Kacchan is hiding his crush on Deku. It's like an extreme sport to him and he's the BEST at it. No one tamps down feelings like he does. No one! He's number one, dammit!

Too bad then, that he gets hit with a Quirk that forces him to be all over the object of his affection.

He doesn't realize what's happening at first, after the villain is subdued. He rushes to Deku's side and pulls him into a tight hug and Deku consoles him, "I'm fine Kacchan, I'm not even hurt...hey, what's gotten into you?"

Kacchan buries his nose Deku's green curls, inhaling that scent of almond shampoo, his eyes fluttering shut at the absolute pleasure of such closeness and he can't peel away.

He cups the sides of Deku's face, pets his head, caresses his cheek, nuzzes the side of his neck, whispering butterfly kisses by his ear.

"Kacchan! What're you doing?"

"I don't know, Deku, I don't know!"

Kacchan starts to freak out. Deku looks so damn confused but he also looks cute and absolutely delicious. All Kacchan wants to do is devour him.

Without thinking, or rather with thoughts only full of Deku, Deku, Deku, he takes him by the collar and kisses him square on the lips. It's sloppy, ridiculous heaven. And wait a second, Deku isn't protesting. He's kissing him back. He thinks? His judgment is fuzzy.

"Kacchan?" Deku still looks confused when they break apart, but he's also smiling like a dope. Did he enjoy that? Kacchan is petting his head again, winding his fingers through Deku's hair.

People are staring.

"I-uh, I think we should get back to the office," says Deku. He clears his throat and gazes firmly at the ground. His freckles are painted with blush. Deku starts to walk away, but Kacchan keeps holding on, winding his arm through his and they walk like that down the sidewalk.

*****
"What's wrong with him?" Deku asks Recovery Girl. Even as she examines Kacchan, he's reaching out to try and hold Deku's hand, but he's just out of reach. She needs the space to do her job properly.

"Does he seem to be clinging to anyone else or just you?"

"Just Me," answers Deku, scratching his head.

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Katsuki barks. He's still trying to get ahold of Deku's hand.

"Well, this Quirk seems to make him want to attach himself to you."

"Yeah," Deku agrees."

"But I'm not sure why that is. Why it singled out you specifically. Maybe because you were both together during the attack."

Deku pulls on his bottom lip absent-mindedly as he thinks. "Maybe," he says.

"We need to run more tests. I'll have to keep him here overnight."

Deku nods and finally reaches out to take Kacchan's hand. "I'll be back later, Kacchan, but you should rest. I still have work to do."

"Deku!" Kacchan calls and Deku tries to ignore the pangs in his chest as he heads for the door. He turns back and sees Kacchan struggling to get up, to get to him, even as Recovery Girl is guiding him into one of the hospital beds.

TBC

*****
"Wait, so...Bakugou /kissed/ you? In the middle of the street?" Ochako pours Deku another cup of tea. He's jittery from the caffeine already, but the flavor, the steam, the ritual soothe him.

"Yes!" Deku groans, burying his head in his hands.

"Well, was it good?" she asks. She sounds genuinely curious and under other circumstances, he'd be more than happy to dish, but this just didn't feel right.

"He wasn't himself! Or he was, but it's just the Quirk that made him do it. I'm sure he didn't /want/ to kiss me."

"You didn't answer my question," she replies.

Deku sighs. "Yes, I enjoyed it," he mumbles.

Ochako's eyes grow wide, wider than usual, and that's saying something.

"Please don't tease me! My heart can't take it."

"Okay, okay."

"I'm worried about him," says Deku. "And he just looked really sad when I had to leave. I know that's not real, but it just...it hurts me to see him like that, ya know."

Ochako stares at him for a moment, like she's studying him.

"Don't you think it's at least a little real?"

"What do you mean?" he asks.

She shakes her head at him, tilts it to the side. She looks like she's about to say something, opens her mouth, then closes it again. It reminds Deku of a fish.

"Never mind," she says.

"What?! Tell me!"

/bzzzt/ his phone vibrates in his pocket.

[Kacchan]: Deku, I need you!

[Kacchan]: Where are you? Please! Deku!!!!

[Kacchan]: Come to the hospital, I'm begging you. Please, please, please, please, please...

[Kacchan]: Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please

Deku groans. He clenches his fists and lays his head on the table with a thonk He doesn't even have the presence of mind to let out an 'ow.'

"What? Lemme see!" Ochako says, reaching for his phone.

Deku shakes his head. He holds the phone in both hands, tucked between his knees.

It continues to buzz. The storm of butterflies awakens in the pit of his abdomen and he feels his face grow hot. He takes in a deep breath, then stands suddenly. He's sweating profusely. He's sweatier than Kacchan's palms mid-battle.

"I have to go," he says.

*****
Kacchan doesn't know what's taking Deku so long. He's texted him like 100 times now. As soon as Recovery Girl had left him, he'd bolted upright to grab his phone.

Why is he like this?!!!!! It hurts. He needs Deku. What the hell his happening to him?

Why is this dumb Quirk ruining all the work he's put into managing his feelings for Deku? How is he supposed to live this down? There's certainly no hiding it now. /Fuck!/ He can't stop imagining that kiss. It was real, but not real.

He no longer had any reservations or sense of preservation. He couldn't stop digging his own grave. Deku would probably never want to speak with him again after this whole mess and yet Kacchan had no control. He could not stop texting him, BEGGING him to be there. Pathetic!

"Kacchan?" Deku's voice on the other side of the door. A tentative knock.

"Deku!" Kacchan throws the blanket off of him and runs to the door, just as Deku enters. He almost gets smacked in the head. "You're here!"

He grabs Deku and hugs him, crushes him, really.

And then he notices Deku is shaking. Kacchan pulls away reluctantly, still gripping his shoulders tightly. Holy shit! Deku is crying.

"What? Deku, please don't cry. That hurts me. What's wrong, what's wrong? Deku!"

He swipes at the tears with his thumbs, kisses each one as they fall, so tender he wants to scream.

"Kacchan, please," Deku sniffles.

"Please, what, Deku? I'll do anything, just stay here."

Deku inhales sharply. "I'm not going anywhere, Kacchan, but...we really need to talk."

Kacchan leads him to a chair, hands still on his shoulders, and he sits Deku down, resting his head in his lap. He's sure he must look content but he's still roiling inside. He knows he's about to be rejected by Deku, here and now and when he's not in his right mind.

When all this is over he's going to go to Tartarus and give this villain a piece of his mind for ruining everything.

Deku runs his fingers through Kacchan's hair and it almost convinces him that Deku doesn't hate this attention.

"I'll stay with you as long as you need me too, Kacchan. Until this thing wears off," says Deku.

Shit, but he sounds sad. That makes Kacchan upset, but the continuous feeling of Deku's scarred fingers on his scalp ease the pain and he himself feels happy and content.

"I'd stay with you longer too..." Deku trails off.

Huh?! Kacchan looks up at him with pleading eyes. What does this nerd mean?

"What are you saying, Deku?"

"I wasn't gonna say anything. Even on the way over here, I wasn't, but I think I have to, Kacchan."

/Dammit, just spit it out! What, what, what?!/ Kacchan's mind is racing and his heart thumping wildly.

"I like you, Kacchan. I love you, in fact. Maybe it's dangerous to admit this to you when you're like this, but I really can't be by your side, with you all over me this way, without being honest. It'll eat me up inside, otherwise. I think." His voice wavers.

*****
"Deku, what are you talking about?" Kacchan asks. His fuzzy brain is hitching a little. Is this a trick of the Quirk?

Deku offers a wan smile. Deku's hands are still in his hair.

"Don't torture me this way," Kacchan adds. "Why would you do that to me?!"

"What do you mean?" asks Deku. "I'm sorry, that's the last thing I want to do, but you're torturing me with this Quirk."

Can this be real, what Deku is saying? It sounds real. It feels real. Deku isn't mean. He's sweet and kind and a little reckless (a lot reckless).

"Deku..."

"I really love all this affection from you, Kacchan, and that's the problem because I know it's not real and I wish it was."

"Oh. You don't think it's real, Deku?"

"Kacchan, I know it's the Quirk."

"Yeah? You're sure about that? I'll show you what's real!"

Kacchan springs up from the floor and squeezes himself into the chair at Deku's side, half on top of him, really. He leans in and kisses him fiercely, holding the back of his head for leverage.

It's aggressive and overbearing and Kacchan is painfully aware that that is probably what's making Deku question the sincerity. But he doesn't know how to dial it back, because part of it /is/ the Quirk talking. How does he get control of himself and prove to Deku what is real?

/slow down slow down slow down slow down/ he repeats to himself. Kacchan wills it. Wills himself to be measured. And it works. He's softer now, more deliberate, and he feels the shift in Deku too, the shift in his response.

"Dammit, Deku! My feelings for you are real, I promise!"

"Kacchan-"

Deku pulls away. He looks so flustered and it's kinda hot.

"I don't want to take advantage of you when you're like this," Deku says. His tone says the opposite, but Kacchan is reeling either way.

"You should! I want you to. Take advantage of me, Deku!"

Kacchan bites down on Deku's neck, a little harder than he means to and Deku squirms.

"Kacchan, really, not when you're out of your mind! I want you but not like that! Ach, Kacchan!"

Deku deftly pulls away and Kacchan sighs. Deku's right. He wants Deku, but without this cursed (blessed) Quirk getting in the way. But he chases one last kiss that threatens his control again and it's at that moment when Recover Girl opens the door.

Her eyes glow with shock or maybe not shock. In fact she turns rather nonchalant almost instantly.

"Oh, Midoriya, you're here."

"Uh...ughm, uh..."

"So, I guess you figured out that this Quirk was related to love."

They both nod silently. They stand side by side now, with heads hung, almost like they got in trouble as school boys instead of the grown up pro heroes they are. Kacchan's hand is still straying towards Deku and he mouths a 'sorry,' at his lack of control.

"You need to sleep this off, young Bakugou," she says. Neither of them move.

"Can he stay?" Kacchan asks, looking at Deku with desperate eyes.

"I don't know, can he? I said SLEEP, not whatever you two were just doing."

"Yeah, okay," says Deku. He takes a step away from Kacchan.

"Yeah, okay what? Don't leave me!"

"Kacchan...you heard her. You need to sleep. Are you really gonna be able to do that if I'm here?"

"Well, I can't sleep if you're NOT here!"

"My, my, this is a pickle," Recovery Girl says, going to the medicine cabinet. "If you'll allow me...I may have a solution."

TBC

Kacchan wakes suddenly, as if from a bad dream. His eyes pop open, eyes dart around the room, residual fear clasping wispy fingers around him, until he feels solid arms around him and someone breathing softly by his side.

"Deku?" he says, groggily. Deku is pressed up against him, a soft smile on his freckled face as he dozes peacefully. Kacchan doesn't know what the hell is going on until it hits him like a punch to the gut.

/Noooo. no no no no no. This is bad./ he thinks.

He'd been doing so well, hiding his feelings and then what? Bam. He'd been hit by a stupid Quirk and he'd confessed like an idiot, invaded Deku's personal space, completely put himself out there in the open like a chump, just asking for his heart to be stomped on.

But then, Deku is here isn't he? Deku had told him he had feelings of his own. Dammit, was he just humoring him?Kacchan gazes at the ceiling. He doesn't want to wake Deku; he looks so soft and cozy.

And he realizes that the effects of the Quirk must've worn off because he feels normal again. It's just his ordinary feelings now that bring him to caress Deku's face and to press a soft kiss at the corner of his mouth. Hoping it doesn't stir him.

"Kacchan?"

Dammit.

"Deku." He's overcome with emotion now, as Deku turns to look at him with wide eyes. Tears form in Kacchan's eyes and he fucking hates how exposed he feels. He attempts to pull away, to give Deku space, but he holds on.

"Are you...better?" Deku asks.

"Mhmmm," he answers. "You can let go of me now if you want. I won't freak out."

"Oh. Do you want me to let go of you?"

"Not really."

Deku laughs. It warms Kacchan's heart. And Deku doesn't let go.

Instead he nuzzles in closer to Kacchan's chest and sighs.

"So it wasn't just the Quirk?" asks Deku. "You really like me?"

"Yes." Kacchan presses a kiss to Deku's forehead, then lifts his chin with a finger to get a better look at him. "Deku, you think you're better than me?"

"What? No. Kacchan-"

"You think you're better at hiding your feelings?! Well I got you beat!"

"Kacchan, that's really not a great thing to argue over."

"Yeah, well I guess we were both idiots," Kacchan says. "Equal idiots. Anyway, I'm sorry I put you through that."

"Mmm...s'okay, Kacchan. Now that I know your feelings and you know mine."

"No more hiding," says Kacchan.

On that they agree.

"Oh and Kacchan?"

"Yeah?"

"You know that stuff you were saying and doing..."

"Uh-huh-"

Deku hides his face for a moment before continuing. Kacchan feels both amused and annoyed.

"Well...I kinda liked it."

"Hah!"

"I liked it when you were begging for me, and how you just /had/ to touch me. I kinda wanna see what that's like when you're not...ya know, being controlled by a Quirk."

Kacchan blinks at the realization of what Deku is saying.

His eyes nearly bulge out of his head and his heart picks up speed.

"Why you little-" and Kacchan grabs him, smashing their lips together forcefully. He feels Deku smile against him.

Wait, why did he ever think tamping down these feelings was a good thing?

Kacchan is going to be the best at showing his feelings for Deku. He'll be the best goddamn boyfriend the world has ever seen. And he's going to start by giving Deku exactly what he wants. Because he's number one, dammit!

The End

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this little journey. If you did, consider leaving a tip on my Ko-fi page! Any and all support is greatly appreciated and I'm happy you're here!
https://ko-fi.com/kitkat101 

I don't know why but this is feeling like a companion piece to 'Honestly, Same,' so if you like Quirk shenanigans, check it out!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25115872 

Yo, I put this up on Ao3 too, just to see somethin'

'Don't Make Me Beg (Or Do)'
https://archiveofourown.org/works/27783250 

. @threadreaderapp unroll