Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Being a pro hero had its perks, but it wasn’t all fun and games. Other than the dangers of the job paperwork, meetings, and patrols where nothing happened took most of their time.

Patrol today had been slow. Felt like an eternity if you asked Bakugo. He was on his way back to his apartment when he received a call from Camie. “What do you want, bubbles?” “Are you busy? I need to rant” She answered without being able to hide her irritation.

Bakugo raised an eyebrow at that. Camie was one of the most thick-skinned people he knew, she usually didn’t give a fuck about much, so to hear her that annoyed called his attention. “Your place or mine? I was walking back home now from patrol. I could be there in 10 minutes.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you there.” Bakugo made it back and it was only a few minutes before Camie was knocking at his door. When Bakugo opened the door Camie immediately started her rant.

“Who the fuck do they think they are?! Assholes think they can just control people’s lives however they want.” She continued as she made her way inside.

“Oi, at least take off your shoes you heathen! I don’t know what you're talking about so just start from the beginning and sit on the couch. Tea is almost ready.”

He had an open-concept place so while he went to the kitchen, he could still listen to her as she sat on the couch and explained. “Did you receive a notice from the agency?”

“You mean the one about hero conduct? Yeah, but I haven’t read it yet. Still have a week before the I-Expo which I assume is why they sent it now, so I thought I had time... why?” He asked as handed her a cup of tea and sat down next to her.

“They made a new bullshit rule about PDA for heroes due to ‘recent developments’. I didn’t read too much into it but today Mina and I were called into a meeting with a higher-up. Turns out ‘recent developments’ was code for our relationship becoming public.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Bakugo frowned.

“Exactly what you’re thinking. The asshole just told us that our lifestyle would have to stay out of the public eye because we had an image to uphold as heroes. You best believe I told them to go fuck themselves, but they ended up telling us that if we went against it, we could be suspended... It’s not like we're fucking on the streets, Kats. We’ve been together for a year we just decided to not hide that anymore.”

Bakugo had fisted his hands as he was listening. “So, these homophobic assholes are threatening you both with suspension for being gay? The Hero Commission wouldn’t allow that. Wait, I can’t imagine raccoon eyes is any better than you. Where is she?”

“I walked her over to Kirishima’s place before coming here. She was trying to put on a strong face, but I know she’s going through it too...”

Camie looked at her hands sadly. “I don’t know what to do, Kats.”

He took a deep breath. “Look, we’ll figure something out. For now, I think we need to get other heroes involved. I don’t think they can suspend you based on your personal life so we can use that to fight this. Like hell, I can’t even believe it. If I had the guts to ask Kirishima out, you’d best believe I’d blow the fucking agency to hell before I let them dictate my personal life.”

She gave him a small smile. “You should’ve done so ages ago. Kiri looks at you as if you could hand him the moon and the stars... but anyway I know you’re still being a wimp about it, so I’ll leave it alone.” Bakugo shoved her shoulder as she chuckled.

“But seriously... do you have any ideas? I really want to fight this, but I don’t want Mina to get suspended because of it.” Bakugo stayed silent deep in thought for a few seconds. “Do you trust me?”

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.” He smiled. “Okay, then I’m going to set something up.” He said as he looked up a contact on his phone and called.

“Hey, how’s raccoon eyes doing?”

“As one would expect it's been a while since I’ve seen her so sad about something. Is Camie still with you?”

“Yeah, she’s still here. I think I have an idea. I’m involving our entire class, so I’ll give you the details later. I have to call reinforcements so just take care of her for now yeah?”

“Sure, man. No problem. Talk to you later” Bakugo hung up looked for another contact and called again. “Who are you calling?” Camie asked and was promptly ignored.

“Oi deku, is cheeks with you? Good. Put me on speaker.” Bakugo put them on speaker too. “Hi blasty.” “What’s up Kacchan, you don’t usually call unless it's important.”

“I’m here with Camie, we have a discrimination problem in our hero agency, and I want to get our entire class involved to look for a way to stop those assholes.”

“Oh, sure. We could have a meeting at our house. I’ll try to contact our classmates to see who can make it” Midoriya answered. “I’ll let all the girls know too.”

“Good. I’ll start working on a plan. I’ll explain everything there.” Bakugo said and then hung up. “Aww, you actually do care” Camie clutched her hand on her chest as she wiped a fake tear.

“No shit. Obviously, I care about you dimwits. It’s fucked up and I won’t stand for their bigotry. Fuck them. This involves all of us. So don’t you worry.” He said as he ruffled her hair.

It was a few days before they got together. They had gotten a good-sized group including Midoriya, Uraraka, Iida, Momo, Todoroki, Sero, Shinsou, Kaminari, Jirou, Tsuyu, Camie, Mina, Kirishima, and Bakugo.

Bakugo was in Midoriya’s kitchen getting some water when Kirishima walked in. “Hey man, you okay?” Bakugo nodded. “Yeah, just want to get this over with...” Kirishima smiled at him. “You’re a good friend Bakugo. Thanks for doing this.”

“Tch, it’s nothing shitty hair. Don’t act as if you hadn’t been an integral part of the planning process. I couldn’t have done it without you.” When he turned Kirishima was closer than he expected. It was as if time stopped.

He couldn’t help but look at his lips. Forgetting where they were they had started leaning into each other when Mina came in scaring them as they each took a step backward and blushed furiously. “Oops sorry babes. I just wanted to let you know we’re ready when you are.”

She had a shit-eating grin as she winked and turned to leave. They had been dancing around each other’s feelings for ages. Bakugo could not believe that they almost had their first kiss in Midoriya’s kitchen for fucks sake.

“Baku-” “We’ll talk about it later, okay?” Bakugo squeezed his hand while smiling reassuringly. “Let’s finish this mission first.” Kirishima smiled as he nodded before they both made their way into the living room where everyone was.

“Okay, so can you all finally tell us what’s going on? I gave up an afternoon of cuddling my partners for this you know.” Kaminari said while having one hand on Shinsou’s thigh and the other on Jirou’s.

“Ow” Jirou had pinched his thigh. “Knock it off, Denks I’m sure we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.” Kaminari pouted in response.

Midoriya interrupted. “Okay, listen up. Firstly, thank you all for coming. We have a bit of a situation we’d like your help with. Kacchan could you please give us the details?” Bakugo nodded.

“We don’t have all day so I’m only going to say this once. A higher-up at our agency gave raccoon eyes and bubbles shit for their relationship. They threatened suspension if they didn’t ‘uphold their image as heroes’ whatever the fuck that means.”

“Are you serious? They can’t do that, right?” Shinsou asked unable to hide his irritation. “Not legally they can’t. That’s full-on discrimination under Hero Commission Regulations” Iida added.

“They gave us written guidelines about PDA but called us in separately to tell us, so we don’t have any written evidence for it. I don’t know what they can and can’t do but Camie and I want to fight it.” Mina said as she interlaced her fingers with Camie’s.

“That’s so messed up.” Uraraka said. “Yeah, that’s not right. So, what can we do about it? Ribbit” Tsuyu said as she turned towards Bakugo and Midoriya.

“That’s why you’re all here. We’re all top heroes so if we go against it together it would be less probable that they can enforce their stupidity” Midoriya said with a smile.

“I was thinking of going public about it, but in a way, they can’t mess with them for it. I was thinking about doing something during the reception party on I-Island. Take advantage of the media coverage and all.” Bakugo started.

“We could also warn the Hero Commission. Since it is illegal anyway might as well call the agency out with the commission already in the know.” Momo added while Iida, her husband agreed.

“That could work... but only if we tell them that same day,” Kirishima said. “We don’t know who has connections with whom so it would be better off to catch people by surprise.”

“Agreed. That’s why we’re pairing up. Shitty hair, you’re with me. I know exactly how we’ll do it.” Bakugo smirked. “We’ll give those bigoted assholes a show.”

Chapter Text

They arrived on the island first thing in the morning. Finally, the day when they set their plan in motion was here. They sent one last text to confirm everyone had made it in and now all they had to do was show up.

The plan went like this. Every hero at the meeting would be arriving at the reception’s party red carpet with the pairing they had predetermined. Bakugo obviously called dibs on Kirishima, while Camie and Mina stayed together, but the rest were left to choose themselves.

Midoriya decided to go with Iida, Uraraka with Tsuyu, Kaminari with Shinsou, Jirou with Momo, and finally Sero with Todoroki. Their task? Have some kind of PDA to show. Hand holding or whatever they were comfortable with.

If they were asked about the weird pairings, especially those who were already in publicly known relationships like Midoriya, Uraraka, Iida, and Momo they were given the go-ahead to answer truthfully about their reason. This was a peaceful protest after all.

Now on the red carpet Sero and Todoroki were the first to arrive. Sero started with a simple hand on his waist as they posed for pictures by the media. As they started walking down the carpet, he interlaced his fingers with Todoroki’s.

“Cellophane! Shoto! Is this how you announce your relationship? How long have you been dating” They were bombarded with a bunch of similar questions before answering. “We’re not in a relationship yet, but, what’s so wrong about having a good-looking friend be your date?” Todoroki asked.

“Not so bad yourself pretty boy” Sero answered with a flirty smile noticing the ‘yet’ and then turned to the reporters. “We heard some people in the industry had some close-minded views on same-sex couples, so we decided to show our community they count on our support.”

Before they could ask any more questions, they kept walking into the hall the party was being held in.

After them, Midoriya, Iida, Jirou, Momo, Uraraka, and Tsuyu walked through giving the same answer as to why they were together for the night.

Kaminari and Shinsou were next and when asked Shinsou answered. “I’ve been out and proud as a pansexual since I can remember so I’m here to show support for my community but also to protest how agencies think they can have a say on our personal lives. Being a hero is a job. One we enjoy doing to help others, but they don’t get a say in who or how I date. “

“Exactly!” Kaminari added “And they definitely can’t threaten to punish us for our love life.” He continued with a shrug.

Meanwhile, Bakugo and Kirishima had just met up to make their way to the carpet. “Wow... Bakugo you look great.” He said with an awed expression looking him up and down in his burgundy suit with a white button-down that was unbuttoned at the top.

Bakugo shook his head to focus. Kirishima looked stunning in his navy-blue suit. “You too.” He said while his ears went pink. “You look really good.” Kirishima had a beaming smile as he motioned for them to start walking towards the carpet.

They were about to arrive when Bakugo called the redhead’s attention. “Remember when I said we’d talk after this was all over?” Kirishima hummed at him as he nodded.

“I meant it, but I just want to let you know beforehand that I everything I’m about to say to reporters is true.” Kirishima tilted his head at him looking like a confused puppy before Bakugo interlaced their fingers and got them to the carpet.

As they stopped for pictures Bakugo wrapped his arm around Kirishima’s waist as Kirishima leaned into the touch. Then it was Kirishima who interlaced their fingers as they went to the area where reports could reach to ask questions.

“Dynamight! Red Riot! Are you also a part of this protest the other heroes are joining? Are you dating? Can you tell us more about what moved you all to do this?” Reporters bombarded them with questions.

Bakugo raised his hand to silence them before answering. “Tonight’s protest was planned to call out not only the injustice but also the danger of discrimination. Sadly, the agency I work for with Illus-o-Camie and Pinky is the one we’re calling out. Heroes were threatened with suspension because apparently being gay doesn’t uphold the ‘hero image’ they want at the agency. Taking good heroes off the streets because of intolerant and frankly outdated opinions is irresponsible and dangerous so we decided we’re having none of it.” He looked lovingly at Kirishima. “So, if I also get suspended for being here tonight with the love of my life then so be it. I’ll give them hell before I let them dictate who and how I can love” He shrugged.

Kirishima’s eyes watered a bit as he squeezed Bakugo’s hand with a smile so big it would probably hurt his cheeks later. “Even though we don’t all work for that same agency we decided to come together to protest it. The Hero Commission was also informed of the situation since it does go against their regulations. Now if you’ll excuse us, I’d love to have a great night with this handsome man. Come on, babe.”

Bakugo could only laugh as he was pulled into the hall and then into a more secluded corner. “I’d ask you if you meant it, but you had already warned me. Bakugo, you have no idea how happy I am right now.” Kirishima said as he pulled him into a bone-crushing hug.

“Katsuki, call me Katsuki. Sorry it took so long to admit it, Ei.” He answered as he held him just as tight. Once they separated Kirishima cupped his cheeks looking at his eyes as if memorizing every detail. They had started to lean in when Camie and Mina came behind them.

“Took you idiots long enough,” Camie said with a knowing smirk. “Oh, for fucks sake,” Bakugo grumbled as he let his forehead rest on Kirishima’s shoulder. His first kiss with Kirishima was again interrupted.

“You’ll have time to make out later. Right now, I want a hug. The owner of our agency called and apologized on behalf of the agency. Apparently, it wasn’t a group decision but a specific higher-up who went behind the scenes to mess things up. They want us to come in later to give them the details as evidence for that person’s termination of employment.”

“I’m so glad everything worked out!” Kirishima hugged her as he congratulated them. “We owe you both big time,” Camie said as she knocked Bakugo’s shoulder. “Nah, everything happened the way it needed to.” He said looking at Kirishima with the softest expression.

Midoriya came to them “Congrats on a job well done. Now come on, the ceremony is about to start.” They all listened to the welcoming speech and the rest of the ceremony. After it was done, they would have music to just let everyone enjoy the party.

People were dancing and having a great time including them as a friend group. When a slower song came around, Kirishima asked while bending down with a hand on his chest. “May I have this dance, my good sir?”

Bakugo could only smile as he shook his head at his antics. He gave him his hand and was led to the middle of the dance floor. Kirishima grabbed one hand as he put his hand on Bakugo’s waist.
Bakugo put his hand on Kirishima’s shoulder as they got closer and shifted softly with the music.

“I forgot to say this earlier but for the record, I love you too. I’ve loved you for a long time.” Kirishima whispered in his ear. Bakugo backed up a bit to look into Kirishima’s eyes. “Good”, he said with a smile.

“I can finally be yours and you can be mine.” Bakugo continued as their noses touched.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Finally, after two failed attempts, they kissed. Bakugo cupped Kirishima’s face as his lips brushed softly against his partner’s smooth lips. Kirishima’s hold on his waist tightened, as he turned his head a bit deepening the kiss.

Suddenly a round of cheers and whistles surrounded them. They slowly backed away from each other as they smiled while still pecking each other’s lips one more time before turning to their friends.

They had taken their sweet time, but everything had happened as it should have. They were together, their careers were at an all-time high, and their friends were there to support them. They couldn’t ask for anything else.