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Class 1-A isn’t the most… academically oriented group of individuals. Tenya is aware of this. They’re a group of aspiring heroes, so it isn’t surprising that they’d all rather dedicate their time to physical training and hero work. Reading is a good pastime, but there is always something else to be done, something which he understands all too well. Even if it is somewhat disappointing that most of his teenage classmates would likely rather die than voluntarily pick up a book that wasn’t required reading for their classes. And by god does Tenya feel like an old man when he feels actual sadness at that.
But nonetheless, it’s probably why he’s so taken aback upon entering the empty classroom early one morning to see none other than Bakugou, with a book propped open at his desk. He must be getting ahead of his studying!
Tenya’s knee-jerk reaction to the sight is surprise, before he promptly berates himself for it. Bakugou may be prone to… behaving somewhat crassly at times, but he’s proven himself to be a very competent and studious peer.
The blonde glances up at him upon his entrance, giving him a bored once-over before his gaze returns to the book lazily. Tenya nods, a hint of approval shining in his eyes at his classmate as he shuffles over to his seat. It’s good that Bakugou is taking advantage of the morning to push ahead with his studies, Tenya thinks. He seats himself, pulling an orange juice carton out of his backpack before glancing back briefly and taking out his spare carton, too. He twists back to offer it to the blonde tentatively.
“Bakugou-kun, would you like some juice?” he asks, lowering his voice lightly so as not to disturb the other.
The blonde barely glances up, muttering back a flat, “No.”
Tenya blinks, retracting his hand. He would typically be somewhat ruffled at the blunt dismissal, but he understands more than anyone the sensation of immersing oneself in a book. He nods approvingly again but places the carton on the corner of Bakugou’s desk anyway. He’s about to turn back to face the front of the classroom when the blonde turns the page idly and Tenya catches a glimpse of the cover. It’s a black silhouette of a wolf’s side profile, against a light background. He pauses.
That’s not assigned reading for the class. It is, however, very familiar.
“Is that… Hesse?” he ventures slowly.
Bakugou pauses, page suspended half-turn.
“What?” he snaps, looking at Tenya with his default scowl.
Tenya swallows, eyes flickering from the book to the blonde’s annoyed glare.
“Hesse,” he repeats slowly. “Hermann Hesse.”
Bakugou actually looks up at this, narrowing his eyes slightly.
“What the fuck is it to you?” he snarls, looking very defensive suddenly. Tenya is too busy staring at the book cover to reply. He’s not sure how to process the fact that Bakugou Katsuki is reading his favourite book. Voluntarily.
What does this mean? How does Tenya proceed from here?
He’s mulling over this development when he’s snapped out of his trance by a now yelling Bakugou, who’s half-risen out of his seat and very clearly rearing for a fight at Tenya’s lack of response.
“'Steppenwolf' is my favourite book,” Tenya says a little stupidly, cutting off the blonde’s shouting. Bakugou pauses at this, explosions dying in his palms. There’s a moment’s silence before he deflates, eyes softening ever-so-slightly as he drops back into his seat.
The blonde looks like he’s debating with himself, fingers clenching against the page of the book for a moment.
“'Demian' is better," Bakugou says finally, after what feels like an eternity of awkward silence.
Tenya wonders, absent-mindedly, if he’s entered the twilight zone.
He’s sitting here in this empty classroom, alone with the angriest, most aggressively antisocial student in his class, discussing literature.
Bakugou’s eyes are flickering back and forth between his half-opened book and Tenya, who’s still half-turned to face him.
“Ah,” Tenya says finally. “You’re the Camus type, aren’t you?”
How fitting.
The other looks a mixture of indignant and embarrassed.
“So fucking what if I am?” he asks defensively. “You probably read the back of fucking juice cartons for fun, Four-eyes.”
Tenya’s too busy processing this development to even find it in himself to be offended at the nickname.
“I suppose I will have to turn to that if I can’t find a good book to read any time soon,” he muses to himself absent-mindedly.
They sit in silence for a long moment.
“Han Kang,” Bakugou says finally. Tenya startles slightly.
“Hm?”
The blonde looks uncomfortable, a scowl twisting at his lips. But his cheeks are darkening slightly, and his gaze is fixed to the book in his hands.
“Han Kang has some good shit,” he mutters. “If you’re that fucking desperate.”
Tenya blinks slowly.
“Thank you for your recommendation,” he says numbly, filing the name away at the back of his mind.
Bakugou nods once, before he opens the book back up and turns his attention back to it. It’s a clear dismissal, and Tenya turns back to his desk obediently, staring at the wood grain blankly for a long few minutes.
He’s still reeling at the revelation that Bakugou enjoys literature, and has similar tastes to Tenya himself, at that. When he glances up at the blonde again furtively, he’s fully focused on his book, scowl gone in favour of a relaxed look of concentration. Bakugou doesn’t look nearly as intimidating like this, the sun that streams through the windows casting golden light over his skin and softening his visage.
By the time the other students have started to filter into the classroom, the book is tucked away safely and Bakugou is sipping from the carton of orange juice grumpily.
Tenya has to hide the small smile that tugs at his lips.
-
That evening, Tenya is finishing up his homework when his mind wanders back to the peculiar interaction of that morning. He really hadn’t been joking when he’d mentioned running out of books to read, and the blonde’s suggestion tugs at the back of his mind. Before he realizes it, his feet are taking him to a door that he’s very rarely visited before, and he’s knocking at it briskly.
There’s a dull thump from the other side, and moments later the door is being wrenched open to reveal a ruffled-looking blonde. He looks irritated before he even sees who he’s facing.
“Bakugou-kun,” Iida begins before the other can start yelling. “I was wondering if you had any recommendations from Han Kang’s works? I’m not sure where to start.”
Bakugou stares at him unreadably for a second, eyes narrowing.
“'The Vegetarian' is alright,” he says quietly after a long moment of suspicious scrutinization. Iida nods, about to open his mouth again when the blonde mutters out a stilted, “Wait here,” before he disappears behind the door again. Iida stares at the wood in confusion, before it’s being tugged open, a book is being shoved into his hands and the door is slammed shut in his face again.
Iida stands in silence for a moment, turning the book over in his hands.
It’s deceptively well-kept for someone like Bakugou, pages crisp and free of dog-earing or creases despite the worn spine that betrays the number of times the book has been read.
Tenya thinks about this as he takes the book back to his room, remembering something his brother had told him when he was a child about someone’s treatment of books reflecting their personality.
He reads the entire book in one night, absolutely captivated despite the morbid, gruesome imagery. It’s the first time in months he’s stayed up all night like this, absolutely absorbed in its pages. He handles it with the utmost care, feeling somewhat nervous of mistreating what is obviously a well-loved (and understandably so) book.
It’s a fitting book for Bakugou, he thinks. Full of blood and gore and disturbing description that makes Tenya want to put it down every few pages. But he can’t, because beneath it all there’s a complexity, a beauty to the writing that has him intrigued enough to keep reading.
The next day he arrives to class with four cartons of juice in hand, feeling exhausted and absolutely elated.
He returns it to the blonde that evening, knocking at his door with significantly less unease than yesterday. He hands the book back in pristine condition with a bow.
“Didn’t like it?” the blonde asks nonchalantly, but there’s an apprehensive edge in his tone as he takes it.
“On the contrary!” Iida assures him quickly, understanding Bakugou’s nervousness too well despite the other’s attempts to hide it. “It was very enjoyable! I finished it all last night, and barely got an hour of sleep in!”
The tension drains from Bakugou’s body, barely visible.
“Yeah?” he asks, relaxing against the doorframe. “So that’s why you looked fuckin’ dead on your feet today.”
Iida nods, smiling lightly.
“Thank you for sharing it with me,” he says sincerely. For a moment, he could swear the smallest of smiles flickers over the blonde’s face.
“Whatever,” he says. “That all you came for?”
Iida blinks, straightening at the words before he smiles sheepishly.
“Ah, yes. Unless… you had any other recommendations…?”
Bakugou’s eyes glint with something akin to amusement, and he smirks faintly. “Wait here.”
He disappears into his room again, and there’s the sound of faint shuffling. Through the slightly ajar door, Tenya catches a glimpse of dark shelving and potted plants. There’s the faint scent of caramel wafting through the air. The door is pulled open again and Bakugou is shoving another book into his chest.
“It’s another one by Han Kang,” the blonde says. “Not as good as 'The Vegetarian' but still alright.” Tenya takes it gingerly, his gaze unconsciously wandering past the blonde’s shoulder and falling on a wall-to-wall bookshelf, absolutely full of books. There are hundreds of them, easily rivalling Tenya’s own collection.
“Oh my,” he breathes to himself, eyes widening at the sight. Bakugou follows his gaze back to the shelf and his cheeks darken visibly.
“Okay, now fuck off,” he says quickly, slamming the door in Tenya’s face again.
Tenya is still staring at the space where the shelves had been visible mere moments ago.
He takes his time with this book, not wanting to risk another day of exhaustion after last night. He finds himself reading it in the morning, even carrying it to class and reading it between breaks. When Bakugou passes him before lesson and his eyes catch on the book in Tenya’s hand, an almost smug shine settles in his eyes and he turns around a moment too slowly to hide his small smile from Tenya’s view. When Tenya’s gaze returns to the pages, he’s smiling faintly, too.
-
And so the routine starts. Almost every evening, Tenya will return with Bakugou’s book and receive a new one. Bakugou seems surprisingly unbothered about being used as a library service, but Tenya still feels somewhat sheepish. Maybe that’s what compels him to bring a book of his own next time he visits. The blonde accepts it with an unreadable expression, but the next day when Tenya returns his book Bakugou hands him his own in return with a muttered, “Not bad,” that has Tenya beaming.
It takes them two weeks for Bakugou to finally let Tenya into his room. He stares at the shelves in awe, running a reverent finger along the spines of the worn but well-kept books. It’s not like Tenya’s room doesn’t have shelves full of books, too, but his are mostly textbooks. There’s something about seeing so many unfamiliar titles amongst his own favourites that renders him breathless. It’s like a cosy little personalized library. The scent of caramel is slightly more intense, inside. It clings to the furniture, warm and sweet. Potted and hanging plants are interspersed in nooks and atop empty surfaces, all of them well-cared for, healthy and lush. He wants, in the least creepy way possible, to live here.
“This is amazing, Bakugou-kun,” he says, cutting through the silence. Bakugou is watching him from the doorway apprehensively. “You have a truly impressive collection.”
The blonde’s expression softens slightly. “I know,” he says, but it holds none of his usual smug heat. He’s less intimidating like this, but somehow no less intense. Tenya thinks back to the first day of school when Bakugou had kicked his feet onto his desk and sneered at him for being an ‘elite’. That day, so starkly different from the placid classmate (friend, maybe?) who watches him from the doorway, feels distant. The memory has him smiling slightly to himself.
-
They’re discussing a newly-assigned book for their English class at lunchtime.
“My copy is in tatters!” Uraraka complains lightly. “Why take out your anger on an innocent book, who does that?!”
“Bakugou, probably,” Todoroki jokes.
There’s lighthearted laughter.
“Bakugou-kun wouldn’t do that,” Tenya says absent-mindedly, dipping a piece of pork in his curry sauce as he thinks back to the pristine condition of the blonde’s collection.
He doesn’t realise the words have left his mouth until the entire table goes silent.
“What makes you say that?” Tsuyu asks curiously. Tenya hums, turning the meat around in the sauce with his chopsticks.
“Just a hunch,” he says, smiling into his bowl. The others give him bemused looks but drop the topic relatively easily.
-
It’s evening, and the class is watching a horror movie in the common room. Tenya heads upstairs to return his book to Bakugou, not in the mood for the movie. When the door swings open, Tenya is rendered speechless for a long few seconds.
Bakugou is wearing glasses. They’re round, with thin silver frames and large lenses. They suit the blonde far too well, somehow.
Tenya stares at them for a little longer than what could be considered normal.
“What do you want?” Bakugou asks, and Tenya straightens, shaking his head lightly to regain his focus. He holds up his book in explanation, and Bakugou wordlessly lets him past.
They’ve been doing this long enough that Bakugou has opted to let Tenya just pick whichever book he wants from the shelf, growing weary of coming up with new recommendations. Tenya has come to realise that he’ll enjoy most of Bakugou’s books either way, so it’s a good compromise for the both of them. He wanders along the shelf, trying to find a new work to read, but his gaze keeps straying back to the blonde. Bakugou has settled back on his bed, back against his wall and immersed in the book he’s reading. His eyes are soft and sleepy behind the lenses, face relaxed and tension smoothed from his body. As if sensing Tenya’s eyes on him, he glances up from the page and raises an eyebrow.
“What?” he asks. His voice is devoid of his usual irritation. Tenya realises with a jolt that it’s been weeks since that tone was last directed at him. Their conversations have shifted into something more relaxed, something easier over their evening meetings. Tenya stares at him blankly for a moment, before realizing that he’s meant to be picking a book right now. He chooses a random one from the shelf awkwardly, straightening up smoothly.
He should head back to his room now. But… for some reason, he really doesn’t want to leave.
He stands wordlessly in the centre of the dorm room for a second, warring with himself.
Bakugou watches him curiously, and as if taking mercy on him, shifts slightly to the side and pats the spot next to him. Tenya feels something warm fill his chest at the gesture, and he nods gratefully, stiffly walking over and sitting down beside the blonde.
They’re close like this, closer than Tenya is accustomed to. Their legs press against each other, shoulders bumping. It’s an unfamiliar intimacy, but it’s not… unpleasant. He clears his throat quietly, opens the book and starts to read.
They sit like that for hours, reading deep into the night. Bakugou makes tea at some point, offering him a warm cup with a barely perceptible smile and warm eyes. He smells like caramel, Tenya realises absently at some point in the night. It’s not the furniture, or any room freshener or perfume - the faint scent seems to emanate from the blonde himself.
It’s nice, being able to relax in the other’s company with nothing but a good book. It feels almost intimate, like a secret between the two of them alone. Bakugou is a lot quieter like this, stripped away of his aggressions and anger. His company is… very enjoyable, Tenya realises. The blonde is very kind beneath all his bluster, and Tenya is more relaxed with him than he has been in months.
“The fuck are you smiling at?” Bakugou mutters, tearing him out of his musing. The blonde is watching him with narrowed eyes, but there’s a teasing curl to his smirk. Oh, Tenya realises, raising a hand to his own mouth. He is smiling.
“Nothing,” he says quietly, huffing a soft laugh to himself. “You’re interesting, Bakugou.”
The blonde snorts.
“I’m fuckin’ great, is what I am.”
Tenya chuckles a little louder this time, chest light.
“That you are.”
There’s silence. Tenya turns around to see the blonde watching him with wide eyes, a flush creeping onto his cheeks. He immediately schools his expression into a frown, but Tenya just grins wider.
Bakugou shoves him lightly, blush darkening.
“Shut up,” he mutters instinctively, and Tenya gives him a knowing look.
“I didn’t say anything. It’s not my fault you can’t take a compliment, Bakugou-kun.”
The blonde's pout deepens.
“Wasn’t expecting you to just fuckin’ say it like that, dickhead,” he grumbles heatlessly. And then, quietly, “Katsuki.”
“Hm?”
“Call me Katsuki, asshole. If you’re gonna colonise my damn room, the least you could do is drop the honorifics.”
Tenya flushes lightly at the accusation.
“I’m not coloni-“ he huffs a sigh that devolves into a laugh at the silly conversation. “Bakugou-kun, you can’t even remember what my family name is on a good day.”
The blonde snarls at him like an angry cat.
“It’s Iida,” he says defiantly, as if trying to start a fight. Tenya’s fond smile just grows at how easy the other is to rile up.
“Alright, Katsuki,” he says placatingly. The other deflates, giving him a suspicious look.
“Hm,” he says grumpily, before turning back to his book. There’s an endearing frown twisting at his lips, more of a pout than anything. For all his strength and determination, the blonde can be really childish.
They turn back to their books easily, sitting in content silence for a moment. And then a soft weight falls to Tenya’s shoulder. He doesn’t need to turn to know what it is.
Under his breath, the blonde mutters a soft, thoughtful, “Tenya.”
It’s slow, as if he’s testing the word on his tongue. Tenya’s heart soars, the small smile that’s been lingering on his lips widening lightly.
He drops his head on top of Katsuki’s, and they read in silence.