College AU, in which after the war Bakugou applies himself and Izuku to an American exchange program to help Izuku cope with his feelings and get his passion back.
“Kacchan, I look ridiculous in that.”
“Stop the whining, nerd. I was the one dressing you - you simply cannot look ridiculous.”
Izuku laughs softly, looking at Bakugou’s hands on his tie. “That’s neat”
“Of course, it is,” Katsuki smirks, adding final touches to Izuku’s look. “Here, you’re ready”
“I’m definitely not.” Midoriya shakes his head, tightening the grip on his papers. “I’m feeling like I’m going to fail.”
Katsuki rolls his eyes, sighing loudly. “Here, listen to me, Izuku.” He takes the papers out of Izuku’s hands, places them on the bed, and takes now free hands in his.
“You know I’m not the one to give encouraging speeches. But I know that out of all the people in that damn conference hall, you worked the most. I don't know a person who's even an inch close to how passionate you are about all that. You deserve to be there, Izuku. And you also deserve the fucking prize.”
“There's no prize, Kacchan, it's just a student conference,” Izuku says, his eyes full of tears now. Katsuki wipes them away, cradling Midoriya’s face in his hands.
“Then we'll come up with something. Now take your things - I don't want you to be late.”
“Don’t make me go in there, please” Izuku pleads, turning away ready to leave. But Katsuki stops him, returning him to his spot.
“You know I can’t go with you, but I’ll be there. In the crowd. Cheering for you as a goddamn cheerleader” Bakugou says and Izuku smiles, looking fondly at the other man. “Will you use pom poms too?”
“No fucking way” Katsuki scoffs, pushing Midoriya to the door. “Now go, they start in two minutes.” He looks at the other man’s back for a while and then shouts out as if remembering something. “Good luck there, Izuku”
“You should say “Break a leg, Izuku” Kacchan”
“Don’t you ever use the word “break” in the same sentence with you”
Izuku laughs, and finally goes in, turning one last time to look at Bakugou. “Sure, Kacchan. And thank you. I’ll need that luck.”
Katsuki nods, but Midoriya doesn't see that, already mingling in the crowd of students, revising their presentation notes. He stays in the hall for a while, trying to find Izuku's figure in the crowd though he knows it's pointless: he’s presenting in the very beginning and probably already went backstage, checking out everything he needs. Katsuki smirks and goes to another door, entering the guest part of the conference hall and taking the free seat. It's too far from the stage but it's too late to change it: the music starts playing and one of the students he saw in the crowd appears on stage, his entrance followed by a wave of applause.
“Welcome everyone to our annual international student conference. This year our theme is the following: Hero Costumes Creation and its Dependence on Quirk Peculiarities. Today, we’re glad to announce an impressive number of presenters - we have 46 speakers today! Let's give them all an encouraging applause!”
The hall goes on clapping and the student smiles, joining the crowd. After a minute he continues his speech.
“Now, I think we're ready to start. Let me present to you the first speaker of today - Jeanette O’Murrey. The stage is yours” The girl gets on stage and the host student welcomes her, handing her his microphone, and then hides behind the curtains. Jeanette greets everyone and immediately gets into the presentation. She’s visibly nervous, her hands slightly shaking when she’s changing the slides. She goes on, rambling about some hero costume designs she came up with, but Katsuki doesn’t listen. He just looks at the stage, blankly, waiting for Izuku's entrance. Speakers go on and off stage, and the crowd cheers for everyone, some of the guests asking questions from time to time.
The seventh person finishes their speech and the host student is back again, ready to announce the next speaker.
“Thank you Mr. Valet for your amazing presentation. The next speaker we’d like to invite on stage is,” he looks at his notes to make sure he pronounces the name right, “Midoriya Izuku.”
Katsuki straightens up, now fully aware of everything going on on the stage. He’s now looking right at Izuku, following his every movement.
“Hello everyone,” Izuku starts, tightening the grip on his notes, “my name’s Izuku Midoriya, but I guess you already know that. Today, I want to present to you my research paper on how we can improve hero costumes for those, whose quirks fall into a category of “mutation quirks”.
He turns the page, reading his notes. Switching the slides of his presentation, he takes a deep breath, looking at the crowd. He’s searching, carefully, for the specific pair of eyes, whose gaze can soothe him better than anything. And they’re already looking at him. Katsuki is looking. They look at each other for just a second, but that’s enough for Katsuki to mouth an encouraging “You got this”.
So Izuku takes it, going back to his speech.
The shaking ceases, his voice becoming steady with every word he says. And Katsuki just watches him, with a smile on his face for the whole presentation. He’s so proud of him at this moment. He really is. And he wants to let Izuku know about it. Here and now.
It takes them 8 hours to listen to everyone and Izuku’s absolutely drained. He gets out of the hall the second he gets the opportunity and immediately goes to the guest door, wanting to catch Katsuki there. He looks at the crowd of people searching for a familiar face.
“Looking for someone?” Midoriya turns around, locking his eyes with Bakugou’s. Katsuki’s standing far from the rest of the people, smiling softly at Izuku. Izuku smiles back, running toward him, folding him in his arms.
“Have you seen me?” He starts, his eyes full of tears but his voice happy, “I did it, Kacchan! I did it!”
“Yes, Izuku. I’ve seen everything. You did it. And you were amazing. You really were.”
And so I'm finally ready to present one of the pieces I've been working on for BNHA Secret Santa held by @kacchanot-fucking-deal-with-this!! This gift is specifically for @natsuzaki and I was so happy to work on this one. You've asked for some fluff and college AU with these two and I couldn't resist some bakudeku fluff - I'm always up for it!! I hope I did a good job showing that part of them and I really hope you like it!! And so sorry it took me so long.
Merry belated Christmas!! Hope you enjoy your gift!
