My Pulse, Your Track | BakuDeku

1. Go out with friends.

2. Enter an illegal racing arena.

3. Get separated from said friends.

4. Witness a hoverboard defy gravity like it's nothing.

5. Catch feelings for the green-haired champion who dominates the tracks and rides like he owns physics.

This is a list of things you don't do in one night, in that specific order.

Bakugou Katsuki does them all. In one night. In that specific order.

He's not supposed to be here. He doesn't 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 to be here. Doesn't belong in places like this, where neon bleeds into smoke and engines scream louder than thoughts.

He was all but dragged by four unrelenting individuals. And he thinks the night can't go any more off-course.

But Midoriya "Usagi" Izuku is fast---he flies like he's got nothing left to lose and everything to win---and when he sees him, riding like gravity's a choice, Katsuki forgets every reason he came.

And every reason he should've left.

_

Midoriya Izuku is a name the underground chants like gospel. He rides like the city's burning behind him. He wins like it's finish first or die.

And yeah, he's good at a lot of things: tech, speed, strategy, defying gravity on a board he built with his own hands in middle school. For these reasons and then some, he owns the track.

But nothing prepares him for the sharp-eyed stranger in the crowd who watches him like everyone around is frozen in time, him the only one in motion. All red eyes and tension and something sharp beneath that snarl.

Or for when his rhythm almost stutters. Just once, barely a second. Barely something anyone else would notice. But it might as well be considered a natural disaster because Midoriya Izuku's rhythm never stutters.

Neither of them is looking for a distraction. Especially not each other. But the city doesn't care what they want. The engines don't stop burning for their comfort.

And fate? She's got a sick sense of humor.

And, well, who doesn't laugh at a sick joke every once in a while?