing is the bane of my existence XD (also it'd be nice to get it looked at by someone else before sending it off into the world)
Okay, final time. Thank you :D
Chapter 5: the kinda thing you would rather leave unsaid
Summary:
Izuku nods, making his way further into his home and onto his couch, “I’m not completely sure if this is true but I sort of feel like a teenager who has to sneak back in. Except it’s my own home and I’m hiding from my kid, not my parents.”
Ochako laughs, flopping down on the couch next to him, “What’s got you thinking about teenage-hood?”
He shrugs, “I dunno, I guess Bakugou made this dumb comment today about feeling like he was back in high school because we were making out in the supply closet at my work and-”
A very large, shit-eating grin appears on Ochako’s face as she interrupts him and he realizes instantly what he just revealed to her, she gasps dramatically into her words, “Dirty, filthy boys. In the supply closet? At a restaurant?”
“It’s mostly just like the cleaning supplies and, like, aprons and towels and stuff,” Izuku defends himself, “hats. Hair nets. Bleach.”
“Okay, I get it, shut up,” Ochako giggles, “I can’t believe you actually went for the guy.”
“I didn’t want to go for the guy,” Izuku crosses his arms, “it just sort of happened.”
Ochako smirks and speaks in a sing-songy tone, “It always does.”
*
Spoiler alert: yeah I've got nothing this time
Notes:
AHHH new chapter time :))
Thank you to my beta Tsuyuki for taking a look at this chapter and I do hope that I did their suggesting justice!!
There is smut in this chapter if that's not your kinda vibe, it sorta starts at "Just kiss me already" but like for sure starts at "Now, where were we?" then it ends by uhh "So, tell me about yourself." (and if you know me and read it anyway, you don't know me)
ALSO my writing has been a bit inconsistent rn as I'm currently in a weekly (which is, like, a hotel of sorts for those who don't know) so I'm sharing a room and I've been told my typing is kind of loud and annoying xD so I've not been getting much done BUT it's fine, we should still be on schedule for weekly chapters :)
Chapter title from FU In My Head by Cloudy June
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Hands in his hair, Izuku can feel the way his curls get tugged on as the nails on the fingers lightly scratch his scalp. The lips on his own have him almost unable to think clearly as he’s kissing into the man’s mouth with his back up against the wall in his very own supply closet. They were just supposed to be talking, hell Izuku’s only supposed to be here for a couple of hours because he needs to be at home with his daughter, but, well, one thing led to another and-
He grips onto the clothes on the man’s back, enjoying how close they are for one more moment before pulling the man off of him just barely, both of them still breathing in the same air as Izuku gains some sort of semblance of self respect, “Bakugou, I am at work.”
“Well good thing we’re in the damn supply closet and not the pantry, hm, baby?” Bakugou mumbles, going in for another kiss.
Izuku stops him, “Baby?” He can’t help but laugh, looking up to Bakugou, “I didn’t take you for the pet name type.”
“What?” Bakugou deadpanned, taking a small step back, as much as he could in the small space they were in, “Is it really that odd for me to use a pet name with the man I’m making out with?”
Izuku shakes his head, flattening his lips together, “I guess not but baby?”
Bakugou rolls his eyes, “Are you really gonna make this a thing?”
“I dunno,” Izuku shrugged, pulling Bakugou back in, leaning in, and breathing on his ear before whispering, “are we, baby?”
“God,” Bakugou groans, “you cannot do that if you want me to stop.”
Izuku kisses the tip of Bakugou’s ear, “Y’know, I wasn’t completely sure what was going to come from you showing up at my restaurant on a friday afternoon but making out in the back like a couple of teenagers wasn’t really it.”
“Aw, did you expect to have an adult conversation like the couple of adults we are?” Bakugou presses his own wet kisses to the side of Izuku’s face, “I think I like pretending I’m back in high school, don’t you?”
“Mm,” Izuku leans into the kisses, he can’t really say he does. He didn’t even go to high school, he was in jail the entire time. Sure, he got an education while he was there but there wasn’t really any sort of typical ‘high school experience’, “never went,” He mutters.
“Wait, what?” Bakugou pulls away, effectively ruining the mood, and makes eye contact with Izuku, “You never went to high school.”
“I was in jail?” Izuku could’ve sworn they’ve gone over this whole, ’I’m a felon’ thing. In fact, he’s pretty sure it was a known about Izuku since the day they met. Right? Like the whole Bakugou arrested him and ran his name thing?
Bakugou’s stare his still full of shock as he speaks, “Well, I didn’t know when or how long for; sealed records, remember?”
“Well yeah,” Izuku nods, shrugging a bit because, well, obviously he knows about the sealed records, “but I thought it showed my time spent in jail.”
“Not by running your name inside my patrol car,” Bakugou says, a slight amusement in his tone, “what could someone like you have done to be in jail for all of his high school years?”
Izuku clears his throat, deciding that that’s where this conversation ends. He pushes around Bakugou and toward the door, then uses the man’s own words, “Sealed records, remember?”
Bakugou follows him out the closet and up toward the front, “Why don’t you wanna tell me?” He asks and Izuku is trying really hard to not turn around and punch the guy in the face. That would be an especially bad decision considering that Bakugou’s a cop.
“It’s personal,” Izuku dismisses easily, hoping that Bakugou will just drop it as he’s moving toward the hostess desk to check in with his worker up there; Ema’s first day back, “Hey, Ema, how you doin’?”
“I’m good boss,” She grins, “arm is good as new,” She moves it around a bit as though she’s demonstrating before correcting herself, “well, I’ll be good as new soon but my doctor cleared me to come back to work as long as I don’t do any heavy lifting. I cleared it with Haruki.”
“Sounds good to me, take it easy Ema,” Izuku grins, patting her on her good shoulder as she walks away. He moves to check something behind the hostess desk, just to make sure everything is in order.
Bakugou is still right behind him, “Seriously, Midoriya, why can’t I just know? I’m a police officer, I’ve seen it all. I doubt you, like, killed a guy or some shit,” He jokes in a whisper, thankfully, so that nobody around them hears him and questions why a police officer is asking about his criminal history. It’s not like he’s hidden from his employees that he has a criminal history because he definitely hasn’t. They all know he’s a felon, he’s made it very clear to every single one of them that if they did not want to work with him, he’d understand completely.
Izuku clears his throat, turning around to look at Bakugou with a serious, almost annoyed look on his face as he whispers, making sure only Bakugou can hear him, “Look, you’re hot, sure, but I don’t know you. I just met you. So why in the hell would I tell you something like that about myself? We are not nearly close enough for you to know something so personal. Maybe it’s better if you go. I’m working.”
Ema pops back up, “Sorry, I forgot to ask but his face looks familiar and it’s bugging me. Is this one of the officers who was there when I got shot?” She asks Izuku, furrowing her eyebrows, “I barely remember everything that happened but I remember some of the faces. Does he need a statement from you or something?”
“No, he doesn’t need a statement from me, he’s here to get the video footage from that day,” Izuku lies because he sent the video footage to the police a while ago but he’s not really wanting to tell Ema the truth about why the man is here, “and he’s about to leave,” He says through clenched teeth and eyes glaring at Bakugou, “right now.”
Izuku starts to walk off toward the back so he can make sure everything is up to date and whatnot but Bakugou trails behind him, “Okay, look, I’m sorry or whatever,” Bakugou sighs heavily, grabbing at Izuku’s wrist to stop him from speeding off, “you don’t have to tell me but I would like to, y’know,” He smirks, “go back to my high school years with you”
Izuku takes his wrist back and crosses his arms, “How would you appreciate it if I followed you around while you were working?”
Bakugou takes a deep breath and seems to finally realize that he’s being kind of an asshole right now and decides to respect Izuku’s boundaries, “Yeah, okay, I’ll leave.”
Izuku nods, thankful he’s finally listening. As long as he respects Izuku’s boundaries, Izuku has no issue continuing this thing they’ve got going on. He glances around for a moment, making sure nobody is around before pulling Bakugou in by his shirt and whispering in his ear, “Look,” He hesitates before just going all in, “I guess I wouldn’t mind having another taste of high school with you, either.” He lets him go and pats his chest twice, “Now get out of my restaurant?”
Bakugou squirms in place and Izuku absolutely loves the power he has over the man, especially considering the guy’s career path, “I’ll call you?”
“With what number?” Izuku asks, crossing his arms, “Gonna sneak a look into my case files again?”
“I was more likely going to call the restaurant and ask for you?” Bakugou suggests sheepishly.
Izuku scoffs, rolling his eyes, “That is not any way to get a hold of me. Here, give me your phone.”
“Alright,” Bakuogu reaches into his pocket and hands Izuku the phone immediately, not having to be told twice.
Izuku scrolls up to find that there’s no passcode on the man’s phone, which seems kind of unconventional for a police officer but he doesn’t question it too much. He adds himself into Bakugou’s contacts and gives the man his phone back, “There. Call me later and maybe I won’t have to stop us next time because we won’t be in a supply closet.”
“I like that idea,” Bakugou mutters, “you sure forgive easily, don’t you?”
Izuku holds a finger up and raises his eyebrows, “Wasn’t anything to forgive so long as you respect my boundaries, that’s all.”
“Right, makes sense. Well, I apologize for trying to push you into telling me something you were uncomfortable with.”
“Wow, how mature of you,” Izuku teases a bit, “you sure are a lot different than I thought you’d be.”
“You should’ve seen me in high school,” Bakugou mumbles.
“Was a little busy,” Izuku scrunches his nose, “Now get outta here.”
“By all means,” Bakugou agrees, moving on to leave the restaurant.
As soon as he’s gone and Izuku finds himself back at the front of the restaurant, Ema leans in and whispers, “Is that officer your boyfriend?”
“No,” Izuku answers immediately, “definitely not.”
“Well don’t think we didn’t notice you guys both going into the supply closet and coming out together after hearing a whole bunch of things crashing down in there.”
Izuku’s heart drops to his stomach. Or maybe it flies up to his throat because he’s finding it oddly difficult to say something with the flush of embarrassment going through him. He manages to sneak out a quick, “Who’s we?”
“Um,” Ema laughs, looking around, “the better question is who isn’t?”
“Damnit,” Izuku mumbles and tries to come up with some kind of excuse, “um, we were just, uh, organizing.”
“Mhm,” Ema nods skeptically, “organizing your lips together?”
“I could fire you,” Izuku says without missing a beat but they both know he’s not serious in the slightest.
Ema laughs, holding her hands up in feigned defense, “Okay now, we don’t have to go that far.”
Izuku manages to laugh a bit despite the situation.
Ema speaks again and at least tries to comfort Izuku, “Don’t worry, boss, I’d say only like half of your employees actually noticed.”
The comforting doesn’t really work but what can ya do. He sighs heavily, embarrassed to every extreme, “I told him we shouldn’t have gone in there, should’ve just stayed in my office to talk.”
“Not sure how much ‘talking’ you guys would be able to do in an office with a whole lot of windows.”
“Actually talk!” Izuku exasperates but realizes he’s completely done with today and would rather just be at home. So he announces his leave, “Y’know what? I’m going home.” He turns his face to shout to the back, where Haruki is, “Haruki! You’re in charge again, I’m leaving.”
“Okay!” Haruki shouts back, “See you!”
“Bye,” Izuku mutters, quickly walking out of the restaurant, he seriously can’t believe he thought it would be a good idea to invite the man to his place of work, he should’ve know that he wouldn’t be able to resist kissing the everloving shit out of the man. His face is certain to be red with embarrassment and he’s certain to stop making stupid decisions. Hopefully.
He drives home and walks up to his apartment as quickly as he can.
The babysitter gasps dramatically to Nia upon Izuku entering, “Ah, who is that? Someone’s home early!”
“Daddy!” Nia jumps up and away from what she was doing immediately so that she can go hug her dad; Thankfully, she’s been doing completely fine since the fire, she just needed a breathing treatment and they were off to be home. Izuku has looked into some therapies for her just because he knows that it had to have been very traumatic for her and he’s scheduled her a meeting with someone this weekend. She makes grabby hands, “I missed you!”
“I wasn’t gone long,” Izuku lifts her up and carries her on his hip, “How was your day today, were you kind to Miss Tsu?”
“Duh, very kind,” Nia cuddles into her dad, “and my day was good.”
Izuku laughs, looking over to Tsu, “How was she?”
“She was great. I didn’t know you were coming home early,” Tsu mentions, pushing herself up from the floor, “I would’ve cleaned up a bit if I knew.”
“I didn’t either until I was already on my way home. Don’t worry about it, this one’ll just make a mess again,” Izuku nudges his daughter, who is clinging to him like a life source, “thank you for watching her, I’ll pay you for the full time since you weren’t expecting to be done early.”
“Oh, you don’t have to do that, it’s alright,” Tsu shakes her hands, waving it off, “I’m all good.”
“I appreciate that but you’ll be getting the whole time’s pay,” Izuku insists, toeing his shoes off and making his way further into the home, steadying his daughter on his hip, “thank you, Tsu, I appreciate you watching her.”
“Of course, I’m always happy to,” Tsu smiles and makes her way toward the door to gather her things and put her shoes on.
Izuku takes the time to just cuddle with his apparently sleepy daughter, it is just about her nap time so that makes sense. He waves Tsu off and says a goodbye as she begins to open the door and take her leave. She waves at Nia, who’s just watching as she goes, “Bye Nia, I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye bye!” Nia waves back with a huge smile still on her face, “See ya’ later.”
Tsu chuckles softly and leaves the home.
“Are you ready to sleep?” Izuku mumbles to his daughter, resting his cheek on the top of her head, “You seem tired. Nap time?”
“I missed daddy,” She mumbles back, hugging him just a little bit tighter, “daddy was gone long time.”
“I was gone for a long time, wasn’t I?” Izuku agrees.
“Usually super long,” She huffs, “but not today,” She smiles and cuddles further into him, “I sleep.”
“Okay sweetheart,” Izuku rubs her hair, soothing her, “I’ll be right here when you wake up. I promise.”
“Good,” She says, fading off quickly after that. Izuku holds her the entire time she sleeps, he’s never understood all of that talk about spoiling a child by holding them too much. If his daughter wants to be held, he’s going to hold her, he won’t deny her that comfort, not by any means or for any reason.
He reaches for the remote as best he can without waking Nia up and manages to grab it without disrupting her sleep. He turns on the TV, mostly just as background noise because he’s sure he’s going to end up falling asleep and taking his own nap with his daughter.
He falls asleep within the hour and then wakes up about an hour after that to the ring of his phone, he reaches for it from his pocket and looks at who’s calling him only to realize it’s an unknown number, which is weird. He picks up and holds the phone to his ear, “Hello?” He speaks quietly, trying not to wake his daughter but knowing that she’s a pretty heavy sleeper and will likely be waking up any minute now anyway, “who is this?”
“It’s Bakugou Katsuki,” The very familiar voice rings in his ear, “how would you like to meet up at my place in, say, half an hour and finish-”
“I’ve got my kid,” Izuku interrupts him, “and I hate to break it to you, but I do actually like my daughter more than I like you so I can’t meet up with you.”
“Right, yeah, of course,” Bakugou seems to nod in the phone if Izuku had to guess what the sound on the other end is, “my bad, I shouldn’t have called.”
“Y’know, technically, I’m still supposed to be at work right now so you called a bit early there anyway, buddy.”
“Daddy?” Nia mutters, still half asleep, “Who are you talking to?”
“Just one of daddy’s friends, it’s okay baby,” Izuku brings his full attention to her.
“Friends? I like daddy’s friends, they’re nice,” Nia smiles, “Like Miss Tsu. She’s silly.”
Izuku agrees, rubbing his daughter’s back, “Yeah, she is.”
”Oh damn,” Bakugou speaks on the other line, ”Is that what we are? Friends? I didn’t think you liked me enough to be my fuckin’ friend.”
“You’ve got some language there,” Izuku scolds Bakugou, “you could tone it down, y’know. What if my kid could hear you?”
“I can’t hear friend, daddy.”
“I know sweetheart,” Izuku strokes her hair, “why don’t you go ahead and play with some toys and I’ll come down with you in a minute?”
“Okay!” Nia excitedly agrees, climbing down her dad and the couch to get sucked into some barbies on the floor.
”So? Friends?”
“We could be,” Izuku hums, “maybe. It’s just the easiest way to explain something to a toddler.”
”Well, I’d enjoy that. I know you aren’t looking for anything with strings attached right now and, in all honesty, I don’t think I am either.”
“You don’t think?” Izuku questions, “I’m not doing this with someone who isn’t sure.”
”I’m sure,” Bakugou reconfirms after a brief moment of consideration, ”and as much as I think the friends part will be fuckin’ amazing, I’m thinking more about those benefits right now.”
“Too busy with my daughter, who was just in a fire,” Izuku reminds him.
”Yeah, I know and I’ll leave you to it,” Bakugou seems a bit disappointed but at least he’s leaving it alone; clearly he learned something from the boundaries talk earlier, ”let me know if you change your mind.”
Izuku debates for a minute before just sighing and giving in - he wants this too afterall, “Okay, look, I’ll see if Ochako can stop by after she gets off of work and, if she can, I’ll meet up with you then but only if she agrees.”
”Right,” Bakugou seems a bit less disappointed now if his voice is anything to go by, ”That makes sense,” There’s a lull in the conversation where neither of them says anything until Bakugou takes a deep breath and speaks, ”Well, I’ll text you my address. Show up if you can.”
“Mkay, goodbye,” Izuku hangs up, not even giving the man the chance to say anything before. He sends a quick text to Ochako, asking if she could watch Nia after her shift but that she’s totally welcome to say no if she’s not up to it because he knows how exhausting work can be.
Then, he gets down onto the floor and gets ready for some epic barbie stories that are sure to come his way.
Four hours later, Ochako is bursting through the door with a grin on her face and arms wide open for Nia to run into, screaming, “Auntie ‘Chako!”
“Baby Nia! I missed you my sweet girl,” Ochako lifts her up and peppers her face in kisses, “Ah, I love you, NiNi.”
Nia giggles, giving Ochako a big hug, “Miss you! Miss you!”
“You ready to have the funnest time ever? We’re gonna eat ice cream and play some games and-”
“Go to bed at a reasonable time?” Izuku suggests, pushing himself up off the floor and walking over to his best friend and daughter, “Her bedtime is in 45 minutes.”
Ochako hums, pretending to debate it, “Hmm, I suppose we could.”
“Ochako,” Izuku glares.
“She’ll be asleep before you get home.”
“Daddy you're leaving?” Nia frowns, looking over to Izuku.
Izuku places his hand on her back, “Yes but Auntie Ochako can facetime me right before bed and I’ll tell you goodnight, okay honey?”
Nia’s grin reappears on her face, “Okay daddy!”
“I’ll see you later, sweetheart,” Izuku presses a kiss to his daughter’s forehead and grabs his keys from the table, “Thank you, O.”
“Of course, I’ll take any opportunity to spend time with my favorite niece.”
“Me your only niece, Auntie ‘Chako!” Nia giggles, hiding her face in Ochako’s neck.
Ochako nods, “Yeah yeah, still my favorite.”
Izuku puts his shoes on and pats himself down to make sure he has everything. Phone? Check. Keys? Check. Wallet? Check. Sanity? Debatable. Seriously, who is he right now? Leaving the comfort of his perfectly acceptable home to go hook up with some guy. Some guy who happens to be a cop that arrested him. Whatever.
Seems everything is as in order as it can be so he gives Ochako a quick hug and whispers in her ear, just for her to hear, “Call me by yourself before you call me next to her please, just in case.”
Ochako nods knowingly and Izuku starts to walk out the door.
“Have fun,” Ochako calls after him then teases, “not too much fun though, be home at a decent hour.”
“Yes, mother,” Izuku says playfully, knowing they both know very well what he’s about to go do right now.
He’s antsy the whole drive over to the address sent to him by Bakugou. It’s a fairly long drive, especially with the random traffic, it takes him a little over half an hour to get to the apartment building. It’s not like he hasn’t hooked up with anybody before but it’s been a while since he was this attracted to someone. It’s been a while since he really craved a touch from someone like this.
He pulls up to the apartment building and walks in, it’s a nice place, Izuku isn’t really sure how Bakugou can afford it on a cop’s salary but maybe he has a roommate or something. He parks his car in the visitor parking lot, he’s only one of a couple of cars there, clearly not many visitors at this time of night. When he walks in, there’s an older woman who is on the bottom floor getting her mail, “Good evening, young man.”
“Good evening,” Izuku smiles brightly at her, “do you need any help? Looks like you’ve got quite the large box there,” He points out the box near her feet.
“Oh no dear, I’m quite alright. My grandson is coming to help, he just had to get his shoes on so I told him I’d be getting a headstart down,” She laughs and Izuku chuckles along with her, “are you a new tenant here? I’ve never seen you around before.”
“Oh no,” Izuku shakes his head, “I’m just here visiting a friend.”
“Really? Who is it? I try to make it a point to get to know everyone who comes in and out of this building, are you a new friend?”
“I am,” Izuku nods, “I’m going to see Bakugou.”
“At this time of night? He’s a police officer, shouldn’t he be sleeping?” The woman asks, sending a knowing look toward Izuku, “Are you sure you’re just a friend?”
Izuku’s a little embarrassed at being caught so quickly by Bakugou’s neighbors, not that he cares this old lady knows but it’s moreso awkward above all else, “We are just friends and it is only 7 o’clock, ma’am.”
“That man is typically in bed by 7:30, sometimes I’m convinced he’s older than me!” She jokes.
Izuku laughs and a younger man comes down and greets the woman as his grandma before helping her out with the box on the floor. She looks back over to Izuku, “Now, you boys have fun alright? But not too much because there are thin walls around here.”
“Noted,” Izuku tightens his lips together and rids away the embarrassment of now two of Bakugou’s neighbors knowing exactly what he’s here for.
He heads up to the apartment number that Bakuogu sent him, apparently the man lives on the 7th floor and the elevators are out of order, according to the sign plastered on them. Izuku climbs the many, many stairs and, finally, gets to room 717, knocking carefully on the door.
There’s no answer for a couple of minutes and Izuku is just about ready to leave until the doorknob starts to turn and Bakugou’s smiling face appears in front of him, “Wow, you came.”
“Just kiss me already,” Izuku pushed his way into the house and grabbed Bakugou’s face. Bakugou met him halfway through the kiss and Izuku spun them around so that Bakugou’s back was facing the door now. Izuku pushed him enough so that the door would close and Bakugou reached behind him to lock it all as they weren’t missing an inch of each other’s mouths.
Bakugou slips his hands under Izuku’s shirt and his large hands trace up and down Izuku’s back, “You’ve got too many fuckin’ cothes on,” He pulls away for just a moment to mumble before going right back in for more, desperate.
Izuku takes a moment to pull away to give a quick response of, “then take them off.”
Bakugou groans, “Happily,” He grabs at the ends of Izuku’s shirt and lifts it over his head needily, meaning they had to stop kissing for a moment but, like magnets, their mouths were back on each other the moment that the fabric of Izuku’s shirt was out of the way.
“You too,” Izuku mutters into the kiss, “your shirt.”
Bakugou nods and takes off his own shirt, Izuku uses the opportunity to feel up the muscles on Bakugou’s bare skin, all along his back and his sides. Bakugou deepens the kiss and starts walking forward, causing Izuku to walk backward, “Bedroom,” Bakugou whispers as they’re walking.
They manage to get into the room and stumble into the bed frame. Bakugou pushes Izuku down onto the mattress and climbs on top of him, reconnecting their kiss once again while pushing Izuku’s hands up above him.
“Oh, you better not pull out the cuffs, I’ll get ptsd,” Izuku jokes as Bakugou trails kisses down Izuku’s chin and to his neck, stopping on his collarbone to suck the skin there.
Bakugou chuckles into Izuku’s body, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep those to myself.”
“Mm,” Izuku drops his head further back, exposing more of his neck to Bakugou, “No visible marks,” He mumbles, “can’t have those.”
“Yes sir,” Bakugou trails some wet kisses all the way up Izuku’s neck and to his chin and then right down to his lips, sucking into his mouth.
“Are you a top or a bottom?”
“Fuck, I’ll be whatever you want me to be, baby,” Bakugou’s mouth falls a little lower to leave a mark that won’t be visible.
Izuku flips them over so that it’s his turn on top of Bakugou that way he can top Bakugou. He straddles his stomach and leans to press kisses to his neck and down to his shoulder and his arm, going back up to kiss along his stomach and chest, taking a special moment to lick along one of his nipple which causes Bakugou to moan quite loudly and Izuku scolds him, “I’ll top for now but apparently you’ve got thin walls, so you’d better behave.”
“Where’d you hear that shit?” Bakugou’s arms wrap around Izuku’s back but his hands are nothing but still.
“An elderly neighbor of yours with a grandson, probably a little younger than us.”
“Ah,” Bakugou recalls, “sweet woman, very in with the times. She won’t give a damn.”
“Sure seemed to,” Izuku speaks with a kiss in between each word, sliding further and further down Katsuki’s body with his kisses while his hands are wrapped around Bakugou’s side, “asked us to keep it down.”
“She said that shit to you?” Bakugou’s laugh is sharp and unexpected, showing that he didn’t expect that.
Izuku nods, still going more and more down until he’s at the waistline of Bakugou’s pants, “Off?”
Bakugou nods, “You don’t have to ask me for shit, baby, do what you’ve gotta.”
Izuku slides down Bakugou’s pants quickly, “I’ll be asking,” He presses more kisses to the newly exposed skin, noticing the wet spot in Bakugou’s underwear, indicating he’s more than ready for what’s about to come. No pun intended.
Izuku licks Bakugou’s inner thigh, going so far as to lick a little under the fabric of his boxers, “You taste so good, can’t wait ‘til I’m inside you, I bet you feel so good.”
“Shit. For you, of course I do,” Bakugou’s leg twitches a bit in anticipation and just as Izuku is getting ready to slide down Bakugou’s boxers, Izuku’s phone starts to ring. He moves to grab it from the pants that he still has on but Bakugou grabs his wrist to stop him, “C’mon ignore that shit, I fuckin’ need you.”
“Mn-mm, can’t,” Izuku rolls off of Bakugou and answers his phone, bringing it up to his ear, “Hey, she okay?”
”Yeah, all good, she’s getting ready for bed, I’ve got her in her room getting changed right now and I told her we could facetime you after, are you decent?”
Izuku nudges Bakugou who looks up at him despite looking rather annoyed, “Hm?”
“Go get my shirt,” Izuku requests, more in the form of a demand.
Bakugou furrows his eyebrows but he listens anyway, rolling out of bed and into the other room.
”So… How much have you guys done? Is he any good? He looks like he’d be good. How far is his place, were you guys like in the middle of it or just starting?”
“Oh my god, you’re so damn nosy,” Izuku laughs into the phone but tells her anyway, “we just started so I don’t have the answer to all of your questions, his place is half an hour away,” Bakugou shows back up in less than a minute with the shirt, tossing it over so Izuku can put it on, “Alright, I’m good, thanks for calling before you facetimed, O.”
”Of course,” Ochako assures him, ”I’ll call you back in just a second with her.”
“Okay thanks,” Izuku says just before Ochako hangs up.
“What was that?” Bakugou questions, “Can we get back to it?”
“My daughter is about to call me, I’m almost always with her for bedtime and when I can’t be, we facetime,” Izuku explains briefly, waiting for the call, “make sure you stay out of frame, you aren’t exactly... Decent.”
“Right,” Bakugou scooches further away from Izuku.
The phone rings not long after and Izuku picks up on the first one, his entire demeanor changing, “Hi sweetheart, are you sleepy? Ready for bed?”
“Mhm, all my tooths are clean and hair is in braid!” Nia exclaims happily, tugging on her braid to show it off, pretty much ignoring Ochako’s correction of ‘tooths’ to ‘teeth’ in favor of talking to her dad some more, “Auntie ‘Chako braids good.”
Izuku gasps dramatically, “Oh how beautiful. Is Auntie as good as me?”
“Almost! Not yet!” She giggles, “You come home?”
Izuku smiles brightly at his daughter, “Of course I’ll be home for breakfast, honey. The sooner you go to sleep, the sooner I’ll be home, alright? Then I can make us some waffles.”
”With chips?”
Izuku laughs, “Yes, we can have chocolate chips,” He agrees easily, knowing exactly what she meant.
”Okay! I sleep now so I can see you and eat the chips,” Nia claims, taking Ochako’s phone to bed with her and slips under the covers.
Izuku nods, “Good job, sweetheart. Auntie Ochako is going to tuck you in, okay? I love you, honey.”
”I love you daddy too!”
Izuku’s smile grows bigger as the conversation goes on longer, “Goodnight, NiNi.”
”Night night, daddy!” Then Ochako takes the phone back and turns it toward her, ”I’ll see you tonight Izuku.”
“You don’t have to wait up,” He tells Ochako, more as a formality than anything because she already knows she’s welcome to do as she pleases, “you’re welcome to sleep in my room or steal the guest room if you don’t want to end up going home after I get there.”
”I will definitely be taking you up on that offer,” Ochako agrees, ”Keep having some fun.” Then, she hangs up.
Izuku tosses his phone onto the nearest nightstand and turns to Bakugou who has the softest smile on his face, “You’re good with her.”
“Ochako or my baby?”
Bakugou scoffs through his laughter, “The kid.”
Izuku scoffs lightly, nothing serious, just something telling her that that was already kind of obvious, “Well, she is my kid so I’d hope I’d be good with her.”
“You’d be surprised how many parents are terrible with kids,” Bakugou mentions, “mine kinda sucked.”
“Really?” Izuku turns to his side to face Bakugou and listen to him.
“Mhm,” Bakugou leans back on the bed frame, “my dad didn’t really know how to even interact with me until I was like 12 and my mom just sort of screamed at me any chance she got. They both love me but they just aren’t good with kids, even their own kid,” He looks over to Midoriya, “You are. You’re very good with your daughter.”
“Well, thank you,” Izuku smiles, taking the compliment in stride, “I try to be,” He clears his throat, “Now, where were we?”
Bakugou smirks, scooting closer to Izuku, “I believe you were just about to take my boxers off.”
“Mm,” Izuku nods, moving to straddle Bakugou’s lap, now that he’s sitting upright and not laying down. He leans down and connects their lips, warming back up. He scooches down, leaving kisses in his path, and urges Bakugou to lay back down, which he does.
Izuku does less teasing this time when he gets to the waistband of Bakugou’s boxers, he kisses along it a few times and then slides them off, letting his dick spring free, “Lube? Condom?”
Bakugou reaches to the side toward his nightstand, and opens one of the drawers, while he blindly reaches in for the supplies, Izuku licks along his dick, leaving Bakugou moaning and a little out of control while he tries grabbing the stuff. Eventually, he comes out with the lube and a condom and tosses both items to Izuku, who catches them easily.
He lubes up his fingers and teases at the hole on display before pushing all the way in with his pointer finger, which elicits a loud sound from Bakugou. Izuku crooks his finger to hit Bakugou just right and is eventually able to work in a second and a third.
“Okay c’mon, baby, I’m fucking ready, stop with the damn teasing,” Bakugou whines and the things it does to Izuku are unexplainable. All he can say is he immediately shed off his pants and boxers, which causes Bakugou to mumble, “God you’re so hot,” when given a direct view of Izuku’s dick.
He puts the condom and lube on himself as quickly as he possibly can before lining his dick up and grabbing Bakugou’s hips to steady him as he pushes in, “Oh,” Bakugou moans and Izuku finds himself making similar sounds, quieter though because he’s being mindful of Bakugou’s neighbors.
“You better not keep that slow ass pace, go faster,” Bakugou demands and so, of course, Izuku listens. Bakugou brings his hands around to Izuku’s back, digging his nails into it as Izuku quickens the pace, slamming into Bakugou’s prostate each time he does so, which leaves the blonde a moaning mess, begging for more.
Bakugou’s hands are all over Izuku, not just his back anymore but his sides too. He thrusts up a little to meet with Izuku when he gets just a little too needy.
“I’m close,” Izuku damn near whispers, a tear in his eye because of how good it feels.
Bakugou clenches around Izuku and it makes it almost impossible for him to not fall apart, “Me too, baby, god me too, you’re so fucking good.”
“No, you are,” Izuku moans, “so nice for me,” He spares one of his hands from Bakugou’s hips to stroke the man’s dick. Izuku finishes and pulls out slowly. Shortly after Izuku had started the strokes, Bakugou finishes too. It leaks all over Izuku’s hand but he rubs him out to a nice, calm finish.
Izuku can’t help it, he places his covered hand on Bakugou’s chest and leans all the way up to kiss the man, biting at his lip and embracing the warmth from his tongue.
“We’re a fuckin’ mess,” Bakugou states the obvious.
“Hm, looks like we’ll just have to take a shower then. Better we do it together, saving water and all,” Izuku suggests flirtily, leaving kisses along Bakugou’s chin.
Bakugou smirks, “You wanna go again?”
“Obviously,” He kisses Bakugou full on and they stay that way for a bit before switching to the shower but afterward, well, they sort of fall into a silence. They’re sitting on the couch now and just a minute ago, while they were making out, Izuku had to confirm that the guy doesn’t have any roommates since Izuku couldn’t fail to notice the second bedroom, to which Izuku gets assured that Bakugou doesn’t have any roommates, just gets a lot of visitors.
“So, tell me about yourself,” Bakugou kicks his feet up onto a footrest in front of his couch.
Izuku crosses his legs and then his arms, “Careful. Remember the last time you tried asking me questions about myself?”
Bakugou laughs into his scoff, “Shit dude, I’m not asking you about your damn felony charge. I’ve learned my lesson, I swear,” He holds his hands up in defense.
“Mhm, okay,” Izuku uncrosses his arms, resting his hands in his lap and adjusting his position on the couch a bit so that he’s more comfortable, “there’s not really much to tell, honestly. You know I’m a parent. You know what I do for work. There isn’t really much else to tell.”
“What do you do for fun?”
“Um,” Izuku clicks his tongue, “well, I play a lot of barbies. Kids are brutal, man, do you know what my kid puts those things through?”
Bakugou snorts, clearly not expecting that reply, “I’m sure they are,” Then he delves into a story and it just feels so natural for Izuku to listen, “I had this call once, a noise complaint. The neighbors called it in. It was for a kids birthday party.”
“Really? Damn, people suck.”
Bakugou laughs, “Yeah, yeah, but here’s the thing; it really was fucking loud. Like unnaturally loud, those kids were making a lot of noise and they were right out in the front yard.”
“Oh my god, don’t tell me you shut down a kid’s birthday party,” Izuku starts to get a little angry, “you’re a bastard.”
“No-” Bakugou denies that immediately, “no, that’s not what happened. I just let them know that a complaint was made but told them I wasn’t going to do anything about it except ask them to turn the music down a bit. Anyway, the point is that these kids were, like, performing some kind of ritual. There was a circle of kids, probably a bunch of second graders, and in the middle was, like, a pile of barbies.”
“What?” Izuku contorts his face to be half concerned and half disturbed, “thank god my daughter isn’t like that, I’d have to try to exchange her or something,” He jokes.
Bakugou laughs, “Yeah, it was fucking crazy. Probably one of the weirdest things I’ve seen on a call and I’ve seen some pretty weird things.”
“I bet,” Izuku agrees, suddenly thankful that the most he had to deal with at work is a few crying kids or some angry adults, which don’t get him wrong, it’s by no means simple but it beats second grader summoning circle by far.
There’s another lull in the conversation and this time it’s a little uncomfortable, neither of them really knowing what to say and, well, it seems Bakugou asks the question that’s likely been on his mind for a while, “Alright you’re probably going to tell me to shut the fuck up but-”
“I swear to god, Bakugou Katsuki, if this is about why I went to jail then-”
“No,” Bakugou interrupts, “your kid’s mom, the way you talk about your kid makes it sound like she’s not in the picture.”
“Oh,” Izuku really isn’t expecting a question of that sort, “that’s kind of a deep topic to be getting into with someone who I’m just going to be fucking.”
“What about a friend?” Bakugou suggests, “We talked about it on the phone. We can be friends.”
“Friends who fuck? Isn’t that pretty much just dating? I am not looking for a relationship.”
“Chill out dude,” Bakugou rolls his eyes, “always jumping to damn conclusions. No, friends who fuck is definitely not dating. There are no romantic obligations, no sense of belonging to the other, no pda or meeting each other’s families with a ton of expectations. We’d just be friends who get eachother off sometimes.”
“I don’t really need friends,” Izuku refuses, crossing his arms, “in fact, I think I’m better off without friends.”
Bakugou scoots closer, so close that Izuku can feel the heat from his body and he’s about 97% sure this man is about to try and seduce him into being friends.
“Fine,” Izuku agrees before the man can even try anything that can be even remotely considered as seduction, “but if this gets even the tiniest bit relationship-y, I’m out.”
Bakugou stays where he is but doesn’t make any move on Izuku, who is rightfully ignoring the smug smirk on the man’s face, “So does that mean you’ll satiate my curiosity about your kid’s mom? I’m really just curious as to how that dynamic even works.”
Izuku sighs and he’s not too sure why but he actually tells the man, Bakugou asked about it and Izuku actually tells the guy, “She’s dead.”
“Oh.”
Yeah, that’s about the reaction he was expecting. Then, Izuku goes deeper into it, which is completely out of the norm for him and he doesn’t even know why he says what he does, he just does it, “She died while giving birth to Nia, so Nia never even knew her. My relationship with Nia’s mother is probably the only real relationship I’ve ever had, which is a bit ironic because I’m gay,” and have never been in an actual relationship with a man.
“You were in a relationship with her?”
Izuku nods, thinking back to the delightful woman that is Nia’s mother and then just keeps going. He tries to get himself to shut up but there’s just something inside him telling him to spill. He doesn’t ever talk about Nia’s mother, he barely talks about her with Ochako and Ochako knew the woman, yet, here he is with some guy he’s only seen a few times, spilling almost everything there is to spill about his relationship with Nia’s mother, “We were going to get married, move in together, and, uh, raise our kid. She knew about me being gay but she didn’t really care as long as I didn’t care about being married to her. We knew we’d not have any intimate life but we cared about each other as people and we cared about our soon to be daughter and, um, yeah,” Izuku takes a deep breath to ease himself. It’s been a long time since he’s actually said all of that out loud before, it’s the sort of thing he usually keeps to himself no matter what, “she was a good person, much better than I could ever deserve, would’ve been good for Nia. So much better than I am for her but I try my best and there’s a lot of people who love my kid so that’s gotta count for something.”
“Yeah, it definitely does,” Bakugou confirms quietly, leaning his head back onto the couch,turning so that his cheek is on the couch and he’s looking toward Izuku, “I don’t know you all that well but I do know that you care a shit ton about that kid and, I’ve gotta say, that’s admirable.”
Izuku clears his throat and begins to try lightening up the mood, “Well, what about you? Any tragic relationships?”
“Oh,” Bakugou winces, sucking air in through his teeth and thinking about it for a few moments, “my partner at work is also my ex boyfriend.”
“Partner? You didn’t have one of those any time we’ve seen each other while you’re working,” Izuku turns his own head to look at Bakugou skeptically.
“He’s on a medical leave, he got shot in a tough spot and it’s about three months of recovery time for him. He comes back to desk duty this week, actually, but won’t be back in the field for a couple more weeks,” Bakugou quickly explains, “which is all relevant to your tragic relationships question, I swear.”
He goes into more of an explanation and Izuku actually finds himself kind of interested in the story, “Basically, when he got shot, I tried being there but he just didn’t fucking want me to be. He’s normally a really sweet guy, he’s motivational and kind and he really does care about every single person around him. It's sort of captivating,” sounds like the man is still in love, “but also kind of obnoxious sometimes when you’re dating the man?” Okay, maybe not, “I dunno if that even makes any damn sense. I am not a very happy go-lucky person so it annoyed me on occasion and I think that tension was the start of our breakup. I never had the problem when we were just friends but after we started dating and I was around him more, it started bugging me more. Then, he kept snapping at me after he got hurt and I tried giving him the benefit of the doubt so many times but it was like a complete fuckin’ 180 from his personality and we just broke up, it was shitty and it hurt but we decided we’re better as friends and I think that’s true, we’ve been in a better place, I think.”
Izuku glances down at his watch and realizes just how late it is, “Alright well, that really sucks, I’m glad you don’t hate each other,” He gets up, placing a hand on Bakugou’s shoulder, “I would totally give you an ounce more pity but I just realized that it’s really late and I’ve gotta get home.”
“Right,” Bakugou nods, looking at the clock on his wall to get the time, “you should go.”
“Call me,” Izuku leans in for a quick kiss that goes a little longer than what could be considered quick, “fuck, I shouldn’t have done that because now I want to stay for another go.”
“Get outta here,” Bakugou shoos him off and Izuku does go. He races down to his car and gets home as quickly as he can without breaking any traffic laws (okay maybe he breaks some minor traffic laws, he might have sped just a little bit).
“Ah, you didn’t have to wait up for me, O,” Izuku says upon entering his home and seeing Ochako on the couch, “you could’ve gone to sleep.”
Instead of acknowledging Izuku’s concern for her still being up, she jumps off the couch and starts squealing, asking him for all the details and whatnot.
“Shh!” Izuku scolds Ochako for speaking a little too loudly when he gets home, whispering as he takes his shoes off, “If you wake up Nia because of your squealing, you’ll be the one getting her back to bed. You know how she gets when she wakes up in the middle of the night.”
Ochako quiets down, “Never goes back to bed, I know.”
Izuku nods, making his way further into his home and onto his couch, “I’m not completely sure if this is true but I sort of feel like a teenager who has to sneak back in. Except it’s my own home and I’m hiding from my kid, not my parents.”
Ochako laughs, flopping down on the couch next to him, “What’s got you thinking about teenage-hood?”
He shrugs, “I dunno, I guess Bakugou made this dumb comment today about feeling like he was back in high school because we were making out in the supply closet at my work and-”
A very large, shit-eating grin appears on Ochako’s face as she interrupts him and he realizes instantly what he just revealed to her, she gasps dramatically into her words, “Dirty, filthy boys. In the supply closet? At a restaurant?”
“It’s mostly just like the cleaning supplies and, like, aprons and towels and stuff,” Izuku defends himself, “hats. Hair nets. Bleach.”
“Okay, I get it, shut up,” Ochako giggles, “I can’t believe you actually went for the guy.”
“I didn’t want to go for the guy,” Izuku crosses his arms, “it just sort of happened.”
Ochako smirks and speaks in a sing-songy tone, “It always does.”
“Whatever,” Izuku leans his head back, “I need to get some sleep, I have waffles to make in about,” He turns his phone on to look at the time, it’s already past midnight and his daughter wakes up at 6:30 in the morning, every single morning, like clockwork.
“Well, yeah, I bet you had an exhausting night in these last five hours.”
Izuku rolls his eyes, “You are too nosy for your own good. For your information, it took me half an hour to get home so, really, it was just 4 and a half hours. Besides, we were showering for quite a bit of that,” He leaves out exactly what they were doing in the shower, so much for saving water.
“Mhm, ‘showering’.”
“Really!” Izuku insists because they were showerving, they were just doing other things while showering - they happen to be excellent multitaskers, “We were.”
“Just showering?” Ochako looks at him knowingly, lifting an eyebrow at him.
“Okay not just showering” Izuku admits, not being able to lie to Ochako, “but seriously,” He turns around onto his side, trying to get more comfortable on the couch, “A lot of the time we were just talking and stuff.”
“I’m sure you were.”
“We were,” Izuku insists, “I think we might be becoming friends or some shit. He convinced me, I guess.”
“Just friends?” Ochako asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Not boyfriends, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Izuku denies quickly, “definitely not that,” He shudders at the thought, “in fact, I think that’s where we’re ending this conversation. Bed time.”
Notes:
AH all done :)
sincerely,
I hope it wasn't terribleP.S. Please. Song lyrics as chapter title suggestions. I am begging. I spent 30 minutes looking for this one, it is a struggle.
Chapter 6: and, oh, my heart breaks when you keep your distance
Summary:
“Um,” Eijirou's fingers are snapping in Katsuki’s face, “earth to Katsuki? You good?”
Katsuki clears his throat, no way he was just thinking about his sex life while in the middle of the station, “Yep, great.”
“I just said your name like 7 times and you didn’t answer. I know that face,” Eijirou invites himself to sit down in one of the seats, “I’ve seen that face.”
Right. He’s seen the face Katsuki gets when he’s turned on because Eijirou has been the reason for this face many a time.
“Who is it?” Eijirou asks suddenly, staring
“None of your business.”
Eijirou seems to study Katsuki’s face for a minute before asking his next question, “Hm, none of my business because we’re at work or none of my business because I’m your ex?”
“Both,” Katsuki decides, really not wanting to get into this in the middle of the station or with his ex who knows him a little too well.
*
Spoiler alert: Eijirou tries this again later
Notes:
AAAAAAAAA okay so I'm sort of breaking my own rule posting this today (I almost didn't) because I don't have chapter seven prepared but I think I shoulddd be able to get it done today or tomorrow and hopefully be able to get chapter eight finished by this week so that I'm a chapter ahead by the time next saturday arrives. I am a bit more settled in my place now and don't have much to do so I should manage to get back to writing consistently
HOWEVER, my brother is coming in for a visit on Monday and he'll be here for four days so there's that that might hinder my writing progress.
Anyway, enjoyyy :)
Chapter title from No One Can Fix Me by Frawley
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Yep, Katsuki has officially fucking lost it.
He may or may not have began to google Midoriya’s name. Which is not weird, right? It’s public information. Everything that showed up was public information. And that’s all he wanted. He just wanted to see what showed up, okay?
What he wasn’t expecting, though, was to find various different articles about “Chef Midoriya” and all the amazing food he makes down at his amazing restaurant (Katsuki had not realized his restaurant was that big of a deal, he’s not really the type to eat out. He tends to prefer to cook in his own home. Besides, Midoriya is 21, how could Katsuki have known the guy would be so successful so young?)
He wasn’t expecting to find a video of Midoriya cooking that kind of turned him on. It was the way he moved with such ease in the kitchen, like he didn’t even have to think about what he was doing, he just knew.
He really wasn’t expecting much to come from googling Midoriya’s name at all but then, instead, he learned a lot. Now, he realizes he seems very stalker-ish, which is not a good look as a police officer. It’s just, well, look- Now that he’s actually slept with Midoriya, has been so intimately close with him, the man is all he can think about, which, to be fair, Midoriya was kinda all he could think about before they slept together but now it’s even worse. Instead of thinking about the what ifs - thinking it would never happen - he knows that it can and he knows that it has and he keeps thinking about his body; The way Midoriya grabbed onto him, the feel of Midoriya’s fingertips digging into his skin, the feel of Midoriya’s hair in his fingers, the shape of his body, his beauty, his warmth-
“Um,” Eijirou’s fingers are snapping in Katsuki’s face, “earth to Katsuki? You good?”
Katsuki clears his throat, no way he was just thinking about his sex life while in the middle of the station, “Yep, great.”
“I just said your name like 7 times and you didn’t answer. I know that face,” Eijirou invites himself to sit down in one of the seats, “I’ve seen that face.”
Right. He’s seen the face Katsuki gets when he’s turned on because Eijirou has been the reason for this face many a time.
“Who is it?” Eijirou asks suddenly, staring
“None of your business.”
Eijirou seems to study Katsuki’s face for a minute before asking his next question, “Hm, none of my business because we’re at work or none of my business because I’m your ex?”
“Both,” Katsuki decides, really not wanting to get into this in the middle of the station or with his ex who knows him a little too well.
Eijirou, though, doesn’t stop there, “C’mon, dude, we’re friends still. You never even made a request for a new partner, insisted on waiting until I come back to work,” He points out and Katsuki hates that he knows that, “we didn’t work out as a couple but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about you. Plus, I’m nosy.” Clearly.
“You don’t even know him,” Katsuki tries choosing his words carefully. There’s no use in denying the existence of someone anymore because Eijirou can see straight through him.
“Where’d you meet him?”
Katsuki knows immediately that that is simply not a story he wants to get into right now because he knows there will be judgment, so he deflects, “You ask a lot of questions.”
Eijirou glares for a moment and immediately knows something is up because of fucking course he does, “Kats, where’d you meet him?”
Katuski rolls his eyes, this guy is going to be the death of him, “On a call,” He admits vaguely and begrudgingly.
“Ooo, another officer?” Eijirou guesses but makes more guesses through Katuski’s lack of an acknowledgement, “Firefighter? Paramedic?”
“Um, yeah, not quite,” Katsuki looks away, sort of embarrassed. Well, not really embarrassed per se but he just knows that Eijirou is going to have something to say about this. Morals or whatever.
Eijirou gasps, immediately putting the pieces together as he whispers, “No. You arrested him?”
“He didn’t really do anything wrong,” Katsuki jumps to the defense of both himself and Midoriya, “I’m not fucking some criminal. Sure, he has a damn record but-”
“He has a record? Katsuki,” Eijirou gives him the look. The look of disappointment and Katsuki can’t handle it.
Katsuki stands up and does what he does best: work.
Eijirou follows right behind him, not letting up, “You can’t date a criminal. You’re a police officer.”
“Not dating,” Katsuki corrects him immediately. That was like the one deal in their whole arrangement, they aren’t dating.
Eijirou crosses his arms, “So you’re just having sex with this guy? Really?”
“We’re friends,” Katsuki explains simply, walking out of the station, “and now I’m going to go patrol the streets of our city.”
“We’ll talk when you get back!” Eijirou calls out the doors and Katsuki immediately makes a mental note to just never step through those doors again. He can, like, ask someone to clock out for him or something, right?
He climbs into the car and starts his patrols, driving around the streets and making sure that everything is in order. He answers calls, there’s a few house checks and a couple disturbances but nothing too crazy, he gives out tickets, all in all it’s a typical day for him.
Dispatch comes through his radio with the familiar call number that is his own, then explains that there’s a hit and run on a street nearby him where there are two victims. One is a kid and the other a young woman; the woman claims they’re uninjured and the crash wasn’t too bad so no paramedics have been sent for. He radios in to mention that he’ll go check it out. The drive is only a couple of minutes with his sirens on and as he pulls up on the scene, there’s a car that’s pretty decently damaged but overall, it’s not too bad. Iteems like it would’ve only been bad for someone sitting in the passenger seat, which, from what dispatch told him, nobody was.
He puts his vehicle in park and, first, puts a call in for more units to help redirect traffic, then he walks over to the vehicle. There’s just one person standing outside, a woman who is holding a kid. That means both people are accounted for, which is good enough for him. He greets the woman as he walks over, “Good afternoon, are you the owner of this car?” He asks just to confirm that these are actually the two people who need to be accounted for
“Yeah I am, good afternoon,” The woman replies politely, clearly a bit shaken up but trying to stay calm, if only for the kid.
Katsuki takes a second to assess the damage and as he walks around, he gets a good view of the kid's face at one point. It’s Nia, Midoriya’s kid. This woman isn’t Uraraka, though, and it’s definitely not Midoriya.
“Is this your daughter?” Katsuki asks, making it seem like he’s just making small talk when really he’s trying to figure out who she is and if Midoriya knows she’s with his daughter.
The woman shakes her head and the honesty brings Katsuki’s guard down a bit, “I’m Asui Tsuyu, this is Midoriya Nia, I’m her babysitter but her dad is on the way, I already called him.”
“Great,” Katsuki isn’t really even sure himself whether that’s sarcastic or genuine and he isn’t really sure he cares to find out, “Um, can you tell me what exactly happened here? Do you know the make and model of the car that hit you?”
The woman nods a little bit and tells him what kind of car hit her, she even tells him the license plate. Katsuki writes everything down as she explains to him exactly what happened, that she was making a left hand turn when a car ran a light and hit the front end of her vehicle, then just kept on driving like nothing happened.
Fucking asshole.
Katsuki looks them over, neither of them look hurt and neither of them are complaining, though Nia does say that she’s scared and wants to go home.
Then, a car pulls up and as another officer is trying to redirect him, he just pulls over and jumps out of the car, running over. It’s Midoriya. Katuski suddenly gets nervous and feels like he needs to hide his face, even though he’s just doing his job. Midoriya grabs Nia from the Asui woman and starts to whisper to his daughter, asking if she’s alright and soothing her fears away. It’s just like Katsuki remembers from the fire, he’s a damn good father.
He rubs along her back and makes a split second of eye contact with Katsuki before Katsuki’s turning away and toward the woman, he clears his throat, if just to clear his nerves away, and speaks, “If you could come by the station sometime today to help with the report, you can just ask for Bakugou Katsuki and I’ll be there to help fill it out. I’ve taken notes on everything you told me and I’ll get started on filling it out when I get to the station myself but I will need a signature from you.”
“Right, I can do that,” The woman bears a smile and nods politely.
“I’d recommend you go to a doctor just to get checked out, just in case,” Katsuki says to the woman before turning to Midoriya, “I recommend you bring your daughter to a doctor as well.”
“Right,” Midoriya nods quickly, eyes lingering on Katsuki’s, “I will.”
“Good.”
“Thank you,” Midoriya says but it’s like there’s something more to it, something underlying that Katsuki can’t quite place but knows is there. It’s sort of frustrating and before he can ask any questions about it, Midoriya is off. He’s walking away.
God, what is with Katsuki and running into Midoriya absolutely everywhere? Honestly, it’s starting to get kind of weird. It’s like there’s something pushing them together and Katsuki isn’t entirely sure how he feels about that, not when it comes to disasters, that is. He has no issues when they’re being pushed together in other ways.
Midoriya, his kid, and the woman all leave together, going back to Midoriya’s car but Katsuki lingers to make sure traffic isn’t getting in the way and to wait until the tow truck arrives to get this car out of the middle of an intersection.
Thanks to his luck, Mina apparently also got this call and, leaving traffic control to other officers, she makes her way on over, an unwelcome obnoxious look already all over her face, “Was that the hot guy from the restaurant?”
“No,” Katsuki immediately denies and he doesn’t even care that it was a lie.
“Oh c’mon, you can’t deny this thing for forever,” Mina crosses her arms and stares at him, it’s like she can see straight through Katsuki. All of the time.
Seriously, what is with all of his friends being able to see straight through him? What the fuck. Has he gone soft or some shit because he is not appreciating this shit.
Katsuki refuses to be the center of her unruly attention, “Y’know what? I’m leaving, you can wait here for the tow truck since you clearly have nothing better to do. Bye,” and he’s off before Mina can say anything else to him and ruin his day. He hates that she was fucking right and he hates how nosy she is. He hates everything.
He spends the rest of his shift at the station doing paperwork and checking on a few things. He fills out the report with Asui Tsuyu when she shows up about an hour later and, when all that’s said and done, he’s finally able to clock out.
He’s so ready to finally get home that he’s already halfway out the door before he’s being tugged back into the police station by his collar, “I told you we weren’t done,” Eijirou’s smile throws him completely off, “let’s talk.”
“As much as I enjoy your company,” Katsuki’s words come out a little more sarcastic than intended but, well, he is talking to his ex after all - even if the man is also his best friend, “I do not want to spend anymore time in this damn police station right now. I cannot stand it and I want to go home.”
“I’ll come over?” Eiirou suggest.
“That is far from a good idea,” Katsuki tells him, he just wants time in his own space and he doesn’t need his ex-boyfriend walling in on that, “why are you so obsessed anyway?”
Eijirou crosses his arms, “I just care for you, I don’t want you to do anything you regret.”
“I won’t,” Katsuki assures him, “trust me.”
Eijirou nods, trusting Katsuki is something that comes easily for him after having been his partner not only in life but also in the field, as police officers, “I’m here if you need to talk, okay?” and the overbearing questions are gone and all Katsuki feels is genuine care coming from Eijirou, the man clearly knows when to back off.
Katsuki already knows that though, he knows that Eijirou is always there if he needs to talk and he knows that Eijirou cares about him. So, he just leaves the police station without another word and gets into his car, driving back to his apartment building. He’s mindlessly driving down the roads and just sort of letting himself not think too much about anything when he spots something in the road, it’s walking so slowly that Katsuki assumes it’s injured. He slowly brings his car to a stop and puts his hazards on, this road isn’t busy at all so he isn’t really expecting for anyone to stumble across him but, well, better safe than sorry.
He gets out of his car and walks in front of it to see an orange cat limping in the road, when he kneels down to greet the cat, the cat hisses. Clearly scared and just trying to help himself but the moment Katsuki reaches out to gently pet him, he calms down, like he knows that Katuski just wants to help. Katsuki picks him up and brings him into the car, immediately changing route from his apartment building to the emergency vet, it looks like this cat could have a broken leg and he’s definitely severely malnourished.
When he first comes into the vet, the workers are all a little confused and concerned and so is he until he realizes he’s in his uniform. He explains to them that he’s not on duty anymore and he has a cat in his car with what he thinks is a broken leg and he didn’t want to carry him in just in case he makes it worse. After the cat gets brought in, the vets immediately tend to him. Katsuki just sits in a chair waiting for quite some time until the veterinarian comes out with the cat.
Katsuki gets up quickly, meeting with the vet, “How is he?”
“Well, first of all, he is a she,” The veterinarian informs him, “and, unfortunately, you were right, she did break her back right leg. Thankfully, she seems like she’ll make a full recovery, we were able to align everything in surgery and we got her a cast. She’s awake now, coming off of the anesthesia. She should be fully healed in 6-8 weeks if I had to make a guess. Anyway, I was told that this isn’t your cat?”
“I found her,” Katuski tells him. He gestures to his uniform as he explains that he had just gotten off his shift and he was heading home but she was in the road, trying to get across.
“Would you like to keep her? She has no microchip and from what I can tell, she’s a very sweet cat.”
Katsuki thinks it over for a minute, can he really take in a cat right now? One who needs medical attention at that? He’s not sure, he works crazy hours and he doesn’t think he can properly attend to her, he just didn’t want to leave her there in the road, “What happens to her if I don’t?”
“Um,” The veterinarian hesitates, “she’ll likely go to a shelter, maybe a foster home but because of her injuries, she-”
Katsuki doesn’t like where the vet is going with that and just interrupts him, “I’ll take her. Yeah, I’ll take her.” He’ll take off a bit of work if he needs to.
All the vet paperwork takes a while but, well, paperwork is something that Katuski is used to, it’s familiar. He does it in stride and once everything is said and done, he brings the cat back into his car. He was given a couple of things by the vet to get him started before he can get to the pet store and get her more permanent things. He’s surprised that they’re releasing her to him tonight, he thought she might have to stay for observation but they said that she’s fine to go home. They gave him a little bit of food to get her started and a couple of treats and toys - which, regarding the toys, he was told to not give to her until she’s fully healed - and whatnot, just so that he’s not completely stuck.
They also prescribe her some medication and explain to Katsuki how much to give her and how often to give it to her. Then, they’re off. She’s back in his car and Katsuki’s driving back to his apartment with a cat who happens to be just a little groggy, he was told that she might be a bit angry and skittish while she’s not only recovering but also getting used to being in a new place, a home.
She seems to be doing fine, though, from what Katuski can tell. She’s meowing a little bit and purring, which Katsuki knows from reading somewhere that purring doesn’t just mean they’re happy but that they’re also self soothing and that cats do it a lot after injuries.
Katsuki reaches over to pet her little head and she leans into the touch, her purring gets louder. Katsuki pulls into his apartment building, it is way later than he planned to get home and also too late for him to be functioning in general, it is way past his allotted bedtime.
Everything the vet gave him is in a bag and he slings that over his shoulder before gently lifting the cat into his arms, afraid he’s going to hurt her further. He makes it all the way to the floor of his apartment and is nearing his own door when he sees someone sitting in front of it, the closer he gets the better he can make out the person. Midoriya Izuku.
“You seem a little desperate,” Katsuki smirks down at him and Midoriya immediately perks up, jumping to his feet.
“Hi, I’m sorry, this is really stupid but, well, Ochako is staying at my place right now with Nia, who is asleep, and, god, today has been so stressful with Tsu getting into a crash and the hospital with Nia and about a million other things and, well, with Nia asleep right now, I sort of just wanted something to, like, relieve that stress,” Midoriya speaks quickly, so quickly that it’s almost difficult to keep up with what he’s saying but he manages and he doesn’t miss the way that his own face heats up at that last comment, “I wasn’t expecting you not to be here and, really, I only showed up like 5 minutes ago, I told myself I’d stay for 10 and if you weren’t home, then I’m fresh out of luck and oh my god,” His eyes finally go down to the cat in Katsuki’s arms, a smile spreads across his face easily, “who is this? I didn’t know you had a cat.”
“I don’t,” Katsuki corrects him and then realizes he actually needs to correct himself, “well, I didn’t. I do now. If I didn’t just find her tonight and this has always been my cat and she looked like this? I hope you’d be calling the police on me for animal abuse because the thing is malnourished as fuck, can barely stand up on her own because of her leg.”
“Aw, poor thing,” Midoriya reaches his hand out to let her make his acquaintance. She sniffs his hand and then gives her approval to let him pet her, which he does, gently scratching behind her ears, “have you named her?”
“No, I just met her a few hours ago,” Katsuki says, “then I brought her to the vet.”
“So that’s where you were? I kinda thought you were just working still,” Midoriya explains, “really, I should’ve texted before I came over, I’m sorry.”
“You’re all good,” Katsuki assures him, “we should bring this inside, though, I don’t want to wake my neighbors,” He grabs his keys and unlocks his door as carefully as he can, careful not to disturb the cat in his arms. Once he gets the door open, the head inside and Izuku shuts the door behind him. Katsuki sets the cat down on the couch and tries to get her comfortable, “I hate to disappoint, but I don’t think I can give you what you want right now,” Katsuki tells Midoriya honestly. As much as he’d love sex right about now, he’s got a brand new cat to figure out.
“Is this you kicking me out?” Midoriya asks, a disappointed look on his face but, somehow, Katsuki thinks the disappointed look is about leaving the cat and not leaving Katsuki. Just an inkling, though (the way Midoriya hasn’t stopped petting her since, well, since he started petting her might be the main source of Katsuki’s inkling).
Katsuki shrugs, “You can stay if you want, I’m just saying there won’t be any sex.”
“That’s okay,” Midoriya says but his voice is higher pitched, like he’s talking to the cat instead of Katsuki and, well, maybe he is, “I think you can relieve my stress better than Bakugou can, can’t you, girl? Aw, you are so sweet, your fur is so soft,” Really, it’s not, Midoriya is lying to himself. The vet gave her a bath to get all the fleas off of her but her fur isn’t in the best condition yet, “and you’re so so cute, so fluffy, oh yes you are.”
“So I take it you like cats?” Katsuki asks, setting the bag of things down on the coffee table and letting himself fall deep into his couch, he really needs some relaxation right now.
Midoriya nods, “I had two when I was younger and I’ve been thinking about getting one,” He tells Katsuki, still just petting the cat, not letting up for even a moment, “Nia’s been wanting a pet and, honestly, hamsters or fish seem like harder work than cats,” He jokes.
“I mean, you probably aren’t wrong,” Katsuki points with his chin to his own fish tank, something that takes a whole lot of effort to keep up with, “but I guess I’ll be the judge of that soon.”
Midoriya laughs and Katsuki hates how obsessed he is with the sound, he wants to turn off his ears so he can’t hear it anymore because it is really making him want to kiss the man right now and he might just give in, “I guess you will,” Midoriya confirms before diving into questions, “Have you decided on a name for her now?”
Katsuki shakes his head, rolling his eyes a little bit because Midoriya quite literally just asked that question, “Maybe something badass, ‘cause she’s a fucking badass. Look at her, she was in the road when I found her.”
“Such a brave girl,” Midoriya talks sweetly to the cat, “yes you are, you are such a brave girl. The bravest girl, yes you are, yes you are.”
“Damn, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re about to steal my cat,” Katsuki jokes but, in reality, he’s not quite sure how much of a joke it really is.
Midoriya shrugs, “Maybe,” He says sweetly, innocently, most of his attention is still on the cat, “I think she should be called ‘Sweet Little Baby Girl’ because she’s a sweet little baby girl.”
“That’s a lengthy name,” Katuski points out.
“But she deserves it,” Midoriya insists.
Katuski snorts, “I think I’ll go with something simpler, more cat. Like… Luna.”
“Luna? I thought you were going for badass,” Midoriya finally turns his attention to Katuski and, damn, Katuski can really see the stress written all over Midoriya’s face, “Luna is so very badass.”
“Okay maybe we can scratch the badass idea,” Katuski admits defensively, holding back a bit of laughter, “just something normal. Something cat.”
“I hate to break it to you, most cat names aren’t normal,” Midoriya laughs, “the cats I had as a kid were called Casserole and Louis Almighty the Third. There wasn’t even a first or a second.”
Katsuki can’t hold back laughter at that, it bursts out of him in heaps, “What the fuck even are those names?”
Midoriya promptly ignores his amusement and his question and looks back to the cat, “Hm, I think she’s a,” He holds the vowel sound for a bit while he thinks, “I don’t know, like, Butter.”
“You want me to name my cat Butter?” Katsuki deadpans. Butter? Where did the name Butter even come from?
Midoriya shrugs, a smirk hidden away on his face, “Maybe.”
Katsuki rolls his eyes. This dude.
“What?” Midoriya questions, “You have a better idea?”
Katsuki shakes his head. Sure, he doesn’t but that doesn’t make the name Butter any better, “No but I think anything might be better than Butter.”
The cat looks up at that and meows. Midoriya gets this huge grin on his face and Katsuki just knows that the man is about to become unbearable, “She likes it. She knows her name and her name is Butter.”
She looks over to Midoriya after saying that and meows again, “See? Butter is her name,” Midoriya reinforces his idea and, well, Katsuki wants to kiss the man so badly that he just agrees. He decides that, yes, his cat can be named Butter, what’s the worst that can come from a not very amazing name? It’s just a name.
“Y’know what, you’re right. Butters is a great name,” Katsuki tells him, purposefully changing the name Midoriya suggested - making it a little better in his own, unbiased opinion - and the cat meows once more, in some kind of agreement.
“Butters?” Midoriya questions, looking over to Katsuki, “I said Butter.”
Katsuki shrugs, “I like Butters better. She’s my cat. Take it or leave it.”
Midoriya just leaves it, not arguing anymore and getting excited that Katsuki actually agreed to the name and, well, fuck he can’t help it. He’s just so pretty like that. He gets off of the couch and motions Midoriya to come with him, “C’mere, the cat will be fine for a little bit.”
The moment they get into the hallway, their lips connect and Katuski slams Midoriya’s back into a wall, teeth sort of clash but in a more than welcome way, there’s biting of lips and hands just about everywhere, it’s hard to keep track of who’s touching what. They keep kissing like that for a little while, not breaking apart, not moving toward the bedroom, just there in that hallway, making out, grinding on each other.
“Damn, I thought you didn’t want to do this tonight,” Midoriya mutters, their faces close together and both of them are breathing hard, into each other’s space.
“You’re too fucking difficult to resist, baby,” Katuski mumbles back before reconnecting their lips, missing the sensation. He disconnects for just mere moments at a time to get out a sentence but they end up kissing in between damn near each word, both breathing heavily into each other, “I don’t want to go all the way tonight because I want to savor it and, tonight, I can’t.”
Midoriya just nods, “We’ll just do whatever you want to, even if it’s just making out in your hallway and grinding on each other like a few teenagers, I never got to experience that anyway, it’ll be fun,” he laughs into the next kiss, it’s something softer this time, like he’s savoring the kiss, taking his time to memorize Katsuki’s lips and Katuski is doing the exact same thing back but even then, there’s a sense of desperation in the kiss, it’s still fast paced and it’s like they both need it.
Katsuki is about this close to bringing them to the bedroom when he hears the cat meow in what seems like pain. Both of them break apart quickly to attend to the cat, they rush to the living room and notice that the cat tried jumping off of the couch and was now just laying on the floor.
“Okay yeah, the couch probably wasn’t the best idea,” Katsuki realizes and grabs a few pillows and blankets for Butters in order to make a little temporary bed for her on the floor until he can get her an actual bed.
“Yeah probably not,” Midoriya helps hold a blanket and a pillow and the two of them find a nice spot in the corner of the living room to settle Butters’ blankets in. They spend quite the time making a little temporary cat bed that they deem worthy enough to move Butters into. Immediately, she snuggles in it and falls asleep, purring.
“Well I’d call that successful parenting on your part,” Midoriya announces, “I’m unsure I’ve ever gotten Nia to sleep that quickly.”
“I must say, I do think cats and children are pretty damn different,” Katsuki moves to get up from the floor and go to the couch instead. Midoriya follows him, also moving from the floor to the couch.
“Y’know, this is a really nice place for a police officer's salary,” Midoriya says kind of out of nowhere but, also, Katsuki’s known that the man always says what’s on his mind since he met the guy.
“I don’t pay for it,” Katuski tells him the truth because, well, what’s the use in lying to him? That’s just dumb.
“You don’t?”
Katsuki shakes his head, here he goes, “My parents are kind of rich and they pay for this place for me.”
“Really?” Midoriya raises a skeptical eyebrow, “didn’t you say something about them not being great parents?”
Katsuki nods, he does remember saying that, “This is them trying to compensate, I guess. I don’t fuckin’ know but I know that they want me to save my money for ‘imporant things’, whatever that means. I was a model for them when I was a teenager.”
“A model?” Midoriya is even more skeptical now.
Katsuki laughs at the look on Midoriya’s face, “What? You don’t think I can pull it off?”
Midoriya shakes his head, “Oh absolutely not that, you’d be a great model,” He smirks, “I just find it difficult to believe that you’d be okay with being a model.”
“Well my parents are fashion designers, they own their own company, their own line, and they got me into it for a bit with all the money talk,” Katsuki shrugs. What can he say? He likes money and, as a teenager, he liked money even more.
“Damn, I’m friends with a celebrity.”
“You literally own a very popular restaurant. And you’re only 21. You have articles written about your food because you’re that good of a chef and-”
Midoriya smirks, “How do you know that?” He breaks into an incredulous laugh, “Were you googling me, Bakugou Katsuki?”
Katsuki refuses to let his face get red and embarrassed and, instead, takes it as his turn to smirk and bring attention to something Midoriya said not too long ago, “So you admitted we’re friends.”
Midoriya rolls his eyes, searching for something to throw at Katsuki and finding one of the few remaining pillows on the couch. Katsuki could catch it but he just lets it hit him and then holds onto it, hugging it, “I guess.”
“You literally just said it,” Katsuki points out before quoting the man, “You said, ‘damn I’m friends with a celebrity’, did you not?”
“Allegedly,” Midoriya’s damn innocent voice that he puts on when he knows he’s being annoying is exactly what gets Katsuki.
Katsuki throws the pillow back and Midoriya catches it, “You fuckin’ suck.”
Midoriya shrugs but doesn’t say anything else so Katuski just continues where he left off, “Anyway, yeah, I have kind of a lot in savings,” He really only pays for groceries and items around the house, his parents pay for everything rent and bills - well, he pays for it all because his parents want him to have that life skill, knowing how to do that kind of stuff, but he uses a card given to him by his parents and was told that if he didn’t use that card to pay for rent and bills, that they’d transfer money into his account anyway so he just listens to his parents, “It was helpful at the vet, at least.”
“Oh yeah, I bet that was expensive.”
Katuski nods in agreement. It was, in fact, very expensive. They stay silent for a few moments before Katsuki speaks up, “Can I ask you a question?”
“Careful,” Midoriya warns, “That’s awfully forward of you.”
“I think that was like the least fuckin’ forward I could be, actually,” Katsuki notes, seeing as he hasn’t even asked the question yet, just asked if he could ask a question.
Midoriya chuckles a bit and adjusts himself on the couch so he’s a bit more relaxed, “Alright, sure, shoot.”
“Feel free to tell me to fuck off because I know you made your stance on me asking you about your criminal history very clear but-”
Midoriya groans, “Seriously? I’m not telling you what I did. Besides, I’m sure you could figure it out if you really wanted to. Can’t police see sealed records?” He’s clearly annoyed.
Katsuki shrugs, “Me? If I asked the right people and pulled the right strings, sure, but that would be shitty of me to do since you don’t want me to know,” Midoriya seemed a little relieved when Katsuki said that but there was something still alert in him, “plus we aren’t supposed to look into sealed cases unless we’re investigating that person.”
“You were investigating me at one point,” Midoriya rightly points out, “Why didn’t you take that chance to look at my case?”
Katsuki rolls his eyes, sighing, “Okay, for one, it wasn’t necessary because you got cleared so quickly and for two, I’m not even asking about what you did right now. I know you don’t want to tell me and you, obviously, don’t have to. I’m definitely curious but-”
“It’s not fun,” Midoriya sort of snaps, interrupting Katsuki, “it’s not like I took cars out joyriding or some dumbass teenager shit. It’s bad, Bakugou, and-” He voice breaks a bit and he clears his throat, sitting up so he has a better view of Katsuki, “Look, I did a bad thing but I have done my time and I’m on parole with almost just a year left and-”
“Seriously, Midoriya, I’m not asking about what you did,” Katsuki tells him quickly, his turn to interrupt. He didn’t mean for this conversation to get so emotional, “I guess I just…” He takes a deep breath, he probably should’ve thought this question out a bit more before jumping in to ask it. Really, he has no idea what he wants to say. He wants to know what Midoriya did, obviously but, also, it’s none of his business and that’s not why he was bringing any of this up in the first place. “I just wanted to know how much of your childhood you missed because of what you did. You said that you never even went to high school.” He feels bad knowing that Midoriya never got to experience going to high school and doing, as he himself put it, dumbass teenager shit. Maybe it’s stupid of him but he kind of wants to help Midoriya experience some of those things.
“Oh,” Midoriya gulped, calming down a little bit, “it was really just high school that I missed. I went in at 13, got out at 18.”
Wow, okay. That’s sort of a lot to take in, Katsuki knows that Midoriya has told him that what he did was bad - obviously it was bad, he went to jail for it - but he didn’t really expect for it to be that long of a sentence.
Fuck, he doesn’t really know what to say. He should’ve been more prepared before asking the damn question. He just sort of looks over to Midoriya and tries to keep the pity off of his face, he knows that’s not what Midoriya wants or needs, “Damn,” He ends up mumbling out loud.
Midoriya clears his throat, “Y’know what?” He starts to get up from the couch, “I should go. It was dumb of me to even come here, honestly, and I should go.”
“You don’t have to,” Katsuki speaks quickly, sitting up on the couch before getting up.
Midoriya shakes his head, taking a step back and faltering where he stands, “No, no, I should.”
Katsuki curses mentally and takes a deep breath while shutting his eyes for a moment. He opens them back up and looks at Midoriya, “Did I make things fuckin’ weird? Make you uncomfortable?” He should’ve just kept his damn mouth shut.
Midoriya shakes his head again but more meaningful this time, like he’s not in a rush, “No,” He says, no longer faltering in his spot, “I wouldn’t have answered your question if I was uncomfortable, you should know that by now. I’ve just gotta go.”
Katsuki takes that as it is and nods, “Alright.”
Midoriya turns around and starts walking away, he kneels down to pet the cat goodbye before he goes though. Then, he’s out of the door and Katsuki is sitting back on his couch, running a hand through his hair.
He doesn’t even know what he’s doing at this point. The man is somehow both so closed off and so open with him that it confuses the fuck out of him. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to do or how he’s supposed to handle it. He genuinely wants to be friends with this guy but he doesn’t know how to without scaring him off. He thought that they’ve had some good moments, some good conversations. Even if they only met five weeks ago - when he arrested Midoriya - and have only really known each other for two - when he responded to the call at his restaurant. Less than two if you consider that they didn’t talk too much of the restaurant robbery and really only started talking after the coffee shop.
He’s just- He takes a deep breath, he really needs a grasp on the situation. He’s so used to having a grasp on any situation he’s in, he’s a police officer for fuck’s sake, he knows how to handle things, he knows how to take in information and he knows what to do afterward. Except, when it comes to Midoriya, it seems like all of his training is thrown out the window and he doesn’t know how to act. It’s not a crush, sure the sex is a huge plus but he knows for sure that it is definitely not a relationship he wants, he doesn’t want any strings. It’s just, well, he’s intrigued by the guy. He wants to be his friend and it’s so foreign to him that he has to work so hard for it.
Back in high school, he was the guy who claimed he didn’t need any friends and he’d push people away without a care, which, he supposes, isn’t exactly what Midoriya is doing but, still, it feels like some sort of retribution for the way he acted in high school. He just wants to befriend the guy and, even though the guy agreed, it seems a lot harder than it should be.
He falls backward into the couch with a deep breath and shuts his eyes, exhaling deeply. He’s got a long road ahead of him, he’s sure of it.
Notes:
YAY end of chapter, here's to hoping it wasn't terrible :D
As always, your comments bring me the upmost motivation so go ahead and leave em if you're feeling like it or don't if you're not :)
Chapter 7: no thing so sure, I can't learn to doubt it
Summary:
Nia finishes her food and proudly exclaims that she’s eaten it all. Izuku smiles and unbuckles her, letting her down from the table so she could go put her dishes in the sink.
“Cake now?” Nia asks when she walks back to the table.
Izuku laughs and shakes his head, “No, honey, that’s not until tonight.”
“Hm okay,” Nia seems to accept, “And candles?” She asks with a serious look on her face.
Ochako laughs at that and Izuku smiles at her, “Yes, there’ll be candles and you can help me blow them out, alright?”
“Yay!” Nia does a little dance that has Izuku chuckling.
*
Spoiler alert: She tries her hardest but doesn't manage very well
Notes:
annnnd we are BACK in business. Apologies about the week break (writing brain go brrrr bc I wrote 3 entire fics over that week XD) and this chapter is I think the longest of all of em so far so that's cool.
Chapter title from New Perspective by Noah Kahan
And, of course, a thank you to my beta Tsuyuki for reading through this chapter before I send it out into the world :D
(btw you get to find out what Izuku did in this chapter :o)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku gets home pretty late. Honestly, he’s not even sure what came over him for him to go sitting in front of Bakugou’s door like a damn fool. Nothing Izuku’s been doing these past few weeks have been normal for him and pretty much nothing has changed. Except for one thing, the only new factor in Izuku’s life.
Bakugou.
God, it’s so stupid. He’s not like this. He doesn’t open up this easily. Sure, all he said tonight was that he likes cats and how long he’s been in jail but something about that conversation was the breaking point for him. He’s told the guy about Nia’s mother, that’s something he’s barely even spoken about with Ochako. Yeah, he doesn’t need to talk about it with her since she was there in the moment but, damn, for Izuku to talk to Bakugou about it just because he asked? For him to just say it when he barely even brings it up with the people closest to him?
Izuku is not acting like himself and he needs to get a grip. He finds himself in his room before he knows it, sitting on the edge of his bed and rubbing his forehead. He isn’t sure what this headache is from but he’d really like it to go away. Thinking about it, he realizes it’s probably from the lack of sleep, it’s already pretty late. Not to mention he’s got people coming over for his birthday tomorrow, which Nia is very excited about.
He should really shower and get changed but, instead, he ends up with his head hitting the pillow and falling into a deep sleep. He wakes up in the morning to his daughter at the side of his bed, grabbing onto his hand, “Daddy! Daddy!”
He’s in the process of opening his eyes and taking a deep breath when he hears his daughter say, “Daddy sleeping. Not awake,” presumably to Ochako, who should be the only person here right now.
Izuku laughs and sits up before grabbing his daughter and pulling her up on the bed with him, “Daddy’s awake!” He peppers her face in kisses and gives her a hug.
“Happy birthday!” Nia giggles, holding onto her dad tightly.
“Thank you my baby,” Izuku starts to cradle her, “are you a little baby.”
“Nuh-uh,” Nia shakes her head and squirms, “I’m big girl!”
“Oh right, how could I forget,” Izuku puts her down and looks up at Ochako, standing in the doorway, “hey.”
“Hey, Nia and I made you some breakfast,” Ochako says, “she wanted to bring it to you in bed but I reminded her you don’t like eating in bed.”
It’s true. Izuku doesn’t like crumbs of any sort in his bed. He looks down at his daughter, “You made me some breakfast.”
“Uh-huh!” Nia nods eagerly, “For birthday!”
Izuku pulls the covers off of himself and makes a mental note to make his bed after he eats, “Well, let’s go eat then,” He gets out of bed and offers to help Nia get down but she claims that she can do it all by herself.
Eventually, she does and the three of them walk to the kitchen together.
It doesn’t take long for the three of them to settle at the table, eating breakfast. It’s a slow morning but it’s comfortable. Something he’s used to. Just the three of them eating together and talking, it brings Izuku comfort to know that some things are familiar, despite how completely unlike himself he’s acting.
He revels in the sound of his daughter’s giggles and answers each one of her many questions in stride.
Nia finishes her food and proudly exclaims that she’s eaten it all. Izuku smiles and unbuckles her, letting her down from the table so she could go put her dishes in the sink.
“Cake now?” Nia asks when she walks back to the table.
Izuku laughs and shakes his head, “No, honey, that’s not until tonight.”
“Hm okay,” Nia seems to accept, “And candles?” She asks with a serious look on her face.
Ochako laughs at that and Izuku smiles at her, “Yes, there’ll be candles and you can help me blow them out, alright?”
“Yay!” Nia does a little dance that has Izuku chuckling.
Izuku takes the last bite of his food and takes Ochako’s plate as he gets up because she had finished a couple minutes before him. He brings the plates to the sink, placing them in there to wash later.
“How about some TV?” Izuku suggests to Nia, “you can have two episodes of your show, okay?”
“Yay! Puppies!” Nia runs to the living room.
“Walk,” Izuku tells her and she slows down into a walk the rest of the way. Izuku meets her in the living room and turns the TV on for her, putting her show on and placing the remote down on the table in front of her. She knows which button to press to get a new episode so he just leaves her to it and starts retreating back to the kitchen table. He’s still able to see her but he knows she won’t be listening to him and Ochako with her show on and, well, he has a couple things to talk to Ochako about.
He slides back into his seat and looks over at his best friend who’s sporting a smirk on her face, looking at Izuku like she knows something. She doesn’t speak in a complete whisper but she does lower her voice a bit as to not alert Nia that they’re having a conversation without her (scandalous, really; according to her, she needs to be included in every single conversation), “You didn’t get in ‘til late last night. You’re still in the clothes you left in last night.”
Izuku just lets out a deep sigh, matching her volume, “Yeah, well, I got home and I was so tired I couldn’t even think. Or,” He runs some of his fingers over his forehead, “I guess I was thinking too much. Either way, I fell asleep before I could shower and, honestly, I’m having a bit of a crisis, I think.”
“Yeah? Well I sure hope you’re not debating your sexuality again because the last time you did that you ended up with a kid,” Ochako jokes and it does lighten up the mood, Izuku finds himself chuckling even as Ochako continues on, “and, even though I do adore Nia, you don’t have enough room in this place for another kid.”
“This place is three bedrooms,” Izuku says, knowing exactly where she’s going with it but giving her joke to her anyway.
“Yep and one is basically mine,” Ochako claims, “if you have another kid, where am I gonna sleep?”
Izuku smiles, amused by his best friend before retorting with a, “your own apartment?”
“Oh, but that’s no fun,” Ochako pouts.
Izuku rolls his eyes fondly before getting back to the matter at hand, “Don’t worry, this crisis isn’t sexuality related, I think I’ve got that one handled.”
“Right,” Ochako nods, switching off her unserious mode and clearly detecting some kind of seriousness in Izuku’s aura, “what’s up?”
Izuku takes a deep breath. How does he even begin to talk about something like this? He can’t really figure it out so he just decides to go for it, “So, uh,” He scratches a bit at his face, “you know about me seeing Bakugou, right?”
Ochako just nods to show she’s listening but doesn’t say anything so that Izuku can continue on, “Right, well, obviously that’s where I went last night, you know that already.”
Ochako hums in agreement, another sign that she’s listening but not wanting to interrupt Izuku or make any assumptions.
“I just,” Izuku hesitates, “I dunno, I feel like I’ve just been acting differently around him. Like I’m not myself and I guess it’s sorta been freaking me out.”
“Different in what way?” Ochako asks, leaning forward a bit, clearly concerned and ready to fight this police officer if she has to.
Izuku shrugs, biting at the inside of his cheek before continuing on, “It’s like, well, I’ve been telling him things.”
Ochako raises an eyebrow but leans back a little, “What kind of things?” She presses on in confusion.
“Like,” Izuku sighs, averting eye contact from Ochako before realizing that never works with her and remaking the eye contact as he mutters out, “I told him about Akari.”
“Nia’s mom? Last night?”
Izuku shakes his head, “No but last night I told him how long I was in jail for.”
Ochako’s eyes widen, “Really?”
“Mhm,” Izuku answers her, knowing her concern. Knowing how long Izuku was in jail narrows down the possibility of crimes for Bakugou to assume that Izuku did, “but I don’t care about that, really. I just-” He cuts himself off, thinking about when he told Bakugou about Nia’s mother. Really, he doesn’t know what got into him. He told him just because he asked and he did it with ease, honestly, “I don’t talk about Nia’s mom and for some reason, with him, I did. It’s unusual. I’m being unusual.”
“Do you think that you could…” Ochako trails off and it’s clear to Izuku that she’s going to say something he probably doesn’t want to hear, “like him? Maybe?”
“No,” Izuku tells her quickly, “it’s not that.” Really, it isn’t. He doesn’t have any feelings for the guy past physical, sexual attraction. All it is is a friendship that’s growing a little too fast in Izuku’s opinion. In fact, he’s not even sure he could consider it a friendship. Friendships are built on a specific level of trust and like. He doesn’t quite have that with Bakugou. Maybe at some point in the future, sure. But now? Like this? With their few conversations? Absolutely not.
Like, with Ochako, for example, Izuku trusts her with his life. Hell, he trusts her with his daughter’s life and that’s saying a lot more. He would do anything and everything for her and he knows she would do the same back for him, too. He confides in her when he doesn’t know what else to do and she confides in him when she’s stuck. They talk and they laugh. They know the little details about each other and have millions of inside jokes. They tease each other, knowing exactly how to push the other’s buttons but then they’re the first to stick up for each other if a stranger starts to do the exact same thing.
That’s friendship.
But with Bakugou? He doesn’t trust the man to have his back. He wouldn’t trust him to watch his daughter, he doesn’t know him well enough for that. They don’t really know any small details about each other. They wouldn’t do everything for each other. Hell, Izuku probably wouldn’t do anything for Katuski, if he’s being honest. Yet, he’s spilling all these things about himself to the man. He’s telling him things about himself that he doesn’t even like to think about inside his own mind. Really, Bakugou is more like a guy who’s seen him in a very intimate way that knows intimately close details about Izuku.
But not a friend.
“I don’t know why I’m telling him all these things,” Izuku drops his hands and crosses his arms, “I don’t know what it is about him. I don’t know, Ochako, but I’m really getting sick of blabbing all the time.”
“Yeah,” Ochako nods in understanding, she knows that he likes to live a more private life, “I wish I could tell you why you’re acting differently but that seems like something you might need to figure out on your own. The only advice I can give you is to maybe actually become friends with him? Talk with him outside of you guys hooking up.”
“Well, um, actually… We didn’t hook up last night,” Izuku admits.
“What? I thought-”
Izuku nods, interrupting her, “Yeah, I know. I thought so too. It was definitely the plan. But, well, I got there and he sorta wasn’t there. I was about to go home but he showed up and he had a cat. So, I kinda got side tracked.”
Ochako’s face contorts into a look of confusion, “I have so many questions.”
“Later,” Izuku assures before continuing on, “anyway, we made out a bit but we didn’t hook up. We mostly just talked and, I dunno, he was telling me things and then he asked me a question. I got defensive at first, before he asked it, I wasn’t sure what he was trying to get out of me,” He recalls the night before, “but, uh, he reassured that he wasn’t going to ask about what I did and, instead, asked how long I was locked up for.”
“And you told him,” Ochako concludes, it’s not really a question since Izuku mentioned this previously so she’s likely remembering what she told him.
Izuku nods, “Mhm.”
“Then?”
“I left,” Izuku says bluntly but continues on at Ochako’s expecting look, “I got a little freaked out, I think? About how easily I answered the question. Then, I kind of spiraled about how much I’ve been opening up to him and,” He takes a deep breath before letting it out, it’s a little shaky, “I dunno, O. I’m just-” He interrupts himself, shaking his head, “I’m really not myself and I don’t know what to do.”
“Y’know, honestly, Izu?” Ochako starts and Izuku has no idea what she’s about to say or where she’s about to go, “I don’t think there’s anything you have to do. Has he been making you scared or uncomfortable?”
“No,” Izuku answers quickly. Sure, there’s been a couple of times where Bakugou’s tried to pry a little too deep and Izuku wasn’t having it but, ultimately, Bakugou let up on those things. He hasn’t made Izuku truly uncomfortable. A little angry? Yeah, sure. A lot defensive? Absolutely. But uncomfortable? No. Scared, even? Definitely not.
“Then just go with the flow,” Ochako shrugs, a lot more calm than she was before, she even sports a small smile on her face, “I think it’ll be good for you to have another friend. You don’t have enough.”
“Hey!” Izuku scoffs, his mouth hanging open, “I have plenty of friends, thank you very much.”
Ochako crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow, “Really? Name me someone you’re friends with who isn’t me or someone you work with.”
“Easy,” Izuku smirks, “Shouto.”
Ochako rolls her eyes, laughing a little bit and tossing her used napkin at him, “He doesn’t count.”
“Wow,” Izuku prolongs the word, “how do you think he’d feel if he heard you say that he doesn’t count as my friend.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Ochako glares at him, looking a lot like she’s about to really hurt him but the playful rolling of her eyes makes him positive that she’s not actually upset, “Name me someone you’re friends with who isn’t forever indebted to you,” She apparently includes herself in that category because the next thing she says is just, “or someone you work with.”
“You and Shouto are not forever indebted to me,” Izuku changes the subject a bit, not liking the way she phrased that.
Ochako shrugs, “I beg to differ. You helped us, Izuku.”
Izuku scoffs lightly and shakes his head. He never wanted them to feel like they’re indebted to him for what he did. He’s voiced as much multiple times and he’ll do it as much as he needs to, “That doesn’t mean either of you guys are indebted to me, Ochako. Besides, you and Shouto have already done so much for me and Nia.”
“And it’s still nothing compared to what you did for us. For everyone involved, Izuku. For me,” Ochako reaches across the table and grabs his hands, giving it a squeeze, “you saw me there and you jumped into action, which then helped so many other-”
“Sure but then I got sent to jail for it,” Izuku cuts in, not wanting to debate this any further, “and don’t get me wrong, I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, I don’t regret it,” He takes his hands from Ochako and puts them in his lap, “but you shouldn’t idolize me for killing someone,” He whispers that last part, glancing at Nia to be sure that she can’t hear but he’s pretty damn sure she’s far enough away and too invested in her tv show.
“He was a bad man,” Ochako insists, seemingly a little appalled, “you didn’t do anything wrong and you shouldn’t have even gone to jail for it. He was hurting me.”
“I know. I know your feelings on the matter, Ochako, which is exactly why I have zero regrets about what I did,” Izuku crosses his arms over his chest and sits up in his chair, “but the fact of the matter is that I killed someone when I didn’t need to. I could’ve called the police, gotten him arrested, and he could be rotting in prison right now but, instead, he’s rotting in the ground because of me. That’s all there is to it, I made my decision, and now I’m dealing with being a murderer.”
“Don’t call yourself that, Izuk-”
“I am!” Izuku can’t help but shout, which causes Nia to look over but he flashes a smile at her and she quickly goes back to her TV show. He takes a deep breath and lowers his voice back down to just above a whisper, “I am a murderer. It’s what happened, I can’t change it, and neither can you. I’ve made my peace with it but it seems like you haven’t. Why?”
“Because you didn’t do anything wrong, you were just protecting me, if I had-”
Izuku shakes his head immediately, “Don’t start that.”
“What?” Ochako asks, confused.
“Talking bad about yourself,” Izuku tells her, making a small gesture toward her, “I know you were about to blame yourself but it’s not your fault that you froze, it’s his. You were 12 and you were scared. It is not your fault.”
Ochako falls back into her chair and tears start to pool in her eyes. Izuku hates seeing her like this. His force of nature best friend reduced to feeling small and vulnerable in her seat like that. Sometimes he’s scared that Izuku’s reminding her of him but that’s just a nagging voice in the very back of his mind. It’s not something that’s actually true because he’s nothing like him and he knows that. Ochako’s reassured him of that fact numerous times but, still, he can’t be certain that she’s not just saying that to make him feel better.
Ochako sniffs, “If I had just called like you wanted me to then-”
“Ochako,” Izuku reaches a hand over the table and Ochako reluctantly places one of hers into his. He gives it a light squeeze, “it’s okay. It might not have even changed anything, I might’ve still shot him,” Izuku admits. He just remembers being so damn angry and scared, “you don’t know what would’ve happened so don’t blame yourself.”
A tear falls down Ochako’s cheek and she reaches up to wipe it away, “Fuck,” She wipes at her eyes, trying to get rid of all the tears and shakes her head a bit as if she’s trying to shake away the emotion, “I hate that thinking about that can still get to me even after all this time and all of the therapists and healing and help.”
“I know,” Izuku nods sympathetically, “I know.”
Ochako takes a deep breath and after a few of those, the tears come to a complete stop and she looks directly at Izuku, “I’m sorry, I know you hate when I talk about owing you things for what you did and I know you also don’t like when I act like you didn’t do anything wrong,” the sentiment is there but Izuku knows that her thoughts are left unsaid, she’ll defend him time and time again.
“Thank you,” Izuku smiles softly, “and I’m sorry for getting so upset about it and yelling, I shouldn’t have.”
“It’s alright,” Ochako mirrors his smile and they’re both silent for a couple of minutes, taking their hands back and just sitting there at the table until Ochako speaks again, “Y’know, um,” She pauses for a moment, seeming like she’s deciding whether she actually wants to say what she’s about to. Clearly, she decides on yes because she ends up saying, “I think you should call your mom.”
“What?” Izuku’s eyebrows furrow together. He’s confused as to where that even came from, it’s been months since he last talked to her because, frankly, she doesn’t seem to want much to do with him at all.
“I swear, it has something to do with our conversation,” Ochako assures quickly, “I just - and feel free to just cut me off and tell me to stop talking, but I just think that there’s so many things in your life that are, like, unanswered after everything that’s happened to you,” Izuku is close to cutting her off and telling her to just get to the point when she does exactly that, “and I think that could be why you’re so frustrated over not knowing what’s going on with this Bakugou thing. Like, like, you’ve got so many things that don’t have answers and this is just another thing on top of that so it’s like your final straw or something. I’m thinking maybe if you call your mom and figure out where you stand with her, get that answer, then you won’t be so worried about trying to figure out why you’re being so weird with Bakugou.”
Izuku stares at her for a moment, confused. It weirdly makes sense in a replace-one-problem-with-another sorta way but, well, that’s exactly what Izuku tends to do anyway so he nods slowly, agreeing to call his mom. The more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that Ochako may be right. There’s a lot of unknowns in his life and the way he’s acting with Bakugou is just another one added to the pile of em, so maybe if he takes away the biggest unknown - his mother - then he’ll have room to accept the unknown he’s currently confused about. Right? Right.
“I’ll keep an eye on Nia, you go.”
Izuku shoots her a small smile and mumbles a quick thanks before getting up and walking down the hall toward his room. His bed isn’t made so he decides to do that before calling his mother. He readjusts the pillows and pulls his comforter over them, smoothing out the fabric on his bed.
Afterward, he sits down and turns his phone on, the bright light illuminating his face. He swipes up to unlock his phone, clicking on the contacts app to scroll through them all before reaching the one he needs. He stares at his mom’s contact for a while, taking deep breaths and mentally preparing himself for this conversation. He and his mom haven’t spoken in a while and, he supposes, he just needs the closure of whether or not she even wants to be in his or Nia’s life.
He deserves that much, at least, right?
He clicks on the call button and brings his phone to his ear. It starts to ring. One. Two. Three. Four rings in and Izuku is pretty sure his mom isn’t going to answer. Five rings in and he’s about to just hang up himself, deciding it’s a bad idea.
Six rings in and there’s a sound indicating that his mom picked up the phone. Her voice coming through is the confirmation, ”Izuku?”
“Hi mom,” Izuku tries to sound confident, keeping the shake out of his voice as to avoid seeming nervous. He isn’t sure how well it works but he can’t go back now so he just accepts it.
”Are you alright?” If she sounded even a little less annoyed, Izuku probably could’ve actually mistaken her words for concern but it seemed more like she was asking the question out of obligation, ”You never call anymore.”
“Right, well,” Izuku nods into the phone, trying not to get angry about her saying that. Yeah, he never calls anymore because when he tried calling before, he’d be met with short replies and quick hangups, if she even answered at all. Then, after a while of being the only one to reach out, he stopped. That’s why they haven’t spoken in months and, god, he hates that fact and he’s hoping this conversation might be able to change it.
Though, he’s unsure of where he’s even supposed to go with this but decides to just say the first thing that comes to mind, “it’s my birthday. I was wondering if you wanted to come to my party. It’s nothing big, just a few friends and some family. I know Nia would love to see you, it’s been months since you last saw her,” He tells her but honestly, he’s not sure how truthful it is. Inko hasn’t seen her for so long that he’s not even sure if Nia remembers her. Sometimes Nia asks about Inko because her mother’s parents are around so she knows what that kind of relationship is supposed to be like but she doesn’t get that from Inko and Izuku knows it has to be confusing for her. It sort of hurts Izuku’s heart to know that his mom isn’t close with his daughter, that Nia doesn’t have her in her life but, also, Izuku knows that that kid is so loved, she doesn’t need Inko if Inko doesn’t want to be in her life.
Anyway, he’s put the offer out there. A chance to rekindle their own relationship and a chance for Inko to see her granddaughter. Unfortunately, he’s pretty sure that he already knows what her answer is going to be despite the hope growing in his chest for an agreement. Sometimes he feels like a little kid craving his mother’s approval and right now is one of those times. With that being said, he’s not a child and he knows the likely outcome of this offer, which makes asking even worse.
”Oh, right,” Inko clears her throat but the shock in her voice is obvious, ”happy birthday, Izuku.”
“Thank you,” Izuku mumbles, not feeling very happy.
”But I am busy today, I won’t be able to make it,” Inko mentions and Izuku’s heart drops. He knows he should’ve been expecting it, in fact, he was expecting it. Even all those months ago she never showed a keen interest in wanting to spend time with him, but to actually be denied just hurts and it hurts a lot more than he thought it would.
Now, he supposes, it’s time for his closure, whatever that means. It’s now or never, right? He isn’t really sure what he’s going to ask until the words are out of his mouth, “Do you hate me?”
”What?” For the first time in the conversation, she seems actually interested in it, if not a bit confused.
“Do you hate me? For what I did?” Izuku grows a little more confident and he just lays all of his feelings out there, “Because you used to be there for me at the beginning, when I first went to jail, even when I first got out of jail, but the older I get, the less you seem to care, and I just wanted to know if you hate me. It feels like you hate me, mom.”
”Oh,” Is all that she says at first before spouting into some nonsense that Izuku finds hard to believe, ”I don’t hate you. I just… am processing things, that’s all.”
Izuku scoffs, actually getting angry now but trying to keep his voice down because of his daughter being out in the living room, “Bullshit. You’ve had 9 years to process.”
”Izuku,” Inko gasps incredulously, ”do not speak to your mother that way.”
“Maybe if you ever actually spoke to me at all, I’d know how to speak to you,” Izuku counters, letting his emotions get the better of him as he shouts into the phone, “but you don’t so you don’t get a say in how I choose to talk to you. You’ve barely been there for me since I turned 18 years old, I got out of jail and I was alone.”
”I was there,” Inko insists quickly, ”You stayed with me for over a year. I was there.”
“No, you weren’t!” Izuku shouts, really getting worked up now because, sure, he stayed with her for that first year after he got out, until Nia was a couple of months old, but even then, she was distant. She didn’t show any interest in being a mother and maybe that’s Izuku’s own fault for what he did but, at the same time, as a father, he can’t see himself ever acting that way toward his daughter.
”You’re scaring me, Izuku,” Inko speaks slowly.
Izuku shakes his head, he isn’t sure why he even tries with her, “Right,” He brings his free hand up to his forehead to rub away the frustration. He forces himself to calm down, it’s something he’s used to having to do since getting angry in jail can mean a lot of bad things coming your way. He sniffs, ignoring the tears in his eyes, “I’m sorry, mom. I’m just upset that you don’t seem to care about me or Nia.”
“I love you,” Inko insists but it doesn’t sound very genuine and it irks Izuku that she doesn’t even mention Nia, ”It’s just hard when I know what you’re capable of.”
That’s the nail in the coffin for Izuku. It’s a stab in the heart or the back or, really, any body part at this point. Izuku just hurts all over and he starts to cry. Sure, it frustrates him when people like Ochako insist that he’s done nothing wrong because he knows what he did was bad and he doesn’t want people to look past that. However, it just fills him with dread when people see him just for what he did; It makes him want to lay down and die when people see him only as a guy capable of killing someone because he’s so much more than that.
But to know that his own mother sees him that way?
It breaks something in him that he didn’t even know could break. Starting this phone call, Izuku had some semblance of hope, thinking that maybe his mom had just been super busy over these last couple of months and that’s why she’s never reached out and they haven’t spoken at all but everything makes sense now. The moment that Izuku did what he did at 13 years old, he was no longer Izuku in his mother’s eyes. He was a murderer and that’s all he’ll ever be no matter how good of a reason there might’ve been for what he did, it’s all he’ll ever be
It doesn’t matter that he’s served his time and is on parole right now. It doesn’t matter that he didn’t have a single violent incident while he was in jail. It doesn’t matter that he’s doing all the therapies he’s required to do and it doesn’t matter that he’s getting all the help he’s required to get. It doesn’t matter that he’s a father, and a damn good one at that.
None of that matters because all of it will be overshadowed by the one mistake he made when he was 13 years old. The warm tears fall down his face faster but he muffles his cries, he doesn’t want his mother to know the kind of power she has over him. Really, he does get it. Murder isn’t something anyone should take likely but he just doesn’t understand how that’s all she sees her own son as, even knowing all of the circumstances behind it.
Well, he’s certainly gotten that closure. Yet, he can’t help but want to keep the door open for her so despite being absolutely destroyed by the woman’s words, he still ends the call with a quick, “I’ll let you go, then. Call me if you ever need anything, mom. I love you.”
He doesn’t get an answer before the phone is making a sound indicating that the call is over. He tosses his phone on the bed next to him and buries his face in his hands. He needs a moment to process that whole conversation because, while he had suspicions that that was why his mother didn’t talk to him anymore, he hadn’t ever been completely sure. Until now.
After getting all the tears out, he works on making himself presentable again. He wipes at his face, patting it dry with his shirt, then he just waits a few minutes for the redness to begin to go down. Then, he walks back out to find Nia and Ochako sitting on the couch together, the TV now off, with Nia playing with Ochako’s hair. It seems like she’s trying to braid it but it looks more like she’s forming a huge knot. Izuku winces a bit and makes a mental note to thank Ochako for going through all of that pain for his kid.
Izuku moves to sit on the couch next to Ochako - or, rather, with the way both Ochako and Nia are sitting on the couch, Izuku would be more in front of her. Either way, he’s near Ochako and the woman can clearly see the slight tinge of red still on his face from crying because after Nia finishes up and runs off to go play with some toys on the floor, Ochako apprehensively whispers, “Did it not go well?”
Nia looks over and squints her eyes. She also whispers, “what?”
Izuku can’t help but laugh. He loves when his daughter copies whispering or things similar. Ochako also laughs and both of them laughing causes Nia to also break into a fit of giggles. Already, Izuku feels a lot better.
After their laughter starts to die down, Izuku assures Ochako that he’ll tell her about it all later, after Nia goes down for her nap. Until then, they just hang out together. Izuku gets down from the couch to play with Nia for a while and Ochako joins them at one point.
As the afternoon starts to creep up, Izuku cooks some food for lunch. Nothing crazy, he honestly just throws a frozen pizza in the oven. Sure, as a chef it’s somewhat of a disgrace but as a tired father who just wants to spend his birthday relaxing? It’ll make do.
While the pizza is in the oven, he makes his way back to the floor with his daughter.
“Heart!” Nia exclaims while doing the shape puzzle. She puts the heart in the heart outline on the puzzle and grins when she gets it to fit.
“Good job! Last one,” Izuku picks up the triangle piece and hands it to her, “what’s this?”
“Triangle!” Nia giggles, slamming it down in the last spot. She says the word a bit wrong but Izuku can make it out.
“Yeah,” Izuku grins, “what’s your favorite shape?” He asks her.
She looks at him with a thoughtful look on her face, “Triangle,” She says matter-of-factly. Last week it was a star and the week before that it was a circle. It’s a constantly changing favorite for her.
“That’s a good one,” Izuku praises, agreeing with her, “triangles are strong.”
“I’m strong!” Nia jumps up and flexes her arms dramatically, spinning in circles.
Ochako bursts out into laughter and Izuku follows that laughter quickly, nodding his head to agree with his daughter. He gains his composure and verbally agrees with her, “Yes you are. Very strong.”
The three of them continue to talk and play together until the timer for the pizza goes off. Izuku gets up to get it from the oven. After he’s gotten it out and cut up, he serves all three of them and they eat. It doesn’t take long for lunch to be done and Nia down for a nap.
Izuku walks out of Nia’s room after putting her down for a nap and goes down the hallway to the kitchen. He sees Ochako cleaning up, doing the dishes from both lunch and breakfast.
“Ochako, you don’t have to do that,” Izuku walks up to her, “I can do it.”
Ochako shakes her head, “It’s not a big deal,” she continues to scrub a plate before rinsing it off and placing it into the drying rack, “go relax.”
“Relax? I never have time to relax.”
Ochako scoffs playfully, “You do right now, so go,” she shoos him off, the gesture causing water to sprinkle onto him.
“Fine, fine,” Izuku holds his hands up in surrender and backs up out of the kitchen.
He goes to the living room and starts to pick up the mess of toys caused by Nia until he hears Ochako shout from the kitchen, “Don’t even think about picking up the living room!”
Izuku laughs to himself and places down the doll in his hand. Sometimes, he swears that that girl has cameras and is constantly watching them. Instead of cleaning, he opts to sit down on his couch and turn the TV on. He turns on a random movie and just sort of zones into it for a little while until Ochako plops herself down right next to Izuku, “Alright, I finished the dishes, wiped down all the surfaces, and swept. I’ll pick up the living room after you tell me what went on with your mom,” She looks over to him expectantly.
Right. Izuku sighs, he had almost allowed himself to forget about that. Of course, Ochako didn’t. He thinks back to the conversation and grimaces, “It didn’t go well.”
“What happened?” Ochako asks, her voice is comforting and it’s the only thing keeping Izuku from getting angry about it again.
Izuku shakes his head, “She was just like…” He trails off, thinking about a way to explain it, “I dunno, she’s changed so much from when I was a kid, which, like, yeah obviously she has but, I dunno. She used to be such a good mom and when I called her today she was scared of me, Ochako,” Tears start to fill his eyes and that annoys him but he supposes getting sad is better than getting angry. He continues on, “She clearly didn’t know it was my birthday and she said she was busy when I invited her to the party tonight” And here comes the little tinge of anger, “She didn’t even acknowledge Nia when I brought her up.”
Ochako scoffs, “What an asshole.”
“Yeah,” Izuku blinks away the tears, taking a deep breath, “but hey, at least I know where I stand with her now, right?” He forces a smile but it turns a bit more genuine as he looks at his best friend, “And what do I need her for when I’ve got you, yeah?” He leans into her and she wraps her arms around him. He really couldn’t have asked for a better best friend. He hates the way he met her and how they became friends but, god, he’s so grateful to have her in his life.
“Right,” Ochako confirms, holding Izuku close, “y’know I’m proud of you, right?”
Izuku nods softly because, yeah, he knows that. “Thank you,” He whispers because it does always feel nice to hear it anyway.
“One year of parole left,” Ochako whispers back, a reminder as she’s rubbing soothingly along his arm, “then you can put all of this behind you.”
“Yeah,” Izuku whispers, unsure if that’s completely true but hoping it is and appreciating the sentiment anyway.
They only sit like that for a little while longer before they get up to start cleaning (Izuku helps, much to Ochako’s dismay) and getting things ready for the party.
A few hours later, the house is as clean as it can get with a 3 year old living in it. Izuku’s managed to find some time to actually shower and change out of his clothes from last night. Food is set out on the table and guests have started arriving. The party isn’t really anything big, he just invited a few of his friends, told them they could bring someone if they want to, and also invited Nia’s grandparents on her mother’s side. The couple has been really involved in Nia’s life, especially since Nia’s mother passed away during childbirth. They’ve just wanted to soak in as much time as they’re allowed with Nia and Nia absolutely adores them so Izuku doesn’t have a problem with it.
“Mr. and Mrs. Hiramatsu, hi,” Izuku grins at them as they enter the apartment and both wish him a happy birthday, he gives them hugs before noticing bags in both of their hands, “Oh, you didn’t have to bring any gifts.” In fact, he’s pretty sure that he told them not to worry about any gifts.
“Of course we did,” Mrs. Hiramatsu says and then Izuku promptly gets hit on the back of the head by Nia’s grandmother, “And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Chiharu?”
“And call me Yuuji,” Nia’s grandfather insists, “you’re family, Izuku.”
“Right,” Izuku chuckles, awkwardly rubbing at the back of his neck. He’s always so awkward when it comes to his ex’s parents because, well, their daughter is dead and he doesn’t really know what to say about that. They’ve never held anything against him or Nia, though, which relieves him but, still, they aren’t like the closest people in the world, despite them being in Nia’s life for the last 3 years. Still, he does like them as people, “it’s good to see you both. How are you guys?”
“We’re doing very well, thank you,” Chiharu smiles softly at him, “how are you?”
“I’m good,” Izuku tells them, even though he’s not sure how truthful it is.
It’s right then when Nia runs up, right into her grandfather’s arms. He lifts her up and gives her a big hug as she excitedly tells him and her grandmother about the things she did today. She reaches over to Chiharu and gives her a hug as well. Izuku mumbles a quick goodbye and spots Shouto across the room and decides to go talk to him.
It’s been a while since they were able to have a thorough talk. Shouto’s standing there with someone that Izuku recognizes from when someone tried to rob his restaurant. One of the police officers that were there with Bakugou. Except, if he recalls correctly, he wasn’t Bakugou’s partner. No, Izuku remembers Bakugou saying something about how he doesn’t have a partner right now.
This guy was the other blonde guy’s partner. Izuku remembers him calling out to him. So, what’s he doing here with Shouto? Sure, Izuku told his friends that they could bring a friend or a partner or something but a coworker? He didn’t really peg Shouto as the type to bring a coworker to his friend’s birthday party but, well, to each their own.
“Hey Shouto!” Izuku waves and grins as he walks over, “Thank you for coming.”
“Of course,” Shouto nods solemnly, “happy birthday.”
“Thank you,” Izuku’s grin doesn’t falter but he does turn to the man beside Shouto and does a little bow, “hi, I’m Midoriya Izuku, it’s nice to meet you,” He rises from his bow.
The man nods back, “It’s nice to meet you too,” He rises, “I’m Sero Hanta, Shouto’s boyfriend.”
Izuku’s eyes widen because, okay, he was not expecting that. He wasn’t even aware that Shouto was dating anybody, nevertheless his coworker.
Apparently, seeing the shock on Izuku’s face, Sero’s expression hardens, “That’s not an issue, is it? That Shouto is dating a man because if it is then-”
“No, Hanta,” Shouto answers before Izuku can, “Izuku doesn’t have any issues with it.”
“Yeah, of course not,” Izuku assures, he would tell the man he’s gay but he doesn’t really make it a habit to come out to strangers. Not that he’s in the closet, per se, but it’s not just something he tells people the first time he meets them.
However, let’s just say Izuku wasn’t expecting Sero to blurt out, “Good because, y’know, my coworker has a crush on you. Well, maybe not a crush, he insists it’s not a crush, but he definitely wants to sleep with you.”
Izuku doesn’t have a drink but if he did he’d be choking on it, “What?”
“I don’t know if you remember the officers that were at your restaurant when it almost got robbed but I was there and so was he,” Sero explains.
“Right,” Izuku nods, clearly remembering.
“Hanta, stop,” Shouto grabs at the man’s hand and tugs on it, “not the time or the place.”
“But I gotta hook a bro up,” Sero insists, looking at his boyfriend instead of Izuku now, whispering, “Have you spoken to Katsuki lately? He needs to get laid.”
“I wasn’t aware that’s something he announces to people,” Shouto responds.
“He doesn’t,” Sero shakes his head, “you can just sorta tell. He’s always got a stick up his ass at work and it’s horrible, maybe if he had a-”
Izuku clears his throat, interrupting Sero, “I can hear you.”
“Right!” Sero lights up, turning back to Izuku and leaving Shouto to probably question his life choices, “Well, my friend is the one that took you in for your statement. His name is Bakugou Katsuki and-”
“Yeah,” Izuku nods sharply, “I know who Bakugou is. We’re friends,” He announces, supposing that’s okay to say because, well, Bakugou himself considers them friends and saying that is easier than explaining the real situation to Sero. Besides, they never said they had to keep the fact that they know each other from people.
Sero is about to say something but Shouto beats him to it, “You’re friends with Bakugou? When did that happen?”
Izuku shrugs, “I dunno, it just sorta did.”
“Hm,” Sero eyes down Izuku, “last I spoke to him, he was convinced he’d never see you again.”
“That was probably before we became friends,” Izuku tells him because Bakugou doesn’t seem like the type to straight up lie like that.
“It was shortly after the restaurant.”
Izuku nods, “Yeah, we didn’t become friends until a little after that,” He explains how they met at a coffee shop and started talking, then Bakugou offered to pay for him after he realized he left his wallet in the car. He does leave out the part of the story where they makeout against his car, though.
“Why isn’t he here then?” Sero crosses his arms, “If you’re such good friends.”
“I didn’t say we were ‘such good friends’, just that we’re friends,” Izuku scratches at his neck. This is one of the reasons he doesn’t like cops, they don’t know when to let up, “plus, we just became friends, he doesn’t even know it’s my birthday.”
“Right so how come he hasn’t told me about you?”
Izuku’s really starting to get genuinely annoyed by the way this guy keeps pressing on and on and he’s just about to snap when, finally, Shouto steps in, finally deciding his boyfriend has done enough interrogating. Sure, Shouto wasn’t ever the best at reading social cues but he caught on to this one, thankfully, “Okay, Hanta. This isn’t an interrogation.”
“Right,” Sero mumbles, backing off. A wave of guilt washes over his face, “I don’t know why I was acting like that. My bad, dude,” He says to Izuku, an apology of sorts.
“You’re fine,” Izuku decides, not wanting to press any issues because this is Shouto’s boyfriend, afterall. His friend clearly sees something in the guy so he shouldn’t let one somewhat bad experience dictate how he feels about the man.
“Well, I’ll let you guys catch up,” Sero pats Shouto on the shoulder and gives his hand a squeeze before pressing a kiss to his cheek and walking away toward the table of food.
Izuku breathes a sigh of relief and looks at Shouto, “So, boyfriend, huh?”
“He’s a good guy,” Shouto says simply, saying a few words in Sero’s defense, “he just gets really into things but he’s a good man.”
“I’m sure he is,” Izuku says genuinely. If Shouto chose to date him then he has to be a good guy, “How long have you guys been together?”
“Technically only a couple of weeks, officially,” Shouto answers before delving into a bit more of an explanation, “but we’ve been going out for a little over 3 months now.”
“Oh wow,” Izuku’s eyes widen a bit, he didn’t really take Shouto for the type to hold off on labels for that long, “well I’m happy for ya, Shouto.”
“Thank you,” Shouto’s lips turn up into a tight smile, it’s nothing big but it’s genuine, it’s Shouto, “how’ve you been lately.”
“I’ve been well,” Izuku responds and continues to make small talk with Shouto for a few minutes. He normally hates small talk but when it’s with Shouto, it’s not that bad.
Then the conversation turns to Bakugou as Shouto asks, “How’re things with Bakugou? I didn’t know you were friends with him. He’s a bit hotheaded, in my opinion.”
Izuku nods in agreement and then he takes a deep breath. Because, right. Bakugou. That seems to be who all his conversations are about lately. He decides to just come out with the truth because otherwise Shouto will come up with some random theory, it’s kind of his thing, “I slept with him.”
“Oh,” Shouto processes the information, looking over Izuku, “are you guys dating?”
Izuku shakes his head, “God, no,” He chuckles, still shaking his head, “we really are just friends.”
“Friends with benefits? Really?”
Izuku nods, wincing, “Yeah, that’s what we decided on.”
“Wow,” Shouto stares for a second before asking, “Does he know?”
“Know what?” Izuku asks even though he’s pretty sure he knows what Shouto means because, at this point, Bakugou knows a lot of things and he needs to be sure of what Shouto is asking before he answers.
“About what happened when you were 13,” Shouto clarifies, “why you went to jail.”
Yep, that’s what Izuku thought he was asking about. Thankfully, though, that’s the one thing he’s managed to keep his mouth shut about when it comes to Bakugou, “No,” Izuku tells him, “I haven’t told him and I don’t really plan on it.”
“For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’d judge you for it,” Shouto says modestly, “I don’t know him that well, to be honest, but-”
Izuku interrupts him, appreciating the gesture but not wanting it, “I’m not telling him.”
“Right, okay,” Shouto nods, backing off from that specific topic and going into a new, albeit similar, one, “would you mind if I told Hanta? I’d like him to know what happened to me and I’m going to tell him soon but if you don’t want me to talk about your involvement, I won’t. I think he’d appreciate what you did for me, though.”
Izuku thinks about it for a second. Sero is close with Bakugou and one wrong word could have Sero spilling to him but Shouto speaks so highly of him so maybe he’ll be able to keep it on the down low. He nods, “Yeah, go for it. Just make sure he doesn’t tell anybody else.”
“Of course,” Shouto agrees instantly, “I’ll make sure he doesn’t.”
Izuku smiles, “Then I’ve got no problem with you telling him what I did.”
They make a bit more small talk until Sero makes his way back, slipping into Shouto’s side, “So, what’re you talkin’ about?”
“Bakugou’s cat,” Shouto informs him.
“He has a cat?” Sero’s eyes widen, “How didn’t I know this?”
Izuku laughs at the reaction before explaining, “He just got her last night. Her name is Butters.”
Sero chuckles at the name, “Of course is it,” He nods and it seems that he knows something Izuku doesn’t but Izuku chooses not to pry. It’s probably some inside joke that he won’t get, maybe that’s why Bakugou was so insistent on changing Izuku’s suggestion of Butter to Butters. This inside joke that Sero is thinking of, “How do you know about the cat before me, though?”
“I was at his place last night.”
“You were at his place?” Sero questions and then a sort of frown crosses his face, “He never lets us go to his place. He says it’s private and there are no coworkers allowed.”
Izuku blinks at Sero a couple of times because, “Well, I’m not a coworker.”
“But we’re also his friends,” Sero continues emphatically, “and he’s never let any of us there. Except Eijirou.”
“Well, he and Kirishima were dating, Hanta,” Shouto joins into this part of the conversation that he was otherwise staying quiet for.
“Right so-”
“Don’t ask him if he’s dating Bakugou,” Shouto says and if Izuku didn’t know any better, he’d say that the guy was holding off a laugh.
Sero sighs, leaning further into Shouto, “You’re really just friends with him, Midoriya?”
Izuku nods.
“You weren’t at his house last night because you were sleeping with him?”
Now, Izuku isn’t one for lying. He hates lying and he hates liars but, technically, he and Bakugou weren’t sleeping together last night so when he answers, “No, I wasn’t at his house last night because I was sleeping with him,” He’s technically telling the truth. Honestly, he’d tell Sero if the guy was just his friend’s boyfriend but, no, he’s Bakugou’s friend and, therefore, it seems like something that should only be shared if Bakugou wants it shared.
“Damn,” Sero mutters, “he must really enjoy your company.”
Izuku shrugs, “I guess so,” He leaves out the part that it was him who showed up at Bakugou’s door, sitting in front of it until he got home.
Sero’s about to say something else when Nia runs up and taps on Izuku’s legs, “Hold me?”
Izuku hoists her up and carries her on his hip, “Are you okay?”
“Mhm,” She grins, resting her cheek down onto Izuku’s shoulder, “want you.”
“Who is this?” Sero asks, smiling at Izuku’s daughter.
“My daughter,” Izuku introduces her with a big smile on her face, “her name is Nia,” He presses a kiss to the top of her head and she waves briefly.
“I’m Nia,” Nia mumbles.
“You have a kid?” Sero’s eyes widen, clearly not expecting this.
“Yeah I have a kid, what’d you think all the kid stuff around my apartment was for?” Izuku chuckles a little bit.
Sero looks around and nods, “Yeah, I wasn’t even paying attention, to be honest. Does Katsuki know?”
Izuku raises an eyebrow at that, confused as to why that’s important, “Yeah he knows but why would that matter?”
Sero shrugs, “Just… wondering.”
“Right,” Izuku nods before bringing his attention back to his daughter, “are you getting hungry?”
Nia hums, unmoving from where she’s at. Clearly, her grandparents wore her out, “Mhm.”
“Do you want some fruit or do you want dinner early?”
“Dinner.”
“Alright,” Izuku says a quick bye to Shouto and Sero so that he can get Nia some food, he thanks them for coming and heads to the table of food to pick some things out for Nia. He tries to get her to make her own choices but she’s too set on burying her face into Izuku’s shoulder. So, he ends up just grabbing her a sandwich, some chips, a bit of cut up fruit, and calls it a day. It’s not the healthiest dinner in the world but, hey, it’s a birthday party, okay? What’s he gonna do?
He gets her set up and gives her the food, which she starts eating immediately. She must’ve been really hungry.
While she’s eating, Izuku goes around to say hi to a few other friends of his (people he could’ve mentioned to Ochako during their friend talk this morning because these aren’t people who were involved in what happened when he was 13 and he doesn’t work with them) that have shown up and make some small talk with them.
He talks to Iida Tenya about how his family is doing, checking in on his brother who was recently in an accident. He talks to Hatsume Mei about her work and manages to weasel his way out of being a test subject for her. He talks to Asui Tsuyu (yes, his babysitter is also his friend; in fact, they were friends before she started babysitting for him) about little things, mostly Nia. He just goes around, continuing to talk to other people until he makes his way back around to Nia, who is claiming that she’s done eating.
She ate pretty much everything except for some of the chips, which is surprising to Izuku because, if anything, he was expecting her to leave some of the fruit. Either way, he’s not complaining, he just helps her out of the chair, “Cake now?” Nia asks as she looks up at her dad.
Izuku laughs, she’s been wanting to do the cake since this morning. He nods in agreement because, yeah, it’s been long enough, they can do cake now, “Okay, yeah. We can do the cake.”
“And candles?” Nia’s eyes light up, not moving from starting right at her father.
Izuku nods, “Yeah, do you wanna help me?”
Nia jumps up in excitement, “Yeah!” She starts blowing, as if it was practice of some sort.
The cake thing goes by pretty quickly. He gets it out, then he and Ochako gather everybody around. He sticks the candles in (just two 2 shaped candles and a couple of normal candles), lights them, lets everybody sing the horrible song that is happy birthday to him while he stands there awkwardly. Then, he lets Nia blow out the candles (she manages to get one by herself, Izuku blows out the rest while she’s not looking and praises her for doing it) and serves everyone who wants some a slice of cake.
It’s not long after that everyone is starting to leave and Izuku is about ready to pass out from all the socialization. Mostly everybody is gone, except for Ochako (obviously) and Nia’s grandparents so Izuku starts the clean up process, telling Nia to go play in the living room.
Ochako helps by taking out the trash while Izuku begins to put away all the food. That’s when Yuuji and Chiharu walk up to Izuku and Yuuji asks, “What can we do to help?”
“Oh nothing,” Izuku shakes his hands in front of him, “I just appreciate you guys coming, I know that Nia was really excited to see you.”
“Well we were really excited to see her, too, she reminds me so much of my Akari,” Chiharu tells, her voice going soft when speaking about her daughter. Then she asks something,, “in fact, we were wondering if you’d want us to take her for the night.”
“Take her?” Izuku questions, unsure about that prospect.
“Just a sleepover,” Yuuji jumps in to assure him, “you can have a relaxing night to yourself on your birthday. We can drop her off in the morning or you can come pick her up.”
Izuku thinks it over for a little while. He hasn’t really spent a night without her before but he knows that if he goes over to ask her, she’ll be so excited about the idea of sleeping over at grandma and grandpa’s house. She loves it over there whenever they go visit. Besides, the idea of an entire night’s break does sound amazing. He loves his daughter, really he does, but she can be a lot of work sometimes.
He finds himself agreeing, albeit a bit hesitantly and making sure they know that he has to ask Nia first. They understand quickly and Izuku goes over to the living room to talk to his daughter who is very excited at the idea of spending an entire night over at her grandparents’ house. It feels a little bit like when he was dropping her off for preschool, just so excited to go. Except, this time, he doesn’t have a bad feeling about it like he did back then.
He tells Yuuji and Chiharu that she agreed and he insists that he’ll come pick her up tomorrow because he couldn’t ask them to make the long trip again.
So, that’s how he ends up in his daughter’s room, packing her an overnight bag and slinging it on her back. Izuku holds her hand as they walk out to their car as a group. The couple already have a carseat for her because they pick her up every now and again to spend a couple of hours with her or something. They’ve never had her spend the night before, despite the girl having a whole room over there.
Izuku’s heart aches a little while he says goodbye to Nia. She’s growing up too fast and he does not appreciate it but at the same time he’s so proud of her. He gives her a hug and buckles her into the carseat before saying goodbye to Chiharu and Yuuji, requesting lots of pictures and a facetime call before bedtime. Of course, they agree, and then both get in the car and drive off.
Izuku is left to walk back up to his apartment, where Ochako is still cleaning. He puts on some music before joining her and it doesn’t take them long to get everything clean.
They both flop down on the couch with a sandwich in their hands because neither of them really ate any dinner, “So, how’re you feeling about Nia being gone?”
“Terrible,” Izuku bites into his sandwich, trying to will all the sadness away, “I’ve never spent a night away from her before. She’s so little and-”
“And she’s with family,” Ochako kicks his ankle lightly, trying to cheer him up, “she’s gonna call you before bedtime and then she’ll be back tomorrow.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Izuku nods but that doesn’t stop him from letting his head fall back on the top of the couch, “I just miss her already.”
Ochako hums in acknowledgement and takes a bite of her own sandwich, which leads to them just eating in a comfortable silence until they both finish and just start talking about nonsense. That is until Chiharu facetimes Izuku to say goodnight to Nia a couple of hours later. He tries his best not to cry while he says goodnight and then gives the phone to Ochako so that she can say goodnight as well and do the official hanging up because Izuku doesn’t think he’ll be able to.
“Well,” Ochako gets up after the call is over, “I’d totally go home but I am about to pass out so I’m gonna go steal your guest room, is that cool?”
Izuku agrees, of course it’s okay. She wasn’t wrong earlier when she said that room is basically hers because it is. She’s here about as much as her own house, if not more.
“Happy birthday, Izu,” Ochako says as she’s walking down the hallway, shouting a quick, “goodnight!”
“Goodnight!” Izuku shouts back, bringing his legs up onto the couch and moving to lay down. He pulls out his phone to find a couple of text messages from Bakugou.
[Bakugou]: Hey, I just had to hear from one of my fuckin’ coworkers that it’s your birthday?
[Bakugou]: How come he got a damn invite to your party and I didn’t?
[Bakugou]: Happy birthday btw
Izuku doesn’t know what comes over him but he presses the call button instead of responding via text. Bakugou picks up after the first ring and Izuku can’t help but laugh a little. Eager much?
”Hey fucker, ignoring my texts?”
“I just saw them,” Izuku says into the phone, switching it to speaker so that he doesn’t have to hold it up to his ear, “anyway, Sero wasn’t necessarily invited to the party. Shouto was and Shouto brought him.”
”Right,” Izuku can hear as Katsuki nods on the other line, ”and I wasn’t invited because?”
Izuku rolls his eyes, ”because all the invites went out before I met you.”
”Wow, so I’m not worth a last minute invite?” Bakugou jokes.
Izuku holds back his laughter, he can’t give Bakugou that satisfaction, “Yup, you're very unworthy of a last minute invite, actually.”
Bakugou scoffs but there’s no real malice behind it.
“Besides, don’t you have a cat to look after? I don’t think you’re in any place to be partying.”
”You’re right.”
“How is she, by the way?” Izuku’s curious about the cat, okay? He fell in love with her and he will do anything for her.
”She’s starting to get settled in, I think,” Bakugou says and then the pair continue to talk about her for the next 30 minutes.
Except it only feels like 5 to Izuku and that scares him a little bit because it’s been a long time since he could talk to someone and have the time go by that quickly. Eventually, the Butters talk dwindles down and Izuku thanks Bakugou for talking to him because, well, he did really need the distraction.
”Distraction?” Bakugou sounds a little concerned, ”From what?”
Izuku sighs, everything coming back to him now, “My daughter is gone.”
”What?” Izuku can hear Bakugou sit up and panic is in his voice, ”What do you mean she’s-”
Izuku interrupts him before he keeps thinking the worst, “She didn’t, like, go missing or anything, she’s just with her grandparents, jeez. You really think I would be talking to you if my daughter got kidnapped?”
”Right, yeah, probably not,” Bakugou breathes out a sigh, less panic in his voice, ”I mean, she’d be sleeping right now anyway, right?”
“Yeah, she’s asleep but it’s not the same as her being asleep in a place I can easily get to her,” Izuku vents a bit, not really expecting Bakugou to understand but hoping that he does at least a little bit, “When she’s here, I can go check on her. And I do.”
”I get that,” Bakugou says but Izuku isn’t so sure he really gets it.
Still, he just nods at his phone, even despite the fact that he knows Katsuki can’t see him, “I’ll get over it, I’ve just gotta get my mind off the fact that she isn't here.”
And, god, Izuku can practically hear the smirk when Bakugou’s voice comes through saying, ”Oh? I think I know just how to distract you.”
“Yeah?” Izuku’s voice is breathy, already picking up what the man is implying.
”Come over?”
“I’ll be there in 30,” Izuku’s already off of the couch and putting on his shoes as they hang up the phone. He grabs his keys, sends off a quick text to Ochako to let her know where he’s heading (sure, she’s already asleep but he doesn’t want her to worry in case she wakes up randomly in a couple hours or so and he’s not here), and then he’s off to Bakugou’s.
Notes:
WOO! So now you guys know what Izuku did :o full story coming soon (and by soon I mean not very soon. I'll let you guys think abt why Izuku may have killed a guy. Also who did he kill?? Dun dun duuuun)
thanks for reading, I hope it wasn't terrible :)
Please do leave a comment if you enjoyed and uhhh yeah :)
OH ALSO, I have made a playlist for this (mostly just for me to keep track of which songs I've used as titles), I'll be adding in every song I use as a chapter title annnnd maybe sprinkle in a few more every now and again as the fic goes on. For now, it's small bc it's just like 7 chapter title songs plus the actual work's title, which means just the 8 songs BUT here's the link if ya wanna check it out
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1A3LLM79Wm9KDodNFsbYzu?si=c71a77a29adf40e5
OH ALSO X2, I almost forgot (in fact I already posted this chapter and am adding this little bit of the note after it's been posted) but what are the thoughts on either a Shouto POV chapter or a Sero POV chapter? Just to get more insight into their relationship and stuff :)
Chapter 8: you got a lot to learn about me
Summary:
“what’s your favorite thing to bake?”
“Ooh, good question,” Izuku clicks at his tongue for a little while trying to figure out, there’s so many different options, “Cake.”
“Damn,” Bakugou responds quickly, “what an incredibly informative and detailed answer.”
Izuku just sighs, of course Bakugou would judge the way he answered the question but in his defense, all he asked was his favorite thing to bake, he never asked for any specific details beyond that, “You asked, I answered.”
“Fine,” Bakugou moves past it, not pressing any further, “your turn.”
“My…” Izuku trails off, confused as he questions it, “turn?”
Bakugou nods, zero confusion on his own face which just further confuses Izuku, “To ask me a question.”
Izuku scoffs, a small huff of laughter behind it, “This is really how we’re gonna get to know each other? Going back and forth, taking turns to ask meaningless questions?”
“Is that your question?” Bakugou retorts and Izuku feels like he wants to bang his head against the nearest wall.
“Maybe it is.”
*
Spoiler alert: there's a lot more questions
Notes:
heyyyyyyyyyyy
would ya look at that, it's me, back at it again posting this fic, woah :o
apologies for takin such a long time but I did always intend on coming back eventually, even if it took, like, yk... a few months. oopsies.
BUT we're back so that's cause for celebration or something idk WOOHOO
there will be no abandoning this, I promise. She's my baby and I miss her sometimes but I've been very stuck in writing this fic BUT I think I've finally broken through that, we'll see. This is only 4.2k words and it is incredibly NOT edited (it's 1:41 AM as I type this and I am beyond tired) but I'll probably go over it tomorrow when I feel like I know how to exist lol. I make no promises about consistent updates because I (woah) actually have a life for some reason nowadays, as well as being consumed with about a million other things I'm writing. Anyway, that's enough of my yapping, I'm sure you all didn't miss that
Chapter title from Someone You Like by The Girl and The Dreamcatcher
oh also, random promo for an event that I'm a moderator in; it's a super fun (prompt based, team based, multi-fandom) writing event that everyone should so totally check out :)
Twitter <- You can find more information about it here :)
Discord <- You can join the discord to sign up, ask questions, and hang out in between event times :)(go on, join)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku blinked his eyes open slowly, his room was oddly dark. Usually, he’s got the blinds open to let some light in so that he doesn’t oversleep and miss waking up with Nia. For some reason, though, there’s no light coming in from the window.
Then it hits him, what if Nia’s already awake? He sort of starts to panic and moves to get out of bed when he remembers that Nia’s at her grandparent’s house right now, he doesn’t need to worry about her this morning. However, when he tried to move to get out of bed he felt a weight on him.
That’s when the second, arguably more important in this very moment, thing hits him. This isn’t his room. No wonder his blinds aren’t open, they aren’t his blinds. He looks over to his right and squints through the darkness to make out Bakugou’s face because, of course. Of course he fell asleep in Bakugou’s bed.
How could he have let himself fall asleep here? Obviously he remembers leaving his house to come over last night and of course he remembers sleeping with the guy but how could he fall asleep here?
He runs a stressed hand through his hair and starts to get out of the bed as best he possibly can without waking up Bakugou. The last thing he wants is to have to have a conversation right now. Unfortunately, the man being a police officer means nothing good for Izuku because the slightest move, apparently, causes Bakugou to wake.
Before Izuku is even out of the bed, Bakugou is waking up and looking over at Izuku, “You leaving already?”
Izuku just continues to get out of bed, gathering his things, “Yeah,” He responds shortly. He didn’t even have the decency to get dressed last night. His clothes are still just spewed around Bakugou’s room. Like, seriously? How did his pants get on top of Bakugou’s dresser?
Izuku just shakes his head at himself to retrieve them but Bakugou gets up, grabbing Izuku’s wrist to stop the man, “At least take a shower first. Put on some clean clothes.”
“I’m not wearing your clothes, if that’s what you’re implying,” Izuku immediately shuts down that idea because, uh, absolutely not. That seems to creep way too much into relationship territory for Izuku’s liking.
Bakugou lets go of Izuku’s wrist, “Friends borrow clothes all the time,” He argues, sitting back down on the bed, “people take shit from their friends all the damn time, doesn’t mean they wanna marry each other.”
Izuku continues to refuse, shaking his head and sliding on his boxers. He puts his pants on after that, “I’ve gotta go pick up Nia.”
“Really? At 7 o’clock in the morning?”
Izuku pauses, no way it’s that early, right? He looks back at Bakugou to find him very serious so he reaches to grab his phone, which he’s spotted on the nightstand. From there, he turns it on to find the time glaring back at him, ”7:13 AM”
“Let’s go out for coffee,” Bakugou suggests.
Izuku stares at him for a moment, is he seriously suggesting they go out for coffee right now? What in the world.
Bakugou rolls his eyes, “As friends, dumbass,” He scoffs, getting up and walking toward his dresser, “for someone who seems so dead set on this not being a romantic relationship, you sure do think a lot about my actions being in the context of one.”
Dumbfounded, Izuku realizes that he’s sorta right. He’d never question it if Ochako was offering him her clothes or if Ochako was asking him to go out to coffee. He’d just see that as her being a friend. Though, he doesn’t have sex with Ochako. He does have sex with Bakugou.
Sex complicates things, is what he’s deciding on. Sex complicates things a whole lot. But, does he have to let it? He thinks on it for a moment before deciding, no. He doesn’t. Not really, at least.
He can separate that part of his dealings with Bakugou from his friendship with Bakugou.
Right?
Right. He can become actual friends with Bakugou, without making them having sex too much of a Thing. It seems like a good idea in theory. They do get along and, besides, Ochako has been urging him to make more friends.
He supposes he should now put this theory into practice. Becoming actual friends with Bakugou without the looming threat of something more going on. Bakugou doesn’t want a relationship, Izuku doesn’t want a relationship; this means that a relationship isn’t going to happen. It’s as simple as that.
“Okay,” Izuku deflates, “let’s go to coffee. You’re paying though.”
A smirk appears on Bakugou’s face, one that makes Izuku both want to punch it away and kiss it gone. He happily agrees to pay for the coffee though.
“I am going to shower first, though, in that case,” Izuku decides because he does sort of smell like sex and he can’t believe he fell asleep like this. In fact, he can’t believe Bakugou let him fall asleep like this and he states as such.
Bakugou stops getting clothes out of his dresser to respond with something that has Izuku rather embarrassed, “Dude. You fell asleep before we were even done.”
“What?” Any bit of prior amusement on Izuku’s face is wiped away immediately, “I did what?”
Bakugou nods, laughing a little, “You were so out of it, honestly. We finished once, took a break, and were going for a second round but you just knocked the fuck out halfway through.”
“God,” Izuku shuts his eyes and hides his face with his hands, “I can’t believe I did that.”
“I tried waking you to shower but you didn’t wake so I figured you needed the sleep,” Bakugou explains, resuming grabbing clothes from his dresser to hand to Izuku. All of this explanation also explains why Bakugou is in actual clothes (which Izuku didn’t really acknowledge before), “and then I showered by myself.”
“And got back into bed with me?”
“It’s my fuckin’ bed,” Bakugou answers defensively, “I tried waking your ass up to get you dressed too but you refused so I just wiped you down a bit, took a shower, and passed myself out right next to you.”
Right. That… makes sense. Definitely all makes sense.
Izuku refuses to think about anything else and instead just makes his way to the bathroom to get clean, which is something he feels like he really needs to do right about now. He doesn’t take a very long shower, just enough to get himself clean. About halfway through it, Bakugou comes in to place a towel on the counter for him to use.
After he gets fully dressed (Bakugou provided him with a pair of sweatpants that was probably a little too small on Bakugou because it fit Izuku pretty well and just a normal black t-shirt), he makes his way out of the bathroom to find that Bakugou also took a shower, which sort of makes sense if he had slept in the bed without changing the sheet and being next to Izuku, who hadn’t showered yet.
“Ready for coffee?”
Izuku nods but before they leave, Bakugou feeds Butters (who Izuku is still obsessed with, thank you very much). Then, they’re off, taking Bakugou’s car because he insists he has to drive since he doesn’t trust anybody else to and that they shouldn’t take both of their cars because that’s not environmentally friendly. So, who’s Izuku to deny the environment? Somehow, they end up at the same coffee shop where they had their first kiss, all pushed up against Izuku’s car. Bakugou suggested it because he said that he really liked the coffee from there and Izuku agreed because, well, obviously he enjoys the place too. He goes there all of the time and he likes the people there so it’s been the only place he’s been going to get his coffee for a long time (other than his own kitchen).
However, it does end up getting just a little bit awkward when one of the workers there recognizes Izuku (because every single worker there knows who he is, his order, and his name) and asks if he’s on a date with Bakugou. He resists the urge to sigh heavily and book it directly out of the coffee shop and instead just smiles and corrects the lady, “No, he’s just a friend.”
“Isn’t he the one who paid for your order that one day?” Someone points out, it was the girl who took his order that time that Bakugou did, in fact, pay for it.
Izuku already completely regrets saying yes to coming to this place, he should’ve insisted that they go somewhere else but then there’s the fact that it would’ve made it seem like Izuku’s trying to hide something that isn’t even anything. They’re just friends. They’re allowed to be seen in public together as friends. That’s a totally normal thing.
Nobody has to know what happens behind closed doors. They’re just friends and it’s completely normal to go get a coffee with your friend. Izuku goes to get coffee with Ochako all the time. He’s gone to get coffee with Shouto on occasion or Tsu. It’s a completely normal behavior to go get coffee with your friends so he should really just stop overthinking it and just get some coffee.
Anyway, he doesn’t chat with the workers very much at all after that, he and Bakugou just get their coffee and they go find a table to sit at that’s unattended. The place isn’t all that packed at the moment, so it’s not necessarily difficult for them to find a table. They both got a coffee but Bakugou also got a muffin, offering to buy some kind of food for Izuku as well but he refuses, not ever really being very hungry in the mornings.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything? You can have some of this,” Bakugou offers part of his muffin, it’s blueberry.
Izuku loves blueberry muffins.
He shakes his head and smiles, politely declining, “No I’m okay, thank you though.”
“What? Do you not like blueberries or something?” Bakugou tears a piece of it off and pops it into his mouth quickly, “I could’ve gotten you a bagel.”
Izuku just takes a sip of his coffee, ignoring how he felt by the way Bakugou remembered that he got a bagel the last time they were both here. He loves bagels and he tends to get one pretty often when he comes to this place, they’ve got some good bagels. Still, he just shakes his head, “I do like blueberries, I just don’t really eat in the mornings, that’s all,” He says after he finishes taking the drink of his coffee.
“Noted,” Bakugou crosses his arms casually, the both of them resting in front of his chest with his two elbows on the table, “so, tell me-”
“Oh I see what this is,” Izuku smirks, interrupting Bakugou before he can get anything out, “this is an interview, isn’t it. Get me in bed, bring me to coffee, find out all you can about me because you’re one nosy-”
“Damn dude,” Bakugou is the one interrupting this time, not letting Izuku finish calling him a motherfucker, “you’re really distrustful, all I was gonna ask was what your favorite kind of muffin is.”
Izuku eyes him carefully because he feels like there’s no way that’s all he was going to ask with the tone he started that ’so, tell me,’ with but, hey, maybe Izuku is being a little too distrustful. Maybe he does need to get a grip and just relax. Fuck, he knows he needs to relax, that much is obvious. It’s just hard when he is who he is, to be honest. He’s pretty sure Bakugou has actually learned his lesson when it comes to asking about things that are a little too personal and Izuku should just trust that.
He should make a friend.
So, he takes a deep breath and he gives Bakugou his answer, “Blueberry,” He says and it comes out maybe a little more quiet than he meant for it to but he clears his throat and presses on strong, “My favorite kind of muffin is blueberry.”
Bakugou’s smirk becomes ever so prevalent at that, “Well, great minds think alike don’t we?” He holds up his muffin and sort of tips it as if he’s cheersing it, “Do you ever bake or are you one of those chefs who stay away from baked goods?”
Izuku scoffs, “What do you take me for?” He crosses his arms, glaring at Bakugou and it’s coming off a lot more playful than he originally meant for it to but he can’t really say he’s angry about that fact, “An amateur? A great chef has to know how to do everything, of course I bake.”
Bakugou unfolds his arms and holds his hands up in a defensive manner, “Hey there, put away the teeth I was just askin’ a question,” He teases, bringing his hands back down into his lap shortly thereafter, “what’s your favorite thing to bake?”
“Ooh, good question,” Izuku clicks at his tongue for a little while trying to figure out, there’s so many different options. He really likes the simplicity of cookies, how much you can do with them and the varying degrees of a cookie. He really likes to decorate cakes, it’s actually one of his favorite things to do baking wise, he thinks. That could be mostly due to the fact that he tends to decorate cakes with his daughter and he has a lot of good memories from that. Her laughter and enjoyment, always doing whatever she wanted to the cake without fear of being scolded. It made Izuku happy to allow her to do that because he’d never have been allowed to do something like that when he was growing up.
His mom was good to him for the most part growing up but she had her bad moments - she’s been in one everlasting bad moment as of lately - and him messing things up would always lead not to her lashing out at him but her showing off some perpetual disappointment and giving him a cold shoulder. He’s just glad he can raise his daughter in a different environment, a better environment.
“Cake.”
“Damn,” Bakugou responds quickly, “what an incredibly informative and detailed answer.”
Izuku just sighs, of course Bakugou would judge the way he answered the question but in his defense, all he asked was his favorite thing to bake, he never asked for any specific details beyond that, “You asked, I answered.”
“Fine,” Bakugou moves past it, not pressing any further, “your turn.”
“My…” Izuku trails off, confused as he questions it, “turn?”
Bakugou nods, zero confusion on his own face which just further confuses Izuku, “To ask me a question.”
Izuku scoffs, a small huff of laughter behind it, “This is really how we’re gonna get to know each other? Going back and forth, taking turns to ask meaningless questions?”
“Is that your question?” Bakugou retorts and Izuku feels like he wants to bang his head against the nearest wall.
“Maybe it is.”
“Well, then I’d tell you yes because I don’t think they’re fuckin’ meaningless,” Bakugou takes a drink of his coffee before he continues on, “I used to be like way out of it when I was in high school and I’d never ask anybody questions about themself since I was always too damn focused on my own self. I like to get to know people now.”
“And this is how we’re gonna get to know each other?”
“Nope, my turn, no more questions-”
Izuku doesn’t let him continue though, “Nope, technically you asked a question asking me if my question was a question and you asked me about my favorite muffin and you asked me if I bake, then you asked me what my favorite thing to make is so that’s three questions to my singular one. Therefore, you owe me a few questions.”
“Okay well no need to keep track,” Bakugou argues but there’s clearly no malice in his tone at all, “I just think these things are good to know about each other, it’s not like you wanna tell me the deep stuff.”
“The deep stuff?” Izuku finds his eyes to really question that much, “You know way too much of that about me already.”
“Right,” Bakugou nods curtly, like he’s remembering some of the things that Izuku’s told him, “well if there’s something else you want to talk about, please, feel free.”
Izuku presses his lips together into a thin line as he studies Bakugou’s face, it’s like the man knows his winning and, strangely, it makes Izuku want to both kiss the hell out of him and punch the hell out of him. He settles on holding himself back from the man because neither of those things are valid things to do in public. Instead, he just asks a damn question, “okay, here’s my real question, I guess. What’s your favorite color?”
“Easy, green. What’s your favorite food?”
“Katsudon,” Izuku replies carefully before just diving into the next question, which sends the both of them into this quick back and forth of asking and answering questions, like they’re on some kind of speed show of sorts, “do you have any siblings.”
Bakugou shakes his head, “Only child, how about you?”
“Same,” Izuku confirms, “what’s your favorite animal?”
“Cats. Who’s your favorite music artist?”
“Taylor Swift. What’s your favorite show?”
Bakugou seems to hesitate about this one for a moment but then he answers with, “South Park. What’s something that annoys you?”
“You,” Izuku says but doesn’t even manage to get out his next question because, of course, Bakugou is busy interrupting him.
“Oh c’mon, you don’t mean that,” Bakugou takes the final bite of his muffin and speaks briefly through his full mouth, bringing a hand up to cover it, “you enjoy my company.”
“In bed, maybe,” Izuku responds with a lower voice, not wanting to weird out anybody around them with that kind of talk, “I simply tolerate it in places like these.”
“I’ll fix that,” Bakugou states but it seems like a promise and Izuku would be lying if he said h e wasn’t interested in seeing where the hell this shit goes, “go on, your turn with the question.”
They continue to go back and forth like they were with the questions, quickly and answering pretty much without hesitation. They go pretty much until both of their coffees are gone and Izuku does actually find himself enjoying his time, he finds himself having fun answering and asking all of these questions. He actually feels like a normal person for once in his life and he’s kind of obsessed with that feeling, he can’t lie.
They only stop because of a ring that comes from Izuku’s phone. He looks down to see the contact of Chiharu, which makes him spring into dad mode and answer it without any hesitation, concerned about his daughter, “Hey, is Nia alright?”
”Oh yeah, she’s just fine, don’t you worry,” Chiharu’s voice comes through, it’s calming and reassuring enough that Izuku can take a breath and lean back in his seat, ”She’s just really missing you and I think she’d like for you to come get her.”
“I’m on my way,” Izuku agrees instantly, already getting up from his seat. He makes sure to grab his nearly empty cup of coffee to take the last drink and toss it into the trash on the way out, “I’ll be there in less than an hour, thank you for looking after her Chiharu. Tell Yuuji I said so as well?”
”Oh absolutely, we just adore having her around, I just wish we lived a bit closer so we could do it more often. We’ll see you when you get here.”
“See you soon,” Izuku is just about to hang up when he hears his daughter’s small voice in the background shouting that she loves him and will see him soon. He laughs into the phone and starts heading out of the coffee shop while saying, “I love you too NiNi, I’ll be there so so soon, I promise.”
It takes him looking around for his car and Bakugou coming out to remember that they brought Bakugou’s damn car. His car is still at Bakugou’s place. For fuck’s sake. Izuku hangs up the phone, tossing it back into his pocket when he looks over to Bakugou who’s looking pretty damn concerned, “What happened, why’d you rush out of there?”
“My daughter wants me to go get her,” Izuku informs him, bringing his hand up to his forehead to rub at it for a moment, unsure of what to do, “You’ll have to drive me back to your place so I can get my car.”
“That sounds like a waste of gas,” Bakugou clicks his tongue and shakes his head, “Why don’t I just drive you to go pick her up?”
“Because you don’t have a car seat,” Izuku replies bluntly. For an officer of the law, he’s not very sharp apparently. He also mentions the distance, “and it’s over 45 minutes away, I’m not making you drive all the way there with me.”
Bakugou shrugs that off like it’s no big deal but what he says next is what made Izuku’s jaw drop wide open, “I don’t mind the distance and we can just stop at the store and buy a carseat.”
Izuku refuses that idea the second it’s finished coming out of Bakugou’s mouth, “besides, you aren’t meeting my daughter, Bakugou.”
“I mean, technically I’ve already met her.”
“That’s not the same and you know it,” Izuku crosses his arms and he can admit that it’d be a lot quicker if they just took Bakugou’s car instead of driving all the way back to Bakugou’s apartment building, it’s like 15 minutes away.
“Look, she meets your friends all the time, no? I heard she met Sero just the other day and he’s not your friend.”
“Again, incredibly different. He knows Shouto and Shouto trusts him, therefore I do too.”
“So you don’t trust me?” Bakugou asks.
Izuku just crosses his arms and looks away from him, “There’s not many people I trust around my daughter, Bakugou. I barely know you.”
“Okay,” Bakugou backs off and starts heading toward the car, “I don’t want to overstep, I’ll drive you back to my place, c’mon.”
“Thank you,” Izuku follows him over to his car and they both get in but Izuku’s reminded that he said he’d be there in less than an hour. If they take all of the time to go back to Bakugou’s apartment, they’d be going 15 minutes into the opposite direction of where his daughter is currently at, which means he’d likely not show up until well over an hour.
Fuck.
He hates it but he turns to Bakugou and says, “Let’s just go get my kid. It’s gonna take too long to grab my car,” He admits, as much as he hates it, “no need to buy a brand new damn car seat though, I’ll just borrow the one her grandparents have.”
“Alright,” Bakugou agrees easily, he doesn’t even gloat about the decision that’s made, which Izuku appreciates, “where am I going?”
Izuku points him in the proper direction and then pulls up the directions on his phone just to be sure of the exact turns and whatnot. He pretty much knows how to get there on his own but he doesn’t usually leave from this coffee shop, he normally leaves from his house, so a bit of help with direction can’t hurt.
Bakugou drives a couple over the speed limit and Izuku can’t help but point it out to tease him, “Oh god, officer, you’re not driving the speed limit, you better slow down. You might get pulled over.”
Bakugou scoffs and flips him off, “I’m going two miles per hour over, it’s fine.”
Izuku snickers to himself, further teasing him about it. It goes on for just a little bit of their time and when it dies down, the silence isn’t very long because Katsuki is back on his asking questions bullshit, “so are these your parents?”
Izuku holds himself back from the audible laugh he almost let out, “Yeah, no. They’re Nia’s mother’s parents.”
“You don’t talk to yours or somethin’?”
“Woah there, Bakugou, gettin’ real close to asking about some deep stuff.”
“Didn’t realize that’s what your parents were classified under,” Bakugou defends himself, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Izuku really does appreciate how much more respectful of Izuku’s boundaries Bakugou’s being. He’s not pushing on asking things that Izuku clearly doesn’t want to talk about. It’s nice. Though, he sure hopes that it stays that way for the rest of this long drive that they had ahead of them.
Notes:
and as I always like to say, I sure do hope this wasn't terrible
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Chapter 9: can i ask you a question?
Notes:
....so im back
a lot has happened since the last chapter
I got obsessed with squid game... I moved to california. ummmm im no longer unemployed... ummmmm my sister is in the hospital.
among other things. im sure im forgetting some like super important thing that happened but yk thats life
um, we're back tho? so? yay? Hope you enjoy?
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku finds himself oddly nervous in the passenger seat and he isn’t really sure why. He’s been in the car with Bakugou like this before. In fact, he’s been in the car with Bakugou like this just a little while ago when they were on the way to the coffee shop.
Yet, somehow, this time, it still feels different.
Maybe it’s because of how long they’re about to be sat like this for, maybe that’s what’s making Izuku nervous. The idea of having to spend more time with Bakugou is making him nervous because he really does hate to admit it but he’s starting to find the guy somewhat pleasant to hang out with.
He knows that he’s put up all of these barriers, layers of them. He knows that it’s not easy to break through things like that and, while Bakugou tried at first, he’s not anymore. He’s waiting to be let in instead of just breaking through and Izuku appreciates that more than anything.
Truly, he does.
Bakugou patiently waiting for Izuku to take his barriers down makes Izuku want to actually do it but it doesn’t matter how hard he wants to do something like that, he just can’t. It’s too hard for him, it’s too much. There’s too much baggage behind these barriers and Izuku can’t pile that on to just anybody. He wouldn’t want to, either. For two reasons.
One, he’s scared of scaring people. He doesn’t want to lose them because they’re afraid.
And two, he’s scared of judgement. He’s been through a lot of judgement in his life due to his decisions and he can’t take much more.
So, maybe that’s why he’s so nervous. Uncomfortable. He wants to let Bakugou in but he knows that he can’t and he’s scared to say anything because if they start to talk then Izuku knows he’ll be chipping away at those barriers he’s stacked up.
He’s spent a lot of time on those barriers and, so, taking them all down just for one person seems both incredibly foolish and completely unnecessary. He still barely even knows the guy, they met over a month ago but they’ve really only been talking for just barely two weeks.
But… Well, maybe he can start breaking down some of them. Not all of them, definitely not all of them, but he can make a start. There’s just something deep down that tells him it’s okay to start to let Bakugou in.
“I just don’t have a good relationship with my mom right now,” Izuku settles on opening up just a little bit, “and my dad is dead.”
“Oh,” Bakugou clears his throat, looking over to Izuku for just long enough to say, “I’m sorry to hear that.
He looks back to the road as Izuku just shrugs and remains quiet. He doesn’t have anything more to say. Then, he clears his own throat and smiles, time to lighten the mood, eh?
“So, I shared something,” Izuku leans far back into his seat, turning to look at Bakugou; the man has a marvelous side profile, “your turn.”
Bakugou hums, slowing the car down to stop at a red light, “What do you wanna know? Ask carefully, though, I’m not a completely open book either.”
“Good question,” Izuku taps his fingers to his leg thoughtfully, “Did you always wanna be part of the police?”
Bakugou laughs, it’s not a big laughter and it’s almost humorless in a way, “No, uh, when I was little I actually really wanted to be a firefighter.”
“Really?” Izuku asks, he can definitely see the man as a firefighter. It would fit his personality and it’s still in the business of helping people, “Why didn’t you?”
Bakugou takes a deep breath, staring way off into the distance of the road. He seems to be thinking carefully about whatever he says next, “I, uh, fuck,” He sighs before carrying on, “I got hurt pretty badly in a fire once. Ever since then, I’ve just kinda wanted to stay the hell away from it, I guess. It makes me panic.”
“You didn’t panic at the school,” Izuku points out. In fact, he had seemed incredibly calm and level headed during that time while Izuku was fully freaking out.
“I didn’t get that close to the fire,” Bakugou justifies, “besides, I guess I was focused on something more important,” He glances over at Izuku for a mere moment but, just like that, the light turns green and he faces the road again, stepping on the gas.
Izuku knows what Bakugou’s implying with that. He knows that he’s saying he was focused on Izuku during that time but it doesn’t make sense, not an ounce of it. They barely know each other (and he’s really starting to sound like a broken record with that one) and, yet, it’s so easy to talk to him. It’s so easy to listen to him. And, clearly, Bakugou thinks the same.
Izuku turns his head away from Bakugou but not for that reason, just to look outside his window. It’s a bit cloudy outside today and Izuku thinks that it might rain. It’s pretty, he likes the slightly offset color of the skies when it’s still blue but just starting to turn gray.
He decides to be brave.
He doesn’t know where it comes from but he decides. He looks over to Bakugou again and takes a deep breath, “Alright, well, I guess it’s my turn to open up again. Do your worst, ask me a question.”
“Really?” Bakugou looks over for a second, not long enough to distract himself from the road, though. He smirks, “Anything?”
“Well not-”
Bakugou interrupts him, though, “I’m not gonna ask about anything in relation to your criminal history, I know you don’t want to share that.”
“Thank you,” Izuku’s smile is small, it's nice to know that he cares enough to respect him like this. Especially when he knows that Bakugou is very interested in knowing, “Then, yes, anything.”
Bakugou grins, “How many people have you slept with?”
Well, okay, that is most certainly not the kind of question he was expecting. He was definitely expecting Bakugou to try to get personal in a different way, like ask if he always wanted to be a chef or something - which he has an easy answer for - not ask him about his body count.
“Seriously?”
“You said anything.”
Izuku sighs because, yeah, he did. He said anything.
“Two women,” Izuku starts off with those ones, since they count just a little less considering his sexuality, “and, uh, seven men. That’s including you. So, that brings the total to what? Nine?”
“That is what seven plus two is, yes,” Bakugou agrees obnoxiously and Izuku would probably hit him right now if he weren’t driving.
Izuku does, however, roll his eyes and tells Bakugou, “Go fuck yourself.”
“But it’s much more fun when we do it together,” Bakugou smirks, not giving Izuku so much as eye contact, “Anyway, I do believe this means it’s your turn. Ask away.”
“Fine,” Izuku takes a deep breath through his nose and he crosses his arms with a smirk, “your turn, same question.”
Then Bakugou decides to be completely obnoxious. That’s the only way Izuku can describe it.
He kisses his teeth, sucking in a sharp breath before sliding his lower lip into his mouth, between his teeth, “And what exactly was that question?”
“You just asked it,” Izuku glares at him but he doesn’t move, just continues to watch the road from out of the windshield.
Bakugou frowns and shrugs, “Huh, I can’t seem to remember.”
Izuku could turn into an anxious, stuttering mess. It’s a very real possibility.
But he doesn’t.
No, two can play this game, Bakugou Katsuki.
Izuku loosens his seatbelt enough so that he can put his elbow on the middle console and lean over, getting just close enough to Bakugou to whisper in his ear, “How many people,” He pauses between each word but takes an extra long pause here to get just a little bit closer to Bakugou’s ear, “have you had sex with?”
Izuku can’t help it when the smirk falls easily onto his face as he sees how affected Bakugou is by that. Izuku honestly wasn’t expecting it to work that well but the man goes more rigid than he was just less than a minute ago, he’s even more focused on the road, his breaths are shallow, and if Izuku had to make a guess, he’d say that Bakugou’s mouth has gone completely dry.
Izuku pulls away quickly, not staying there long enough for Bakugou to feel any more of his breath on his ear. He moves back to sitting in his seat normally, tightening his seatbelt back up before asking, “Is that what you wanted to hear me say, Officer?”
He knows the game he’s playing, he knows the flirty tone he’s put on, and he knows that this isn’t typically him but, god, Bakugou’s been making him different in countless ways and at some point he’s just gotta embrace it, right?
Well, here’s him embracing.
Bakugou’s head finally snaps over to Izuku and he looks almost restless, “Do not call me that in that tone,” He clears his throat, “unless you want me to pull over so I can-”
“No need to finish that sentence,” Izuku interrupts him, “get your eyes back on the road, isn’t it illegal to take your eyes off the road for this long.”
“It’s your fault,” Bakugou grumbles but complies, turning his head again to stare out at the road.
Izuku laughs softly, he knows what he did. It doesn’t matter though, Bakugou basically invited him to do so, he wanted him to ask the question.
So, he asked.
Yet, he still hasn’t gotten an answer, “So, Bakugou, where’s my answer?”
“Three.”
Woah.
Okay, yeah, um, Izuku absolutely wasn’t expecting that number. He kind of expected it to be much higher, no offense to Bakugou or anything.
“Who?”
“Ah, ah,” Bakugou takes one of his hands off the wheel to hold up his finger, stopping Izuku, “my turn. So, you first. Who are the seven people to you?”
Izuku sighs. He supposes it’s fair considering he just tried to get the same information out of Bakugou so he can’t really fault Bakugou for asking him the same thing in turn. Bakugou places his hand back on the wheel.
Izuku takes a deep breath but dives right into the answer, he has nothing to be embarrassed about, “Well, they’re mostly all one night stands. Or two nights. Or three- Or-”
“Okay, I get it,” Bakugou doesn’t let him carry on, “you don’t like strings, clearly.”
Izuku just shrugs, “They complicate things,” He clears his throat and continues on before Bakugou can say anything else, “Anyway, there was a woman right after I got out of juvie, some woman who I met the first night I got out. She didn’t know anything about me and it was kind of refreshing, I guess, because in jail, everyone knew what I did so it was nice to be seen for who I am and not what I did-” And, goddamn, Izuku, where did that come from?
There was no reason to tell him all of that, all he asked was who the damn people were in relation to you. Fuck.
“I see you for who you are,” Is all that Bakugou says though. He doesn’t even falter or hesitate, he just says it ever so casually, not even sparing a moment to glance away from the road.
Izuku smiles, it’s a small thing, the corners of his mouth just barely upturned. Honestly, it probably doesn’t even look like a smile but he knows he’s smiling and that’s all that matters, “I know,” He says, “and I appreciate you not looking into me and figuring it out,” because he knows that if he really wanted to, he’d be able to. Even with the sealed records.
“You don’t want me to know, so,” Bakugou shrugs and keeps it at that, as if it's just so simple in his brain, as if he wasn’t just basically begging Izuku to tell him the other day.
But Izuku supposes that’s the point. He was begging Izuku to tell him. He didn’t invade Izuku’s privacy by taking the extra time to peek into the sealed files. He saw that they were sealed and left it at that. For the most part.
Izuku clears his throat, “Anyway, uh, I slept with her once. Then I slept with Nia’s mom about a week later but that’s when I realized I’m gay, since y’know, I had sex with two beautiful women and just wasn’t enjoying myself in the way I should’ve,”
He sighs heavily, “Anyway, uh, I then had sex with four random guys I met online-” He sees Bakugou about to interrupt him and can just tell exactly what he’s about to ask, “no, not at the same time. It was over the next few weeks.”
“Aw, boring.”
Izuku scoffs playfully, “Okay Mr. Three.”
“Excuse me-”
Izuku shrugs and chuckles, “I said what I said, just being honest. Now do you want me to finish my answer or not?”
Bakugou nods, not saying anything else in favor of letting Izuku finish.
“Alright then. So, after those two guys, Nia’s mom told me she was pregnant so I decided that that was it for me. We were going to be a family. We got along, we were friends for a short period of time before sleeping together and she was one of the few people who knew what I had done before we started talking, she’d heard it from a friend of hers, but she was,”
He doesn’t even realize he’s smiling in the absolute softest way while thinking about her; he may not have been in love with her but he did really love her, “amazing. She didn’t care, she was always one for forming her own opinions on people. She was an excellent judge of character and,” He sighs, his smile falling, “She didn’t deserve to die.”
“She sounds like she was a wonderful person,” Bakugou speaks careful, Izuku can tell that he’s trying his best not to say the wrong thing. He’s trying to be respectful.
Izuku nods and gulps, trying not to zone out, “Uh, yeah, she was and I wish Nia was able to know her but, anyway,” He shakes his head, “that was a bit more sharing than I had planned to do.”
He really is just going all in, isn’t he?
Okay, well, maybe not all in. There’s still plenty that could’ve been said that he left out but for some reason he’s in some kind of extra sharing mood right now and he has no clue why. He’s normally so cut off from people, answering with quick, straight to the point answers.
Bakugou makes him different.
Izuku changes the subject, “Anyway, uh, I kinda swore off any kind of sex or intimacy for a while so that I could focus on my daughter and her mother. Then her mom died so I had to fully focus on my kid. Then came you.”
“Me,” Bakugou gasps playfully, a smirk of his own dancing along his face, “I pulled you out of your dry spell?”
Izuku rolls his eyes, “Don’t be too proud, I was due for a good time, you just happened to be there.”
“So you’re saying that if it wasn’t me it would’ve been someone else?”
No. He wasn’t even looking. Bakugou is just so frustratingly charming and hot and, god, Izuku hates it.
“Yup.”
Bakugou laughs, “You should know better than to lie, Midoriya,” and, god, Bakugou doesn’t say his name often but it feels so right coming out of his mouth, as much as he hates his family name, “I’m a police officer, I deal with liars all day every day, I can spot a lie.”
“I’m not lying,” Izuku doubles down, “there would’ve been someone eventually.”
“Hm, okay,” Bakugou thankfully doesn’t push it, “I guess that means it’s my turn, huh?”
Izuku nods and agrees, humming out loud, “Mhm.”
“Well,” Bakugou taps his pointer fingers on the steering wheel, “there’s you,” He turns to smile at Izuku but that doesn’t last long, his eyes are back on the road in no time, “then there’s my ex-boyfriend, the one I work with, I told you about him. He and I met at the police academy. Then my first was a high school boyfriend, I dated him for two years.”
“Wait,” Izuku furrows his eyebrows together. Both of the other people he’s slept with are people who he was in a committed, long term relationship with.
But Izuku is just. No strings attached sex?
“You aren’t gonna get all mushy on me and ask for a relationship, right?” Izuku asks.
“What?” Bakugou’s head turns over to Izuku with quite the confusion written on his face, “Where did that even come from?”
“Well, I’m the only person you’ve had sex with without being in a relationship,” Izuku explains his thought process, it makes perfect sense, “are you sure you can do the whole ‘just sex’ thing?”
“Of course I can, Midoriya,” Bakugou scoffs, “I’m not some fuckin’ teenager who’s heart lives in his dick, I’m not gonna catch feelings for you of all people.”
Well, damn, okay. Izuku tries not to let that hurt because it is exactly what he wanted to hear so he can’t really be mad at it.
“I’m not that bad, am I?” Izuku questions, mostly joking, his tone filled with teasing.
Bakugou laughs softly, “No, you aren’t,” He sounds fully genuine when he says that, he moves on, “I’m just not looking for a relationship, just as much as you aren’t looking. We have a mutual interest, Midoriya, and that’s pleasure.”
“Well, you aren’t wrong about that one.”
“Look, I’ve just happened to be in a relationship one way or another since I was even interested in sex,” Bakugou explains, “So, just because the only other two people I’ve slept with have been people I’ve been in relationships with doesn’t mean that I’m gonna fuckin’ fall head over heels for you.”
Izuku decides that’s a good enough answer and moves along, “Alright, well, how-”
“Hey,” Bakugou interrupts him, “It’s my turn to ask a question, wait for your own damn turn.”
Right, how could Izuku forget. He takes a deep breath, preparing for whatever the hell kind of question that Bakugou has planned for him.
Bakugou clicks his tongue but suddenly stops after a few seconds, “Okay, I got one.”
“Please,” Izuku gestures outward with his hand, “do tell.”
“It might be too personal,” Bakugou warns and Izuku feels dread begin to fill his chest, nervous, “so feel free to tell me off.”
“Keep going,” Izuku says carefully, gulping slowly, paying attention, studying Bakugou’s face.
What could Bakugou want to ask about? He already agreed not to ask about what Izuku did to get put into jail so what else might he ask about? Izuku supposes that he didn’t put his life in jail off limits, Bakugou might want to ask about that.
Maybe he has a question about his and Ochako’s friendship, he did originally think they were dating. Maybe he’s curious to how long they’ve known each other or something.
He could try asking something about Nia’s mother. Izuku really hopes this isn’t the case, it hurts to talk about Nia’s mother and he’s already done plenty of talking about her mother. He doesn’t think he’d be able to stand directly answering a question about her.
Bakugou takes a deep breath, “I just,” He sighs, “I guess I really want to know; Do you prefer pancakes or waffles?”
Seriously?
Izuku feels the tension alleviate from him immediately.
For fuck’s sake, Bakugou Katsuki. He sure knows how to get a guy pent up and sacred.
“You’re an asshole, you know that?”
Bakugou just grins and Izuku so desperately wants to wipe that smile right off his face but the man is shrugging and saying, “It’s part of my job description and, also, I just wanted to see you sweat.”
“Kinky.”
“Well, I certainly wasn’t thinking about it that way but…” Bakugou trails off.
Izuku rightfully punches him in the side of his arm - as if he’s not the one who called it kinky - and shakes his head, “Ew, please don’t be turned on by my sweat,” He says, “anyway, waffles,” He answers the question, “I really thought you were going to ask something serious, Bakugou.”
Bakugou laughs at that, “Yeah, well, that’s why I didn’t. There’s been too much serious-ness for one night. Your turn.”
“Hm,” Izuku hums thoughtfully, he doesn’t really have any other questions pressing at the forefront of his mind as of right now, “why’d you become a police officer?”
It’s something he wonders about all police officers and it was really just a matter of time before he asked the question to Bakugou. Now’s as good a time as any.
“Because I-”
“And don’t give me any of that typical ‘because I wanted to help people’ bullshit.”
Bakugou laughs and stretches his neck in circles, “Alright, Midoriya, I’ll give you the real answer.”
“Good.”
Bakugou clears his throat and licks his lips, nervous.
He stares out at the road so focused, his gaze isn’t going anywhere as he speaks, “When I was a kid, like maybe 11 or 12, I was attacked, suffocated, and nearly died. I started acting out a lot and when I was 16, I ended up in juvie for it,” He keeps things vague but Izuku knows there’s obviously more to the story, “and, as I’ve said briefly before, I had a really good probation officer, Aizawa, and it really changed my perspective on shit, I guess,” He shrugs, “So, after high school, I entered the police academy. I guess I just wanted to make sure that those who are hurting people get what they deserve.”
Izuku watches Bakugou, it really does seem like he fully means every single word he says and Izuku knows that it was hard for him to tell that story, as vague as it was, “You’re a good man, Bakugou,” Izuku says softly and he truly does mean it.
He’s pretty sure that Bakugou is one of the best men he’s met in a long time.
Bakugou doesn’t say anything at first but when he does, it’s just a quiet, “Thanks, I don’t get that a lot.”
“Y’know, that was basically just the ‘because I wanted to help people’ answer but with extra steps,” He jokes to try to lighten the mood.
It works, Bakugou laughs and rolls his eyes, “Yeah, well, it’s the truth, so deal with it.”
“I’ll deal, I’ll deal,” Izuku drawls dramatically and then leans backward in his seat, letting his head hit the headrest, “anyway, it’s your turn.”
“Oh,” Bakugou acknowledges and hums in thought for a moment before coming out with a question, “alright, let’s keep it on theme with the job question, when/why/how did you decide you wanted to be a chef?”
Izuku smiles, he really likes this question, he loves talking about food so he takes any and every chance he can get, “Oooo, okay, so, when I was really little, maybe four or so, I saw this chef on one of those TVs in the window of stores, y’know?”
Bakugou nods.
“He was cutting up beetroot and-”
Bakugou interrupts him, “Beetroot?”
“Yes, beetroot, pay attention,” Izuku snaps with his left hand, reaching close to Bakugou’s face but not enough to mess up his driving, “anyway, I saw him cutting up the beetroot and I thought it was so cool and that was the day that I told my mom I’d open my very own restaurant.”
“Really?” Bakugou laughs, a smile on his face that Izuku can only assume means he’s amused.
Izuku nods with a grin on his face, “Yeah, she started to teach me how to cook all sorts of things and we’d make dinner together every night. Then, I learned some more about cooking after I was locked up. I read a lot of books, things that had recipes and I’d kinda form things in my mind.”
“Honestly, that’s pretty fuckin’ inspiring,” Bakugou says with genuine surprise in his voice, “when did you open your restaurant?”
“Didn’t you, like, google me after we first met or something? And you’re telling me you didn’t figure that out?” Izuku questions because he does thoroughly remember having to make fun of Bakugou for googling him at some point.
Besides, he’s like 90% sure that Bakugou looked at his file - what’s not sealed, at least - which definitely probably says it somewhere at some point.
“Besides, isn’t that another question?”
“Maybe,” Bakugou resorts, “but you just asked a question asking whether that was a question or not so therefore it’s back to me and therefore I ask you: When did you open your restaurant?”
Izuku scoffs but smiles in something that can almost be referred to as fondness, “God I hate cops,” He mutters under his breath - but just because, not to hide what he’s saying to Bakugou; in fact, he hopes Bakugou heard him - before deciding to answer, “Alright, whatever, sure. I opened it at 18 when Akari was pregnant with Nia. Akari’s parents helped fund it, invested into us and our family, but I’ve paid them back since then.”
“Damn,” Bakugou looks over at him for a second, bringing his eyes back to the road, “that’s really cool of them.”
Izuku nods, agreeing fully. It was really cool of them. Izuku had a difficult time accepting it but they managed to convince him to take it. They had said that they had money saved, just laying around doing nothing and that they’d really like it to go into something filled with passion.
Besides, they had said, he was about to be their granddaughter’s father, so it’s the least they could do. They told him to take it as a welcome to the family gift. They were even completely aware of Izuku’s history, what he’s done and who he is, and they looked right on past it.
They knew about his sexuality and never said a thing bad about it or him. They were respectful of his and Akari’s decision to keep the baby and stay together to raise her. They’re good people and Izuku respects the hell out of them.
Now, he’s paid them back every single cent they invested into him plus some interest.
Yet, he doesn’t think he can ever repay them enough.
They lost their daughter while she was giving birth to his (and, yet, they’ve been nothing but kind to him).
It’s never sat right with Izuku but, apparently, that’s just the universe’s sick sense of humor or something.
They keep going back and forth with questions like this until, eventually, they pull up in front of the Hiramatsu household.
Notes:
alright yeah so uh. i hope that wasnt terrible and for taking almost a year off away from this fic, i sure do hope this 4k words is worth it LMAO
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