Listen up, a**hole - Chapter 12 [FINAL]

“Mister Zero! Ground Zero!”

He turned to see a little boy racing toward him, his parents left in his dust with stunned looks on their faces, but Bakugou only smiled as he bent down to greet the kid.

“Hey. What's your name?” he asked.

“Haruto!” he grinned, bouncing up and down in his excitement. “Look! I got them yesterday!”

He turned his head to show off brand-new hearing aids, shiny and black, with a neon-orange cross stamped across the middle.

“Wow! You know it's the first time I've seen them in person? They look real cool!”

“Yeah! They were the coolest by miles! And they work really good, too! This morning my baby sister was crying and I heard her and went and got Mom from the shower!”

“And you're a hero, too?” Bakugou praised him. “We match!”

The boy beamed, and Bakugou heard a stifled little giggle behind him as Midoriya struggled to keep his composure.

“If it's not too much trouble, could I maybe get a photo with you?” Haruto asked, suddenly getting shy. “If you're not busy, I mean.”

“I'm never too busy for a photo,” Bakugou assured him. “Is this your Mom and Dad?”

“Uh-huh! And my little sister Akari!”

“Nice to meet you all.”

The adults both began the typical bowing ritual he'd gotten used to from nervous parents, and Bakugou waved them off in a hurry – he hated the whole formality thing in general, let alone when kids were involved.

His father produced a phone, setting it up to take a picture, and Bakugou knelt down to drape an arm across Haruto's shoulders, pulling him in close. He smirked for the camera, Haruto's smile as bright as the sun, and shook his head again when the “thank you”s began.

“Any time,” he assured them. “I'm always happy to meet fans, especially ones as awesome as Haruto.”

When they finally parted ways, Midoriya immediately snaked his arm around Bakugou's waist for a hug. He'd come to meet Bakugou at the end of his patrol, eager to watch his latest photoshoot take place, and they'd both given up the pretense of hiding each other's names in the press. The Wonder Duo were officially an item now – numbers two and three in the charts were a couple, and no one could do anything about it.

As they pushed open the door to the little studio, Bakugou snorted a laugh, pointing out the giant poster laughing at them from just two doors down, emblazoned with his colours. The ads had only gone live twenty-four hours ago, and already he was walking into pictures of himself holding his signature pose, a black and orange hearing aid clearly visible in his ear.

He didn't wear his own brand for real, he had to admit – he still liked the much tinier and more inconspicuous versions, but after a little soul searching and a lot of cuddling, he'd agreed to wear them for the ads.

“Mister Bakugou! Mister Midoriya!” the desk staff greeted them brightly, leaping up with stacks of papers to hand over. “All the latest development info for Patrol Mode! It's looking really good, almost ready for field testing!”

“Perfect,” Bakugou nodded, accepting the papers and tucking them into his bag. “I'll read over it tonight. Has that prosthetics manufacturer gotten back to us again?”

“Yes! She's super keen to go ahead with the line, she's going to get some prototypes to us in the next few days!”

“Cool. So I just need to take these photos, and everything else is done?”

“Precisely, Sir!”

“Cool," he repeated. "I'll head through, then.”

“Thanks for the hard work!” Midoriya added quickly, as he followed Bakugou down the hallway. “We appreciate it!”

The studio was all ready for him, with reinforced glass to aim his quirk at when they filmed action shots, a dozen lights and cameras, and a genuinely realistic looking backdrop hung behind them.

“Perfect timing, Sir! Can I show you the television ads while you're in hair and make up?”

“Sure.”

He knew they'd been working long hours on the things, and frankly, he hoped the results would be worth it. He'd hate to have to send them back for a third time to be fixed.

Midoriya leaned over to watch with him, careful to stay out of the stylist's way, but giddy with glee when his boyfriend popped up on the screen.

It was silent at first, just images and videos flashing by of fights and explosions, his face cackling, until he put the device in his ear and the sound kicked in. The music in the background was much better this time around – more "rock star" and less "pretty princess" like the first iteration that he'd almost screamed over for how much it missed the point. 

When the explosion sound effects began, a smirk stretched across his face – yeah, they'd nailed that sound for sure.

As he stepped away from the battle, dust and ash settling behind him, the slogan he'd been seeing around town all day lit up the screen.

Destroying barriers starts with Ground Zero.

He nodded as he handed the laptop back, snorting again when he saw the look of delight pass across the tired man's face.

“Air it,” he confirmed. “It's good.”

“Thank you, Sir!”

He scarpered away to do his job, and soon Bakugou was off to do his, too. He took his phone from his pocket to hand off to Midoriya, glancing one last time at the screen and frowning when he saw the name that lit it up.

He gestured to the camerapeople to give him a second, opening the message only to find a photo waiting for him. He flipped his phone to see it better, and when it enlarged across his screen, it brought tears to his eyes.

“Deku,” he chuckled, waving him over. “Look at this.”

Sixty students and ten adults were crammed into one little frame, fists held high to mimic the pose of a billboard behind them, big grins on all their faces. It must have been put right outside their school, he realised from the surroundings, atop the familiar fence he'd walked through that day.

“It's so cute, oh my gosh!” Midoriya beamed. “I'm so glad they like it!”

“Yeah,” he nodded, pausing with his thumb over the reply button. “I'm glad too.”

With the little smile still tugging at his lips, he tapped out a reply, hitting send and handing the device over finally, even deigning to give the staff an apologetic nod as he finally joined them.

Tell the seniors I saw their damn U.A. applications and to get their butts back in class. Don't make me come out there.

When Midoriya tapped away from the conversation, he found another waiting in the background, "Old Hag" written across the top of the screen. An image was attached - the same image Midoriya had just been looking at - and he teared up when he saw the caption beneath.

Here's your damn grandchildren, hag.