Chapter Text
If he looked back on his UA years, there’s no doubt that Bakugou would have a smile creep across his face. It had been rough, sure, he’d gotten one too many injuries and about half a dozen fights with Monoma, and he’d still managed to find the most precious thing in the world.
Of course hero work was important, making the world better by the sheer force of his punches and massive explosions was always an upside, and yet it was a drop in the ocean when it came to his boyfriend.
In the media he was an eligible albeit hot-headed bachelor. Though, the reality would say otherwise. His one and only... who was currently ogling at his gear for the fourth time in the week, the television blasting in the background.
“Kacchan, you haven’t been noticing any rattling, right?” a sparkle of emerald and a bright smile met his gaze.
“‘Zuku, your gear is the best, there’s not going to be a rattle for as long as you live,” he hummed back, eyes watching the nerd, the muscle on his arms from lifting heavy equipment only partly exposed due to the baggy t-shirt he wore.
The shirt was dirty, but that didn’t stop him from seeing the art on the front. His hero name was stamped across the front in an embarrassing obvious neon orange – it was official merchandise too. Course the nerd was wearing hismerchandise, even as an adult he was still a nerd about heroes.
Bakugou drew his eyes back to the food in chopped front of him. The chilies in a pile to the side solely for him. He cut up some vegetables and began to cook the meat.
Preoccupied, he failed to notice his boyfriend sneaking around and carefully hugging him from behind. Izuku’s head leaned on his shoulder as he nuzzled into his neck. It was warm, it always felt warm when it was just them.
“Yeah, ‘Zuku,” he hummed, eyes not leaving the pan in front of him.
He could feel his boyfriend wrinkle his nose, “Kacchan, why do you have to eat so much chili? I can feel it burning from here.”
A smile spread across his face, “I like the taste, nerd.”
They remained in silence for a bit longer, Izuku watching him cook, the arms had loosened but not let go.
Bakugou knew his boyfriend had something to say, he tended to get all broody like this whenever he was thinking deeply. Though, whatever it was, he wanted to wait until they were properly sitting down, besides, he liked the warm comfort that was currently hugging him.
Turning off the stove, he plates up the food and Izuku brought it over to the table. An array of other things sat across it, a few tools, some paperwork he still needed to read over and his key that he’d haphazardly dumped onto the table.
With a quick sweep, he moved it all to the side and his boyfriend set down the food. They sat and Izuku dug in without much hesitation, Bakugou only really waiting as he dumped more chili onto his food.
Izuku watched in distain as he began to eat with a slight bit more dignity than his boyfriend.
He merely raised his eyes and, just to spite him, added a bit extra chili.
“Kacchan!” he whined. “Stop adding chili, it makes my tongue spicy when I kiss you.”
He paused for a moment, his chopsticks part of the way to his open mouth. He put them down and felt his shoulders begin to shake. He began to laugh, “That’s why you don’t like me eating chili.”
Izuku began to laugh too, “Well... yes and no. You’ll ruin your taste buds if you keep that up.”
“You afraid I’ll stop being able to taste you?” his boyfriend gave a spluttering response and he hummed fondly. “Don’t worry nerd, you’re unforgettable,” he picked up his chopsticks and resumed eating, ignoring the red face that he knew the nerd was showing.
They continued to eat, the TV still blasting in the background. Izuku had his eyes glued to the screen, still the same as ever.
Though, he supposed it was the nerd’s job to analyze the shit out of every single movement of as many heroes as he could. He could already see his boyfriend’s mind ticking, a wince whenever Red Riot made a wrong movement, or when Uravity made a needless use of a quirk.
The program stopped and Bakugou poked his boyfriend. “What’s the matter, ‘Zuku?”
Eyes quickly flickered back to the screen and then he gave a small smile. “Just some trouble with adapting some equipment today. Other than that, not much,” he chirped.
He flashed a winning smile and Bakugou almost fell prey to how cute his boyfriend looked. But he knew that the smile was a little too manufactured, it was the one he wore when he was trying not to get irritated or when he was trying to hide tears. “You sure?”
“Yeah,” Izuku hummed softly, attention returning to the TV.
A quick break before the next show and there were two women and Bakugou instantly knew who they were. The two were infamous for their gossiping and news columns on heroes. They were notorious for doing anything to get the latest scoop.
The first woman looked to the other ang giggled, “Well, we’ve got a lot of news for the rising heroes. Denki Kaminari – also known as hero Chargebolt – was recently seen exiting the hero gala with Hitoshi Shinso – hero Hypnos. This is particularly exciting after Chargebolt’s recent breakup with Earphone Jack. Unfortunately, we’ll just have to wait and see if anything comes from this.”
The other woman giggled, “If they do turn out to be a couple, it’ll certainly be a bumpy road. But we don’t discriminate here!”
Matching photos of his friends came up on the screen along with an accompanying picture of Kaminari and Shinso leaving the gala. He heard Deku’s voice, “I feel bad for Kaminari, he’s been in the spotlight for the last month.”
Bakugou hummed, moving more food into his mouth. “They’re nosy shits. Should keep their nose out of our business.”
The women continued. “The gala also gave us many possible relationships for Katsuki Bakugou–” sound just stopped for him as he turned his whole attention to the screen. He saw images of shitty hair and round face and even raccoon eyes made an appearance.
“Kacchan?”
His boyfriend brought him back. He could smell the nitroglycerin from his palms and the chopsticks in his hands had snapped. He moved his head back to the food in front of him and grumbled, “Like I said, nosy shits. They don’t know anything.”
“They sound like they’re banking hard on you and Uraraka being a couple. It’s almost funny,” Izuku said, hand moving to the remote to turn the TV off.
Bakugou was glad when he heard the sound cut. They ate together in silence, Izuku finding some paperwork to complete as he just sat and fumed. At this point, he should be used to it. Being in the public eye since he’d been kidnapped from camp in first year…
He stopped his fingers from tightening around his bowl. There wasn’t much he could do, the people who needed to know, they knew he only had eyes for one person. Though, that didn’t feel like enough.
He quietly stood and took Izuku’s bowl from the table. Discarding the broken chopsticks, he cleaned up the kitchen all while fuming to himself.
“Stop scowling,” he heard his boyfriend mutter.
“Fuck you,” he replied instantly, trying to relax his face.
Izuku turned around and sighed, “I know you hate it, but you signed a contract. Plus, you’re still a sidekick. I wouldn’t want you losing your dream over something like this.”
Finishing his washing he sighed and lounged on their couch. His boyfriend was right… but it still felt awful to keep their relationship secret from the world. “’Zuku, I know it’s my dream and all… but I still hate that I can’t even come out.”
He heard shuffling and then his boyfriend just straddled his legs and enveloped him in a warm hug. A head rested in the crook between his neck and shoulder, and he smiled, wrapping his own arms around him.
His cute, adorable, cuddly, loving boyfriend.
“Don’t worry Kacchan, I wouldn’t want to get in the way of your dream.”
His heart froze at those words and Izuku’s words tore him into two. On the one hand, his dream to be a pro since he could remember walking. Even now, working under Endeavor he was widely recognized but he wasn’t a proper hero yet. He probably only needed another year before he’d have enough recognition and start his own agency. Coming out would undoubtably hinder him, he’d seen the consequences of heroes coming out, their money dried and they moved to working undercover.
The other hand however… he was denying this integral part of both himself and his livelihood. Izuku had been there for him for so long now as hismechanic, his support, but also as his boyfriend and the love of his life. To not announce to the world how much he loved the nerd felt as though he was ashamed.
He squeezed his hands tighter around the nerd and gave a small kiss to his neck. Under him, his boyfriend simply melted, nuzzling closer to him. “I don’t care if we stay undercover like this, I still love you.”
Katsuki smiled and nipped his boyfriend’s neck, “I know ‘Zuku, but I want to show the world how hot my boyfriend is.” He watched the nerd blush and protest at him. “And I want idiot reporters to stop paring me with every female that crosses my path.”
A quiet chuckle, “Mina and Uraraka are pretty cute though.”
“’Zuku,” he hummed, looking at his boyfriend. He knew what the sound of jealousy was, he knew Izuku got self-conscious when compared to heroes.
When his boyfriend didn’t reply, Katsuki pulled his chin upwards, making their eyes meet. “Izuku, don’t compare yourself to them. I am gay, very, very, veryvery gay for my boyfriend and love of my life, ok?”
“I know,” the nerd said quietly. “But it’ll be more of a hassle for both of us. You hatethe media on you, and you’d get all the attention if we came out.”
He gave a quiet sigh. “But you know that you’re worth it. You know I’d do anything for you, right?”
He delicately held the nerd’s chin, forcing bright eyes to meet his own. They stared, intense, he raised his eyebrows, as if he could force his understanding onto his boyfriend.
Blushing lightly, the nerd looked away. Bakugou smiled, giving a delicate kiss to the nerd’s cheek and whispered. “I can come out, I can show the world who I am, and who I love more than anything.” Leaning back to gauge his boyfriend’s reaction, he continued, “Endeavour is slightly backwards, but he’ll get there. You know I’d do anything for you, nerd.”
“Kacchan, I already told you, you don’t need to out yourself for me. You won’t be able to become the number one.”
“Izuku, you’re worth more than me becoming number one. You’re my mechanic… but you’re so much more. You’re–” he ran a hand through his hair, feeling a smirk manifest across his face. “You’re my everything. Ok?”
The nerd gave a slight nod, “Ok Kacchan, just… let me think on it. Let us both think on it.”
“Deal,” he hummed, letting Izuku rest his head on his chest.
He heard some quiet mutterings against his chest. He turned on some soft music and gave some quiet pats to the nerd’s head. Together they mulled over the events in silence.
Tentatively, he took the remote and turned the TV back on. Thankfully a shitty American movie was playing. He barely watched it, just letting the sound become muffled.
They had always been careful when they’d been younger. There were also media rules on interviewing young heroes, that had saved their private lives. But once he’d turned eighteen it had become hell. He’d seen a lot of things thanks to twitter, a lot had been filtered, but there had been so much.
Of course, hosts had tried to pry any details of his private life from him. Possible dates, people he fancied… it was torture. His contract with Endeavor had been signed with him being unable to come out so he couldn’t even say he like men, rather, one specific man.
He felt fingers grip his neck slightly tighter and he looked down. The nerd was still resting against him, face buried in his chest. Moving his other hand, he managed to entwine them, thumb circling in soothing motions.
“What’s the matter nerd?” he hummed.
Something was mumbled quietly into his chest.
“Hmm? What was that?”
A sigh as the nerd lifted his head slightly to unmuffle his voice. “Iloveyou.”
“I couldn’t hear you,” he teased, their joined hands tightening.
An exasperated sigh and eyes met his own. “I said that I love you.”
“Can I kiss you?” he asked, his other hand moving to cup his mechanic’s face.
A tender kiss was placed on his lips, “You don’t need to ask, Kacchan.”
He pulled the nerd closer, giving a more desperate kiss, “But I like making you blush.”
Becoming bright red, Izuku looked away, “Sh-shut up.”
“Make me, nerd.”
He was expecting the surge forwards from his boyfriend. Despite the quick movement, the nerd was tender, letting him take the lead. A hand rested on his chest, gently pushing him back into the couch.
He smiled as they gently pulled apart. Delicately kissing the nerd’s forehead before resting his own against the spot he’d kissed. “I know you’re worried, ok nerd?” He gave a quick kiss before he continued. “I’ll work on Endeavor. But, as a treat, how about we do something for lunch tomorrow?”
“You know the media will be on us in seconds.”
“Guess we’ll just have to do some good old disguises. You have access to all the support equipment we’d need, right?” he hummed.
A giggle returned, “Kacchan! That’s for missions, not for us to sneak out!”
“If they won’t let me show the world my boyfriend, they’ll just have to live with it!”
The nerd smiled, kissing him again. He leaned over Bakugou, deepening the kiss, holding to the sides of his face. It was everything, it felt like so much more than mere minutes ago, despite nothing having changed. They parted, and Bakugou nearly whined at the loss.
“Bedroom, Kacchan,” his boyfriend hummed.
Bakugou wasted no time. It was easy enough with his mechanic already straddling his waist. He wrapped his arms under the nerd and stood, still kissing, eyes closed. He stumbled around their couches finding their way to their room.
Shutting the door, he held his boyfriend against it, kissing him deeper – harder, letting his tongue explore. The nerd gently bit on his lip and he rolled his eyes, moving him from the door and dumping him on their bed.
He hovered at the edge, looking over his boyfriend. A quiet whine of “Kacchan, please.”
“You just look gorgeous,” he hummed.
He moved closer, smiling as the boy beneath him blushed brightly. Leaning over, he smiled as he felt his shirt being tugged off. Returning the favor for the nerd too, parting briefly to throw the shirts away.
Again, he couldn’t help himself as he leaned back, taking in the sight of his disheveled mechanic below him. He leaned down to kiss some more and found himself being flipped over. Izuku sat over him, hand resting on his chest. He looked pleased with himself, mouth moving down from jaw to navel.
Izuku knew how to spoil him, how to make him see stars.
The way his lips moved, or how his tongue swirled. Magical. He’d only gotten better with time.
Then, without much warning he’d move off, giving a quick kiss that he’d lean into. He’d reach up to keep going and his boyfriend would deny him another kiss, moving his hips to situate over… oh. Bakugou couldn’t keep his groan back.
Hands found the other’s small waist and he griped down hard. Already blooming bruises were pushed deeper. “Keep going, you’re amazing sweetheart.”
Slow movement followed by deep moans. Izuku liked to treat him, and Bakugou gladly kissed him in return. “Thank you, baby. I enjoyed that.”
Resting on his chest, Izuku hummed content. “Me too Kacchan.”
They fell asleep together. His hand running through his boyfriend’s soft hair and in return, his boyfriend drew small circles on his bicep. The light fingertips tickling slightly.
Just as they fell asleep in tandem, they woke to the same alarm.
He hummed, moving slightly. Finding the nerd curled into his side rather than on him, though, he found his arm wrapped protectively around him.
Turning the alarm off, he ran fingers through the nerd’s hair again. Hoping to make the waking up process a little kinder on his boyfriend. “Izuku,” he hummed.
“Yeah?” was mumbled back.
“You sore?”
A slight movement followed by a slight groan was enough to confirm his suspicions.
“I’ll go start a bath and grab some painkillers. We’ve got some time this morning,” he said, moving to get up. An arm stopped him, grabbing his wrist. He turned and felt a smile melt across his face. The sleepy mechanic was half awake, eyes bleary and barely open. “Kiss?”
He got a hum and he smiled, giving a chaste kiss to the nerd. He set out for some painkillers – he knew the route for that easily now – and started the bath.
He knew his boyfriend was grateful for the painkillers and the bath. He was only rewarded with the effects after said bath was completed and the painkillers kicked in. The bright smile overtook the nerd’s face as he got out some food for them.
This morning they didn’t bother to flick the TV on, nor did he want to pick up his phone. Instead, Izuku put some songs on, and he watched as his boyfriend danced happily around their apartment.
Smiling along, he began to grab his gauntlets that the nerd had tinkered with yesterday. “Do you want to walk in, or do you want to join me?”
Stopping his dancing, he turned thoughtfully. “I think I’d like to come in with you today. Is that ok?”
He stood, arms wrapping around him, “Of course, I really like when you come with me.”
“Oh, does that mean I have to be ready to go soon?”
“Ten minutes.”
“Shit, Kacchan!”
“Sorry Deku, I’ll go grab your blueprints?”
Nodding, the nerd raced to their bedroom, no doubt putting on his usual outfit. Sometimes his boyfriend changed up his attire, but it was always the same sort of fit. Baggy cargo pants – sometimes a jumpsuit wrapped around his waist – and a shirt, either a baggy all-might or dynamite one.
He collected the stacks of writing and blueprints in addition to the datapad the nerd took everywhere with him.
Waiting for his boyfriend, he sat by the door, slumped and looking through his phone. A couple of messages from the Bakusquad group chat. Nothing exciting.
He glanced anxiously between the hallway and the time. Two minutes and he hadn’t heard a word.
“Deku, you ready yet?” he yelled.
“Almost Kacchan, I’m just… trying to fix some stuff.”
Huffing, he went back to his phone, anxiously tapping on his screen. He didn’t really want to be late.
His eyes flickered between the time at the corner of his screen and the hallway one final time. He heard before he saw his boyfriend. “Finally,” he sighed. “Ready to–”
There really wasn’t anything to say. His boyfriend was hot.
The cargo pants held by signature red belts and pouches that were both baggy and clung to just the right places. What was new was the tank that was his signature. White and green gloves covered his arms to the middle of his bicep.
He saw Izuku’s eyes flicker to the ground and his feet shuffled around slightly.
Katsuki almost thought that Endeavor could wait, especially when his boyfriend looked this good. “Ok, I am glad you’re coming with me now.”
Deku perked up, “You like it?”
“Without a doubt. If halfie comes around he’ll bust. I don’t even think he’s seen your shoulders.”
Giving a shy smile, Deku replied, “Let’s not talk about Todoroki.”
“You win that argument.” He opened the door, still juggling the excessive number of blueprints, “Shall we?”
Deku moved from their apartment and held his hand out. Bakugou shuffled around everything he was holding and made his hand free, happily grabbing his mechanic’s outstretched hand. A confused noise left Deku’s mouth, and he raised his eyebrows in question.
Shaking his head, the nerd led the way to their car. He dumped everything into the back and slid into the driver’s seat. His mechanic slid into the passenger’s seat and gave an annoyed glare. “When do I get to drive?”
“Never. You’re a shit driver.”
“I know more about a car than you do.”
Inserting the key and turning on the engine, he gave an indignant sigh, “I know you are a mechanic, but that doesn’t mean you know how to turn the steering wheel.”
He shifted the car into reverse and backed out of their park, pausing to take in Deku before diving off. The nerd slouched into the chair; arms crossed with a pout across his face. “If it matters so much to you,” he started, rolling his eyes in fake annoyance. “Perhaps you can drive us home.”
“Really?”
“I’m in a good mood.”
An excited kiss was placed on his cheek as he drove off. Most of the drive was uninteresting, Deku played his music through the speakers and was flicking through his previous notes. Occasionally he would mumble something, but the music would drown it out.
The fact that no one had figured out his route to work was surprising. Some reporters were all over some heroes shit when it came to that. He looked over at his boyfriend, content and already curled into the car seat, personal lives weren’t for reporters to pry into.
“I’ll drop you at the front, yeah?”
A hum was the only response.
When they arrived, he parked near the entrance. Given all the things his mechanic had to carry, well, he didn’t was the nerd walking too far. Packing the pad onto his belt, the nerd gave a warm smile. “Thank you Kacchan.”
He leaned over, hand cupping his mechanic’s cheek and delivered a delicate kiss. “Grab your stuff nerd, you look hot as shit today.”
Red rose to the other’s cheeks as he left the car. He moved around to grab all his stuff and Bakugou rolled his window down.
The nerd leaned in and gave a longer kiss, “I’ll see you for lunch.”
He hummed, watching his boyfriend walk into the hero agency. Sighing into the wheel, he ignited the car again and drove to the back. There was a garage which he often used, it also meant that he could avoid any journalists for as long as possible.
Parking the car, he saw halfie getting his own stuff. He ignored the brief wave he attempted to give and turned his attention back to collecting his things.
He thought of his conversation with the nerd, a smirk rising on his face. Bakugou was in a state of wanting halfie to be jealous, but he also refused to let the other see how hothis boyfriend was today.
Instead, he just had a stupid smirk on his face as he made his way to the training room. He should probably do some paperwork, but it was far too early for that.
Putting on his hero costume and fixing his gauntlets, he moved to the training room. Stretching out, he gave some thought towards working on his technique. Deku was always giving him more to work on, strategies to increase the radius of his explosions or techniques to make the blasts more powerful.
He hummed to himself, stretching his arms.
Halfie walked in again followed by Eye bags, both their own hero costumes on. Huffing, he looked between them, “You want to spar?”
Eye bags nodded. “I think Mina was going to join later.”
Bakugou considered them, sure, he could go blast concrete, but fighting against people – no matter how much he didn’t want to – was always better.
Halfie rolled his wrists a few times, stepping forward. “You know Midoriya would want you to fight me.”
“Don’t use the nerd’s words against me,” he hissed, eyes glaring holes into the other man. He raised his arms, legs moving slightly back, waiting to push him off the ground and propel him into pummeling halfie.
Todoroki widened his stance slightly, looking simultaneously unbothered but also hyper aware. Bakugou was highly aware that a single flick of the other’s wrist would cause mountains of ice to just appear.
The other watched, a slight curl of the corner of his mouth, “Regretting this?”
He hissed, palms flaring. “Bakugou!” a slightly concerned voice called over. Whipping over, he saw raccoon eyes waving a phone. “Bakugou, you need to see this.”
Looking between halfie and pinkie, he gritted his teeth.
“Bakugou, it’s urgent.”
Giving a final glare towards Todoroki, he stormed over to pinky. “What is it?”
A phone was shoved in his face and wobbly arms made it hard for him to focus. Angrily, he snatched the phone and stared intensely at the screen. It was a news article, one from a gossip column.
Rising hero Dynamite has a secret boyfriend? The dazzling romantic discovery of the century.
He groaned, skimming the introduction. “Fuck.”
“That’s one word for it,” raccoon eyes nodded anxiously.
He hadn’t seen any cameras there, nor reporters. Unless he had some new stalkers… his mind flashed to the contract. Did that mean he was gone? It wasn’t like heslipped up; some reporters got too nosey into his private life.
Scrolling down he felt the breath leave his lungs. There… a bad photo, but of just enough quality to see him and Deku in the car together. There was nothing incriminating about the shot. He was calmly driving and Deku was just looking up.
The second shot– it was worse. So much worse. His arm covered their kiss, but he knew that everyone else could see behind his arm. No one just leans over like that to notkiss. He gripped the phone tighter, teeth grinding.
That was a private moment, that was supposed to be for only them.
The final shot made explosions rise from his free hand. Deku had been leaning into the car and no arm was in the way of their kiss.
It was hot.
But it hadn’t been for the press.
The room became slightly blurry as he stumbled, the phone slipping from his hands.
It couldn’t have happened. They… it wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was supposed to on their own terms. Come out separately and then together.
He found himself facing the floor, barely able to see the world around him. “Bakugou!”
Red, white, purple and pink rushed into view. Through everything, he just spat out a guttural “Fuck.”