Chapter Text
Bakugo Katsuki was never one to back down from a challenge. Everyone knew that he would do almost anything if someone even so much as hinted at him being too scared to do it. But there was a line.
So when Kirishima texted him to ask if he could find someone to go on a double date with him and Tetsutetsu, Katsuki said no. He hadn’t dated in years - not since his first fumbling relationship out of UA, which had ended in disaster - and he knew the one person he wanted to ask would turn him down.
At least, Katsuki thought he was drawing a line by saying no. But Kirishima took it as a challenge. He started hinting that he could set Katsuki up with someone, that it could be a blind date, that he might be too scared to ask someone himself, but Kirishima would ask someone for him. And, after days of taunting (and begging - Kirishima really wanted to go out with Tetsu), Katsuki agreed. He told himself it was just to get Kirishima off his back, but he was looking forward to some romantic attention for the first time in years.
He hadn’t been lonely in the intervening years - he ended up in someone else’s bed on a near weekly basis. Extras and fans flocked to him, both because of his talent and his attractiveness (he wasn’t being /that/cocky - he had hit number 3 on the Hottest Heroes list that year), and he didn’t always turn them down. Sometimes, fucking into his hand and imagining scenarios that could never happen wasn’t good enough.
He never took anyone to his home though. He wasn’t embarrassed of his living space, though his apartment was tiny and sparse, but it felt too personal to invite someone else into his space, especially someone who he intended on getting off and then getting away. He had become an expert at tactfully leaving after hooking up, and almost no one had been angry. Of course there were the fans who envisioned themselves marrying Dynamight, but they were usually easily persuaded away with a picture and an autograph, especially after they realized how intense he was in person.
He wasn’t just intense in his hero work. He was angry almost every minute of the day, and he still struggled with keeping that anger in. He had gotten better at talking to civilians - especially in rescue scenarios (he still flashed back to telling those HUCs to shut the hell up and figure it out themselves in year 1 at UA) - but he still bristled while talking to extras, even his friends.
He kept in touch with almost everyone from his class at UA. Kirishima would call himself Katsuki’s best friend, and Katsuki begrudgingly allowed it. He regularly went for drinks with Ochaco, Tsuyu, Momo, and Mina, and he was only occasionally awkward about being their fifth wheel. He worked together with Tokoyami, Todoroki, and Iida frequently - they had all made their way onto the top ten hero list as well. (Katsuki secretly preened at being the only member of his class on the Hottest Heroes list, though he would never admit it). The only classmate he had really fallen out of contact with was the one person he desperately wanted to talk to (the person he wanted to spend his life with, but he would never tell anyone that). The shitty nerd who had constantly annoyed him with his sunny attitude and incessant chatter, whose life he had made a living hell through their whole childhood, who had stuck by his side through everything, through bullying and fighting and Katsuki constantly pushing him away. And now that Katsuki was finally ready to admit to his feelings, finally accepting that he was desperately in love with Deku, the shitty nerd was in America on some stupid yearlong internship with some random hero he had never even heard of. And Katsuki sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him over the phone. He had to see Deku’s face when he told him, had to gauge his response in order to decide if he was going to immediately take it back or not. (He probably was. He couldn’t imagine Deku reacting well to a declaration of love, not from him, of all people.)
Anyways, he was probably dating some cool American hero who would love and cherish him and follow him back to Musutafu to be with him.
Katsuki saw red just thinking about it, and he had to put a pause on paperwork and find a villain to pummel to make himself feel better. (Heroic? Probably not. But no one was going to say anything about a few extra bruises on someone who had kidnapped two kids and held them for a week).
A week later, Kirishima texted him in the middle of the night. Apparently, he had gotten a hold of Katsuki’s schedule, and he had set up a date on his next day off. Without consulting Katsuki in advance.
When he read the text in the morning (he went to sleep early, so what), he toyed with the idea of telling Kirishima that he was busy that day, but decided against it. He knew Kirishima was desperate to go on a date with Tetsutetsu, and he didn’t want his only real friend to be mad at him. (He would never say this out loud though).
So, he texted back a quick “okay” and ran through his morning warm-ups, thinking about this (likely disastrous) blind date the whole time.
The last date Kirishima had convinced him to go on had been a disaster.
It wasn’t really his fault - it had been before Katsuki came out, so he had set Katsuki up with some “cute” pro-hero fan that was not at all his type. (His type was green hair, freckled cheeks, and thighs the size of tree trunks, but he definitely wasn’t going to tell Kirishima /that/).
The dinner had been fine - she had carried the conversation while he noncommittally answered her questions - but she had been reluctant to take no for an answer after dinner. The cajoling and attempted seduction did nothing for him, and he unceremoniously dumped her at the train station, leaning back and telling her bluntly that he wasn’t interested when she tried to kiss him.
But now, Kirishima knew he was into men, so this date should at least be marginally better. Maybe he would actually be attracted to the person who sat across from him. But he still felt bad about going on a date that he knew wouldn’t pan out. He didn’t think it was possible for him to be attracted to anyone but Deku.
Katsuki tried to forget about the date in the days leading up to it, but something about the idea of going on another blind date kept bothering him. Finally, the night before the date was supposed to happen, he couldn’t take it anymore. He texted Kirishima and practically begged him to un-blind the date and tell Katsuki who would be sitting across the table from him. But Kirishima wouldn’t tell him.
This was new. He had been friends with Kirishima since UA (would even begrudgingly admit that Kirishima was his best friend, but not out loud), and Kirishima always knew when he was pushing Katsuki too far. This was the first time he had denied Katsuki something that he (thought he) needed. This must be a big deal to Kirishima. After a few more text messages attempting to blackmail Kirishima by threatening to tell Tetsutetsu embarrassing stories about him, Katsuki gave up on learning the identity of his blind date and went to sleep.
The day of the date, Katsuki actually put some effort into his appearance. He felt jittery, and almost a little nervous, and he didn’t understand why. What was different about this date? Why was he worried about this one, more than any of the other ones?
He managed to convince himself that he wanted it to be a good date for Kirishima, because he had been pining after Tetsutetsu since high school, and he put it out of his brain for a few hours.
And then he was standing in front of a nondescript restaurant in downtown Musutafu, tousling his hair bit extra to make sure it looked just right. He took a breath, reminded himself that he was never nervous about anything, and went into the restaurant. Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were already seated in a booth - sitting next to each other - so Katsuki took the bench across from them and slid in.
“Bakubro! Your date’s running a few minutes late, but I got his order so we can get food whenever you’re ready.”
Kirishima was the same as always. Katsuki grunted hello to Tetsu and quickly buried himself in the menu, trying not to let his thoughts swirl too much. As much as he always presented himself as fearless and unshakeable, he was actually an anxious mess whenever he was confronted with something new or uncertain. And this was both. Who was his mystery date? Kirishima had said “his,” meaning it was a guy, at least. What if it was someone he already knew? What if they never showed up? Katsuki wasn’t sure which option worried him more, so he did his best to focus only on the menu, which carried the exact same Japanese fare as every other restaurant downtown.
After deciding to get the same thing he always got, he joined Kirishima and Tetsu in their small talk, anxiously playing with the hem of his jacket underneath the table. He had always been able to keep his anxious tics subtle, but he was having trouble now. What was worrying him so much about this blind date? He had gone on so many of them before, and this was a double date, which should have made it less nerve wracking. He thought he would feel better after ordering, but having the menus off the table gave him one less thing to think about while he waited.
Thankfully, it was only a few more minutes of painful small talk with the hardheaded idiots before Kirishima looked at the door, grinned, and said, “Here he is!”
Katsuki turned to look at the door and his heart swooped and then fell in one swift motion. He recognized that messy, green hair, those freckled cheeks, those green eyes, the scarred hands - the man coming into the restaurant, walking over to their table, greeting Kirishima and Tetsu and sliding into the booth next to him, the man he was allegedly on a date with - was Deku.