Chapter Text
Katsuki Bakugo could be called a lot of things.
Focused.
Explosive.
Impossible.
Loud.
Asshole of the highest order.
Self-Loathing to a pathological level, wrapped by a fabricated, shell of an ego that served to protect him from said self-loathing.
You know…normal stuff.
And all of that would be accurate.
But of all the things he may accurately be called- wimp was not a word that anyone, including his worst enemies, would ever use to describe him.
He was not a scaredy-cat, dammit!
But he couldn’t seem to get his hands to stop sweating long enough to hold the phone, so he could hit ‘call’ on the number that had been sitting unused in his phone for a month. He hadn’t meant for it to take so long, but…he had a lot on his to-do list.
Like telling Aizawa that returning to the job he had loved but had wholly and utterly destroyed him was not an option right now. It wasn’t completely off the table. Maybe one day, when he was sure he could do it well, when he was sure he had worked out his triggers well enough to be ready for when one was inevitably tripped.
Which meant he also had to find alternative employment- one that didn’t work every last one of his stripped nerves. Fortunately, he didn’t have to look very long. Detective Sato had retired after going through something similar to Katsuki and decided that opening up a bakery was just the thing his soul needed.
Maybe he was onto something.
Because going in every morning and making bread and cupcakes and pastries- well…that was damn near therapeutic for Katsuki- not to mention quiet.
So after quitting a job, getting a job, getting all his stuff moved into his and Eijiro’s apartment, and getting a couple of in-person sessions with his therapist- Katsuki had a busy month. Plus, he had needed the reminder from his therapist that he was no longer a ticking time bomb, one that was waiting to explode and impale everyone in a 100-foot radius, including a sunny, smiley brunette with magic hands that turned him into a quivering puddle of man and thighs that unleashed a torrent of perversion the likes of which he had not experienced since he was fourteen years old.
He wasn’t dangerous.
He wasn’t a villain.
He was a man.
She was a woman.
She thought he was hot.
He thought she was hot.
It was all perfectly healthy- perfectly normal.
So…
Why couldn’t he just hit the damn button?
“Soooo….”
Katsuki looked up across the table at Ei, whose hands were folded patiently on the surface, his lips pursed as his eyes went from his watch to the phone.
“You…you gonna call her, buddy?”
Katsuki glared at Eijiro. “Don’t rush me!”
“I’m not,” he said, holding out his palms. “I’m not rushing you; I was just checking to make sure that was still the plan!”
Katsuki blew out a puff of air and sunk back into his chair, letting his head fall back with a thud.
“Fuck this,” he growled, putting the phone on the table and sliding it into the middle of the table. “I’m not doing it!’
“Whaaat?!”
“It’s been too long,” said Katsuki. “The moments passed.”
“Nooo,” protested Eijiro, folding his hands under his chin as he looked pleadingly at Katsuki. “It hasn’t! The moment is perfect! The moment is now! Seize the day!”
Katsuki narrowed his eyes at Ei. “Why the fuck are you so up my ass about this?”
“Because,” said Ei. “You’re my best bro!”
Katsuki scoffed.
“Also,” said Ei with a sheepish shrug. “Friends and family rate!” He flipped his hair over his shoulder theatrically. “You think these luscious locks are cheap to maintain?”
“Fuck you,” said Katsuki, moving to stand up and leave the table.
“Nooo,” wailed EIjiro, flinging himself across the table and grabbing at Katsuki’s arm. “No…no…” he said, patting the table. “Come on, sit and talk to your best buddy Ei!”
Katsuki petulantly slunk back into this chair again.
“Look,” said Ei, his tone softening to one a bit more serious. “You obviously don’t have to call her. You need to do you, and if you really aren’t in a place where you are ready to go on a date, then I support you, no matter what.” Katsuki knew that was true. Eijiro had shown that time and time again. “But…” he continued. “I don’t want you to self-sabotage.”
A year ago, Katsuki would certainly have shouted a protest at that- like a bratty toddler.
Now he just crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.
“Because I think you really want to go on a date with Uraraka, and you’re just nervous.”
That was true.
“It doesn’t have to be a big deal,” continued Eijiro. “It can just be you, going to dinner and letting a girl flirt with you. You’re both cool people, and even if all you get out of this is a night with someone who thinks you're hot, then, well, that doesn’t sound so bad to me.”
Katsuki tapped his index finger on the table in quick, rapid movements before he let out a frustrated growl and snatched up the phone. “I’m calling her!”
Eijiro let out a whoop of excitement as Katsuki quickly pressed call- not giving himself time to think about it. Ei did a silent dance in his chair.
One ring.
Shit.
Katsuki was thinking again.
Two rings.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Three rings.
He should hang up. He didn’t know what to say to a girl like her- a girl who smiled and floated and moved with such ease and confidence and certainty.
He would ruin her.
Even if it was one date.
He moved to phone from his ear, preparing to hang up. Eijiro jumped to his feet and shook his head.
“No..no…no…” he mouthed, gesturing wildly.
“Hello?”
Katsuki’s chest warmed at the sound of her voice.
Oh fuck…fuckfuckfuckfuck!
Why was he sweating?
Why was his heart pounding?
“Hello?” She sounded so…so…happy.
So light.
So…
He was gonna ruin her- drag her back to the earth by the weight of his own misery.
“Hello?” she said again.
He needed to say something.
“Uh…hi…hello…”
He tugged at his collar, trying to create space for moving air. She giggled, a little uncertain. “Hello,” she said again.
“H-How are you?”
“I’m doing good,” she answered. “Thank you.”
Katsuki cleared his throat and closed his eyes.
Uraraka let out an awkward laugh.
“I’m…I’m so sorry,” she said, as though she were confessing something horribly rude. “But who is this?”
He…had he NOT introduced himself when he called?
Dead.
He was going to die on this phone call.
He was simply going to melt into the ground and disappear forever.
“Oh right,” he mumbled. “It’s Katsuki Bakugo.”
He heard a quick intake of breath on the other end. “Oh my god, Bakugo!” He let out a brief sigh of relief that she hadn’t totally forgotten him in the sea of people who no doubt were calling her to go on a date and hold her hand and brush her hair or…
Okay.
Fine.
Whatever.
His only reference for dating in the past ten years was cartoons.
He didn’t know what people did anymore!
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Of course it’s you!”
“Yeah,” he answered lamely.
“Can you give me a sec…”
“Yeah.”
God, he needed to come up with something else to say other than ‘yeah.’ He heard shuffling on the other end of the phone and then her voice calling out.
“Momma,” she yelled, her voice thick with the accent he had only caught glimpses of that night in her chair. “I’ll be back. I’m just gonna step outside for a bit.”
“Put your shoes on, Sweet Pea; it’s cold!”
“I don’t need shoes, momma! I’m fine!”
Katsuki brought the phone from his ear and looked at Ei, the panic inside of him rising to the surface.
“What do I do?” he asked, making sure he had hit the mute button.
“Huh?”
“What do I do?” Katuski repeated. “I don’t know what to say!”
“Just ask her out!”
“How?!”
Ei’s panic was rising to meet Katsuki’s- which was the last thing he needed right now.
“What!?”
“How do I ask her?” Katsuki looked between the phone and Ei rapidly, knowing he had only a few seconds left. “I haven’t done this in 5 years!”
Ei’s brow furrowed as he looked down at his hands as if doing the math. “Tetsutetsu?”
“No,” said Katsuki. “That was like 8 years ago.”
“Who was five years ago?”
“Utsushimi,” he answered off-handedly.
“Oh right,” exclaimed Ei, as if a lightbulb had gone off. “Camie! How is she?”
“Good,” answered Katsuki, with a nod. “Last we talked, she was pregnant, so I’m assuming she has a one-year-old by now.”
“Oh good for her,” said Ei, clapping his hands together. “That makes me happy.”
“ Hello ?”
Eijiro let out a high-pitched yelp and looked around the kitchen for the source, only to suddenly remember that Katsuki had a phone in his hand.
“Are you on mute?” asked Ei frantically.
“Of course I am,” said Katsuki, his eyes narrowing with annoyance. “I’m not an idiot.”
“Debatable.”
“Uhh…Bakugo, are you there?”
Shit.
He hurriedly unmuted himself and brought the phone back to his ear. “Hey, yeah, I’m still here.”
“Oh good,” she said. “The reception out here at my parent's place is spotty. I thought I’d lost ya.”
Ei’s eyes widened, and he covered his chest with his hands. “Awww, duuude!”
Katsuki rolled his eyes and held up a middle finger at him. “Nah,” he said. “I’m still here.”
“Put her on speaker,” mouthed Eijiro, bobbing up and down in front of Katsuki.
He most certainly would not.
“Good,” she said.
“So you’re at your parents’ house?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I haven’t seen them in a few months, so I took the train Friday and spent the weekend here with them.”
“Sorry,” he said. “I don’t mean to interrupt your time with them. If you need to go, then…”
“Oh no,” she said with an easy laugh. “I’m helpless in the kitchen, so momma was glad to be rid of me.”
He snorted. “Good to know.”
“Which part?” she asked. “That you didn’t interrupt or that I’m useless in the kitchen.”
“Both,” he said. “I’ll know to avoid anything from your kitchen.”
“Hey,” she said. “I make a mean instant ramen and a bowl of cereal. Even those are Ochako proof.”
“That’s all shit,” he said and winced as soon as it came out. He didn’t know her well enough to call her cooking shit. But then, she laughed, and he couldn’t feel anything except the tiny spark of…of…whatever it was her laugh did to him.
“Well,” she said playfully. “You’ll have to come over and make use of the three burners I don’t use to boil water.”
He flushed red and looked at Ei, suddenly wishing he had put the call on speaker so that Ei could tell him how to respond.
“What?” mouthed Ei.
Katsuki took the phone from his ear and covered the speaker. “I…I think she’s flirting with me.”
Ei rubbed his face exhaustedly. “Duude,” he whined. “She wrote you a note that basically said she wanted to hear your sex noises one day. Of course she’s flirting with you!”
Katsuki let out a choked sound and instinctively held his phone out, away from Ei.
“What?” Ei gestured at the phone. “She wrote the note! She knows what she said.”
“Still…” he mumbled.
“Uh…Bakugo…” her voice came through the speaker, tentative and unsure.
“Fuck,” he exclaimed, bringing the phone back to his ear. “Yes!” He all but shouted in her ear. “Yes. I’m here!”
“Good,” she said, and- fuck- she seemed like she really meant it.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to call you.”
“Oh, no worries,” she said. “I know moving takes up a lot of energy.”
That’s right. She had been in Musutafu for under a year. “Yeah,” he said. “It does.”
Silence followed.
A long silence.
A silence reminding him just how shit he was at stuff like this.
“Did…did you call me to ask me out?” she asked, her voice a rich mix of both a teasing boldness but also a coaxing question. “Or just to talk about my lack of cooking skills?”
He wanted to say something smart and flirty back. He wanted to tease her for being too sure of herself or thinking she was hot shit, but he couldn’t get his brain to work. All he felt was grateful that she went ahead and took the lead because, clearly, he had no idea how.
“Yeah,” he said. “Yes. The…the former. If you want to.”
“I do,” she said, and he could all but hear the smile in her voice. “I’d really like that.”
“Good,” was his one-word response, carried on the back of a noticeable sigh of relief. “Good.”
She let out a small giggle at that. Katsuki wasn’t usually someone who liked to be laughed at, but there was something about her laugh that made him sure it wasn’t at his expense.
There was something inviting about it.
Like she was thanking him for making her laugh in the first place.
“So…should I text you my schedule?” she asked. “Most of my evenings are free except for a couple of later appointments.”
“Sounds good,” he said. “Text me your availability, and I’ll plan something.”
“Good,” she exclaimed. “I’m excited!”
“Me too,” he said, lowering his voice as though to hide that fact from Eijiro. The red-head, however, was making no such effort to be subtle as he shuffled around Katsuki, flapping his arms excitedly. “Enjoy your time with your family.”
“I will,” she said. “Talk soon!”
“Bye.”
When he hung up, his legs felt a little wobbly at the sudden release of adrenaline reached his limbs.
“Heeey,” cheered Eijiro, grabbing Katsuki’s shoulders and shaking him excitedly. “You did it!”
“That was a train wreck,” Katsuki moaned.
“You got the date,” cheered Eijiro. “So not a train wreck! That’s a rousing success.”
“Yeah,” grumbled Katsuki. “I’m starting to question her sanity for wanting to go out with me at all.”
“Dude,” said Eijiro, moving in front of him and putting a palm on either side of Katsuki’s face. Katsuki pouted under the touch, but he didn’t pull away from it. “You. Are. Hot.”
“Shut up.”
“Nope,” said Eijiro, holding his face in place. “You are hot. You are funny…in…in your own way. You are stupidly smart. You kiss like a sailor on leave!” That was true. Katsuki had gotten rave reviews on his kissing- his most glowing from Eijiro himself. “And most important…” Eijiro let his forehead drop against Katsuki’s with the kind of tender intimacy that Katsuki still didn’t know what to do with. He was learning not to reject it, but he still didn’t know how to return it. But he supposed that was okay for now. “…you are a good man, Katsuki.”
Katsuki bit back the smart remark, rising like bile in his throat- his knee-jerk reaction to any kind of compliment like that- a compliment that wasn’t measurable, objective, and able to be gauged.
“So…” said Eijiro, pulling away with a huge grin. “What are you gonna do for your date?!” Katsuki groaned and let his head fall back again. “Sorry…sorry…” said Eijiro urgently. “I take it back! You did a lot today! We can plan your date later!”
“Don’t act like you haven’t been planning our date the minute she asked about me,” he said.
Eijiro clasped his hands behind his back and looked at him with fake innocence. “Nooo,” he said. “That would be crazy!” Katsuki looked at him, unconvinced for a beat before Eijiro broke. “Fine,” he declared. “So what if I’ve been asking questions and taking notes at my appointments.”
Katsuki rolled his eyes. “You are such a freak!”
“If by "freak" you mean the best bro a bro could ask for,” he said. “Then yes! Yes, I am!”
Well, Katsuki could hardly argue with that.