#wip.in the drift

[bluebellhairpin]

Katsuki Bakugou X Reader

Summary: A collection of drabbles in which you are Katsuki Bakugou's co-pilot. None of the fics link in a timeline unless stated otherwise - all of them have a taste of the typical 'Bakugou' chaos we all love.

Spiritual Prequel || Masterlist || Ko-fi

Reader is Australian, uses gender neutral pronouns, and has no specific body type or race mentioned.

PLEASE REFER TO EACH INDIVIDUAL PART FOR RELEVANT/EXTENDED WARNINGS.

I - HEATWAVES (Updated AO3 version)

II - (coming soon <3)

meme's <3

Please not that due to the nature of this series, updates are subject to being sporadic.

However, also due to the nature of this series, suggestions/requests for scenes that you, the readers, want to see are welcomed. If you can imagine our Pilot duo doing something, drop an ask in my inbox! (Both sfw and nsfw asks are allowed, but nsfw asks MUST be off anon, and blogs MUST have an age indicator - otherwise they will be ignored.)

[bluebellhairpin]

i would say i'm sorry but i'm not. making my own meme's is the most fun a write can have. anyway, hype up my new (old, it's a revamp) series if you want to see this come to life.

[bluebellhairpin]

Katsuki Bakugo X Reader

Summary: The heat of December is scorching, and on the hottest day - where you want nothing more than to crawl into a freezer and never come out - Katsuki drags you out to the beach.

Warnings: An Australian summer. You've adopted Katsuki's potty mouth.

Listening to: 'Heat Waves' by Glass Animals - "Road shimmer wiggling my vision, heat, heat waves I'm swimming in a mirror."

Series Masterlist || Masterlist || Ko-fi

Half the Shatterdome’s air conditioning went out and it was far too hot. 

You thought to yourself as you sat in the control room next to the only unoccupied desk fan in the facility, that you bet they never had such a problem at the Anchorage Shatterdome being too cold. At least they could always put on more clothes - when it gets hot you can only take so much off. 

You hadn’t seen Katsuki all day, and if he were anything like you he’d be looking for a cold spot but unlike you he’d probably have had the luck to have actually found some place with a nice cool breeze. You mostly hoped he’d stay away for today - you didn’t want to deal with this heat and his attitude all at once. 

He had gotten more bearable over the last few weeks - being deployed to fight a few times and a couple more test runs with the neural link had you both working together well. Knowing how his brain - being inside it - helped you understand and tolerate him much more than anyone else in the entire city, let alone the Shatterdome.

You doubt you’d have warmed up to him so fast if you didn’t. 

But that didn’t mean you would actively seek out his company on a day with weather that made you want to rip someone's throat out. 

The only thing you could think of being worse was a Kaiju attack was having to get stuffed into your pilot suit - which would be like trying to fit a latex bodysuit onto a cow. And even if you were sharing a brain, and tolerated him more than you were currently tolerating the sun, you doubted your ability to not argue long enough to get a kill in. 

A stack of papers landed on the desk beside your propped-up feet and you were met with Shinsou - a young LOCCENT transfer from Hong Kong with purple hair and cheeks like a cooked lobster. 

“Been out on the beach?” you asked, grabbing a booklet and fanning yourself with it since the desk fan was being useless. 

“No,” he grumbled before moving off to the water dispenser, “Just ran up to the helicopter pad for those.” 

“You don’t run in this weather mate, that's how you get heat stroke and die.” 

“Well tell that to your boyfriend.” he said, flopping in the seat next to yours and tipping half his cup down the front of his shirt. “Either he likes how hot it is or he’s gone insane.”

“What?” you barely conjured the energy to turn your head in shock. “I mean he’s normally a little shit, but like,” your voice lowered, “How bad is it?” 

“Man was up on the pad and soaking it all in like a solar panel.” Shinsou likewise was soaking up the mild breeze through his wet shirt. “He’s gonna die.” 

“Maybe I should rescue him.” you mused, although not wanting to move. “Can’t have my co-pilot shriveling up on me like a dried apricot.” 

“He didn’t look so bothered. I think he’s more reptile than he lets on.” 

“Maybe I could just call him here over the intercoms.” you altered your suggestion - the both of you now having separate conversations. “Make him come to me instead so I can check he’s still alive.” 

“Not a snake. But he's not much like a crocodile either.”

“I’d get in trouble though. Might get an exception because it’s so hot but.” 

“A dragon. Dragons are reptiles.” 

“What the fuck are you both talking about?” You dipped your head over the back of your seat to meet upside-down red eyes. Speak of the devil, and Katsuki appears. 

“I’m glad you’re here. Was thinking you had a death wish.” He frowned. 

“Why?”

“Because you were outside.” His frown only deepened.

“It’s nice out there.” He said, even if the sweat dripping down his forehead says otherwise as you scoffed. “Have you even been out there yet today?” 

“Unfortunately.” Shinsou muttered. 

“No I have not. But I can tell.” you sighed deeply, wishing the warm air did more to cool your lungs. “Live here long enough and you gain that ability.”

“Bullshit.” 

“You never believe me Katsu.” You raised your arms, letting the breeze hit all your sweaty spots. “It’s not fair.” 

“C’mon.” Katsuki said, rolling your chair out and practically pulling you to your feet. “We’re not on duty and I think you need to go somewhere to cool off. You're talking nonsense.” 

“But poor Shinsou -” 

“Yeah poor me, getting abandoned for air conditioning and -” 

“Leave him, you know I don’t socialize well.” Katsuki said. “Let’s go.”

Katsuki, despite the fact he had a strict stick up his arse, had commandeered one of the Shatterdome’s Jeeps, fastened you into the passenger seat with little fight. 

Not that you had the energy to kick and scream at him to leave you be like you wanted to. 

You had half a mind to ask where you were going, and another half to remind him which side of the road he was supposed to be driving on - America brainwashed you, you’d told him, and he slammed on the breaks at a red light as payback. It almost sent you to your death through the front windscreen as California Gurls played loudly from the radio. 

You almost died to Katy Perry, which would’ve been his fault, and you would’ve haunted him for forever. 

When he pulled up at Bondi Beach - of all the places - you crossed your arms. 

“Are you serious?” 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” 

“Bondi is so full of tourists,” you groaned, sulking into your seat, “I know we aren't the most popular Rangers, but if someone recognises us we won’t be left alone. A Ranger is still a Ranger.” 

“That’s why I’ve got these,” he reached behind him into the backseat and pulled out an array of clothing accessories, “Hide those pretty eyes and stuff your hair under that cap. No one will look twice.” 

You huffed in defeat, snatching a pair of too-big sunglasses and a cap with a bright orange X across the front from his hands. 

“Enough attitude, or I won’t get you ice cream like I planned to.” 

“Who are you, my dad?” you said, stepping out of the car and closing the door with a loud thud. 

“Sure ain’t.” Katsuki said, then a wicked grin grew on his face and you knew you were in for it. “But I’m sure I know as well as you do that you’d like calling me -”

“I am not listening to you! Not!” you said, stomping away and making a beeline for the water despite the fact you had to trudge through the heat past the carpark and sand, or that you had no swimmers on. 

He barked a laugh behind you, and you could tell - you knew it because you knew him that well already - that he was still looking at you. And you knew - because you did - that he’d get you your ‘pity me because of the heat’ ice cream no matter how you acted. 

That’s what happened when you were in someone's head. You knew what they thought about almost anything. You knew what he thought about you, despite how he tried to shove it off into the most unreachable corners of his mind. 

He liked you. You didn’t mind. 

[bluebellhairpin]

Bakugo Katsuki X Reader

A/N: I just like Pacific Rim. And Bakugo. Also please excuse all errors in grammar, spelling or formatting; I have to do all this on my phone. My computer is shit when it comes to writing now apparently :/ - Nemo

Summary: In a world with monsters from the Pacific, and monsters made by man, two people try and find a way to help humanity reclaim it's world. They do it through each other's eyes. They do it through a Jaeger.

Warnings: AU-typical themes. A character in-passing has a blood nose. I wrote this with a Fem!Reader in mind, but GN pronouns are used. Not edited; we die like men (proud and ignorant).

Listening to: 'Lesson Number One' from Mulan II - "Sound and silence, dark and light. One alone is not enough, you need both together."

Masterlist || Ko-fi

You’d always been drawn to power. 

From the way you’d try to pull your fathers fingers out of their sockets when you were a toddler (apparently as you do as a toddler), to now, how you’d stare out at the open ocean as its waves crashed into the coastline (apparently as you do as someone with nothing else to do). 

But now, the oceans hold a new danger. One that no one had seen in any lifetime before yours.

You still remember when the first Kaiju attacked San Francisco. 

You’d come home from school and find your mother watching the news. The anchor still reporting about the giant creature as it rampaged across America’s east coast. It lasted almost a week. It only ended after their weapons went nuclear. Everyone thought it was a one-time thing. But it wasn’t. The monsters from the deep kept coming back. 

A year later, they hit home harder. Literally. 

The attack on the city of Sydney was what spurred humankind to find a less nuclear way of dealing with the Kaiju. One less destructive, and less damaging to the human population. 

You were in that city when it attacked. 

You saw that beast and how it destroyed everything in its wake, and for the first time in your life you weren’t drawn to its power.

You were afraid.

You remember the screaming of the people around you, and how your tears made dust stick to your cheeks. You remember losing sight of your parents in the crowds and thinking that they’d died. 

Thinking that you were going to die. 

Katsuki Bakugou didn’t think he’d ever find anyone to pilot a Jaeger with.

He was too temperamental. Too angry. Too selfish. Only two people had even come close to drifting with him.

The first was his childhood friend, Izuku, who apparently could drift with just about anyone. The second was some guy from his cadet days, Eijirou, who was friendly with everyone but admittedly could match his own stubborn nature. 

However, just because you got along didn't necessarily mean you were drift compatible. Only the people with the strongest bonds in the drift were made Jaeger Rangers. Only the duo's with the biggest chances of success were put out to fight.

You could love your mother to death and still not have a good enough drift capability with her for the PPDC to say "go out there and pilot that giant mech so you both can save the world". 

Bakugou had made the rounds trying to find a co-pilot, and both his options and patience was running thin. He only had one place left. His last chance.

The Sydney Shatterdome. 

He'd landed in the city two days ago, early and jet-lagged. Today was the day he'd venture from his temporary housing to (hopefully) a more a permanent dorm at the Shatterdome. He'd even caught wind of a new jaeger taking residence there, and much like him it had been through the ringer when it came to pilots. 

Apparently none of them had lasted very long in her cockpit. 

Slinging a duffel bag over his shoulder, he let out a throaty scoff, smirking. If anyone would pilot it, he thought, it was gonna be him. Even if he had to wrestle a co-pilot into the spot next to him.  

You'd been waiting for this guy for months. Actually it was less than two weeks, but it sure felt like an eternity. 

You'd been stuck here for too long, and as your fellow cadets graduated two months ago, you were stuck without a partner. The uneven amount of people your year didn't help, and the fact that no one ever really felt… right. 

You still graduated, obviously. The best and brightest of your whole class. You were the first person on the Marshals list to try compatibility with one Katsuki Bakugou. And boy, looking at him now you were glad that while you were first on the list, others sure had tried their hand at him before you. 

Hearing of him by word or mouth wasn't hard; a hot-blooded Ranger-to-be who literally drove any potential partner into the ground. By the bloodied nose of the engineer that passed you as you entered the combat room, he wasn't going easy on anyone. 

Beside you, you could hear the clack of wooden staffs as Bakugou crossed off another potential partner. Then a grunt and a thump, and someone letting out a loud sigh as you toes off your shoes. 

"You need to stop fighting them." You called, Bakugou’s last opponent rubbed the back of their head as they passed the staff off to you. Bakugou’s eyes landed on you, fierce and widening. 

"What?" 

"You keep fighting your partners like they're Kaiju. Not like they're your co-pilot. You need to stop fighting them." 

"Oh and why's that?" Your stare narrowed. 

"Because it's not a fight. It's supposed to fluid, not stunted like you keep making it out to be. So stop fighting and start feeling." 

His cheek twitched in either a frown or a smile, the fleeting motion gave way to a neutral expression once again. He readied his stance. 

"Fine." 

He didn't know what else to say.

You hadn't even introduced yourself and you were already telling him what to do.

Usually when people saw him, their eyes lowered, shrinking in on themselves. His permanently plastered sneer didn't help that, he knew it, and his size didn't help either. Eijirou had an intense training program while they were both training in Japan, and Bakugou was nothing if not competitive. His piled on bulk like a kid with access to too much icing for a cake.

But you hadn't let his looks or attitude bother you.

Admittedly, he liked that.

Pretending to get comfortable to catch him off guard, you made it look and feel like he should've seen it coming. He blinked and there was your staff right in front of his eyes.

"One." You said. You didn't hesitate to mark yourself one point.

He liked that too.

Bakugou found himself distracted throughout the whole session with you. Not in a bad way, not in the way that meant he failed or couldn't get marks on you like you were getting them on him. No he… he was having fun. He was enjoying himself.

Usual sparring sessions like this would end quickly. Best out of four. But not this one.

A half hour passed and 50 points landed between you both.

He stood panting. Sweat was running down his brow and throat and he so badly wanted to chug a gallon of water, but you just kept going. As if he was going to back down.

He never did.

Every time a point was marked you'd keep the game moving. Pushing through. Flowing movements. You were fluid and feeling just like you told him he needed to be, and he soon found himself mimicking you.

Brute strength wasn't quite cutting it, so it was the only way he could keep up.

Even he could feel it. They way that even though you'd both only just met you could read each other with barely speaking. He wanted to try drifting with you, and he didn't even know your name.

"You better not be this jittery in an actual Jaeger." Bakugou said.

"We're practicing for a reason. I won't be nervous in a Jaeger so don't get your panties in a twist."

"I'm not wearing panties dumbass-"

"Marshall on deck!"

Yours and Bakugou’s bickering stopped, giving way to straightened posture and an insane silence.

After your sparring session the day before, everyone involved agreed to an attempted neural handshake between the two of you. However Bakugou wasn't making himself very likeable.

You had to admit though, that he was a welcome distraction. You were a bit nervous.

The PPDC's Marshal - Toshinori Yagi - was well respected. He was the best Jaeger pilot his time had ever seen, with more kills under his belt with his jaeger All Might than anyone before him - nor anyone after. A injury out in the field left him unable to pilot, but his knowledge was kept close at hand. Why he was here, in Sydney of all places, had you standing to attention just as well as an order.

"What are you doing here?"

Of course Bakugou had to open his mouth again. Luckily the Marshal took it in his stride.

"It's not everyday we have two people with such potential. I'm here to make sure you are both exactly who we are looking for to pilot a Jaeger."

"The Jaeger they moved here a few weeks ago, she's for us?" You couldn't help the awe in your question. Not only a co-pilot, but your own Jaeger? This day could be the best of your life.

"If you both drift well enough together, yes." You smiled at the Marshal's answer.

Looking over at Bakugou, though, your joy faded. His shoulder tensed, and jaw firmly locked into place. He certainly didn't look happy.

"But we need to find that out first. Suit up. She's waiting for you."

"The Jaeger? You're putting us straight in?" Bakugou asked. The Marshal smiled.

"Where else?"

Your mind was quiet. The glimpses of memories he saw were fleeting. They were supposed to be.

Rangers do not chase the RABIT. 

Bakugou took deep breaths as he steadied himself in the drift, opening up a headspace to let you in. Like he was supposed to. Then he felt you. 

Pushing and prodding into his brain like you owned the place. He guessed at this stage you might as well have. He heard you scoff beside him, looking over to see a glint of a toothy smile under your helmet. 

"You're going to have to let me in more than that, you know." 

He sighed. Deeply. 

He tried venturing into your mind first, but you blocked him out, flinching. 

"Hey, works both ways babe. I'm only gonna let you in if you let me in."

"Guys," the LOCCENT coms crackled, "you two need to relax. The neural handshake isn't lining up very well yet. Try and focus." 

Bakugou grumbled, deciding to be the bigger person in the relationship for once. He felt how you followed his lead. He felt how his barely-there trust paid off, and how you let him in just the same. 

He felt how you let him be the right hemisphere of the Jaeger, and felt how you took control of the left. 

"That's it! You're lining up almost perfect!" 

He could feel your amusement flow through him, rippling against his chest like water at the sand of a beach.

"Don't say it." He said with gritted teeth. 

"I'm not gonna say anything," you said, your joy overwhelming him like a flood, and he found himself smiling a little too, "I certainly would never say anything about how easy that was, right Kacchan?"  

The mess hall was almost always full of people. Right now was no exception. Everyone was buzzed about the two newest Jaeger pilots, and frankly so were you.

You'd been excited since Marshal Yagi told you you would be drifting for the first time, not in a simulation, but in your possible future jaeger. You sure had every right to be now.

Having such a successful bridging on your first go was rare. You could only think that there was a reason you had never found anyone you could do this with so well until now.

You'd just fare-welled a group of engineers from your table, they were the group in charge of maintaining your Jaeger's core, and you definitely are keeping them as friends. You were hoping to finally get to your dinner, when a food tray slammed down onto the steel table beside you.

"Excalibur Blue." Bakugou announced, leaning back against the table from where he sat himself down on the bench. "She sure sounds badass."

You turned to him, taking him in.

From his undercut and ear piercing, to the slither of a tattoo peaking out from under his shirt as he crossed his biceps. He sure did look like a powerhouse. But looking closer, at the tuffs of blond hair, and his eyes which colors matched more like that of a cherry than blood, you could tell he wasn't as sharp as he looked.

The glimpse in his mind today was enough for you to believe he was softer than he let on. You liked that.

"Think our legend can match the namesake?"

You smiled as you shovelled a fork-full of mashed potato in your mouth.

"We can be better."

You didn't catch his smile as he said that you were damn right.