{Denial} BakuDeku

Chapter 5 ["complete"]

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"-yeah," Katsuki breathes, his tone airy and winded. "It's been really fuckin' long."

Izuku offered a sympathetic smile, as if testing the waters, his fingers laced with each other and settled on his lap. He sat on the bathroom sink's surface with Bakugou leaning on the wall beside him- his stare distant, as if he were looking down at the edge of a cliff instead of a public bathroom's tacky lime-green door.

Surprisingly, it doesn't smell like shit. Props to U.A. for actually cleaning.

They- well, Katsuki had planned for them to meet in one of the bathrooms on the fifth floor- a floor not really attended by anyone except for the Third Years- who never really used the bathroom at all.

He had slipped Izuku a note behind Aizawa's back, a simple 'Meet me by the hallway at lunch', and he refused to say anything before he had dragged Izuku away, entered the bathroom, and shut the door locked.

And here they were, in a darkened bathroom that smelled strongly of  artificial scents of flowers, the only source of light being the tiny window on the top right, facing away from the stalls, and too small for anyone to slip trough.

Izuku fidgeted, though not in an uncomfortable manner.

"Kacchan," and Katsuki liked how the nickname brought back nostalgia, a pleasant warm feeling encasing him. "It's nice to see you, you know? I'm.. I admit I'm pretty taken back that you decided on U.A."

"Hah!?"

"No! Not that you're not strong enough for it- I do admit, Kacchan's really good at anything he does but.." Izuku trailed off, remembering the times that..

"You were always so adamant about going to Shiketsu."

Ah, right. Katsuki relaxed a bit, falling back nonchalantly. ".. It's where my dad trained and shit," he explained. "I was kinda inspired by how much shit I learned from him- wanted to give Shiketsu a shot too but I found out about U.A."

"This school gives you more options. Doesn't neglect training stuff in here-" he tapped his temple, "-either. Doesn't waste my time. Shiketsu focuses too much on brute shit and it's zero on a strategy type scale."

Izuku nodded, a strange flutter in his stomach jerk slightly, going unnoticed by the blond. Hearing Kacchan's voice again..

He had thought that he'd never...

"How 'bout you?"

Izuku gave a mortified squeak when Kacchan prodded a finger on his stomach, his eyebrows raising high in barely concealed surprise at the now hardened surface- instead of the soft and overall "twerp" body type. "You've filled out," he said the obvious.

"I-I've been training," Izuku admitted, before making a surprised noise when Kacchan pressed his whole hand instead, he warm palms feeling through the uniform's fabric. Midoriya hesitantly relaxed under the touch, trying not to shy away, and covering his reddening face with his hand.

He felt shy, embarrassed- things like these weren't even stuff to get flustered about. They've hugged before, as kids, always intruding in each other's personal space but not minding. So why did he feel-?

"Nice, nerd." His comment was light. "What do you do?"

"U-Um, Taekwondo. Y-you?" Katsuki took it into consideration. "Taekwondo too. I took a bit of Muay Thai before I settled for Taek. Belt testing was a pain in the ass, you know."

Katsuki cringed at the painful memory of him doing 2000 push-ups and a ton of squats for his black-belt. And it was only first degree too.

"I.. Never h-had official training and stuff." His voice was quiet, and Katsuki was taken aback. What-

"Someone in my neighborhood used to be a ninth grade black-belt," Izuku hesitated. It wasn't really lying if he didn't mention who exactly it was, right? "He apparently s-saw potential in me and started training me. It was usually just so the two of us could chat- but it developed to some serious training. For two years of middle school, he taught me basic and complicated stuff."

Izuku felt bad, because oh no- he had just lied to Kacchan and he-

Bakugou flicked his forehead. "Shut up. I could hear the gears in your head turning." Bakugou purposely avoided questioning him- but his stare lingered more than it should have, and he let the matter drop for now.

"Let's go, dumbass. I don't wanna be late to class."

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Seeing Bakugou go through the classroom door two minutes early and with the newbie beside him wringing his hands and speaking excitedly- it threw the whole class off.

Even more surprising, was Bakugou, who seemed not only participating and actually responding with complete sentences to whatever they chatted about, looking genuinely invested in the conversation given by how he grinned toothily.

Kirishima's eyebrows shot up when the greenette's hand wrapped around his arm, shaking Katsuki- who had a playful look of mirth on his face when he shook him excitedly.

It was a shock to the class that he hasn't imploded on the spot yet.

Hell, even Aizawa in all his sleep deprived glory peeked from under his matted mess of bed-hairs, gleaming with peaked interest.

"-waahhhh! Kacchan! Can we really? I don't have any money-"

"Shut up, nerd," the nickname sounded affectionate. "I'm paying. Besides.."

Katsuki's eyes snapped to the classroom, where all of them were suddenly aware that they had been watching intently, and they were decent enough to look embarrassed for listening into their conversation.

Kirishima flinched at the dark look crossing Bakugou's eyes, his fiery look directed specifically towards Momo and him.

"We're friends."

Kirishima's jaw almost dropped when Midoriya nodded excitedly, as if it were perfectly normal to be called a friend by Katsuki "fuck-you-and-fuck-off-before-I-shove-my-foot-deep-down-your-ass-that-you'll-be-tasting-my-shoelaces-for-six-months" Bakugou.

"Of course, Kacchan! I'll be looking forward to it!"