Separate

"I actually agree," Deku says, fanning his blushing face. "Maybe drop the bro?"

Kaminari groans. "At least it's better than Mr. I'll Speak In Hieroglyphics over here," he says, tossing his eraser at Sero's forehead.

Sero ducks, laughing. "Hey, you know what they say! When words fail-"

"Kacchan!"

Shit.

Katsuki takes an unbothered sip from his smoothie, trying to act like he hadn't been caught out observing…whatever the hell he's observing. Stupid Deku, always ruining his plans.

"I'm pretty sure they don't say, 'When words fail, Kacchan,'" Ojiro murmurs lightly, head low and focused over his own sheet of paper.

"No." Deku points his way. "Kacchan."

"Oh, hey dude," Sero offers, chorused happily by the others. And if Katsuki's already been fucking caught out there's no reason to hold back.

"The fuck are you losers doing over here?" he demands.

He's curious. Sue him.

"This is the love letter station!" Ashido declares.

Katsuki's frown deepens. "You know it's not fucking valentine's day, right?"

"Exactly. They'll never see it comin'," Sero says.

"And, more importantly," Kaminari jumps in, "if it goes badly, we can hopefully play it off as a trick. You know, like, trick-or-treat?"

Jirou rolls her eyes. "Yeah, 'cause nothing says I love you like a fake confession letter."

Katsuki jerks his chin her way. "What Ears said."

"Aw, not you too," Kaminari complains. "It's a foolproof plan!"

"More like a plan for fools," Jirou responds.

Kaminari points a finger at her. "You are literally one of us. United in fool- uh, fooldom. Foolery. Fools in arms. We are fools in arms, you and I."

"All of you?" Katsuki asks skeptically. He knows who most of them are mooning after but, "Deku, what the fuck are you doing here?"

Deku smiles sheepishly. He doesn't have a sheet of paper in front of him, Katsuki notices, or hands covered finger-to-palm in pink glitter. "I'm uh, spellchecking," he says.

Katsuki stares at him flatly.

"Moral support?" Deku tries, fingers tapping nervously together.

Katsuki scoffs. "You're just a nosy motherfucker. Don't try to act all pure."

"Well-well so are you!" Deku accuses, flushing bright red again, "And I am offering spellchecking services."

"Hah? I'm not fucking nosy. You're-"

"So," Kaminari interjects loudly, "if you're not here 'cause you're nosy, then you must be here to participate. Right, Blasty?"

Kaminari, Ashido, and Sero all level Katsuki with matching grins and waggling eyebrows.

"Ooh, loverboy has entered the scene!" Ashido sings. "Someone grab him a pen."

Deku chucks one right at Katsuki's chest and when he catches it- on fucking instinct- they all clap like he's agreed to this mushy shit.

"No fucking way," Katsuki hisses.

"Oh, so you already confessed?" Sero asks. He seems innocent but Katsuki knows a trap when he sees one.

He scowls.

"They got you, Kacchan," Deku says, smiling cheekily. Then he shrugs, like there's nothing Katsuki can do about it now.

"There's no way in fuck I'm writing him a shitty confession letter."

"So write him a good one," Kaminari challenges.

Even Jirou and Ojiro pause in their letter-writing to peer up at Katsuki, waiting for his next move.

Katsuki bites the inside of his cheek. He will not be baited, he will not be baited, he will not. Be-

"Or I guess it's just too hard for you," Kaminari sighs. "It's alright, bro. I understand. We can just-"

Katsuki swipes the glitter out of Kaminari's hand, cramming himself viciously into the open space between him and Deku. "Fuck you! I'll write the best fucking confession letter here!"

"You're on," Jirou says, eyes narrowed at Katsuki.

Deku smothers his snickering, poorly, into the sleeve of his sweater and Katsuki swears to himself he's gonna get Deku for that. Later, though, when he doesn't have a confession writing contest to win.

"Ooh, Kiri's gonna be so excited!" Ashido cheers.

"Obviously," Katsuki says, ignoring the way the word almost catches behind his teeth.

Obviously, he thinks to himself, more firmly than it had sounded out loud. It'll all be fine. Shitty Hair will be happy to be given one, even. Loser's sappy like that.

"Kacchan, if you want I can spell-check-"

"I know how to fucking spell."

"Okay," Deku says, still smiling broadly. Then he pats Katsuki just once on the back. A show of encouragement, no doubt, or maybe support. Katsuki ducks his head closer to the lined paper in front of him and tries to pretend he doesn't appreciate it.

'Cause he's not fucking scared of this. He's Bakugou fucking Katsuki.

And he's gonna fucking win.

——

An hour later, Katsuki stands smugly on the porch outside of the dorms, Jirou's love letter in his hands. It's good, sure, but she got nervous halfway through and trailed into song lyrics and recommendations. Katsuki's is raw. Honest and open and shit. Kaminari's is half puns, Sero's half pictures, and Tails tried to rhyme eyes with beautiful. Not to mention that Ashido's is just a lipstick kiss with her signature and phone number at the bottom. Obviously Katsuki has won this little contest.

"You can stop looking so smug," Jirou sighs, taking her letter back from Katsuki and carefully sealing it up. "It's not a good look on you."

Katsuki scoffs. "Everything's a good look on me."

"Okay, Mr. Confident," Deku laughs, offering his empty hand towards Katsuki. "Let's send yours off next, then."

"Ears still has it."

"Uh, no I don't," Jirou says, shooting a look over her shoulder. "I passed it to Kaminari."

"Oi! Spark Plug!"

Kaminari glances up from where he'd been eyeing the small flock of bats Koda brought over to deliver their letters in place of doves or parakeets whatever fucking sappy shit they wouldn't shut up about when they were supposed to be letter writing. Kaminari's been going between trying to pet one of them without it noticing and cowering behind Koda.

"What's up?" Kaminari replies distractedly, reaching out with his finger towards the one bat with its back turned.

"Where's my letter," Katsuki demands.

"Your love letter," Ashido corrects, sound all of six years old and cackling to herself when Katsuki merely sighs and rolls his eyes.

"Yeah, that. I need it back."

"Oh! Yeah, here man." Kaminari reaches into his hoodie pocket without taking his eyes away from the bats and tosses it Katsuki's way.

Katsuki frowns. "This is yours." He taps the purple heart sticker sealing the envelope shut. "I used a red sticker."

Kaminari's head jerks towards the envelope in Katsuki's hand like he's been electrocuted and the expression on his face can only be described as oh shit.

"Dunce Face," Katsuki warns, teeth grinding together.

"I- uh- I-!" He gestures helplessly towards the bats perched on the porch railing.

"We already sent Kaminari's letter off," Deku whispers guiltily, eyes big and round.

"You what?" Katsuki screeches. The bats screech back at him unhappily but, frankly, Katsuki doesn't give a shit because that means Katsuki's letter- raw, open, emotional- is heading for hands that should never, ever be allowed within ten feet of Katsuki's feelings.

"I'm gonna have to kill him," Katsuki decides, running a hand through his hair and tugging slightly.

"Uh, maybe no murder?" Deku asks hopefully.

Katsuki swivels on Kaminari, whose eyes are wide and scanning rapidly for an exit.

"And then I'm gonna kill you."

Deku steps in between them, hands up in surrender. "Kacchan."

"And then you!"

Deku deflates, frowning. "But I didn't do anything."

"You can fucking spell-check all day but you can't check that it's the right fucking envelope being sent off?"

"I can try calling Esmeralda back?" Koda interjects.

"Yes, yes, you call that fucking flying shit dispenser back."

"Uhh kindness, Kacchan? Koda's trying to help you out."

"I've officially tuned you out, shitty Deku. I can't hear a word you fucking say."

"But-!"

Katsuki turns himself bodily away from Deku and plugs the ear closest to him.

"But the carnival's pretty loud," Koda observes, eyeing Katsuki warily while he keeps shifting to keep Deku out of his line of sight and Deku keeps trying to be seen. "I'm not sure if she'll be able to hear me. You should try to intercept the delivery in case I can't get through."

"Done," Katsuki says, grabbing Dunce Face by his collar and dragging him down the porch steps and towards the carnival set up on the opposite lawn. To Kaminari, he says, "You better pray we get to that letter first."

Kaminari nods rapidly.

"Go get your man, Blasty!" Ashido whoops.

"Good luck!" Deku tacks on.

Katsuki flips them both off.

————-

Katsuki tackles Shinso to the ground outside of the yellow bouncy castle. "You!"

Eri watches on with wide, curious eyes and Kaminari is panting by the time he catches up, curling over with his hands on his knees.

"Baku-!"

"Where is it!" Katsuki demands, hands clenched in Shinso's t-shirt. It says CAT. He must have borrowed it from Deku.

"Where's what?" Shinso asks.

"My-"

Katsuki falls slack as Shinso's mind control kicks in. Shinso grunts, pushing his body to the side like a particularly heavy ragdoll.

Katsuki tries to scream, tries to explode, tries to twitch his fingers, but the best he can do is grind his teeth and watch on from his peripheral vision as Shinso pushes himself into a seated position.

"What the fuck did you unleash on me?" he asks Kaminari.

"Um-"

"Look!" Eri says. "A bird!"

Everybody's heads crane upward except for Katsuki's, but he'd bet Deku's entire All Might collection that Esmeralda's up there with Katsuki's goddamn letter!

"So the thing is, uh…" Kaminari falters, red in the face, before reaching into his pocket and shoving his confession letter towards Shinso's chest, eyes shut tightly. "Trick or treat!"

Shinso's mind control slips.

Katsuki jerks up, eyes searching wildly for the stupid creature.

"Where'd it go?" he asks Eri, tuning out whatever fucking mushy conversation is occurring between Eyebags and Dunce Face.

"Over there!" Eri says, pointing now towards the row of food stalls.

"I owe you a candy apple later," Katsuki tells her, hastily patting her head as he follows Esmeralda's flapping form.

"Where the hell is she going…?"

Katsuki scowls when he catches sight of a tall, purplish wig in the crowd. Stupid thing must have gotten confused.

Katsuki balks when he realizes the wig belongs to Present Mic- dressed as Jesse from Team Rocket, with a very disgruntled Aizawa/James beside him and a cat in his arms that's probably supposed to be Meowth.

"No..." Bakugou whispers, picking up the pace.

No way in hell is his fucking love letter going to end up in the hands of his teachers, goddammit!

He grabs hold of IcyHot from his place in the takoyaki line and shoves him toward their teachers. "Oi! Distract them!"

"Okay," Todoroki says easily, giving himself a burst of speed on an ice slide that quickly draws the attention of every pint-sized ankle-biter in the vicinity. Katsuki would laugh at their fawn-like wobbling or the fact that most of them are falling flat on their asses but Katsuki's got a job to do, so he hops over the trail with only a smirk, eyes on the sky.

The bat drops the letter onto Present Mic's wig but the man doesn't seem to notice, even though Todoroki tracks the letter's decent with his obnoxious two-toned eyes while speaking. It bounces into a cobwebbed bush. Only Aizawa catches Katsuki slipping by, attention briefly darting to his flushed face before returning to Todoroki's placid one as he recounts some horror or another inflicted on him by his father.

Katsuki snatches the letter from its place wedged in between two branches and slips it into his back pocket.

He breathes a sigh of relief.

"And then my dad-"

"We've got it!" a squeaky little voice yells, right before Katsuki's confession letter is snatched from his pants.

Katsuki whirls, making eye contact with the dark-haired brat Deku rescued at the training camp so long ago, Eri dancing at his elbow and cooing at the envelope.

"Denki told us about it!" Eri says brightly. "We'll be your bird!"

"Yeah," Kota agrees, a lot less earnestly. "What she said."

Katsuki crouches to their level, hand held out expectantly. "Listen here, you little-"

"Glitter escape!" Kota shouts.

Eri blinks, looking between Kota and Katsuki before making a face of remembering. She reaches into the pocket of her little witch costume and tosses up a handful of glitter.

Katsuki grits his teeth and closes his eyes as it floats over his face and hair.

"Now run!" Kota whispers, followed by a bright peal of laughter.

Katsuki only opens his eyes when a warm hand descends on his shoulder.

"You can hold her, if you'd like," Aizawa says, gesturing to the cat in his other arm. "It makes unpleasant things…slightly less unpleasant."

Katsuki sighs, rising to his feet. "Nah," he says, rolling his shoulders. "I've got a little brat to hunt."

Aizawa eyes the carnival around them skeptically- it's packed full of families and UA students and vendors, plenty of little alleyways made between food and game stalls, and tons more places to hide on UA's campus at large.

"Good luck, then."

Katsuki makes an educated guess and heads for the candy apple station.

———-

Katsuki ends up chasing those damn kids all over the carnival. Eri lets herself be caught a few times, laughing brightly as Katsuki hefts her into the air, but she remains close-lipped about Kota's plans for the letter, and by the third time Katsuki circles the grounds he pauses with his hands on his hips, panting, glaring up at the sky.

A pair of familiar hands land on Katsuki's shoulders from behind, a warm chest pressed to his back.

"Hey!" Kirishima says. "I've been looking for you all day! What're you doing?"

Katsuki turns his head to reply and it brings them nose to nose. Kirishima's eyes are bright, crows feet appearing around the corners. It takes Katsuki a second to find his voice.

"Hunting," he declares.

"Oh, word? Hunting what?"

"…children."

Kirishima blinks, long a slow like he might have misheard, but Katsuki doesn't correct himself, even as his ears burn hotter under the gentle, baffled gaze of his friend.

"…say what?"

Katsuki groans, leaning heavily into Kirishima's hands, forcing Kirishima to rearrange his arms around Katsuki's middle to catch his weight. He crosses his arms, eyes on the way his pinky grazes Kirishima's forearm.

"You know…" Kirishima starts, tucking his pointy chin onto Katsuki's shoulder, "Midoriya and Kaminari have been looking all shifty eyed. They lose something of yours?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want me to help you look for it?"

"No."

Kirishima sways Katsuki gently side to side, smiling. "Okay, then put your costume on and come have fun with me at the carnival."

"What costume?'" Katsuki scoffs.

Kirishima rolls his eyes "Figures you didn't get one. Put on your hero costume, then, and we'll see how many people mistake you for a cosplayer."

Katsuki bites the inside of his cheek to keep from grinning too widely.

"Fine, but if anyone tries to tell me my hair spikes are 'going the wrong way' heads are gonna roll."

Kirishima laughs, nudging Katsuki back onto his own two feet. "Yeah right," he says. "I'll meet you by the cotton candy!"

Then it's Katsuki's turn to roll his eyes, only slightly bereft of the warm arms around his torso. "That shit'll rot your pointy teeth."

Kirishima winks. "That's why I'm gonna eat some before you catch up."

Katsuki scoffs as Kirishima starts barrelling down the small hill they'd found themselves on, arms pinwheeling so he doesn't lose his balance. He hates to admit that he's a little charmed, something warm and contented curling up in his chest with the knowledge that Kirishima had been looking for him.

Katsuki turns on his heel and heads for the hero course locker rooms. It's almost blessedly empty, but Katsuki can spy the top of IcyHot's two-toned hair even before he speaks.

"I'm impressed, Bakugou."

Todoroki's lying down on the wooden bench, Katsuki's letter open in his hands.

Calmly, Katsuki extends his own hand and pops a dull explosion in the other boy's face. Just enough to leave his hair shooting away from his soot-covered features.

Todoroki coughs.

Katsuki plucks the letter from his lax grip, blowing away the smattering of ash that had gathered there, too.

"Are you gonna give it to him?" Todoroki asks, sitting up and reaching for a towel.

Katsuki eyes the letter for a moment before shoving it into his locker and pulling out his hero costume, instead. Kirishima probably would like to receive a confession, but…

"No," Katsuki says.

Katsuki doesn't need a fucking letter. He'll confess to Shitty Hair with his own fucking voice.

…soon.