#nonokatsuki

“Fuck this,” he finally cursed, moving with enough force to make some of the water spill as he settled in front of you instead, crossing his arms as he leaned his head back on your chest and looked up. 

You were happy to bring your arms around him. This position was what you’d intended in the first place. 

“I didn’t realise this would make you uncomfortable,” you told Katsuki as you idly caressed his sides. “You didn’t have to agree.”

“It’s fine,” he dismissed. “Was just weird to present my genitals to you like that.”

“And I was so politely keeping my eyes on your face. You know you could have just closed your legs.”

He glared in response, sinking deeper into the water, and you felt his hair as his head slid down your chest.

His feet were now propped up against the bathtub’s end. In this position he couldn’t spread his legs out. Neither could you. The tub was deep but not long. You found it cozy though, like cuddling but with hot water instead of duvets and pillows surrounding you and Katsuki’s nudity against yours without the implication of anything sexual.

“It’s nice,” Katsuki offered despite his still somewhat grumpy tone.

“You sound like you hate it.”

“No, I just-” He let out a huff. “I feel naked.”

You smiled and he seemed to sense it, or maybe you were just predictable, looking up once more and frowning.

“Shut up. I know I’m naked but I don’t usually feel this naked around you anymore. It’s annoying.”

“I feel naked too,” you agreed. “I find it nostalgic though. I used to feel this way whenever I was fully nude in front of you. It’s a fun reminder.”

“Sure, fun,” Katsuki scoffed but you felt the way his shoulders relaxed against you at the admission of the feeling being mutual. 

You hummed as you let your hands trace the shape of his body, stroking the most prominent spots of fat and muscle and indulging in the different levels of softness. 

Katsuki’s head lulled to the side a little as your fingers made their way along his arms and to his hands, carefully massaging those permanently stiff parts of your partner. His skin was soft all over but especially here. You could tell even under the water.

“Should have let me help you shower before the bath,” you murmured into his ear. “Being pampered always makes you more relaxed.”

“You can dry me off after the bath.”

“Why, thank you,” you chuckled at his ever so slightly slurred speech. 

Of course you had brought up the idea of a shared bath with your own interests in mind. The idea of a naked Katsuki snuggled up to you was never not tempting and you loved few things more than experiencing him in all his natural states of vulnerability. However, you had also had a suspicion he’d have a good time. You’d get him to accept the offer of a massage soon enough. He’d relaxed quicker than you’d expected.

“‘m gonna fall asleep at this rate,” Katsuki complained lightly. “You have to make sure we don’t get heat stroke.”

“No good?” you asked, withdrawing your hand. He would know. You’d never seen the crackers before so they must have been imported for his people.

“Some of my favourites actually,” he said. “But spicy as fuck. Wouldn’t want to burn your delicate tongue.”

Your jaw tightened and you were certainly tempted to rise to the challenge - less tempted to be caught wheezing and crying after you’d been warned though. He was baiting you, that much was clear from the focus in his eyes. You just couldn’t tell what outcome he was hoping for. 

“I suppose I shall have to work up to it then,” you said before nodding your head in a greeting and giving your name. “You are Chief Bakugō, right? I hope you’re enjoying yourself so far?”

“I am not the chief. My mother is,” he corrected you with an exasperated tone. You likely weren’t the first to make that mistake this evening but how would you know? Your lands didn’t have any relations - diplomatic or otherwise - to his lands. There were more than enough noble names and titles in your kingdom and the surrounding ones to keep track of.

Okay, so maybe he’d been introduced and you could have remembered then but in your defence, you hadn’t been planning on chatting anyone up.

“What is your title then?” you asked and were met with a shake of his head.

“Just Bakugō. I won’t have a title unless I get elected as the next chief. You have one though. Majesty?”

“Royal Highness,” you corrected, delighted that you weren’t the only one failing at proper etiquette right now. “But you are free to stick to my name in private conversation, seeing as I won’t have a title to fall back on with you.”

“Are you sure, Royal Highness?” he asked with a tone that you didn’t appreciate. “From what I’ve seen so far your people quite like their fancy titles.”

“Oh, we do like them,” you said, forcing a polite smile. “But we can make allowances for guests.”

The slight dig either flew over his head or delighted him as Bakugō’s expression only brightened

“Oh yeah? What other allowances would you make for me?” he asked, leaning a little too close for your personal comfort. Likely deliberately. You refused to take a step back though.

“Not likely,” you hummed. “Those are usually awarded for good behaviour.”

His eyes flashed with excitement.

“Not my style,” he grinned widely. “I find that good behaviour needs to be earned. Are you good enough to warrant it?”

“Am I- what?”

This time his eyes narrowed like he’d found a weak spot.

“Or would you rather ask me for it nicely?” he taunted and you scowled. What the hell was this guy playing at? He seemed excited at the prospect of having irked you before you took a deep breath and shook your head.

“Good evening, Bakugō.”

His eyes shot open and he shook his head quickly, raising his hands placatingly. “W- Did I say something wrong? I’m not used to your people’s weird ways of speaking. It was meant to be teasing.”

“Well what if I don’t wish to be teased by you?” you snorted, more than ready to give the barbarian a piece of your mind on presuming to assign you such a role based on who knows what aspect of his culture. 

“Then you push back,” Bakugō replied, more than a little confused by you taking offence. 

“Oh right, well at least you’re leaving the option for rejection,” you hummed, clicking your tongue and refocusing on the buffet in front of you. He seemed confused though.

“You are rejecting me?” he asked like you hadn’t made it clear enough. “But you were engaging.”

“You are being awfully forward and I do not enjoy being on the receiving end of that.”

“And you’re not going to try to put me in my place?” he asked. He sounded like he was biting down an offended tone but there was a clear sting of rejection in his voice that he didn’t bother to hide. “I must have misinterpreted then. I’m sorry.”

“You want me to… push back to put you in your place?” Or had you imagined his almost… pouty tone?

“Establish dominance,” Bakugō confirmed. “If you are so inclined anyway. But you have to do it properly. Don’t just state it. Especially not with those careful words of yours.”

“But- you want me to- when did we- I have no idea how your culture even does that!” you protested. “Am I supposed to gently bully you or throw you against a wall? Before we’ve even gotten to know each other? We don’t even know what the other- is this not something we should discuss verbally once we’ve established interest?”

Bakugō blinked at you.

“We have established superficial interest,” he stated. “How am I meant to decide whether I have further interest if I don’t know if our temperaments are compatible?”

You truthfully hadn’t even been sure the two of you were flirting. It seemed more like light verbal jousting. Perhaps he thought those were the same.

“That’s- wait,” you pressed your lips together in an attempt to not hinder diplomatic relations and offend the Barbarian chief’s son by laughing at him. “You came here to flirt at me so I could establish that I’m the one who will call the shots?”

He gave you an apprehensive look despite your tone being perfectly polite, thank you very much, but softened when you added: “That’s so adorably clumsy.”

Softened wasn’t really the right word. It looked more like he proudly preened at your words though he seemed mildly conflicted about it with you calling him clumsy.

“I assume diplomacy and foreign cultures aren’t on the lesson plan for the chief’s son then?” you couldn’t help yourself from teasing and Bakugō pursed his lips.

“You look strong and vicious,” he defended. “I didn’t think it could do much harm. I didn’t realise it would offend you. And that’s a ‘maybe’ on throwing me against a wall… if this goes well.”

You shrugged, not in the mood to explain the intricacies of your own culture and how this conversation translated in it, partly because you didn’t know enough about his culture to do that properly. Instead you chose to sate your curiosity.

“What if I wanted to establish an egalitarian relationship?” you asked.

“I would hope any relationship you enter would be egalitarian,” Bakugō said, looking like he was trying hard not to look at you like you were weird again. “Why do you need to specifically establish that?”

“No, that- yes, of course it would be,” you agreed, wracking your head for better phrasing. “I mean, a lack of roles, no dominance, that kind of thing,” you elaborated, waving your hand around in front of you as though that would drive the point home better.

“If you wish to switch?” Bakugō asked hesitantly. “Well, that can be decided on a case by case basis if neither of us has a strong inclination. But it kind of sounded like you do.”

“I have the feeling that we are talking at cross purposes,” you chuckled. “Why do you have a need for establishing roles in the first place?”

“For sex and intimacy,” Bakugō replied and you fortunately didn’t choke on your own breath at that.

He gave you a small smirk regardless. “I’m not suggesting we have it right now. It’s for future reference. Like I said, so we know if we’re compatible.”

“Why not just ask me?”

“Because it’s more fun to discover during flirting.” He shrugged. “Kind of a moot point now that we’ve dissected the whole thing.”

You stared at him for a moment before making a snap judgement.

“What is your culture in regards to touching strangers?”

Bakugō’s eyebrows quirked in curiosity but he answered casually. “My people are touchier than you folks. But don’t worry if your touch gets violently rejected. It’s encouraged to make boundaries abundantly clear.”

“Noted,” you said with a hum before placing your plate down and taking a step towards the barbarian chief’s son to place your hands on his waist. Now that he’d ‘established interest’ you could admit to yourself how touchable it looked, bare as it was even in his ceremonial garb. 

He didn’t fight you off with the aforementioned violence, only throwing a cursory glance around the room. Ah, so this kind of touch must still have been considered somewhat intimate. You fought back the urge to apologise and withdraw your hands. He’d said he’d make his boundaries abundantly clear after all and he didn’t seem like the sort to be too timid to do so.

“I find you very pretty,” you informed him. “Any chance your flirting will get sweeter once I’ve established my position? Or will this be a constant battle?”

Bakugō found his bearings quickly and grinned a sharp grin as he connected his hands behind your neck.

“Good night,” you said softly as you tucked yourself in for the night, facing Katsuki’s turned back.

You got a grumpy-sounding “G’nngh.” in return.

You blinked. As far as you could tell, you and Katsuki weren’t fighting. In fact, you’d just had a wonderfully relaxing day in, that had ended in watching a movie and taking a bath together.

Had Katsuki taken offence to you drying him? No, he’d have given you shit for that immediately. Also, Katsuki really wasn’t one for the passive aggressive treatment.

“Katsuki?” you asked, scooting close and leaning over to catch his expression.

He immediately snuggled back against you and his shoulders relaxed and you needed about a second of computation before pushing your face into a pillow to not actually upset him by laughing at him.

“What’s your problem?” Katsuki asked accusingly, pulling at your shirt.

You resurfaced from the pillow with only a fond smile to show for your amusement and pulled him in. “Nothing. Come here.”

“…shut up,” Katsuki grumbled, too smart not to realise what he’d given away, but cuddled up to you anyway.

Izuku:

- cutie is so nervous about it at the beginning of the relationship

- his first instinct is to lie on top of you but he can’t do that. What if he’s too heavy or seems too needy or demanding?

- he’ll just lie next to you stiffly and be a nervous wreck while internally wishing he could be the biggest cuddle bug with you

- he’ll discover later in the relationship that he actually prefers spooning

It was a little awkward. Okay, it was very awkward. You had suggested sharing a bed for the night, just to try how the two of you felt about it and Izuku had agreed. He’d been all shy and happy about it too so you’d been relieved.

Except now be seemed very uncomfortable, lying next to you with all his limbs tucked as closely to himself as they could be, as if trying to avoid touching you.

Fortunately you chanced a glance over and smiled when you saw his bright red face. His head must be so loud right now, you thought as you scooted over.

“Izuku, is it alright if I hold you?” you asked softly, reaching an arm out.

Izuku let out something of a soft screeching sound but nodded frantically so you bit back a chuckle and brought an arm around him, scooting behind him. Spooning was probably a safe bet, right?

Surprisingly, Izuku relaxed almost immediately. Though he still didn’t move much. Seems adjustments were up to you for now. You were sure he’d get used to it eventually.

Shōto:

- touch starved.

- runs surprisingly cold despite his quirk

- won’t initiate it himself at first but will melt when you pull him close the first time

- He’s so happy to cuddle anywhere: bed, couch, floor, anywhere the two of you can fit together and plenty of places where you can’t

- The more you can envelop him the better so he’s definitely another candidate for spooning

- Will start demanding cuddles so don’t expect to retain your private space if you teach him it’s okay to ask to be cuddled

The door clicked as Shōto entered the bedroom, finished with his bath.

You looked up to catch the sight of your partner‘s healthily flushed cheeks from the heated water and smiled before looking back down at your book. You’d already bathed and wanted to finish your current chapter before the two of you went to sleep.

Shōto settled in next to you, burrowing under the blankets.

“Shō, is it okay if we-“ You meant to ask to keep the lights on for ten more minutes but both your arms were already being moved around your sleepy partner. Thank you, hero training, for giving you quick reflexes to bookmark your page. “…I was going to finish this chapter.”

“You can,” Shōto mumbled while wiggling further into you and placing his arms over yours on his stomach, though he graciously let you free the arm that held your book.

You snorted softly before placing a kiss on Shōto’s nape, adjusting a little so you could finish reading over his head.

His troubles sharpened when he was invited to someone else’s home for dinner. He knew from friends that asking someone to accommodate a meatless diet or even an allergy could be troublesome enough so he paled when imagining giving someone specific requests on what to cook because he needed his quirk to do a specific thing the following day.

So when your parent had proposed dinner of all things to get to know him it made him more nervous than just the thought of meeting his partner’s parent had in the first place. Would being difficult this early reflect poorly on him, on his relationship to you?

But Tamaki had chosen his partner carefully and well. The moment the dinner invitation came you’d already reassured him and asked to tell you what his plans for his quirk were around that time so you could make the request yourself.

And so he was in your childhood home, eating homemade takoyaki because he had a stealth mission planned tomorrow.

“You’re just their type,” your parent chuckled as he served the food. “I swear, if you were in a room full of people and they’d told me to guess who their omega was I would have picked you out right away.”

Tamaki smiled shyly, unsure how to respond to that, but you were there to chuckle and roll your eyes before sending Tamaki a smile. “Well, it would help that I have high standards and he’d be the prettiest person in any room. Oh, the sauce is really good, omma.”

He nodded along. It really was and the consistency of the takoyaki was just right too. It was hard to slow down to eat and not burn his tongue. 

~

Katsuki

You didn’t think there was a way to feel underdressed when going to your parents house. The sweatpants and twice worn shirts you usually had on to pay a quick visit surely set the expectations appropriately.

It wasn’t so much the location though and more so the comparison to the person you were going with that made you think you’d missed a dress code memo.

The combination of a red sweatshirt and a white dress shirt collar peeking out from underneath certainly looked nice on Katsuki. Red always did. It brought out his eyes and the colour on his cheeks and despite the rarity with which he used makeup that wasn’t eyeliner under his hero mask his application was always characteristically skillful. Katsuki didn’t do anything without showing people up. Both were unexpectedly high effort considering the occasion though.

“You’re looking fancy,” you commented as much as you watched him apply his eyeliner in one swift and precise move, leaning on the bathroom's doorframe. “I told you we’re just going to their house, right?”

He glared at you through the mirror. It looked even more beautiful than usual with the added sharpness.

“Aww, are you dressing up for my parents? That’s so cute.” you cooed. There was just a tiny detail he was missing. “But Tsuki, they already know you.”

“They know me as your classmate,” he countered, neatly putting his makeup utensils back into their little bag.

“They know you as my friend. We’ve been living together for months. The only thing that changed is that they assume we fuck now,” you said. “Actually… I’m not sure they weren’t already assuming that.”

Katsuki made an angry, flustered noise but shook his head. “They specifically invited us to dinner after you told them about us. It’s a thing. If you want to look like a slob, that's your business.”

“Hey, this is a nice shirt,” you argued. “You got me this shirt.”

He ignored you in favour of checking his pockets for his phone and throwing you the keys to the car. 

Once you were alone in the classroom you groaned. Why couldn’t you just be the kind of person who kept their head down like all your lame classmates?

~

Midoriya continued skitting around you, undecided whether not bothering you or benefitting from your apparent sphere of immunity was more important. Although then he often enough went out of his way to attract Bakugō’s attention so maybe you just had no idea about those two.

And Bakugō still glared and made snide comments and picked opposing teams during PE. But all of that was perfectly harmless so you gave him the same amount of attention you had the past almost three years which was none.

Until the day he decided to speak.

“I beat you,” he said and you nearly jumped, not having realised he was next to you as you looked for your exam results on the hallway wall. 

“Huh?” you offered back, looking at him with an appropriate amount of confusion which he didn’t seem to appreciate, but he neither replied nor explained.

You looked back at the list of results and back at him again.

“You’re first in our year,” you deadpanned. “Of course you ‘beat’ me.”

“What, you don’t care that it was me who beat you?” he spat and you stared at him, dumbfounded.

“Should I?”

He blinked slowly and you could observe, for the first time in real time, how someone’s face went from normal to concerning levels of redness. He gave you another one of those glares you’d gotten so accustomed to.

He opened his mouth.

He closed it again.

He stomped off. Loudly. And with more curse words then you’d think one would need for the act of walking.

~

This repeated in patterns just like the glaring and comments had. After every stupid test in fact, no matter how small. Honestly, it was kind of pathetic coming from the class best.

Until he was no longer the best.

Usually you didn’t mind the physical exams. They certainly didn’t make for the most enjoyable PE periods but they were good for your grade at least. But that was before you’d drawn the attention of the class’ Best™.

He stopped you on the way to the changing room.

Well, not so much stopped you as stood in your way very menacingly (*insert eye roll*).

“You’re not even gonna gloat?” he demanded, crossing his arms and looking at you like you’d committed some great offence by not engaging in his stupid pseudo-rivalry.

“No..?” you answered, putting your hands in your pockets. You had a feeling this would take a while.

“Fight me,” he snarled and you let out a deliberately big sigh.

“Look, Bakugō, I don’t know why you’re so-”

“Behind the gym after class. No one goes there.”

“What, literally!?” you balked at his ridiculousness. Bakugō was angry and violent to any extent people let him get away with but at least he was worried about his record. You’d figured straight-up fist fights were off the table - quirk fights even more so.

But your full-of-himself classmate had the gall to smirk, way too happy to finally have gotten a reaction from you. 

“Too scared?” he taunted and you scoffed.

“Just not stupid enough. What even is your problem?”

But he’d shown his cards and you were free to walk past him. He’d just wanted to provoke you, for whatever reason, and he’d had your attention for a few seconds so maybe he’d be happy with that for a while before you had to deal with his next tantrum.

“If you don’t do it, Deku gets it instead!” he whisper-yelled once you were next to him, on your way to pass him. From his startled look you got the impression he hadn’t intended to take it this far either. But he steeled his gaze, not backing down.

“Who?” you asked and his expression warred between upset and pleased before he enlightened you.

“Midoriya,” he said. “The nerd you played knight in tinfoil armour for.”

“Yeah, I know who Midoriya is,” you huffed and gave him a frown. “Fine. Not today though, tomorrow.”

“Fine,” he ground out as he watched your back as you walked away.

~

The time between late winter and early spring made for pleasantly cool air that was perfect for blowing soothingly on bruises. 

You figured at least. You weren’t the one sporting one.

“I can’t believe you brought an ice pack. Asshole,” Bakugō muttered but held the pack obediently to his upper cheek as you’d instructed.

You didn’t bother hiding your smirk. The cooling box had been annoying to carry around all day after all. At least you got some use out of it.

Sure, you could have let him storm off in humiliation like he’d intended, and as much as you believed he wouldn’t blab considering he’d be incriminating himself and that was just out of the question with graduation approaching, you also didn’t feel like bruising a classmate’s pretty face and not making sure it was tended to.

You spread your legs out in front of you, trying to get a little more comfortable in your spot on the curb you and Bakugō were sitting on, and shrugged. “So how come you’re so obsessed with me anyway?”

Pretending you didn’t see the fierce blush forming on Bakugō’s face was easier with him attempting to hide it with the cooling pack.

“I’m not obsessed with you, you weirdo!”

“Why are you always going out of your way to interact with me then?” you challenged.

Bakugō blinked, leaned his head back a bit. You doubted he knew himself what his recent obsession with you was. Maybe it was just because you’d thwarted his most recent bullying attempt. It was weird at any rate but maybe he agreed.

Finally he grunted. “You’re strong but you don’t care. It pisses me off.”

“Who says I don’t care?” you asked.

“You don’t care about-” He snarled and bit his tongue. “Forget it. Your face pisses me off.”

“Well, not everyone can look as pretty as you.”

“Don’t mock me,” Bakugō grumbled. It occurred to you that despite the snarling and growling and light insults he was surprisingly calm for the Best™ who had just been defeated. “Why don’t you care what I think about you?”

That one was easy to answer. “Because you’re mean and a bully and have a stick up your butt just because your quirk is cool. It’s lame. You, not your quirk.”

You got side eye for that, but it was more confused and dumbfounded than angry.

“Whatever. You’re lame too,” he said, kicking at a rock by his feet.

You took a moment to look up, appreciating the clouds travelling overhead, slightly obstructed by the trees, one of them a lone cherry, close to blooming. You wouldn’t miss this place. Not a little bit. Aldera Middle School sucked and would be shut down by now if you had any say in it.

“I’m going to UA too.” You surprised yourself by admitting it now. You hadn’t felt as charitable a few days ago, fully intending to let your teacher announce it and have Bakugō find out with the rest of your class. You’d kind of gotten wind of the fact that he didn’t enjoy not being special. But you’d punched the guy in the face after all so maybe it made you sentimental. You added, “So you don’t have to go all monster on Midoriya for ruining your little first-from-our-Middle-school achievement. I would have ruined that anyway.”

Bakugō’s eyes widened but he didn’t look unhappy with your soul-crushing news. In fact, he showed little reaction at all. “…okay.”

“Okay?” you asked, almost a little displeased at not having gotten more out of him.

“That’s what I just said, isn’t it!?” Bakugō said, defensive walls building back up before he kicked at your leg, making you look at him again.

He wasn’t looking back at you though, only absently dabbing the cooling pack to his cheek and observing the ground, lost in thought.

“There’s no point going to UA if you’re not going to do your best,” he muttered after a while.

“I will do my best,” you said and apparently your sappy charity knew no bounds today. “I won’t let anyone beat me once my hero career’s on the line.”

He caught your gaze.

“It’s on, Tinfoil Knight.”

“I wanted to get two big ones and these were the only ones that weren’t completely squashed or kinda gross on one side. Plus, they both still have quite a bit of their stem. You can have the rounder one though.”

“Good,” Katsuki hmpfhed before returning his focus to the stove but not quickly enough to hide the pleased smile that graced his lips.

Hiding behind the strong smell of chili it smelt faintly of freshly ground coffee as well and Katsuki didn’t drink the beverage so you almost certainly had a lovely desert to look forward to. Katsuki wasn’t as much of a baker as he was a cook but he’d been making fast and steady progress ever since challenging himself to get proficient at the more difficult of the two activities.

You snuck a peek at the oven and sure enough there were adorable little pumpkin shaped baked goods getting nice and toasty for after dinner.

-

“How far along are you?” Katsuki asked as he put his own knife down.

You’d been carving for the better part of the last hour, Katsuki’s stuffed sweet potatoes warm in your stomach and the little, sweet pumpkin bread rolls on a plate between the two of you, and getting close to finishing your masterpiece. 

Katsuki had refused to show you what he had planned for his own pumpkin or any of his progress so you eagerly left the knife half stuck in your pumpkin to give him your attention.

“I still need a bit,” you said. “But you can show me yours.”

Katsuki nodded and your eyes widened in surprise as you were faced with the absolutely adorable pumpkin Katsuki had carved, all big eyes and a wobbly, frightened expression. It looked terrific of course, because Katsuki never did anything without some amount of skill, but it was decidedly not what you’d been expecting.

“What?” Katsuki demanded immediately, of course, when your instant reaction wasn’t wholehearted praise.

“Nothing! It’s cute!” you said quickly, both as a compliment and honestly because it was the excuse for your reaction.

“So? I can like cute shit, okay!?” Katsuki pulled the pumpkin closer to himself protectively before throwing himself back in his chair and crossing his arms.

You sighed, unhappy that you’d caused his pout. Katsuki was always a little trigger happy with feeling judged when he strayed from what people (stupidly) expected him to act like. Honestly, you were thinking of having a word with Mina, Kiri and Kaminari about it. It couldn't help how much your whole friend group (including you on shameful occasion) indulged in poking fun at Katsuki for those instances. Thankfully they weren’t currently here though so diffusing the situation wouldn’t be too hard.

You gave him a fond smile and lightly kicked his foot under the table.

“I was just surprised because people tend to go for evil grins for their jack o’ lanterns, Tsuki. I really like yours though. It’s cute.” And because you couldn't help yourself you added: “Just like you.”

“Shut up,” he half-huffed, half-snorted but the corner of his mouth had twitched up so you gave him a grin. 

“Gimme five minutes. Ours will look so out of place together. I love it.”

You had known him for a long time and had been there when he’d learned to express what he was in the mood for with a tilted head and sharp eyes that peeked through lashes because he knew how captivating you found them. 

He waited a beat in case you disapproved and when you didn’t, placed his arms on your shoulders. Katsuki was horny and you wondered whether the chili you smelled from the kitchen had postponed his finding you to make use of the mood.

You spread your palms over his waist before letting them wander under his shirt. He helped along by slipping out of it and smirking when your eyes caught on certain parts.

“What are you in the mood for?” you asked fondly. It wasn’t often Katsuki made his interest in sexual intimacy known with this little prelude.

“I don’t care. Just touch me,” he said as his fingers danced along your nape. “And kiss.”

That you could most certainly do.

You started kissing the neck that he’d so helpfully offered as your fingers traced over his hip bones and the lines between his abs. 

Katsuki’s breath hitched when you started teasing along the sensitive spots on his waist and gave a low moan when you spread your hands over his naked waist once more to give more focus to his collarbone where you kissed and grazed with your teeth.

It was summer so you had to wait with the proper bites and sucks until you reached his upper chest. His summer costume didn’t hide enough to move as freely around his neck as you liked to do when he wore the high collar of his winter costume.

Katsuki’s hips bucked when your tongue flicked over a nipple and he returned your affection with a few pecks to your temple.

Then his muscles that had been slowly, gradually loosening tensed once more. 

They weren’t rigid in discomfort. Instead of the unyielding tenseness of Katsuki’s body after a bad office day or a good fight it was the casual composure he carried on weekends. What it decidedly wasn’t was someone giving himself over to pleasure though.

In the brief moment before your brain caught up you heard the difference too. Katsuki never performed pleasure but now his noises were fully involuntary - still ones of pleasure but not of desire.

You leaned away with a gentle smile. “Passed?”

His brows were already furrowed in dismay. “Yes,” he said before assuring you. “I was good though.”

“I know it was.” It wasn’t arrogance, despite what Katsuki’s look suggested. You just knew his body’s tells of pleasure as well as you knew the signs that it was no longer what he wanted.

He looked at you conflicted. Katsuki wasn’t one to apologise for things outside of his control but in these moments you sometimes thought he came close.

You kissed between his brows.

“This is annoying. At this rate I’m going to stop being aroused just because I’ll be nervous I’ll stop being aroused.”

“I think this beats having to stop when we’re already, uh, further along,” you said. “I always feel a little bad when that happens.”

“You have just as little to feel bad about as I do.”

You smiled, smoothing over his frown once more, this time with your thumb between his brows.

“Agreed. Aftercare now?”

Katsuki scoffed but you didn’t care that this particular horny mood had only amounted to some light making out. Proper horny moods left him emotionally raw all the same and from his lack of further protest Katsuki agreed.

He slid off your lap and snuggled into the crook of your arm instead.

“What problem are you even working on?” you finally gave your own attempt at stopping Bakugō’s spiral, the entertainment factor of his obsessive nature slowly waning.

“Don’t,” Bakugō said through gritted teeth, looking up from his writing for the first time in a good while to snarl at you.

“Don’t what? Maybe it’s one I’ve already done.”

“It is. You did it at the beginning of our study session. Now shut up. I don’t want to hear the answer.”

You could empathise with wanting to come to an answer yourself but instead of continuing with another set of problems, all Kirishima, the person you were supposed to be helping study, had been doing the past half hour was switch between watching Bakugō’s growing frustration and look to you as though you knew how to alleviate it.

“Can I tell Kirishima the answer then-”

“No.”

You rolled your eyes but gave Kirishima a shrug and tapped his notebook with your pen. It was probably better for both of you not to get caught up in Bakugō’s obsession.

It took another five minutes before your own notebook was ripped out from under your pen.

“What the-”

Bakugō flipped back to your solution and huffed in relief when he seemed to find the same answer he’d come to.

You took the notebook back, swatting him over the head with it for good measure.

“'Can I see your notebook please?'” you mocked.

“I beat you at Midterms,” he replied.

“What? Wh- I know. You pointed out as much immediately after we got our results. And again when Kirishima asked for study help.”

Kirishima raised his hands up in surrender and you couldn’t blame him. You’d gotten used to Bakugō’s antics and since UA they’d gotten pretty harmless. You still wouldn’t wish to be an innocent bystander.

Bakugō snarled at you, just like he’d done the last two times he’d pointed out his ‘victory’ to you and just now when you’d done better than him on a single problem set.

Without his worse tendencies the snarling and growling was honestly a bit endearing, not that you were stupid enough to tell him as much, but every now and then he needed a subtle reminder that you weren’t willing to entertain too much of the competition he wanted so badly even if you reluctantly indulged him in sport- and quirk-related competition.

"Can you stop being pissed off every time I do better than you and every time I do worse than you?"

“Your performance isn’t the problem, chevalier. Stop being so nonchalant about everything.”

“Chevalier, really?” You chuckled at the spin of his nickname for you. It was a step up from Tinfoil Knight and even that was a kind one in hindsight, now that you were more familiar with Bakugō’s nicknaming practices. Shitty Hair next to you was proof of it.

“Eat dirt,” he said and you shook your head.

“You’re so weird.”

You would have refocused on studying if it wasn’t the weird grin Kirishima was giving the both of you. Not that out-of-context and over-the-top grins weren’t in character for the redhead but the look was so clearly directed at you that it gave you pause.

“What?” you asked.

“Nothing,” Kirishima said. “It’s just nice to see the two of you banter.”

You supposed one could interpret your and Bakugō’s squabbling as banter. You doubted he interpreted it as such and you preferred to see it as him trying not to blow his fuse while you carefully maintained the flame on it but banter worked too.

“It must be nice to have a childhood best friend at UA with you,” he continued and you heard Bakugō’s pen drop.

“Childhood what!?”

Kirishima looked between the two of you, baffled at Bakugō’s reaction and your incredulous look.

“Weren’t you guys in the same class in Middle School?”

“We were,” you confirmed. “But so was Midoriya and you probably don’t think he and Bakubomb were besties.”

“Hell no,” Bakugō cursed before glaring at you. “What the fuck did you just call me?”

“No, of course not,” Kirishima interjected. “But you guys always stick together and have these friendly squabbles and shittalk other people… I kind of just assumed.”

You wanted to be offended. You really did. It was Midoriya’s annoying bully with a weird obsession for your attention after all but honestly, yeah, you and Bakugo had kind of stuck to each other since UA. It wasn’t an expression of affection, more so the convenience of knowing someone and not being all on your own in this new place. So yeah, Bakugō sucked but he was familiar.

//

“I win. Four to three,” Bakugō announced when Aizawa’s whistle called for the end of free training time and therefore the end of your sparring. 

“Oh, I wasn’t counting,” you said. “Congrats.”

You watched Bakugō’s jaw tighten and his eyes twitch before he frowned.

“You do that on purpose!” he accused and you couldn’t quite bite back the grin that formed on your lips. You wanted to tell him he was cute when he got so obsessed with your reactions but he’d probably take it as an insult. You weren’t sure why you didn’t mean it as one this time.

He growled at you and seemed to struggle for new things to throw at you.

“Use your words, Bakugō,” you teased as you handed him his water bottle. “They’re not just for getting A’s on Japanese tests.”

“You’re so fucking annoying.”

“I can live with that.” 

And apparently he could live with you baiting him more and more frequently. Clearly there was some reason Bakugō stuck to you and you doubted it was just the competition. New classmates like Todoroki or Yaoyorozu would have been better targets for that. Then again, you stuck to him for some reason too. 

Honestly, interacting with him was just fun. At some point you’d stopped perceiving his bristling as annoying or harmful. It had turned into something you could enjoy in small doses. It didn’t hurt that he hadn’t actively bullied Midoriya much during your time at UA. Either all the hero talk was getting to him or your constant presence and lack of shitty influences had naturally removed the inclination.

Maybe you had also started enjoying the attention he was giving y… 

Oh for fuck’s sake. You were enjoying the attention. He was rubbing off on you in all the worst ways, wasn’t he?

“You’re still annoyed every time I do better than you and every time I do worse than you,” you opted to say instead of analysing your feelings.

“You still don’t acknowledge either.”

“I think you’re impressive,” you shrugged, leaving Bakugō in stunned silence. “Beating you is an accomplishment but I’ll never have the intense reaction to it that you’re hoping for. I enjoy your calls for my attention though.”

“Sh-shithead.”

//

You had placed a hand on Bakugō’s shoulder. 

When he’d meant to storm at Kaminari your instinct hadn’t been to put yourself between them as you’d done before. It wasn’t to physically restrain him either. You’d merely placed a gentle hand on him but from the look on his face afterward it was far worse a reaction.

You weren’t sure why that had been your instinct. You’d like to claim it was to draw his anger, distract him from your classmate. 

Embarrassingly though, it wasn’t. Instead you were arrogant enough for a moment to think you had the influence over your classmate to calm him or at least make him reconsider.

Except you hadn’t been wrong. He’d stopped in his tracks and looked at you wounded. Jarring when coming from a guy you’d literally punched before and received only some grumbled words in retaliation.

Now he sat on his bed with you awkwardly beside him, his All Might poster looking at you judgingly and competing with Bakugō’s conflicted look to make you feel bad.

“I don’t like that you tried to control my actions. It felt patronising. I’m not a child,” he finally told you.

“Well, technically we both are-” You stopped when he looked neither amused nor annoyed but rather bunched up more of his duvet in his fists and raised his shoulders. You didn’t want to punish his honesty with half-assed attempts at humour. “...I don’t like when you get violent with people for no good reason. I don’t feel comfortable being friends with someone who does that.”

You could tell he wanted to get defensive. He grimaced and gritted his teeth but nodded curtly.

“I don’t like doing that either. It just… some of them piss me off so much.”

Kaminari also pissed you off plenty. It wasn’t a good excuse though when a lot of things could piss Bakugō off and his go-to response was violence.

“Kaminari embarrassed you. It was mean and you had the moral high ground. Why ruin it?”

“So I should just ignore it like you do?” He scoffed and turned away. Bakugō had wanted your attention for a long time but that wasn’t all it was anymore. You knew he disliked your passive approach to things in general, wanted more engagement from you with things that mattered to him, that he thought mattered to you.

“Maybe not,” you conceded. “But I was there. I would have said something if I’d had the chance. You could have let me be on your side.”

“Be on my side anyway. I’ll be on yours too.”

“That’s not how that works. I’d still like to retain some morals, you know?”

You couldn’t deny the effect his determined words had on you though. You’d never had anyone so firmly on your side before. While you’d maintain that it was stupid, that didn’t stop it from feeling nice.

“Ass. I have morals. They include not letting Dunceface get away with making fun of me.”

“I’ll shout at him next time, okay?” you offered. “Or anyone. If they do something actually shitty that is. You sometimes also blow a fuse over someone doing literally nothing.”

He kicked your foot. “Be on my side anyway.”

“I can’t tell when someone’s breathing will annoy you,” you chuckled when his tone shifted from vulnerability to petulance. “But I promise to have a disproportionate reaction to teasing. Deal?”