I'm a One-Man Pride Parade, B*tch.

This was written as part of a Big Bang event, which means in a few weeks time when it goes public, there'll be art for it too! I'm really looking forward to it, my partner has become a really good friend through this event!

─────

For the briefest of moments, Midoriya wondered if there had been some kind of weird villain attack. A transformation quirk someone had used, to get closer to the school, or some kind of mind control maybe? Whatever it was, something was wrong.

"Haaaah?" Bakugou demanded, folding his arms stubbornly and glaring down at his concerned friends. "The hell you tryin' t'say, asshole?"

"I just wanted to make sure you're okay!" Kirishima insisted, holding his hands up as if he were surrendering. "This isn't like you, you know? I know you like pushing the boundaries of uniform rules, but this is a whole new level."

"I'm fuckin' gay, Shitty-Hair. You got something to say to me?"

"N-No! Not at all! I mean, um, congratulations?"

With a huff, Bakugou fell sideways into his chair, scowling at all the surprised and curious eyes darting his way. Midoriya took the chance to consider him, to eye up the blindingly bright t-shirt he wore under his unbuttoned uniform, striped with a neon rainbow.

Midoriya had seen the news articles, of course – they weren't exactly uncommon. Pride parades, festivals of bright colours and glitter and celebration, rallies for equal marriage rights in the country, like much of the rest of the world already had. He knew they were behind, in that sense, as a country, and yeah, that bothered him, but he'd never associated any of it with Bakugou. For as long as he'd known him, Bakugou was dark colours, skulls and flames, perfectly torn jeans and designer shirts that he vehemently denied were tailored to his body (even though they clearly were).

"I like it," he smiled quickly, when Bakugou turned his glare toward the freckled face that was scrutinising him. "It looks nice on you!"

"Shut up, nerd."

Despite the brief moment of concern that had come over him previously, Midoriya knew that this was the real Bakugou sitting before him. He could see the hint of anxiety hidden deep within scarlet eyes, the tense limbs and gritted teeth of a teenager trying not to show weakness, lest he be mocked for the rest of his life.

Midoriya was contemplating his next words, wondering if "I'm proud of you" would land him in the nurse's office, when Aizawa walked through the doorway, eyes scanning over the class, and froze.

"Bakugou, what is this?" he asked with a sigh, already defeated before class had even begun.

"Technically I'm still in uniform," Bakugou countered, waving the hem of his shirt pointedly.

"I'm too tired for this," Aizawa conceded, waving it off. "Whatever, I don't care."

With the faintest of smirks, Bakugou turned to sit properly, digging out his books for their first class. Despite his general attitude and rude, sometimes even foul, language, he really was a good, diligent student. Midoriya had quickly learned that most of the U.A. teachers would make exceptions for people like Bakugou, even if the rest of the world wouldn't.

"The colours look good on you," he said instead, watching Bakugou's ears turn pink. "Nice was probably the wrong word, before. But really, you look handsome! Kacchan is amazing."

Bakugou didn't bother to answer him, pretending to be reading rather than paying attention to his chatter, but Midoriya knew. He wasn't going to push the matter, though – it was Bakugou's choice to share the information, and his choice how much he wanted to share, too. If he didn't want to say anything more than "I'm gay" then that was a-okay with Midoriya, he would just smile and leave him to his own devices.

More importantly, he would wait.

What he didn't expect, though, was exactly how many times Bakugou would say the words. No subtlety, no variation, just completely blatant and - ironically - straight faced.

"Bakugou, can you read the next passage for us?"

"Nah, I'm gay."

He stared Aizawa down, daring him to say a word of it, and once again Aizawa just sighed.

"I'll do it, Sensei!" Kaminari offered, jumping to his feet with the book in his hands.

"Thank you, Kaminari."

Bakugou sat back with a smug look on his face, already scrawling answers to paragraphs they weren't close to reaching yet. He was a quick reader – they both were. Even at kindergarten, they'd sat whispering to each other about the end of the story while their teacher was still reading slowly to the class and pointing at the pictures. Midoriya credited a lot of it to the abundance of hero books their mothers had bought them as toddlers, to their boundless enthusiasm and the desperation to read every story right away, without waiting for their parents to spare the time.

An hour passed, a new teacher arrived, and the event began all over again. A moment of confusion when they saw the neon colours, a pause as they debated whether or not to address it, and a little sigh of resignation as they decided it wasn't worth it.

"Bakugou, are you ready to present your project?"

"No, I'm gay."

Their classmates were sniggering, but once again the teacher had no idea what to say, deciding instead to just say nothing at all.

"Okay, that's fine," they finally agreed. "Tomorrow, then."

"I'll still be gay tomorrow," Bakugou muttered. "But whatever."

Midoriya found himself smiling fondly even though their classmates were growing exasperated. Half of them just rolled their eyes and ignored it, a few of the braver souls even told him to cut it out, but Midoriya knew, Midoriya understood.

This was the first time Bakugou had openly told anyone, after all, and he had chosen not just one or two friends to confide in, but the entire class – the entire school, in a way. This was the first time he'd truly been able to carve his own identity, to lay claim to such a big part of himself, and Midoriya was proud of him beyond belief, even if he'd chosen a somewhat ridiculous way to do it.

"Bakugou, why is your uniform so messy today?"

"I'm gay," he answered stubbornly, as if it were such an obvious conclusion.

The cycle repeated with every new teacher, the students groaning every time the new pair of eyes zeroed in on Bakugou and the new mouth opened to ask. They had quickly grown weary of the discussion, since it went the exact same way every time.

"Yo, Blasty," Ashido called, when they were finally dismissed for lunch. "You coming to eat with us?"

"Piss off, I'm gay."

"Real funny dude, seriously, you coming or what?"

With a quiet grumble he gathered his things, heading over to join them, and Midoriya watched his back as he went. He wondered if Bakugou's friends knew what was going on, if they really understood what he was doing, but he supposed it was up to Bakugou if he wanted to explain, it wasn't Midoriya's to tell.

He nodded when Uraraka began to speak, grabbing his things in a hurry and jumping up before she'd finished the question. He flashed her a big smile, and her concerned look softened a little.

"You didn't know, huh?" she asked understandingly. "It must be strange to find out like this."

"I always kind of knew," he corrected her. "I mean, I suspected, anyway. He never liked girls, he shut down any conversation his friends tried to have with him about classmates and actresses and things. I thought maybe he was just focussed on hero work, you know? But sometimes I caught him looking for just a little too long at guys who passed by, or heroes on TV, so I guess I kind of figured."

"I always thought he just didn't like romance! He's not really the romantic type!"

Midoriya's mind screamed at him, desperate to correct her, but he clamped his mouth shut in a wobbly smile rather than let it escape.

"I never put him in the rainbows type, though," Midoriya continued after a moment, pushing Uraraka's statement aside. "He's the most prideful person I know, but I never connected him with Pride, you know?"

"I get it! You don't have to know everything about the guy, though! You're allowed to keep learning, I'm sure he's still learning things about himself!"

As they trailed their way through the crowds to the lunchroom, Midoriya couldn't get it out of his head. There were things Kacchan didn't know about Kacchan, which meant there were things he didn't know about Kacchan either. What a weird lesson to learn over a rainbow shirt.

Did that mean there were things Kacchan didn't know about him, either?

The thought was quickly gone when they found the commotion waiting for them in the cafeteria, everyone crowded around one poor soul in the middle of the room. For a moment he thought it must be Bakugou, until he heard a familiar voice protesting and caught a glimpse of rainbow stripes being dragged into the mess.

Slowly the crowd began to disperse, and with his arm still gripped in a hardened hand despite his struggles, Bakugou scowled at the new person. Uraraka hurried to join them, and Midoriya followed behind, slapping a little smile on his face. 

Kirishima was talking at a mile a minute, and any time he paused for air, Uraraka took over with the same enthusiasm. Midoriya exchanged a knowing look with Bakugou, then looked up again with a sheepish smile. He could see the eyes locked on Bakugou's shirt, even without having met him before, could practically hear the whirring thoughts as the new girl debated whether or not she should ask.

"I'm gay," he said finally, when the two chatterboxes paused.

"And I'm Midoriya Izuku!" Midoriya grinned.

The entire group groaned at him, and he couldn't help but be a little proud of himself for making Bakugou break his composure.

"You are the worst," Bakugou growled, when Midoriya smiled at him smugly. "You're making fuckin' Dad jokes now?"

"It was funny, Kacchan!"

"So Midoriya and Kacchan?" the girl asked sweetly.

Midoriya and Kirishima threw out an arm each, halting Bakugou in his tracks as he balled his hands into fists and opened his mouth to yell, sharp teeth flashing at the poor, unsuspecting girl. They shook their heads wildly, and Midoriya clamped a hand over Bakugou's mouth.

"Sorry!" Midoriya piped up quickly. "He's my childhood friend, it's a dumb old nickname!"

"He's Bakugou," Kirishima clarified.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" she bowed low, and Bakugou froze. "I didn't mean to offend!"

"It's fine," he answered gruffly, when Midoriya retracted his blockade. "I, um, probably over-reacted."

"It's okay!"

Uraraka threw an arm around the girl's shoulders, leading her over to the table where Asui and Hagakure were waiting, and Midoriya smiled when Kirishima quietly excused himself.

"Is everything okay, Kacchan?"

"I'm fine."

"If there's anything you want to talk about, I'm always here to listen!"

Bakugou paused, looking away as he stuffed his hands deep in his pockets, his pout ruined by the happy barrage of colours.

"I should have told you," he said finally, after an awkwardly long silence. "Like, before the others."

"It's okay! I don't mind! However Kacchan thinks is best!"

"That's not what I mean."

"Does it help if I tell you I suspected anyway? I'm okay with it, Kacchan, you know that!"

"It's not about that, though."

"I know! It's about being able to define yourself, right? About telling everyone who you are on your own terms! That's why I didn't say it at first, but you seemed so torn about it, I wondered if it would help somehow!"

Bakugou nodded faintly, his expression strangely mellow, and when he finally stepped away, he did it with a gentle punch to Midoriya's shoulder.

"I'm gay, Deku."

"And I'm Deku, gay!"

"Shut up, nerd."

─────

Somehow, things seemed more peaceful when they returned to class after lunch. Their teachers had all heard the stories, and no one bothered to question Bakugou anymore, just letting him do his thing with his new shirt and his uncharacteristically dumb responses to any questions directed his way.

At least, it was peaceful until Aizawa returned to teach, a little slip of paper held between his fingers wth Bakugou's name emblazoned on it.

"Bakugou, you're needed in the office."

The whole room felt him tense up, bristling with the angry defense waiting on his lips, and Aizawa shook his head faintly.

"Midoriya, would you mind escorting him?"

Midoriya blinked at him, but nodded, slipping his books back into his bag and following Bakugou up to the front of the room.

"I don't need a damn escort," Bakugou said flatly, snatching the paper from Aizawa's hand. "I'm not a damn child."

"It's for my benefit, not yours," Aizawa told him, in a tone that almost matched Bakugou's quiet frustration. "So I know you've actually gone where I told you to go."

Bakugou muttered something inaudible, but he didn't complain when Midoriya followed him out to the hall, scowling at the notice in his hand.

"Fuckin' guidance counsellor," he spat, as if the words tasted foul in his mouth. "Again."

"You don't exactly have a history of doing well with her," Midoriya giggled, despite the sharp glare it earned him. "I'm surprised they still bother. I wonder why he sent me with you, though? It's not like you skip class and stuff, you're a good boy."

"Shut the hell up," Bakugou grumbled, stuffing his hands deep in his pockets and looking away, his voice strangely quiet.  "Because you're the only one who knows."  

"Huh?"

"You heard me, asshole. I didn't... tell anyone else. When they called me in, before."

"Oh. Just me?"

"Yeah."

They fell silent for a moment, and Midoriya thought back to the winter of their first year, when they'd been sitting on the train back home to visit their parents, bundled up in scarves and gloves to deal with the heating that was always inexplicably broken.

"They sent me to the counsellor," he'd said bluntly, staring out at the dark sky beyond the train windows. "Convinced I'm traumatised or some shit."

"Are you?" Midoriya had asked carefully, sneaking a glance at his twisted expression. "You've been through a lot. We all have, but you especially."

"I'm fine," he'd answered stubbornly. "She just wanted to ask all these dumb questions about my feelings and shit."

"You have those?"

"Asshole," Bakugou punched him in the arm, but cracked a smile all the same.

"If you ever want to talk, you know where to find me," Midoriya shrugged, hoping the words sounded at least relatively casual. "I can listen."

"Yeah," Bakugou's voice had been surprisingly quiet. "Uh, th- thanks."

"You coming, nerd?" Bakugou asked, breaking Midoriya out of his thoughts.

"O-Oh! I can wait here!"

Bakugou pulled a face, and somehow Midoriya found himself nodding, following him through the door into a quiet little office instead.

"This is Deku," Bakugou grumbled, falling heavily into a chair. "He's here to make sure I don't run away or some shit, I don't know."

"Kacchan," Midoriya hissed. "Language!"

"She doesn't give a shit."

He offered the lady an apologetic smile, sitting down awkwardly in the chair at Bakugou's side.

"I'm moral support!" he declared instead, laughing when Bakugou punched him for it. "We've been friends since we were little kids. Midoriya Izuku."

"It's very nice to meet you!"

The lady was lovely: bright and sunny in disposition, with a kind smile, and Midoriya immediately understood why Bakugou hated seeing her. They were polar opposites in every way, and Bakugou was not the patient type when it came to people who irritated him.

"So I heard it's been an eventful day," she began sweetly, gesturing toward Bakugou's t-shirt. "We just wanted to check that you're okay! Is there something going on? Maybe you're stressed out with school or your friends?"

"I'm gay."

"Well that's a great self-discovery! When did you-"

"I've always been gay," Bakugou corrected her, scowling. "It's not new or some shit. I decide for one fuckin' day that I want to tell people who I am and every fuckin' teacher, student, and their dog has to make a big deal out of it. Why can't I just be fuckin' gay?!"

"You can," Midoriya answered, at the same time the counsellor did.

"If that were true I wouldn't be sitting in this fuckin' office."

"Your teachers and your classmates care about you," the counsellor continued gently. "No one is telling you not to be you, no one is telling you not to be open about yourself, we simply want to make sure that everything else is okay, too. Any time there's a big change in a student's behaviour or attitude, it's my job to ensure there isn't something bad causing it. But if you tell me that this is you, and you decided to do this by yourself, and that nothing is worrying you or upsetting you, then you are most welcome to continue like this."

"I'm fine," Bakugou answered, with a surprising lack of vitriol. "I just wanted to..."

He trailed off, but the counsellor nodded all the same, and Midoriya smiled when Bakugou glanced his direction.

"I don't want to feel like I'm in the closet," Bakugou grumbled. "Like I'm hiding it or something."

In a moment of weakness, Midoriya reached out, setting his hand on a tense thigh. Bakugou looked at it, but for once, he didn't shove him away.

"I'm not ashamed of who I am," Bakugou added. "I don't want anyone to think I am."

"It's okay, Kacchan," Midoriya whispered. "We get it. You be as open and brash as you want, we love you no matter what."

"God, now you're the one that sounds gay," Bakugou snorted, shoving him lightly. "Cut it out, sappy nerd-ass."

"There's our Kacchan," he giggled. "Sorry!"

The guidance counsellor scribbled something on the piece of paper Bakugou brought in, handing it back to him, and when he pushed his chair back Midoriya followed suit.

"It was nice to see you again, Bakugou," she smiled widely. "And very nice to meet you, Midoriya!"

"You too!" he agreed, sighing when Bakugou immediately headed for the door. "Kacchan, you could at least say goodbye!"

He raised one hand in a little wave over his shoulder, and with a last apologetic look back, Midoriya followed.

"Most open he's ever been," Bakugou snorted, reading the piece of paper and resisting the temptation to blow it to pieces. "I hate this shit."

"You did such a good job, though, Kacchan! I'm so proud of you!"

"Shut the hell up."

"Nuh-uh, I mean it! It must have been so hard for you all day, standing up for yourself and sharing this part of yourself even though you weren't sure how people would react! Kacchan is amazing!"

For a moment they stopped, staring at each other in silence, before Midoriya broke the awkwardness by holding his arms out.

"Hug?"

"Fuck off."

─────

"Young Bakugou!" All Might called across the group, a little too loud for Bakugou's liking. "That's a great shirt you have on, very colourful! Might I ask what happened to your hero costume?"

The class fell into a collective groan, bracing themselves for it, and Bakugou tensed up.

"I'm gay," he repeated, for what had to be the fifteenth time that day.

"Fantastic! You know, I still remember my own journey of self-discovery! I was a little older than you, though! Ah, youth is a wonderful thing."

The group fell silent, but All Might didn't seem to notice, too busy sighing fondly to himself, staring into the distance with a strangely soft look on his face.

"I remember one afternoon in Texas, in the middle of summer, I was waiting for Dave so we could go get dinner. He came rushing in all sweaty, apologising for getting caught up in a project, and there was this one glistening bead of sweat that ran down his neck and chest." All Might sighed again, smiling. "Oh how I wished I could be that bead of sweat."

There was a moment of awkward silence before All Might remembered where he was, jolting back to attention and quickly moving his hands to his hips.

"But let's not waste your youth with an old man's tales! Let's do some sparring!"

As they split off, Bakugou found a freckled little lump sidling up beside him, already wearing an apology on his face as he smiled.

"Can I ask you something, Kacchan?"

"What is it, nerd?"

"Um... What do you want me – or any of us – to say? I mean, I know you're not the... The love and acceptance type. You don't want a bunch of hugs and tears and 'I'm so proud of you' and all that nonsense. So what should I say? What should I do?"

"Nothing," Bakugou answered with a frown, his eyebrows knitting together as they locked eyes. "I don't give a shit what people say."

"You don't have some kind of preference? Like... High fives or something?"

"Haah? Fuck off," Bakugou growled, folding his arms. "Why do you have to respond? I just want to yell about liking dudes, that's all."

"So you don't want us to say anything?"

"I couldn't give less of a fuck what you all say or don't say. This is my day and my chance to scream at the world that I like dicks and no one can take that away from me."

"Okay," Midoriya grinned, nodding. "I can handle that."

Other than the colourful attire, the class was surprisingly normal. They sparred a while, changed partners, sparred a little more – worked on their stamina, their endurance, their ability to adjust quickly to a new quirk up against them. It was just any old class, and something about that felt weird to Midoriya, after his eventful day. Even when the class ended, as they gathered to drain their water bottles and collect their backpacks, everyone was just so... normal.

It was kind of infuriating, too, since he really just wanted a minute alone to talk to Bakugou again before he ran off and hid in his room for the night, refusing to answer his phone or open his door.

"Um, here."

He looked back to see Todoroki, arms outstretched, with familiar neon colours hanging from his hands. It took a moment for Midoriya to understand, eyes raking over Bakugou's shirt to the charred hole, leaving half of his pink-stained stomach on display.

"I can't do much about the burns," he continued, "but I felt bad for ruining your shirt."

Even Bakugou understood the gesture for what it was, and he stood in silence as he accepted, nodding once before he switched it out for the destroyed one. He didn't thank him, and Todoroki didn't apologise, but there was an odd peace that stretched between them as they parted ways.

As much as Midoriya liked seeing how supportive their classmates were, and how kind and accepting they all turned out to be, he couldn't help but feel antsy, shifting his weight from foot to foot and fidgetting with the hem of his shirt. He'd spent all afternoon psyching himself up, and now it looked like he wouldn't get even a moment alone before Bakugou would get angry at the abundance of social interaction and storm off.

Uraraka seemed to understand, when she caught his eye, because soon she was making excuses for why they should head off in a hurry, ushering their friends away with promises of dinner. He could still hear her voice in his head, excited and insistent as they walked back from lunch, pointing out how perfect the opportunity was - how could he possibly miss it?

Eventually Ashido took pity too, shooting Midoriya a knowing little smirk as she dragged Kirishima and Kaminari away, and finally they were alone.

"Kacchan?" Midoriya asked, taking a step closer. "Um, how was class?"

"Haah?" he scowled, considering Midoriya carefully with his twitchy fingers and avoidant eyes. "What's it to you?"

"Y-Yeah, never mind, sorry!" he squeaked. "I was just, um, making conversation."

"Whatever."

He took a deep breath, bracing himself, and as he opened his mouth to blurt out the dumb words he'd practiced over and over his head, a strong hand landed on his shoulder.

"My boys!" All Might said cheerfully, wrapping an arm around each of them. "Why don't you come have tea with a lonely old man?"

Midoriya could see the glint in All Might's eye, could practically smell the aura of I'm-doing-a-good-thing that he radiated, but try as he might, he couldn't bring himself to turn the man down.

"Whatever," Bakugou grunted. "You got biscuits or some shit to go with it? I'm starving."

Kacchan, I heard good things about the new restaurant down the road, you should come check it out with me!

Words so perfectly crafted taunted him inside his head, left unspoken when All Might laughed and agreed.

"I'm sure I can find you something!"

Midoriya nodded faintly when they looked across at him, trudging along behind as they headed for All Might's office. He shouldn't be so dejected by it, not when he got to have tea with Bakugou and All Might together – his two favourite people. He'd been so excited, though, to enact his master plan, and he wasn't entirely certain that he would be able to find the courage to attempt it all over again.

But still, he sat, and he did his best to smile and laugh and have a conversation over hot tea and sweet biscuits, giggling as Bakugou stuffed his face with them and mumbled some awkward responses to All Might's tales. He seemed to have developed a sudden fondness for sharing his experiences as a young adult, giving them a little too much information about his exploits in university.

The sky was dark by the time they made it out, Bakugou's stomach growling again already, and Midoriya slapped a smile on his face as he braced himself and did his best to muster up some courage.

"Kacchan," he began, trembling when Bakugou stopped to look at him curiously.

"What's eating you, nerd?" he asked bluntly.

"I- Uh, I was just wondering... Do you think maybe we could go on a date some time?"

"Piss off, I'm ga- Wait. What?"

"D- Do I need to ask again?"

"You like guys too?"

Midoriya froze, his mouth open as if he'd started to speak and failed, eyes wide as he stared at Bakugou's curious face.

"You didn't know?" he asked finally.

"Why would I know that?!"

"Kacchan knows everything."

"Shut up, asshole!" Bakugou scowled, punching him when he laughed. "Seriously?"

"Uh-huh!"

For a moment they were quiet, then Bakugou dropped his backpack, peeling off his new Yaoyorozu-crafted shirt and tugging it roughly over Midoriya's head. Midoriya could do nothing but laugh, a little teary-eyed, letting Bakugou stuff the neon stripes on him and ruffle his messy hair.

"Welcome to the team, nerd."

By the time they made it back to the dorms, their fingers had somehow become laced together, Bakugou's hand warm and strong in his, clutching him surprisingly firmly.

"So you're gay too?" Ashido asked, looking up just long enough to see Bakugou in his dark undershirt while Midoriya wore his t-shirt.

"Well, no," he conceded, smiling faintly. "But I do like guys! Especially Kacchan!"

"He's mine now," Bakugou said simply, pulling him a little closer. "Come on, you can hang out while I cook."

"Can I try some too? Kacchan is such a good cook!"

"Obviously, dumbass. Come eat with me."

─────

When the weekend rolled around, Midoriya woke to a heavy knock on his door, stumbling out of bed to open it and find his perfectly put together and wide awake boyfriend waiting impatiently on the other side.

"Kacchan?" he asked groggily, running a hand through his hair. "Sorry, I just got out of bed. Um, come in?"

"I got you something."

"A present from Kacchan?"

"Shut up," Bakugou grumbled, blushing as he handed over the cardboard box. "I, um, wasn't sure which one was right, so I got... a few. Just keep what you want and toss the rest out or whatever."

Midoriya sat down on the edge of the bed and tore through the tape, jaw dropping when he found a collection of striped shirts in different sets of colours. A few he recognised, others he'd never seen in his life, so he pulled up a list on his phone as he flipped through them.

Bisexual, that one he knew. Pansexual, he was pretty familiar with that too. Ace? Yeah, that was a pretty fair assumption. Demi, maybe even more so. Transgender was a slightly weirder choice to buy, didn't exactly match with the theme of the rest, and of Bakugou's rainbow, but hey, support was support! All of them were extra soft, too, just like Bakugou's, so he knew they were probably more expensive than they looked.

"I love them!" he beamed, hugging the collection happily as he looked up at the nervous red eyes. "They're all great! Thank you!"

"What, you're just gonna wear them all?" Bakugou snorted.

"Yeah! They were presents from Kacchan and I love them!"

"You're such a sap."

There was one more shirt at the bottom of the box, a lot less conspicuous than the others, and Midoriya carefully set his armful aside in favour of picking it up. It was plain grey, a little baggier than the others, like most of his shirts that Bakugou complained about, and when he flipped it over, tears welled up in his eyes.

Plain, black letters spelled out "Katsuki's Boyfriend" right across the chest.

"I'm gonna wear it forever," Midoriya told him, with a sincerity that was almost painful. "I'm so lucky."

"That one was meant to be a joke, nerd."

"I don't care, I love it." He pulled it on immediately, grinning down at himself while Bakugou watched fondly. "I'm gonna make six more and wear them every day of the week!"

Bakugou snorted at him, but all the same he found himself sitting down on the bedside, lacing his fingers with Midoriya's and letting him lean in for a hug.

"So what are you, anyway?" he asked quietly.

"Kacchan's boyfriend!"

"Other than that, idiot."

Midoriya's lips stretched wide, his chubby cheeks splitting into the biggest smile Bakugou had ever seen.

"I don't need a label as long as I have Kacchan!"

Despite himself, Bakugou couldn't help but laugh, pulling Midoriya a little tighter into his side and planting a kiss on the top of his head.

"Welcome to the pride parade, nerd."

"Thanks, Kacchan!"