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With a smile on his face, Izuku walked into class, pointedly avoiding the murderous glare Katsuki Bakugou sent him. After all, he just had 11 months until the end of middle school and then everything would change.
“Now then, I’ve got career forms here because you’re all third years, so its important to think about your futures…” the teacher paused, smirking as he looked around the room “Hahaha who am I kidding, almost all of you are going for the hero track right!?”
The classroom erupted in pandemonium, Bakugou even going as far as jumping on the table and declaring that he was the best, nobody could even get close to his skill level.
“Alright calm down Bakugou, its very exciting that you’re applying for UA. We’re also proud that Midoriya already has a position at Tokyo’s Engineering Institute High School!”
“Huh?!” The classroom went silent, all turning around to glare at him. Bakugou looked downright venomous.
“Right, on with class”
When it got to the end of the day, he’d really hoped he might be able to make it out without an altercation with his former friend. But the blonde had other ideas.
“Deku!” Bakugou slammed a quirked palm down onto the table, scorching the wood “That’s it then? No more fucking heroics, just taking your shitty quirk and becoming an engineer!? Finally quit on your bullshit!?”
He flinched back with the second explosion “N-no Kacchan, I-“
“Midoriya!” Their teacher poked his head around the door, all bright smiles, oblivious (or indifferent) to the bullying “Glad you’re still here, the Musutafu Fire Chief is here about your internship!”
“Th-Thanks!” He side stepped away from the aggressive teen, pulling his bag onto his shoulders as he ran.
When he got to the staff room, Mr Tengen Kaji was sitting in full fire department uniform. Izuku had met the man during the school holidays when the apartment next to his had caught fire.
“Hey! How's Mr Kevlar lungs!?” He barked out a loud but warm laugh, clapping his oversized hand against his knee. On top of his impressive size, the fire chief had a quirk perfect for firefighting. His hands seemed to have a fire suppressing quality to them. The guy could pat down open flames, completely extinguishing the fire, without coming to harm due to the associated fire resistance of his arms. Though as Izuku found out that day, he wasn’t resistant to smoke. That might have been what the guy loved most about Izuku’s quirk. While many had told him his quirk was pretty useless, the associated aspects of it were great for running into infernos.
Izuku’s quirk was a combination of his parents. While his mother could attract small objects via weak telekinesis, his father could breath fire so in the lamest possible way… Izuku could attract small objects that were on fire. Up to a maximum of roughly 500g. His quirk didn’t even work on fire, just things that were on fire. Small things. Specifically within a reasonably small distance too. So all in all… not ideal for a dream job in heroics.
However, as a secondary mutation from his fathers quirk, Izuku had some level of heat tolerance and amazingly, complete resistance to smoke. He didn’t exactly understand it when he was younger but as he’d grown older, he found the chemistry behind it quite fascinating.
So in a smokey room, he could breathe as if it was normal air, his eyes didn’t water, his voice didn’t get raspy. For a long time he clung to the idea that with that secondary quirk effect, he could be a hero, working with other heroes that had fire quirks, perhaps having small flammable objects that he could use as projectiles or something.
That all changed when he’d charged into his neighbours apartment, to grab her cat just as Fire Chief Kaji arrived. The man sucked in a lung ready to berate the teen but stopped to cough with the smoke billowing out of the windows. After dealing with the small fire, he’d queried Izuku about his quirk, giving him the ridiculous nickname of Kevlar lungs. By the end of the talk, Izuku was being signed up for internships with the Musutafu fire department, scheduled to begin during high school.
“I hear you got accepted into a very prestigious high school to study structural engineering!”
Izuku sat opposite the friendly, giant of a man with a smile “Y-yes sir! My dad is a structural engineer too… I-I mean, I’m not doing it to follow i-in his footsteps s-sir! I’m serious about becoming a fire fighter!”
The fire chief laughed, running his hand through his spiky, dark blue hair “No I get it, its the perfect choice. Understanding a building’s weakness when its on fire is valuable knowledge! You’re going to do great, although here’s a piece of advice… Start working out now. You need to be fit and strong to be a fire fighter and these noodles you call arms-” Izuku squeaked self consciously “-ain’t gonna cut it! So you might as well get a head start now. Do some volunteering like cleaning, go running, hit the gym, you name it! Just build athletic and muscular strength ok?”
“Yes sir!”
11 months later
Izuku hummed to himself as he finished packing his bag for the last day of school. The year had gone by so fast, focusing purely on doing exactly what Fire Chief Kaji said, building muscle and fitness made his days slip away like sand through his fingers. And now that it was in his grasp, he was more obsessed than ever with moving onto the next phase of his life.
As he hastily got out of his seat, he barrelled right into Bakugou, gasping as a whole bottle of water spilled down his chest. It was pretty much the first interaction he’d had with the explosive teen since the day the teacher announced he was going on to do the engineering course, instead of pursuing a career in heroics. Kacchan had basically ignored him, maybe even avoided him. He never felt those glares anymore and the blonde would look away whenever he turned.
So his gasp wasn’t just the surprise at the cold water seeping through his clothing.
Looking up, he met irritated red eyes “Tch dumbass”
“Uh… yeah, haha sorry Kacchan”
He anxiously laughed as he shucked his bag off, putting it on his desk so he could strip his sopping wet gakuran. He had a hoodie in the bottom of his bag for in case he went to work out on the way home, something to keep the cold winter air from his sweaty body.
Folding his wet clothing up and rolling it to keep the wetness inside, he reached for the hoodie, freezing in place as he noticed something.
Katsuki Bakugou was still there. Just standing there, staring at him. He didn’t dare look at his face, instead slowly resuming his movements to get the hoodie on. When he’s finally covered up and shoves his bag back on, he takes a steeling breath.
“Well Kacchan…” he finally looks back up and sees the teen looking at him with a strange expression “ummm g-good luck in your hero career- uh I mean! Not that you’d need it!”
‘Great stammering. Maybe if I see him in the future, I could talk like a normal human… the very distant future’
The blonde scowled “Whatever Deku” and then he turned, stomping away, out of Izuku’s life.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
The Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, or as he was right now, Katsuki Bakugou, strolled down the street on his day off. It had been three weeks since he moved back to Musutafu after living and working in Shinjuku following his graduation from UA four years ago.
Once the latest hero rankings placed him in the top 5, he finally had a little more freedom and decided to move closer to home. Not too close, he didn’t want his mother turning up unexpectedly… but ever since two of best friends got married, he was feeling a strange homesickness.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, still on silent as it had been for literal years in an attempt to feign ignorance when his friends contacted him.
“Brush head”
“Awwww Bakubroooo, you know I’m always waiting for the day you’ll call me my actual name but dude, I miss you, I don’t care about the cruel and hurtful names”
The idiot’s voice was laden with a fake sadness that bordered on whimpering at the end.
“Oh I’ll give you cruel and hurtful names if you keep on at me. Whadda ya want, I’m on my day off”
He turned into the conbini, Katsuki’s search for a particular brand of spicy jerky continued.
“Ah nothing, just wanted to see how its going?”
“You’re on honeymoon, the new agency is fine, my new apartment is fine, stop talking to me and go spend your last few days off with your new fuckin wife”
“Yeah Mina will kick my ass, she’s getting a massage in the resort spa”
After the quick chat finished and several packets of jerky were placed in the paper bag, Katsuki walked out of the store, a triumphant smirk on his lips. The happy mood disintegrated as the wind changed direction, blowing a subtle but alarming smell of smoke his way. He moved across to the other side of the street, barely getting to the other side when a fire truck speed through.
Then he saw it. Billowing clouds of black smoke.
He didn’t even think about the fact he was in civilian clothes with a can of coffee and a bag of jerky in his hands, simply setting off in a fast jog.
When he reached the junction of the road, he saw the fire, blazing through a three story office building. An ambulance and the fire brigade were already there, the truck that passed him adding to the smaller truck already parked out the front.
He jogged over to two men that were putting up barricades “Fellas, you need any help. I’m-“ he realised they might not recognise him out of costume, in a hoodie, baseball hat and face mask, so he quickly pulled them down “I’m Pro-hero Dynamight, I’m on my day off but I can help if you need-“
“Oh that’s cool but uhh yeah Kevlar probably has it covered, he’s already been in and out like-“ the taller of the firemen turned to the other man, who was connecting a different head to one of the hoses “-What you think Haru? Like 4 times?”
The other short tank of a guy gave a thumbs up over his shoulder “Fuck yeah, he said there was only two-“ he looked up towards the building “yeah there he is”
Katsuki followed the man’s gaze, seeing someone backing down the ladder from an open window. The guy had a woman over each shoulder and even though he couldn’t see what he looked like, based on the glorious ass that descended, he was suddenly keen to meet this Kevlar guy.
The two men finished connecting the hose and joined the other fire fighters that were suppressing the flames. The fireman who had been carrying the women finally reached ground level and carried them straight to the waiting ambulance, so he jogged over to see if everything was ok.
But then he screeched to a halt.
The firefighter was Deku.
His former childhood friend.
The victim of his dumbass bullying campaign for years.
The person with the most naturally heroic heart he’d ever met (and that’s saying something given he went to a fucking hero school).
And of course, he was the person who, on their very last day of middle school, made him realise he was gay.
“Fuck”
“Sir, civilians need to remain behind the-“ the muscled beauty turned around to convince him to leave the area, but instead pulled up stunned “Kacchan?!”
“Deku?”
The shock on his face morphed to distaste. Oh. That’s right, Deku was what he called him to bully him. Shit.
The cold glare did not sit nicely on that face. Deku- Izuku had lost the roundness of his cheeks, but his delicate freckles still sprinkled across his soot smeared cheeks and his wild unruly hair was pretty much the same, just held back by a thin band. The most stunning change though was the growth spurt that had him a couple of inches taller than Katsuki and the pure muscle he sported on his frame. The guy had began bulking up before the end of school. The blonde hadn’t noticed, he’d been too busy avoiding the nerd due to confused guilt over his apparent decision to abandon his heroic ambitions. That was until the last day, when Izuku had stripped out of his soaking wet school shirt, without a care that his glistening pecs and abs had practically short circuited Katsuki and sent him into a week long, wild website search on ‘why do men’s abs make me hard’ and ‘what is that feeling in my gut when I look at pecs’ etc.
He was pulled from his silent stunned state when Izuku’s stern voice came back “Civilians need to be outside the barricades” then he walked away, straight over to the three people with hoses.
Katsuki still stood there, just as bewildered as before, watching Izuku walk over and discuss the situation with the other fire fighters.
“The roof is on the verge of collapse, the kind of beams in this type of construction have a mutter mutter mutter”
He’d zoned out, the delicious, green haired man’s voice washing over him, deeper and more sensual than he could have imagined.
“So Captain, is uhhh Dynamight staying or?”
The crew all turned to look at him, snapping him out of his reverie. “I fucking said I was available to help-“
“And exactly how is a hero, with a quirk that causes explosions going to help-” Deku spat his words with slight venom but stopped and sighed “The building is clear, all that is left to do is put out the fire. While we fire fighters appreciate the support, its not required. Go enjoy your day off Dynamight”
The people in front of him all turned around and while anger boiled up inside of him (he’d changed since his teens, but he was still Kastuki Bakugou after all), he realised the nerd was right. So he stomped away, keen to get away from the confused looks of the other fire crew, very keen to get away before he said something that would bite him in the ass, as if he hadn’t already done that.
Half an hour later when he got home, stripping out of his slightly smokey smelling clothes, the whole interaction continued to swirl around his head.
When Izuku had first turned around, his eyes widened, his lips had quirked up just a touch, his voice sounded surprised but soft and happy…. And then he called him Deku. Fucking up everything.
“Shit… this is fucking shit!”
He tried to wipe the interaction out of his mind, heading back to work and sinking into heroics. When he moved to Musutafu, Kirishima, Mina, Kaminari and Shinsou agreed to open an agency with him, only Sero staying closer to Tokyo to remain close to his fiancé Todoroki. He was reminded of how painfully single he was constantly, by working with two married couples. While side kicks and interns irritated the shit out of him, they were the much needed buffer that kept him from feeling nauseous at their loving displays.
The new annoying addition to his days though, was his newfound interest in the fire brigade. He would swear that he never heard fire alarms or sirens as often as this but the reality was, he just didn’t listen. They were one of those ‘not my field of expertise and therefore not really my problem’ kind of things. And while he was loathed to admit it, Izuku was right. He was probably the last hero anyone would call if there was a fire in a building.
But he wasn’t kidding himself, his newfound interest in all things hot and smokey was Izuku. Seeing him again hadn’t really crossed his mind when he moved back home. Or maybe it did… when it came to romance, love, relationships, he was a disaster. Not one single serious relationship under his belt at the age of 22. Sure there had been a couple of flings, even one week long holiday romance, when he was forced to take some annual leave and fucked off to Thailand for a resort holiday. But that was it. So really, he had no idea what the hell was going on in his brain.
Things changed when the team insisted they have the weekly meeting on the goddamn roof of their building, because Mina wouldn’t shut the fuck up, whining about how lovely a day it was but they were all stuck inside doing paperwork and meetings.
So there they were, sitting around the cheap plastic table, with multiple fake plants that Kaminari insisted made the rooftop more like an oasis. Which was total bullshit, but he was outnumbered and agency democracy was a thing apparently.
Sure, the meeting was a little less draining when the breeze tousled his spiky hair and the glass of orange juice in his hand made him feel like he was casually chatting about work while on holiday, but then the distant sound of sirens began to butt into his day dreams.
“Damn, Zuku’s been pretty busy lately.”
Normally when Eyebags mumbled, Katsuki would block out his tired droll voice, but he said Zuku. So the zombie instantly had 100% of his attention “Did- are you talking about Izuku… the fireman?”
“Fire Captain, yeah, some of the guys call him Kevlar or something because of his quirk. The Fire Chief is my uncle, he gave him the name when he was involved in a fire during middle school or something.” The purple haired hero eyed him suspiciously “… you know him?”
Katsuki pulled back to look a little less interested, keen to appear nonchalant. He folded his arms, looked off across the rooftops “Yeah, went to school with him. Saw him the other day for the first time in years”
He doesn’t look back to the table, but he can hear Mina whispering something to Kirishima and suddenly he wants to fucking blow up this plastic shit hole. What Shinsou responds with isn’t what he expects.
“Ahhh….So you’re Kacchan then”
He snaps his head back quick enough to pull a muscle (wtf he’s 22, not 50 for fucks sake) but the zombie has a smug ass grin on his face, even his fucking husband is smirking.
“Wipe that shitty look off your face, you reject pokemon!”
Kaminari gasps in offense, even dramatically bringing his hand up to his chest “How rude! Kacch-“
Katsuki literally growls “Don’t you fucking dare”
Shinsou sighs, getting his phone out of his pocket, tapping away, then putting it back “You can thank me later asshole”
Before he can give the troll doll a confused and disgusted look, his phone vibrates.
Its Deku- no, Izuku’s phone number.
“I didn’t ask for his fucking number, fuck you!”
Shinsou slumped back into his seat, groaning loudly “Whatever, can we get this meeting done, I want to go curl up somewhere dark and take a nap”
Three hours into paperwork, his phone is like a glaring neon sign on the edge of his desk. He will NOT text the nerd. He’s got nothing to apologise for. He absolutely did not look him up online for a solid half an hour while the rest of the idiots were out getting lunch. He was not secretly impressed and enamoured when reading tales of Izuku’s dramatic fiery rescues. And he absolutely, one hundred percent DID NOT click on the local news article detailing the “amazing full body work out from our city’s hot and buff new fire captain” that was posted 8 months ago (and look at it over and over again).
Fuck.
He looked at the phone again.
No.
He aggressively clicked onto the new report on his screen, tapping viciously on the keyboard, filling out the form so he could print and sign it.
Bzzz bzzzz bzzz
He looked at the offending device before clenching his jaw and grabbing it.
“Hag”
“Katsuki! Twenty two and still a goddamn brat!”
“Ugh what do you want, I’m up to my eyeballs in paperwork.”
“A little birdy called me this morning… saying her beloved Fire Captain son had a brief run in with Kacchaaaan-”
‘Kill me’
The hag’s voice grated on him but she continued, ignoring his deep growl.
“Apparently he was very vocal on his weekly call… you hear that you little shit, Izuku calls his mother every week! ~Oh I saw Kacchan” she went on in a high mimicked voice, despite the fact that he knew Izuku had a much deeper purr “~He looked so amazing even in his civilian clothes. I can’t believe he recognised me, although I’m sure he still thinks I’m useless”
Katsuki groaned. One simple word and he’d fucked everything. What an idiot!
“Fuck off!”
“You call that boy and make amends with him! And stop ignoring my texts! And come over for dinner on sunday or I’m calling in a bomb threat!”
“Like hell you will! Now get lost, I’m at work… I’ll see you sunday”
He hung up before he could get an earful of her witchy cackling then promptly turned the phone off and locked it in his desk drawer.
‘Ha!’
But barely 7 minutes later, the emergency sirens were going off in the agency. Barely five streets away, a sweets factory was on fire and due to the sheer size of the place and the fact that half of the fire department was already out at a large multi-storey building fire in downtown, back up had been requested.
By the fire department.
When Bakugou, Kirishima, Mina and Kaminari reached the factory, it looked like organised chaos. People were still streaming out, some with obvious signs of smoke inhalation, an ambulance passed, sirens blaring as it sped towards the hospital. The factory grounds comprised of several small buildings with larger silos around the more industrial looking buildings.
All four of them looked gravely at the situation, in the back of his mind he was glad the four of them came, Shinsou volunteering to stay and keep the side kicks with him to man the agency, sending the more experienced ones towards the inferno.
“Heroes!”
Two fire fighters were running from the mass of trucks, both carrying rolled up hoses, waved for them to go with. When they caught up, Dynamight asked for the situation report.
“The winds quickly spread the fire across several of the buildings. We have only been here about ten minutes and its out of control. Our priorities are split between evacuation and trying to prevent the industrial plant and the silos from catching fire, the products inside are volatile and highly flammable.” The guy turned to his companion “Giyu, gimme that, you take these guys to the captain, he’s getting people out of the office building, I’ll run these over to the silos” he grunted as the extra weight of the other hose was placed on his shoulder.
“Nah I’ll take that” Red Riot grabbed the extra hose “My quirk is better suited for that area anyways if there’s potential for explosions or intense heat, the others can go get direction.”
When they reached the office building, one fire woman was manning a hose aimed at the multiple busted windows. “Heroes! Can one of you grab the other hose there? The captain is inside getting the last couple of people out-“
“I think this is it” Izuku came out of the building, jogging despite having a full grown man over his shoulder. He was in full uniform again, only forgoing the heavy heat suppressing jacket and this time he had his helmet on “I just need to go back for one more sweep. Pinky, please can you check that three story building over there, the staff said they should be empty, I just sent two guys over there, if you can go help out that would be great. Grab a fire jacket from one of the trucks if you need it, the building should still be structurally sound despite the fire. Once its checked, help everyone with hose management.”
“You got it cap” she nodded and took off in a sprint.
“Charge bolt, the small power station next door needs evacuating, I put out the order as soon as we got here but I’ve not had anyone spare to get it checked and the police still aren’t here”
“Righto Mido!” The electric blonde ran, high-fiving a fireman he passed.
“Ka-Umm Dynamight” fiercely determined eyes met his own, taking his breath away “The guys at the silo just radioed to say Red Riot is with them but the workshop buildings are at risk being so close, can you head over and help the crew finish checking that they’re all empty then if you can, grab a spare hose from one of the trucks and call on comms to see where its needed… Please.”
He could tell that even if Izuku felt apprehensive about them working together, Katsuki was a professional and he was going to listen to the Fire Captain, regardless of whatever past they might have had “Yeah gotcha… Captain”
He gave a little smirk and set off running, not missing the slight flush on Izuku’s cheeks.
When he got to the workshop buildings he could see the rooftops smoking and just behind them, the shouts of the fire fighters. He could see the dramas they were having. In an attempt to hide the eyesores of the multiple silos, the whole area was surrounded by dense, overgrown forrest. Thick foliage stopping literally within a metre of the fenced in silo area. In fact, the whole compound had multiple trees, paths were lined with bushes and in the strong breeze, embers whirled through the air setting everything alight.
“This is a fucking nightmare” he grumbled as he jogged over to the furthest building, signalling to the fire officers he passed that he’d take the last one on the row. When he got there, he barged through the front door of the building, straight into a large open plan room. Apart from multiple desks and workstations, there were conveyer belts that ran through the room. The light that filtered through the windows, highlighted the lingering smoke. Dust and ash floated through the shafts of light and despite the noise he’d heard outside, the room was eerily quiet.
“Hey! Anyone in here!” Towards the back were three, windowed doors, probably leading to offices or something. He ducked down to check under the equipment as he passed, making his way to the three doors.
First room: Simple office, empty.
Second room: Locker room, empty
Third room-
As he opened the door, he heard the distant yelling get a little louder. With a frown he set to finishing up as fast as possible.
The third room was a small kitchen, complete with double fridge, stove, oven-
“Fuck I should turn off the gas-“
He was interrupted by the loud bang of the building’s door being flung open.
“KACCHA-“
.
.
.
.
When Katsuki came to, there was an unsettling, loud ringing in his ears. Then he registered the heat. And the choking thick smoke “F-fuck”
He coughed, pushing up from under a large pile of plasterboard debris. The walls around him had collapsed, it was obvious the silo had blown up and half obliterated the building he was in. And Izuku had ran-
“Iz-“ he tried shouting but the thick smoke had him coughing again.
“Kacchan!”
… Crash!
…
‘What the fuck’
He wasn’t sure if he’d hit his head but he was pretty sure Izuku just crashed through the wall like the damn cool aid man.
“Sorry, given the poor structural integrity of the building, that was a dumb thing to do but I was worried about you and the main beams seem to be steel and the temperature here wouldn’t compromise that just yet. I had to get in to you because I barely got a look at you before the blast sent you through into this locker r-… Kacchan?”
‘Still mumbles huh- wait’
Katsuki turned around and took in the ruined surroundings. He wasn’t in the kitchen, he was in the locker room next door like Izuku had said.
“How-“ again his throat instantly closed in irritation.
“Shit! Kacchan, don’t talk, the smoke is bad- c’mon we have to get you out of here” Izuku reached down, offering his hand.
Long lost memories flashed into his mind, but he dismissed them as fast as possible. The past was in the past and now wasn’t the time to be dwelling on old mistakes, he could apologise to Izuku another time, maybe over dinner…
“Uh yeah” he reached up, grabbing the hand and wincing as pain seared through his shoulder “Fuck!”
Izuku dived forward, stabilising him by wrapping his big, meaty arms around him, helping him up without putting pressure on his injured shoulder. “Can you walk, do you need me to carry you?”
Katsuki shot him a side glare, rasping barely louder than a whisper “You fucking dare”
Izuku bellowed a laugh, almost appearing to show off how the smoke had no effect on him. “One of the silos exploded, the blast and radiating heat set off the gas supplying the kitchen you were in, obliterating the back corner of the building and sending you flying. To be honest, I’m amazed you aren’t more badly injured”
He tried to reply as he hobbled by Izuku’s side, but just ended up coughing again.
‘What a fucking mess.’
A few minutes later, he was sitting in the back of an ambulance, oxygen mask on his face even though he was probably alright. Normally he’d shoo off this kind of bullshit but the problem was, all the pillowed muscle, chiseled jaw, green curls peeking out from the bottom of his fireman’s hat… nope, it was none of that, it was the damn puppy dog eyes Izuku had given him. His childhood friend practically begged him to get checked out in the ambulance and have a little oxygen, even if he would be seeing the on call doctor at his agency for the shoulder injury and mild burns.
Everyone else was pretty much ok. Kirishima had gotten blasted away in the explosion but thanks to his quirk, sustained little more than a few scrapes and singed eyebrows, so he’d continued to help fire fighting, Kaminari joined them about fifteen minutes later too.
Eventually, after getting more and more pissed off that everyone was running around and he was sat there like a dummy, he barked at the paramedic to tape up his shoulder so it was immobile and then got back out to help.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x
An hour later, the fires were out and Izuku finally felt like he could relax. The whole disaster had been… well, a disaster. He’d barely gotten back from getting morning tea for the crew when the office fire started. They were providing back up for another unit so he offered to stay back with a few others in case anything called in.
And of course, it was just his luck that this happened.
When he heard over the radio that the pressure valves on some of the silos had started going off, just minutes after he’d sent Kacchan to check the workshops, he panicked. He knew he shouldn’t be prioritising the blonde over everyone else but he just couldn’t help himself, running as fast as he could.
In the end, the hero wasn’t too badly injured but it just spurred him into trying to make amends. He’d obviously changed since middle school, even if he did let that name slip out.
About fifteen minutes before all the fires were out, the heroes left to return to the agency, the blonde giving him a long look before leaving. He decided then and there that he’d ask Shinsou for Kacchan’s number before the day was through.
But as it turned out, he didn’t need to. When he peeled off his dirty, sweaty fire uniform and grabbed his phone from his locker, there was a text waiting for him.
Unknown number: Hey, its Katsuki. Shinsou gave me your number. Let me know when you’re done for the day, I really want to catch up… we’ve got a lot to talk about
“Holy shit…Kacchan’s got my number-“
“Hey Cap” he turned to one of the oncoming crew members “Chief Kaji called. He said you’re on leave for the next week-“ Izuku barely managed to get a noise of protest out before the fireman continued “He said ‘no buts’ apparently you have too much accrued and there’s a policy or something blah blah blah” the cheeky guy raised his hand to make talking motions with his hand then turned to leave, calling out over his shoulder “So see you in a week boss man!”
Izuku: Kacchan! I just got off and apparently am on forced leave for a week (」＞＜)」
Kacchan: What the hell? Why!
Izuku: Too much leave stacked up (￢_￢;)
Kacchan: Ah that shits happened to me before.
Izuku stared at the screen, wondering if he should continue the conversation. He unlocked his car and set off driving, while he didn’t just want to leave him on read, he also didn’t want to write something dumb and make a fool of himself. And if Kacchan hadn’t said anything else by the time he could get home, he could say sorry he was driving, then go on to ask how his shoulder was. Nice and casual.
But barely a minute later, he felt the phone vibrate in his pocket and all of a sudden reading the text became the most important thing in his mind. Getting home as fast as legally possible had never been more of a priority than right now.
“Aghhhh… at least the traffic isn’t bad”
Kacchan: So you got any plans for dinner
“Holy shit… don’t panic”
Izuku: No nothing
Izuku: Well I mean obviously I was going to eat but nothing exciting or anything
Izuku: I’ve got no plans with anyone else is what I mean.
‘Hjfdhsjkhfdkls so cool Izuku. Nice and casual’
Kacchan: 7pm at Tabe-sans. See you there nerd
Izuku whined, banging his head against the headrest in the car (where he was still parked after pulling into the apartment garage.) “Why is Kacchan so cool!?!”
At 6:58pm, Izuku sat opposite the explosive hero in a semi private booth in the restaurant. He panicked and arrived early, wandering around the streets for twenty minutes before he was spotted by the guy and dragged into the restaurant.
But now that they’d ordered, the silence was deafening. He’d actually taken to staring wide eyed at his hands.
“Oh for fucks sake. Why are you being so awkward. You chatted up a storm when you macho’d through the fucking wall, while I’m on it. What the fuck? Did your quirk evolve or something?!”
Izuku looked at him like he had a second head “The wall was just plasterboard. The outside walls were the load bearing ones, those were just internal additions”
Kacchan scoffed, rolling his eyes “This what you went to that fancy engineering school for”
Izuku frowned as if he was missing something “Uhh… yes?”
“Ughhhhhh!” Katsuki let his head fall back, glaring at the ceiling for a moment before pursing his lips and returning his gaze straight to Izuku “I’m fucking sorry.”
‘What… what?’
“I’m sorry for calling you Deku the other day, it just slipped out. I wanted to get in touch but I didn’t know what to say since I’d already fucked it up so badly the first time”
Izuku watched as the blonde crossed his arms in irritation, a hint of a blush dusting his cheeks “You didn’t fuck it up”
Katsuki rolled his eyes “You’re a terrible liar…I’m sorry for bullying you at school, I’m sorry for killing your ambitions to be a hero“
Izuku watched the blonde as he ranted an apology, stunning him to stillness in his seat. It took a moment for his brain to reboot but when it did, he felt compelled to press the issue “Why’d you avoid me at the end of school? As soon as the teacher announced I was attending the engineering school, you shunned me”
The waitress bought their food over, based on his expression, Izuku guessed that it gave the other a chance for think through what he was going to say.
“I guess that I felt guilty, pushing you into giving up on the dream to be a hero, that and I had some weird feelings about you that I didn’t understand and I fucking absolutely didn’t want to face them until I had no choice, plus when you stripped that damn wet shirt off on the last day of school, I realised I was gay”
Izuku wheezed “I- you- I mean- I- Kacchan!”
“Let me take you out for breakfast tomorrow!”
He stopped stuttering like a fool when Katsuki interrupted him, staring wildly, mind racing.
“Like for a date?”
‘I DIDN’T MEAN TO SAY THAT OUT LOUD’
The blonde scoffed “What the hell did you think this was?!” Then set a deadly smirk on his lips “No nerd, for a second date”
‘I died in that fire today right? Why would Kacchan want to take me for a date! Kacchan is so hot. He’s the number 4 hero!’
“Hey dumdum” Izuku snapped his gaze back up when his forehead was flicked “I’m glad you think I’m hot-“
‘NoooooOOOOOOOO’
“-But don’t put yourself down. Just because your job title doesn’t say ‘Hero’ doesn’t mean you aren’t one.”
Before he could stop himself and before he could question what he hell he was thinking, he lurched over the table, almost spilling their drinks, grabbing Katsuki’s collar and yanking him into a firm kiss. Almost instantly, rough hands grabbed his cheeks, making the kiss softer, but more intense at the same time. When they separated, his eyes were just a little glazed with unshed tears “That’s- to hear you say that to me… its more than anything I’ve ever wanted”
“Nerd… come on, lets eat. You can tell me all about how hot you think I am and then I’ll tell you exactly how long I stared at the pictures of you from that article about your fitness regime”
And while Izuku almost died of embarrassment, it was an great night, then an amazing breakfast and finally, the start of something very wonderful.