Catch me if you can

"Dude, you're staring again", Kirishima moved his hand back and forth before Bakugou's eyes.

Bakugou hissed. "Am not"

Mina chuckled. "No not at all, your eyes were just very intensely looking in that direction. You may as well have started drooling, love"

He felt his cheeks go hot. Was it that obvious?

"If you're asking yourself 'was it that obvious' then yes, it was that obvious" Jirou took a sip of her coffee without looking up from her phone.

"Shut the fuck up I wasn't staring".

But even as he said that, Bakugou's eyes were drawn back to the green haired boy currently taking another order at the bar counter. Unruly hair framed his pale face as eyes with the same mossy green color looked curiously upon some newly arrived customers. His slim body looked almost frail but his rolled up sleeves revealed the hidden muscles he actually carried. He was smiling. And that smile. Bakugou wasn't sure exactly what but that smile was doing something to him, every time it was directed towards him he could feel his heart flutter. Why was that? He wanted to be annoyed but kept zoning out, hopelessly immersed in the scene playing out.

"Listen, if you're too scared to ask him out then at least get his name or number or something", Sero said and pointed meaningfully towards the boy. "Every time we've been here you look totally besmitten and yet you haven't even dared ask his name yet"

Bakugou's head shot up, his ears bright red now. "No way! And i'm not fucking 'too scared' I'm just not interested in the way you think", he said defensively but the look on his friends faces told him immediately that none of them bought it.

“But you are interested then?” Jirou smirked.

"Oh fuck off dickheads".

They giggled but Bakugou knew it wasn't because they were making fun of him. Still, his pride refused to give in and join them so he made up for it by staring daggers at them instead.

“So hey about that test we have coming up”, Kaminari began but Bakugou cut them off before they had the chance to continue what they were about to say.

“If you’re gonna talk, at least do it after you've removed the crumbs from your face”, he showed to the area around his own mouth and Kaminari quickly wiped it off with the napkin Mina gave them.

“Alright so about that test”, they began anew. “Have any of you started studying yet cause I could really use some help, i don't understand squat and my reading app has stopped working”

Only Jirou answered them by saying “Of course I have. Just why do you always wait so long to start?” but she soon quieted down when all the others stayed silent.

“No fucking way”, she then said. “ All of you?! The test is in three days!”

“Look, I planned to start ages ago but I forgot alright?” Sero put his hands up at Jirou's annoyed face. She looked like she wanted to strangle him but kept to putting her head in her hands and groaning instead. “I'm surrounded by fucking morons”.

“I'm sorry, was there some kind of problem with your order miss?”

Bakugou felt his heart skip a beat. The green haired waiter had suddenly appeared right by his shoulder. How did he not notice him walk up to them?

Jirou blushed in embarrassment. “Oh sorry, no my order was fine”

He cocked his head with a concerned look in his green eyes. He was so close to Bakugou he could feel the heat from his arm on his own. “Then was there something else that wasn't to your liking?”

Kirishima flailed his hands around trying to reassure him. “No no no, everything's good. We’re classmates and she's just annoyed at us for not having started studying to a test yet”

“Oh I see, that's a relief. While I'm here can I get you guys anything?” He shifted his weight to the other leg and gave them that smile again, but Bakugou noticed it didn't seem to quite reach his eyes. Right… he was just politely doing his job.

Bakugou, Mina, Kaminari, Sero, Jirou and Kirishima all looked at each other questionably but it was Mina who spoke up. Bakugou didn't like the glint in her golden eyes and he was soon proven to be right when she smirked at him just before turning towards the young waiter. “Actually, you don't happen to be good at maths do you?”

Bakugou wanted nothing more than to blast Mina off the face off the earth right now but he could do nothing other than watch as the boy with a surprised face answered: “Well, I suppose I am”

“That's great! You wouldn't mind helping us then? Except Jirou here we’re all just a bunch of idiots really so we would really appreciate it! Sorry, uhm… What was your name?”

Bakugou changed his mind. He wanted to blast himself off the face of the earth.

“Oh, I- well i guess my shift does end soon”, he stammered, clearly taken aback by the unexpected question. Bakugou wanted to shook him: Fucking don't, you're just falling into her trap! But he was too flabbergasted to even give Mina the murder-eyes.

Mina offered up her biggest smile. “Wonderful! We’ll just wait here then, we have all the material in our bags. And your name darling?”

“Oh uhm… Midoriya”

Midoriya,the name replayed in Bakugou's mind like a melody stuck in your head on repeat. The kind of melody you don't know which song it belongs to but even that small part of it stayed with you nonetheless. The kind of melody that even without context just sounds so- wait, what the hell is he thinking right now?

“Guys i think Katsuki’s heartbeat has stopped”, laughed Sero. “Come on Blondie get your act together before he returns already”

Bakugou shook his head, what was wrong with him today?

Mina took a gleeful sip of her almost finished boba. “Not interested my arse”.

“I will kill you all”, Bakugou growled but his comment was only received by laughter. However a part of him - a very small part he would never admit existed - felt a strange excitement. Seriously, this was all so annoying.

Midoriya hadn't been lying when he had said his shift ended soon. Bakugou only had to endure ten minutes of his friends teasing before he returned. He had lost the brown apron he had been wearing before as well as changed from the navy-blue dress shirt into a light gray hoodie. Bakugou felt almost distraught after catching himself thinking: From handsome to cute.

He quickly looked away when Midoriya awkwardly took a seat next to him on the sofa to hide his expression.

“So what did you need help with, did you say?” The look on Midoriya's face told Bakugou that he, at this point, was probably asking himself what he had gotten himself into. He probably couldn't have looked more nervous than if someone had pointed a gun in his face. From this distance Bakugou noticed for the first time the freckles across the other boy’s gentle face, they seemed to originate from his nose and then spread out over his cheeks. Like when a toddler throws glitter over their painting - of course Midoriya's face, though it could definitely belong to a painting, certainly did not look to have been drawn by a five year old.

“Uh… is there something on my face?”

Bakugou blinked in surprise, then looked away in embarrassment. Shit, he zoned out again. He didn't need to look to know that Mina was inches away from losing the fight of containing her laughter.

“No nothing”.

“Oh okay”

Damn it, why did he have to screw everything up?

Luckily Kirishima had still had enough sense in him to save the conversation and somehow they actually ended up starting on that homework. Usually Bakugou could spend hours loathing the subject instead of actually studying it, the only thing keeping his mouth from complaining aloud was Denki whose dyscalculia couldn't be making it any easier for them. No way Bakugou was gonna be the one to whine when the person with most right to didn't.

Midoriya turned out to actually be a pretty decent tutor as well, despite the bumpy start before he got more comfortable. His explanations could be a bit tricky to comprehend at first as he had a tendency to over explain but he gradually adapted his way of speaking to make it easier for the others to understand. After a while he even seemed to genuinely enjoy himself, another small smile slowly sneaking forward on his pink lips.

“Oh shit look at the time!”Sero exclaimed when his phone screen lit up from a message.

Jirou instinctively checked her own phone and ended up giving a similar reaction: “Damn it's already 6:30”

Denki suddenly shot up, making the rest of them jump (Except Midoriya, Bakugou noticed, perhaps the fragile looking boy wasn't as easily scared as you would've guessed). “Are you serious?! We’re going to miss dinner!”

Kirishima tried to make them sit down again but Denki stayed put where they stood. The red-head changed tactic: “It's fine Denki we can just eat out at some restaurant”

“But we were doing waffles today”, they whined but finally sank back into their seat.

Mina looked around the café. “You know this place is actually open quite late though now that i think about it. You know, for a café”

Midoriya shrugged. “Well obviously, it has to be open late since that's when it turns into a meet-up place for villains”

She stared at him blankly. “You know the scary part is that I actually can't tell if you're kidding or not”

Midoriya laughed. It was a melodious sound that tickled Bakugou's ears. When he stopped to speak Bakugou caught himself wishing he could turn back time a few seconds just to hear it again. When the hell did he become so sensitive to these things?

“I'm joking of course" Midoriya said, the trace of laughter still remaining in the form of a peculiar glint in his forest green eyes. “But yeah I was confused as well about the late opening time when I first started working here. I still don't understand why that's the case but I suppose it's part of what makes it so charming”

Jirou put her hands on the table. “Seriously though we might need to get going. If we don't we might not just miss dinner but also curfew, plus it's getting cold out and i don't have my jacket with me” she gestured at her gray t-shirt that clearly wouldn't be enough to protect her bare arms from the chilly evening air. “So for my sake can we pleasea get going before the temperature drops too much? It's already getting dark out”

Mina sighed. “Yeah, I suppose we should”

“Time sure flies when you're enjoying yourself”, Kaminari smiled as the group began preparing to leave. “Surprisingly, this was probably one of the most productive study-sessions I've had in a while”.

“Yeah same, a lot of it thanks to you Midoriya. Appreciate the help”, Sero gave Midoriya a big smile, then mumbled as he retied his ponytail: “I swear I'm going to get an undercut or something, this fucking hair is way too thick nowadays”

“Oh you could totally pull that off!” Mina exclaimed excitedly as she put on her blindingly cyan puffer-jacket. “Seriously though you would look so good with an undercut”

“Really? I was mostly joking but maybe you're right”

While Mina and Sero got caught up in their conversation about hairstyles and undercuts, eventually dragging Jirou into it as she actually had one, Bakugou turned to Midoriya. Hopefully he could come up with something decent to say, unlike what he had managed to get out of his dumb mouth so far.

But as he shifted his attention to the boy by his side he ended up not saying anything at all, for the look on Midoriya confused him to the point that he did not know what to do. He looked… sad. As if he was watching a scene in a movie he wished he was part of but wasn't. He looked lonely. And Bakugou, as he had found himself doing so many times before throughout the evening, could do nothing but stare.

They said their goodbyes to Midoriya shortly after and Bakugou tried to forget what he'd seen. He didn't know Midoriya well enough to call that any of his business, their first real conversation took place only a few hours prior after all. As the group stepped out on the streets and left the Espresso Bar behind Bakugou felt thankful for the chilly air. It shifted his focus to how cold he felt and Kaminari's dismayed whining helped as well.

“Shinso is going to kill me! I promised to be back early so that we could watch that movie and if that wasn't enough now I'll probably come home with a cold to infect him with!”

“You're gonna get a cold? Denki! I don't even have a long sleeve shirt to cover my arms!” Jirou snapped back at her yellow haired friend. She tried her best to rub her arms warm with her hands but it was obviously futile. “At this rate I'm going to be an icicle by the time we reach the dorms!”

“Maybe you should've brought a hoodie. They did warn of colder weather” Mina pointed out.

“She was wearing her headphones as usual, do you really think she would have heard the news over that blasting volume she always insists on?” said Bakugou. To confirm his words Jirou made a gesture towards him as if to say: He gets it!

“Oh I have an idea - if you're up for it?” Sero smiled. He then unzipped his jacket and opened it up like the mouth of a monster about to swallow Jirou. “My jacket’s pretty big i'm sure we could both fit if you take one arm and i the other”

Kaminari tried to suppress their giggles as they wheezed out: “You would make one hell of a pair of Siamese twins”

Jirou slapped them on her way to Sero. A few quick steps and then she had taken over half of the jacket. Like Sero had suggested. “Well? What are you waiting for? Close the jacket already!”

Sero laughed in disbelief. “Well I was mostly joking, I didn't expect you to actually do it. You're usually so against close contact after all”

Jirou's head was several inches shorter than Sero's but impressively enough they still made it work - which didn't mean it didn't look severely strange of course.

“Well sometimes you have to prioritize" she pouted, clearly struggling to hold onto her prideful facade.

Sero was about to say something else to tease her but she stopped him by (Or at least Bakugou guessed that's what she did as he couldn't see through the jacket) tickling him in the side. By instinct he tried to jump away from her but couldn't for obvious reasons. Instead his attempted escape turned into a weird little dance when they tried to save themselves from falling as he tripped over his own feet. The rest of them erupted with explosive laughter but remained unhelpful.

“Kami please! You gotta save me from this demon!” Sero called out in a high pitched voice while Jirou continued to chase him around underneath the jacket with a mischievous grin on her face.

“Sorry dude I cant breathe '', they wheezed in response, leaning on Kirishima's shaking shoulder trying to control the laughter. It wasn't too successful. Even Bakugou had a hard time controlling himself and Mina was simply a lost cause: silently laughing on the ground after having used up all the air inside her lungs. Kaminari, once they noticed her, began cackling even harder and eventually joined her on the ground as they could no longer stand up straight.

“Oh shit!” Sero had tripped again and this time he was unable to save them. He and Jirou fell over, landing with a thud on the concrete. “O-howw” he laughed painfully. And that was it. The whole group: Kaminari, Sero, Jirou, Kirishima, Mina and Bakugou, completely lost it and erupted in renewed laughter. Kaminari's weird kettle noises only further added to it.

“Why can't you laugh like a normal person you damn bastard” Bakugou pressed out.

They had known each other for almost three years and throughout those years Kaminari was probably the one in the group who had changed the most. First coming out as homosexual and then non-binary, it was safe to say for Bakugou that Kaminari was definitely one of the bravest people he knew. But their cursed laughter remained the same and over those three years Bakugou had also learned to relax enough to join in with it. As he took in the moment through the tears in his eyes one thought went through his mind: How could he have been so stupid his first term of UA as to not even allow himself to laugh with his friends?

The moment was cut off by the simultaneous beeping of their phones. Kirishima picked his up and read the text while the others waited. They all knew who was behind the message, they just needed the content to act after.

Kirishima looked up with furrowed brows. “There is an ongoing chase in this area and they are calling in everyone close by to help catch the suspect: Young male, dressed in dark clothes with a mask covering half his face and a pulled up hood. Suspect is thought to be the vigilante Deku but they haven't been able to get close enough to confirm”.

The laughter was gone from their faces and the atmosphere had turned serious. Everyone knew how wanted the vigilante Deku was, people had been actively trying to catch him for almost as long as they'd been students at UA and after three years the situation was more desperate to catch him than ever. At this point it was a matter of not only the heroes' pride but also to keep the public's trust in them. Having been unable to catch or even figure out the identity of a quirkless youth for three years didn't exactly help improve their image.

“Well I suppose our night out isn't quite over yet then… Bloody hell” Mina added with a sigh and stretched her arms up.

That's when it happened.

In just the blink of an eye, too fast for even Bakugou to react.

The sound of a wire and a split second later something flew past his cheek like an arrow. Before he could even process what just happened it was followed by a dark clothed figure whooshing past him. At this point Bakugou had at least managed to turn his head enough to meet the stone-cold eyes of the figure. No, of the person. It was too dark to make out their eye-color but the gaze they offered back was so sharp it felt like Bakugou was being pierced by a spear.

And then the person had moved on past, already almost out of sight.

It took around a full second for the group to grasp what had just happened and another before they all dived after the figure on instinct. Bakugou first as his explosions carried him further and faster than the others' quirks. Just as they took off they were joined by a red winged man all six of them recognized immediately as Hawks.

“Was that him?” Bakugou yelled at the pro-hero.

“If you mean Deku then yes, that's him”, Hawks replied as they rounded a corner.

Two years ago Bakugou would have been unable to steer in the speed they were going at and would have ended up crashing into one of the building's walls. But it was as they said, right? Practice makes perfect. In the current season he has managed to even keep up with Hawks’ insane speed. He was totally going to shove that in the face of Todoroki later; Bakugou was still grumpy over losing to him during a race the class had gone through during training some weeks ago. Since then he has taken every opportunity to surpass him.

“How the hell does he move around like that?”

Bakugou caught another glimpse of Deku again, swinging around using the wires he seemed to be shooting from his belt like he'd done when he'd flown past Bakugou earlier.

“You mean why is he swinging around with those wires like Levi Ackerman?” Hawks called back through the force of the air. “Convenient for him maybe?”

Bakugou held back on the question of if Hawks had seen that anime (He remembered the whole thing quite vividly after the first time Kaminari had forced him to watch it with them) - now was not the time to confirm such a theory. Instead he asked: “But just shooting wires shouldn't be enough to have such a lead on you though?”

Hawks rolled up his lip in a bitter grin. “Yeah well that fella’s a sneaky little bastard. He takes random turns everywhere and in and out of areas I have trouble getting through with my wings. If I flew down here I would be closer to him but that could also be problematic. He knows these streets, and he knows how to lure us away through them- fuck!”

Hawks stopped suddenly and Bakugou as well a second later with a confused look on his face until he looked forward again. A dead end. Hawks had been right, he really did know how to lure them away.

“That little bastard. Alright you head that way and i'll see if i can spot him the other way”

Bakugou didn't even get to answer before Hawks had taken off again. “Well he sure is on edge”, and then he blasted off as well in the direction the pro-hero had pointed him. Hawks had always seemed so chill, no matter the occasion the man always brought a light-hearted attitude to ease the mood. “No use being all dead-serious about it even if it is a serious situation, it just tenses up the brain” he had once said. Bakugou didn't quite get it but it helped him understand Hawks’ character more.

A movement in the corner of his eye.

Bakugou immediately reacted and dived straight into the alley for it.

A grunt from someone other than Bakugou as they tumbled to the ground. Bakugou didn't worry about accidentally having crashed into a bystander, the streets had all been empty so far and the other person had clearly been intentionally trying to hide in the darkness of the alley. When the two finally got on their feet his intuition was proven to have been right. Before him stood the same person from earlier in stance ready for combat. Watching him intensely while keeping a safe distance. He wore a hoodie with the hood pulled over his face, it was almost too dark to make it out to be anything but black but Bakugou guessed on dark green. Added to that he had black cargo pants and combat boots. In his gloved hands he held the two reasons Bakugou was yet to break the bubble of just observing between the two: A pair of twin daggers. The hero-in-training also noticed multiple other scabbards in the bandolier Deku wore over his torso. Of course he was going to be armed, but with daggers? Seriously?

“At least it's better than guns' ', Bakugou breathed the second before he had to dodge one of them when Deku finally came at him.

From there, it was a dance.

Deku slashed or kicked out while Bakugou dodged and parried the best he could.

Slash, dodge, kick, parry.

They both stayed quiet which meant the only thing heard was the echoing sound of their fighting. The vigilante attacked so fast that Bakugou was unable to find any opportunity to use his quirk to blast the other one off. He had to put all his focus in keeping his vital points as far away from the sharp blades of Deku's daggers as possible. Deku didn't leave him much room to counter, Bakugou guessed that was the point.

He attacked again and this time he aimed for Bakugou's chin, stabbing upwards with his blade. Bakugou threw his head backwards and only realized the feint too late. The vigilante ducked down close to the ground as he used the full length of his leg to kick Bakugou's feet away from underneath him. “Shit..!”

Deku was over him again before he even hit the ground and pushed him down on the concrete extra hard. With the momentum on his side the vigilante unsheathed another smaller knife strapped to his arm and attempted to sink it into Bakugou's throat.

Bakugou managed to shoot up with his hands and grab his wrists. The opponent was surprisingly strong however, it took all of his strength to try and keep the knife from falling down and undoubtedly end his life. Deku had placed his knee on top of his chest in a way that made it hard to breath and Bakugou grunted from the effort.

Where the fuck is that damn chicken when you need him…!

For a moment Bakugou looked up and found himself staring directly into the eyes of his opponent.

And when he did, something in them seemed to shift.

A flicker of hesitation.

And that flicker was enough.

Bakugou seized the moment and kicked Deku in the chest, shoving him off of him, and then let off an explosion that sent the other one flying into the brick wall.

Staggeringly, Bakugou got to his feet. His head had gotten quite the hit when he was thrown to the ground and he was still feeling hazy. The world was spinning and it was making him nauseous. He took a few unsteady steps towards the vigilante, who still hadn't managed to get to his feet after the hit against the wall. The both of them seemed to be in quite similar conditions.

That's when Bakugou suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Deku's hood had fallen back and the mask he had been wearing seemed to have cracked after one of Bakugou's hits. As the young man looked up towards Bakugou it fell off into his lap, revealing his face.

A face that Bakugou recognized.

He stood like starstruck, staring at the other boy. “You..!”

Midoriya's- no, Deku’s face, went from mildly surprised to dangerously calm, and the tension was almost touchable.

“Yeah, whoops”, Deku shrugged, but a small wince of his eyebrow revealed that the movement had caused him pain. “I was really hoping you wouldn't recognize me but i guess you're better with faces than i thought”

Just yours, Bakugou found himself wanting to say. He pushed the words down and instead he said: “You’re a fucking villain!”

“No that's where you're wrong”, Deku's voice was calm but it still felt like being whipped. Bakugou surprised himself by taking a few steps back instead of attacking when Deku finally stood up straight, an arm holding against his ribs.

Deku noticed and smirked. “Oh I see. Have I made you conflicted? Perhaps I was nice enough earlier today to make you like me a little”

“I don't like you one fucking bit”, Bakugou snapped but was cut off when Deku launched himself forward, catching him off guard and pushing him against the opposite wall of the one Bakugou had thrown him into. A knife Bakugou had not seen him draw was pushed against his throat.

“You've caused me a bit of a headache so I would appreciate it if you would at least keep your voice down so as not to worsen it” Deku hissed. Bakugou was starting to feel something warm trickle down his throat.

“Fuck you”

Deku shoved him into the brick wall again before jumping back and retreating up on the low rooftop of one of the buildings framing the alley. Bakugou was too exhausted to follow, he knew he would never keep up in this condition anyway.

The mischievous smile returned to Deku's lips as he looked down towards Bakugou. “You're quite the feisty one, how entertaining”.

“You won't get away next time, you damn villain - I'll beat you!”

Deku waved his finger at him. “Like I told you earlier: That's where you're wrong. I may be a criminal since I don't follow the laws. But I am no villain. You are a hero aren't you? You should be able to tell the difference between a villain and a vigilante”

Bakugou growled in frustration which caused Deku to laugh at him. “Entertaining indeed. I look forward to your future attempts at challenging me. Try and catch me if you can!”

And then he was gone.

And Bakugou was alone.

He had spent all his energy chasing and fighting Deku so he stayed where he was, sliding down the wall and hitting the ground with a grunt. His whole body was aching. Even without the knives or a quirk Deku managed to do quite a lot of damage to him.

“I'm gonna wake up looking like a blueberry tomorrow aren't I", the young hero sighed. He put a finger to the wound on his throat, at least the knife had not cut deep. It had already stopped bleeding.

Where the hell did he learn to fight like that, and yet Bakugou had an uneasy feeling that the other boy hadn't even been going all out.

“Bakugou! There you are!” It was Mina and Sero who ran up to him.

“¡Mierda tío!” Sero exclaimed surprised when he saw the condition Bakugou was in. “The hell happened to you?”

That was enough for Bakugou to get back to his usual mood. “Take a wild fucking guess! Now help me up”

“Did you have a standoff with Deku?” Mina guessed correctly while Sero dragged Bakugou up on his feet. He nodded.

“Yeah, but he got away”

“Did you see his face?” Sero asked.

“How could he? The guy was wearing a mask, remember?” Mina responded before Bakugou got the chance to even open his mouth.

He should tell them he did. He should tell them that it was Midoriya from the café all along. He should tell them. So why didn't he?

As the three walked back towards the meeting location they decided over the phone with the others Bakugou kept asking himself why. Why didn't he say anything? He had no reason not to so why the hell wouldn't he? Midoriya may or may not be an alias but it's still a lead! It might end up helping the investigation of the vigilante's identity immensely, so why, even when they met up with the others and Hawks returned, even when walking back to the dorms still discussing the events, even when they finally got back and informed Aizawa, why did he stay silent?

Normally when in such conflict with himself Bakugou would go to the gym facility to train, try and distract himself, but he didn't feel like waking up sore from overexertion tomorrow as well. He was just lucky it was a Sunday and no school.

Instead he went straight for his dorm room the moment Kirishima finished patching him up. He felt the concerned looks of his friends on his back as he with a dark expression walked up the stairs but ignored them.

He tried falling asleep but was too restless. He considered playing a round of COD on his computer but that probably wasn't such a good idea if he wanted to ever fall asleep at all.

“I need some air”, he sighed tiredly.

To counter the cold he grabbed a hoodie and pulled it over his blonde head as he stepped out on the small balcony. When he did however there was a weird *crunch* as he stepped on what turned out to be a small piece of paper.

Confused, he picked it up and noticed there was writing on it. When he realized who it was from, Bakugou felt his heart skip a beat and his pulse accelerating. There was only one person it could be. “Is he challenging me or something?”

On the little note five words were written in a dark green color:
Catch me if you can <3