Listen up, a**hole - Chapter 5

Bakugou was growing antsy. His hands had been twitching under the table for the better part of half an hour, and he hardly heard a word anyone said around the table. Not because he couldn't hear them, no – quite the opposite, in fact. He could hear too much, between the kitchen sounds and the other tables and the massive crowd of people who had apparently decided it was the perfect time and day to go out for their own lunches and to never shut their damn mouths, bursting with shrill voices and booming laughs, only compounded by the stupid chatter on every side of him that he was supposed to be paying attention to.

“We'll just be a minute,” he heard, right beside his ear. “Sorry, guys. Kacchan, come here a second.”

Midoriya took Bakugou by the hand, dragging him out the front door to where it was a little quieter – a peaceful storefront surrounded by garden, where a few benches were scattered around for people to eat the cafe's famous icecream, but where there were no crowds of people, only the residual noise that travelled out through the door.

He jumped when Midoriya's hands touched his face, gently covering his ears and muffling the sounds, his warm forehead pressing into Bakugou's with a comforting touch.

He didn't speak, didn't even try, just stood and waited, feeling Bakugou's heart pound between their chests and waiting for it to slow.

“I'm okay,” Bakugou whispered, when he began to think straight again. “Th-Thanks.”

“Do you want to go home?” Midoriya asked, shifting his hands just enough to let his voice in between parted fingers. “I can say there's an emergency.”

“No, no, it's- it's fine,” he grumbled, blushing as he looked away, back toward the building where their friends waited. “I just... It was a lot.”

“A lot?”

“How do you focus with all those background noises going on? The kitchen and the people and... and everything.”

Midoriya tilted his head a little, contemplating, but after a moment he shook his head.

“I guess I just tune them out, but maybe you're not used to that? Do you want to...?”

He gestured toward his ears, and Bakugou found himself shaking his head, refusing before he'd even stopped to think about it.

“I need to get used to it,” he explained. “I'm not gonna be some asshole who can't take his damn boyfriend out for lunch just because of some shitty gadgets.”

“Kacchan, it's okay to take some time to adjust! I'm not gonna be mad if you-”

“Shut the hell up.”

He grabbed a handful of green curls, shaking him roughly, and finally Midoriya cracked a smile, looking up at the stubborn face and narrowed eyes.

“There are settings for this shit,” he grumbled, digging his phone out of his pocket. “I just haven't learned how they work yet.”

“Oh!”

“Just... Keep talking, alright?”

With the brightest of smiles, Midoriya agreed. Bakugou didn't listen to a word of it, had no idea what the hell the nerd was going on about from the moment his lips parted to speak, but with his constant voice up close and the chatter of the cafe behind him, somehow he managed to figure out the right levels.

“If it gets bad again,” Midoriya began, when Bakugou gave him a nod. “Give me a codeword to get out of there!”

“Haaah? Shitty nerd, if I had to go I would just say 'oi nerd I have to go, are you coming?' I don't need a shitty code. We're not fuckin' spies.”

“Okay!” Midoriya grinned, ignoring the chastising. “Come on then! I want one of those brownie sundaes!”

“You planning to retire next week, nerdass?”

“Still gonna beat you in the charts even with brownie sundae in me!”

“Dream the fuck on.”

Midoriya slipped an arm around his waist, grinning as he slid in close and dragged Bakugou's arm around him. He was so nice to snuggle, even if he'd punch Midoriya for saying it, and even if none of their friends would ever believe it – he was just so warm and cozy, with nice, strong muscles to lean on. Perfection.

Bakugou cringed as they stepped back inside, but to his relief, the assault of background noise seemed to have lowered to a dull hum. The voices beside him were clearer, when he slipped back into his seat, raising an eyebrow at the little smirk Kirishima shot him.

“You two lovebirds just can't handle a lunch without sneaking off for kisses, huh?”

“My Mom is sick,” Midoriya blurted out, eyes wide. “She sent me a message, and I was afraid we'd have to run off and check on her.”

“Oh! Gosh! I'm so sorry, Midoriya!” Kirishima's face changed immediately, full of regret and guilt. “Give her my love!”

“I will!” Midoriya assured him, silently apologising to every god he knew in the hopes of avoiding the fate now sentenced to him and his mother via karma. “Thank you!”

Bakugou snorted, ready to make fun of them both for the awkwardness, but when he heard a quiet voice pipe up beside him he jumped instead.

“I'm sorry!” the kid squeaked, when Bakugou turned to look. “I didn't mean to sneak up on you!”

“It's fine,” he frowned, leaning in a little closer to make sure he could hear properly. “Is everything okay?”

“Y-You're Mister Ground Zero, right? The hero?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Me and my little brother are your biggest fans! We watch you on TV every day!”

Bakugou managed a smile, nodding slightly as he offered the kid a hand.

“It's nice to meet you. Thank you for the support.”

The kid squeaked excitedly as he returned the handshake, practically bouncing with his excitement as he turned a little to point across the room.

“That's my Momma and my brother! Is it okay if he comes and says hi?”

Bakugou was a little confused by the question, until he followed the finger, spotting a nervous little boy – maybe six years old, at the most – with his mother standing behind him. He wasn't sure, at first, why the kids hadn't just come over together – maybe he was just shy?  – until he noticed the chair.

“Why don't I come say hi instead?” he offered, rising to his feet. “Might be a little easier for your Momma.”

“Okay! Thank you so much!”

The gaps between tables were small, winding between chairs and people, and while Bakugou, of course, had no issue with navigating them, the chair was much wider than he was.

“Hi there,” he began, crouching down in front of the kid and smirking at the teary eyes. “It's nice to finally meet my biggest fan.”

He could already hear the mother sniffling, holding back her tears admirably as Bakugou shook hands with the little boy and listened to his excited rambling about the fights he'd been watching and the villains Bakugou had taken down.

“One day I'm gonna be a hero too!” he exclaimed, his face immediately falling when he realised the words that tumbled from his mouth. “Well, I was gonna be, but I got hurt and now I can't walk anymore.”

“Don't let that stop you, kid,” Bakugou said sternly. “There's is not a single damn reason in the world that you can't be a hero, you hear me?”

“B-But... My legs, um, they don't work right.”

“So? You find something to help them, or you find a way to be a hero without using them. As long as you believe you can be a hero, you'll find a way. When have I ever been wrong, huh?”

“Never!” the kid beamed. “Okay! I'll do my best!”

He paused, words halting on his lips, his mouth at war with his own brain.

“Do you want to know a secret?” he asked, dropping his voice as low as he could possibly manage.

“Okay!”

“It's a super-important top secret, you have to swear to me that you'll never tell another person.”

“I promise! I'll never!”

He leaned in close to the boy's ear, hesitating even as he began the words.

“My ears don't work right,” he confessed quietly. “I have little thingies in them to make me hear better.”

“Really?!”

“Uh-huh. Support tech is amazing. But no one is allowed to know, in case a villain tries to break them.”

“I promise I won't tell!” the boy assured him with a grin. “I'm really happy!”

“Me too, kid,” Bakugou smiled surprisingly genuinely. “You still think I'm cool even knowing my secret, right?”

“The coolest hero ever!”

“Thanks, kid. I look forward to seeing you out there to fight villains with me, in a few years.”

“Uh-huh! Real soon!”

“Can't wait.”

One of the waiters produced a marker, and he signed his name across the older brother's bag, and then, with a chuckle, across the younger brother's wheelchair. They were both delighted as they compared autographs, and Bakugou just shook his head when their mother thanked him over and over.

“Happy to help,” he told her, surprising himself with how much he actually meant it. “Never stop supporting him, he'll find a way. The good ones always do.”

His eyes trailed back to a long table of heroes, as he said it, and to a mop of curly hair in particular. When the young man looked up, with shining green eyes, he sent a beaming smile Bakugou's way, and Bakugou couldn't help but return it.

“You'd be surprised what some of us have had to learn to work with,” he said softly. “I've heard weirder stories than wheelchairs.”

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