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Izuku couldn’t really say he enjoyed office parties, but he had to admit that seeing such a talented group of people - everyone who worked at U.A. Tech was incredible in some way - all together in the same room was sort of amazing.
And incredibly hectic.
He scanned the room, trying to spot his only reason for coming to the party. His supervisor Aizawa had made it very clear that the repercussions for not participating in the interdepartmental Secret Santa competition the company held every year would be dire. Like, having to run errands for their brand manager Nemuri (or Midnight as she insisted everyone call her) dire. Izuku shuddered as he remembered the husk of Mineta that returned from his week long internship with her, speeding up to try to find his giftee somewhere in the horde.
The crowd was pushing against him on all sides, their loud conversations and the heavy smell of booze in the air were disorienting to Izuku. ‘That's what I get for trying to arrive late,’ Izuku thought grimly as he fought his way towards the refreshments table. He finally managed to elbow his way through the crowd and landed in front of the table with a gasp, reaching to steady himself on its sticky surface. He'd only been here for ten minutes but the loud conversations and hot air from having so many people in one room was starting to make him dizzy. ‘Just have to find her, just have to find her,’ he repeated in his mind, serving himself a cup of the hopefully-not-spiked-eggnog while he continued looking around the room. ‘Just gotta find-’
“Jirou!” he called out excitedly after finally spotting her leaning against one of the less crowded walls. She was with a group of people Izuku barely recognized, probably all technical engineers like her. As a business analyst Izuku very rarely interacted with the engineering department. He counted himself very lucky that he knew Jirou at least in passing; it hadn’t been a total nightmare finding her a gift like it would have been with a complete stranger.
The room was too loud for her to hear him calling for her, so Izuku picked up his glass and started to slowly make his way through the crowd. He was so close to freedom, all he had to do now was say a quick hello, deliver his gift, and be on his way. ‘I am so glad Uraraka had to go out of town and gave me my gift early, I can go home soon,’ he thought as he carefully edged his way around where a slightly intoxicated Iida was gesticulating wildly at a group of interns.
He’d nearly reached her now, he could see the group of people around Jirou more clearly. He recognized Kirishima, an excitable security specialist who worked with the various technical departments in the company. He smiled at his rapid waving, lifting his arm to wave gently with the hand not holding his cup. Jirou finally turned around, glancing to see what Kirishima was waving at and spotted Izuku approaching them through the crowd. She turned to Izuku with a small smile. He sped up, working harder to push his way through to her out of excitement. He was so close to being free he could almost feel it --
A sudden CRASH ripped him out of his thoughts, making him gasp and flinch instinctively away from the noise. Somewhere in the room, a very drunk and very confident Kaminari had just knocked over a large piece of wall art trying to impress the president’s secretary by doing a backflip. Izuku didn’t know that though, because he tripped when he flinched, bumping into a startled man in a tailored suit, and was now watching with his heart in his throat as his drink was thrown out of his hand. It flew in a high, perfect arc over the crowd, eggnog spilling out ahead of the cup like a splash of paint, and landed directly on the man who had, up until now, been hidden behind Kirishima. A very sticky, angry, blonde man with a vicious red glare who upon further inspection by Izuku’s extremely horrified eyes was very, very familiar to him.
He stood frozen, arm still stretched out and mouth hanging open as he watched Bakugou Katsuki, whom he hadn't seen for eight years until just this moment, slowly turn his head to make eye contact with him among the chaos of the room. The eggnog dripped heavily from his hair and down his face, rolling down Kacchan’s neck and seeping slowly into the fabric of his dress shirt. The moment felt like it stretched on forever, just Kacchan and him staring each other down while Jirou and her friends turned to gape at them, and the rest of the room turned to yell at Kaminari lying passed out on the floor.
Jirou was the one to break the silence between them. Her sudden bark of laughter got all of her friends going, their whole group turning to Kacchan to laugh at his infuriated face covered in eggnog. Suddenly, Kacchan was turning and chasing Kirishima around the room, who was laughing so hard he was coughing while trying to record a video as Kacchan tried to tackle him through the crowd of people. Izuku could only watch in stunned silence as they somehow ended up near where a few of the more sober employees were trying to save the ruined art piece and help Kaminari off of the floor. Iida had made his way over and was yelling at everyone, catching the attention of the executives that Izuku could see frowning sternly at them across the room. Kirishima was running in circles around him as Kacchan tried to grab him through Iida’s waving arms and everyone around them laughed, and something about the scene made Izuku’s throat close up and his heart speed up rapidly in his chest.
The whole scene abruptly threw him back into his high school memories that he’d tried to forget, of Kacchan fighting with his friends at lunch while Izuku sat by and laughed. The whole thing suddenly became too much for Izuku, with his anxiety and the heat of the room and Kacchan here , laughing in front of him like they were teenagers again. He turned on his foot and fled out of the room as fast as he could.
Izuku was holed up in the bathroom, trying to calm his nerves. He’d been standing nearly catatonic over the sink for a while now, unaware of his mumbling echoing around him in the empty room. God, he'd just dumped a cup full of eggnog onto Kacchan after seeing him for the first time since their high school graduation eight years ago. Eight long, lonely years where Izuku had pined and hated himself for pining. Wondering where Kacchan was, and what he was doing, and who he was with... And now finally getting to see him again after their last disastrous meeting, he'd embarrassed him in front of their entire department. Izuku whined high and loud before sinking down into a crouch so he could bury his face in his knees.
A big part of him had thought he'd never get to see Kacchan again. They had been strange sort of friends in high school, constantly vying for the title of valedictorian and challenging each other in all of their shared clubs, including the time they'd accidentally ended up arguing with each other during the qualifying round of the regional debate tournament that had nearly disqualified their school. (Nearly, had the judges not been impressed by the way they managed to use their different approaches to their topic to strengthen their argument and had soundly picked apart the arguments of the opposing team. Their club supervisor however, had punished them with 100 hours of community service as soon as they stepped down from the stage.)
But as contentious as their relationship had been, Izuku would have honestly called Kacchan his best friend during their time in school. Their competitive attitudes brought out the best and worst in each other, and if Kacchan hadn't been there to push Izuku to work harder and be better, he never would have gotten to where he was today.
Which had made their falling out all that much harder for Izuku to bear. They'd been competing with each other intensely for their entire senior year, heckling each other during their studying sessions and producing such elaborate projects and papers for their shared classes that the rest of the students in their school's honor program had given up and sat back to watch the two of them build each other up and tear each other apart in equal measure. Izuku had never felt so focused and excited as he did those last few months of school, his life a whirlwind of presentations and late night cram sessions and Kacchan, always right there with him through it all. When he'd been announced valedictorian and received his acceptance to his top choice of university on the same day, Izuku had been on top of the world.
Kacchan had called him out just before their graduation ceremony, and Izuku had been equally nervous and excited as he followed Kacchan back to a secluded spot behind the gym where the ceremony was taking place. He didn’t want to hope for too much but he thought he recognized the look in Kacchan’s eye when he told him to meet with him. The sakura petals were falling, they were all emotionally charged from their last day at school together, and Izuku couldn’t stop himself from hoping for… something. He knew what he wanted but even a hug, a secret smile, a promise to keep in touch over the summer… He was so lost in his daydreams that he didn’t notice that Kacchan had stopped walking and tripped straight into his back.
Kacchan had been awkward. Even after everything that happened, and Izuku had remembered that Kacchan had been blushing and wouldn’t look him in the eye at first. He thought about it way too much, trying to figure out what exactly had gone so wrong that day.
He’d congratulated Izuku, had asked him if his mother was there already, then he’d stopped.
“Where are you going to university?” he’d asked while glaring at the ground.
Izuku had been surprised. “Ah… To K University. Didn’t I tell you that?”
“No,” had been his only clipped reply.
Izuku didn’t know how to react. He’d started to feel bad, but he’d been certain that he’d told Kacchan about his plans before… During their college prep course maybe? Or at some forgotten study session…
A barked “Deku!” had snapped him out his thoughts. Kacchan had looked a little angrier then, and it made Deku nervous. Before he could say anything, Izuku blurted out, “I didn’t think you’d care!”
That had brought the whole conversation to a halt. Kacchan had straightened up, meeting Izuku’s eyes for the first time that day.
“Care? Of course I don’t care. I was just wondering why I’m the last fucking person to know about your plans. You didn’t want me competing with you over applications?”
That had made Izuku a little mad. “No!” he’d yelled, perhaps a little too loudly, “I wasn’t thinking about competing with you! That never even crossed my mind, why would you ask that?”
That had been it for them. He hadn’t seen Kacchan that angry in a long time, as he started to scream at him about being better than “stupid Deku” in a way he hadn’t done in years. They’d ended up throwing punches and getting their uniforms torn and dirty until a student spotted them and called the teachers. Izuku had been grounded for the entire summer, and Kacchan never returned his calls. By the time he was packing to leave for university, Kacchan had already left for his own school, which had made Izuku realize he’d never asked Kacchan about his university plans either, and then he was gone. Kacchan was out of his life, and Izuku had no idea how he’d let him slip away from him completely.
A loud bang from behind him snapped Izuku out of his depressing spiral into memories he’d been trying to suppress for years. He shot up from his crouch and turned around, startled when he saw Kacchan glowering at him from the bathroom door.
“I could hear your muttering halfway down the hall, Deku. What the hell are you doing talking to yourself on the bathroom floor?” Kacchan asked as he pushed his way past Izuku to the sink, turning on the tap and starting to wash off the eggnog that was still clinging sticky to his face and neck. The eggnog had started to dry, and he was wiping thick globs of it from his face in disgust. God, Izuku had somehow managed to forget he’d thrown a cup of eggnog in Kacchan’s face and now he wanted to die.
“O-oh, I was, well I mean I guess I was just talking to myself, but I wasn't on the floor,” he tried to explain as he watched in fascination as Kacchan unbuttoned his shirt to scrub at his chest, “I was only crouching down to, maybe help myself calm down? It was getting very loud in--”
A soft chuckle from Kacchan cut off Izuku’s nervous rambling in an instant. He kept scraping off the eggnog as he said “You always did overthink everything, stupid Deku. I missed that about you.”
Izuku gasped, eyes widening as he watched Kacchan realize what he just said. He'd frozen in the middle of scrubbing his face with a paper towel, his eyes locked on Izuku’s in the mirror as a soft blush began to spread on his face. He knew he was gaping like an idiot, but he couldn't really believe Kacchan had just admitted to missing him. Had he admitted that? Was he going crazy? Did he hit his head when he crouched down earlier?
Kacchan was clenching his teeth, his face getting redder as he kept very aggressive eye contact with Deku. It was making him a little more anxious than he could handle, so he ended up blurting out “What are you even doing here?”
Great . Throw eggnog in his high school crush’s face and then ask him why he was even there in the first place. This night was really going so well for Izuku.
Kacchan laughed, letting his fist drop as he went back to wiping his hair with a wet paper towel. “I work here, shit for brains. My manager made me come to do the stupid gift exchange.”
Oh, the gift exchange. Izuku was going to have to apologize to Jirou so much for running out on her earlier.
“I work here too!” he exclaimed.
“I know. I was on the committee that hired you,” Kacchan answered offhandedly. Izuku gaped at him again, before he pushed himself closer to his side.
“What?! Really? But I’ve been working here for months! Why didn’t you say anything? Why haven’t I seen you around if you hired me? How did-”
Kacchan threw a wet paper towel at his face, shutting him up but also making Izuku gag a little. There was still lumps of eggnog clinging to it.
“God, you never shut up do you. I was… I’ve been. Busy,” he coughed out, turning back to the mirror to keep cleaning.
Izuku pouted. “Busy for the past five months?”
Kacchan whipped around with his hands raised, and Izuku braced himself for the hoarse yelling he’d been so used to hearing in high school before Kacchan just… stopped.
He lowered his hands and Izuku didn’t realize he was holding his breath as he watched Kacchan calm himself down. This was different. He’d never seen Kacchan stop himself from yelling at someone before. He was never one to filter himself for anyone, for any reason. It was fascinating seeing him visibly calm down and meet Izuku’s eyes calmly again. Fascinating, but… new. It made something in Izuku twinge at the reminder that he didn’t really know Kacchan as well as he used to anymore.
“I-” Kacchan started roughly. “I wasn’t. That busy. I guess I’ve been… putting off our meeting. On purpose,” he bit out.
Izuku’s mouth dropped open. Was Kacchan being- honest about his feelings? With him ?
Kacchan took a deep breath before continuing. “Maybe I was a little. Af...raid of seeing you again.”
Had Izuku hit his head when he entered the bathroom? Was this all a hallucination?
Before he could lose himself in his thoughts again, Kacchan stepped into his space suddenly, making Izuku look up at him with a squeak.
“Stop your muttering already, dweeb. I haven’t been down to see you because I didn’t want to have this fucking conversation. But I did… miss you. A-a lot,” Kacchan growled out. He was shifting his weight around and twitching in a way very much unlike his usual composed demeanor, but he never broke eye contact with Izuku as he spoke. “I thought about you a lot during… school. And. And after, when I was helping Aizawa with the new recruits, Shinsou mentioned you were a friend of his, and I… I, fuck!” Bakugou broke off, finally dropping eye contact and turning to glare furiously at the floor.
Before Izuku could do more than croak out a hoarse “Kacchan…”, he was being cut off again.
“Deku, I'm sorry for that shit I said to you in high school. I'm sorry we didn't keep in touch, because you were… a friend. A good friend, and I was a stuck up prick who didn't deserve you.” Kacchan said, finally lifting his gaze from the floor to make eye contact again. “I was angry that I didn’t know where you were going to university, I was angry you never told me, even though I shouldn't have been because I never asked. I was… It felt like. You were leaving me behind.” His voice tapered off at the end, getting softer before he huffed out a breath and straightened his spine. “But mostly I was fucking furious with myself because I chickened out at the last fucking second from telling you how I felt. D- Izuku, I liked you a lot in high school.”
Izuku gasped.
“I was too much of a dipshit to realize it and then I was too much of a coward to tell you. And you've been working here for 5 months and I
knew
about it, and I was still too scared to say it to your face.” Bakugou stepped forward again, stealing the very little breath Izuku still had in his lungs. “You can tell me to fuck off but I still like you, Deku. Do you want to go on a date with me?”
He must have died. Izuku had never been so sure of something in his life, because there was no way Kacchan was here in front of him, hair matted to the side of his head from Izuku’s spilled eggnog, asking him out on a date. He must've killed him when he had spilled the eggnog in the first place, actually. There was no way this could be happening.
Surely he was dreaming, but even in a dream he would never give up the chance to finally be with Kacchan. Izuku sprung forward, throwing his arms around Kacchan’s neck and pulling him into a bone crushing hug. He was trembling all over and he knew he smearing the remains of the eggnog all over the both of them, but when Kacchan’s hands wrapped around his waist to pull him closer he couldn't help but let out a little sob and cling to him even tighter.
Before he knew what was happening Kacchan’s mouth was on his, the both of them kissing furiously in the middle of the executive bathroom. It was sticky, messy kiss, tasting like eggnog and desperation and maybe a little bit like tears. Izuku pulled off with a gasp, hands sliding down to grasp at Kacchan’s forearms as he took a step back.
“Kacchan I liked you a lot too! I still like you! I can’t believe I never tried to contact you after that summer, I’m so so sorry. I thought about you so much-”
Kacchan cut him off with another kiss, this one much softer than their first. He didn’t let Izuku deepen it, just kept their lips brushed together as he Izuku melted into him again.
He pulled back gently, resting his forehead against Izuku’s as they stood there staring at each other in wonder.
Kacchan frowned, suddenly saying “I know I was the one to ask you out but I think we've both changed a lot, Deku. You shouldn't say yes because of an old high school crush. Not if you think it's gonna be like before.”
Izuku laughed wetly, happy tears finally flowing forth as he buried his neck in Kacchan’s neck and wrapped his arms around his waist. “I hope it's not like before. We were really bad at talking to each other back then. But we can get to know each other again, right?”
Kacchan smiled. “Yeah, we can.”
When they finally made their way out of the bathroom, the party had been cleared out. ‘I’ll have to give Jirou her gift tomorrow,’ Izuku thought grimly as Kacchan and him snuck their way out of the building, away from where their superiors were scolding a clearly wasted Kaminari and a red-faced Iida in front of the ruined conference room.
Izuku giggled as they walked to the train station together holding hands, snow falling gently as they bickered quietly about where to go grab some food. He’d have to buy Aizawa a very nice gift this year for making him come to the party.