Chapter Text
Bakugou opened his instagram account deciding that tonight he was pretty bored and could use the distraction. He allowed the app to refresh before he scrolled down looking briefly at the pictures that came up. Almightyfan posted a picture of his dinner, how original for Mr. Broccoli. Pikachu2darescue, posted a selfie with new sunglasses. Random cousins and friends posted pictures of their pets.
He sighed to himself. He never really understood the obsession with social media. He liked the distraction and occasion laugh of stupid videos, but he himself wasn’t very active on them. He never even bothered changing his handle once Denki made the account for him, against his will. His own instagram account showcased a few landscape pictures from the peaks of mountains he had conquered but nothing more. Maybe the lack of interest in social media was due to him having few friends.
His parents had agreed to allow him to be homeschooled when he complained about the pace and the restrictions his middle school had tried to place on him. He was hard of hearing and his middle school was ill equipped to accommodate him.
When he had asked his teacher about being placed in more advanced courses, they had all but refused, citing that it would be too difficult for him. But Bakugou was partially deaf, not stupid. Far from it, he was quick, smart, and had easily managed to get his GED soon after turning 16.
He was currently 17, and had already been enrolled in his local community college when he passed the GED exam. He was very advanced in getting his 2 year degree, still, he mostly kept to himself.
Suggested Pages to Follow.
Huh. One profile picture caught his eyes. A landscape image that looked similar to one of the views of a mountain he had climbed a few weeks ago. He clicked on the page and saw that the public profile was made up of landscapes. But they weren’t pictures. They were paintings and they were stunning. Bakugou read the small blurb of information under the profile picture.
Red Riot- Amature Painter. 21. he/him.
Bakugou made his way through the profile, picture by picture. He was amazed. Some pictures showed half emptied canvas, followed by its completed piece. Most of the pictures had 500 plus likes and comments.
The picture with the least number of likes was a different painting. An outdoor scene sure, but it wasn’t a landscape, it was a park. It was a simple painting of what looked like a relatively little playground...a small but wide yellow slide with red and blue rails that supported it. A bench that seemed almost hidden was on the left. Green trees decorated the background with a soft blue sky filled with clouds.
Bakugou rolled his eyes at the caption of the picture: my home away from home. Still, something drew him to that picture. He gave it a like and commented: With a sky like that, I’d lay on the bench and stare all day.
He then came across a video.
The video started off with a blank canvas and soft music. He then saw the artist’s hands make a thumbs up gesture, followed by captions at the bottom.
Today I’m going to show you how to make clouds.
The video showed Riot’s hand holding a brush. Followed by the captions: I use a fan brush #4, but any fan brush you have should work too.
Bakugou watched the video, never losing interest. He had always appreciated videos that offered closed captioning options, it sometimes made things easier.
But it was the first time he had seen an art video go into so much detail on how to paint, with captions.
Riot even joked sometimes. When he’d smudge a bit of black paint onto the canvas accidentally the captions read: oops!! Let’s all pretend that, that smudge was intentional.
And to Bakugou’s surprise, Riot managed to make the smudge an actual storm cloud...with the caption reading: every cloud deserves a friend, even if it's grey.
That made Bakugou roll his eyes again. Riot definitely came across as a typical artist snob. Even still he gave the video a like because if he was honest, he would admit that the video was easy to follow.
Red Riot’s videos had a lot of views too.
It made sense, he had fans…..lots of fans, 1358 followers.
And now, with a quick tap on Bakugou’s phone…..1359 followers.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
For the next couple of weeks, Bakugou found himself coming back to Red Riot’s profile periodically.
Maybe it was the coldness of Winter that prevented him being outside more than he was used to.
Maybe it was how active Riot was.
Maybe it was how each posted landscape looked perfect.
Maybe it was how each video was nicely edited and captioned with engaging text.
Or...maybe it was the dm Red Riot sent him a few days after he made his first comment on the park picture. Of course if confronted, Bakugou would outright deny the message as the reason.
Red Riot: Hey! Your comment really made my day. I usually find myself looking up at the sky whenever I feel overwhelmed, so hearing that you would do that too was cool! Anyways, thanks for the comment.
Bakugou didn’t know how to respond. The artist who he had followed closely had privately reached out to him. He felt a bit special. He bit his inner cheek and opted for a simple reply to the stranger.
Lord Explosion: You’re welcome. Thank you for sharing your work and tips with us, I look forward to seeing more.
His message was marked as seen and he got a thumbs up emoji followed by a simple reply.
Red Riot: I’m happy to share the little that I know.
After a few more weeks, Bakugou noticed that Red Riot would post a new landscape painting on Saturday and then a few days later, a video of him painting the previously posted painting. The videos showed step by step how he went about painting the landscape. The videos always played tranquil music, but Riot himself never spoke, it was all captioned. Toward the end of each video he saw large hands gently sign two R’s followed by a thumbs up and the caption: you can do it!
After another couple of weeks Bakugou was tempted to buy everything he needed to start painting at home. But he hesitated. He decided that maybe he needed professional advice.
Lord Dynamight: Is it hard to paint?
Red Riot: Hi! I think landscapes are easy, that’s what I mostly focus on. Are you looking into starting?
Lord Dynamight: Dunno, but you make it look easy on your videos.
Red Riot: It is! I mean, at least I don’t think they’re hard, just takes a bit of practice. But I did take a few classes and that really helped. Are you in school? Maybe they offer an art course!
Lord Dynamight: I’m at my local community college. They should.
Red Riot: Yeah! No doubt they do. Look for a basic 100 class to start to get an idea of colors and technique. You can audit it for less pressure or take it as a credit course since you’d need an art class to graduate anyways right?
Lord Dynamight: That’s actually not a bad idea.
Red Riot: You can do it! Let me know how it goes if you do decide to take an art course.
Lord Dynamight: Sure.
Red Riot: Hey I’m serious! If you decide to take an art course I would love to know how it goes. You’re the first person who’s ever reached out to me about possibly taking a course, it's amazing!
Lord Dynamight: An art credit is the last one I need before transferring, so I’ll consider it.
Red Riot: That’s awesome man! Keep me in the loop?
Bakugou found himself smiling at that message.
Lord Dynamight: I will Red. Thanks.
That night he registered for ART-100 and found himself excited for the Spring semester to start.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Spring finally rolled around and before he knew it, Bakugou was making his way to an empty seat in the middle of the classroom. Each desk was long and could sit three students comfortably.
Bakugou took the seat closest to the aisle. He would have a better view of demonstrations and technique from there. Though he wished he could have grabbed a seat closer to the front of the classroom.
Regardless, he threw his backpack into the middle seat before he realized that he didn’t grab a syllabus from the entry table.
He stood and made his way to the front. As he grabbed two syllabus packets he noticed a man coming into the class. He was hard to miss actually, with his hawaiin button up shirt, cargo shorts, and crocs that matched his bright red hair. Red hair that looked like it had been handled quickly by his massive biceps into a messy bun. When their eyes met, the redhead smiled and gave a small nod.
Bakugou simply turned to make his way back to his seat, but as he did, he noticed that the redhead was making his way to the professor's desk.
Once seated Bakugou began to skim the syllabus. He heard a genuine laugh come from the front of the classroom and realized it came from Mr. Man Bun. He pretended to look down at the packet below him but followed the bright redhead’s movements from his peripherals. Bakugou quickly noticed that he was making his way to his desk and they made eye contact. He silently hoped that the redhead would pick a desk further back.
“Hey man!”
Bakugou looked at the redhead flatly and pointed toward his hearing aid.
Kirishima turned his head slightly as he followed the blond’s finger. “Oh….that’s cool man!”
Bakugou continued to stare at the redhead.
“I’m super excited about this class. A little nervous too but looking forward to learning a lot!”
Bakugou began to sign, hoping to rid himself of what he felt like would be an obnoxious redhead. It had worked before when he wanted to avoid small talk in his other classes. //I’m deaf. I can’t hear you.//
It was Kirishima’s turn to stare at the blond.
Bakugou turned his attention back to the syllabus. From his peripheral, he watched as the redhead began rummaging through his backpack. It looked like the redhead had understood that he did not want to be bothered. A tap on his shoulder broke his concentration from the course schedule. He annoyingly turned his head to the side then down at the table as Kirishima nudged something across the table. Bakugou quickly looked up when he saw that it was a small battery.
Bakugou watched as the redhead began to sign with a hint of uncertainty.
// I’m sorry. I don’t know if this is good. //
He watched as the redhead finger spelled with an unsure facial expression.
//w-o-r-k//
//f-i-t//
Bakugou stared at his classmate with a mix of confusion and awe. Kirishima knew how to sign. This obnoxious, loud, beautiful, meathead knew how to sign.
// Sorry. I’m learning how to sign. These batteries, will they f-i-t your hearing aid? //
“Kacchan!”
Bakugou quickly turned his head toward the aisle to the incoming broccoli.
“Uff, thanks for saving me a seat! I got a little lost…”
Bakugou grabbed the batteries as he watched his childhood friend come closer, pick up the backpack off the middle seat and toss it to the side.
From the other side of the desk, Kirishima looked across their shared desk before looking up to see the overly friendly classmate. His blond classmate had returned his attention to the syllabus.
“Holy moly, I’m so nervous. I can’t believe you convinced me to take this class…”
Bakugou tore his eyes from the piece of paper in his hands, annoyed.
“I didn’t convince you to do shit! I mentioned, IN PASSING, that I wanted to take this art class and YOU decided it was the ‘ perfect time’ to dip your toe into college level classes!”
“We can’t all be like you Kachan. You’re almost done with your degree while the rest of us are still months away from graduating high school.”
“Whatever….”
Kirishima cleared his throat, earning the attention of both of his classmates.
“I’m Kirishima Eijirou. I look forward to taking this class alongside you guys.”
“Oh hi! I’m Midoriya Izuku.” Midoriya waited for Bakugou to introduce himself. After a few passing moments he realized that maybe the pair had already acquainted themselves before he came. “This is my first time taking a college class, I’m a little nervous.” he admitted to his new classmate.
“Really?” Kirishima responded with enthusiasm. “Me too but don’t be nervous man! You’ve chosen a good class to start with.” Kirishima began to skim through his syllabus. “You’ll do great, I know it.”
Bakugou slid the extra syllabus over to Midoriya.
“Thanks Kacchan.” He began reading the packet slowly. “Hey, do you think we’ll get a lunch break? I forgot my food in my car.” He whispered.
“Yes. We’ll get a break. Quit freaking out…”
“I’m not freaking out. I just asked a question!”
The class proceeded as usual and just as Bakugou had said, their break soon rolled around.
“Want to come with me to stretch your legs?”
Bakugou looked at Midoriya with an unimpressed expression. “No. I’ll wait for you here. Hurry up!”
Midoriya grabbed his car keys before getting up to leave.
Once he left Bakugou turned his seat and noticed the redhead, Kirishima, jotting down notes next to the course schedule of their syllabus.
He inhaled sharply before speaking. “Hey....”
Kirishima broke his gaze from the packet and met Bakugou with a small sincere smile.
“Hi.”
Bakugou’s expression was a mix between embarrassed and annoyed. He knew he had to address what happened earlier and end the awkwardness that lingered between them. Instead he signed.
// Fit //
Kirishima stared at the blond with complete confusion. He was signing….something.
// Sorry, I don’t understand. // He mirrored the sign Bakugou had just done. // What does it mean? //
Bakugou took everything in. “You sign really well.” He was met with a small laugh from the redhead.
“I’m still learning but thank you.”
Bakugou sighed as he pulled out the small batteries from his pant’s pocket. “Earlier, you asked me if these would fit.”
He signed again. // Fit //
“That’s how you sign fit, and this is how to sign work.” He proceeded to show Kirishima the sign. He watched as the redhead took in the signs and observed how he began to sign it back to him.
// Do those batteries work for your hearing aid? //
Bakugou sighed softly. // Yes. They fit. Thank you. // Bakugou slid the batteries over the desk, back toward Kirishima. “Why do you even carry those batteries around?”
Kirishima smiled. “In case someone needs them of course!”
Bakugou looked at Kirishima in confusion but decided not to pry any further.
“So what’s your name?”
Bakugou felt himself blush at the question. He’d forgotten that he never introduced himself. “Bakugou Katsuki.”
// Nice to meet you. //
Bakugou had to fight a smile. // Nice to meet you. // “Listen, about for earlier…” he was at a loss for words. “I’m...I’m sorry…” he wanted to say more, to elaborate that he’s not the best at making small talk or friends, but Kirishima just smiled widely at him.
“It’s okay. I get it...you didn’t want to be bothered.”
“Still, you were only trying to be nice and I was kind of an asshole…”
Kirishima chuckled at that. “It’s okay man. Make it up to me?”
Bakugou lifted an eyebrow at that. “How?”