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Katsuki hates a lot of things- germs, people, Deku- but rain certainly crawls up to the top of the list when he sees the fucking thunderstorm swirling and showering pure death upon the streets. The droplets hit against the window like small bullets, and Katsuki winces whenever the rain pelts against the glass.
“Fucking fuck,” Katsuki says eloquently, his fingers running through his hair impatiently, “why the fuck did I stay so late?” It’s almost 6 pm, and the ash-blond male had stayed after school on campus to workout at the gym, his sweaty clothes stuffed into his bag to bring back home. Technically, students aren’t allowed to use the machinery without a teacher to supervise, but Katsuki is a rebel, an homme fatal, a person who doesn’t fucking need permission thank you very much.
Katsuki looks around the hallways, trying to see if any other poor schmuck is still around. If it’s dumbass red pepper hair, he can probably steal his umbrella, or if it’s stupid Deku he can definitely steal his umbrella. He crouches down behind a wall, however- no need to draw attention to himself if it happened to be a teacher who sees him. Katsuki peeks out behind the wall every now and then, and when he almost gives up to brave the rain, soft footsteps patter across the hallway.
“Fuck yes.” Katsuki mutters under his breath, glancing towards the person who’s rapidly approaching the ash-blond male. He’s wearing the school uniform, so definitely a student, but when he comes closer, Katsuki sees a shock of red and white hair, and- are you fucking kidding me- he sees Todoroki Shouto, his hands currently clutching a plaid-patterned umbrella.
Great, okay, just fan-fucking-tastic, Katsuki thinks, his fingers gripping tighter onto his backpack, out of everyone here and I meet him. The ash-blond male is still sour about the sports festival, and to add insult to injury, Shouto seems to view Izuku as more of a rival than him.
Not that Katsuki spends much time thinking about the half-and-half idiot. Katsuki doesn’t actually think much about other people at all- he’s busy with self improvement, honing his technique, being the best, duh, and the best doesn’t mingle with plebeians.
Katsuki remains crouched behind the wall, and he peeks out now and then, weighing the pros and cons of the situation. Clearly the red and white haired male is logical and has actually bothered to check the weather report this morning, and as he’s about to open up his umbrella, Katsuki quickly bangs against the wall with his fist.
“What?” Shouto says, turning around to locate the noise. “Is someone there?” The red and white haired boy has already shifted into an offensive stance, his eyes boring into the wall Katsuki is hiding behind.
Okay, pro: temporary shelter. Con: being with fucking strawberries-and-cream over there. Thunder strikes down and illuminates the sky into a bright blue, and Katsuki shudders at the thought of venturing out there without anything. Unfortunately for the both of them, pros outweigh the cons in Katsuki’s perspective.
“Hey.” Katsuki says, peeking out from behind the wall. “Put your hand down, it’s me.”
Shouto keeps his hand up, and ice begins to form within his palm. “What do you want, Bakugou?” Shouto sighs, losing interest in the conversation already. “I have to go home if it’s nothing important.”
This is why Katsuki hates talking to Shouto- he wears his privilege like a gold cape draped across his shoulders, and the lack of care Shouto exhibits sends Katsuki’s nerves off the deep end. To his credit, the ash-blond male doesn’t explode into a ball of rage; instead, Katsuki grits his teeth and focusses on the bigger picture here.
“As you have fucking eyes, you can see that it’s raining.” Katsuki says, pointing out the window to the downpour outside. “I don’t have an umbrella. You have an umbrella. Put two and two together, you asshole.”
“You want to share my umbrella?” Shouto says disbelievingly, his eyes narrowed at the sight of the ash-blond male. “Are you crazy? We’re not even on speaking terms.”
“No, I want your fucking umbrella. I don’t need you under it.” Katsuki spits out, and Shouto pretends to mull over the decision. The red and white haired male puts a finger under his chin and makes a thoughtful humming noise, his face in deep concentration.
“Wow, what an enticing option.” Shouto says before swivelling away. “You must be joking. Bye.”
“Fuck- are you fucking with me?” Katsuki hollers, watching his back become smaller and smaller until he leaves the school. “IF I CATCH A COLD AND MAKE EVERYONE GET SICK, IT’S IN YOUR HANDS!”
☆
Katsuki walks/runs/sprints through the rain, feeling the water soak through his jacket. His hair is flattened with moisture, and he ducks under anything that provides even a bit of shelter, like underneath a spiny tree branch or fighting with a cat over the cardboard box they both locate. Eventually he spies a bus stop with an actual roof over it, and he jogs over there, thankful for the thin glass that mildly shields him from the rain.
“Oh fuck,” Katsuki shakes his head to get rid of the water, “fucking hell.” He’s never going to forget his umbrella again. Katsuki toys with the notion of calling his parents for a quick car ride back home when someone steps beside him under the glass roof, the person shaking his umbrella out and spraying the ash-blond male with water.
“What the fuck, man?” Katsuki cusses, wiping the water off from his sleeve. “Did you not see me here?”
“I did. You look like a wet cat.” The person comments, and he looks up, seeing the sight of Shouto who is currently not drenched with water, but rather mostly dry. He’s leaning against the glass and staring out into the wet weather, and Katsuki feels his anger level rising with every breath he takes.
“Are you stalking me?” Katsuki says warily, looking at Shouto with hostility. “Rubbing it in my face that you have an umbrella and not me? You need better hobbies.”
“No, my home is this way.” Shouto says, pointing in the direction Katsuki was walking towards. “I dropped by at the mini-mart, and since we bumped into each other again, I’m assuming you live that way as well.”
“Wow, at least you’re not a complete idiot.” Katsuki says sourly. “Yeah, it’s that way. I’m still not fucking sharing an umbrella with you.”
“I wasn’t offering.” And just like that, Shouto opens up his umbrella again, sending another shower of rain from his slick parasol onto the ash-blond male. Katsuki sputters at the action and shakes himself, resembling a disgruntled dog.
“You’re an asshole! You know that?!” Katsuki yells, watching as Shouto steps out from the sheltered area while humming. The ash-blond male looks at the sky- the rain isn’t letting up, and his house is still a twenty-minute walk, and fucking hell, rain rain go away-
“WAIT THE FUCK UP!” Katsuki yells, and Shouto doesn’t actually stop, but his pace does slow down. “Okay- fuck, shit, I fucking hate you but rain is even worse, so, let’s- YO, STOP WALKING WHEN SOMEONE IS TALKING TO YOU!”
☆
Katsuki wants to blow up Shouto the second he arrives in class, but the red and white haired male is busy talking to Izuku and is currently surrounded (re: guarded) by other people. Izuku is laughing at something Shouto says, and Katsuki feels himself almost gag from watching them interact.
Not that Katsuki cares. He doesn’t need friends. Who the fuck needs-
“Morning, Bakugou!” Eijirou says cheerfully, and Katsuki ignores him, feeling ticked off at someone who doesn't even care. “God, your expression is scary today.”
“Fuck off.” Katsuki says lowly, glaring at Shouto with the malevolence of a criminal. As though he can sense the antipathy, the red and white haired male turns around and faces Katsuki’s hotheaded gaze with his own steely one, and an odd smirk forms on his face.
“You get home fine yesterday, Bakugou?” Shouto says. He looks kind of satisfied at the irritated reaction he’s drawing out of the ash-blond male, and Izuku looks at the two of them worriedly.
“Made it in one piece, unlike how you’ll end up today.” Katsuki snarls, standing up in his seat. Shouto gets up as well, and the two of them stare at each other with thinly-masked antagonism.
“Oh gosh, Kacchan, please.” Izuku says, voice nervous, and Shouto just shakes his head, his ice quirk already travelling across the classroom floor.
“I’ll kill you.” Katsuki threatens, first pointing at Shouto, and then pointing at Izuku, the green-haired male saying, wait I didn’t do anything to you, Kacchan in terror. “I’ll kill all of yo-”
“No killing during class.” Aizawa says, sounding bored, and the two boys sit down in their chairs reluctantly.
Katsuki reels in the death threats until after school.
☆
Amazingly enough, the rain accumulates into another thunderous appearance, and Katsuki curses everything, even the innocent bun he eats for lunch that day. It’s late as fuck, but luckily Katsuki had the hindsight to bring an umbrella, and he looks at the solid black parasol with some gratitude.
I should stop practicing in the gym after class, Katsuki thinks, opening up his umbrella, or at least leave earlier. He’s also a bit concerned with being caught using the gym without permission, and the thought of having his workout privilege revoked pains him.
There’s a shuffling sound coming from behind him, and Katsuki turns around, his gym bag hitting against his thigh as he moves.
Are you fucking-
It’s Shouto, standing in front of Katsuki with a resentful expression on his face and- more importantly- without an umbrella. Katsuki briefly wonders what exactly Shouto could be doing after school so late, but then he realizes that he doesn’t actually give a shit. They meet eyes, and Katsuki averts his gaze first to walk away. He’s stopped in his tracks by a sudden grab from Shouto, his hand on his shoulder.
“Hey.” Shouto says, sounding wholly uncomfortable. “I know you saw me.”
“Are we going to fight?” Katsuki says, looking at Shouto through the corner of his eye. “Not in the rain, though. We can do it in the gym.”
“I regretfully decline.” Shouto says, his voice apathetic. “Actually, I’m here to ask… can we share an umbrella?”
At this, Katsuki’s eyes widen, and he holds his umbrella behind his back protectively. “Do you not remember what happened last time, you sick fuck?” Katsuki argues, slapping his hand away from his shoulder. “No.”
“I’ll owe you one.” Shouto persists, his tenacity further annoying Katsuki.
“I don’t need anything from you.” Katsuki says through gritted teeth, wondering just how he’s roped in to talk to this guy. Shouto sighs and crosses his arms, his displeasure all over his face.
“Okay, well. You leave me no choice. I’ll tell the teachers that you’re using the gym after school hours.” At this, Katsuki’s mouth drops open, tightening his grip on his umbrella.
“You’re going to fucking snitch on me?” Katsuki says, scowling. “I didn’t realize that you would stoop so low.”
Shouto shrugs, not a single ounce of remorse on his face. “Take it or leave it.”
“Fuck.” Somehow the interaction morphs from favors to blackmail. “Okay, fine- fine. Just don’t stand too close to me, or I’ll kill you.”
“Stop with the death threats already.” Shouto waits for Katsuki to open up the umbrella before standing beside him, and Katsuki does a sharp intake of breath when he looks up at the red and white haired male.
“You’re taller than me? Fuck.” Katsuki says, lifting the umbrella a bit higher to compensate for Shouto’s added height. “Okay, let’s go. But this is the first and last time we’re doing this.”
They jostle against each other uncomfortably, elbowing each other now and then and trying to avoid touching each other as humanly possible. They maintain a good enough distance, but after they walk for a few minutes, Katsuki suddenly realizes that there’s warmth emanating off of the red and white haired boy, as though he were a heater.
“Jesus, can you just- put a fucking lid on your heat side, okay? It’s getting hot here.” Katsuki complains, accidentally brushing shoulders with the red and white haired boy.
“I’m cold. This will regulate my body temperature.” Shouto argues, and Katsuki feels his temper rise to dangerously high levels.
“It’s fucking hot.”
“Well, you’re not giving me much of your umbrella.” Shouto replies, reaching over to grab onto the umbrella hilt. They struggle over the handle for a few seconds, their hands grappling over it clumsily before they accidentally send the umbrella flying into the air. They immediately get drenched in water, and Katsuki looks over at Shouto with absolute loathing.
“Great- now we’re both soaked. You’re fucking brilliant.” Katsuki says sarcastically, watching as the red and white haired male walks over to pick up the umbrella. He creates a small fire in his palms, and the water slowly dries off of Shouto. Before long, Shouto’s uniform is neat and warm, and Katsuki looks over enviously as his own hair is flattened against his head from the rain.
“You…” Katsuki shakes off the water, and Shouto stands in front of him, shielding the both of them from the rain. Without even asking, Shouto lights up another fire, the flames flickering gently in the air. It takes a few minutes, but eventually Katsuki is mostly dry, his skin feeling warm and tingly.
“Your quirk is pretty useful sometimes, huh.” Katsuki comments, the two of them continuing their walk. Shouto holds onto the umbrella handle this time, and the ash-blond male doesn’t object, too busy trying to hide under the umbrella.
“Well, I’ve come to terms with it.” Shouto says, flexing his fingers uncomfortably. “I wouldn’t have used it before.”
“Right.” They remain silent for the rest of the time, but Katsuki doesn’t feel completely grossed out when their arms occasionally touch.
☆
This is getting ridiculous.
Katsuki swears he had put an umbrella in his bag that morning- maybe his mom pilfered it, they only had one umbrella to share among the entire family anyway because they’re stingy as hell- and he looks around the classroom. School has just ended, so everyone’s still seated, but he sure as fuck doesn’t want to ask anyone.
From the corner of his eye he sees Shouto pulling out a familiar plaid umbrella, and he kind of wants to ask, or take, or whatever-
God. Why is Katsuki so awkward sometimes?
“Oh, Bakugou, you don’t have an umbrella?” Eijirou asks, his voice loud and booming in the small classroom. If no one had noticed his umbrella debacle before, they certainly noticed it now. “You want to share one?”
“No, fuck, I don’t need to share an umbrella, I’m not a kid.” Katsuki shoots back without thinking, declining a perfectly good invitation by a decent(ish) person to remain dry.
Katsuki doesn’t think this usually, but at that very moment, his brain only had one thought:
I hate myself.
“Oh, sure thing then.” Eijirou says, not one to force someone into doing anything. He’s already walking off when Katsuki wants to revoke his reply, and the ash-blond male feels a certain sense of despair when he hears the splattering of rain across the classroom windows.
Katsuki reaches the conclusion of merely looting the school for a stray umbrella and hoists his backpack on, walking out of the classroom. He’s only taken two steps when he hears familiar footsteps approaching him, and when he turns around he’s not even surprised to see the red and white haired male standing in front of him.
“Hey.” Shouto says, looking around to make sure there aren’t any other classmates hanging around.
“What.” Katsuki deadpans.
“You know what.”
“Actually, I don’t fucking-” Katsuki pauses when Shouto dangles his umbrella from the strap, his expression nonplussed.
“You hate rain, right?” Shouto says, watching as Katsuki stares at his umbrella almost hungrily. The ash-blond male snaps out of it when he feels Shouto’s gaze, and he turns his nose away abruptly.
“Why do you care?”
“I don’t.” Shouto pauses, looking down at his umbrella. “You probably shouldn’t catch a cold, though. It’ll be a hindrance to everyone else.”
Katsuki stares at him, his emotions flip-flopping between relief and… something else. Something kind of warm. “Right.” Okay, that reasoning Katsuki can accept. “Fine. I’ll use your umbrella.”
☆
It’s awkward. As he probably should have expected.
Katsuki, for some reason or another, had thought it would be less cringey, but he realizes that they’re both aloof and segregated and prideful in their own ways, which is code for ‘awkward assholes’. The ash-blond male kicks at rocks that come in their path, and when his fingers brush against Shouto’s thigh, he suddenly bristles at the contact and clears his throat, trying to push through the silence.
“You ever going to speak up, strawberry milk?” Katsuki tries to think of a degrading nickname but ends up falling a bit short of his intended malice. Shouto lets out a laugh, but he hurriedly slaps his hand over his mouth to stifle the noise.
“Strawberry milk.” Shouto repeats, but he sounds more amused than anything. He touches his own red and white hair before looking down at Katsuki, and the 4 centimetre difference in height suddenly makes a world of difference to the ash-blond male. “It’s not like you were saying anything, you porcupine.”
“Is that- oh, fuck you.” Katsuki huffs, suddenly patting his hair self-consciously. “It gets spikier when it’s rainy.”
“It’s not gel?” Shouto honestly sounds surprised, and Katsuki is caught off guard by his curious tone. “That’s just… your hair?”
“This is coming from the guy with naturally red and white hair.”
“Oh, it’s dyed.”
“What.”
“I’m kidding.” Shouto says, his face perfectly composed. Katsuki really can’t tell if he’s joking or not.
“You’re shit at making jokes.”
“You’re really bad at understanding them. Your sense of humor is clearly broken.”
“Why don’t I break your bones, you fucking raspberry?”
At this, Shouto actually lets out a chuckle, his laughter bright against the neverending rain shower. “Why are you naming me after fruit?”
“Look- it’s hard coming up with things from the top of my head, okay?” Katsuki scowls, watching interestedly as Shouto continues on laughing. “You’re like a tomato with mold.”
At this, Shouto’s face eases back into his usually unamused expression, and he actually angles the umbrella so that the rain hits Katsuki’s face with full force. “Okay, that is extremely offensive.”
They end up arguing the entire way back, and Katsuki doesn’t notice that his shoulder is completely drenched from water until he reaches his house.
☆
Katsuki doesn’t usually battle against vending machines, but when his drink refuses to come out, he seriously contemplates on shattering everything with his quirk. He groans and punches the machine, but his cola never makes it to the entrance- instead, it’s suspended in the air, trapped between the glass and the row it comes from.
“Does it not work?” Shouto suddenly says, seeming to appear from thin air. Katsuki almost jumps from the sudden intrusion, but he steels himself and watches as the red and white haired boy raps against the machine a few times. “What a shame. I wanted lemon tea.”
“We could just break it.” Katsuki says, already lighting his hand up.
“We?” Shouto repeats, and Katsuki can feel a slow trickle of pink crawl up his face from embarrassment.
“I meant, me.” Katsuki quickly corrects himself. “I could break it.”
“No need.” Shouto releases a trail of ice into the machine, and the white shards wrap around Katsuki’s half-fallen cola. He smoothly pulls his ice back outside, and Katsuki’s drink is safe and sound. “Yours?”
“Oh. Yeah.” Katsuki accepts the drink dazedly, and Shouto walks away almost immediately.
He notices two things: one, the drink is cooled to the perfect temperature from Shouto’s ice, and two, the red and white haired boy doesn’t even bother ordering lemon tea from the vending machine.
☆
“I didn’t bring my umbrella,” Shouto announces, “so we’re going to share.”
“You must be joking.” Katsuki says, holding his umbrella in his hand and his gym bag in the other. “What the hell. And- did you… wait for me to finish my workout?”
Shouto closes the book he’s reading from, his expression indecipherable. “I did. So?”
“Uh.” Katsuki is honestly at a loss for words. He looks out the window, and he wants to tell Shouto that it’s not raining terribly hard so just walk by yourself you moron, but he swallows down the statement. “You’re so fucking weird.”
He doesn’t actually mind sharing an umbrella with Shouto, though.
When they reach the entrance, Katsuki opens up his umbrella, the small size barely fitting the two of them. Shouto ends up leaning closer to the ash-blond male, and for some reason, Katsuki feels like he can’t breathe.
“You’re crowding me, fucknut.” Katsuki says hurriedly, pushing Shouto a bit farther to the side. The red and white haired boy immediately leans back in, and Katsuki can smell the scent of laundry detergent wafting off of his clothes.
“I’m not getting rained on.” Shouto warns. “That would defeat the purpose of using an umbrella.”
“You must think you’re a real smartass.”
“I am a smartass.”
They walk a bit further with only the sound of raindrops on their umbrella, and even though they’ve been together a few times already, Katsuki can feel his head spin when he looks at the red and white haired male. He doesn’t really understand why, and while he’s still mulling over the reasoning, Shouto breaks the silence.
“What were you like as a kid?” Shouto asks suddenly. Katsuki turns to look at him, and he regretfully realizes that he actually has to look up to see Shouto’s multi-colored eyes.
“Fawned over.” Katsuki says, reflecting back to his elementary school days. “I had a lot of followers. Deku was one, too. He’s so fucking…” Katsuki sighs and runs his fingers through his hair, unsure of the correct word to use.
“He’s stupid.” Katsuki ends up saying, looking down at the floor. “He’s a professional fanboy to begin with, so he idolized me. But anyway, fuck him.”
“You hate him?” Shouto asks, and Katsuki can’t really bring himself to say yes.
“Most of the time.” Katsuki says instead. “Anyway, ugh. You? How was your childhood?”
“I was ruined.” Shouto replies simply. He doesn’t elaborate, and Katsuki, despite his lack of social etiquette, understands better than to press on with the issue.
“Right.” He says. They lapse into silence again, and Katsuki finds that it isn’t uncomfortable to just walk with Shouto, the background sound of rain droplets and passing cars like music to his ears.
Shouto notices the wet patch accumulating on his own shoulder, and he turns to look at Katsuki. “Hey, I need more umbrella on my side.” Shouto complains, wrapping his hand around Katsuki’s hand. Shouto’s palms are warm, and they completely envelope Katsuki’s hand, and-
Oh-
Oh-
Oh?
Katsuki feels his skin heat up at the contact (quirk? Is it Shouto’s quirk?), and his heart pounds annoyingly hard against his chest, as though it were trying to escape. He doesn’t pull away, and Shouto doesn’t either. It’s only after the red and white-haired male adjusts the umbrella to the perfect angle when he removes his hand, and Shouto looks concerned when he catches sight of Katsuki’s face.
“Your face is really red.” Shouto says, lifting his hand up. “Is it hot? I can cool you down with my quirk.”
“No, what, my face isn’t fucking red, shutthehellup.” The words come out as one long word vomit, and Shouto grabs onto Katsuki’s arm, his hand cooling Katsuki’s arm but heating up his face.
“Huh. I guess you have a fever or something.” Shouto’s voice borders on worry, and he uses his other hand to place it against his forehead, his cool fingers further causing Katsuki to blush furiously, like a schoolgirl’s first meeting with her crush.
“Okay, yeah, fuck no- oh god this is my house, bye.” Katsuki says hurriedly, yanking his arm away. “And I’m taking the umbrella.”
“Wait, what?” Shouto says, confused. He looks at the house Katsuki runs into, and he calls out after him. “Bakugou, this isn’t even your house! You’re trespassing!”
☆
Feelings. Are hard.
Is Katsuki’s thoughtful conclusion when he arrives back in class and sees Shouto and his heart almost bursts into a thousand exploding stars- but he keeps it in, because, no way is Katsuki feeling something for the red and white haired boy, nuh uh.
“Oh. Morning.” Shouto says, waving at someone. It takes a second for Katsuki to realize it was directed to him, and he lifts a hand as a half-hearted attempt to wave. Momo looks over the exchange curiously, and when Shouto sits down in his seat, Momo turns around to talk to him.
“Todoroki, are you friends with Bakugou?” Momo asks, confused at the interaction. Katsuki overhears the question, and his ears turn completely red.
“No, fuck no, what the fuck?” Katsuki says immediately, his mouth spewing profanities at 8 o’clock in the morning. “I’ll beat your ass if you keep on saying shit like that, pineapple hair!”
“Pinea-” Momo touches her hair and sends a withering glare to the ash-blond male. “Are you eavesdropping, Bakugou?”
“Who the fuck are you accusing of eavesdropping, you piece of durian?!” Katsuki yells, abruptly getting up in his seat. “You’re so fucking loud I can hear it over here, so be quiet, asshat!”
“His forte is giving out fruit nicknames, don’t take it too personally.” Shouto says calmly, consoling a teary-looking Momo.
“Well, your forte is shutting up, so do it.” Katsuki snarls. Shouto doesn’t even look angry- in fact, he just shoots a small smile at Katsuki’s direction, and the ash-blond male can feel his anger dissipating at the speed of light.
“Not friends, sorry.” Momo says, backing off. Katsuki snaps out of it and sits back down in his seat, crossing his arms.
“Yeah.” Katsuki says, a bit morose. “Not friends.”
☆
Not that it matters, but-
Katsuki can feel someone’s eyes on him during class, and when he turns around to see who it is, he peers right into the eyes of Todoroki Shouto. The red and white haired boy nods a bit at his direction, and Katsuki nods back before turning to face the front.
-which is what ideally should have happened, but Katsuki is a ridiculous force to be reckoned with, and he suddenly feels so nervous that he causes the pencil he’s holding to combust into dust. His classmates near him yelp from the sudden noise, and Katsuki looks at the pile of pencil shards in his hands in actual shock.
“Bakugou, please, make things explode during designated school hours. It’s classic literature right now.” Aizawa says without even turning away from the blackboard.
“Yeah, yeah.” Katsuki brushes the pencil dust off of his desk, avoiding eye contact with Shouto for the rest of the day.
☆
Okay, Katsuki isn’t the type to run away from his problems. He likes to rush into them head-on without a second thought, which is why he’s so good at winning.
And his current problem is a certain someone named Todoroki Shouto who somehow has the magical ability to stir up stupid butterflies in his stomach. God. What the fuck do those butterflies mean?
“You got an umbrella?” Katsuki asks Shouto. It’s after school, and instead of doing his usual rule-breaking workout, the ash-blond male decides to corner Shouto to walk home with him. Shouto looks a bit surprised at the sudden question, but he nods, his hands holding his umbrella. The plaid parasol is a familiar sight by now, and Katsuki almost feels reassured seeing it.
Katsuki has an umbrella as well.
It is at home.
He had looked at it, and then ignored the helpful black parasol even though the rain was already building up when he walked out of his house.
“Great, okay.” Katsuki says, already standing beside the red and white haired male. “Well, what the fuck are you waiting for? We leaving or what?”
Shouto opens up the umbrella, and as they’re walking together on the street, Katsuki can feel Shouto’s gaze staring at his profile. Eventually the ash-blond male can’t stand it anymore, and he turns his head around, scowling at the sight of Shouto.
“What are you looking at?” Katsuki says rudely. Shouto doesn’t look away, and his next sentence almost causes Katsuki to trip over the pavement.
“You know, you can be kind of cute sometimes, Bakugou.”
What.
It comes out more like a “W-W-W-WHAT?! I’LL KILL YOU IF YOU SAY THAT ONE MORE TIME!”
“Cute.”
He feels his anger ease into happiness, but then he feels completely mortified at his emotions, too embarrassed to actually look directly at Shouto. The butterflies return in greater numbers. His head spins.
“Y-you’re so fucking weird, you know that?” Katsuki stutters, and he wants to stab himself from his almost timid voice. In retaliation, Katsuki yanks the umbrella handle away from Shouto, and the red and white haired male yelps when the rain falls down onto him in torrents.
“What the hell, Bakugou?!” Shouto says, retreating back into the protective cover of the umbrella. Katsuki takes a peek at Shouto, and he wants to scream when he sees the red and white haired male dripping from water, the droplets cascading down his face as though he were an actor filming a rain scene.
“Dry yourself, you bastard!” Katsuki says, feeling himself sweat uncontrollably. “Fuck- fucking shit- dry yourself already!”
“You are the most problematic person I’ve ever met.” Shouto says, but he looks more entertained than angry. “Fine. I’ll dry myself.” Shouto ends up shaking his head and splattering Katsuki with the rain from his hair, and the two of them end up completely soaked by the end of the trip.
☆
Okay, so he probably likes the guy.
Shouto is okay. He’s rude and haughty and snarky, but also sarcastic and fun and- dare he say it- kind of nice sometimes. Maybe friends. Friends? Does Katsuki even make friends?
A subordinate? Katsuki thinks to himself, looking over. A lackey? A-
Shouto places a can of cola on his desk and leaves, walking over to talk to Izuku. The action is smooth, unnoticed by others, but-
Katsuki stares at the can of cola, remembering the moment at the vending machine, when Shouto helps him out. And his small smiles. And occasional glances at his direction. And the way the rain trickles off of him in an almost sinful manner.
I have a motherfucking crush on him. Katsuki realizes, glaring daggers at Shouto’s back. Fuck. I just had to like someone as annoying as him, huh?
Katsuki opens the lid of the cola, and he takes a sip.
He wonders if he should keep the can.
☆
Katsuki begins to look forward to rainy days.
(He will never admit it, but.)
Somehow they keep their interactions on the downlow, and Shouto loiters behind after school to wait for Katsuki, either with or without an umbrella. They’ve been pretty good so far at matching up who brings an umbrella and who doesn’t, but their luck runs out a few weeks later when they meet, look out at the incredibly unfriendly weather, and realize that they’re utterly fucked.
“You don’t have an umbrella?” Shouto says, staring at the strong downpour with dismay.
“You don’t, either? Fan-fucking-tastic.” Katsuki says miserably, already dreading the rain seeping into his clothes. Without umbrellas, it sort of defeats the whole purpose of walking together.
He also has no reason to walk together with Shouto.
Katsuki feels himself deflate a bit.
“Well, our homes are in the same direction anyway. We can stop by the mini mart to buy new ones, and I can use my quirk to dry us off.” Shouto offers, being surprisingly generous towards the ash-blond male. Katsuki keeps on a poker face, but internally he can’t be happier at this sudden turn of events.
“Fine.” Katsuki says, shielding his head with his backpack. “Let’s get going then, Todoroki.”
“What?” Shouto says, blinking a bit at Katsuki’s sentence. “Did you just call me by my name, and not by some degrading fruit nickname?”
“What?” Katsuki says, already opening the doors. “I have no fucking idea what you’re talking about. Come on, you half-assed neapolitan ice cream.”
“Getting creative I see.” Shouto comments, hiding his face under his backpack as well. They run through the rain, and an unvoiced agreement of seeing who can run faster ensues between the two of them. They race against each other, jumping over garbage cans and almost getting hit by cars before reaching the mini-mart as breathless messes.
“I won that round.” Katsuki says while panting, brushing back his bangs. The rain makes it stick onto the rest of his head, and his hair remains slicked back.
“Don’t kid yourself, Bakugou.” Shouto says, walking into the mini-mart. They both sigh in relief from how dry and warm the shop is, and Shouto motions for Katsuki to come closer.
“Here, I’ll dry you off now.” It takes a few minutes, and while Shouto is busy evaporating the water off of Katsuki’s body, the ash-blond male studies Shouto’s face, looking at the way his eyelashes flutter annoyingly every time he blinks.
“Okay, done.” Shouto extinguishes the small fire in his palms and looks at Katsuki, whose hair is still a bit wet. “You’re going to have to deal with your hair like this. It looks pretty good, though.”
Katsuki isn’t used to compliments on his appearance, and he backs away immediately, looking at Shouto with suspicion. “You’ve become weirdly nice to me.” Katsuki says slowly. “Why the fuck are you doing that?”
“Because.” Shouto says, already walking through the aisles of the mini-mart. “I think, despite how rude and mean and socially incompetent you are-”
“Excuse fucking you-”
“You’re not a bad person.” Shouto finishes, pulling out an umbrella from the stand. “And I like you.”
At the word like, Katsuki freezes in place, his face completely shell-shocked from the statement. “Wait, what?” Katsuki says, staring at Shouto’s back as he goes to pay for the umbrellas. “What?”
What?
“You… me?” Katsuki’s mouth opens and closes without a sound, and eventually Katsuki does what any sensible person does in these kinds of situations.
He runs.
☆
Katsuki doesn’t run from problems. It goes without saying that he’s feeling rather uncharacteristically nervous today, and he wants to return to the battlefield with Todoroki Shouto when he’s fully equipped with ammo, thank you very much. At the moment, Katsuki only possesses a stomach full of butterflies (useless, weak insects) and a backpack with sweaty gym clothes.
He doesn’t go that far, however- his pace slows down when he reaches a spectacularly large tree with thick tree branches, and he stands underneath the leafy canopy while watching the rain fall. The rainy season is lasting unusually long, and Katsuki wonders how he’ll walk home with Shouto naturally when summer arrives.
Well, I’ve already made shit weird, so go me. Katsuki thinks, feeling a bit chilly from the rain.
Katsuki isn’t used to this. He’s really only cared about himself, and to suddenly have a space in his mind wondering what Shouto is doing, what he wants in life, how he looks in the morning makes Katsuki want to vomit.
I do not have a crush. Katsuki thinks, settling on denial. I do not like Todoroki. I do not like Todoroki. I do not-
“Bakugou!” Shouto says, panting from exertion. He’s opened up a new umbrella- polka dotted this time- and he has another umbrella in his hand, presumably for Katsuki to use. “What the hell? What’s wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with you?” Katsuki shoots back, his heart threatening to break through his chest. “You like me? How can you say that with a straight face?”
“You’re making way too big of a deal out of it.” Shouto, however, suddenly looks anxious, and he places the second umbrella into Katsuki’s hands. “We can just ignore it if I made it weird. Here, your umbrella.”
Katsuki looks down at his umbrella- a solid red color- and he looks back up at Shouto’s retreating figure, the taller male walking towards the direction of their houses. He clenches his fingers around his umbrella, and without thinking about it he throws it at Shouto’s head.
“Ow!” Shouto yells, feeling the umbrella ricochet off of his head. When he’s busy nursing the pain away, Katsuki stomps up to him and grabs him by his shirt lapels, looking at him threateningly.
“You fuckface.” Katsuki growls, shaking Shouto back and forth. “I fucking hate you, you got it? I fucking hate how your eyes sparkle when you talk to me. And that annoying way you smile at me during class makes my stomach twist like it’s doing fucking acrobatics. And I hate…” Katsuki gulps, feeling Shouto’s eyes watching him as he speaks.
“I hate how… I don’t actually hate you. That much.” He hurriedly adds on. “I kind of, fucking, like you too? Fuck. Wait. Let me restart this.”
“No need. I understand.” Shouto says, placing his hand gently on top of Katsuki’s. The ash-blond male loosens his grip on Shouto’s shirt, and they just stand there, in the middle of the road, blocking traffic and disregarding pedestrians.
“What are those students doing?” Someone whispers in the background, and the two of them snap out of it before clumsily moving towards the sidewalk.
“We’re dating, then?” Shouto says calmly, stating it as more of a fact. Katsuki bristles from the word, but eventually he puts his guard down and sighs in defeat.
“Sure.” Katsuki says, before thinking better of it. “Don’t fucking tell anyone. Our class will never shut up about it.”
“Yeah, sure thing.” Shouto shrugs, and he catches sight of the stranded red umbrella in the middle of the road. “Wait, don’t you want your umbrella?”
“We’ll just share.” Katsuki says, already leaning under the protection of Shouto’s parasol. “Like usual.”
“If you wanted to be closer to me, you could just tell me.”
“I’ll punch your face if you say that again, Todoroki.”
They end up walking hand-in-hand all the way back home.