Chapter Text
"Heeeeey, Kacchaaaaaan!" a loud, uninvited voice broke through his concentration. Katsuki looked up, glaring holes through Denki's head. "Whatcha doin'?"
Katsuki's glare intensified, grip tightening on his pencil. There was a notebook in front of him and a textbook to his left. He was obviously doing homework. "What the fuck does it look like I'm doing, dumb shit?" he snapped.
"It looks like you're being boring on a Saturday," he replied, slumping in the chair next to him. From the corner of his eye, Katsuki saw Izuku glance up—eyeing them quickly. They were training later, which is why they were studying. "C'mon man, we thought you were coming with us to Satura Cakes!"
"Fuck that," he mumbled, turning back to his history homework. "I told you shits that I'm busy today."
"You're so boring," Denki sighed. "Fine, at least pick a cake you want, we'll bring it back for you," he offered. He pulled out his phone and slid it in front of Katsuki's face. There was a gaudy-looking mini-cake at the top of the page.
"I don't eat cake," Katsuki huffed, shoving it back. He didn't like cake. Most of them were too sweet, and they were always covered in sickly, sticky frosting, and they'd fuck up his nutrition plan.
"Aww, come on dude! Just pick one! There must be a cake you like, right?"
Katsuki frowned, his glare making its way back to Denki's face—a lightbulb flickering on in the back of his head. He understood now. He understood all of it.
For the last two weeks, his merry band of dumbasses had been asking him random-ass questions, both annoying and irrelevant. Mina had been hounding him about his favorite colors, and what his favorite music genre was. Eijirou had been asking him "would you rather" questions about everything from video games to potato chip flavors. Hanta had been trying to ask him about inane shit, like whether he'd ever played Truth or Dare.
He hadn't been answering any of them, under the assumption that they were just being weird and invasive.
But, no.
His birthday was in fifteen days, and the questions were getting more and more targeted. They wanted to throw him a party. There was only one problem.
Katsuki hated parties. He hated them. They were loud and overwhelming and required him to socialize way more than he wanted to. On average, they made his skin crawl within fifteen minutes. In middle school, he never bothered with them, and in high school, he'd only started tolerating them because he'd made actual friends—but only when they were for other people.
Class A had a thing about birthdays. They threw one for everybody, and Katsuki usually dragged himself to them for half an hour—long enough to make sure the idiots knew he didn't hate them—and then he'd dip.
But if the party were for him, it would be different. He'd be required to stay until the very end, no matter how much he hated it. If he left early, the whole goddamn thing would be ruined for everybody. That's why he'd avoided them thus far.
First year, the war made sure that he didn't have to suffer his own birthday party. Second year, he'd managed to keep them from finding out his birthday until it was too late. But this year, it seemed like they might have caught on and planned ahead. Why else would Denki be hounding him about fucking cake?
"I don't want any fucking cake," he sneered, quickly losing patience. "Now get the hell out of my face, I have shit to do."
Denki pouted like a goddamn puppy and got up, walking away with his proverbial tail between his legs—pausing to cast a wounded look at Katsuki, who had already turned around. He could feel it on his back, but he wouldn't cave. He didn't want a goddamn party.
All he wanted for his birthday was some goddamn peace. He wanted to go on a hike and eat the spiciest ramen in the city. He wanted to come back to his room and watch action movies on his laptop while he ate his favorite snacks and did a face mask.
He wanted to enjoy the shit he liked to do, peacefully—as quiet and unobtrusive as possible.
"That was weird," Deku commented lightly. Katsuki grunted in agreement.
"Like that's fucking new?"
The freckled fuckhead chuckled, and Katsuki's heart twisted. He looked up, catching the fond smile on Deku's face. Not that he tried to hide it. If anything, when Katsuki looked at him, it got even brighter.
"I have been hogging you lately," he observed as though that was somehow a bad thing. "Maybe you should go with them, even if it's just to hang out?"
"Nah," Katsuki replied, already looking down at his work. School came first, Deku fought it for first place, and everything else could wait. Besides, they were gonna hang out tomorrow anyway. "I'm good here."
But Katsuki knew that he had to nip it in the bud. If he let it go, he'd be stuck with some blowout rager that would make him want to tear his hair out with nobody to blame but himself.
So, after he'd trained with Deku and the idiot brigade came back from their illicit cake-sampling excursion, he marched his ass over to Eijirou's room and pounded on the door. As soon as the behemoth redhead opened the door, Katsuki shoved him inside—pushing him back until the door shut behind them.
"Bro?"
"Shut up," he griped. He took a deep breath. "You're planning something, aren't you?"
Eijirou's poker face was shitty as fuck. "Nah, dude! What makes you think that?"
He ground his teeth, grasping onto his patience like a kite string made of dental floss. He stared Eijirou down, watching as the idiot twitched as though he were tempted to make an escape.
He almost felt bad. He knew they were trying to do something nice for him, and he didn't want to be too hard on them—but it had to be said.
"I don't want a party, Ei," he told him seriously. Eijirou tilted his head, pretending not to know what he was talking about. "I'm serious. I do not want a party. Don't plan a party for me. I don't like them, I barely tolerate that shit when it's for someone else."
"I don't know what you're talking about," he bullshitted. "But sure."
Katsuki searched his face, trying to decide if he'd really gotten the message. He was smiling and looked docile enough, but these motherfuckers were persistent as hell when they got an idea in their heads.
Finally, he sighed. He'd said what he came to say—now he'd just have to see what happened. "I'm leaving," he barked. He pointed at Eijirou threateningly. "No parties."
He met Deku and IcyHot an hour later—chatting about their upcoming mission for their work studies over dinner. The Peppermint Princess mostly just nodded along as Deku spewed information at them, making notes in the margins of the info packets they'd gotten as he rambled. He only paused when Katsuki made a note.
Deku always listened to him. He didn't always do what Katsuki asked, but he always took his opinion into account. Always heard what he had to say. Always added it to his considerations and let it shift the tide of his thoughts.
As far as Katsuki knew, he didn't do that for anyone else. It was flattering as shit.
"Hey, Kats," Mina cooed, draping herself over his shoulder and halting Deku's monologue in its' tracks.
"We're busy, Pinky," he sighed, shifting to accommodate her weight across his back. Of his friends, she was probably the most tactile—constantly seeking some sort of physical contact. Most of the time he didn't mind but goddammit, he was trying to focus.
"I won't be long," she promised. "I just have a question for you. If you had to pick, would you watch a horror movie or an action movie?"
His stomach sank but he resigned himself to his fate. He might hate parties but his friends were important to him. He liked these fuckers, as much as he hated to admit it. He knew that he was hard to put up with already, he didn't need to make it worse by shitting on their misguided gesture.
If throwing him a party would make them feel good or whatever, he could endure it. Even if he hated it. It was obviously important to them—and it was him. He was known for being unreasonable, maybe this was one of those times. He could suck it up for an evening, right?
So, swallowing down the distaste behind his teeth, he replied.
"Action."
She smacked a kiss to his cheek. "Good answer! I told them you'd choose that," she cheered, covering up the fact that she was mining him for information. "I'll let you guys get back to it."
There was a pit in his stomach. He was already dreading this.
"Hey, Mido," Hanta greeted him, sliding into the seat across from him. Denki and Mina were both with him. Izuku smiled at them. He'd gotten pretty close to them over the past year—a side effect of finally getting close to Kacchan again.
He smiled wider at the thought of it.
"Hey, guys. What's up?"
"We need your help," Mina told him seriously. That's when he realized that they looked troubled. He straightened, mood dropping. Anxiety bit at him, picking up his heart rate and making his palms sweat.
"Is everything okay?" he asked. Mina shot him a guilty look.
"Oh, it's nothing life-threatening," she said, appeasing him. He relaxed, just a little. He hated that he was constantly ready for catastrophe. "Sorry, I didn't mean to worry, you. It's just that...well, Blasty is being uncooperative and we were hoping you could give us a hand."
"Yeah, dude," Hanta sighed, leaning back. "You're the one who knows him best besides the man himself, so maybe you can point us in the right direction."
He frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"His birthday is coming up," Denki explained. "And he's not giving us anything!"
Izuku raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you...supposed to give him something on his birthday?" he asked slowly, like he was missing something.
Hanta snorted. "No, dude. We've been trying to figure out what stuff he's into, and he's being evasive and stuff. Like he'll answer maybe one question out of ten, and most of the time those answers are sarcastic."
"How are we supposed to plan a surprise party this way?" Mina lamented.
Izuku went still.
"You're planning him a birthday party?" He grimaced as they nodded.
"Yeah! So far, we're the only ones who know about it," Denki explained. "We figured it would be best to have the people he's closest to gather all the information before we brought it to the class, you know? Less chance of him blowing someone up."
"But once we have all the details, we wanna bring the rest of the class in to put it all together," Mina agreed. "We wanna throw him a huge bash, since we missed the last two years. Besides, he deserves the hype, you know?"
He did know. Theoretically, at least. Kacchan deserved to be celebrated—and his friends' hearts were absolutely in the right place, but boy howdy did they have the wrong recipe. His heart twisted, sad that he had to torpedo their plan.
"That's really sweet of you guys," he assured them. "But...it's not a good idea."
Mina tilted her head, eyes narrowing. "What do you mean? Why not?"
He took a deep breath, sighing as he scrubbed a hand over his face. "Kacchan doesn't like parties. Like...any part of them. He doesn't like crowds or loud noise. He doesn't like playing nice with others when he doesn't feel like it. Parties...bother him. They always have."
"I mean, how do you know that, though?" Denki asked, frowning. "When's the last time he had one?"
Izuku bit his lip, thinking about it. "Probably when we were like...eight or nine."
"So...how would you actually know that?" he asked slowly. "Like maybe things have changed since then, right? And he comes to everyone else's parties, even when we don't ask him to."
"He respects them," he shrugged. "And he doesn't want them to think he doesn't. He usually leaves them pretty early. He doesn't even like going to the mall on weekends, guys."
"That's because he's crabby and he doesn't want to show people affection," Hanta said, rolling his eyes. Izuku felt himself bristling but forced himself to calm down. He knew Hanta didn't mean it in a disparaging way. And no matter how close you were to him, Kacchan's brand of affection was difficult to understand—especially for people who hadn't grown up with it.
When you were extroverted, it was hard to wrap your head around the concept that as an introvert, taking the time and effort to show up at a party you didn't want to be at was a huge deal. It was a bigger deal for Katsuki, who took his time forming real friendships and was slow to open up.
"Guys, you asked, and I'm telling you—he won't enjoy a birthday party. Especially not a surprise party."
"Mido, everyone wants to celebrate him!" Mina cried.
"So why not celebrate him in a way he'd enjoy? A quiet movie night or something?" he suggested. "Or even just a party that he knows about so that he's got some input?"
"Because he'd gripe about it and not help," Denki chuckled. "Come on, dude. We know that he'd make a big noise about not wanting a party. He already tried it with Ei, but he said it in that Bakubro way, you know? Like where he doesn't mean what he's saying. He did the same thing when we were first getting to know him—where he'd constantly bark at us to leave him alone."
Izuku gritted his teeth. Now he was annoyed for real. "Or, and hear me out," he drawled sarcastically. "He absolutely meant what he was saying but you've decided to hear what you want to hear."
Mina flinched back as though he'd yelled, looking wounded. Hanta's shoulders hunched defensively. "I don't think Katsuki should miss out on having a good time just because he's too stubborn to admit that he wants to have a good time," he scolded. "You should know better than anyone Izuku, he's more and more social every day—but he doesn't like asking people for things."
"Yeah, I don't get the reluctance to help out," Mina said. "You know him being more social won't make him like you less, right?"
It felt like he'd been punched. Is that what they thought? That he was trying to hinder Kacchan's personal growth so that he wouldn't get left behind? Did they think he was that selfish?
It stung. A lot. He schooled his face into neutrality.
"If you want to throw him a party, I can't stop you. I told you what I thought. If you want him to have a good time, you should do something smaller and laid back. I'd be happy to help with that." He stood from the couch, expressionless. "I hope you'll consider it. Just let me know."
He ignored the irritation on Hanta's face and the frustration on Mina's. He ignored the confusion and genuine bewilderment on Denki's. Instead, he picked up his book, dog-eared it, and walked away.
He'd told them what they needed to hear, for Kacchan's sake. It didn't matter if they didn't like it.
He just hoped that they'd listen.
On April 9th, as the clock struck midnight, Izuku's phone chimed. He frowned, looking up from his essay to pick it up.
>>You have been added to 'baku birthday bash!!! (don't tell baku)'
He scowled, irritation lighting up his nerves. Apparently, his advice had fallen on self-serving ears. More than irritated, though, he was disappointed. Katsuki had asked them not to do this. Izuku had told them that this was a bad idea. That it would just make Kacchan uncomfortable.
He was willing to bet his entire collection of quirks that Katsuki wanted to do something quiet and lowkey—maybe even completely alone. Apparently, that didn't matter as much as another excuse to throw a party because if *they* liked parties, everyone else must love them, right?
>>RockHard
fellow party people, we bring you the bakubirthday planning chat!
>>PinkBerry
hush, ei.
alright people, baku's birthday is on the 20th which, luckily for us, falls on a saturday!
we've already cleared it with aizawa
you know what that means
>> ToasterOven<<
party! party! party! party!
>> WaxStrip<<
party! party! party! party!
>> Pink Beach Ball<<
aww yay! that's so sweet u guys!! I can't wait! 🥰
>> RoboSpeed Man<<
how can we assist you?
please change my name to something less ludicrous
>>ToasterOven<<
no
>>PinkBerry<<
anyways
it's gonna start at 5pm on saturday and go until we pass out
we've been collecting info on what Blasty would want out of a party over the past few weeks
so we should be ready to go!
here's the list, everyone sign up for something and i'll let you know what we need you to do!
Izuku's jaw clenched. They'd been collecting info on what Kacchan would want? Kacchan had explicitly told them that he didn't want this, and they'd completely ignored him. They'd claimed that they thought Izuku knew him best but completely disregarded his advice when he offered it.
And he wasn't gonna be part of it.
>> Lean Mean Green Bean
sorry guys
I don't think it's the best idea for me to get involved
but good luck with that
>> Lean Mean Green Bean has left 'baku birthday bash!!! (don't tell baku)'
They weren't gonna listen to Kacchan? That was fine. He'd make sure the explosive blonde had the best goddamn birthday ever, with or without them.
He just had to make a plan.