Chapter Text
“What the fuck is this shit?” Katsuki yelled as soon as his eyes met the bright pink origami monstrosity currently placed on his desk. Giggles erupted from some of the girls around the classroom as they huddled together and loudly whispered, each of them holding their own matching eyesores and holding their phones up to the paper.
Katsuki rolled his eyes when no one answered him, snatched the paper off his desk, and opened it up so roughly that some parts of it ripped. Miraculously, he could still read the egregious font:
What’s Your Love Language? Take This Quiz to Find Out!
Katsuki’s eyes bore into the obscene way the letters curled around the top of the page, a QR code printed at the bottom, and let out an irritated sigh. Then in one swift motion, he crumpled up the paper and tossed it into the recycling bin at the front of the classroom. He leaned back in his chair with a grin when the paper made it in despite the far distance.
It was at that moment that Kirishima walked into the classroom excitedly, and shouted “Nice shot, Bakubro!”, which made Katsuki’s grin morph into a smirk. But his boasting only lasted a few moments due to the voice of one Mina Ashido. She was being much too loud (even for Katsuki– and that’s saying a lot) for this early in the morning.
“That wasn’t a ‘Nice shot, Bakubro!’” She shrieked while exaggerating Kirishima’s voice, which made the redhead pout. “I put a lot of effort into making all of those and you didn’t even bother to look through it!” She sounded genuinely hurt at that, her yellow irises glaring daggers at Katsuki which was only softened by her lower lip jutting out slightly. Katsuki would have sympathized with her had he not known her well enough. They’ve been through a lot together and Katsuki could finally admit that they were somewhat friends, so he knew how good an actor she could be when she really wanted to.
Katsuki simply shrugged nonchalantly, “Please, you knew I wouldn’t take that shitty quiz anyway.”
“Yes, but you could have at least read it over! I mean, would it kill you to self-reflect for a few minutes? I’m pretty sure you don’t even know what a love language is, Bakugou, let alone what your own might be. I swear at the rate you’re going; you’re vying with Todoroki to be emotionally unavailable forever.” She huffed in a flurry, before finding her seat and roughly sitting down. Katsuki peered towards half-and-half’s desk and saw the bastard staring at the pink origami on his own desk as if it were an alien life-form, poking it with his index finger tentatively as if it might jump out at him.
Katsuki scoffed, knowing he was nothing like him, even though they were both one of the only members of their class that have never dated in all their time at UA. Katsuki also knows half and half well enough to know most of that has to do with the Todoroki family trauma and how he received love as a child. The quiz might actually do him some good, make him see what he needs and how to ask for it. Katsuki shook his head, when did he start caring about the classmates he barely got along with?
He had much better things to do than focus his attention on another person, on dating and love, none of that has been on his mind since he started at U.A. He’s had a singular crush, but that didn’t mean shit to him since he never wanted to act on it. No, he decided to put all his energy and attention into his goal of becoming the number one hero and nothing else. He ignored the voice in his head telling him that he has been focusing quite a lot of his attention on the same person in particular for the majority of his life.
Katsuki noticed the hurt expression on Ashido’s face did not go away, and he felt only slightly bad before realizing that she had just told him off. But before Katsuki could respond with a comeback, Aizawa sensei walked in and immediately started their lesson for the day.
—
So apparently February 14th is some godforsaken holiday, and people like to think about and act on their love interests around this time, which could explain that fucking quiz from earlier that morning. The Love Language Quiz that even in hindsight, Katsuki is glad to have crumpled up and thrown away, because not only had the whole interaction with Ashido soured his mood in the morning, but it was even now pouring into his free period. He knew he should have eaten lunch on his own today…
He cringed as soon as one of his friends began talking about the quiz because he knows it will initiate a whole group discussion. And that’s exactly what it did.
“So, who took the quiz?” Kirishima asks the whole table, sounding a little too much like a gossip blogger. Their lunch table consists of the usual suspects: raccoon eyes, dunce face, soy sauce, shitty hair, and of course Katsuki. But today it also included round cheeks for some reason, she was sitting next to raccoon eyes and being rather touchy-feely. But before he could let his curious mind wander too far, Katsuki’s thoughts were interrupted.
“Well, we all know who didn’t, ” Ashido directs the last word towards Katsuki by quirking her head forward, but never actually looking at him, which she had not done since the events of this morning. But Katsuki was looking straight at her, a bored expression on his face as he took another bite of his rice bowl.
“Cause I’m not a goddamn loser,” Katsuki states it simply, without his usual bluster and gravitas.
“No, Bakugou, it’s quite the opposite,” Ashido remarks.
“And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Bakugou glares at her, sitting up from their table and leaning towards her as if to attack. Round cheeks sat up defensively then and used her arm to push Katsuki’s chest away from raccoon eyes.
But Ashido snarls, still looking down at her food as she says, “It means that you’re a–”
“Enough!” Kirishima slaps a palm over Ashido’s mouth before she could continue, and Bakugou mentally thanks him, not sure he wanted to hear what she would say next. He took a deep breath after Katsuki sat back down, and continued calmly, “I asked who did take it, Ashido, not who didn’t. So please, let’s just stick to that topic and try not to fight today. Okay?” He looked at the two offended parties and waited until they both solemnly nodded their heads at him in defeat.
“Well okay then, I’ll go first! I finished it in about 5 minutes! No surprise there, my primary love language is physical touch.” Kirishima says, before (perhaps unconsciously) wrapping his own arms around himself.
“Ours is too!” Ashido adds while making a scene to hug the (now blushing) girl beside her. Huh. Guess that’s a thing now, Katsuki thought.
Sero chimes in then, “Mine was pretty inconclusive, the biggest one was quality time, but it only beat acts of service by a few points. All of them were pretty even, the lowest one was physical touch”, he says the last part sheepishly, as if he’s embarrassed by his results.
Ashido perks up then to alleviate Sero’s doubts, “Sweetie, that doesn’t mean the quiz was inconclusive! That means you have a wide array of love languages, and appreciate each differently depending on the context and how you’re feeling!”
“Oh,” Sero says, but doesn’t look like that answer made him feel any better. He continues before anyone can ask, “Well, wouldn’t that make it harder for someone to love me? Like, if they don’t know what kind of love I need at any given moment, won’t they just get frustrated by always having to wonder how to show their love for me? Won’t they just want out?” He asks his questions in quick succession, looking down at his hands as he does so. Katsuki would never actually admit it, but he was curious to know the answer too.
Kirishima beats Ashido to the punch by yelling over her, “No way, bro! That just means you need a partner who is in tune with you. If someone is not willing to put in the work to know you well enough to know what kind of love you need to feel and when they are not the right person for you!”
Sero simply nods, not seeming entirely relieved of the anxieties he just voiced. So Ashido speaks again, this time more eagerly, to add, “This quiz wasn’t meant to make you worry about finding a partner who can understand your love languages, because if someone really loves you, they will make the effort to understand you. The quiz is just a way for you to understand your own love languages so that you can express those needs to your partner and you both can work it out together.”
“Think of it like this, Sero. This quiz is basically a cheat sheet for your significant other. Give them the results and loving you will be like a walk in the park,” Kaminari adds slightly jokingly. But then again, everything that comes out of that dunce’s mouth is laced with satire.
“Now I’m curious to know your score, Kami,” Sero interjects, (not so) subtly switching the focus away from himself.
“Honestly? I was having a hard time finishing the quiz…” Kaminari trails off while looking at each one of his friends for reassurance.
Only Ashido gives it to him, and even then, it’s dripping in condescension, “Oh, Sweetie.”
“What?” Kaminari worriedly asks, “I just… I can't choose between the two options, okay? Sometimes I want both things, other times I want neither, there really should be a third and fourth option on these questions.”
“If that were the case, your score would be harder to narrow down. The whole reason for the quiz is to choose the option you mostly favor to get a read on what type of love and care you’d like to be shown,” Ashido offers, with an outstretched hand she says, “take it again. This time, don’t think too hard. Just imagine you are in a loving relationship and decide which action you would most appreciate from your significant other. And if you get a lot of tied scores, then you might be a little like Sero and that’s completely fine. Okay?”
“I will!” Kaminari nearly shouts, excited about his new prospects for some reason. This confused Katsuki, this whole conversation and the quiz itself made very little sense to him. So, he said as such.
“Why the fuck do you need to take a quiz to find out what you want? You should just fucking know it,” he slammed his chopsticks down to enunciate his point.
“Well, that’s rich coming from you, of all people,” Ashido said with an eye roll.
“And what the fuck is that–”
“Stop fucking fighting!” This effectively shut the two guilty parties up as they snapped their attention once more to their red-headed friend, the same friend who rarely ever curses nor raises his voice at anyone else unless it’s to hype them up. They blinked in confusion as he continued, “This is a sacred day for love! Ashido, please just tell him what you want to say without all the unnecessary sarcasm.”
She huffed, before continuing in a more genuine manner, looking right at Katsuki for the first time during their entire lunch, “Bakugou, I made this quiz for everyone, because we are all in our third year and most of us are single. This isn’t a bad thing, but I think through all the hardships we have been through as a class, we have been so focused on surviving and moving forward in our careers that we all kind of forgot how to just… be. And you are one of my best friends, I watched you grow up to be someone I hardly recognize as the person I first met. So I think I know a thing or two about you, alright? And I am only saying this because I care about you and think it’s unhealthy to keep your feelings in all the time. We all know you got the hots for Midoriya,” Katsuki stilled, face heating up as he looked at all of his friends who said nothing. He nearly growled out a response when Ashido put her hand up to signal, she wasn’t quite finished, “that shit is as obvious as Kirishima’s dye job”, she smiled when Kirishima cut in with a– “Hey! Not cool!” but ignored him to continue her speech, “And yet, nobody can read your mind, especially not someone as emotional as Midoriya, but you deserve to be happy with him. And you have a chance to be really happy if you only honored your feelings and verbalized them to the person you love before we leave this place, and all go our separate ways. It’s also Valentine’s Day, so for fuck’s sake the least you can do is reconcile with your own feelings so you can get your head out of your ass and tell him how you feel.”
All of their eyes were on Katsuki after that, which was comical considering how Ashido’s remarks made him feel very seen in many ways. He felt a deep blush heat up his face like never before, which was only exacerbated by the pin-drop silence that befell their lunch table. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable with the close friend of Deku’s sitting at their table, hearing something so personal about him. Too many seconds passed by with Katsuki’s mouth opening and closing like a goddamn fish, that he couldn’t possibly change course and fight back now.
And for the first time in his fucking life, Katsuki had no witty comeback. Because she was absolutely right. So, rather than sit there and fawn over his unrequited feelings with them like a loser, Katsuki got up roughly, but not before spitting a quick, fuck this shit,” with significantly less venom than usual. He tossed his trash in the bin next to their table, and stormed out of the cafeteria, making sure to tune out all of their responses as he did so.
He made a bee-line to the courtyard in front of their classroom building and bound up the concrete steps before sitting down at the top. They have about ten minutes remaining before their next and final class of the day, and he wants to spend it in peace. But knowing his luck, their English teacher will likely assign them all a bullshit romantic novel.
Honestly, why the fuck do people even celebrate Valentine’s Day? Katsuki couldn’t care less for any of these made-up holidays these extras celebrate, let alone the ones that involve sending chocolates to your damn crush.
Why in the ever-loving fuck would Katsuki do that?
Wait, Does Izuku even like chocolates?
Because yes, Katsuki had come to terms with his fucking annoying ass feelings for Izuku way back when they were nearing the end of their first year at UA. He actually remembers the exact moment the epiphany hit him (namely because it hit him harder than All Might’s right hook–but that’s neither here nor there) while he was recovering in the hospital from taking a nearly fatal hit from Shigaraki. He’d just risked his own life to save Izuku’s, and he did so without even thinking. His sympathetic nervous system activated his quirk before his brain could even catch up, and his body simply moved on its own.
It reminded him of when Izuku did the same for him back when they were kids and even in middle school when Katsuki was terrible to him. The nerd still risked his own life to save Katsuki more times than he can even count. And it was in that hospital bed, where he realized that somewhere along their tumultuous history as childhood friends, then (one-sided?) enemies, and finally, genuine rivals, that he even realized Izuku had become the most important person in his life, so important that he would lay down his own life for the damn nerd.
He remembers angrily clutching that godforsaken note Izuku left him before leaving UA, and how he knew that searing pain in his chest was not due to his physical wounds. He was completely taken by Izuku Midoriya, and it took the fear of losing that idiot for good to make Katsuki see all his confusing feelings surrounding him for what they were. Love, or some shit.
He felt so many things in that hospital room; dread, anger, anxiety, empathy, hurt, but most of all, love. Katsuki felt the intense need to find the nerd and bring him back immediately and tell him about all of these confusing feelings before it was too late. He did the first part, of course. He found Izuku and even managed to bring him back to school to get him healthy enough to fight, they came up with a killer strategy, and won the damn war because of course they fucking did.
But now they are in their third and final year, and Katsuki has still not managed to follow up on that last part, the part where he finally tells Izuku his feelings. And it wasn’t like he was necessarily planning to do it anymore, after the war was over and everyone was getting back to their normal routines, confessing seemed much too embarrassing, and Katsuki is nothing without his crippling pride. So no, Katsuki was set on taking his feelings to the grave, or so he thought.
Because, does the nerd like chocolates, poetry, and being swept off his fucking feet or some shit?
And because the universe is a fucked-up place that likes to watch Katsuki suffer, he receives the answer from right across the courtyard. There he was sitting at the top of the humanities building steps when he spotted the mop of green curls down near the UA fountain, and he instantly narrowed his focus.
Izuku was talking to some extra who Katsuki doesn’t recognize at all, but he instantly stills when he watches the large heart-shaped box with an obnoxious pink bow peek out from behind her back. She looks rather small standing beside Izuku, which wasn’t saying much since Izuku had grown so much bigger in their three years at UA. He nearly beat Katsuki in the height department and completely surpassed him in terms of muscle mass. Katsuki blames One for All for that one, damn All Might, and his shitty quirk did all the work. And damn Izuku with his bulging arms, thick thighs, and tight ass… **Katsuki shakes his head to rid himself of those thoughts, now is not the time to be thinking of Izuku’s sinfully tight ass.
Katsuki zeroed in on the girl now, who was still talking to Izuku and even from afar she looked nervous as hell with the way she switched her weight from one foot to the other. She has long and dark curly brown hair, and she wore insanely thick platform boots with her school uniform which Katsuki would have respected had she not done the single worst thing Katsuki’s ever seen. She hands Izuku the Valentine, and Katsuki immediately realizes what he’s watching and subconsciously clenches his jaw so tight that he can hear the grinding of his teeth.
He keeps watching anyway, torturing himself in the process. The fucking extra bows as Izuku, saying something else that Katsuki obviously can’t hear but he assumes is some wack-ass confession. And she looks up, waiting for Izuku’s response, and he bows only slightly and says something to her while scratching the back of his head, his own nervous habit. She then seems to laugh a bit, says something else, and they keep talking.
Not wanting to see any more of that shit, Katsuki abruptly stands up from his spot, his fight all but gone all thanks to some extra getting the guts to do something he was too chicken-shit to do years ago. Fuck. Was this supposed to hurt this bad?
When he turned on his heel to go up to the classroom, he saw Ashido learning on a pillar right behind him, who Katsuki assumed witnessed the scene down below as well based on her despondent expression. “And what the fuck do you think I should do now, alien face?” he nearly hissed at her. He knows it wasn’t her fault that Izuku was a catch, that everyone wanted to be with him because he’s a goddamn dream boat, but he was mad and admittedly fucking sad. And Ashido Mina had been the one that opened up the damned floodgates to his shitty heart and now he wanted to fucking explode it into a million pieces until this feeling disintegrated with it.
She smiled so wide that he swore he could see her wisdom teeth as she responded, “You’ve done the hard part already, you accepted your feelings for him and now we just have to put those feelings into action!” She exclaimed like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“It seems I’ve just missed my chance, dumbass.” dejection was clear in his voice.
“My dear friend,” she pats him on the shoulder, “as intriguing as it is to see you with your heart on your sleeve, doesn’t be so quick to jump to conclusions,” which nearly made him activate his quirk, but then she whispers, “Look,” and grabs his chin to angle his view down towards the fountain where Izuku was still standing with the girl. But now she was looking down at her shoes, nodding her head as Izuku said something to her. He looked like he was trying to hand her back the box, leaning it into her space, but she looked up and shook her head, and waved her hands in front of it. She’s saying something now while inching further away from him. Izuku responds to her, and then the girl bows one last time before running away.
Katsuki blinked.
He barely registered how Izuku started bounding up the stairs towards them, two at a time, until the beating of his heart picked up speed, which only pissed him off more. He swatted Ashido’s hand away from his face but kept looking at the nerd as he came closer. That’s when he noticed the box of chocolates Izuku just received being held carelessly at Izuku’s side as he climbed the stairs with slumped shoulders and eyes downcast.
“That doesn’t mean shit,” Katsuki whispered to her, not wanting to get his hopes up but still not able to convince his own thoughts because why else would he look so sad?
Katsuki’s mind was a flurry of different and confusing emotions, but he had to silence them since Izuku was at the top of the stairs now and was walking directly toward them now. The pair were nearly at the door of the entrance, and Katsuki turned to her to try and look as casual as ever, the pounding in his heart the only thing that could give him away.
Izuku looked up from the floor to grab the door handle, and as soon as his emerald eyes met with Katsuki’s, his entire form brightened. Izuku’s eyes glistened and he perked up from his slumped-down posture and gave his usual blinding smile before greeting, “Oh, hi Kacchan! I didn’t get a chance to say it this morning, but, H-Happy Valentine’s Day!”
Katsuki suddenly felt very light-headed and noticed that his palms were so sweaty that the only thought in his mind was how he might accidentally blow up the entire building if Izuku kept looking at him like that. His emerald eyes are in stark contrast to the gorgeous red blush blooming across his freckled cheeks. So, Katsuki couldn’t really be blamed for just standing there, staring at Izuku and (not so) subtly wiping his palms on the sides of his jeans.
Thankfully, Ashido took pity on the blonde’s awkward silence and responded to Izuku for him, “Well Happy Valentine’s Day to you too, Midoriya!” Izuku suddenly looked very surprised by Ashido’s presence, apparently not having noticed her before she opened her mouth. “Katsuki’s just having a weird day, so don’t mind him.” she patted Katsuki’s shoulder for emphasis.
This seems to shake Katsuki out of his stupor and he shakes her hand off roughly before saying, “Shut the fuck up, I’m fucking peachy.” Katsuki glares at her as she raises her eyebrow and shoots him a wicked smirk. This bitch...
Izuku looks at his wristwatch then and smiles softly at Katsuki, “Ah, well, thanks Ashido! I better get inside! See you guys in class! H-hope you feel better Kacchan!”, and quickly grabbed the doorknob before bounding inside quickly.
Katsuki let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and looked at Ashido, “it still doesn’t mean shit–” he started.
“No. Cut that crap,” Ashido immediately interjects his downward spiral, and he’s slightly grateful, “he obviously wasn’t interested in her, which means you still have a chance. Do you want to be a coward and let him go, or do you want to own your feelings and freaking act on them?” Ashido lifted her fist as if to rally him for battle, Katsuki couldn’t actually help the chuckle that escaped his lips at her attitude towards his own love life.
“I was so fucked up to him before, you don’t even know the half of it…” Katsuki trailed off and looked behind her, thinking about his middle school self with disgust.
“Okay, and that hasn’t stopped him from doting on at all during our time here. He talks about you like you are his image of heroism, Bakugou, you definitely stand a chance. But you are the one who has to initiate it, and I think you know that. It’s too much of a risk for him to say anything to you, because you’re still, well, you.”
“He doesn’t even see me that way, Ashido…”
“In what way, Bakugo? Like the fucking Sun shines out your ass?”
“He looks at everyone like that…”
“Bakugou, I was standing right next to you, and he didn’t even notice that I was here. He obviously cares deeply about you, and anyone who goes to this school and has seen you guys interact can attest to that.” Katsuki was silent as she continued, wanting to hold onto this hope that she was giving him while still being internally skeptical. “He doesn’t hold grudges, and if I remember correctly, you already apologized to him very publicly and he immediately fell to his knees.”
“H-he was just exhausted from fighting, that wasn’t because of me…”
“Idiot!” He growled at Ashido, but she held her ground. “Stop ignoring the signs. You’re purposefully hurting yourself in the process. Just take the leap, put your feelings out there, what’s the worst that could happen, really?”
He could hate me forever, Bakugou thinks, but he already knows that’s not true. If Izuku Midoriya could hate anyone, the first person would be him, and he still has yet to do that. For whatever reason.
“I just don’t know what to do.” He says instead, there was no point in beating around the bush. Katsuki has absolutely no experience in this category. He’s lost and, yeah, he can admit, a little scared.
“Say no more! You’re so lucky to have me, the almighty master of romance, on your side!”
“Please, you don’t even know what you’re talking about, I bet you haven’t even–”
“I just confessed to Uraraka this morning, and now we’re dating.” Ashido cut him off plainly, with a blushing smile dusting her lips. “And I have a perfect idea for how you can woo Midoriya on this grand occasion.”
“Oh… well, congrats I guess?” Katsuki posed it as a question only because he was equal parts mortified and genuinely pleased for those two finally working up the courage to stop tiptoeing around one another. “But Valentine’s Day is over in a matter of hours, there’s no way I can plan and execute something like that in such a short amount of time,” Bakugou said, not even caring about the holiday but still wanting to make an excuse to prolong this supposedly brilliant plan of hers. And more importantly, deep down Katsuki knows that if he were really going to confess his heart to Izuku, it needed to be a big gesture that would leave no stone unturned in Izuku’s mind, because he deserves that much.
He deserves more than Katsuki can come up with even in a damn year if he’s being truly honest.
“Lucky for you, there’s a month to prepare!” Katsuki looked at her quizzically.
“What the fuck are you even talking about?” to which Ashido looked at him and grinned diabolically, and the sight made Katsuki’s blood run cold.
“So, there’s this thing called White Day...”