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Chapter Text

When Aizawa marched into class on Monday, sleeping bag no where to be found, eye circles gone, and announced that the entirety of their third-year class was taking a nice weekend getaway of relaxation to the beach, Katsuki just about had a heart attack.

Correction. Squares just about had a heart-attack then fainted on the spot right on top of Round Face’s desk. The girl in question was praying for a quick and painless death while Grape boy screeched in agony, sprawling to the floor to beg for forgiveness for sneaking raunchy comics into his desk. To prevent any more casualties, Tentacles immediately reenacted some shitty spy movie by stretching his quirk out in every-which direction in search of a listening device. It didn’t take long for Earphone to join the search for a commendable and efficient team-up. From behind him, Katsuki could hear the mutterings of Deku writing notes at a speed of which was comparable to light if light was a Harry Potter fanatic who ventured out of their room just to get their lunch money stolen.

By the way, if you’re going to harp on Katsuki for not using names, then fuck off.

The point was that everyone was freaking out. They freaked out all the way until the end of the day long after Aizawa had retreated back into his sleeping corner. They freaked out the following week, Deku and The Smart One conspiring fantastical theories during lunch about what will happen on Friday just to come up short of any ideas outside of the beach turning into the backdrop of the next hunger games. At least, in Katsuki’s damn good opinion. For the record, if it did, Navel Laser would be the first to die.

“What do you think, Kacchan?” Deku had asked at one point. The two of them were crouched on the table in the common room in the early morning before anyone else was up. Regardless of the impending doom, Deku still wanted to study together like the nerd he was. Katsuki in particular was focused in on an intense physics problem involving the relative trajectory of a fidget spinner to the ground being thrown in an elevator against a fan inside of an airplane flying in the middle of a tornado. Because the teachers hated them.

“I think Aizawa is having the time of his life.”

“No… well yes.” It didn’t surprise Deku anymore how quickly Katsuki could roundhouse kick those rose-tinted glasses off his freckly face. “I mean, Kacchan, what do you think will happen this weekend?”

“A few limbs fly off. A casualty in the basement. Six charges of first degree murder.”

The other boy squeaked, his pen flying out of his hand. It would’ve brought anyone to tears, how it flew in a perfect arc to land straight into the discarded cup next to them, sending drops of milk over both of their homework.

“Deku, what the FUCK?!” He didn’t care who he woke up with his screeching. His meticulous diagrams of looped equations were one thing, but the fucking amazing comic he drew in the margin ranting about fidget spinners being the death of humankind was ruined.

“I’m sorry!” Deku rushed to collect tissues by the sink. They were snatched out of his arms with a red-hot scowl, sheets of equations padded out before being laid over the vent to dry. Out of all things, Katsuki did not count on a clutz being the cause of his morning of getting ahead of the class to turn shitty. They were forced to take a break on the couch. A few sounds from the floor above indicated that some of the early-risers were beginning to mill about. Yet still, Deku remained pressing nervous fingers against his palm.

For fuck’s sake.

“Who cares what’s thrown at us? I’d still come out on top either way.”

And, that small pang in his chest, at seeing Deku once again so easily perk up and discard all his doubts away each and every time like Katsuki was his hero, made him want to punch a hole through his own face.

Just as well, an entire week’s accumulation of sweat, tears, and blood (no he isn’t being dramatic shut up pink girl) wasn’t worth the anticlimactic conclusion when the class stepped off of the bus after an hour drive with full hero gear on just to come face to face with a regular beach. Japanese and foreign kids alike skipped through the water. Couples milled on blankets. Legit, Katsuki saw at least five of those prissy fruity drinks with umbrellas coming out of them and he fucking hated those things.

Pikachu was the first to cross the threshold, eyeing the scene warily. “Dude, what-” just to screech horribly when a hoard of crab started chasing him into the sea. Kirishima being the sap that he was, rushed to try to help his friend only to get caught in the fray of shellfish. As everyone else gathered on top of the sand, Sparkly King Arthur picked up a starfish by his feet like he just found his life partner. The weirdo.

“The lodge we’re staying at is further down the coast over there. The bus driver will deliver all your belongings. Go have fun.” Aizawa said with all the boredom in the world before the vehicle sped off down the road.

An eerie silence overtook the kids, still expecting for the bus to reverse right into them any second with their teacher riding on top and a maniacal grin on his face. But alas, an entire five minutes passed and nothing happened. Between glaring at the water and dealing with a mess of green in his peripheral, Katsuki whirled around when an obnoxious slurp sounded behind the two.

“To-Todoroki-kun?!” Deku spluttered out.

Indeed, it was Todoroki. Somehow already changed into casual beach clothes, the hero was enjoying a two-layer smoothie that was half white and half red.

Katsuki eyed the drink in disgust. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Having fun,” Todoroki slurped loudly. “…Am I not supposed to?”

That seemed to be what snapped the rest out of the class out of it. Pinky was the first to react. She squealed in delight, throwing her mask off to swing above her head in a circle like she was trying to prove that the earth was round or some shit. Blush face was quick to join, prattling about forgetting her swimsuit as a large portion of the class opted to head to the clothes store in the town nearby to buy some. Birb sauntered away to find a cave and mull over his Birb thoughts. This was around the same time when the ketchup and mustard duo returned with crabs hanging off of their hair but excitement bouncing off them.

“Deku-kun,” Bambi chirped from the back of the group. “Would you like to join us?”

“Ah, that’s okay, Uraraka-san.” Deku raised his hands spastically. “I was thinking of heading to the lodge first to grab some stuff. I’ll join you two later?”

The response was met with stiff arm gestures. “Remember not to work too hard, Midoriya! Yuuei had went through the trouble of arranging such an opportunity to relieve stress and build up our youthfffiii-” Sonic the Hedgehog choked when he was pushed ahead by his companion who waved goodbye along with everyone else. What a loser.

And that was how Katsuki Bakugou found himself alone on a mound of sand, sparks igniting his hands, in his hero costume and next to the greenest person in the world with his stupid hypnotic green eyes. Deku himself didn’t seem to mind, humming a bit as he turned to him expectantly. “Kacchan?”

Oh perfect. What did he want?

“What.” He’d be fine as long as he didn’t look him in the eye.

“Walk on the beach with me?” Damn it.

“Fine.”

To avoid getting sand in their shoes, they opted to travel along the paved path towards the lodge where a majority of the stalls were set up. And no. Contrary to what your bigoted minds were probably thinking, it wasn’t uncomfortable. Katsuki let the nerd fall in step beside him without second thought.

It was a long grueling journey from where they were at the beginning of first year, but the results showed. He didn’t know when what was once stolen glances to express discomfort and anger began evolving into gazes that exuded fondness and anger instead- what, Katsuki was an angry guy. Though if he was more often pissed at Deku for poking him with his pencil all the damn time than he was pissed at Deku for simply existing, that’s a win in his book. Some annoyances in their class may even say that they were close frien- the fucking f word. Katsuki ain’t spelling it out for you fuckers.

Stopped by a sharp tug on his gauntlet, Katsuki turned with a scowl. “What is it now?”

Behind a hideous Hawaii T-shirt stand, Pikachu would’ve loved that shit, was a giant ass sign painted in pink sparkles and glowing English letters spelling out ‘how well do you know your childhood sweetheart?’

The fuck was a sweetheart? Some kind of western millennial phrase?

“Kacchan.”

“No.”

Deku gave him a look. “But I didn’t say anything yet.”

“You were thinking it. That’s enough incentive.”

“Kacchan.” The greenery tugged again, this time shooting a smile his way. “Doesn’t it sound fun? We could challenge ourselves a little! Or at least check it out.”

“And have a bunch of snobs prying into our lives under the guise of getting free coconut-scented shampoo samples? No thanks.” Though he had to admit, the idea of being challenged did sound appealing.

His friend frowned, a mock look of offense that was much too out of proportion to the situation marred his features. Maybe if Katsuki went and burned his entire All Might warehouse down instead, it’d be warranted. “I like coconut.”

“Fucking-” Katsuki sighed. “Fine. Let’s go whore ourselves out for some coconut.”

Now that the state of satiating Katsuki’s burning desire to blow up shit was officially put on hold, he had nothing better to do with his Friday anyway. The beach was too close to civilians to train. He’d already gone on his morning jog. And although he massively doubted this thing would do them any good, testing out his compatibility with Deku as a hero partner wouldn’t be a complete waste of time. And before you come at him with pitchforks like Neanderthals, that was utterly and completely the fault of Deku over here. The guy had been showing interest in compatibility horoscopes ever since he agreed to become a hero team with him. When asked, the boy just said that he liked them. Katsuki convinced himself like a fool that it was a phase.

Alas, a year later and he had to begrudgingly accept them lest live a life of misery. Deku didn’t come with a warning label for this kind of stupid.

But this was anything but some cheap horoscope. He was expecting the world’s biggest nosed lady hunched over a crystal ball screaming foul play and selling them a piece of plastic or voodoo doll for a hundred thousand yen. Hundred yen added for each additional strand of hair, Katsuki would throw in a mint if she could make the doll look like Hands-Fetish. It wouldn’t be a total lost either if Katsuki could get her autograph for looking so much like she was kicked out of a Disney movie.

As they approached, the bodies of the tented stalls between gave way to reveal glass cases surrounded by television crew. Locked up was an assortment of jewelry ranging from necklaces to sculptures being presented as prizes. This wasn’t some project set up by college students looking to pay off some debts. This was the real deal.

Katsuki stared in bafflement. Deku seemed to be in a similar state of mind until his eyes caught something reflecting off of a silk pillow and he rushed forward to examine it. The blond followed, skeptical but finding shelter in the tent alongside the green stain.

Whatever Deku was staring at didn’t seem so special. It was a ring, silver in colour and designed like interwoven tree branches that ended in a flamboyant bunch of red flowers carved from gems. Upon further inspection, the plaque underneath the display labelled it as Almandine Garnet or some flowery garbage like that.

“If you say that you want to wear this because it brings out your eyes then ask me if it makes your finger look fat, I’m going to perform the Nicolas Cage version of divorcing your ass.”

“Charmed, Kacchan.” Deku huffed. A red hue grew on freckled cheeks, probably from the heat coming from these extra ass spotlights meant to show off the gems. “And it’s not that. It’s just… this model is the same as my mom’s wedding ring. She lost it a long time ago.”

“Did she not buy a new one?”

“This model is rare!” Deku rounded on him in excitement. Oh fuck no. Katsuki knew better than anyone what that dumb spark in his eye meant. “Like, really rare. The welding is top-notch! The level of craftsmen ship needed is unimaginable! We couldn’t find another store that carried these before the ring was discontinued for being too time-consuming and expensive to make. She was…” He deflated a bit; Katsuki swore even those dumb bunny ears at the back of his hood drooped down as well. “She was really sad after that.”

Katsuki could see where this was going fast. Just as well, he was stupid for thinking that Deku would be any less of a fanboy for a shitty gem glued to another shitty gem than he was for a giant plastic figure in the shape of All Might.

Okay. So Katsuki himself liked a good All Might figure once in a while. Incidentally and totally by not-coincidence, he also owned a sealed copy of one of the thirty issues of volume seven dash six existing in the world after camping out the store at 3am. And maybe, almost, just a little, tied with Deku for naming off all the villains that All Might has ever defeated in chronological order for the past fifteen years.

Oh, who was he shitting.

Somewhat understanding the severity of the situation, he directed a glare at one of the workers while aiming a pointer finger at the ring. “How much is this thing?”

“Oh,” the girl reluctantly approached the two students in spandex and masks who- Katsuki has to be fucking fair here- easily could’ve been mistaken for robbers. “This ring is one of the prizes for first place in the Childhood Sweethearts television series. Along with the ring, the two winners will receive tickets to a resort and one million yen.”

“Hold up,” Katsuki narrowed his eyes with a smirk. “Television, huh?”

“Y-Yes. Would you two like to enter? All the contestants will be in pairs and participate in activities proving their bond as childhood friends. Registration ends in five minutes and the first day of competition starts this afternoon.”

“Kacchan,” Deku took his eyes off the glass to beam at him like an eighteen-year-old man child. “Can we? I need this ring.”

“Well I need this publicity. Think about how many agencies would hire us if they saw our teamwork on the big screen.”

“Um,” the employee blinked with wide eyes. “Our mission statement defines the purpose of this organization is to promote the everlasting and complicated relationship formed by childhood lov-”

“Screw that, lady. Where’s the fucking registration?” Katsuki landed a fist into his other palm, a light firework igniting from the impact. He was officially pumped to beat the asses of everyone there. She could do little else than point to the batch of papers being watched by a bored official.

“Oh my god, Kacchan.” Deku sprung up from his spot in horror like he just saw Fast and Blue multiply before his very eyes. “We only have a hundred and ninety seconds left!”

“STOP SCREECHING AND GET A MOVE ON THEN!”

“You’re the one screeching!” The green hero screeched.

And Katsuki had a well-timed rebuttal to completely destroy Deku from the very spot he stood on but damn, there were more important things to worry about. The two were quick to hop their way to the table, one a bundle of nerves and the other pissed at how many papers there were. They had to split the work between the two of them just to get it done, with Katsuki being stuck skimming the rules while Deku filled in the information forms at lightning speed. If ever his obsessive note-taking came in handy, it was now.

Essentially, it was a three-day long competition. Half the contestants would be eliminated the first day, then however many more contestants needed to dwindle down the finalists to five or ten pairs would be eliminated the second day. There was some legal drawl about the footage being subject to handed over to authorities as evidence for crime that Katsuki didn’t give two flying fucks about as long as he wasn’t the one kicking the criminal in the face. Then there was a note about injury and suing that he quickly went over before signing the bottom.

Meanwhile, Deku was close to finishing his bundle of paperwork as well, ignorant to the look of horror crossing the security guard’s face at their speed. They were fucking awesome, in short. They even finished the entire monstrosity with a few seconds to spare. Katsuki knew he chose the right partner and they were going to blow the competition away.

As soon as they were given a place and time to meet for the event, the two of them rushed back to the lodge to unpack and change into casual clothes. Aizawa didn’t bat an eye, curled up by the window sill next to the luggage.

Deku emerged from his room hours later, hair slicked back and in a bowtie.

“You’re a fucking embarrassment.” Katsuki ruffled the green curls, ruining the effect immediately. “What’s the point of looking like you’re getting ready to file taxes if we’re going to be heroes?”

The boy flushed. Whacking the blond’s hand away from him, he found solace in returning to his room before coming back out in some freaking human clothes that he could actually breathe in. They made their way down the stairs and out the door, Deku in his trademark red shoes and Katsuki in his own hero boots. None of the fuckers from the rest of their class had returned yet, probably out trying kabobs or buying souvenirs for quick two-minute amusement like the consumers they were.

“Are you really that excited for a dumb ring?” Katsuki rose a brow. Deku had been in an increasingly good mood, a floatiness to his steps that would’ve had him interrogating Chubby Cheeks in any other situation.

Deku blinked at him, confused himself. “I guess I am?”

But Katsuki knew damn better. Call him a softie but he could tell, from the twitch in his shoulders to the nervous energy, that the ring probably had just as much sentimental value to Deku as it did for his mom. And fuck off if you think Katsuki was doing this to see that twitch grow into a smile or for that energy to bounce off more radiantly. He wasn’t into that cheesy crap. (But seeing it happen to Deku wouldn’t bother him either)

The meeting spot was a parking lot behind a grand store. Five mini-buses lined the curb as a crowd of rambunctious pairs mingled on the pavement. And if Katsuki thought his classmates were weird, then these people reached the metaphorical basketball net and slammed it in.

There were foreigners of all shapes and sizes performing stretches against the brick wall. One man, twice their size and laughing boisterously, was the first to notice them and wave with way too much peppiness than Katsuki could handle in his tea for a year. Half the guys there were in muscles shirts and beach shorts, the girls accompanying them decked out in bikinis only hidden by an oversized hoodie. And, to top it all off, one of them had a pet chicken.

“Dudes, welcome! That hair…?” Gigantor motioned to Deku. “Rad.”

What kind of fresh hell was this?

If they start serving cocktails with sexually inappropriate names, Katsuki’s going to flip a bitch.

Deku, ever resistant to bullshit, smiled anyway. “H-Hello! It’s nice to meet you.”

The personification of Godzilla, if possible, grinned wider and snatched Deku’s palm in one of those bro handshakes that Katsuki saw on the internet one time when Kirishima bragged about this ‘awesome video he had to see.’ Would’ve knocked the nerd off his feet with the combined force of the world’s dynamite in a single grip if this was the same Deku from middle school. But alas, he managed to stay on the ground much to Katsuki’s innate human need to laugh at people.

“Likewise!” He boomed. “The name’s Thad.”

“You mean Chad?” Katsuki’s eye twitched.

“Nah man. I ain’t about that life. It’s Thad. Oh!” Here, he gestured to two other teens gathered around a surf board. One of them was bench pressing a scantily clad blonde as a crowd cheered them on while throwing water cups at them. “Those two are my friends. The epic one is Chang; he’s a Chinese weight lifter.”

“The Chinese are awesome.” Katsuki nearly jumped out of his skin when the second teen was suddenly three feet away and high-fiving the tower next to them enthusiastically.

“I know, right!” Loud and Obnoxious jeered excitedly.

“Kacchan,” Deku gripped the sleeve of his windbreaker. “I’m scared.”

“Do it for the ring.”

As it turns out, the one who just joined them was a much smaller Indian man by the name of Yousef. Not that Katsuki would remember anyway. He was quiet, at least compared to Thaddeus the untamed God of College Parties. It was right around the point when a brunette in attire that Katsuki wouldn’t waste two seconds trying to figure out the name of jumped Chad to give him a giant smooch that Katsuki did what most sane and perfectly respectful people would’ve done in his situation.

“Where’s the fucking bathroom.” And ditched them.

Deku would’ve followed too, if his affinity towards making friends wherever he went didn’t get in the way. Two steps from the glorious escape Katsuki so graciously offered were wasted when he decided last second that, no, I’m going to be that goody-two-shoes Deku and get to know these fuckers. Just as well, what happened next was totally his own fault.

“So…” Thad lowered his voice into a horrible imitation of a whisper while gesturing to the spot Katsuki was just in. “How about you? What’s your sweetheart like?”

Sweetheart. Izuku could’ve sworn he saw that word somewhere and after careful consideration through his memory of past events, could recall pink sparkles and a glowing billboard. It was used after the word ‘childhood’ like it was a noun that could be described by it. So obviously, they were talking about something that was from childhood and given the context of the competition, they had to be asking about Kacchan.

Izuku straightened, feeling proud of his deduction. “…Loud!”

Ch-Thad catcalled into the sky while Chang ‘ooh’ed in a way that echoed through the entire parking lot like an elephant horn. Yousef rose a brow suggestively. And Izuku was officially lost.

Meanwhile, Katsuki himself wasn’t doing any better- thanks for asking. Contrary to popular belief that he was headed to the bathroom, he made a nice ninety-degree turn towards the snacks laid out for the guests while they waited for the announcement. There wasn’t anything left other than a few sad crepes lining the tablecloth, so he snatched one just to not waste the trip then promptly turned to the condiments counter to douse it in hot sauce.

If Katsuki were to be artistic, he’d say the resulting dish was a perfect representation of his soul.

Turning away from his work to head back, he was met with, not for a lack of a better word like a nice person would say but very perfectly chosen, a group of Barbies. Tanned faces, sunglasses, and everything minus that obnoxious song about Ken.

One of them, he recognized as that brunette- make up face- hanging off of Thad’eth the second. They all stared at him, or specifically his crepe, in distaste. Katsuki smirked, cutting off a piece of the god damn amazing creation, then stuffed it in his mouth. “Something wrong?”

“Geez, what a waste of his looks. Who would want to date him?” Nose job sticks her nose out just to prove the origin of her namesake.

“Shh, he can hear you!” Make-up face sweats, being the only one to see him earlier.

But Damsel in Dreadlocks doesn’t listen. “That attitude, though. Whoever his partner is must be desperate.”

And all right. Katsuki is stopping the biggest display of people shitting in public that he’s ever seen. He sneers, stabbing his crepe. “He is a desperate little fuck, making me deal with plastic extras like you when we have better things to do.”

In the face of their offended looks, he left to return to a hopefully alone Deku.

As soon as he spots the green-head amidst the crowd and makes his way over, a man with sunglasses hanging off the front of his shirt ushers everyone to quiet down. From that point forward, the pairs are grouped into the buses which seated around thirty according to the order that they registered then taken to separate locations. The first elimination challenge would see them competing against those sharing the vehicle only. Sounded simple enough.

Until Katsuki realized that some great force up there must have really hated them.

“DUDES, NO WAY…!” Theleonius screams in excitement upon being sent to the same car as the two heroes. Some time since Katsuki last saw him, All Might save them, the guy had unbuttoned his shirt to show a greased chest like he just blue skidoo’ed off an episode of the Babe Watch. “I’m so stoked to show you my shreds.”

“Y-Yeah…!” Deku leaned forward to meet the other’s high-five with his own. The little shit looked terrified out of his mind. Let it be known that the person Katsuki’s been with since he was a toddler could stare giant beasts in the eye but fell flat on his face in the presence of the word gnarly embodied as one person.

The drive itself wasn’t bad, a mere fourteen minutes stuck with a bunch of asshats was negated by the television crew that crowded the front seats. Despite the hell that was the contestants, the staff were the real deal.

Katsuki tightened his fist, feeling a grin coming on. He couldn’t wait to get a leg up on all the other graduates with this exposure. They travelled down the tarmac back towards the beach but further west along the coast.

Sectioned off from everything else was a wooden platform on the sand which resembled a stage. What was the most noticeable was a podium standing in the center with ten chairs lined up to its right and ten chairs to its left. Next would be the rows of plastic stools lined up off stage and on the sand for the gathering audience. In contrast to the cheap pop-up feel, expensive lighting equipment littered the premises.

“HEEEY!”

Great.

Present Mic, the host for the day, greeted while jamming out as always. He jumped off the stage in a fantastic display of pop. The grin warped into something much more befuddled when he spotted the familiar duo hop out of the van.

“Why are you here? You know what this is for, right?” Thankfully uttered in a whisper.

“What are you talking about? You taking away our rights to be here?” Katsuki snaps at the same time Izuku chirps up with “It’s for childhood friends!”

Present Mic sighs.

“All right, all right. We’ll start filming in a few minutes! I want one person from each pair to sit on the left side and the other person to sit on the right. Make sure that you’re in the exact opposite seat as your partner! On the table in front of you, there’s a whiteboard with a marker plus a spare in case yours runs out.”

Not wasting a moment, Katsuki plopped down on the first seat he could reach on the left. As instructed, Deku sat on the right side completely symmetrical to him. The other nine pairs scrambled to follow suit.

“Farewell, Mon Sweet Cherrie.” Chat-man bawled. The sun hit his face just right to reflect off of twinkling tears, his arms entangled in his love in a sorrowful embrace. “We must totally part ways for now.”

Katsuki internally screeched.

Cherry sundae lifted a delicate hand to cup the man’s face. Her smile was small but tortured. “Never fear, honeybun. We’ll see each other soon.”

After the heartfelt (dumb as balls) separation that Katsuki had to waste thirty seconds of his life to witness, Chad and Cherry pop joined the rest of the group with broken expressions and way too much agony to have come from sitting eleven feet away from each other. He couldn’t imagine the fucking heads he’d have to blow off if this contest involved musical chairs in any way.

“Wait.” That voice. That familiar grape-veiled voice echoed from across the beach to utterly shatter all of Katsuki’s patience in the blink of an eye. The perpetrator pointed a tiny finger at the stage and its setup in disdain. Oh great, out of all people- “Why is he on the girl side?!”

From his spot on the left surrounded by ladies, the blond’s expression soured. “Because I graduated top of my class in Navy Seals and been involved in numerous secret raids on Al-Quaeda with over 300 confirmed kills- because fuck you.”

“No, fuck you! This isn’t fair!” The fruit bowl wailed.

“Hi, Kaminari-kun, Mineta-kun.” Deku waved, brushing off the stare-down between grapes and Pomeranian.

Said Pikachu returned the greeting. But one look at the sign on the stage was all it took for him to tilt an exasperated brow at the two of them- probably just salty that he’d have to watch Katsuki blow the competition away again. Ha! What a sore loser.

Thankfully, the countdown indicating the start of filming was not long after. Finally. Some real fucking food. Present Mic did some outlandish introduction where he jumped through a Styrofoam cutout of childhood friends before explaining the rules to the quickly-gathering audience on the beachside. Grape Juice along with Zatch Bell’s cousin fumbled to join and grab a seat before they ran out.

“Welcome to the heart-stopping challenge between childhood friends! Testing out their love through time, we question these lovely couples on how strong their bond truly is!” Present Mic posed backwards, pointing to the audience with enthusiasm. The crowd ooh’ed in interest. “Five out of these ten lovely pairs will be eliminated today. Who will it be?!”

“Boo…!” Purple Balls strained over the cheers. “Boo-OOooo! ah”

Pikachu promptly turned the other’s seat around.

“The rules are simple!” Radio with a face morphed his speech into English on the last word. “It’s a classic game among newly-weds but also a hit with friends everywhere. I’ll start on this side over here.” He bellowed out to Deku’s half of the stage. “Asking a question, the person on the right will have to guess what their partner would say as an answer. Meanwhile, those on my left will write down their actual answer. If they match up, that pair gets five points! Isn’t that super fun, listeners?”

One minute for each question, no communication allowed between partners, and to keep the responses family-friendly. That was the gist of what was written on the contract and what Katsuki passed onto Deku on the walk back to the lodge. Any violation of the rules would result in point deduction at the end. Hence, any contestants who lazed out of reading it were doomed. Right in the alley of Katsuki’s kind of match.

“Before we get begin, let’s have each couple introduce themselves. Let’s start on the outside and work our way in! Uh, yes, you with no shirt!”

Giganterous shot out of his seat with a grin. “Thad Leanne, man! I’m here to show my girl just how far we can ride the waves in the sickest jam as long as we’re hooked!” Whatever the fuck anything in that sentence just meant.

“Oh, Thad!” Cherry shot cried out, touched.

When it was Deku’s turn, the nerd gifted the audience with a shaky smile. “U-uh, I’m Izuku Midoriya. I’m here for the ring!”

Present Mic hummed. “That doesn’t sound very noble. What about the partner? What are you here for?”

This was it. Katsuki’s big moment. “To advertise.”

“Advertise…?”

Taking the time to separate his windbreaker to reveal the fucking best shirt Katsuki had been working on with the old hag, the orange and black letters spelling out ‘Kacchan’ made its debut on television. It was a cutesy hero name and he was damn proud of it. To bring the point home, Katsuki kicked up his hero boots. “Yup, and win.”

Kaminari facepalmed.

Chapter Text

When the introductions were up, the host moved on to the main portion seamlessly. Apparently, the questions would start out easy then gradually increase in difficulty as the day winds down. Facing Deku’s side of the stage, Present Mic belted out the first question for the beach to hear. “What is your sweetheart’s favourite food?”

Without thinking much on it, Deku scribbled down his answer then flipped over the board to indicate that he was done. Katsuki, much the same, finished first on his end as well because they were freaking awesome. Each pair took turns revealing their response in the same order as introductions.

Chad flipped over his board with no remorse. “Anything on my naked body.”

Cherry medicine flipped over her board with no remorse. “Anything on my sweetie.”

“Err-…INVALID! CENSOR IT, CENSOR!!” Katsuki agreed. He didn’t need to picture this shit.

Eventually, it came time for Deku to reveal his answer. The two of them opted to do it at the same time, both of their boards unveiled to say ‘hot sauce’ on Katsuki’s and ‘travel-size hot sauce’ on Deku’s.

“You hear that, listeners?! I get the hot sauce thing, that’s SUPER hot! But why travel-size?”

Oh, fuck no.

The world’s biggest shit-eating grin began forming on the nerd’s face. And that was the second that Katsuki knew that he was screwed. “When Kacchan was five, his mother would sneak hot sauce into her make-up bag so he could drink from it throughout the day-”

“SHUT UP! WHO TOLD YOU THAT?! WAS IT FUCKING SNOT-FACE IN OUR CLASS? I KNEW HE COULDN’T BE TRUSTED!”

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Kacchan.” Deku smiled sweetly, and Katsuki officially wanted to set him on fire.

“OKAY, okay! I’ll give you the points, eeehhhh.” Present Mic backs off, looking for all intents and purposes like he’s hosting a kindergarten backyard death match. He opted to move on to the girl next to Katsuki, a sleepy thing with perpetual black eyebags. And really, he could relate. “And what do our last couple on the end have to say?”

Sleepy girl’s board read ‘anything’ in teetering drawl, while her supposed boyfriend had ‘pink bunny marshmallows.’

“Okay, Marshmallow boy! Don’t you think you’re placing unrealistic expectations on this girl?” The crowd jeered like animals while Katsuki struggled to not give them all the middle finger. Predictably, staff would milk the heck out of the first couple to screw up in points today. The public loved this drama fuckery. Katsuki just wanted to get to the part where he and Deku won.

“Nonsense! My cute Isabelle would similarly love all the cutest things!”

The host grinned to the audience. “There appears to be a disconnect early on.” Ringing the chime of the show, an outro was performed where Present Mic signal boosted some shitty perfume brand that looked better as the grim on someone’s windshield before informing them of the next question. “If your significant other was lost in a foreign country, how would they react?”

This time, Bro-dude revealed a scrawl of an essay- the kind you saw in elementary school that started with enormous letters before shrinking in size as it went on, eventually running out of room on the page, and continuing on the margin. He was a fucking mess, in other words. Present Mic squinted his eyes, leaning forward before reading hesitantly. “Elope with mon cherry in the sickest getaway car, no matter the weather or time of day or where we are. If it’s raining, past midnight, a dark alleyway, we will be invincible togethe- Oi! That sounds really shady!”

Only to nearly fall over when Cherry face had the exact same thing, word-for-word.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes. Maybe Thad and Cherry were bigger threats than he thought.

But they wouldn’t lose that easily. Katsuki turned his answer over when the spotlight switched to him, showing the words ‘I wouldn’t get lost’ on his board with a smug countenance. Deku, parallel to him, did the same thing:

‘Claim he wouldn’t get lose then blame me.’

Grape shorty whistled.

Katsuki sprung up from his seat. “YOU WANNA FIGHT, DEKU?”

The host grinned. “Oh gee, I think that answer deserves twice the points.”

“I don’t give a fuck!” Katsuki was getting sick of Deku’s attitude here. “Hey, Microphone! When is it MY turn so I can shut this guy up?”

Present Mic artfully ignored him, the traitor. “And it looks like team Bakugou and Midoriya are in the lead with fifteen points!” Smaller voice. “Unfortunately.”

What a pathetic show. Katsuki totally heard that. “We heard that!”

But this was a Christian Minecraft Channel. Katsuki was ushered by staff to sit the fuck down or be kicked out. What a load of bull. Deku was the one who started it. He’d give him a piece of his mind later. The last pair, Slumber girl was next. Unsurprisingly, a kid with 2-point IQ and zero social experience could’ve guessed it, she replied with ‘sleep’ as her solution. Evidently, her partner was much stupider than a kid with 2-point IQ and zero social experience for he wrote ‘ask her animal friends for help.’

“There’s something wrong with you.” Present Mic looks to the man.

This time, three out of the ten pairs didn’t get any points. The competition was heating up, obnoxious jingle in the background rising an octave as television crew scrambled to catch each and every one of the contestants’ sweating faces on camera. “Here we go, this last question before we switch is a tough one. Let’s change it up a bit and have the pairs answer in opposite order this time! Remember to rack your memories properly but not overthink if you want to be on the same wavelength as your sweetie.”

To sum it up, the deep dark secret that all the ladies (and Katsuki) would be forced to reveal on international television was this: what is the most embarrassing birthday gift that your childhood friend ever received?

“Don’t even think about lying if you want to win!”

Katsuki glared daggers at the host. “You have a problem with me or something, Microphone?”

“Bakugou, look into the camera like you would in The Office.” Kaminari grinned from his seat in the audience. “I dare you!”

“I hate all of you.”

And really, this wasn’t fair at all. There’s no way any of these people had birthday gifts half as embarrassing as Katsuki’s yet here he was on a nice Friday afternoon that he could’ve spent napping being forced to give part of himself up for views. That coconut better be damn good because Katsuki was sacrificing his soul here for his pride. Deku better not have written on his board what he knew was the exact same as what he had on his-

“A kiss from his mother.” Deku decided to read this one out loud with a fond tone.

And that was when Katsuki’s life went to shit.

The entire audience, probably a group of fifteen-year-old extras jerking each other off on their head canons, devolved into a mess of aw’s and coos about how absolutely adorable the angry blond boy was. How much he was secretly a softie who hid his insecurities through yelling and screeching at people but on the inside, just wanted someone to love him. How he just needed someone to tame his dark tragic (if his old hag of a mom was dark and tragic) past. How his image as a bad boy who actually fed kittens on the way home and rescued chicks from perverts on the subway was such a cliché but heart-stopping thought.

In reality, the old hag had simply given Katsuki a giant smooch on the forehead during his eleventh birthday party. Someone took a picture and it became the cover of their yearbook.

“Look what you did, Deku!”

The addressed smiled innocently. “I’m just following the rules, Kacchan. Besides, it’s proven to not be bad for publicity when people know that the hero they’re supporting can be really cute.”

“Oh my god.” This time it was Mineta who facepalmed.

Punctuating each word with a tiny explosion on his palms, “I’M. NOT. CUTE!”

The audience around seemed to think otherwise. What was once a relatively calm beachside filled with occasional chatter and rapt attention very quickly turned into a raid. Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya were gaining approval from the crowd very suddenly. At the expense of Katsuki’s own reputation, of course. This is balls.

The only reprieve he had was that he got to watch the other participants make a fool of themselves for free. Thad didn’t disappoint, uncovering his answer with no shame at all. “Lacey granny panties!”

But alas, Cherry had ‘lacey boxer briefs.’ What a tragedy.

“CINNABUN! That was on Christmas, not my birthday!” She sounded like a kangaroo broke into her house and shot her grandma. Girl, calm the fuck down.

“AH, YOU’RE RIGHT!” Calm was not in their vocabulary.

“How could you?!”

“Please like, believe me, love! I’m way super sorry, how could I be so neglectful- I AM THE MAJORIST BUGGARY! I MUST COMMIT SETPOKE RIGHT HERE!”

“Uh.” Deku raised his hand helpfully. “It’s seppuku.”

“No one is stabbing anyone here!” Present Mic finally decided to step in with a growing headache. Quickly trying to make a nice save in viewership, he turns back to the crowd with enthusiasm. “And that ends the first round! Bakugou and Midoriya are still in the lead with twenty-five points! Can anyone catch up? We know how well the right side knows their sweetheart, but now it’s about time for us to switch attention to their partners!”

“Fucking finally.” Katsuki muttered.

“Okay, here’s the fourth question to turn the competition around! What would your partner say is the ideal date?” The host waggled an eyebrow much to the disgust of the crowd. “All right, ladies (and Bakugou)! Time for you to guess what your sweetheart wants!”

Katsuki, pausing for just a second, writes his answer down before flipping his board over.

When it’s Cherry’s turn to guess her love’s ideal date, she is positively beaming with a dreamy look. “Anywhere, anytime, at any place as long as I’m with my googly flakes-”

“OKAY, WE GET IT ALREADY-” Present Mic is just in the middle of screaming when, to his shock, Thad had a completely different answer. Blinking several times to reset his vision, he even took off those tacky sunglasses that Katsuki had the urge to blow off at least twice a day, Present Mic confirmed that the contrasting responses didn’t change. “It seems to say: by the pond where we first met.”

This time, Thad wails. “My sweet poodle-kins! Don’t you remember that zoo where we made so many rad memories?!”

The girl twitched, nervous for the first time. “O-Oh, I assumed you didn’t want to return after what happened with the frogs-”

“NO~! Absolutely wrong!” He wasn’t letting up, smacking his marker against the counter top so hard that it flipped off the edge, flew in the air, and landed on the ground in the loudest breaking-the-tension-in-this-awkward-family-dinner sound.

“W-Well you thought my worst birthday present was panties! If either of us doesn’t understand the other, it’s you!”

That seems to be the breaking point for Thad. Running off the stage in complete tears, the lights were sure to catch the contours of his sweaty bro body before he bounded down the beach.

“Wait, my darling, I’M SORRY!” Cherry wasn’t far behind, her own sun-tanned limbs dashing down the sand dramatically.

“Um, okay.” Mic supplies. “Moving on.”

What a bunch of newbies, honestly. Many of the pairs after them presented with varying results. But Katsuki knew deep down that no one was going to blow this question out of the park as thoroughly as he will. Just to prove this, when the attention was turned to him, he flipped his board over without another thought.

Present Mic deadpanned. “July fourth.”

“Yeah,” Katsuki rose a brow. “The nerd’s ideal date.”

“I see, yes.” The other blond nodded in understanding, some part of him feeling bad for the situation that the wonder duo found themselves in. “It seems that team Midoriya and Bakugou may have finally hit a stumbling block. Bakugou Katsuki has completely misinterpreted the question. There’s a limit to how oblivious one can be before it backfires! Perhaps he is the inconsiderate type of boyfr-”

“Sensei,” Deku cut in politely. The saint. If he had something to say, he should’ve just said it. The nerd unveiled his own board, the words making Katsuki smirk. “I have the same thing.”

Present Mic really does fall over this time.

He gets back up, hair frazzled. “Oi, what’s with you two? Does that even count?”

Almost as soon as he uttered that, the crowd dissolved into protests. Staff ran on stage to consult with Present Mic while the camera feed was cut off to prevent the stray ice cream cups being thrown their way from showing up on screen. One teen with the most emo hair cut Katsuki’s ever seen, and he’s seen half-and-half, screamed from the front. “Give spikey broccoli a chance!”

“W-Why are they calling us a vegetable?!” If it was part of a new training regime, it sounded very healthy.

Before Katsuki could grace Deku’s confusion with a well-timed insult for trying to talk to him and lose points, he had no fucking clue either by the way, Charging Pack joined the fray. “WOOO! My new OTP, spikey broccoli!”

“SHUT UP, PIKACHU!”

Eventually, through the chaos, Present Mic managed to silence the crowd again but only on the promise that Katsuki would get a second chance and prove himself. And the fuck? Since when did this quiz show start sounding less like a quiz show and more like harassment?

“I’m going to need for you to explain your reason for choosing July fourth, Bakugou.”

On second thought, if they were going to harass him, they should’ve conjured up the balls to go all out with it. What a dumbass easy question. “I’ve seen Deku apologize to a mannequin before so not to hurt its fucking feelings. He once jumped off a bridge to retrieve a brat’s bag of pork rinds that she dropped in the river. He’s such a sacrificial moron that his favourite date would be his own mom’s birthday.”

From his spot, he didn’t notice Deku’s smile bleeding onto warm cheeks.

“That…” Oh, Present Mic was touched. He brought a hand to his heart in tears. “That was surprisingly sweet. Okay! Points for team Midoriya and Bakugou!” The audience erupted into cheers. It was like a freaking scene from a BTS concert if Jin washed out his hair dye then kissed Jungkook in the middle of the rain.

Katsuki inwardly cursed Deku a million times over for ever making him have that thought. How was it Deku’s fault? Fuck all, it just was.

It quieted down instantly when the screen changed to Sand Woman. To everyone’s surprise, her answer which was ‘in bed’ matched perfectly with her delusional boyfriend. Present Mic himself didn’t seem impressed. Neither was Katsuki. “You got the points, but I get the feeling your intents are still totally out of synch.”

The second question for their round was when they finally got into the juicy content that he was waiting for. Katsuki Bakugou would no longer be Deku’s little butt monkey, he swore. “How much money did your sweetheart pay at their most expensive visit to the hair parlor?”

The blond’s face warped into a menacing sneer.

“Kacchan, no.”

“Kacchan, yes!”

Deku groaned. Well, it was only fair. Contrary to the hero duo, the rest of the left-hand-side of the stage began fidgeting nervously in their seats. This type of question was usually expected to be asked of the boyfriend, but the competition had structured the inquiry so the opposite would happen. They had boosted about the questions getting more difficult and they weren’t kidding about it.

As expected, a large majority of the pairs flubbed their answers badly.

 “I figured my honey buns would answer zero anyway so I wrote it down!”

“EEE, ee!” Present Mic crossed his arms. “If we went by that logic, we could just have one of the couples put circles on their boards all day and win. No points for you!”

“Where did you get a number like 729 yen from?!” A male with a balding spot screeched.

“I-I don’t know! It’s the price of a pair of scissors added on top of tax then with garbage disposal considered and divided evenly by weight ratio of your hair to our trash for after you’re done. I rounded it to the closest whole number for the sake of significant digits-”

“HOW IS THAT ‘NOT KNOWING’?!” The crowd and contestants alike were growing rambunctious with each incorrect answer. They had to be shushed by security guards stalking the premises with iced water to cool everyone down. But this was a fucking K-pop raid, okay. No one was surprised when the water station was sent flying not a minute later straight into security’s van. It was nice knowing them. Katsuki would forever remember the heroic feats of faceless guard number 544.

“Another one of our ladies guesses zero?!” Present Mic jeered, shocked. He leaned back with a frown, giving his own hair a nice runover with a comb. “To keep up this styling do? They’re delusional. It appears that none of our lovely pairs today are getting this one right. We may have hit a winning question here!”

That was until of course, Katsuki graced all of these extras with his wisdom. Fully armed with his weapon, he unsheathed the piece of plastic to show the world Deku’s darkest secret, even darker than One For All if Katsuki were to be completely unbiased, of 50,000 yen. At the bottom, he ensured to add in ‘to removed pink hair dye’ for maximum embarrassment effect.

Deku, with ears steaming, reveals the same. Almost instantly, he deteriorated to mumbling in face of the need to explain himself. “I-It was an accident, Present Mic-sensei! A new villain with an inhibitor-deleting quirk terrorized a bakery close to my house while I was out buying bread in middle school and then there was this incident with a person outside with a pink mohawk and-”

“Oh sure, Deku. Blame your shitty life decisions on a quirk.”

From his spot, Battery Boy burst out laughing, choking on his drink in a genius act of intelligence. Oh, he has to get Bakugou to tell that story to the class when all of this was over. His purple companion rushed to help his suffocating lungs only to find Kaminari falling to the floor in a literal ROFLMAO.

The contestants on stage weren’t nearly as pleased as the audience. “Pft, figures that blasty blond over there who insults his partner every second chance would know but my own sugar cakes wouldn’t.”

“I already apologized!” A teen in a silver dress exclaimed.

“Oh YEAH?” Baldy piped up, taking his brethren’s side. “Does an apology erase the years I spent questioning my appearance and inadequacy as my self-esteem damaged itself into nothingness? Does it make up for the grief, every time I took a shower and saw my sanity wash down the drain strand by freaking strand as did my hair?! Do you understand REAL PAIN?!”

Katsuki blinked. Fuck. These people had no chill. And coming from him, that was saying a lot.

“You only have less than a foot of hair to work with!” The lady on the other side of Katsuki from the Eye-bag girl joined in on the debate from hell. Her screaming had the blond lean back and cover his ear all while shooting the bitch a deadly glare. Is this what the press called “young people” worried about nowadays? How about he scorch every single person’s hair here in a millisecond so no one could complain? “We have to worry about much more than you do!”

It didn’t take long for the rest of the stage to become a battlefront but with bitchy teen prom queens and their whiny boyfriends in place of bitchy nine-year-olds performing one-eighty no scopes. The entire panel minus Katsuki, Deku, Thad, Cherry, Snoring girl who had long passed out, and her partner was fucking dead to Katsuki. A waste of air, water, and renewable resources.

Present Mic, forced to listen and growing agitated by the second, snapped when he turned his quirk on. “hEEEEEeeEYYYYYYYYYYY!” Apparently not caring that doing so would render half the beach deaf. “This just in. If we have another disturbance then we’re ending this contest right now! I have the majooooor authority to do so!”

This, thank fuck, had the stage silent in a mere second. Minus one idiotic Pikachu still dying on the ground of course. But everyone ignored him. Satisfied, Present Mic grunted with an accentuated pout and continued on. “To prevent any further disturbances, I was informed by staff to change the difficulty of the next question! You hear that, listeners? This next one is going to be a breeze!”

Katsuki frowned. He was hoping this easy-ass competition would get harder, not easier. But now he had to sit here and win with little to no effort like he almost always did. While that was enough back when he was little, it no longer excited him much to beat down a horse that had already fallen on its ass and couldn’t fight back. Deku and him were supposed to be the number one hero duo. There’s no point if they weren’t continuously challenged, if they weren’t continuously improving-

“Describe your partner’s best memory from middle school prom!”

What. “What?”

The host repeated, even louder this time. “You heard me, folks. We want our contestants to share with us their best memory from middle school prom.”

Katsuki blinked, nerves frayed.

He… He didn’t know.

The timer started, and yet Katsuki still didn’t know. He gripped his marker tightly, drawing up a blank as he stared at the abused whiteboard. Fuck. Focus. What was Deku’s best memory from middle school prom? There had to be something. Something stupid like dancing with his loser friends. Or stuffing himself with cheap snacks until the night wore down.

Except Deku didn’t have any friends in middle school. It wasn’t Katsuki’s idea. It would’ve happened regardless of if he was there or not. But the entire student body had come together in second year and before the sludge incident to prank the quirk less nobody in their class into thinking it was a Halloween party.

And Deku didn’t get to eat anything. The second he walked through those doors in his All Might costume, he had made a laughing stock of himself. He didn’t want to worry his mother, fooling her into thinking he had a good time when in reality, he locked himself in the bathroom the entire night. All to avoid the jabs at his pride. All to avoid being found.

The beep of the bell indicating that they only had thirty seconds left to write down their answer rocked Katsuki’s core. But he still wrote nothing.

The two of them had barely seen each other at prom. The exception was when he had bumped into Deku in the hallway that night, finding the boy in embarrassed tears. Realizing that his old friend was looking for some comfort, younger asshole Katsuki had done everything in his power to do the exact opposite. The blond, done up in the best suit of the night and the center of attention, turned his nose away with a sneer, calling him a quirk less loser.

And all of a sudden, it made sense why Katsuki couldn’t conjure up a single word to write. He was pretty sure that Deku had no best memory.

Swallowing his pride, Katsuki capped his marker and flipped the board over.

He didn’t deserve this point.

What was he thinking? Assuming that he and Deku would blow the competition away as the best childhood friends when Katsuki was the absolute worst childhood friend in history. The challenges and tests that they’d have to go through together to win this thing would be too much. They’d break, lose with their tail between their legs. And it would be all fucking Katsuki Bakugou’s, the kid with his ego too far up his ass, fault.

“Kacchan-” Deku broke the silence.

Almost immediately, the staff standing behind the green boy tapped his shoulder in warning. There were still ten seconds left and any communication was strictly forbidden. But of course, tenacious, shitty, beautiful Deku didn’t give up. In a single burst of some emotion that Katsuki could never hope to understand, he scribbled something indignantly before throwing his board over in a huff.

What an idiot. Knowing that his Kacchan didn’t write anything, he still opted to do so himself. Their answers wouldn’t match, yet Katsuki couldn’t bring himself to care.

Present Mic rung the buzzer. “And time’s upppp! Let’s see what our wonderful couples have in store for us next!”

The rest of the round passed by in a blur for him. Some really stupid part of his chest that he didn’t want to think about felt heavy. As if half-and-half had come in like the little shit he was and mysteriously frozen him in a place that no one could see. Feeling his own frustration at whatever-this-was overtake him, Katsuki tapped the table impatiently to rid himself of the desire to explode.

At some point or another, it could’ve been seconds or days for how well everything was registering to Katsuki right now, one of the boyfriends brought up the expenses they had to go through to pay for dresses and make-up. One girl then complained at how their other didn’t even look at her all night. That somehow brought in a whole can of metaphorical worms high on helium when someone to the left of Katsuki, he didn’t fucking care, mentioned hair again.

“I’m just saying. If you wanted to pay over a hundred dollars to look like a beehive, I could’ve just went into my yard and gotten one for you!”

And that seemed to trigger everyone, minus Katsuki and Deku, into a renewed battle of the tumblr posts. The crowd threw airplanes at them. Even Eyebags-Mcgee snapped at this point, something about a comment on her sleeping bag on prom night mixed in with an insult to her pet lizard. Katsuki would give you more detail if he bothered to listen. But surprise, looks like he fucked up in that too.

What finally jolted Katsuki out of his thoughts was nothing short of Present Mic turning on his quirk again to scream into the microphone in utter exasperation. “OKAY, QUIZ SHOW’S OVER!!” Such a statement was made right before the spotlight was turned to the blond.

Wait. No.

“Pack up your bags and get off the stage!”

Katsuki didn’t even take responsibility for his messed-up actions yet. If the entire world didn’t know how much of an asshole he was, what was the point? “We aren’t done here, Microphone!” He protested.

However, he was stopped by the host himself coming in to press a finger into the blond’s forehead repeatedly. “There was a hidden score for compatibility and quality of reasoning added on to the ones displayed on the screen. You and Midoriya are so ahead of everyone else that there’s no point in continuing.”

At this point, Phone Charger who was already busting a gut on the sand started choking. “I-I’m dying, Mineta! Bakugou has all the shook.”

Not gracing the student with any more of an explanation, Present Mic turns to clap at the now thoroughly-ruined stage. “Aside from that, results for the top five pairs in each group that will be moving on to tomorrow’s round will be unveiled later today. I need a drink…” Seemingly channeling his inner Aizawa, Katsuki couldn’t blame him. Supervising such a hellish event would do that to anyone.

“Damn you, Bakugou!” Grape balls screeched as soon as the crowd began to disperse and he was dragged off the platform. “You broke Kaminari, you bastard!”

Not acknowledging the pervy toddler with a single glance, Katsuki walked straight up to Pikachu, dipped a finger in the other’s smoothie, and shoved it into his ear.

Kaminari shrieked, flinching five feet away. “Dude!”

“Yeah, I know. Now I have to spend a fortune to disinfect my hand.” Katsuki glared at the offending finger in disgust. “You owe me lunch.”

“Only if I get to shove breadsticks into my purse.”

“Deal.”

They commented about getting everyone in the class gathered around the television that night to watch the episode filmed today. To which Deku responded with a distracted nod. Short-circuit and Shorty left soon after, claiming to have a beach volleyball match with some ladies scheduled in a few minutes. A big fucking white lie, in other words. Probably a shady business looking to kidnap two perverted teenage boys and force them to spin sausages for the rest of their lives.

That left Katsuki alone with Deku, again. If he gave enough steaming fucks to the other pairs, he would’ve already noticed that they had already migrated to the pier on the other side of the beach. Several gathered up pieces of paper to start taking notes on the other in preparation for tomorrow’s competition. The crew cleaned the stage with grumbles, ignorant to the remaining childhood friends who had yet to leave.

“Kacchan.”

He knew that look anywhere. Nowadays, neither of them could ever hide anything from each other. It started with the way the other cried. Frustration, anger, sadness at grating on each other’s nerves until it birthed tears. Then it extrapolated to the way they wouldn’t cry. Compassion, fascination, and bliss at finally clicking together to create something amazing. Like gum stuck to the bottom of Deku’s bright red hideous shoes, what would’ve been a look sent his way spoke way too much. “What a bunch of idiots.” Katsuki chose to comment instead.

Deku blinked, bewildered for a moment before understanding dawned on him. He turned to face the other pairs scattered about the beach. “Don’t be mean.”

“You know I’m not wrong.”

“Hmmm, I mean. It is a waste of time.” Deku finally dropped the whole gross sugary act to agree while flicking sand off his shoulder. “What’s more likely than the organizer challenging us on the same thing twice is that the contents of tomorrow’s event has a nine out of ten chance to be something completely unrelated. It’d be different if they gave us a vague hint or activity to complete within this time but they left us to mingle right when everyone is still high off lingering frustration from the previous competition and susceptible to tunneling into mistakes they made today. Lying by omission is a common manipulation tactic-”

The boy squeaked when miffed, Katsuki leaned over to pinch his nose shut. Sometimes he doubted Deku’s existence as anymore than a whistle that needed a plug to finally stop making noise. Fingers wasted no time in pulling the nerd forward as Deku could do little else than whine. “What do you know. I can still hear your mumbling even when you have your mouth shut.”

And, contrary to what he should’ve done, what any sane person would’ve done being stuck with someone like Katsuki, Deku smiled warmly.

Katsuki let go immediately, burned. Fuck. No. Stop smiling.

And that did the trick. Deku stopped smiling almost instantly. The lull of the ocean beside them reflecting off his stupidly big eyes didn’t look as good anymore. He peered at him with confusion. “Kacchan?”

No response. Maybe if Katsuki didn’t say anything, Deku would adopt some semblance of his middle school self and assume that meant that nothing was wrong. It worked a lot with his parents. It worked a lot with many people. But Deku wasn’t simply many people.

Fighting a battle that he already lost, it’s always like that with Deku, the freckled hero picked up on what was wrong easily. Still, he didn’t look angry at all. What should’ve been rage, directed straight through Katsuki for potentially costing them the contest, was instead empathy. And nothing pissed him off more than that. Let alone the words that were thrown at him next: “It’s impossible to know everything about each other. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not, you useless Deku! Stop saying that!”

Silence again. Those green eyes staring at him in shock.

Katsuki brought a hand up to press against his face, annoyed with himself. “Deku. Shit. I didn’t mean that.” He breathed, feeling calmness leaving him at the possibility of what his partner would say next. But when he kept quiet instead, waited for Katsuki like he learned to do all those years ago, Katsuki found that he could think again. “It’s just… going back and remembering all those things I’ve done to you never ends.”

“Before you say anything, shut up.” Deku looked like he wanted to refute that for a second, but thought better of it. The nerd was just too good for him. Too good for this dirt that Katsuki was dragging him through. “I know you forgave me already. You’re still an idiot for doing that, by the way. I believe that more and more each time I dig up some other memory from the shit pile of bigotry that was who I am.”

“That’s the god damn thing too! I realized something today, fucking hell- when I couldn’t answer that question, I mean.” Feeling a stray cup hitting his heels, Katsuki picked it up in frustration. Crushed it in the sheer force of his hands added with sparks until it was nothing but ash. He watched, all the dust blowing away in the wind before he could gather up his thoughts enough to continue. “I figured that we might not win this because of me.”

Deku breathed, not speaking.

Then, promptly pushed his partner into the ocean.

And before you ask, no. It wasn’t a little sissy push that you’d give your dad into the backyard pool while he was cooking steak or some other middle-aged-beer-belly disgrace in the middle of the night. Any sissy push would’ve been countered in the face of Katsuki Bakugou, thank you very much. But Deku, the little fucker, actually turned on All Might’s quirk in a flash of green lightning. Add that to the fact that Katsuki was freaking emotionally compromised here, and one second he was standing perfectly on the sand while the next, his back kissed the waters in a mighty splash.

Katsuki emerged, frazzled and pissed. “WHAT THE FUCK, DEKU?!”

“IDIOT KACCHAN!”

“HAAAAH?” He slammed a soggy fist into the ground, bringing up another fountain of water from the limb. His hero brand shirt was ruined. His hair was sagging. And his day was officially looking more like a hunt-down for the green blob’s life.

“You are! You’re really stupid!” Deku went on, seemingly unfazed by the looming expression of danger and death bleeding into Katsuki’s rotten soul. “Why didn’t you defend me back at prom? A real friend would’ve told me that the others were lying so I wouldn’t embarrass myself when I showed up but you just watched!”

That stopped the blond in his tracks. What?

“And that suit you were wearing was really dumb. No one wanted to tell you that boutonnières had been out-of-style since a first year at our school puked on his dance partner who wore one months ago, but they were too scared to say anything! You intimidated everyone, Kacchan!” To bring home the point, Deku reached into the sea to unroot another giant splash of water right into his target’s face. “Then when I was crying in the bathroom, you just said that I was a loser instead of trying to comfort me. Stupid, STUPID KACCHAN!”

Holy shit.

Katsuki watched, speechless on his throne in the water, as Deku rushed to catch his breath. The adrenaline left him bent over and spent. But eventually, finally, the hero collected himself enough to look at his friend again with a determined glance. “There. I did what I should’ve done back then. Now you can’t be upset about it anymore.”

Deku,

Deku was really something else.

But kind of dumb at the same time. He choked, swallowing back the overflow of what he knew were tears trying to come up for air. “Y-You can’t just decide that for me.”

“Stop being stubborn, Kacchan.” Oh and as if Deku wasn’t the one being stubborn. The sun began to set, giving his crouched form and face red from exertion a strange ethereal glow that Katsuki couldn’t bring himself to decipher right now. Only admire. “Besides, you’re wrong. I did have a good memory from middle school prom.”

It’s then that the nerd stepped away from the water the slightest bit to retrieve a tattered face-down whiteboard that was discarded in the sand during their hassle. Carefully waiting for his friend to wipe his hands dry, Katsuki could do little else than accept the board with shaky palms.

And out of all things, what was written on it was quite possibly the cheesiest but Deku-ist (which was a word now) thing that existed in space and time. Because when Deku showed up in his All Might costume at prom all those years ago, he noticed something brought on by their memories of when they were little. Dressed as All Might together and running between tables and chairs at Deku’s home, having sleepovers while posing as heroes; the image hit younger asshole Katsuki so hard that he couldn’t stop the genuine smile that crossed his face for half a second.

Damn, these tears. “You’re such a sap.”

“I don’t think being happy at seeing your best friend smile at you for the first time in years makes me a sap.”

Katsuki squinted, holding the board closer as he hastily wiped away any evidence of his emotions from his face. “Fuck. That’s it. We’re going to win this dumb thing and get you that shitty ring.” He breathed harshly, abandoning any doubts that wanted to escape. He couldn’t guarantee that their rocky past might not fucking cost them the contest again, but Katsuki would try his damnedest to make sure that it doesn’t.

Deku stepped forward to help Katsuki out of the water, no longer hesitant in doing so. His own expression was beaming. “Thanks, for helping me out.”

“I’m not helping you out.” Katsuki went to shrug him off but in the end, accepted the help by taking the other’s hand and lifting himself out. Even after they were long on solid land and away from the ocean, their grip on the other’s palm didn’t let up. Katsuki wasn’t a sap. But the pressure against his fingers felt way too nice for him to lie about it. “You blathered shit last year about us being a hero duo from now on and have to take fucking responsibility. I’d slip laxatives into your drink for an entire year if you spread your stupid freckly face all over the news and I’m not there too.”

If possible, the smile on Deku- Izuku’s face grew warmer. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Chapter Text

After having what the little angel that sometimes appeared on his shoulder to drive him crazy and suspiciously looked a lot like Pink Girl would call a “male bonding moment” the day before, Katsuki was not prepared to get out of bed at 6am. Let alone show up at the next location of the competition, an old patio in the middle of the beach before the sun even came up, to deal with this shit.

“What, in the hell, is that?!” Katsuki pointed at the plate of hor d'oeuvres in complete offense for all things culinary in the world.

“Ceviche, dude!” Thad exclaimed in a volume that would’ve led them to believe that he was trying to dislocate everyone’s eardrums. And oh, that was no ceviche. How dare this extra even attempt to come onto Katsuki’s patio and insult his mother by presenting that gloopy mess as anything resembling ceviche? “It’s totally, like, the number one food to eat at the beach.”

Brave and stupid Deku reluctantly snatched one up, examining it. “Why is it… in that shape?”

“Ah, that’s because my babe and I spent all of last night stuffing it into raw fish heads. Stoking, right?”

Flinching, Deku released the abomination with the sharpest and unintentional squeak mixed with a sputter that only someone who reached level three hundred and been reborn twice into the nerd class could’ve achieved. The snack bounced on the sand to the backdrop of Katsuki absolutely busting a gut in laughter at his expense. Oh, this was fucking tea.

Oblivious to the two’s plight, Thad leaned back, showing off the tens of golden hippy chains thumping against his oiled chest. “Mon sweet Cherry and I were totally onshore yesterday, riding our aggro backside instead of going off in the crank!”

Seeing as Katsuki resolved to never look Thad directly in the eye or risk converting into a dude, Deku took one for the team. “Ummm…?”

“We want to apologize!”

The blond huffed, annoyed. Oh, so Thaddiction (one more nickname for the road) was self-aware. Before either of them could grace that with a response, however, Cherry herself appeared beside her boyfriend, carrying a tray of her own share of death on a plate. Spotting the two, her demeanor grew sheepish.

“I’m sorry for being mean to you… before.” She curled her ponytail uncomfortably, referring to when she and a few other girls had a run-in with Katsuki near the snack table. “We had no right to judge your relationship. I think you and Izuku are absolutely adorable together, honest!”

If she was really sorry, she’d put a fucking shirt on. But Katsuki had a filter, dammit. “It’s fine.”

“It was also not awesome of us to run off the set yesterday. We were kooks stuck in our own problems, so to fix our epic relationship and make cool with our peeps, the two of us made these for everyone!”

“So…” Deku uttered, thoughtful and mind sharp. His messy bed-head utterly wrecked the mood though. “You both spent all night cooking them?”

“Bonding closer than a dude and his surfboard, bruh.” Thad grinned, bringing Cherry in close by his arm. “Cherry and I are just here for the memories. No need to stress when we got each other.” Completely free of nerves, they excused themselves not a moment later. One of their brethren, Chong Wang Kwok Wo or some shit, had been eliminated yesterday and was sulking near the coast.

“They’re really… intense.” Deku made some motion with his hands to find a word. A water bottle quickly being coated in condensation shook in his grip. Katsuki reached over, attempting the most impossible task of taming the wild green curls.

“Also probably the toughest competition here.”

Looking over the rest of the patio, the remaining twenty-five contestant pairs quiet in their corners, Deku hummed, leaning into the touch. “You might be right, Kacchan.”

“Of course I am. Someone here has to be.” To which the green-bean simply rolled his eyes. It didn’t take long for the patio to light up against the early-morning sunrise, bathing the sand in bright colours once the clock hit seven. The way the staff rode in on a golf cart like they were the absolute fucking shit was like some bad introduction to a cheesy reality romcom.

It was with great horror that Katsuki realized that he was on a cheesy reality romcom.

After some mumbo jumbo spewed by the staff about working hard littered Katsuki’s ears, the group is split up once again. This time, the order that they were called depended on their total score from yesterday’s event. If there was any doubt that he and Deku were first before, now Katsuki could proudly prance up to the rightmost vehicle with his head held high. To accommodate the competition being cut in half, the mini-buses were also swapped out for vans.

Cherry and her significant other, because Katsuki didn’t want to utter that embarrassment’s name even one more time, sauntered themselves to the leftmost van. Deku was just prepared to climb into the car when a hard elbow pushed itself right into his face. In his haste to dodge, the freckled boy dropped his water bottle.

“Watch it, faggot.” The man, shaved head and with a serious countenance, sneered distastefully. Pushing past them, he climbed on gruffly, almost like he had to shake off any germs that might’ve come from the short glance.

“COME BACK HERE AND SAY THAT AGAIN!” Katsuki wasted no time in screaming.

The guy, if possible, twisted his face into something uglier. If you needed assistance in picturing, Katsuki would liken it to a burnt cheese pizza dipped in the toilet then shoved into All For One’s mouth. “You heard me. Disgusting people like you aren’t worth my time.”

Oh, this shit stain likely worth less than an actual shit stain was going to get it.

Because Katsuki would be a faggot any day if it meant he didn’t look like he just walked off a set for Orange is the New Black just to realize it was for women and having to live with the macho look for the months it’ll take to grow back his hair. But bringing Deku into this was a new low. Before Katsuki could give the guy a piece of his mind though, a voice from behind interrupted.

“Ignore him. He’s not worth it.”

Deku, ever friendly and unperturbed at being insulted, beamed. “Hello, Yousef-kun.” The moronic thing was that if the term was hurled at Katsuki or any of his dumbass friends instead, Deku would already be up-in-arms and halfway to mentally throwing the pansy off the bus. And that wasn’t Katsuki trying to brag here. Deku would actually do it. Metaphorically, of course.

Scarf boy eyed the two of them. Crouching down, he collected the bottle off the ground to gently shove back in the green hero’s arms. Without another word, he climbed on the van into the furthest seat.

What was that guy’s problem? Scratch that. What was everyone’s fucking problem today?

In fact, why did Deku even get called that name in the first place? If his memories of all the girls who practically threw themselves at the nerd like he had some bland harem main protagonist quirk were correct, Katsuki was 99% sure that Deku was completely straight. An attraction to men probably didn’t even blip on his radar. Harems bored the fuck out of Katsuki, by the way. Aside from the nice boat.

“Th-Thank you for picking up my bottle!” Deku still squeaked after Water Bottle Bitch because he was too nice for his own good. He turned to Katsuki, unbothered until he saw the frown marring the blond’s face. Deku huffed. He linked their arms together. “Come on, Kacchan. We still have a contest to win.”

That brought Katsuki back. Damn it. Why was he always the one acting out? Why was the one who needed coddling, who blew up at everything into a disgusting pile of emotions, always him? Why was it always Deku stuck dealing with the mess? One day, he didn’t know when, but Deku would get sick of it. The nerd just wasn’t aware yet. Always picking up the pieces and-

Katsuki cut himself off right there, let out a breath that resembled a scoff.

If he continued, he’d blow up again.

Turning his attention to the drive, he opted to take in the scenery instead. The ride this time was much longer. Circling through the local streets before venturing on the highway, evidently the second day wasn’t anywhere near the beach. Thank fuck. He was still cleaning out the sand from his eyelashes for hell’s sake, getting earth in places that he didn’t think nor want to know were possible. This would be a really swell place to make an inappropriate joke if Katsuki wouldn’t get grossed out by extension.

To everyone’s surprise, as the bus rounded into an empty parking lot, the grand yellow figure of a very familiar person greeted them along with a posy of camera crew. Deku shot up first when the doors opened. Evidently, he was physically unable to discard his fanboy-ism even in the face of someone he’s come to see nearly every day.

“All Might!” The man in question chuckled in response to his pupil barely containing the urge to throw himself at him in a hug. Katsuki followed not-too-far-behind.

“It’s been three fucking days, Deku. Not a decade since you last saw him. Tone the nerdiness down.”

“It’s good to see you too, young Bakugou.” The ex-symbol of peace smiled knowingly. Having been the center of attention for decades, being the target of many cameras no longer unnerved him. “You did a fantastic job yesterday with the questions. I was quite impressed.”

Katsuki blinked.

“Who’s nerd-ing out now, Kacchan?”

Grabbing a freckled cheek, “shut up! I’m touched here and you ruined it!”

“Can we get on with it already?” Orange is the New Black grunted from his spot near the bus doors. Seemingly annoyed at the display, his squinty eyes found purchase on the spot where Deku’s cheek was firmly being pinched by Katsuki’s own fingers.

Ha. As if he’d intimidate the Katsuki Bakugou. The blond very purposely made a show of releasing the nerd’s face just to snatch Deku’s hand up to annoy the fucker. Why? Because they could damn well hold hands whenever they pleased and no short-sighted gorilla was going to stop it. If he had markers, he’d draw a rainbow flag and fucking hang it off his shoulders like a cape all while kicking this guy’s ass. The camera extras better get his good side while doing so.

All Might, none the wiser, coughed into his hand. “Yes, of course. I was invited to be one of the hosts for today and tomorrow’s competition. I thank all of you so much for having me.” A round of polite applause sounded. Regardless of a certain someone’s bigoted ass being on full display, no one dared or even wanted to disrespect the symbol of peace. “Just as well, I was asked to help commentate quite an interesting concept today. What do you suppose that is?”

Some of the teens looked close to bursting into the personification of a crowd of fangirls waiting outside for an autograph just to accidentally run their star over with a car. They had no brain cells other than the ones dedicated to fangirling, in other words. Raising a cool hand, one serious-looking man which Katsuki almost didn’t recognize as the one with the chicken from the first day because he was distracted dammit, suggested. “We’re here to prove our undying love.”

“That’s what I was thinking!” A woman from another pair added. “Maybe we’ll be asked on each other’s feelings this time?”

“I don’t think so,” the girl next to Scarfy piped up. Her demeanor remined him a lot of Ponytail-Girl in their class. “We were tested on knowledge already. If I had to guess, and counting by mister All Might being here, either communication or applying would be next accompanied by some type of physical exercise.”

“Indeed!” All Might pointed with a smile.

Well that’s just fucking great. There was another one that Katsuki had to look out for. And she just so happened to be the partner of Yousmell.

“In fact, you’re right on the ball. The subject of today’s challenge is a trust marathon.” Here, their mentor gestured to the large building that they were in front of. “It’s very similar to a trust walk but much more challenging. Located inside is an indoor obstacle course that one of you from each pair will have to complete.”

Music rivalling the dramatic chipmunk played. Deku held his breath.

“While blindfolded.”

Katsuki pumped up a fist, crazed and ready. “Fuck yeah!”

All Might hid a small grin, looking to the rest of the group with encouraging nods. “Do not fret if you have to go slow. There are only five people on the course at a time, plenty of space, and no time limit. Everyone starts with five hundred points. To make it even more challenging, there will also be staff situated around the course with fake guns which shoot Styrofoam. Each fall off a platform and into the ball pit deducts ten. Each hit you take deducts two. First person to finish gets an additional fifty, second to finish gets twenty-five, and the third pair to finish gets fifteen. Depending on where you are on the course when we end the event, you’ll also be rewarded a certain number of points. Just to be clear, these points are worth more than the amount you’d get by staying at the start line and not falling at all.”

“And here’s the trust part.” The hero took a moment to flex into his muscled form with a loud laugh. “Your partner is not allowed on the course at all but can be wherever they want outside the blue line. They will be your eyes, the one directing you with words! The height of communication and trust! At the end of the course, you will then complete a trust fall off one of the five platforms where your other will catch you! Such tenacity. AH, it’s so touching to think of!”

“All Might.” One of the judges on the side, a woman with absurdly loud heels and a clipboard interjected. Welcome to the everyday life of being around All Might, my good bitch.

“Oh.” The symbol deflated to cough into his hand. “Anyways, the platform you jump off of to be caught can range from being one meter off the ground to five. The highest one will be worth fifty with a deduction of ten points for each meter lost.”

Katsuki twitched, the mutters of Dweeb Lord™ Deku writing every single thing down in a notebook hitting his peripheral.

“In terms of rules, we’ll end when two pairs successfully complete the challenge. We will then calculate everyone’s points and the top highest scores move on to the finals. There are, absolutely and under any circumstances, no quirks allowed to be used during the run or else it’s an automatic elimination. Going out of your way to attack someone else directly is also strictly forbidden and will result in disqualification. However, pushing someone out of the way to get to a platform or through a ring first is allowed. It’s a fine line and I suggest not doing it, however.”

“You will receive one minute to strategize with your partner,” another judge, this time an older man with small eyes and glasses, added in. He looked like the kind of pansy who was shoved into a locker a lot as a kid. “We’ll ask that the chosen person from each pair come up and put on a blindfold before entering the building.”

“Okay, start!” All Might declared without any lack of vigor. Unlike yesterday, the camera crew were divided into five groups so to capture what each contestant was doing at all times. Indian Facebook and his girl scrambled to talk in hushed whispers while Fat and Homophobic stayed silent with the woman in his arms.

Deku turned to Katsuki. “Happy, Kacchan?”

Katsuki, who had the biggest smirk on his face, snorted. “You’re one to talk. You look like you’re ready to fucking front flip all the way back to school using the energy derived from annotating an essay alone. What are you scheming, Deku?”

“Well,” Deku could barely contain his own grin. “You excel at thinking on the spot and reacting to dangers as they happen.”

“While you’re the nerdy shit who comes up with fifty plans before the battle even starts.” The two of them had gone over this countless times in the aftermath of one of their spars. Their strength was the other’s weakness. It’s what made them so unstoppable when together. If the rest of the class made jabs at the two of them being soulmates or ‘made for each other,’ then they were just jealous little fuckers.

“Right. There’s no possible way I could concoct a reasonable plan until I actually see the course so it’s better to use it to warm up your legs.” Deku wasted the energy to say despite the fact that Katsuki was twenty-one beautifully amazing steps ahead and had already been doing stretches as soon as the timer started. “I’ll direct you as we go. Either of us would work as the runner but I think you’re the better option.”

“Ha! Sucks to be you.” Katsuki reached down to touch his toes in a timed beat.

Deku snorted, smiling. “We’ll be going with the nine-square division. Is that okay?”

“The fuck is that?”

“Kacchan.”

Katsuki smirked, leaning back to stretch his arms. “I’m joking. Stop freaking out.”

From her spot beside them, the lady working the camera struggled to contain her squeals at this absolute golden banter. Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugou, or Deku and Kacchan, were quickly ascending in approval ratings like no tomorrow. She was the envy of the entire crew, especially one particular young man forced to film the commotion rising from one of the officials approaching Chicken boy hesitantly.

“Um, sir? If you need your pet to be held somewhere safe, we have a lounge-”

“How dare you presume that my childhood friend is merely a pet?!” Clutching the cage closer, the chicken in question twitched its head spastically. And Katsuki suddenly felt like punching a hole through the stratosphere. He was beginning to realize that there would never be a lack of weirdos no matter what group he was in. Notto disu shitto agen. “He is the gateway into the nine crevices of my mind which you will never be able to comprehend, mortal.”

Just for that, Katsuki was having fried chicken for dinner.

“Okay, I s-see… It’s just, you may find it difficult to be fully focused if-”

And Katsuki swears, this guy could easily be mistaken for a peacock for how many tail feathers he was shaking into everyone’s faces. “Are you implying that Bernie is not allowed to accompany me on my tread up the pathway to hell?”

“Technically, to even the playing field, the judges thought it best to eliminate that rule for you-”

“Then do not speak to me any further on the matter.”

From that day forward, no one questioned the chicken.

Katsuki had just finished the fastest warm-up routine in his very knowledgeable and awesome eighteen-year-old life when the horn sounded. He jumped up from his position on the ground, quick to notice a pricey blindfold laced around the other four runners.

“Hey!” Fat man jeers. He wasn’t even the one who would be out on the course. Figures that he was a coward. “One of the contestants isn’t ready!”

“Actually,” Deku chimed in because he wasn’t a pushover. Honestly, Deku could crush macho man over here in a death match using the combined power of his pinky toe and a few straws. Katsuki would watch the shit out of that. “The judge said that we had one minute to talk to our partners. He didn’t say that we had to be prepared by then. Am I correct in assuming that?”

All Might nodded, an amused smile barely hidden.

And really, this entire competition was utterly unfair from the very beginning. Having the nation’s to-be top heroes on an obstacle course so dubbed down that it was available to the public was enough of an advantage. But the other eight people on this lot were more than unlucky to be stuck with Katsuki and Deku in particular. It was going to be a one-sided massacre. A walk in the park. A five-hour run on a treadmill. A round of Mario Kart on Rainbow Road using Yoshi’s motorcycle. (“You’re the only one who finds that easy, Kacchan.” “You shut your mouth.”)

After attaching the goggles with the number two around his head, Katsuki felt Deku’s fingertips ghosting on his forearms meant to hold onto him as they were led inside. However, at the last second, they changed their trajectory to latch onto his palm instead. “Wha-”

“It felt nice yesterday.” A quiet whisper so no one else would hear came from a spot beside him. “And you grabbed my hand earlier so I thought it was okay. Is it…?”

Just to test it out, Katsuki felt the other give his fingers a gentle squeeze. And fuck. It did feel nice. Like really nice. Nicer than beating half the class at Super Smash Bros using Kirby because Katsuki was an asshole. And that took up the shelf in his head as the nicest feeling for months. Shit. This may have also dethroned the second-place memory of how nice it felt to be the only one at their school to get into Yuuei until Deku came along and- okay, bad example. What was he talking about again? Oh yeah, nice. The point was that latching hands with Deku felt nice. Fuck off.

Katsuki huffed. “You gonna hold my hand crossing the street too?”

“If that’s permission to hold your hand whenever we want to, then yes.”

“Plus Ultra.” All Might whispered in English from his place behind them. Could it be…? Could young Midoriya and Bakugou finally be making some progress? If they were, he had to be silently supportive from the sidelines. No jumping in, no giant speeches. Just silent his footsteps into tiptoes and quietly pretend he saw nothing-

“All Might, your form.” Clipboard woman interjected.

The man deflated, having accidentally flexed from being too excited. “Thank you, Alexa.”

Eventually, the teams as well as the crew make it to the end of the winding hallway where the bathrooms are situated to an open high-ceiling area. Katsuki could only tell by the draft coming in from the windows. He would tell you more about what it looked like if he could see it, but the quiet gasp of Deku beside him was enough indication that this was going to be fun. The blinded were led away to the starting line by staff, cutting off communication almost immediately while their partners wait on the other side.

As the crew begin to set up their cameras, Samosa-Breath whispers to him. “Katsuki, right?”

Katsuki grunted in affirmative.

“May the best pair win.”

“Is this some new type of trash talking?”

Before the conversation would inevitably turn in Katsuki’s favor due to his unmatched arguing skills, a whistle cuts through the field. He whipped towards the sound, forgetting his sightlessness for a second before the words “number four, disqualified!” are yelled out by an official.

“WHAT?” Lo and behold, it was the partner of Jailbreak who was being led off the course. “What the hell did we do, man?”

“A telepathic auditory and visual quirk!” All Might suddenly boomed from the booth, not at all sounding pleased despite his never-ending smile. “How crafty. This entire contest would be null with such a power. Tell me, young man, how far did you think you would make it with such an ulterior motive?”

Clipboards pushed her glasses up. “Our officials have been keeping an eye on you since day one. We were wondering if you would come to us yourself, but that didn’t happen.”

Katsuki snorted, saying not too quietly. “Amateur.”

“WHAT WAS THAT?” Face in what Katsuki would imagine a scrunching shade of red in a mixture of anger, embarrassment, and whatever other emotion he couldn’t give a fuck about, the man marched forward to throttle the spot the blond stood in only to be held back by Deku.

“You heard me.” Katsuki chimed, imitating him. “Disgusting cheaters like you aren’t worth my time.”

“WHY YOU- LET GO!” It was comical, seeing a berserker a good head taller being held down so calmly by a seemingly sweet and lanky nerd. At least, it would’ve been comical if Katsuki could see the tear-jerking sight himself. But alas, there were sacrifices that day. Even without One For All, he was no match for Deku’s increasingly firm grip.

“This is embarrassing.” Sad Glasses uttered with a sigh. “We were going to offer pairs which drop out early a seat to watch the rest of the run but that’s clearly not an option. Guards, we need backup!”

In an instant, a squid in uniform burst from the backroom to engulf Brainless in the most uncomfortable looking tentacle-hold. Katsuki didn’t even need to see to be able to tell- and those squelching sounds- what in this freaking family friendly kids’ show was going on? Before Deku could even blink, the struggling man disappeared into the hallway with a loud scrape.

Stumbling backward a bit from the loss of weight, the nerd looked up with a twinkle in his eye. “Wow, that was so cool!”

Octopus-face brought a tentacle up behind his head in bashfulness right before slithering away.

“Was I the only one who found that weird as hell?” No response. “Just me? Fuck.”

And really, Katsuki could already imagine the episode that was going to air tonight. There’d be an interview of the pig in some monochromatic room with his name displayed on the bottom in Times New Roman font- because what kind of childhood friends’ television garbage would be fucking innovative these days- as he waxes poetry about the cheating not being true and the judges being fatphobic. Maybe try to slander the show with his vocal minority of followers in Furry masks. Throw in some doxing on the official twitter and he’d have the whole asshole package. What an absolute joke.

Now with only four runners left on the course, it allowed for even more leg room. Just to take advantage, Katsuki crouched down to stretch his legs one last time. What did Kirishima call it: flexing? Yeah, shitty hair had said something about flexing for the camera being profitable to girls; whatever the fuck that meant. But girls counted as people and Katsuki wanted as many people looking up to the great hero Kacchan as possible.

And in order to do that, he had to perform at his best. Regardless of what he did before the whistle blew, no one (minus All Might) was prepared for what happened after.

“Kacchan! Thirteen forward, bottom right F mild strong, top center D weak, two down!”

Katsuki grinned, letting that side of him that wanted to rip the competition apart out. He bounded up the matted ramp seamlessly, catapulting off at exactly the right spot to jump over the first gap and land without any problems. The second, third, and fourth platforms came just as easily.

“What a display of infallible trust by hero students Izuku and Katsuki!” One of the judges exclaims to the camera. If Katsuki had the time, he would’ve bathed in the compliment, but sometimes you just have to settle for bathing in your opponents’ tears instead. He honed his focus in on two things only: the ring he was jumping through and Deku’s voice.

“Perhaps.” All Might nods. “But it seems that our young Bakugou has competition. Yousef Patel, a recent graduate of high school who aced his exam to become a relief worker in third world countries and on the battle field, isn’t giving this one up!”

And that almost had Katsuki stumble into a railing at the end of a staircase. What the heck, actually? No one had been able to keep up with him and Deku since the two really began clicking. It wasn’t to the blame of those guys either. Katsuki’s perfectionist tendencies simply mixed with Deku’s obsessive compulsive attention to detail to create a bombastic chemical explosion that rendered everyone mute, covered in silly-string, and with their body permanently bent into a chair shape. Or at least that’s how he liked to imagine Half-and-Half some times.

“Remember that even if you lose to Yousef, Kacchan, we’ll still make it to the next round. Don’t get too riled up!”

“FUCK YOU, DEKU! I’m going to snatch first place out from his grubby samosa paws!”

Deku grinned, the response lighting up a fire within him. The masochist.

From somewhere at the other side of the room, a voice echoed into the PA system. “Okay, we will begin shooting in a few seconds! Contestants, be prepared!”

“Oh, bullocks.” Bird-Watcher cursed from his spot near the beginning of the course where he was stuck in between the first platform and imminent death, chicken on his back. Bernie clucked.

As announced, the sound of toy guns being fired lit up the arena. Green eyes shot around, nearly overwhelmed by the information input. This was clearly a course designed so people would get hit. A perfect score might be impossible. But Deku wasn’t about to disappoint Kacchan. As if heeding his calling, one pellet shot through a net and headed straight for the blond who was climbing up over a blow-up log.

“Right H- no.” It was time to get serious. “I mean X slide E!”

As instructed, Katsuki adjusted his course so the pellet barely grazed a strand of hair on the back of his head. He skipped his way on the top of four logs to make it to the other side, gaining ground. Not able to help himself and taking note of the flat path, Katsuki gloated. Oh, him and Deku were going to cream this stage. More than cream even, because Katsuki was an extra guy and fucking proud of it. They’d cover it in grandma’s first place pie. “How was that, scarf boy?”

A shot is similarly aimed at Venkatanarasimharajuvaripeta. However, just before it hit, the Momo-like Girl fumbles instructions out. “U-Um, candy cane!”

Which he used to perfectly duck down and away from danger.

Katsuki blinked. “What the fuck.”

“Kacchan, did you see that?!” Even while rushing to catch up to them from behind the blue line, Deku always had time to talk anyone’s ear off. He probably had that sorry excuse for a notebook clutched in his hands too and that dumbass grin. “The world has so many amazing people!”

Which made it all the more difficult to conquer it, stupid Deku. Katsuki felt a tick forming on his brow. Licking his lips, he bounds to the next obstacle without hesitation. Yousef, not far behind, carries his skinny body over the third log silently.

“You see it here, folks! We have a neck-and-neck battle between our top two contenders.” The dweeby judge suddenly bellowed out from the pit of his stomach, causing the rest of the panel to flinch away. Even Katsuki twitched to the side at the sudden boom. What the fuck was this? Some kind of nerd awakening? It was like he was shedding off all his snot nosed layers to trespass his crush’s house at midnight and ask them to the dance by serenading a fucking One Direction song. “B-But WHAT?! WHAT’S THIS?!”

The camera feed turned their attention to Teriyaki Chicken, who suddenly released his prized childhood friend from its cage. The man threw the metal to the side, where it made a loud clang, cackling. “Behold, lesser beings! This is our final form!”

“Um,” the judge leaned forward, squinting. “Bonny Jake appears to be trying to fly to the finish line by latching onto Bernie. But it’s a total failure!”

Feet not taking off the ground despite his beloved friend’s frantic wing flaps, the man boomed. “It’s Blue Jay, you heathen!”

“Moving on,” he fixed his glasses. “Mister Bakugou is the first to reach the last obstacle! Let me explain it to our dear viewers. It’s like a tight-rope walk. Contestants have to make it across the chasm-like ball pit by crawling across on one of the bridges. But as you can tell, the bridge is nothing but a small beam! This tests balance, patience, and co-ordination-”

“Kacchan, there’s a trapeze to the top left. B strongest, position smack down!”

The judge choked. “Wh-Wh-Wh-WHAT?”

Yeah, that’s right, old man. Deku was already thinking way outside the box. Local nerd hospitalized from how awesome he is combusting the fifth dimension. Heh.

As instructed, the blond ignores the beam to leap up, grabbing onto the bar with a hard grunt. Anyone in the room who could see was in awe, watching the hero fly across the field in just a few seconds before letting go when directed to. Katsuki lands on the other side in a hard breath, nearly stumbling backwards. Shit, that was a challenge even for him. “That was stupidly close, Deku!”

“Sorry!”

“Oh my… OH MY… GOODNESS!” All Might grabs onto his microphone. “How resourceful! Our panel hasn’t even considered the trapeze as a possible route. In fact, the janitorial staff was informed to hang it up earlier today but appeared to have overlooked their duties to the advantage of Young Midoriya and Bakugou!”

“All Might, you’re saying too much.” High-Heels whispers in horror.

The next few seconds in the gym is filled with running footsteps, both from Katsuki booking it to the highest platform where he’d jump off and also from the frantic steps of Deku and Yousef’s partner scrambling to the bottom of the plateau. “Deku!”

“I’m ready!” The boy calls back.

However, just as Katsuki was about to make the final dive, a yell sounds from behind him. It’s Yousef, charging full speed ahead all while ignoring the commands of his partner, no longer paying attention to the barrage of Styrofoam hitting him. His carelessness allows him to catch up to Katsuki in a heartbeat and, before the blond could dodge or make the last five steps to the end, he’s tackled right off the platform.

The force sends them both over the railing, careening down on the wrong end of the plateau.

“YOUSEF!”

Katsuki doesn’t hesitate. Not anymore.

Familiar sparks ignite in his palms. The small explosions propel his body left, slowing down his descent to the ground until his boots hit solid tile, safe and out of the way. The move allows Deku just enough room to leap up in a storm of green lightning, catching the civilian in his clutches.

“YOUSEF, OH MY GOD!” The girl, who the two later learn is named Sophie, cries while scrambling to the spot where Deku landed. Her voice is distressed, mind in shock, but the utter sense of relief spilling off of her in waves is undeniable. She brings weak fists onto her boyfriend, bawling. “You- YOU IDIOT! That fall could’ve- it could’ve-!”

The addressed seems to be shaken up as well. Lowering himself down to the floor, he pushes the both of them away. “I-I have to go to the bathroom. Don’t follow me.”

Katsuki rips his own blindfold off, Deku on him in a moment. “I’m fine.” He assures the green bean because, heaven forbid, the nerd pass out from overthinking. He shakes his head, looking to the spot on the judge panel where All Might is frowning, a rare sight as the rest of the judges whisper amongst themselves. “Deku.”

“I know. It’s okay.”

Sophiella blinks, confused. “What, what are you two talking about…?” But she’s a freaking ripe-off of ponytail girl, for fuck’s sake. Practically a discount version, so realization dawns on her quickly as she notices the remnants of green energy off Deku’s skin as well as the faint smoke emitting from Katsuki’s palms. “No.”

“It’s the rules, lady. Both Deku and I knew that but broke them anyway.”

“That isn’t fair!”

One of the judges coughs to silence the room, sending a look to the three of them before continuing. “As we had two contestants make it to the finish line, the race is over. We will announce the results after debriefing in about an hour. Please help yourself to the snack table near the entrance.”

All Might, having shed his expression from earlier, gets up to join the rest of the panel in the conference room. As he passes his two hero students, a mighty hand lifts itself to pat the both them on the shoulders. “I’m proud of you, boys.” He says in such a quiet voice that only they can hear.

And that’s it. That’s fucking it. No hint of what will happen next, the two boys make room for themselves in a corner, sitting against the wall. At one point, Brainy brings them juice along with a haphazard apology and thanks. But Katsuki only waves her away while Deku rushes to affirm that it wasn’t her fault. She leaves with a huff, glance travelling to the hallway where the bathrooms were once in a while.

Once she’s out of earshot, Deku speaks. “That was fun, Kacchan.”

At hearing this, Katsuki feels some knot within him loosening. He doesn’t know why, something about Deku not being too upset after all and hence not having to deal with the trouble of mopping his tears off the floor. Probably. Mops were fucking expensive. “No shit. Did you see how awesome we were?”

Deku himself smiles. This accident couldn’t be helped. As much as it could’ve been an excuse to assure a civilian, at the end of the day, it really was no one’s fault. If they could go back in time, they’d do the exact same thing. And that, that the both of them could live with. “Only every day.” There it was again, the ghosting of fingers on his wrist before the nerd goes to grab his hand, only Katsuki cuts him some slack like the amazing f-word he was and meets him halfway.

They were supposed to stop there. Fingers intertwined against the hardwood floor between their bent legs. Katsuki wasn’t expecting much more than two palms pressed together and the inevitable heat and lack of air circulation coating their fingers in sweat. Like an armpit or some shit. But Deku, the same stupidly fearless Deku who blows all expectations away, goes the extra step.

The soft weight of the other’s head against Katsuki’s shoulder was the only warning he got before he found himself with a face full of green. It was like a reenactment of Alice jumping into Wonderland if the Queen of Hearts turned vegan and howled ‘off with thee head’ to anyone who wasn’t a sprout of cabbage. To sum it up, it was a horrifying, disgusting, and vile thought. Yet Katsuki let his jaw rest against the green curls like they were the most comfortable pillow in the world.

The moment, that never happened by the way because Katsuki was not a cuddler dammit, was cut short. Yousef approached them from behind a screen to avoid being seen. It didn’t take a genius much less a genius of Katsuki’s caliber to figure out that he was avoiding his own girlfriend. He stares at them for the longest moment, before bowing forward. “Thank you for saving my life.”

Deku springs up, waving his hand around. “Ah, no! We all got a little too into it. Just be careful next time.”

“No, I must take responsibility for my actions. I’m sorry.”

Deku shakes his head. But the smile leaves his face. “If possible, could you apologize to Kacchan too?”

Ah, so the nerd noticed it too. It was subtle, but there was the one-sided push of making Katsuki the third wheel in this conversation. Just as well, they don’t miss the way that the other clenched his fist like he’s spent one too many nights streaming the angst genre before he straightens himself. “Actually, I would like to talk to Katsuki. Alone.” Damn, even had the dramatic pause and everything.

The blond shrugs, (very not reluctantly, he swears) releasing Deku’s hand to follow the guy back out into the hallway where no one could hear them. They stop near the end, the farthest away from everyone as possible, before Katsuki brings it in himself to get this conversation going. “Yeah, what do you want?”

Yousef frowns. “Before you can fully understand, I’d need to explain my quirk to you.”

This makes Katsuki more warry. Quirks could do pretty much anything, from giving someone the power to lift something with their mind to having someone able to dispense hot sauce from their finger (Fuck them, by the way, for having the best quirk in history). The possibilities of what he wanted just expanded a hundred times. “Go ahead.”

“I don’t need your permission, I-” For a second, the boy loses his composure to some split-second rage. But he calms enough to utter the next few sentences. “It’s not a passive one that’s always on like with Kamui Woods. It’s also not like yours either in that I’m very limited in how often I can use it. Once every half-hour, to be precise, and only for a span of five seconds.”

“Sounds like a shitty quirk.”

“You don’t know that. What if my quirk was being able to pass on excruciating pain to one person for five seconds? I could drive anyone crazy with a bit of timing. What if I had the power to heal injuries by upholding a five-second long forcefield? Those are very similar to the quirks I’ve seen throughout my life from colleagues. How presumptuous and close-minded of you to stereotype us.”

Katsuki bit his cheek, annoyed. “If you could pass on pain or heal, that’s fucking great. But statistically, quirks with conditions like yours aren’t as effective as quirks that don’t. Saying that yours sounds shitty because most quirks like that are shitty doesn’t make me close-minded because I’m not saying your quirk is shitty. If you want to wax philosophy to me, do it on your own turf.”

“You’re such a scumbag!” Oh, and the polite façade was off. Katsuki prided himself on dealing with a ton of assholes in his life, he was one after all, and Yousef was beginning to present himself as a Grade-A one. “For your information, my quirk allows me to experience the one dominant emotion of another being for myself. It works in person or by simply looking at an image to capture what they feel at the time of the photo. You wouldn’t know anything about what it’s like to read the emotions of victims close to death, or ones wishing that their own mothers would just kill them already, would you?!”

That made Katsuki narrow his eyes. He took a breath, calming his own temper. “Look, I still don’t know what any of this has to do with me.”

“I read your emotions yesterday,” Yousef finally got straight to the point, eyes wet. “It was during the airing of the episode in the segment with your group. When you flipped your board without writing anything, I turned my quirk on.”

What. What the fuck. All the anger that Katsuki had been holding back was quickly boiling over again. “Ever heard of PRIVACY, you dick-?!”

“Fear.” Yousef cut him off, tone cold and lacking any hesitance. “But not normal fear. I couldn’t even explain it to myself back then, but it was stronger than any fear I ever felt before. In those five seconds was hours’ worth of deciphering on my part. You were scared of your past being found out. You tormented Izuku, yet still found it in yourself to be here today parading your love for him to the public.”

Katsuki stopped.

He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t fucking breathe.

Was… Was that really what he was feeling?

No way in hell! Katsuki knew he was scum, the gum at the bottom of a shoe, a bully, but he’s changed so much since then. There were plenty of tears and yelling, but he came out stronger. He couldn’t have gotten that far and still be that fucked up and selfish.

…Right?

“Now you’re in denial. That’s all the evidence I need that my conclusions are correct. Ignorance is taking over your being.”

“SHUT UP!” He screeched, no longer containing the volume of his voice, no longer caring for who could hear him. “STOP READING MY HEAD!”

Yousef, evidently, doesn’t stop. “What point are you trying to make by signing up in a contest for childhood friends with Izuku? He’s clearly not of a right mindset to judge you fairly.”

“So, is that it?” Katsuki spat out. Emotions in disarray, he defaulted back to the only feeling he could count on when nothing else worked or made sense anymore: anger. “You jumped me during the run and risked cracking your skull on the floor just to prove your own self-justice?! This shit isn’t any of your business!”

And how painfully deserving was it, that Katsuki fucking up his and Deku’s childhood ended up being the reason that they lost after all?

“No hard feelings between us, Katsuki. I didn’t plan that fall at all. But there’s no way that I would’ve let you two win this or go on the way you are. My dream is to save people from disasters, illnesses, and lowlifes like you. That’s what relief-working means to me. I always get involved in things that aren’t any of my business for that very cause. What happens to me doesn’t matter.”

… This guy was just like Deku.

Little Deku, who wadded into the river after him without thought, reaching a hand out.

A Deku-clone, with such similar ideals that it sent chills up the blond’s spine.

Katsuki was always the type of person who liked to look for answers. Even if they were wrong. But the state of his and Deku’s relationship had been one question that he’d never been able to fully grasp. It was frustrating, annoying, to not know. But now, the splitting metaphorical image of Deku, one not blinded by whatever the real one saw in him, was telling him all of this. Just like he’s always wanted.

Katsuki didn’t have any words left.

So he stopped, let the silence brew between them until an outside force came in to pop the bubble of tension itself. He just wished that it was someone other than Deku, marching into the hallway and past two corners with a bewildered glance. “Kacchan, they’re going to announce the results.”

From beside him, Yousef nods, his demeanor doing a one-eight almost instantly. “I should head back. Sophie is probably worried. Thank you to the two of you, once again, for saving my life.” He turns to Katsuki one last time, sending him a look that he could read all too well, almost as well as he could read Deku himself. It spoke ‘think about what I said.’ Then the Indian boy was gone, leaving him alone with his thoughts and the object of them.

By now, Deku is close enough to him to notice that something in Katsuki is off. Horribly off. “Kacchan? Are you… okay?”

The blond sighs. “Where do they want us to meet for the announcement?” He starts walking, avoiding looking directly into the other’s eyes because he knows for a fact that as soon as he does, it’s all over.

Regardless of what he did though, ever perceptive Deku grabbed his sleeve.

“What.”

The freckled hero bit his lip. “If you need anything, I’m here. We always talk, right?”

It was an agreement that the two of them came to after concluding that communication was a challenge for the both of them. And Katsuki wanted to spill, tell Deku everything like he always did, but he needed a moment, maybe a few longs hours or even weeks, to think all of it out. Still, he let out the best smirk to reassure his partner as he could. “Yeah.”

They’re led by scrambling staff back into the main lobby before either of them can utter another peep. Katsuki was secretly thankful that they were interrupted, though not for the actual cause of the interruption itself. For as the crowd gathered in front of the panel, the results that Katsuki knew were true the entire time from within the confines of his heart to his rewiring head displayed without any remorse.

First: Yousef / Sophie with 676 points

Second: Blue Jay / Bernie with 318 points

.

.

DISQUALIFIED: Izuku / Katsuki

Chapter Text

“Regardless of the results, mark my words as what our panel here genuinely feels. We have a group of young hopeful pairs here today who showed tenacity, resolve, and cooperation. They are not simply victors or losers of this competition, but the future of this society.”

The words of All Might rang true through the room, yet it wasn’t until Katsuki was alone, an hour later and hunched over a dingy bathroom sink with even dingier soap dispensers that they truly registered.

He was right. But at the same time, not.

Katsuki went to turn the water on, fingers hot, burning hotter when the sink refused to comply. “Fucking stupid-ass faucet… not working!” Flicking the metal backwards, shaking limbs snapped the handle right off the counter in a moment where he lost sight of his own strength in his futile endeavor to keep control of his quirk. “DAMN IT!”

Results for a shitty competition off the coast of some town that no one had ever heard of shouldn’t matter. What’s a ring and a trip to a resort where people most likely got their fucking toenails massaged in the face of saving thousands of lives and defeating the toughest of villains? Not very much for either Deku or him. It was unlikely that he’d ever see Yousef again after this. It was even unlikely that the truth behind their loss would ever be publicized and used against them as heroes.

But what’s stopping the other metaphorical Yousef’s of the world, people who couldn’t be beaten by a simple punch to the face, from doing this again? Deku and him were a duo, strong apart and invincible together. Yet the higher they rose above everyone else, the easier it was for that one sniper amongst the sea of extras to aim right into the crack in their relationship that Katsuki put there himself. From their height, they will fall further and harder than anyone else. It’d be the brutalist of landings, with Deku taking the brunt of the damage. No matter how stubbornly Katsuki tried to hold on- to shield him from the rest of the world- they’d hit a fence at just the right angle, or he’d confuse up with down, cracking Deku’s skull in the pavement to save his own skin when he wanted nothing more than the opposite to occur.

“If you believe they're holding your quirk over in the next life... you should just take a one-chance dive off the rooftop!"

He couldn’t let that happen.

No matter what, Katsuki couldn’t let that happen to them.

He gripped the counter, cool metal of the dislodged faucet and slippery surface the only thing keeping his sweat in check. Spikes a hazard of gold, eyes menacing to the smallest of children meeting him halfway in the mirror, and Katsuki knew he couldn’t let this one go.

Deku would’ve walked away, would’ve just been happy that everyone was safe at the expense of their own loss, but Katsuki couldn’t. It’s just who he was. And sure, to Deku, they would just be a little sacrifice here and there, small disagreements or cold remarks between them that truly meant nothing, but they’d stack up. They’d accumulate into arguments and nights of silence, into a life of stalemate after letting everyone else pass ahead of them. Katsuki knew better than anyone that aiming for the number one spot wasn’t possible as soon as you start aiming for anything less than the best- in their performance as heroes, in their morality, and in their relationship. And fuck it, Katsuki knew that if he lost quietly here, let their rocky past defeat them now, the two of them wouldn’t last in the future.

“FUCK!” He cursed again. Leaning a forehead against the glass, he glowered. “HOW…? How do I…?”

As if on cue, the familiar clicking of high heels sounding by all intents and purposes like they were the reincarnation of Tanisha banging pots and pans while telling everyone to wake the fuck up sounded from the other side of the public bathroom door. Without wasting another moment, Katsuki burst out of the room, cutting off the lady on the other side.

“Oh!” God forbid, her clipboards multiplied into little clipboard babies. Her expression turned sad at seeing the fire that refused to die in his eyes. “Yes, Mister Bakugou. What happened today was quite a shame but it was the final decision. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything I can do to instate you two back in the competition.”

“It’s not that…” Katsuki says, miffed but appreciating how this lady didn’t waste any words. He paused the slightest, sure in his movements. He had to do this for Deku and there was no other way that he could think of to fix all of this. “The first-place prize was a ring with a flower on it or some shit. What is the flower called?”

The woman is surprised for the smallest moment. Finally, she seems to understand. It didn’t take a genius after all when Deku announced to the entire stage on the first day that he was only here for the ring. But contrary to how he thought she’d react, that is prattling off dozens of local florists that he could visit on the way back to the lodge, she pressed her lips into a thin line. “The flower modelled on the ring is named Gold of Kinabalu Orchid.”

Ignoring the growing sense of dread, Katsuki presses on. “Great, where the hell do I get one?”

“Mister Bakugou, I don’t think you understand.” Her frown grew deeper. “This species only grows in Malaysian mountain slopes and is considered endangered. Not only is it illegal to pick one, but a single bud takes fifteen years to bloom. If you wished to obtain one that badly, a stem can be bought for 500,000 yen on the black market but I’d doubt you would want to mix in with criminals considering your hero career.”

What-

He choked in a breath. The… The answer hurt more than he thought.

“However,” she cuts in before Katsuki could proceed to stab a carrot through the wall. “If you were wondering how the sculptor of the ring could make such a high-quality reproduction without a model to go off of, you’d be justified. The answer is that he didn’t. Each copy is hand-crafted, and just for this competition alone, we had an international reserve lend us a bud for this very purpose. It currently resides in a greenhouse not too far and will stay there until the end of the week when we must return it.”

Katsuki didn’t hesitate to round on her, previous dread subsiding. He wasn’t the type to ask nicely. “Fucking great, then. Get us a reservation to go see it already.”

“I could put in a request…” she sighed, “but it’ll most likely be rejected. With minimal security inside the greenhouse in order to upkeep the flower’s health, stealing it once you get in is too easy and a huge risk.”

And that’s it. Katsuki was getting sick of this bullshit, of this up and down of emotions twisting his stomach into knots of rage and desperation. “Are you saying that we can’t be trusted?! Deku and I are going to be the number one heroes! In case you missed the memo, we’ll be saving a life every time we so much as even LIFT A FUCKING FINGER!”

What was he-

“Mister Bakugou,” her voice is firm, her demeanor melting the slightest away to show an upheld resolve. Damn. No wonder she was a business woman. “I’m simply stating the truth of what would happen so to not get your hopes up. The reasoning behind this is the same as the reason why you and Mister Midoriya were eliminated in the first place. This isn’t an entrance exam to a hero school where heroic acts are judged as a wild card factor. What you two did was the right thing to do, but earned no points in relevance to the competition objectively.”

This conversation was looking much like one he’d have a lot of back in first year, of nothing but yelling. Yet Katsuki couldn’t bring himself to stop past the fog of frustration. “You’re saying that despite trusting us with your lives, YOU CAN’T TRUST US WITH A MEASLY FLOWER?!”

What was he supposed to-

“That is what guidelines are for. If we go breaking them every time we were asked, what is the point of them?”

“WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO, THEN?!”

His voice echoed in the hallway. It silenced both sides, one for lack of breath and emotional exhaustion while the other in exchange for a thoughtful pause. Finally, she spoke. “I’m sorry, Mister Bakugou.”

“Like hell you are.” He snapped, letting himself recede back into old bad habits, just for this one moment.

“Is having your friend see the flower that important to you?”

“Of-” he narrowed his eyes. “Of course it is.” He needed it. He needed to show Deku and Auntie that flower, to make all of this up to him, to show him that they didn’t have to lose or be anything but the best they could be just because of the enemies and burdens that fucking Katsuki created from his concoction of asshole ways. To let Deku have what he wants and fight for it too, no matter how small or insignificant. After that…

Fear. Fear of your past being found out and sabotaging your career.

He’s clearly not of a right mindset to judge someone disgusting like you fairly.

After that, Katsuki will deal with it by himself then.

The woman looks at him the longest moment then, studying. “…Why don’t you think a little bit harder about why you want to show him that flower in the first place? It might come as a surprise to you.”

-B-C-S-S-G-

The rays of the morning sun piercing through the open windows are what wake up Izuku the next day. He rolls over, getting rid of that pesky heat on his cheeks brought on by the intrusion before finally giving up and emerging from his blankets on the other side.

It was weird, now. After two days of competition, it was strange to wake up and not have another one to look forward to. He’d returned home alone yesterday, Kacchan having insisted that he had something in town to buy despite Izuku not believing it for one second and trying his damnedest to stay with him. But, he wasn’t ready to speak and Izuku wasn’t about to force him.

He regrets that decision now, regretted it since he stayed up until the wee hours of the morning hoping that Kacchan would return from his outing so they could talk. He remembers Uraraka-san asking what happened a few hours before that, inquiring about their rank in the contest. Fortunately, Iida-kun who was now hooked on the show cut in with a lecture about spoilers and building suspense for the episode airing soon. No one inquired any further. Izuku snuck up inside his room as the rest of the class gathered around in the common area. Curled upwards on the bed post and adding thoughts to his notebook in between looking out his bedroom window for a head of blond against the waves of the ocean was how Izuku finally fell asleep that night.

Checking his phone, there were no glaring messages aside from a brief statement that Kacchan sent at 10pm last night, and Izuku had already huffed over in annoyance, saying ‘I’m fine.’ He didn’t reply to anything sent back, much to Izuku’s growing wall of table flipping emoticons.

It was in between linking a cat video and annotating it with ‘this is you, kacchan’ to try to rile his friend up, that Izuku resolved to go to the only other person who would have any idea as to what is bothering Kacchan: Yousef. Now that it was a new day, he wasted no time in getting dressed and emerging from his room.

Today’s competition was the grand finale that would see all of the last ten contenders battle it out with a performance of some sort. Izuku knew because this was surprisingly announced right after he and Kacchan were declared disqualified. A piece of paper was passed to the two finalists who did make it. They had the rest of the day to prepare a presentation which they think completely encompasses whatever was written on said sheet.

When he first heard of it, Izuku bubbled over with curiosity. What an absolutely unexpected twist! Even while ensuring that all childhood friends were challenged to the absolute limit of their abilities, the organizers didn’t flop out on variety either. No matter how adept two people were together in one aspect, if they were lacking in any of the others, they wouldn’t be able to win. It reminded Izuku so much of the accumulation of everything he’s learned at Yuuei, the culmination of what made the best heroes! Knowledge of each other and their habits! Communication verbally and physically! Understanding! Even the willingness to compromise-

Oh. Right. He had to go find Kacchan and Yousef-kun.

As he passed the hall, he ran into many of his classmates who had yet to leave the lounge for the day. They all caught the episode of Childhood Sweethearts last night, many of them coming up to Izuku with comforting words. It warmed him, his smile spreading with every exchange.

“Your heroic actions swayed me to tears!” Iida-kun bellowed out.

“You two have nothing to be ashamed of.” Hagakure-san smiled (or Izuku is pretty sure she did).

“Very manly.” Kirishima-kun grinned.

“That’s just how the competition is, mon ami.” Aoyama-kun sparkled.

Now if only Kacchan could be here to hear this too.

The thought left Izuku… strangely lonely. It lingered even as he left the lodge to march on the sand towards the bus stop. Finding himself a seat among an empty vehicle just heading into the early morning rush, it festered deeper as the bus travelled further downtown and a stranger with a newspaper took the one next to him. It thrived when a spiky blond passed by on the platform, music buds cranked up high, and Izuku found his head whipping up faster than if he had One For All on. Obviously, it wasn’t Kacchan at all. And that was when Izuku knew he had to give up in combating it and instead let the loneliness settle.

After twenty minutes of this, the vehicle finally stopped a block away from the small indoor stadium that was hosting the finale. There should be a VIP line dedicated especially for the other eighty contestants who were eliminated. They were invited to watch the finale from the front row, and when Izuku heard of this, he absolutely beamed. It made so much sense! What a brilliant tactic to raise the nostalgia of viewers! People love to fixate on the past and how things used to be in order to try and recreate good experiences they had as children. If he and Kacchan wanted to stay relevant, it wouldn’t hurt to mix just a little bit of nostalgia along with All Might-

“Oh my god, are you ‘Deku’?!” Izuku nearly flinched back when a girl with pink loop earrings exclaimed right in his face.

The barrage wasn’t letting up. A teenage boy joins in as soon as attention is brought onto him. “It is, it’s totally him! Hey, where’s ‘Kacchan’?” The crowd around is quick to join in on the mob as soon as his name is heard. And it was with rising stupidity that Izuku realized that he didn’t bother to hide his face today. He didn’t think the two of them were that popular!

Thankfully, before Izuku is left to make any public statements, a security guard recognizes him and ushers his stiffly smiling form to the correct line. He was a serious man, with a permanent scowl and refusal to speak past what was necessary. Still, Izuku wanted to make his day as easy as possible and sent a smile and bow his way. “Th-Thank you, mister!”

“No prob,” he tipped his hat before unchaining the rope barrier for him to pass though.

“Oh, um.” Izuku piped up before he forgot. “Did Kacchan pass by the entrance this morning?”

The man only shakes his head, causing the hero to deflate.

Still, Izuku couldn’t turn back and leave now! Even if Kacchan wasn’t here, he was excited to see their friends up on the stage. Not to mention that there was still another person who would be here today that he needed to talk to. With those thoughts in mind, Izuku made his way inside with conviction, blinking widely at the never-ending circle of chairs before spotting a familiar face amongst the guests.

Chang, he thinks, waves him over languidly.

Oh. Great.

I mean: Oh! Great!

Darn it, Kacchan was rubbing off on him. Izuku would slap himself if he could but instead makes his way over to claim the seat next to the Chinese weightlifter. True to his name, Chang had bodacious weights sporting a mess of graffiti littering their surface. That in itself would be unusual enough, but as Izuku got closer, he realized with growing unease that every single one of them were chained to his arms and calves. “Hi, Chang-kun. How a-are you?”

“Woke, man.” Chang looks to him, eyes wide. “I’m so woke.”

“D-Did you not sleep well?” The hero blinked, a confusion burning in his being greater than the moment when All Might told him to eat a piece of his hair. It’s only after a moment of the other man smiling mysteriously and leaning back instead of answering does Izuku catch the markings near his biceps. Only then does he notice that the spray paint on one of the weights facing him spelled out bOOB.

Without prompt, Izuku collects his bag and goes to sit on Chang’s other side.

Mercifully, the panel of judges start filing in not too long after. All Might is the first among them, sporting a rainbow-glittery bright yellow striped suit that Izuku honestly wanted a mini-copy of for himself from how cool it looked. He recognizes another judge, the woman named Alexa carrying the same clipboard from the second day, making herself a seat to the left of the man. The rest of the podium containing six spots slowly fill as the minutes pass. Similarly, there’s a steady trickle of fans finding seats around the vicinity. Eventually after another half-hour, the stadium is absolutely packed, the blare of the music over the intercom silencing to indicate the start of the show.

The host is, to Izuku’s pleasant surprise, Present Mic again. Honestly, the next ten seconds felt like they were dedicated solely to destroying everything Izuku knew about the guy. He rises down from a platform shaped like a heart as slow and romantic music plays against the backdrop of the descent from heaven. Then, suddenly, it’s cut off to a rap song more of the teacher’s style. The flamboyant man leaps off the heart much to the cheers of the crowd around them. He yells, using his quirk against the floor so to slow his landing and reach the floor safely with an impressive flip.

“Woah,” a giddy voice whispers out beside him. “Slay; I bet I could do that too.”

Izuku had his notebook out in approximately 2.0837 seconds. “Don’t. You’d die.”

“You can’t stop me, mommmm….” Chang whoops out before falling back in his chair with a loud snore, totally blanking out for the rest of the competition. And gosh, if Kacchan were here to make a comment about thanking all the great powers out there for that gift to their sanity, Izuku wouldn’t exactly correct him.

“Gooooooood morning, listeners!” Present Mic grins wide, seemingly recovered from the disaster that was the first day. “As you may have remembered from the previous episode, we had given out prompts to each of our lovely contestants to build a presentation around. They are toooooooooo-tally psyched for showing you what’s up their sleeves!”

The crowd’s screams could’ve ascended to the fifth dimension from how loud they were, momentarily blowing Izuku’s hair forward like it was some tentacle beast. The boy himself was too busy calculating the upper quartile behind the percentage effectiveness of screaming out your vocal chords during battle.

“Before we get to it, as you may know, each couple was asked to create a performance that perfectly incapsulates the topic they received. I bet all of you are super interested in what exactly was written on those mysterious pieces of paper!” Wagging a finger, Present Mic ‘tsk’-ed. “A lot of you may think that each pair got a different phrase from other pairs, in fact, our contestants themselves assumed that! But the truth is, everyone behind the stage all received the same prompt. Let’s reveal what exactly it was!” He gestures backwards, side-stepping to allow the banner to fall and reveal the magical phrase of the day.

What does being childhood friends mean to you?

Izuku swallowed an intake of air.  That… how exactly were you supposed to perform something like that? It was probably different for everyone but if he had to describe what he and Kacchan had, then he’d say that they just were.

“Now, let’s introduce our six judges!” The spotlight turned to focus on the panel of people in front of the sparkly curtain. “You may recognize them and you’d be right. With the exception of our All Might over here, one judge from each location of the competition yesterday was selected to comment on the performances today! They will be handing out a score out of ten for each pair. To avoid outliers, the highest and the lowest numbers will be deleted then the remaining numbers added up to total a score out of forty. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?!”

After a short introduction from each person on the panel plus some witty humor to relax the stadium, the first performance was quickly underway. To Izuku’s surprise, the ones who show their presence on the stage first are Yousef and Sophie, dressed in matching skin-tight leotards that reminded him of hero outfits. No one in the room aside from the couple themselves are aware of what will happen, which made the first note on the music booming from the stereo all the more impactful.

Izuku feels like he was holding his breath one moment, and the next, Sophie was completing a hand stand in mid-air with no support but Yousef’s own palms and the soles of his feet. He’s lying flat on the floor, the two moving as one unit to display an excellent show of acrobatics that made Izuku want to bawl at how many hours and weeks of training it probably took.

It doesn’t stop there. The rest of the performance contains the two of them moving together to complete just as awe-inspiring poses that has the audience gasping at the contortion of weight and body. In the middle of it all, a projector in the back begins showing a video narrating how deep the level of trust that partners require in this field was. And Izuku agrees, he agrees all the way until the final pose where the two of them both turn away from each other in another hand stand except this time, hook their two ankles together to balance the weight of their other legs shooting parallel to the ground in opposite directions.

The music stops. It was perfect, flawless, and the audience explodes. Izuku knows he should be impressed, is impressed to a point almost reaching half the amount of excitement he felt while waiting in line for the new All Might action figure that talked (talked!), but some deep pit in his stomach held back. It didn’t know how to feel.

When it’s finally time for the scoring, All Might is the first to reveal his number. Unsurprisingly, it’s a perfect ten out of ten. Yousef and Sophie seem like a shoe-in to win. But then, everyone suddenly silences. All Might blinks, looking around him at the other five judges before shooting his glance up at the screen.

Scores: 10, 3, 4, 5, 5, 3

Total: 3 + 4 + 5 + 5 = 17 out of 40

And Izuku was speechless. It was a flub. Their performance was an utter failure.

“Excellent balance and dynamic.” Alexa cuts into the ice-cold atmosphere of the room with her remark. And Izuku feels a little bit like crying in embarrassment for All Might living a typical middle school boy’s worst nightmare. “If this were the Olympics, I’d give you full marks.”

Another judge, an old man shaking in his seat but with a kind smile, adds. “But this is not the Olympics. I’m afraid that as impressive as that was, the two of you missed the entire point of this competition. What your compatibility as childhood friends looks like to the people on the outside has nothing to do with what it actually means to the two of you.”

Izuku shut his gaping mouth at the sight of Yousef on stage, brow furrowed and fists clenched in frustration. Dreams crushed. He bows. “Yes, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.”

Sophie is in a similar state, sweat collecting on her brow to join the sheen of wetness coating her eyes. But she keeps her head tall, unashamed that they made it so far. Taking her boyfriend’s hand, the two march off the stage to the respectful applause of the crowd cheering them on.

From beside him, Alexa gives his forearm a light nudge and a whisper. “Think more carefully about our lessons next time, All Might.”

“Yes, I apologize.” The man smiled. He was a great hero, but still had much to learn as a teacher and now judge, it seemed.

Thad and Cherry have their turn after another two performances. It was a skit of sorts, complete with wacky over-the-top robes and head sets. The two of them both got their family members to play the part of themselves as they reenacted their first meeting at, and Izuku would’ve never been able to guess this, a martial arts studio when Cherry first taught Thad the basics.

If Izuku had any way to describe it, he’d say that it was the polar opposite of Yousef and Cherry’s approach. Poorly coordinated, Thad forgot his lines at least three times and opted to ad-lib random compliments to Cherry’s cute shoulders much to the hysterical laughter of the audience. He was a disaster, in other words, kind of like how Izuku imagined he’d be like if he took acting as a career. At one point, Cherry’s wide arm motions caused her wig to fall off and landed in her father’s fake pie batter at the charity bake sale portion of their sketch. The family gasped, and Cherry had to perform the rest of the play with clay splattered on half her wig.

By the end of it, even Izuku had a smile as wide as a valley on his face at seeing just how much everyone on that stage loved each other, at how much they were having fun, that the score lit a strange sense of pride from within him.

Scores: 8, 7, 9, 8, 8, 9

Total: 8 + 8 + 8 + 9 = 33 out of 40

And this time, he stood up to cheer for them almost as loudly as everyone else. He waves when he catches Cherry’s eye, the girl motioning for Thad to return the wave with a giant grin. “YEAH, LITTLE GREEN! We were AWESOME!”

Izuku sat back down, eventually, cheeks pink in embarrassment but no amount of regret at how thrilled he got. He looked out to the rest of the room that was having fun, smile turning small. “I wish Kacchan could’ve been here to see this.”

Immediately following Thad and Cherry’s new high score, a familiar bird whisperer and his chicken flooded the spotlight next. With no props other than their two ridiculously matching moustaches and a stool, Blue Jay sat himself down with the creature in his lap before being engulfed in silence.

It might’ve stretched too long, for someone in the audience calls out. “Hey, do something!”

“QUIT YOUR YAPPING!”

And nope. Izuku was done. Izuku out, signing off. Izuku 404 error not found.

To everyone’s horror, the voice did not come from Blue Jay but from the tiny chicken squawking out words in place of caws. “I slept a whole total of four hours the past week because of this CHEEKY LITTLE PANSY HERE!”

The man gasped. “Bernie, did you not enjoy our venture into defeating the seven deadly sins?”

Taking much more time than it should’ve, Izuku realized with a mixture of terror, awe, and the destruction of everything he’s come to know in life, that Blue Jay was a ventriloquist. A very good ventriloquist, if the next nine minutes (he likes to count) of the bird and man recounting from things as deep as their backstory to a story on the daily news with frequent banter was any indication.

Scores: 7, 8, 7, 8, 8, 7

Total: 7 + 7 + 8 + 8 = 30 out of 40

“HA!” Blue Jay exclaims, accepting defeat with grace and a smile. “I suppose… second place would please the great queen.”

And out of all of the performances tonight, those three were the most memorable. Every other pairing was still wonderful, in Izuku’s opinion, but none of them scored nearly as high as Thad and Cherry nor as low as Sophie and Yousef. Karaoke, simple dance routines and duets done on guitars, they were what you’d expect from the standard high school talent show. He kind of wonders what he and Kacchan would’ve done if they were up there today. Hehe, Kacchan would want to explode something for sure, possibly engulf the entire thing in a death track that was way cuter than it had any right to be nor that Kacchan himself was aware of.

After the seventh pair left the stage, the host calls for an intermission so guests can feast on the snack bar or visit the bathroom. Izuku takes his chance. This time, he’s sure to raise the hood of his jacket so not to draw attention (learn from mistakes!), jogging out of the room and into the wide hallways in search of his friend. It’s packed, with the majority of the people congregating towards the food court. Walking away from where the population was the most dense after a failed roundabout, Izuku is just about to ask security when he spots a familiar figure hunched over a rusting vending machine.

By the time he approaches, he can get a picture of the situation. Yousef had inserted a coin but the snack refused to drop. When bashing the white button proved to be of no use, he discarded his temper to kick it. “I can’t believe the dumb machine ate my money--!”

“Don’t shake it. You’re more likely to die from a vending machine falling on you than a villain attack.” Izuku steps beside the boy, inserting his own coins and entering the same code so that the beeping machine released two bags upon them.

“Thanks.” Yousef grabs one bag, handing the other one over to him.

Izuku smiled. “No problem.”

Silence. Yousef decided to distract himself, opening the snack to indulge while Izuku hung onto his packet of dancing gummy bears with a furrow in his brow. He waited. Giving everyone a chance to speak was something important to Izuku as a hero, but when it was evident that Yousef wouldn’t, he pressed his lips in a thin line.

Something itching at the back of Izuku’s mind doubted. Maybe Yousef didn’t do anything to Kacchan after all. Maybe Izuku was overanalyzing and framing the wrong person. He needed confirmation before anything else. Mind working a mile a minute to concoct a plan, Izuku finally spoke. “Your performance today was great.”

For a moment, Yousef seems surprised. “Thanks but the judges didn’t seem to think so.”

Izuku leaned back, joining the other on the wall to stare at the offending machine. “It is a tough competition. Despite your score, I really liked that one move you two did in the beginning! What was it called?”

Genuinely interested, Izuku perks up when Yousef decides to humor him, brown eyes looking to the vending machine. “You mean the shoulder stand on feet. It’s pretty dangerous for Sophie since she has to rely on my body for her to stay up.”

“Have you tried switching?” Pretty standard question.

Yousef laughed. “Absolutely not! She was the one who refused, actually. She practiced way too much for her current position to just change. It’s very complex.”

“I can tell that she’s a hard worker,” Izuku nodded, smiling. However, it weakens a moment later. “How is she doing with the… news?”

The man turns, making to press random buttons on the keypad as a distraction. “She’s… managing. I guess we just got too caught up in the size and grandeur of everything that we missed the little things. The purpose just wasn’t there.”

“That level of coordination and knowledge of what each other’s bodies can and cannot take is still really amazing! I think if Kacchan and I could do even half of what you two did, we’d be unstoppable.”

“Thanks.” Pause. “Where is Katsuki?”

Izuku frowned, holding back the twitch in his brow. “He didn’t want to come and watch.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, do you know why?”

Yousef stopped, unsure how to answer. He couldn’t risk reading Izuku’s emotions. That was the backlash of his own quirk; using it took an emotional toll on him and it’ll be visible to anyone in the vicinity. In other words, it was useless in this situation. Such thoughts and conclusions were reached within a second. Yousef shrugged. “I’m not sure. He might be feeling down from losing.”

“You’re lying.”

The suddenness of Izuku’s tone, the switch from light to rock hard nearly had Yousef flinching away. On the outside, he managed to maintain composure. “What are you talking about?”

“Just as we’re taught as Yuuei students to know the right thing to say to injured civilians, we’re also trained in interrogation.” Here, Izuku pocketed the candy, spinning around from his spot on the wall to fix the man- the one who hurt Kacchan- with a hard glance. “Your habits and patterns when recalling facts versus reflecting and formulating high level responses differ greatly. That’s all I can really disclose.”

And Yousef, he was speechless.

“I’ll ask you again, Yousef-kun. What did you say to Kacchan yesterday?” Izuku wasn’t going to accept playing dumb anymore.

From behind them, the familiar tune of the game show theme suddenly chimed in the background, indicating the end of the intermission. The television from adjacent and hanging on the wall begins showing the eighth performance, yet neither of the two boys move to watch it.

“Izuku, I-I’m sorry, okay?”

The hero tilts his head, perplexed for answers. “Please be more specific. What are you sorry for?”

“You may not understand it now, but I had to say what I did. I couldn’t just let it be.” The green-headed hero softens, expression more patient as he observes the man forming his words with difficulty. “He treats you horribly. Please don’t ask how I know, but you can be a much better hero than the one he’ll ever force you to be.”

“What Kacchan and I’s compatibility as childhood friends looks like to you,” Izuku shook his head, smile turning sad as he repeated the lines that shattered the other’s dreams not even an hour ago, “has nothing to do with what it actually means to the two of us. What it means to me and how I feel about it.”

It was a low blow, but it had to be done. The sentence has Yousef flinching back, sweat on his temple. “Wh-What does that have to do with anything? You were in danger. When I see that, I make decisions to help.”

But Izuku only shakes his head, his footsteps carrying him away from the shaken teen as he could offer nothing else but a parting message. This wasn’t his problem to fix. The old him might’ve jumped in, put his nose in where it didn’t belong out of some great need to help, just as Yousef did to try to save him, just as Izuku himself used to do for Kacchan. But Izuku wasn’t like that anymore. “That’s something that you have to figure out for yourself, Yousef-kun. If you ever do anything to Kacchan again, I’ll never forgive you.”

Seven, no, eight steps are what it takes for Izuku to make a run for it.

Somewhere in his peripheral and from the screens hanging in the hallways, he registers Thad and Cherry accepting the first-place prize from All Might with bright grins and ecstatic cheers. But that wasn’t where Izuku belonged right now; it was wherever Kacchan was. They had to talk. No competition was worth the urgency of that need.

As his red shoes squeak near the lobby and round to the doors leading outside, he’s just about to charge back into the open air when the intercom freezes him in his tracks. Correction; not the intercom itself but the name it speaks that sends the best shivers down Izuku’s spine.

“-tsuki Bakugou! This is a bit of a surprise but he requested that he take my spot in the closing ceremony speech and I accepted.” The grand All Might laugh to the backdrop of shocked judges and gossiping audience, and Izuku slowly turns his head to the closest screen to gape at the familiar tuff of blond hair- a head of hair that he knew better than anything- sauntering onto the stage.

“All right, I’m going to be fuc- fudging real with you.” The television Kacchan announces as soon as the microphone is in his hands. Please, Kacchan. The sight of him trying to be ‘child friendly’ never failed to make Izuku’s insides tingle in laughter. “I’m absolutely fantastic when it comes to public speaking, but when it comes to reaching people’s hearts and all that good crap? Not a chance in snowball’s hel- icopter.”

From the side, All Might sends him a thumbs-up that the target himself ignores.

“The point of this speech here was to bring focus to the highlights of this year’s competition enhanced by flowery notes on the company’s values on childhood friends and human relationships.” The blond ran a distracted hand through his bangs before settling it back in his pocket, a bad habit he had when addressing others. This was clearly all written out beforehand. No matter how haphazard the structure, he drove on without a second of uncertainty. “Hopefully, by the end of this, you come to appreciate the ones who’ve been with you since the very beginning. Maybe actually start understanding what it means to have a childhood friend. But for all things fudging dove chocolate in the world, I’m going to tell you my version instead. Why? Because I can.”

His voice, Kacchan’s voice filtered through by layers of static and sound waves and speakers suddenly wasn’t enough for Izuku anymore. He had to hear it in person. Without much more thought, Izuku rushed away from the entrance to sprint back into the stadium hall to chase that desire.

When he silently bursts into the back of the room is around the same time when one of the judges tips his chair around. He’s motioning for help from security to end this nonsense when an authoritative hand on his shoulder stops him. It’s the older man, smile still gentle but an intrigued spark in his eye.

“What is it like to be close to someone since childhood?” Katsuki’s gruff tone echoes throughout the stadium, reaching Izuku’s ears and- and Izuku feels like melting oh my god. Whispers of the audience still lingering begin to lower in tandem. Red eyes travelling up the rows, he spots a familiar pair of green staring at him in absolute purity. “It’s scary. I’m telling you now, this stupid competition and these people who keep preaching to the world about the glamour of it all are lying. Here’s this dumb guy who knows you better than anyone else does- maybe even more than you know about yourself, coming in to ruin everything that you had planned out for your life. All because he fudging can. You’re going to be scared out of your wits, I guarantee it.”

It was an honest admission, one that Kacchan would’ve never been able to do had he been a little younger or dumber. But the resonance of such a statement has the entire crowd, Izuku included, holding their breath in a silent awe. Kacchan was stealing the spotlight, becoming that center of attention that made him so incredible in the first place. “I’m also angry, pissed as shi- sugar at myself, at someone, all the time. Being around the same person judging you, looking down on you, looking up to you, gets tiring after about five minutes. But you’ve known this guy for fifteen years now and it’s all built up to this mountain of rage that you sort of wish didn’t want to erupt just because he breathed the wrong way. Yet here you are, halfway ready to spend ten hours mowing a lawn in the shape of the words ‘stupid’ just to convey half of what you’re feeling.”

Momentarily taking his hand out from his pockets, Katsuki switches his microphone to his other hand. Yet still, he doesn’t break eye contact with his nerd. “You’ll also be envious, I guess- no, you will be. Envious when you think back to how often you’ve chosen to be angry; envious of the time you lost with them because of it. Delighted for- I don’t even know.”

Here, he laughs humorlessly in the way that he used to mock Izuku when they were kids, except directed at his own self. “Katsuki Bakugou doesn’t know something, congratulations, you dumb nerd, you caused this. I just am. I’ve known you for way too long for any of this to make sense. Like you’re looking at me right now as if I just hung the moon when all I did was break your toy when we were five, push you around until we were in middle school, then yelled at everyone like I always do. I could’ve just left it alone, gone home today instead of being up here but I didn’t. None of it makes any sense!”

Izuku couldn’t be blamed when he felt the warmness of tears staining his cheeks. The sight has the blond on stage curl his lip slightly, gain the courage needed from the reassurance that Izuku was there. “It didn’t feel right to lose quietly so I couldn’t just leave it alone, and I always go all the way. It’s terrifying to feel all of this about you. Of course I’m freaking scared, you bastard! But this fear is my own, and anyone who tries to label what it means or what I should do with it is talking out of their as- butt.”

But of course, it wouldn’t be a Kacchan speech if it didn’t involve threatening in some way. He finally broke eye contact with his green nerd to glare at the entire room in disdain. “So if anyone here dare tell me that being childhood friends is always just the cream of the crop and I’m being a pansy who can’t deal with crap, I’m going to stick this boot so far into your mouth that you’ll wish it’ll split open.” He whispers the last part with all the venom in the world before handing the microphone back to All Might.

Then, Kacchan walks off the stage with his head held high.

The sight sends Izuku’s heartbeat into overdrive. Before he can register his own movements, the hero is scrambling out of the room and sprinting into a maze of hallways with zero preservation. The building is huge, yet Izuku doesn’t stop running. He doesn’t stop while rounding down multiple staircases. It’s only when he spots a shock of blond emerging from the backstage doors that he trades his jog in exchange for leaping right into Kacchan’s arms. He’s sobbing, he knows. But Izuku can’t find it in himself to care. “Kacchan, what…! You could’ve ju-just said SORRY!” He chokes out between hiccups, chest aflutter.

“I know… fucking Deku.” The blond spits out but still, reciprocates by encircling his arms around him. Kacchan- wonderful, amazing Kacchan who never did things halfway- allows him to empty the flow of tears and overflowing emotions with all the world’s patience. Seconds bleed into minutes that by the time Izuku quiets down to small sniffles, the two of them are leaning against the wall with the smaller boy still in his arms.

The truth was that Izuku could cry for another hour if he wanted to. But he breathes all the waterworks in. The weight of Kacchan’s words, the ones he’s been wanting to hear for a decade and a half, threated to tip the balance known as his heart. Finally, he speaks, voice coming out blurred from emotion. “You’re right. It doesn’t make any sense, what we feel for each other.”

“What you feel…?” Despite being so confident earlier, Izuku can feel the other’s shoulders stiffen from his spot where his face is buried in Kacchan’s sweet-smelling collar. Recognizing the spark of self-hatred, Izuku clenches the other’s shirt tighter in reassurance.

“Yeah, like I want to lie in bed, except have you there all the time and every day.” Izuku bursts out in a short and wet laugh. His brain could do no more than just say whatever he truly felt. “L-Like I’d want to wake up each morning like this, with you. Or be close to you while watching movies. Sharing food, cooking for each other and with each other… Don’t l-leave me anymore, Kacchan.”

The sound of Izuku’s words is so small and vulnerable, full of trust. Yet the way those arms tighten around him is all the answer that Izuku needs. “You’re so weird, nerd.”

He smiles, eyes watery. “Let’s be weird together.”

“We’ll just have to figure out whatever this stuff between us is together, huh?”

“I’d like that.”

It goes without saying that from then on, the two are not shy at all about physical contact. Like some unspoken agreement, it felt right and permission wasn’t needed anymore. When they leave the building to make the short trek back to the bus stop, it’s with their arms linked and shoulders bumping. And if Izuku occasionally leaned up against the other when his lack of sleep from last night feels like catching up to him, Kacchan didn’t say anything.

When they’re on the bus itself, it’s with a green and blond head resting on top of each other using Kacchan’s shoulder as a pillow. They don’t sleep, but the position is relaxing, Izuku’s eyes half-lidded as they make remarks about the scenery and identified what so-and-so store that they had yet to visit seemed interesting. Occasionally, a hand, he doesn’t know whose but it’s likely a mix of the both of them, would reach out to run innocent circles into the other’s side. It’s nice, amazing, and Izuku has no idea why they wasted fifteen years without doing this sooner.

And when they return to the lodge, it’s while holding hands.

It wasn’t until years later that Izuku realized that they both forgot about the ring.