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Assistant: Title: From The Sidelines
        Author: suffocatingspring suffocatingspring 
        Chapter: 4/14 
        Summary: When long-time enemies, Bakugo Katsuki--the all-star athlete and rascal of Ise--and Izuku Midoriya, the town sweetheart, are paired together for a long-term project, the quiet beachside town of Ise suddenly gets a bit louder.In which, Katsuki is an @ssh@l@ pole vaulter, Izuku is going to fail psychology, and both are about to have the most intense spring semester yet.
        Contents: Chapter 4: The Drive-In
    

    


      
        
          18.7k words, im so sorryhttps://open.spotify.com/playlist/0snFtSvokWIcPVSb62VXIy?si=NLy4bSzxQCqhPLCqv8xgPA&dl_branch=1
            
            (See the end of the chapter for  more notes.)
            
      
  

  
  
    
    
  Friday entered the week and brought a beautiful blue sky and a warm breeze along with it. The day itself hasn’t been too bad. It was a bit more intrusive than usual at school, as Izuku was confronted a couple times about the previous night at the kick-off: “I heard you did really well against Bakugo Katsuki,” “What did it feel like when Bakugo Katsuki treated your wounds. You’re so lucky!” “Why did Bakugo Katsuki get so mad at Yosetsu?” Izuku, although well-known in school for being kind and helpful, has never received this much questioning from random people, and never knew how to reply. He wonders how suffocating it could feel for Katsuki. 

  Other than that, his Friday has been going well: watching Katsuki after practice for a little bit went as it normally did, his presentation in chemistry went well, and he couldn’t lie, he was looking forward to being picked up at 6PM. Izuku, being well aware that they are merely just hanging out because of a required project, still finds himself liking the time spent with the blonde, and slapped himself over it, muttering under his breath that it’s not genuine time spent.

  Once again, earlier, Izuku found himself having to ask permission to go out too late in advance: this time, it was the day 
  
    of
  
  . He was nervous, but knew he had to be successful since he had already confirmed the plans with Katsuki. He had psyched himself up to ask permission, and did so when he got home. Under the excuse that he was going with Katsuki and that it was an emergency for the project, Inko had reluctantly allowed him to go but only because it was Katsuki. Izuku could tell that there was more that she wanted to say to him, but whatever it was never left her lips as Izuku jumped in for a hug and ran off to his room. 

  And as of current, Izuku closed his eyes and let the locks of his hair flutter over his brows as he smiles faintly to himself. He was now sitting on the steps of his porch, waiting for the sound of Katsuki’s engine to roll down his quiet suburban street. Izuku wore a pair of shorts, a plain light blue tee, with a flannel tied around his shoulders. His hair was still the same mess it always was, but it was clean and that’s all that mattered. The blue sky has now transitioned to a golden orange as the 6PM sun climbs its way down the horizon. With little clouds in the atmosphere tonight, there was an even glow of deep orange throughout all of Ise. Even the black ravens perched on top of the telephone poles were enjoying the beautiful sight. 

  When he heard the rumbling of a car exhaust stop in front of his house, Izuku tilted his head back down and then waved to the familiar black car. Katsuki rolled down the passenger side window and hollered out to him.

  “Oi nerd!” He yelled past the front lawn, “You gonna come here or what?” 

  Izuku pushed himself off of his sitting position and lightly jogged over to the car before climbing in, “Kacchan!”
  

  “
  
    Christ
  
  ,” Katsuki cringed, “I know I’m f@ck@ng incredible, but calm down.”

  The greenette laughed at the comment, closing the passenger side door, “Why? When you’re happy, you should express it.”

  The blonde rolled his eyes, “Don’t tell me what to do. What’s got you all in a good f@ck@ng mood.” 

  Izuku fastened his seatbelt, “I’m hanging out with Kacchan.” He smiled.

  For a split second there, Izuku thought he saw a faint look of surprise on the athlete’s face but then the expression went back into its usual scowl. Katsuki was wearing a plain white t-shirt with some black athletic shorts and a silver chain around his neck. From across the seat, Izuku could smell the boy’s signature sugary cologne. 

  “Tch. Sh@tty nerd,” Katsuki grumbled before placing his large hands on the wheel, “Where are we even going anyways.” 

  “Oh!” Izuku’s eyes lit up and he pulled up a map of directions on his phone, “I’ll direct you. Go straight and turn left on Lean Street.” 

  “Are you serious.” Katsuki deadpanned the boy, “You’re going to give me turn by turn directions?” 

  Izuku nodded, “Yes.” 

  “You can’t just tell me or something?” Katsuki bothered him.

  The greenette shook his head no and ushered him forward with his hands, “It’ll ruin the element of surprise, Kacchan. Now go, drive!” 

  Complaining, Katsuki finally put the car in drive and did as Izuku told him.

  “Can’t believe you’re telling me what to do in my own d@mn vehicle,” Katsuki said as he headed towards Lean Street, “And I’ve been to way more places than you, Deku. How much surprise is there going to be.”

  Izuku frowned, having thought of that too, but ultimately just replied with a shrug, “Then hopefully it’ll still be fun.”

   The drive was as quaint and cute as it always was in the town of Ise, although it was a bit long. Izuku has only heard mentions of this place, since it was in the next town over, but has never been there himself. It wasn’t anything too extravagant, but he thought it’d be an activity both he and Katsuki would enjoy. They drove past basketball courts with some middle schoolers drenched in sweat throwing hoops, past one of the bigger lakes in Ise and saw the sun-kissed water surface past the line of trees, and they now are driving through the yellow dirt-covered roads that lead out of Ise, running parallel to the mountains, with only a few houses near farmland on either side of them. Because the orange glow has not yet disappeared, it was a pretty sight especially with Maniac by Michael Sambello playing on the radio. Izuku’s windows were down, his hands feeling the evening wind as they flew through the road. 

  “Where even are we,” Katsuki looked around at the nothingness with one hand on the wheel.

  Izuku turned to the handsome blonde, “On the way to Dolly.”

  Katsuki gave him a look through his Ray Bans, “The f@ck are we gonna do in Dolly? Doesn’t that place have 30 residents?”

  Izuku shook his head, “3000 residents, Kacchan. And you’ll see.”

  Katsuki groaned, “This better be worth the gas.” 

  “If not, I’ll cover your dinner,” Izuku smiled cheekily.

  “Since when are we getting dinner,” Katsuki looked over, right hand tapping the console.

  Izuku pursed his lips, and responded shyly, “Since you probably haven’t eaten yet because practice runs late on Fridays and you picked me up not too long after.”

  Katsuki was quiet for a second before teasing, “Stalke-”

  “I swear to god Kacchan,” Izuku groaned, “If you call me that again-”

  Katsuki then started laughing before stopping in the middle of the road within seconds, lurching Izuku’s body forward. It wasn’t necessarily a busy road, but it was still illegal to stop in the middle of it for no reason.

  And then the blonde leaned over his seat towards the wide-eyed and confused Izuku and provoked the other, “What are you gonna do.”

  Izuku blinked, not sure whether or not he should be more concerned with the sudden change of atmosphere or with how unfairly sharp Katsuki’s features were up close.

  Katsuki repeated, “If I call you that again, what are you gonna do, 
  
    Deku
  
  .” He grinned, “Wanna tussle some more?” Referring to their fight the other night.

  “K-Kacchan,” Izuku said, “You can’t just stop in the middle of the road.”

  At this, Katsuki grinned some more, “Why can’t I?”

  Izuku frowned, “Because! People use this road. There will be cars coming soon.” 

  At this, the blonde seemed even more amused and suddenly gripped Izuku by the chin, not in a way that hurt, and took a good look at the boy’s freckles while tsking.

  “Deku, Deku, Deku,” Katsuki repeated with a comical tone, “When are you going to learn? Here, let me tell you a little something.”

  Izuku’s cheeks flushed from the contact, but Katsuki dropped his hands and turned up the music to the point where it was deafening. Then, he opened his car door before stepping out, leaving it wide open and then stepped out onto the road. Katsuki walked around to the middle of the road, and then spread his arms open wide like an eagle before yelling over to Izuku.

  “When you do dumb sh@t like this, the most anyone will ever say to you,” Katsuki yelled out, “is ‘Sir, you can’t park here. Sir, you can’t be here. Sir, you can’t do that.’ And that is when you put on a charming f@ck@ng smile and tell them ‘Sorry sir, I’ll be on my way.’ or “Sorry sir, I won’t do it again.’ And that’s that.”

  Izuku gaped. It couldn’t be that easy, or else why the hell would there be so many arrests or court warnings. And then he realizes it: it was Katsuki’s confidence. And probably the fact that he was Bakugo Katsuki. 

  “The truth is” Katsuki continued shouting over the music, “No one actually gives a sh@t as long as you don’t give them more trouble or hell to deal with. In a sh@tty town like Ise, you think the cops care about some teenagers sneaking around and f@ck@ng in parking lots? About kids like us jumping off docks at that firefly lake that’s been closed off for safety hazards?”

  Izuku listened, for some reason feeling as if every word Katsuki spoke was meant to punch him in the gut and make him realize something without mentioning Izuku’s name even once.

  The blonde then walked over to Izuku’s window and peered inside, placing his arms on the window sill before grinning, “Everyone here is trying to find some sh@t to make their lives a bit less f@ck@ng pathetic. Waking up. Going to work at a d@mn job they don’t even want. Going home to a wife who ain’t even love them. Watching the same reruns on TV that’s been playing on channel 5 since the f@ck@ng 80s. Then sleeping it all away so they can f@ck@ng dream about the life they’d rather have. Saying that they’re alive, but really, they’re barely even f@ck@ng living, ”

  Izuku’s mouth was parted as he looked Katsuki dead straight in those ruby eyes, and they held this strange contact. One in which Izuku was trying to figure out if Katsuki was being f@ck@ng serious, and Katsuki was challenging him without saying a d@mn word. Saying they’re alive, but they’re barely even 
  
    living
  
  .

  Izuku could feel the truth seep within him as he replays every word the blonde just said. It wasn’t just Ise, the beautiful, small town that had a hypnotic pull. What Katsuki said could probably be applied to every city on Earth: big or small, rural or urban. Everywhere, people are trapping themselves in cycles that they convince themselves they are completely stuck in. Businessmen in the city who wished they’ve taken an art career stuck in their 9-5 desk jobs and going home to their lonely bachelor pad, falling asleep with a glass of wine that’ll dull their senses. Or people here in a town like Ise, who never leave the vicinity of their neighborhood all of their lives and get sick of the golden Ise sunset but do nothing about it.

  But right then, Izuku didn’t think Katsuki was referring to some businessman in the city, or some neighbor in the city of Ise. No, Katsuki was hinting at 
  
    him
  
  . At Izuku. At what the trajectory of his life seemed to be, and Izuku has never felt so offended yet enlightened in his life. 

  “You’re crazy,” Izuku whispered, not breaking their eye contact.

  Katsuki laughed and looked at him once more, “Yeah. And you need some of it.”

  Izuku blinked. 
  
    You need some of it
  
  . F@ck. 
  
    Everyone here is trying to find some sh@t to make their lives a little less f@ck@ng pathetic
  
  . F@ck. F@ck. F@ck. Izuku remembered thinking of that exact thing the other week when Katsuki first confronted him about watching his practices. Thinking of how he had a good life: great grades, a nice mother, great friends, some hobbies. But how something was missing. Something that he didn’t know. 
  
    Everyone here is trying to find some sh@t to make their lives a little less f@ck@ng pathetic
  
  . F@ck. 

  Izuku then opened up the sunroof of Katsuki’s car and then stood up on his seat, moving his body upwards and through the sunroof. He climbed up there and then sat on top of the car with his legs still dangling inside of the sunroof opening. 

  “Drive,” Izuku asked, eyes shining as he nervously holds onto the edge of the sunroof opening. The sound of On The Run by Timecop 1983 played next. 

  Stepping back, Katsuki gaped his mouth, “What are you doing.”

  Izuku bit his lip nervously and then shyly looked over to the blonde, “Living.”

  At this, Katsuki had a brief look of surprise before raising a brow, “We’ll probably get pulled over, you know.”

  The thought of that made Izuku nervous, but then he remembered, and gave Katsuki the best charming smile he could muster, “In that case, I’ll just put on a charming smile and tell them ‘Sorry sir, I won’t do it again.’ And that’s that. Right, Kacchan?” 

  Izuku repeated the athlete’s words right back at him, and Katsuki knew it too. Feeling as if he was being challenged, Katsuki shook his head while walking over to the driver’s seat.

  “How’s your arm. Can you even hold on?” Katsuki nodded towards Izuku’s left arm.

  Izuku moved it, “Oh, this? It still hurts a bit, but there’s nothing wrong with my grip. I’ll be fine!”

  “I’m such a bad influence,” Katsuki muttered to himself as he closed the car door, “Auntie’s going to kill me.”

  Izuku laughed at this, “Kacchan! You were over here giving me a dramatic speech just moments ago, and 
  
    now
  
   you want to take it all back?”

  Katsuki put his seatbelt on and gave a quick glance upwards towards Izuku who was sitting on top of his sunroof, “Who said anything about taking it back? Now hold on, nerd.”

  Izuku tightened his grip, and looked at the scenery. On either sides of him was flat farmland, but further on his left were the beginnings of the treeline that led to the mountains. Telephone poles had flocks of birds on them, and the wheatfields were basked in the beautiful orange that they’ve been experiencing this entire car ride. Then, the car lurched forward as Katsuki pressed on the gas. The athlete accelerated slowly, not wanting Izuku to fly backwards and break a bone.

  Immediately, the breeze picked up, blowing Izuku’s hair back, but the greenette smiled with all teeth. This was ridiculously dangerous if Katsuki suddenly breaked too hard or accelerated too fast, but Izuku for some reason trusted the blonde. Katsuki gradually picked up the speed until Izuku could feel a full blast of wind and the music was not as loud as it was before. It still wasn’t as fast as they’d usually go. When Katsuki got to a constant speed, slowly, Izuku let his hands go.

  He raised his arms across the width of the car and then began laughing. It felt like his chest was letting go of metal weights as he closes his eyes and feels the wind hit his body and the music fill his ears. 

  From below, Katsuki called out, “How is it?” 

  Izuku continued laughing, and peered down through the sunroof opening, “Kacchan, it’s amazing! You should try it next!”

  “And let you drive my car?” Katsuki looked appalled at the suggestion, “Hell f@ck@ng no.”

  Izuku leaned back on his arms, “Your loss.”

  They drive like that on the straight road for a while, listening to the music play and Izuku’s excited hollers and Katsuki’s occasional check-in. It was absolutely stupid. And yet, he would absolutely do it again. When Izuku climbed back down, his hair was completely windblown. He straightened it out in the mirror and told Katsuki, “At the next stop sign, take a left.”

  “You done having your moment?” Katsuki snorted as he takes the left. 

  Izuku relaxed into his seat, “Yes. That’s was tiring. Maybe I’ll go back to my wife that doesn’t love me and watch reruns that’s been on TV since the 80s,” Izuku joked.

  Katsuki flicked the other on the side of the head, “Oi, shut up.”

  Izuku laughed. 

  They enter the town of Dolly, which was tinier than Ise and was significantly less beautiful. It looked to be mostly a car-stop town, where the only people who drop by are those who need a small bite to eat or a night at a bed-and-breakfast before heading back on the road to go somewhere more important. There were small houses tucked into raggedy neighborhoods where kids played rock paper scissors on the driveway, and rustic looking diners and shops that have an abandoned feel to them. Izuku doesn’t reckon they get much business. 

  After a couple more streets, Izuku sees where he wants to be. 

  Up ahead on their right, there was a metal arch that had writing at the top. Mel’s Drive-In.

  “Ah!” Izuku mentioned, “We’re almost there.”

  “Where is there,” Katsuki looked around, slightly confused, “And why are we here.”

  “Because,” Izuku looked over to the athlete, hugging his knees to his chest, then smiled, “You said you liked them.”

  Katsuki raised a brow, “Liked what.”

  “Horror movies,” Izuku responded, “I wanted to go to a drive-in theatre. They’re playing She Watches tonight, and I th-thought,” He suddenly felt a little nervous, “...that it’d be fun.”

  Katsuki looked at him for a moment, “You wanted to go because I said I liked horror movies?” 

  Izuku pursed his lips, “I mean, yes. But also because I like them too! It’s not lame is it?”

  After a moment of looking at Izuku with curious eyes, the athlete drives towards the metal arch, “It’s not lame. Let’s go.”

  The metal arch was right next to a ticket booth that had a woman boredly chewing sugar-free gum fanning herself from the heat. One or two cars were in line in front of them, which purchased their tickets, before continuing past the arch and onto a small  dirt road that bent around a corner. 

  Katsuki pulled his car up next to the booth, “Two tickets to the 7:00 screening.”

  Sounding as if she was done with the heat and her job, the woman tells them the cost and before Izuku could fish out his wallet, Katsuki already handed her the amount. 

  “The radio channel is 101.3. Just dial it in your car when the movie starts to get the audio,” She recited monotonously. 

  “Here, I’ll pay you back,” Izuku said, opening up his wallet again.

  “Don’t bother,” Katsuki said as he pulled forward past the arch and onto the dirt road, “I’m loaded.”

  Izuku gave him a look, “Kacchan, I can’t believe you just said that. In that case, I take back what I said earlier! You can get your own dinner!”

  Katsuki shook his head, “Nope. You already said you’d cover it.”

  “I said I’d cover it if the drive-in wasn’t worth the gas!” Izuku complained, “But wait, does that mean you agree to grab dinner?”

  Katsuki groaned playfully, “Sh@t, that means an extra hour with your dumb ass, doesn’t it.”

  Izuku stuck out his tongue, “That drive was almost an hour, and this movie is about to be two hours. One more won’t kill you, Kacchan. I won’t bite you if that’s what you’re scared of.”

  Katsuki barked out a laugh, “Ho ho! 
  
    You
  
   won’t bite 
  
    me
  
  ? If that’s what I’m scared of?” 

  Izuku leaned on his palm, attempting a joke, “Yeah, since I beat you up so bad last night at the fight that you’re terrified of me now, right?”

  The blonde grinned, “We must be thinking of different fights.”

  “But I recall you crying and begging me for mercy,” Izuku joked, feeling happy and bold.

  “Do you now?” Katsuki stopped the car and reached over, lightly jabbing at Izuku’s left arm and sides that were ticklish, “You recall?”

  Izuku tried slapping Katsuki’s hands away to no avail as the blonde continues to poke at him, making him both laugh and yell at the same time, “Stop!”

  “You recall what now?” Katsuki asked holding up Izuku’s injured arm, “Me crying and begging for mercy?” 

  Izuku all while laughing yelled at Katsuki to stop poking his ticklish sides, even though the blonde was careful enough to not touch the bruising, “Okay! Okay! I’m done!”

  Katsuki let go just as a car behind him honked at him for stopping in the middle of the dirt path. While muttering obscenities at the car, even though it was his fault, Katsuki moved his vehicle forward.

  “But really, are we going to get dinner?” Izuku looked over at Katsuki, “Because we both need to eat.”

  “Stop worrying over me, Deku,” Katsuki frowned, and after a moment, “Yeah. We can get dinner. 
  
    F@ck
  
  , I deserve extra credit.”

  Izuku was about to yell out in a happy holler, but decided not to jinx his luck.

  Just around the bend, the dirt road led to a large open area with ground made up of both gravel and dirt where cars just parked wherever. And in front of the open lot was a huge screen that the movie will be projected on. 

  Neither Katsuki nor Izuku had ever been to a drive-in movie before, but have always seen them in the movies. In real life, it looked just as classic and endearing. 

  The sky was now a deep purple, about a dozen or so cars were parked, and a young boy was in charge of the concession stands selling popcorn, soft drinks, and candy. 

  Katsuki pulled up to where they were pretty close to the screen but far away from other cars, and dialed into the radio channel to sync up with the audio of the drive-in theatre which was, as of current, only playing ads. The movie doesn’t start until the sun completely sets so that the projector would work well, so they had some time to kill. 

  Katsuki leaned his seat back and put his hands behind his head. Izuku searched around for the lever and did the same until he got to a comfortable position. Since the huge screen was blank, Izuku laid across the lowered seat on his side so that he could look directly at Katsuki with his head resting on the side of his arms. 

  “I can feel your creepy ass eyes staring at me, you know,” Katsuki said without turning an inch, “You got something to say?”

  Izuku blinked a couple of times before averting his gaze, “You need to come up with better insults for my eyes, Kacchan.”

  “Never thought I’d live to see the day where you tell me you’re bored with my insults, Deku,” Katsuki chuckled, then turned his head over to meet eyes with the greenette.

  “And 
  
    I’d
  
   never thought I’d live to see the day where we hang out again without screaming,” Izuku clapped his hands lightly with a small 
  
    yay
  
   satirically leaving his mouth, “Miracles do come true!”

  “Cheesy b@st@rd. Don’t forget in that brain of yours that this is out of obligation,” Katsuki reached over lazily to flick Izuku lightly on the forehead.

  “That doesn’t make it any less fun,” Izuku spoke positively, “Just makes it a little less genuine. But I’d like to believe you don’t actually feel miserable. Don’t correct me if I’m wrong.”

  “Don’t?” Katsuki asked to clarify the strange choice of wording. Isn’t it usually 
  
    Please, correct me if I’m wrong
  
  ?

  But Izuku just nodded, “Don’t. Because I’d really like to believe it. Even if it’s not true.” He smiled.

  Katsuki gave the boy a strange look, and Izuku turns his eyes away, before the blonde changed the topic, “You mentioned miracles earlier, but you know what would be a f@ck@ng miracle? If this movie ends up being scarier than the first one. I never flinch at sh@t, but the first one made me lose sleep for a solid night.”

  “
  
    Just
  
   a night?!” Izuku exclaimed, leaning over a little, “Kacchan, you’re amazing! I lost sleep for almost a week. I literally had to barricade my closet because I was scared I’d see something through the crack.”

  Katsuki snorted at that, then added, “I went to see it in theatre with Sh@tty Hair and Dunce Face. Both of them left the lights on in their room for a f@ck@ng week. At some point, I was pretty sure Ejirou went to sleep in his parents’ room.” 

  “I was tempted too,” Izuku laughed, “But Tsuyu already went to see this movie. She said it was scarier than the first.”

  “I don’t f@ck@ng believe it,” Katsuki stated his skepticism, “There’s no way.”
  

  “Hmm, guess we’ll find out,” Izuku grinned, before he suddenly remembered something.

  Letting out an 
  
    Oh!
  
  , Izuku reached into the backseat where he had tossed his bag and tugged at a tightly tucked item from inside.

  Finally, Izuku managed to pull out a pretty large blanket, albeit it was not very thick, from inside of the bag that he had stuffed the hell out of, and brought it up to the front where he was sitting currently. 

  “I brought a blanket! It’ll get a little cold because of the AC in the car, but this is big enough to stretch across the both of us!” Izuku excitedly informed while throwing the other side of the green quilted blanket across the console to wear Katsuki was sitting.

  The blonde threw it back and rolled his unfairly beautiful ruby eyes, “I’m not sharing a f@ck@ng blanket with you, nerd.”

  Izuku frowned, “Why not? It’s just a blanket. You’ll get cold, Kacchan. It’s not like I have bad germs or anything.”

  “Jesus,” Katsuki leaned up from his seat, “Does it look like I’m 5? I don’t give a sh@t about germs. I’m just not gonna share a d@mn blanket with you.”

  Izuku pursed his lips then sat back against his lowered seat, pulling the fabric up to his chest, “So you can share a bed with people you barely know, but you can’t share a blanket with me, who you’ve known all of your life.”

  Katsuki raised a brow at that and leaned over the medium between them, “You wanna know what I’ve noticed, 
  
    Deku
  
  ?”

  Suddenly, Izuku was a tad bit nervous, “What?”

  Katsuki leaned in a bit closer, until the intensity of his gaze was nearly unbearable, “That you’re 
  
    awfully
  
   invested in my s@x life.”

  “That’s not true!” Izuku’s face flushed three shades darker, “I was just making a point!”

  He didn’t think that he was invested. Well, sure, he took note of most conversations he’s overheard about Katsuki’s s@x life, wondered a bit here and there about it, and mentally observes all the girls and occasional guys that he sees Katsuki with. And sure, he’s imagined here and there how good Katsuki would be, if everyone is obsessed with him. But that didn’t mean he was 
  
    invested
  
  , nor was it any of his business. 

  “Yeah?” Katsuki had a lopsided grin, “You sure do make a lot of comments about it.”

  “I’ve literally made four,” Izuku could barely breath and his grip on the blanket on tighter.

  “Four too many,” Katsuki replied, “I wonder why you’re so curious. What. You want to know what the hype is about or something?” 

  Izuku blinked several times, trying to avert those eyes that were so close to him but ultimately failing to do so. Deciding to just play it cool, Izuku mustered up some confidence and looked at the blonde, “It’s probably just hype anyways.” 

  Instead of being deterred, Katsuki took the opportunity to tease him some more and spoke more closer to Izuku’s ear, lowering his voice to where he knew it just 
  
    hits
  
  , “I bet you’d want me to f@ck your brains out just so you could find out, don’t you.”

  Suddenly, all the confidence Izuku managed to muster up disappeared down the drain, and his eyes went wide at how crude and explicit Katsuki’s words were. He couldn’t tell which to be more mortified of: the fact that he felt the wave of an odd feeling rush through his body, or the fact that he couldn’t tell if Katsuki was joking or not. 

  “K-Kacchan!” Izuku pushed the blonde back into his seat and then reached for his bag and repeatedly hit Katsuki with the bag, “You’re a terrible person!” He continued to smack Katsuki with the bag.

  Katsuki cackled, putting both hands in front of his body in self-defense from the bag repeatedly being thrown at him, “I was f@ck@ng joking, you can stop it now! If you give me an injury, my coach will kill you Deku,” He warned through his cackles.

  Izuku dropped the bag and rolled his eyes at Katsuki, “Stop being so dramatic! And fine. If you don’t want the blanket because I’m just 
  
    so
  
   disgusting, then you can freeze over there.” Izuku said while hogging the fabrics to himself.

  “Give it,” Katsuki then tugged for it, grabbing it back, but Izuku held on tightly to it. 

  They essentially played tug of war for the blanket, with Izuku saltily exclaiming, “So 
  
    now
  
   you want it! Too late!”

  Katsuki finally got a better grip and took some for himself, “Stop being so g@dd@mn petty!”

  “Me? Petty?” Izuku looked apalled. Katsuki really brought out the worst in him, and he knew it, “I can’t stand you.”

  “I can’t stand you either,” Katsuki responded without missing a beat, and they stared each other down for a solid minute, both staking claim to their half of the blanket. 

  Before Izuku bursted into a fit of laughter, which Katsuki rolled his eyes and let out a couple of chuckles shortly afterwards. It was so stupid. The things they fought over were always 
  
    so
  
   f@ck@ng stupid, that Izuku wondered if these conflicts were 
  
    actually
  
   conflicts, or if they were just a part of who they were now. 

  “The movie is about to start,” Izuku took notice and turned his attention back outside of the window, bringing his knees up underneath the blanket and laying his head back, “Why am I already kind of scared?”

  Katsuki snorted, “It’s the bad energy. I heard the movie was cursed. But then again, I don’t believe a g@dd@mn thing Mineta says.”

  “Cursed?” Izuku looked over to Katsuki for clarification.

  “Yeah,” He replied, “Like if you watch the movie, you just feel a really evil presence around you for a while. But that’s all b@llsh@t.”

  Izuku gave an 
  
    well sh@t
  
   look as he turned his head back to the screen, “...an evil presence…” He muttered to himself. 
 
  They took a photo for the project evidence, and continued whatever conversation it was they were having. 

  It was completely dark by the time the movie started, and the professional-grade projector illuminated the white screen. From the car radio, the sound synced up to the film, and the only thing that gave Izuku a sense of comfort was that Katsuki was on his left and that there were about a dozen other cars in the drive-in theatre. 

  The movie ended up being about 1 hour and 45 minutes long, and about ⅞ of it was pure terror. The other ⅛ was the introduction to the main cast at the very beginning before everything went to sh@t. On the surface, the film’s premise was simple. A man moves into this apartment. There is a figure in all black, with long fingers sharpened to a tiny point, and every single night, it just 
  
    stands
  
   there in the corner, not doing anything except staring its beady red eyes on its otherwise faceless black nothingness at the person sleeping on the bed. No one can see it, but the man. 

  And every single night, it moves six inches closer. Until weeks into moving in, the figure then stands just three feet from where the main character was sleeping, never saying anything or doing anything. Just standing there, staring at the man with its red eyes. It wasn’t one of those jump-scare horrors, but rather, one of anticipation and build-up of tension. 

  The entire time watching the movie, it almost felt like the black figure was there somewhere near them. Standing by, not doing anything but staring at them, moving closer every few moments. What made Izuku feel a lot better was that Katsuki made commentary throughout the entire film, pointing out things here and there. Izuku did the same, since it made the car less ominous with just the sound of the movie playing and violin scratches. 

  When it finally ended, Izuku felt as if he could finally take a breath, even though the thoughts of the movie still lingered there in his head. 

  Katsuki stretched in his seat, “I thought the first one was scarier.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Izuku gave him a look, “This one was so much worse.” 

  “Nah,” Katsuki stood by his statement, “I mean, this one was scary, sure. But I’ll sleep fine tonight.”

  Izuku placed his chin in his palm, “Really? You won’t…” He then wiggled his fingers around, “open your eyes to see a figure standing there?”

  Katsuki rolled his eyes and removed the blanket, “The only nightmare I have is you doing that finger wiggling sh@t. Stop it.”

  Izuku laughed, “I’ll see you in your dreams then.”

  Katsuki lazily turned his head to the greenette, “I’ll see you there, nerd.”

  Izuku smiled gently at that, and they sit in the car for a little while longer. Katsuki says he’ll wait for the other cars to file out of the screening area, since he doesn’t want to single-file out of the tiny dirt path that led here. And Izuku was secretly grateful, because he liked sitting here with Katsuki just talking about whatever it was that was on his mind for a little bit. Sure, the athlete would tell him to stop his rambling here and there, but regardless, still listened to what he had to say and replied to it. Katsuki’s replies, unless they were sarcastic, were generally thought out too, which Izuku appreciated. 

  Outside, the projector screen was playing static once the movie credits ended, providing enough light for all the cars to find its way out of the open space. The people working the concessions were packing up and filing out too, it seems. But Katsuki still didn’t make a move to leave the lot, and instead, sat there for a little while more, staring out the window, and getting caught in whatever whimsical conversation Izuku was spurring on. Finally, the static on the projector turned off, and the last person left the lot.

  Izuku plays with a lock of his hair, “Wait, she actually said that to you?” In response to a story Katsuki was telling him.

  “Sure as hell did,” Katsuki nodded, “I didn’t even f@ck@ng reply. What the hell was I even supposed to say to that?”

  Izuku laughed, “I would’ve just left too. Also, this is completely off topic, but did you know that there is a haunted house near here? I was reading up on Dolly, and apparently, it’s really nearby.”

  Katsuki raised a brow, “Is there?”

  Izuku nodded, pulling out his phone to search it up, “It’s really the only interesting thing from Dolly’s Wikipedia. ‘Next to Dolly’s signature drive-in theatre,’” Izuku began reading off of his phone, “‘is the Gaines Family home, abandoned since the 1960s. The house belonged to a coal miner and his family. The coal miner was reported to be one of Dolly’s favorite community members, with a happy spirit and a desire to volunteer with any neighbor’s projects. Then, on June 15th, 1962, seemingly out of nowhere with no instigating incident, the coal miner axed murdered his wife and adult kid, before taking his own life. People say the acts of violence were spurred on by demon possession,’” Izuku finished up, “Anyways, isn’t that terrifying?”

  “That’s really f@ck@ng weird, yeah,” Katsuki agreed and looked surprised at the violent twist, “But I’m pretty sure the dude was just deranged. Back in the 60s, everyone blamed everything on demonic possession.”

  “But they said that everyone in Dolly loved him! And that he was really sweet,” Izuku countered. 

  “How about we go ask him,” Katsuki suggested before turning off his car engine, affecting shutting off the air conditioning and headlights, before opening the side of his car and going over to open Izuku’s.

  As the passenger side door opens, Izuku just sits there and looks up at Katsuki through the dark and an open mouth, “What do you mean we go ask him?”

  Katsuki had a mischievous glint in his eyes, “You said the house is near, right? Let’s go check it out. All that sh@t’s fake, but if you really believe the house is possessed, then let’s go see.”

  “I never said I think it’s real,” Izuku clarified before sputtering, “But that doesn’t sound like the best idea, Kacchan!”

  “If it’s not real, then there’s nothing to be afraid of,” Katsuki reasoned, ignoring the second part. 

  “B-But we literally just watched a horror movie!” Izuku countered, not leaving his seat, “And now you want to explore a potentially abandoned house? Kacchan, you’re actually crazy.”

  Katsuki then stepped away from his car, “You can stay here if you want. In this dark, empty lot all by yourself. With that,” Katsuki wiggled his fingers to imitate Izuku earlier, “tall figure in the bushes over there.” 

  “Okay, now you’re just being mean,” Izuku said before climbing out of the car and jogging to catch up to Katsuki.

  Leaving their car in the empty lot, Izuku and Katsuki followed the map to where the house was supposed to be. Apparently, it was not too far from the drive-in, so it shouldn’t take too long to find the place. However, since they were technically off-roading, the two had to step over some tall grass and shrubbery at the edge of the property. The crickets in Dolly sounded different than those in Ise, if that even made any sense. 

  When Izuku mentioned that to Katsuki, the blonde strangely agreed to that fact, although Izuku was sure if he said that to anyone else who didn’t live in Ise, they would be confused. Maybe it was the chirping pattern, or the pitch, or maybe they were making things up, but it just felt different. Finally, the two hit a chain linked fence separating them from what they recognized to be the house they were looking for. It sat on a quiet land plot, and Izuku immediately looked at it warily. The windows were boarded up, but the door was busted open. There were some vandalization on the property, as Izuku was sure they were not the first teens to try and explore this place. The moonlight was dim tonight, and so the battered and worn-out looking home seemed even more demonic. Izuku was very skeptical of supernatural things, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t terrified at the thought of it, like most people would. 

  Katsuki then placed both hands on the fence and quickly jumped over, similar to how Izuku has seen him do it before. The fence rattled, and it broke the silence that surrounded their vicinity. Feeling weird that he was on one side of the fence by himself, Izuku quickly made work of climbing the fence too. 

  When he reached the other side, the greenette stared up to the taller athlete, “Well, we’re here.”

  Katsuki walked forward, “Let’s go, before the coal miner gets scared off by my incredible presence.”

  For some reason, hearing Katsuki’s overconfident remarks made Izuku’s nervous feeling ease up in his gut, and he walked side by side with the athlete across the overgrown lawn to the raggedy broken steps. The house entrance was broken in, but as they entered the actual home, it was more or less unremarkable. Most of the furniture had yellow dusty sheets covering it, which were probably once white but has since collected mold, cobwebs, and stains. Everything else seemed to have been raided into and scattered all over the ground: broken dishes, wooden cabinets, porcelain doll collections. It was odd to think that people were ax-murdered in this house a couple decades prior, but any traces of that is gone. It just looked like any other abandoned house. 

  Izuku and Katsuki walked through every room cautiously, making conversation as they went to reassure the other that they’re still nearby, even if they didn’t realize that was what they were doing. Occasionally, a rat would scurry by and Izuku would see Katsuki flinch and he’d laugh. 

  At the end, there really was nothing. Sure, it was creepy, but not necessarily because of the story behind it, but rather, the fact that it was abandoned and nighttime was enough. At the point where the two boys began making jokes about some of the rooms in the house, that was when they knew it was probably time to leave, as there truly was nothing there. As the two made their way over the fence again and through the shrubbery, Izuku internally rejoiced at how stupidly teenager this entire night has been, if that even made any sense. It had been dumb, and yet, something he knew he wouldn’t forget for a long time. Especially not as Katsuki was currently ranting to him about some article he hated about cryofreeze, which was just so mundane and random, but was a detail about Katsuki that Izuku was embarrassed to say he treasures. 

  They end up laying back on the hood of Katsuki’s car, or at least, Izuku was. He laid with his back against the front windshield, eyes looking at both the night sky speckled with stars that looked like confectioner’s sugar and at Katsuki who was sitting up. His tall stature did not allow the athlete to lay back comfortably, so Katsuki just sat on his hood, leaned back on his right arm as they talked. Izuku thinks that this side of Katsuki was nice. Izuku could tell him that the movie has been over for a while now, and it was going into 11PM, but he was afraid that would break the nice little pocket of the world they were in together at the moment. 

  As long as Katsuki didn’t say anything, Izuku wouldn’t either. They can stay in this frozen moment of space a little while longer.

  “The stars are pretty,” Izuku breathily said, as he stares into the abyss. His blinks were slow, and the warm spring air kissed his skin. 

  Katsuki tilted his head up to look at them.

  Izuku continued, “I like…” He thinks about it, “I like the thought of laying in a field somewhere, with yellow flowers, and looking up at the stars. So it feels like I’m floating in them.” And then, he turns to Katsuki, “How about you? What’s something you really want to do?”

  At first, Izuku wonders if this is the kind of question that Katsuki isn’t likely to answer. But he waits anyways. After a moment of contemplation, Katsuki just shrugs, “Can’t really think of anything.”

  Izuku gives him a look and curious smile, “How can you not think of anything?” 

  Katsuki seemed to shift uncomfortably, and before anything could break the peace they had at the moment, Izuku tried to change his words, “But that’s fine.” Izuku laughed nervously before attempting a joke, “Not everyone can have such a vivid imagination as me.” 

  Katsuki gave him a half-smirk, “And you call me arrogant, sh@tty Deku.”

  “You are,” Izuku poked him gently in the sides. 

  Katsuki moved his head so that he was looking directly down at Izuku, “You f@ck@ng dip your french fries in ice cream. I’m trusting nothing you say.”

  “The contrast between flavors is great, Kacchan!” Izuku defended himself, “You have the salty crunch of the french fries, and then the sweet softness of the ice cream. They complement each other!” Then Izuku thought about it, “Hey, it’s kind of like you and me. I’m sweet, or at least try to be. And you’re just salty.” Izuku points at him..

  Katsuki flicked his forehead, “Oh so you want to be a smartass? Guess what. Fries are also hot, so I’m f@ck@ng hot too. Hot and salty. That’s not a shabby combination.”

  Izuku laughed, but didn’t deny anything, “The point is that the juxtaposition of flavors is super unique,” He begins before rambling a bit about the flavor profiles, while Katsuki sits there kicking his right foot against the front bumper. 

  “Have you ever eaten an onion and grape jelly sandwich, Deku?” Katsuki asked after his little rant was over. 

  Disgusted by the thought of it, Izuku shook his head, “No? Have you? Kacchan, that’s disgusting.”

  “Of course I haven’t, idiot. No one in their right mind has,” Katsuki replied, “Point is: there are some things you just don’t mix. French fries and ice cream. Onions and grape jelly.”

  “Kacchan, those are two entirely different situations,” Izuku argued. 

  He doesn’t know how long that conversation ended up lasting, or how many other stupid things they branched off into talking about, but he also didn’t really care. Nor did he care that his mom probably would’ve wanted him to get home by now. He was busy intently having a conversation about how innocent black cats are demonized because of their reputation in movies. 

  Katsuki’s phone has been blowing up with text messages for the past two minutes or so. He had checked the first message and then nothing since then, and it had distracted Izuku from whatever story he was telling, and so he spoke up about it.

  “Kacchan, you should probably check your phone,” Izuku nodded at it.

  Katsuki rolled his eyes, “Don’t want to.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s my coach b@tch@ng.” Katsuki said, before pulling out his phone to confirm, before blowing out some air looking away. He looked frustrated.

  Izuku got up on his elbows, frowning, “About?”

  Katsuki clicked his tongue, “Same sh@t that he’s been b@tch@ng about for months.”

  Izuku waited for clarification, and when it didn’t come, Izuku tried to pry a little bit, “What is it?”

  “Nosy little sh@t, aren’t you,” Katsuki muttered, before shrugging, “I haven’t cleared 18’ feet yet, but you already knew that.”

  Izuku blushed. Of course, he did, “Yeah. But you’re getting there!”

  “He’s been hearing rumors that some b@tchass my age who’s gonna be at national qualifiers is clearing 18’2,” Katsuki’s kicking against the front bumper got louder, “I don’t care what Coach says. He can talk as much sh@t to me as he wants. It doesn’t matter to me”

  “It’s okay to care, you know,” Izuku looked over at him, wondering if he was crossing a line, “I think you should. You shouldn’t just pretend you don’t feel the way you d-”

  “Deku, I don’t f@ck@ng need your advice,” Katsuki made it pretty clear.

  “Kacchan, you’re nervous, so admi-” Izuku had a habit of meddling in things where he’s not asked to. 

  “I don’t have to admit 
  
    sh@t
  
   to you,” Katsuki clenched his hands, and Izuku could not just emotionally but physically see Katsuki closing up to him, and he panicked. 

  “I’m sorry,” Izuku let out, bringing himself up to a sitting position, “I don’t mean to pry. I’ll drop it, but…” He paused, “I just wanted to say one more thing, and it’s that I believe in you.” He felt so cheesy and weird saying it out loud, “I know you can do it.” He repeats.

  Katsuki after a moment unclenches his fists and looked away from Izuku to the trees past the blank projector screen. With a breath of air, Katsuki chuckled lightly as he says something Izuku considers strange, “Of course you do.” 

  “Kacchan, your front bumper is going to fall off if you kick it anymore,” Izuku then takes the time to mention, gesturing to the back of Katsuki’s feet hitting back against it.

  Katsuki waved it off, “You think I’d drive a car that isn’t as tough as me?” And then flashed his abs for a second. 

  “Hmm, let’s see,” Izuku pretended to feel the windshield, “I wonder what will happen then if I punch the windshield.” And made a gesture to fake punch the glass.

  “Deku, if you do that, I will actually f@ck@ng k-” And then Katsuki stopped all of his words. Izuku looked at him, but Katsuki’s eyes were not on him, but rather, somewhere behind him. The teasing look on the blonde’s face was also gone, and replaced by a both serious and cautious one. 

  Izuku was about to turn around to look where Katsuki’s eyes were when the athlete’s hand comes up to grip his right arm, and Izuku looked down at the touch before up at Katsuki, who still wasn’t looking at him.

  “Deku, when I let go, f@ck@ng jump off the hood and get inside of the car,” Katsuki said to him in a low tone.

  “W-what?” Izuku was confused.

  “Just do it. I’m going to run to my side, you’re going to go into your side, and we are booking it the f@ck out of here,” Katsuki said quickly, eyes not leaving whatever it was behind Izuku once. 

  Flabberghasted, Izuku turned his head, and his eyes in a millisecond grew to the size of saucers. Just about 150 feet away or so, there was someone standing there. In the dark, all he could see was their silhouette, but it looked as if they were cocking their head to stare at the two of them on the car hood some more. Katsuki reached into his pockets slowly and searched for his keys before unlocking the car door with a 
  
    beep
  
   and a flash of taillights. 

  At the sound, the figure began walking forward.

  “What the fu-” Izuku was about to yell, but Katsuki let go of his arm. 

  “F@ck! Go, go! Get in the f@ck@ng car,” Katsuki yelled as he hops off of the hood the same time Izuku did and over to the driver’s side door. Both of them slammed it shut as soon as they got in, and Katsuki locked the doors before turning on the engine. The headlights flooded the empty lot. From outside, Izuku could hear a yell coming from the figure, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. 

  Katsuki didn’t care. 

  “Go, go, go. Drive!” Izuku gripped the edge of his seat.

  “I’m f@ck@ng trying!” Katsuki yelled back as he puts the gear in drive and whipped around. 

  “Try faster!” Izuku pressured, forgetting to put his seatbelt on as the car drifted to the other direction.

  “Sh@t! F@ck, I’m going!” Katsuki shouted in a state of combined hysteria and haste. 

  Izuku then began laughing, out of amusement, adrenaline, and fear combined, to which Katsuki shook his head and laughed along at the oddity of the situation. 

  “Who is that?” Izuku held onto his seat as his neck craned to see out the back window. 

  “No f@ck@ng idea. It was probably a worker or cop. I thought I saw a flash of a nameplate,” Katsuki said while driving at 50MPH out of the dirt road that led out of the lot.

  “I didn’t see a nameplate,” Izuku frowned.

  “Maybe it was the coal miner’s ghost, then,” Katsuki snorted, making fun of Izuku.

  The greenette complained, “Kacchan, that’s not funny!” Then added, “I don’t know why they didn’t call out first, before deciding to act all creepy.”

  “My f@ck@ng question exactly,” Katsuki said as they exited past the metal arched gate and back into the main roads of Dolly, “F@ck@r could’ve also been some kid in the neighborhood trying to mess with us.” 

  “I mean,” Izuku grinned then settled back into his seat,”It worked. Kacchan, when you told me to get off and run inside the car on your mark, that was terrifying enough. It literally felt like one of those thriller scenes.” 

  “Sh@t, I didn’t know what the guy wanted,” Katsuki explained in retrospect, “One moment we were f@ck@ng talking on the hood, and the next moment I looked up and someone was standing there.” 

  Izuku shivered and rubbed at his arms, “Don’t say things like that, it freaks me out.”

  “Whatever,” Katsuki rolled his eyes, “Anyways, dinner?” The blonde looked over to Izuku.

  Feeling safe again, Izuku sunk back into his seat and nodded profusely, “Yes, please.” 
 
  Dinner was at a sketchy take-out store on a strip-mall in Dolly with only about 8 shops, and half of them seemed shut down. The other half were closed for the night except for the one American take-out shop in the middle of it, lighting up the otherwise dark outlet with its eerie blueish white fluorescent light, and the flickering neon orange sign that reads “Gib’s Burgers & Fries.” Since it was nearing midnight, most restaurants were closed, which left this as their flimsy last resort. 

  Walking in, the doorway shook in its frame and they walked up to the counter, where an older teen girl rolled a strawberry lollipop around her mouth. The takeout store looks like it hasn’t been renovated for decades, with 70s and 80s posters and vinyls decorating the wall and a clock that doesn’t seem to function correctly anymore. 

  Upon seeing the two of them walk in, the girl’s head popped up and her eyes widened fractionally. They were focused mostly on Katsuki, and Izuku figured that she was either struck by his handsomeness or she knew of the athletic star of Ise. 

  “H-Hi, Welcome to Gib’s,” She looked a little distracted as she sat up straight. 

  Katsuki ignored her and just grabbed a menu off of the front, while Izuku greeted her warmly, elbowing the blonde in the sides to do the same which of course didn’t work. Katsuki leaned his side against the counter with the menu open in his hands, eyes scanning the selection of foods. 

  Izuku without thinking stood right next to the blonde, body almost pressing on the side of the athlete, and peered over at the menu, even though he could reach out and grab his own. Izuku had to crane his neck a little bit because the angle was off; but he stopped when Katsuki looked down at him. Izuku suddenly felt a bit embarrassed, partly at how close they were and partly at how he didn’t think twice at his actions. 

  Before he could move, Katsuki rolled his eyes, looking away, before lowering the paper menu down to an angle that would allow Izuku to see better, not making a move to shove the shorter boy away. 

  Izuku, although slightly surprised, tried to play it off cool and continued trying to find something to eat, although now very aware of Katsuki’s body heat. 

  “Loaded cheese fries sounds pretty good. I can get a vanilla soft serve with that,” Izuku thought out loud. 

  Katsuki snorts, “Not if you’re going to dip it.”

  “This is food discrimination,” Izuku complained. 

  “Sure is,” Katsuki affirmed then nudged the smaller, “You know what you want?” 

  Izuku tilted his head up to look at the athlete, “Yup!” 

  “Alright,” Then Katsuki turned his head to the cashier, “Get me a double Swiss burger, 6 piece spicy wings, medium jalepeno poppers, and a water. Oi, nerd. Order.” 

  “Oh!” Izuku fumbled, “Can I just get the loaded cheese fries with extra steak and a medium vanilla soft serve?” 

  “O-Of course, Bakugo,” The girl stammered even though it had been Izuku who was speaking last, and Izuku just gaped at her while Katsuki chuckled, “Are these separate checks ? Or together?” She eyes the two of them with an odd look.

  Izuku was about to open his mouth, when Katsuki interjected and placed his debit card on the counter, “Together.”

  “T-together?” The girl’s eyes widened as she rung up the total. 

  Katsuki rolled his eyes, “Listen, I don’t know what you’ve heard about me all the way out here in Dolly, but I’m not f@ck@ng him if that’s what you’re gonna text your b@tch friends from Ise High about.” 

  The girl’s face heated up red and she waved her arms, “I-I’m sorry!” Before hurriedly getting back to work. 

  Izuku blushed at the mention and then interjected, “Kacchan, I could’ve gotten my own.” 

  “It would’ve taken longer, shut up,” Katsuki replied and took his card back. 

  It took about ten to fifteen minutes for the food to finish up, and it consisted of Izuku and Katsuki standing on the far left side of the tiny takeout shop mentioning how weird it was that even in the middle of nowhere, Katsuki was recognizable. 

  Izuku fails to mention to the other that if he was in the girl’s situation, he would have been just as nervous. Even if Izuku had not known Katsuki before the blonde became a pro-athlete, the greenette knew that if he were to stumble across a picture or video of Katsuki somewhere, he wouldn’t ever forget that face. 

  They ended up taking the boxes of food outside of the shop and sat down on the curb of the sidewalk adjacent to the strip of outlet stores, and set their meal between them. Katsuki’s car was parked mere feet away, and the shop was right behind them diagonally, but it wouldn’t really matter if they just sit there on the concrete to eat. 

  “That’s so much food, Kacchan,” Izuku took note. 

  Katsuki snorted, “Have you ever tried feeding an athlete? We have to eat a sh@t ton of food to build muscle.” 

  “No,” Izuku answered his question, “But if you come over next week, I could try.” 

  Katsuki raised a brow at this, “For our one-hour?” 

  Izuku looked away and bit gently on his inner lip, “Well, no. Let’s do something else for that. But you can come over just to...chill.” He didn’t know why he thought this random invitation would have been a good idea.

  “And why would I want to do that,” Katsuki asked, which was borderline offensive if Izuku wasn’t so used to it.

  Fiddling with his fries, Izuku shrugged, “I mean, there’s free food.” 

  “Free food, huh,” Katsuki took a swig of his water, “I’ll think about it.” 

  Izuku beamed at this. A maybe was better than a straight-up no, especially when it came to Katsuki. Feeling happy that Katsuki would 
  
    possibly
  
   consider being near his vicinity in a context that wasn’t the project, Izuku chomped on his food. 
 
  By the time they arrived back in Ise and were dropping Izuku off, it was well past 1 in the morning, and Izuku could officially say that this was becoming a habit when hanging out one-on-one with Katsuki. The lights of his home were off, and his mother the next morning would surely have thought he was home by 10PM, so Izuku made sure to get inside the house as quietly as possible not to disturb that assumption. He had looked back one more time at Katsuki when the blonde went to drop him off, and found himself between the lines of feeling tired and not exactly wanting to leave. But he says his goodbyes anyways, feeling comfort in knowing that he’ll see him again soon. 



  Katsuki did indeed end up coming to dinner on Tuesday of the next week after his practice ended and the athlete had dropped by his own house to take a shower, changing into a fresh pair of joggers and a gray shirt. 

  When he had shown up at Izuku’s door, the greenette opened it and almost p@ss@d himself. There he was, Katsuki Bakugo in all of his freshly showered tall-and-buff glory, and Izuku, who had no idea that Katsuki was coming today, was standing around in his superhero-themed loungewear, a mud mask on his face, and the front pieces of his curly hair tied up into a tiny knot on top of his head. Izuku wanted to run away. He looked like Shrek.

  Mouth gaped, Izuku stammered, “Kacchan! What are you doing here?” 

  Katsuki rolled his eyes, “You invited me over last Friday, dipsh@t. And I’m hungry.”

  “Why didn’t you text me first!” Izuku borderline screamed, mortified of how he looked at the moment. 

  Katsuki let out a laugh, “What. So you could have time to get ready, and I’d miss 
  
    this
  
   sight? F@ck no. I should take a picture.”

  That’s it. Izuku was officially deceased. 

  Before his soul could float out of his body, the sound of light footsteps came out into the main room, and Inko, upon seeing Katsuki, let out an enthusiastic reaction. 

  “Katsuki!” Inko came in for a hug, shocked that she barely came up to his chest, “What a nice surprise!”

  “Auntie,” Katsuki nodded then pulled out a glass pan from under his armpit, “Oh, here’s the dish you left at the hag’s place the last time you came over.” 

  “Oh thank you!” Inko received the pan then ushered the athlete inside, “You know, it’s nice to have you come over for once. It’s much easier on my soul than Izuku asking to go out all the time,” She laughed.

  “Mom!” Izuku wanted to snap, “I don’t go out all the time. I barely go out at all.”

  “Izuku dear, I was just making a joke,” Inko calmed him, “I understand you have to do your...,” She waved her hands around, “Project or whatever it is.”

  She says it was a joke, but Izuku knew that when his mother wanted to convey a point but wanted to safeguard against Izuku potentially getting offended over it, she would pose her statement as a joke. So that if Izuku gets upset over it, it would be his fault and not hers.

  “Mr. Toshinori says it’d be too easy if the partners were to just go over to each other’s houses for the project every week, so he requires that we have to go out and do something each week,” Katsuki straight up lied. And Izuku knew it too. 

  Mr. Toshinori never said anything of the sort. As long as the partners were hanging out, their teacher did not care if they stayed in a musty basement and played video games an hour a week. Izuku saw what this was.

   Katsuki was lying so that his mother would be forced to let Izuku go out at least once a week for this project, unless she wanted him to get a bad grade. Izuku wasn’t sure whether he felt bad for lying to his mother, or absolutely delighted at Katsuki’s genius. 

  “Did he?” Inko’s eyes widened, “Izuku never mentioned that criteria to me.”

  “Ah! It was in the project instruction sheet,” Izuku scratched his neck, “I thought I had mentioned it to you.”

  Inko frowned, but ultimately sighed, “That just makes me a bit worried, you know? If you’re going out all the time, so much could happen. I’d just feel safer if you-”

  “Nothing’s going to happen to him,” Katsuki suddenly sounded all gentlemen-like, and Izuku wanted to tease the blonde for it, “We’ll take care of each other.” Izuku wanted to blush because that is 
  
    definitely
  
   something Katsuki would 
  
    never
  
   say, unless it was in front of an adult that he needs to be on good terms with. 

  Inko rubbed at her arms then gave a small smile, “Well, that’s nice to hear. And I suppose I can’t just have Izuku do poorly in the class, but I need to have details of everything, okay? You won’t understand until you become a parent.”

  Izuku wanted to argue that. Most parents weren’t like this, and to say that he wouldn’t understand his own treatment is to undermine his own thoughts on the matter. But Izuku stayed silent. 

  Ultimately, after a couple more minutes of talking to Katsuki, Inko left to go back into her work room, and Izuku then took a deep breath, before looking up at the blonde.

  “Thank you,” Izuku spoke in a quiet voice to him, referring to the little lie Katsuki told.

  “Don’t mention it. That whole interaction was suffocating,” Katsuki rolled his eyes.

  Izuku lightly slapped him on the shoulder, “Kacchan! That’s my mom.”

  “I literally do not give a f@ck.”

  Izuku then smiled coyly, “You cared enough to say all of those sweet things,” He teased, “What was it? We’ll take care of each othe-”

  Before he could finish, Katsuki shoved a hand over his mud-mask covered face, forcing him to shut up, and Izuku just laughed. 
 
  Since Izuku had to clean himself up and take off the mud-mask before they could start cooking, Izuku hesitantly led Katsuki up to his room, praying that he had hidden away everything that was supposed to be stashed away.

   Izuku’s room wasn’t anything too extravagant, but it definitely looked a bit like a child’s room. Although Katsuki had probably seen glimpses of it from outside of his window, Izuku was sure that the athlete hasn’t seen the inside of his room since they were small kids. It wasn’t much better now: posters of his favorite superheroes and athletes were strung up everywhere, figurines of characters he liked, trophies and plaques of his academic achievements, and 
  
    oh f@ck, 
  
  Izuku forgets that he has 
  
    that
  
  . 

  Before he could throw everything off of that one particular shelf, Katsuki hollered out.

  “Ho, ho! What is this?” Katsuki grinned menacingly as he strutted over to one particular shelf and peered at the items, “You really are a fan.” 

  Izuku’s face flushed under the mud mask as Katsuki stares at his almost-shrine of Katsuki. It wasn’t an 
  
    actual 
  
  shrine. He just had nowhere else to put all of his “merch.” It wasn’t much, so it wasn’t weird or anything. It was just like a fan to their favorite baseball or soccer or football player. 

  But with Izuku, his favorite sport to watch was pole vault, and his favorite person to watch was Bakugo Katsuki. And so, he had ticket stubs from tournaments that he had attended, newspaper clippings from some of Katsuki’s biggest accomplishments, and a jersey with the athlete’s name on it. 

  “Go away!” Izuku shielded himself between Katsuki and that part of the shelf, “You are 
  
    not
  
   allowed to see this!”

  “But it’s of…me…” Katsuki said confused, “I don’t see why not. Also, I didn’t know you had a jersey of me,” Katsuki teased, “I’m not sure if I’m more creeped out or honored.”

  “I got that when I was 13!” Izuku reasoned.

  “Oh really?” Katsuki reached around and read the tag, “Because it’s in a size adult medium.”

  Izuku gave up and sat on the bed, “I...liked wearing oversized things.”

  “Uh huh,” The blonde sounded unconvinced, but continued looking at the shelf, a slight hint of a smile playing at his lips. Izuku never expected for Katsuki to come up here, much less look at his little corner dedicated to the boy. He was mortified, and yet a little intrigued, because funnily enough, Katsuki looked almost happy, “What’s this.”

  Katsuki’s hands reached out for a little box, but before he could, Izuku stopped him, “No, don’t open that. Please.”

  Rolling his eyes, Katsuki sat back, “Hurry up and wash your face, so we can f@ck@ng get the show on the road. I’m starving.”

  Izuku did not know what he was thinking when he offered to 
  
    cook
  
   for Katsuki, because for as long as he could remember, Inko had made his every meal. Of course, there were times when she wasn’t home, and Izuku had to fend for himself, but those meals were usually extremely basic. 

  And so, after about fifteen minutes of Izuku rummaging around the kitchen, muttering up a storm to himself about what to cook and how to cook it, Katsuki finally stepped off of the counter stool and complained up a storm about Izuku being a terrible host before taking over the kitchen himself.

  “How the f@ck are you going to invite someone over for 
  
    dinner
  
  ,” Katsuki said while dicing up cubes of chicken, “But not know how to cook.” 

  Izuku, taking it easy, sat with his feet dangling off the counters, “I just thought I’d wing it, you know? I still could!”

  Shaking his head, “Hell no. Stay on the counter. I’m about to f@ck@ng make this kitchen my bitch.”

  “Kacchan! My mom is,” Izuku aggressively pointed towards the door, “Right. In. There.”

  Katsuki replied just as punctually, “I. Don’t. Care.”

  Izuku threw his head back and groaned, knowing that he had brought this upon himself. Katsuki’s brash, slandering, and loud attitude was a stark contrast against his quaint and sugary home. While Izuku walked on eggshells with every word he spoke, Katsuki ran through fire. And yet, Izuku liked him here, in his house. 

  He liked how his mother was okay with it because it’s Katsuki, even though she didn’t really know him and only adores him because of who he was and the fact that he was Mitsuki’s son. He especially liked how Katsuki cooked up a storm, all of which ended up being delicious, for the two of them, plus leftovers for Inko. But Izuku thinks out of the whole night, what he liked the most was that Katsuki had been distracted enough to have stayed an extra two hours and talked. 

  Izuku didn’t know why it was so easy. It wasn’t easy weeks ago before the project started. But it felt like the moment Katsuki decided to accept the criteria to treat Izuku normally, it seemed as if everything Izuku had ever wanted their relationship to be was actually happening.

   He just didn’t fully understand: if it was this easy all along, then what about Izuku had made Katsuki repulsed all of this time. Izuku could ask, but he knew he wouldn’t. Not when it may ruin this bubble of peace he was in: one where Katsuki takes him out to lakes at midnight or comes over to his house for dinner. 

  When Katsuki actually left, Izuku noticed that it wasn’t because he got bored or sick of his presence, but rather, his phone was blowing up. When the blonde decides to finally look at it, he shoved the thing back in his pockets and stood up off of the couch that they were chilling on. 

  “I’m gonna head out,” Katsuki said, “I’d say thanks for dinner, but really, you should be thanking me.”

  Izuku laughed at this, “Thank you, Kacchan.” 

  The blonde began walking towards the door, but before he could, Izuku felt bold enough to call out.

  “When are we hanging out again?” Izuku asked, eyes hopeful, “For the project.”

  Katsuki smirked at this, “Miss me already, nerd?”

  Izuku rolled his eyes, “No. I just need to know so I can give my mom the details.” He partially told the truth. Really, he just wanted to know. 

  “She don’t need ‘em,” Katsuki stated as a matter of fact, “And you don’t need to give ‘em,” He grinned mischievously, “Till next time, Deku.”

  The boy in questions parts his lips, as if to say something else, but settles with a, “Till next time, Kacchan.”
 
  He didn’t know it at the time, but the tempo completely changes after this point.

  Next time happened to be that Wednesday, which was much sooner than Izuku would’ve thought, but by no means unwanted. It had been an average day, with his usual routine, in which he stopped by for a couple of minutes to watch Katsuki practice. Yet today, much to Izuku’s surprise, the athlete approached him. Leaving his team for a quick minute, the blonde had jogged up to the fence that separated them on team practice days. Izuku only ever came inside when Katsuki had his solo days.

  “Oi nerd,” Katsuki called out.

  Izuku, eyes wide, looked up at the taller boy standing on the other side of the fence, “Kacchan?” 

  “Why the f@ck do you look so surprised? You’re the one coming to 
  
    my
  
   practice,” Katsuki smirked, “Anyways, you got something to do tonight?”

  Izuku thought about it, looking up at the sky, “Tonight? Hm, I don’t think so. Just the same stuff I usually do.”

  “Be ready by the time I get off practice, and I’ll pick you up. I got somewhere I wanna go,” Katsuki practically ordered.

  Izuku’s mouth dropped, “I can’t just do that!”

  “Why not?” Katsuki argued, “You want to. And your mom already thinks we have to go out once a week. Just use that excuse.” 

  “Who said I wanted to,” Izuku said defensively.

  “Hm, so you don’t want to?” Katsuki asked, in a tone that indicated he already knew the answer. 

  Izuku really didn’t want to give him that benefit, but ultimately bit his lip, huffing, “Okay fine.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Katsuki smugly responded before letting go of the fence, walking backwards, “I’ll pick you up soon.”

  Once again, it felt so redundant asking for permission, like he’s had the same conversation hundreds of times. It was a bit easier this time around because he got to use the excuse of the project, just like Katsuki had suggested, but that didn’t mean Inko was satisfied with the fact that Katsuki hadn’t told Izuku exactly what it was that he 
  
    wanted 
  
  to do. Because of this, Izuku and his mother got into a small scuffle over the matter, but the greenette refused to let it get the best of him.

  And all thoughts of whatever slight argument he had with his mother went away when Katsuki picked him up later, roaring down the quiet road with his car blaring “Material Girl” by Madonna out the speakers. It definitely didn’t seem like something the athlete would listen to, and Izuku told him that exact thing to which he recieved Katsuki yelling his ear off about how this music was the greatest of all time for the entire car ride to wherever it is they were going. 

  The blonde ended up taking the two of them to explore some abandoned grain silos on the outskirts of Ise. When Izuku had arrived there, he was immediately weirded out and intrigued by the sheer creep factor of it all: cobwebs everywhere, a rusty broken down gate entrance, the shrubbery growing out of the windows of the facilities, how quiet it all was. 

  It didn’t really seem like an activity many would find interest in, but Izuku trusted whatever the boy had in mind. The grain silo was an entire abandoned facility, made up of the three silos, some shipping warehouses, and a barn. Rust building up on everything and ivy climbing up all the walls made everything look more vintage and outdated, but the pair of delinquents still explored every corner, even climbing up into one of the silos for the fun of it. 

  “Oi, look at this,” Katsuki said, as they were stepping over some fallen wires.

  Izuku looked over to see that Katsuki had a stick in his hand, and with the stick, he picked up a...Izuku’s eyes bulged, “Is that a…”

  “Used condom?” Katsuki barked out a laugh, “Sure is. Looks like some farmers were getting it on back here.”

  And then Katsuki waved the stick towards Izuku, who took a step back, “Kacchan, get that away from me.”

  Ignoring the boy and instead, giving a mischievous grin, Katsuki began stepping towards Izuku with the stick.

  “H-Hey!” Izuku held out a hand, “I’m warning you! Hey!” He started running backwards, “Hey, I said back off! Kacchan!”

  Even as Katsuki chases the shorter boy around the abandoned grain facility, which was a safety hazard in of itself considering how much broken equipment is everywhere, Izuku still thinks to himself: he doesn’t really want to forget these hangouts, even if they’ll end when the semester does. Even if it means nothing to the other. Even if it’s all for a project.

   He doesn’t want to forget this day.
 
  Or the next. 

  Or the next. Or the one after that. 

  Because this was Izuku’s life for the next almost two weeks. He didn’t know how it happened, whether Katsuki had forgotten they were only required to hang out once a week or something else, but Izuku finds that he wasn’t being rejected when he would ask to see him again, even after their one hour was over. 

  And when it happened the third time, Izuku was convinced that Katsuki had not noticed they were hanging out more than once a week. And if he did notice, then the blonde didn’t say anything. 

  Katsuki wasn’t ever the one to initiate the plans, but it seemed like if Izuku managed to work up the courage to ask, even if they had already hung out twice that week, then Katsuki, after making a show out of Izuku being annoying to be around, would manage to say yes. 

  And even the Friday that had followed the Wednesday spent at the abandoned grain silo, it didn’t seem all too special if someone were to say it outright, but Izuku never thought that playing in the mud would actually be fun.

   When the blonde had picked them up, Katsuki had taken them to a creek out in the woods, with shallow water that came up to their ankles and rocks slicked with algae that would make them slip if they walked too hastily. It had rained on Thursday, making the ground around the creek deep in thick clay-like mud. 

  When Katsuki had accidentally sunk down to his knee in the mud and Izuku ended up laughing harder than he meant to, the athlete picked up a wet and drippy chunk of the mud and threw it at the greenette, which marked the beginning of their mud war. At some point, Izuku had the upper hand, getting in more throws at the taller man.

  “Get back here, you little sh@t!” Katsuki yelled as he waded through the mud after Izuku who was attempting to run away, “I’ll take this pile of mud and shove it so far down your throat, it’ll look like sh@t when it comes out your ass.” 

  “Kacchan, that’s disgusting!” Izuku yelled back, trying to move his legs through the mud, “Just accept that I win!”
  

  “Never,” Katsuki reached down to grab a huge chunk and threw it at Izuku’s back.

  He missed, and Izuku laughed hysterically, “This is why you do pole vault, and not basketball.”

  Their clothes were beyond fixing, and Izuku’s white t-shirt will never be white again, but he regretted nothing. As for the state of Katsuki’s car after their mud soaked selves got inside of it, let’s say the blonde needed a deep clean the very next day. 

  Explaining it to his mother later that night when he got home, on top of Inko already being upset at him for going out twice that week, was difficult, and Izuku had to apologize profusely at 11PM. 

  Of all days to wait up for him, Inko had chosen the day where Izuku comes back with his entire body caked in mud, which almost gave the woman a heart attack. Izuku could practically see Inko losing her nerves as he and his mother stand in the living room this late into the night, and he was beginning to wonder what it would take for his mother to raise her voice. This has been going on for twenty minutes, and he was exhausted.

  “Izuku,” Her voice shook slightly, “First, you go out for the second time this week, even though your project requirement for the week is fulfilled, and argue when I told you no. Second, you come home late, and looking like this. I’m not sure what you want me to say,” She asked, voice polite, but beginning to sound condescending to Izuku’s ears.

  But he took a deep breath, making himself calm and his tone respectful, “I just want you to ask me if I had fun, and if I was being safe. Why can’t that be enough.” He said quietly. The hazy yellow lights of the living room and how quiet it was in his house never irritated him more. 

  “Had 
  
    fun
  
  ? You want me to ask you if you had 
  
    fun
  
  ?” Inko asked with a hint of ridiculousness in her voice, “Izuku, I love you, but do you know how ridiculous you look right now? Coming home this late looking like that?”

  “Why does it matter?” Izuku was close to crying. She was making him feel embarrassed, as if the mud on his clothes and smile on his face walking in were foolish behaviors instead of joyous nostalgic ones. It had been at least twenty minutes since he’s gotten home, and he hadn’t even been allowed to go up to his room to shower, “I was happy, and it was a really nice night, Mom. Why does it matter?” He repeats. 

  Upon seeing tears threaten to spill out of her son’s eyes, Inko rushed forward, and use her hand to thumb Izuku’s cheeks, softening her voice to coo him. 

  After a few minutes, the kind sounding woman ushered him gently, “Izuku, you 
  
    are
  
   happy. You’re a happy little child, you always were. Happy and kind. I don’t want to stop you from having fun, Izuku, but I want you to understand that you don’t have to go out and do…” She waved her hands around, “stupid stuff like this to have fun. You can have fun here too! With m-”

  “It’s not stupid,” Izuku whispered, pulling himself away with a smile so that she doesn’t think he was mad at her, “I’m going to take a shower mom. I love you, Goodnight.”

  He knew as he turned away to head up the stairs, the look on his mother’s face made it obvious her shock, even though he didn’t particularly say anything shocking.

   Izuku thinks, more than anything else, underneath that initial shock, what his mother was afraid of most was change. 

  And change happened, all right. It didn’t just happen. The normalcies in Izuku’s life were beginning to dissipate before his eyes, and he thinks the worst part of it all was that he was reaching his hand out to it. Change in the form of Bakugo Katsuki. 
 
  In about one and a half weeks after the mud fight, the pole vault team will have their first tournament: a local one held at the Daichi County Track & Field Stadium, where about three neighboring schools compete. 

  It was the beginning of their tournament season, and by the end of the semester, the top performers may receive the chance to go to the National Youth Qualifiers or the National Qualifiers for adults. Katsuki has been to the National Youth Qualifiers every single year since he had entered high school, and had won his division every time.

  Since this would be the blonde’s first year competing as an 18 year old, which is considered an international adult, Katsuki will, for the very first time, be competing in the adult National Qualifiers, opening him up to a pool of completely new and more heavily experienced competitors. 

  Some say Katsuki Bakugo, one of the highest scouted high school athletes in the entire country, will end up sweeping the adult Nationals. Some say this is where he’ll fall. 

  Considering that this season may be a huge decider in the trajectory of Katsuki’s path, the blonde trained with more rigor these next two weeks than he ever had before, even though it was a local tournament that he knew he’d sweep easily. Every victory counted. Izuku knew it too: he could see the extra hours Katsuki was putting in. He could tell the blonde had been training at home too. And on the Thursdays that Izuku would come in to watch and drop off a cherry gatorade, he could tell: Katsuki was not playing around this season. From the trickles of sweat to the bulging muscles as he jumped, Katsuki’s power was explosive.

  That being said, Izuku doesn’t know how to explain the other biggest change to his life: the fact that, once again, he wasn’t being rejected when asking to hang out. Izuku doesn’t mention the required hour in case it happens to be that Katsuki just forgets each time they hang out that the one hour was passed a long time ago. But Katsuki was smart, and Izuku knew it. There was no way the other didn’t know. 

  After the mud fight, Katsuki had knocked on Izuku’s window again at 9 P.M. the following Monday. It was a bit easier to convince the other to leave this time, since he’s done it twice before and gotten the hang of it now. That didn’t lessen the slight guilt he felt for disobeying his mother, but any thoughts of that disappeared when that night, Katsuki and him wandered through the empty town square, with its closed shops and restaurants, feeling as if they were the only people in this town. 

  Most things in Ise closed pretty early, except for the diners, skate rinks, bars, and other places that teenagers frequent. But teenagers never really frequented the town square, which was more for moms who liked boutique shopping and coffee shops. Besides, all the bars were on the other side of town, adjacent to the beach. 

  The town square looked like the classic centers you’d see in those old films, where there were wooden stands set up for farmer’s market vendors during the day, lots of beautiful landscaped flower bushes, plenty of outdoor shops painted in a vintage 80s style to match the theme of Ise, and a big fountain in the middle with an angel spouting water from her hands. 

  Near the fountain was a pretty large splash park, where water sprayed from the ground. During the day, kids would come and splash around in it, then grab a popsicle from a vendor nearby. At night, it was just them. 

  Feeling antsy, Izuku threw off his shoes and ran towards the splash park, immediately being sprayed with the jets of water shooting up from the ground. Underneath his feet were sounds of water splashing everywhere, and he kicked the water onto Katsuki who was standing nearby. It seemed like no matter what they do, at some point in the night, they had to somehow annoy the sh@t out of one another. 

  “So you choose to die today, huh,” Katsuki shouted before running towards Izuku, kicking up water in front of him to soak the shorter man’s back.

  “Not if you can’t get me!” Izuku teased, and kicked some water back. 

  At some point, they ended up wrestling in the splash park, like dumb teenagers with nothing better to do than go out late at night to wander the empty town square then play in puddles. 

  When Izuku’s back hits the wet ground, he decides to stay there, with streams of water spraying up between him, and stares up at the sky. After a moment, Katsuki does the same and lays down in the middle of the splash park. And they’re quiet for a little bit, catching their breaths. 

  Izuku then asked, “I thought you don’t stay out late on weekday nights.”

  “What time is it?” Katsuki asked.

  Izuku checked his phone, grateful he had a waterproof case, “Nearing 11:30.”

  Katsuki tsked, “F@ck, we’ll head back in a second. If I can get 7 hours of sleep in, I’ll be good. Why. You sick of me already, Deku?” 

  “No,” Izuku turned his head slightly, “Just a little happy because I thought you meant to stay out a little later with me.” He admitted.

  Katsuki seemed as if he wasn’t sure how to reply to this, “F@ck@ng cheesy nerd.” And got himself up, “Come on, I don’t have time for this.” 

  Izuku frowned, “Time for what?”

  “For tonight to get sappy,” Katsuki curtly replied, wringing his shirt out.

  Izuku’s voice quieted itself, “Oh, I didn’t mean to…”

  “‘Ts nothin. Let’s get you home before Auntie’s spidey senses tell her you’re not where you’re supposed to be,” Katsuki told him. 

  It’s funny that Katsuki said that, because oddly enough, Izuku was beginning to think that this was where he was supposed to be. But it was then that Izuku learned quick: to try and calm his sentimentalism if he wanted to keep hanging out with Katsuki and develop their friendship. 

  Expressing those kind of emotions were things that came so naturally to Izuku, that it felt odd to see an adverse reaction from Katsuki every time something sentimental or personal came up. 

  Before Katsuki dropped him off that night, Izuku asked him just before the athlete drove off, hands nervous for no reason, “Kacchan, can we...um, hang out again Thursday?” Izuku hesitantly asked.

  Katsuki took a moment, hands on his steering wheel, and simply told the shorter man, “We’ll see. No promises.”
 
  Katsuki had said that, and yet, when Thursday came, the blonde was at his door at 6 P.M., greeting Inko first.

  “Ah Katsuki! Are you here to pick Izuku up for the project?” She asked, eyes wide and searching even though there was a smile on her lips, “He didn’t say anything about it today.”

  “That’s because I didn’t tell him today,” Katsuki replied straightforwardly.

  “You...didn’t tell him…” Inko nodded slowly with pursed lips, and Katsuki could tell that wasn’t the answer he wanted. Still, the woman smiled brightly, “Next time, I just think it’d be nicer if you gave us a heads up!”

  Katsuki had no intentions to, but said anyways, “Of course.” 

  It’ll be the second lie he’s told to this woman’s face, and he feels like it won’t be the last. When Izuku comes rushing down the stairs, his hair is windblown, but his smile was wide. 

  “Kacchan! So you came after all,” He laughed.

  The boy in question rolled his eyes, “Yes, now come on.”
 
  That evening, they spent a couple hours in the arcade, which was much longer than the average customer. But the both of them being extremely competitive made sure that they played the f@ck out of each game before moving onto the next one.

   On the other side of the arcade, they could hear a group of girls fawning over the well-known athlete, and making curious comments about Izuku. Not mean of course, but definitely curious. 

  “Kacchan, you know they’re talking about your, um, d@ck right now,” Izuku said as he leaned against the sides of the machines watching Katsuki play a hunting simulation game. 

  Katsuki snorted at this, “And what exactly are the f@ck@rs saying about it.”

  Izuku blushed at this and twiddled with the screw on the machine, “Um, that it’s big.”

  At this, the blonde paused his game and looked up at Izuku with a raised brow, “And you’d like me to confirm it? Is that it, Deku?” 

  Izuku sputtered, “No, I’m good!” He definitely did not need to imagine Katsuki’s d@ck at the moment. 

  They were there for another hour, before Katsuki got hungry, and the two decide to hit up a small Italian hole-in-the-wall restaurant owned by an immigrant family. Italian was actually one of Izuku’s favorite cuisines, yet his go-to-dish was chicken parmigiana because it was slightly similar to katsudon. Fettucini alfredo with shrimp was Katsuki’s go to.

   Izuku doesn’t know how long he can keep talking to Katsuki about random things, but so far, he hasn’t found a limit where his throat completely gives up, so until then, the greenette will continue. 

  And Katsuki, surprisingly enough, does his fair share of rambling as well, usually spurred on by something Izuku would say. The green-eyed boy wouldn’t say it out loud, in fear that it might trigger Katsuki’s dislike for sappiness, but he believes that they bounce off of each other well. Sure, their relationship was far from conventional, but Izuku liked to think it worked. 

  After a couple more times hanging out and then a couple more small turmoils with his mother when he got home or before he left, Izuku knew that things were changing at a rapid speed..
 
  As almost two weeks passed since the mud fight, Izuku could barely hold onto the changes. If he were to think about it, two weeks is not that long, merely 14 days. And yet, it felt as if he has done more in those 14 days than he had in the past four years. 

  What was 
  
    supposed 
  
  to happen is that Izuku meets Katsuki for a total of once a week, but somewhere along the line, those directions got blurred and it was now about two to three times a week. 

  Skipping rocks and taking a nap on the riverside. Finding an abandoned tree house out in the woods and climbing into it. Swimming some more at some of the more local lakes. Izuku wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact that he was looking forward to Katsuki’s company so often. 

  By the time Katsuki and the team’s first local tournament comes up, Izuku finds that time was moving a little too quickly. How many more weeks until this was over, until Katsuki demands that he gets out of his way like he had promised. How many more weeks does he get to be near the explosive blonde, talk to him like they’ve never stopped, have stupid confusing conversations that don’t matter to the rest of the world but mean everything to him? 

  And now, as he sits on the stands where a crowd of people and spectators from Ise High were situated, he feels tunnel vision with Katsuki. There were other members on the team, of course. The one who was stealing looks at Izuku from the kick-off was still doing so now, but Izuku could only see one person. 

  Katsuki, in his perfect form, is his perfect everything, about to absolutely dominate this local competition. He won’t even have to touch anywhere near his previous record in order to win this one, since the tournament was small, the bar was literally low.

   It was almost a crime to have let Katsuki compete. It probably would have been more fair to other athletes to allow Bakugo Katsuki to skip the preliminary local tournaments and head straight to regionals, but unfortunately for everyone else, that wasn’t how it worked. 

  Izuku thought back to a couple days ago, when they were sitting on the curb of a food truck sidewalk together.

  “You coming to the tournament Sunday?” Katsuki had asked him.

  And Izuku remembered replying, “Kacchan, I’ve been watching you for forever. Why would I stop now?”

  And he was watching alright. As Katsuki’s turn finally comes around and he stands at the starting position, pole gripped in his hands, Izuku watches. As Katsuki waits for the timer to count down and calculate his movements in the meantime, Izuku watches. As the athlete begins his sprint, determined, and ups it to a full on run, Izuku watches. As Katsuki hits the pole into the box and it bends, lifting the boy off of the ground and into the air, Izuku watches, hands clutching his seat even though he knows the boy will make it.

  And as Katsuki’s back bends easily over the bar set at 13’5, the starting height for all local competitions which was way below Katsuki’s record, for a moment, the sun gets blocked and all Izuku could see was Katsuki, with the sun’s glow behind him, high up into the sky, filled with passion and explosive energy and raw intensity. 

  And 
  
    f@ck
  
  , suddenly, Izuku feels something strange in his chest. It bloomed in his lungs, and he found himself a little out of breath as his heart rate increased. What? He stilled himself, and his mouth went dry. 

   Flutters. 

  That’s what he was feeling. Flutters in his d@mn chest. F@ck@ng 
  
    flutters
  
  . 

  
    Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. Not this. 
  
  Izuku thought to himself, even though he wasn’t even sure what 
  
    this
  
   even is. One moment, he was in awe watching the person he looked up to the most soar into the sky, and the next moment, he felt it: a faint flutter in his chest. 

  Unsure and unaccepting of what it was, Izuku chalked it down to him being dehydrated, since it was true that he hadn’t drunk enough water today, and the boy got up from the stands and down the metal stairs. The flutters were still there, and Izuku clutched his stomach, forcing himself to take deep breaths as he neared the water fountains. 

  After taking a long sip, Izuku stood up, wiping the excess liquid from his mouth, then sighed. That was better. The flutters were gone, and he considered that a done deal. It had been slight dehydration. That was all. Izuku places both hands on the side of the water fountain, head down, as he takes a deep breath. 

   

  Katsuki ends up sweeping the tournament, as everyone had expected. By the end, he managed to win this one without the bar ever raising even close to his previous record, for the other competitors maxed out way before. Out of everyone on Ise High’s pole vault team, all but one had made it past this local tournament, and to be fair, the one person who didn’t had suffered an ankle injury two months before and wasn’t completely healed. 

  After the tournament’s award ceremony concluded, Izuku headed back down the bleachers and went back to the fountain to take another sip of water. For the past seven minutes, Katsuki had been bombarded with people: friends, coaches, spectators, love interests, everyone wanted a piece of the blonde. And Izuku, having watched from afar, knew this was Katsuki’s element. This was where he thrived. This was where Katsuki felt alive, and all Izuku could do was watch from the sidelines.

   It was times like this when the blonde seemed a bit unreachable, surrounded by so many people, so much recognition. Izuku felt a sudden urge to reach out and take a little bit of the boy for himself, but he shakes his head to rid the thought. He sees the blonde’s name being chanted and all of the people surrounding him, and Izuku smiles gently to himself before turning away. 

  Now, he stands under the bleachers once more, near the fountain as he waits. He pulled out his phone, meaning to text his mother to come pick him up, when he was interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

  “So what did you think of the tournament?” The person asked, and Izuku’s head popped up. 

  His large green eyes came to look at smooth gray ones, almond-shaped with strong eyebrows and a Cupid’s bow lip. The guy who stood in front of him seemed to be around 6’0, and was brunette with a nice easy-going smile. Izuku recognized him to be the one pole vaulter who kept on stealing glances at him at the kick-off and from time to time when he’d come to watch practice. Izuku couldn’t exactly remember his name, however. They’ve never actually talked.

  “O-Oh! I thought it was amazing!” Izuku answers genuinely, “Everyone did so well! I saw your vault too, and your form was so well executed, you must have been doing this for a while!”

  The vaulter laughs, “Well, I’m no Bakugo Katsuki, but I try my best. My name is Kaito Sen. Just call me Kaito.” 

  Izuku beams, “I’m Midoriya Izuku!”

  “I know,” Kaito grins, “You’ve been coming to our practices for years now. We all know it’s for Bakugo, but I can’t say I don’t hope sometimes that you might notice me too.” 

  Izuku blinked a couple times at the comment. Was he 
  
    hitting
  
   on him? Izuku shrugs with a smile, “I’ve noticed.” 

  Which was the truth. Although Izuku came mainly for Katsuki, he’s gone to enough practices to notice all the other members of the pole vault team, and get to know their styles and maneuvers, even if he doesn’t even know all of their names. Kaito was good at pole vault too, their whole team was,  really. His record was 16’3, which was incredible for a high school student. It was just that when you have someone like Katsuki on a team, incredible isn’t good enough anymore.

  Kaito grins at this, “I should have introduced myself earlier. But hey, we’re all seniors now. When’s a better time than this.” 

  “Better late than never,” Izuku affirms, happy to have a new friend who was suspiciously looking like he wanted to be a little more than friends. 

  “Exactly. Listen, I want to get to know you more, when I’m not sweaty and gross. So…” Kaito takes out a piece of ripped paper from his gym bag and scribbles something on it in pen, “I want you to have my number. In case you wanted to talk or…” He winked with a genuine playful smile, “anything else.” 

  Izuku laughed at this but took the paper anyways out of politeness, “Well that is quite forward.”

  Kaito shrugged with a sheepish smile, “Honesty is the best policy.” 

  Izuku nodded in affirmation then smiled, “Well, thank you Kaito. But fair warning, I’m not that interesting.”

  “I’m sure you’re plenty interesting,” Kaito looked down at the shorter male, before searching around, “And I’m not sure what your relationship to Bakugo is, but I can assure you that unlike him, I’m much more of a gentleman,” Kaito winked playfully.

  Izuku pursed his lips at the comment, and for a second there, felt like defending the fact that he didn’t need a gentleman. He didn’t need more structured rigidity in his life, or perfect seeming people with manicured actions.

  Izuku looked down, “I-I’m not sure what you’re trying to assume about my relationship to him, because we’re just project partners.”

  “Then that’s even more perfect,” Kaito then asked him. “Are you waiting for a ride home right now?”

  Izuku nodded, “Yeah, I was about to text my mother.” 

  “If you want, I can take you ho-“ Kaito genuinely offered but was interrupted without notice. 

  “He’s got a ride, f@ck face,” The booming voice of Bakugo Katsuki approached the two of them. Katsuki had his gym bag slung over his shoulders, a water bottle in his hand, his vault uniform was still on, and his hair was slightly damp from the sweat. 

  “Kacchan! Don’t call him that, that’s mean!” Izuku gaped.

  Kaito just laughed it off, “It’s fine. Everyone on the team is used to it. I’m F@ck Face. Ejirou is Sh@tty Hair. Denki is Dunce Face. The list goes on.”

  Katsuki rolled his eyes, then turned to Kaito, “Don’t you got a shower to get to? You f@ck@ng reek. Good luck trying to get in the nerd’s pants smelling like that.”

  Izuku turned five shades darker at the comment, and all words left his brain.

  Kaito slapped Katsuki playfully on the back, “Dude, you don’t smell much better. You were out on the track longer than anyone, so I think you have a date with a shower too.”

  “My sweat doesn’t smell. Genetics or some sh@t,” Katsuki rolled his eyes, before nodding to Izuku, “Oi Deku, how long till Auntie gets here.”

  “I haven’t texted her yet,” Izuku replied.

  Kaito interjected, “I thought you said he’s got a ride.”

  “He does now,” Katsuki grinned at his teammate then tugged his bag forward, gesturing towards Izuku, “Let’s go.”

  Izuku blinked, before hopping along, “Are you sure? My mom might make you come inside to tell her about the tournament.”

  Katsuki gave him a funny look, “Who said I was taking you home?”

  Izuku gaped his mouth, then closed it again smiling. He was so going to die, but tensions have been on the slight rise in his household anyways so what more could one more night hurt. He texted his mom that the tournament was running late, before turning back to Kaito.

  “It was nice to meet you Kaito!” Izuku yelled back before rushing to catch up with Katsuki. 

  From behind, Kaito Sen had a curious eye kept on Bakugo Katsuki, before shifting his gaze over to Izuku, cupping his hands around his mouth to shout, “Text me!”

  Izuku made no promises. 
 
  Their odd little expeditions continued, and Izuku was pretty sure he was living someone else’s life, because this didn’t feel like his. Since when did he have this much freedom, albeit, most of the time, he had to sneak out or suffer through an uncomfortable conversation in order to leave the house. Since when did he do things that seem so far out of his comfort zone, and probably most peoples? Since when did he looked at Bakugo Katsuki and feel like he couldn’t get enough of his time, like a fool. Izuku would shake those odd thoughts out of his head the moment they came, but that doesn’t mean they don’t creep up on him at night. 

  Ise was a beautiful small town, with an assuming nature to it. The kids bike around the neighborhoods, the older folks gather on Tuesdays for some afternoon tea, the adults take their children out to the lake for fishing trips, and dumb teens like Izuku and Katsuki were always in search of something odd to do. 

  That following Tuesday, that “something odd” was going through a scrap metal yard, which was situated on the western corner of town. There were piles upon piles of scrap metal, old cars, broken televisions, and the like just sitting around, and the two were trying to see what weird or interesting shit that was in it. It had only lasted so long until the sound of dogs barking filled the air, and it wasn’t just any dogs, but they were dobermans. Doberman Pinschers. 
  
    F@ck
  
  .

  “Who’s idea was it to 
  
    leave
  
   my f@ck@ng car two miles away?” Katsuki yelled at the shorter man as they ran.

  Izuku defended himself, “I wanted to have a nice walk! And someone would have been suspicious if your car was parked near here!”

  “If we’re gonna get eaten by dogs, I’ll kill you,” Katsuki threatened.

  “Not if they kill you first,” Izuku reasoned, before spotting something in the corner of his eyes.

  Running towards it, Izuku picked up a metal bike that looked relatively in good condition. It had an extra seat in the back, and he checked the tires. It was on its way to being flat, but it will work. Climbing on, Izuku shouted.

  “Kacchan, get on the back!” He ushered.

  Katsuki looked at it, “Hell no. Get off, I’m peddling. You get on the back.”

  “Oh, can you just put aside your pickiness for a moment?” Izuku complained, “The dogs are right 
  
    there
  
  .”

  Katsuki looked back and his eyes widened, “F@ck! Fine!” He said as he uncomfortably climbs on the back, snaking one arm around Izuku’s waist. He was taller than Izuku even sitting down, so it felt like the greenete could feel the athlete’s chin near the top of his head, and the press of a firm body up against him. The arm around his waist made Izuku pause for a moment, but when he heard shouting for him to go, Izuku shook his head and began peddling like a mad man. It was ridiculously hard to get the bike to go fast enough to haul two men out of the junkyard at a quick enough speed, but without effort and extreme pain to his calves and thighs, Izuku was slowly outbiking the demon dogs. Katsuki’s long legs hung awkwardly off the sides of the bike, and his feet almost touched the ground, and they probably looked stupid, but it didn’t really matter because Izuku was happy. 
 
  And at some point, their new acquaintanceship was slowly becoming the hot topic of their little friend groups. And probably many other little friend groups. When two people who were previously reknowned for having a sh@tty relationship suddenly start spending a ridiculous amount of time together, even if it was for a “project”, people began to talk.

  In school, Katsuki never talked to Izuku. The blonde would maybe give him a glance as they passed each other, but other than that, it was like they were strangers. And when they 
  
    did
  
   talk inside of the classroom, it was usually a debate. However, instead of making everyone tense from their arguments, people were now just confused. Because it felt almost...playful? In an aggressive way. 

  And even at practice, Katsuki never really acknowledge him either, unless it was to tell him to be ready later that day, or on Thursdays when he had solo practice. Izuku accepts the situation, but still finds it funny how when no one was around, they would saunter through Ise together swimming in streams or beaches, or climbing up water towers. Yet if anyone were to see them in school, no one would be able to tell. The only reason people 
  
    did
  
   notice was because people were sighting the two of them 
  
    everywhere
  
  . 
 
  “Izuku,” Ochaco stared at him while chewing her food, “Why is everyone telling me that Bakugo Katsuki skipped Itsuka Kendo’s huge party last night to hang out with you? People saw you guys at the old stone factory.”

  Izuku blushed and scratched the back of his neck, “O-Oh...I didn’t know there was a party.”

  Shoto interjected, “She didn’t mean it in an offensive way. Everyone is surprised, that’s all. Bakugo is usually at Kendo’s functions.”

  “Yeah,” Ochaco tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, “I mean, you’ve been telling us you’re hanging out with him more often, but it seems a little intense, especially for him. He 
  
    never
  
   hangs out with anyone this much.” She asked curiously.

  “To be fair,” Shoto pointed out, “Midoriya and him are project partners. It’s not like Bakugo is skipping everything. He went to Taki’s the other week. I think he went home with Etsuko.” 

  Izuku found himself looking down at his food at the comment. He knew Etsuko, she was in his literature class last year. She’s pretty. Izuku found himself feeling something strange in his gut, but he shook his head and smiled back up at his friends.

  “I don’t really know,” Izuku honestly replies, “It just feels like we’ve kind of picked up where we left off a long time ago. And although he’s still pretty mean to me, it’s different you know?” 

  “Mmhm,” Ochaco leaned in closer, “Except when you left off, both of you were 5. And now, Bakugo is a 6’4 incredibly ripped, incredibly hot, incredibly smart, super-athlete, and you are also super hot and super smart. I’m sure it’s 
  
    different
  
  ,” She said with a wink.

  Izuku buries his face in his hands, “I-It’s not like that.”

  “Then what is it like?” Iida finally piped up.

  Izuku thought about it. What was it like? He didn’t know how to even begin to describe that. He didn’t even know if he was allowed to call them friends, or if he should just stick to project partners. 

  Katsuki was the rudest person he’s ever met: never missing an opportunity to tease him, push him into any body of water, get into petty arguments with him. 

  He was also the most low-key person he’s ever met: calming his mother here and there when Izuku felt like he couldn’t, scolding him but still making sure he eats, drinks water, and doesn’t get hurt when they do stuff. Katsuki was also one of the most closed off: they never associated in school, the blonde always avoided conversations concerning his emotions or anything vulnerable, and he often gave Izuku odd comments about Izuku’s own competence, but never cares to explain them. And yet, Katsuki was the most exhilarating person he’s ever come across: because who else but Kacchan would whisk him away on little adventures, blast 80s music down the highway, make him lose track of his hours. Katsuki was complicated, to say the least.

  But if Izuku were to describe what it was like in the most simplest form, it would be this:

  The greenette turned to his friends, smiling before answering his question, “It feels like flying.”










  
  

    
      
        
        
          this is literally going to be 100k+ omg i hope ill be able to keep your attention until then I’m excited for the next chapter hehe , stuff gets *intense*& also, I actually want to cry bc yall's comments and love have made me SO SO happy. thank you so much for reading.'
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