surprise reunions and childhood rekindling - ladyofsnails - 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia (2024)

Chapter 1: all fights!

Chapter Text

Katsuki groaned, kicking the leg of the table with the toe of his heavy black boot and jolting all the books and pens splayed across it. Kirishima startled and looked up.

“Bro!” He said quietly. “This is a library! Don’t do that.”

Katsuki glared at him. “f*cking hurry up then, I want lunch already.”

“I told you, we’re meeting some people at 1. Still have 15 minutes, I just need to finish this chapter,” Kirishima told him before returning to his biology textbook and notes. They’d been studying in the library for almost 2 hours, and Katsuki had finished his work 30 minutes ago. He was never one for patience, but somehow his sh*tty friends had roped him into some lunch meet-up with a different group. He really wasn’t looking forward to it, but he also knew that his loud-ass, talkative friends could be a very effective shield in social situations. And they forced him into a lot of social situations.

He could’ve easily counted on one hand his number of friends before his 2nd year of middle school: one. Two, if he counted the stray dog that always followed him almost all the way home. He just wasn’t a friends person. He had the one he had, and he was good with that. That was, until that one friend moved halfway across the country and left him with just the dog.

Going into high school, he was still his brash, abrasive, narcissistic self, not expecting or wanting to make friends. But Kirishima saw Katsuki and somehow got the idea in his head that he had to be ‘bros’ with him. All the other dumbasses just followed along with sh*tty Hair, and they’d all ended up in the same college, and boom, he was still stuck with them.

Finally, a quiet buzz emulated from Kirishima’s phone on the table and he looked up from his book, checking the text.

“Oh! Looks like they’re here! And they brought a new guy!” Katsuki grumbled. Great, more people. Kirishima closed his textbook and started gathering up all his stuff. “Let’s get moving, dude.”

Katsuki huffed and grabbed his bag off the floor, having already packed up. He stood, impatiently tapping his foot, watching Kirishima collect his sh*t and dump it into his bag haphazardly. When Kirishima eventually managed to grab the last pens and flyaway papers, Katsuki quickly made for the exit, ignoring the librarian’s farewell, and busting through the doors.

He breathed in the fresh air, much better than the inside of their stuffy school library, and Kirishima came out behind him.

“Where are we going?” Katsuki asked, having not been listening when Kirishima told him the first time.

“The other guys bought takeout, and we’re meeting them on the field picnic tables,” Kirishima answered, bounding down the steps like an overgrown puppy. Seriously, the guy was huge. Katsuki hated standing next to him because he felt so short, despite being a solid 5’9” and relatively bulky in terms of muscles. Over average, at least. But Kirishima was whole different story. Built like a tank with the personality and kindness of a golden retriever.

He followed Kirishima down the steps and towards the huge grassy expanse next to the campus. Katsuki had been at college for half a year now, and he had the campus mostly figured out. The field was one of his favorite places. He could do anything on it, including just take off running like he sometimes had the impulse of doing. Right now, though, he just fell into step beside his friend and waited for him to find whoever they were looking for.

His eyes roamed over the subtle hills of the field where students were milling about. Some where chatting on picnic blankets, some working in study groups, some playing music. Katsuki scowled at the music-players. If people wanted to hear their f*cking racket, they’d ask.

“I think that’s them!” Kirishima called, reaching a tanned arm up to wave at a group of people on an opposite hill. Katsuki looked up, squinting at the group. He recognized Mina’s pink hair and Kaminari’s shock of yellow, as well as Sero’s tree figure, and noticed the two tall men and two short women he didn’t recognize, but what really caught his eye was a slightly less tall boy in the middle of it all. The boy had green hair. Green hair, and a relaxed posture, with his hands moving about wildly as he said something to Kaminari and the guy with white and red hair.

No, there was no f*cking way.

As the other group came closer, Katsuki slowly realized that, yes, there was a f*cking way. Because somehow, Deku himself was standing on the grass at Katsuki’s school, 10 feet in front of him for the first time in five years. Deku laughed and Katsuki felt his heart twinge, then Deku turned to meet his eyes and they both froze.

Deku’s emerald eyes flashed in recognition and his mouth fell open slightly. Katsuki just kept staring. What the hell was he supposed to do here? His childhood friend turned kind of bullying victim but-still-friend turned nothing was right there. Deku was right there. Why was Deku right there?

But he also wasn’t quite sure this was Deku. The Deku of Katsuki’s memories was small, spindly, and overall tiny. He shrunk into himself nervously around strangers. This Deku was tall and a fit with lean muscles, and he had an air of confidence and security. But he still had the same dumb freckles everywhere, and the same dumb bright eyes, and the same wild forest hair that looked like he’d walked through a windstorm every morning.

Suddenly, there was a glint in Deku’s eye that Katsuki recognized from all those years ago, and both boy’s body language went tense. Katsuki dropped his book bag off his shoulder, brought up his hands ever so slightly, and…

In a flash of green and blonde, they lunged at each other and started their familiar struggle to wrestle the other to the ground. Deku’s hand caught Katsuki left hook and he swung up to try and land a hit on Katsuki’s stomach, but Katsuki wasn’t planning on exchanging punches this time. He threw himself into Deku with all his weight, sending them both toppling to the ground. Deku yelped and kicked up at Katsuki’s chest, and Katsuki nearly laughed when he saw the customary red high tops. He couldn’t believe Deku was still wearing those.

The red shoe connected with his chest and made him fly sideways onto his back, just barely grabbing Deku’s shirt collar. He used the momentum of his fall and Deku’s attempt to jump on top of him to fling Deku over him and further down the hill, rolling them both over until he landed on him heavily. Katsuki was about to announce his triumph when Deku grinned up at him mischievously. Before he knew what was happening, legs hooked over his shoulder from under his arms and he was slammed back into the dirt and grass.

sh*t, the nerd had learned some new moves. Still not good enough for Katsuki, though.

Katsuki grabbed Deku’s ankle and threw his legs to the side, and then before he could do anything more, he was being dragged away.

He glared up and Kirishima and tried to wriggle free. “Let me go, sh*tty Hair!” He yelled. He heard Deku yelp and turned to see him being caged in the arms of the big guy with glasses, looking flushed and pouty like a grumpy bunny.

“Dude, what the f*ck are you doing?” Kirishima snapped, pulling Katsuki to his feet by the shirt collar and glaring at him. Katsuki grabbed Kirishima’s arm and kicked his legs around to try and get free.

“All Fight!” Deku and Katsuki said at the same time. Katsuki let loose a tiny laugh at their simultaneous answers and used Kirishima’s moment of shock to kick him in the shins, making sh*tty Hair drop him to the ground. He whirled around to see Deku being chided by Four Eyes and the brunette with a round face. As if Deku could sense him staring, he turned to meet Katsuki’s eyes and broke into a grin. The same sunny grin he’d always had.

“I won!” He announced.

“You so f*cking did not! We didn’t finish!”

“I had you pinned and then the fight ended, that means I won,” Deku claimed, closing the distance between the two of them despite his friend’s protests behind him.

Katsuki glared up at him, shoving down the sudden shock that Deku was now taller than him. f*ck that, he’d still be the intimidating one here. “That doesn’t f*cking count,” he growled.

“It totally does! Now, you know the rules,” Deku said, holding out and upturned, expectant hand. Katsuki slapped the hand away, ignoring the new scars he saw on them.

“I’m not giving you any because you didn’t f*cking win,” he said.

Deku wagged a finger at him. “You know the rules, Kacchan,” He repeated. Hearing the nickname again made Katsuki’s heart jump in his chest. “Give me candy or I get your left shoe,” he said, reciting the rules they made up for their ‘All Fights’, as they called them. At 4 years old, they both had decided on their future as superheroes, just like their comic book idol, All Might. Didn’t matter how much their parents told them it wasn’t possible, that’s what they were doing. They had started the wrestling matches as ‘practice for fighting villains’, which was genius plan to their toddler brains. The habit had stuck their whole lives, apparently even after 5 years of virtually no contact.

“I’m not giving you my shoe!” Katsuki yelled, completely forgetting that all of his and Deku’s friends were watching.

“Fine then!” Deku shifted into a fighting stance, crouching down. “Guess I’ll have to take them.”

“Rematch, Deku-” Katsuki cut himself off with an indignant yell as he was dragged backwards by Kirishima again.

"Bakubro, why the hell are you fighting strangers?” Kirishima cried.

“How can you hate Midoriya before you’ve been introduced!” Mina groaned, throwing her hands up. “This is a new low, even for your socially constipated ass.”

“I don’t f*cking hate him and he’s not a f*cking stranger!” Katsuki groaned loudly.

“You really mean that?” Katsuki looked up to meet Deku’s green eyes. They looked…teary. Yeah, this was definitely Deku.

“What the f*ck, Deku,” Katsuki said flatly, shaking out of Kirishima’s hold. Suddenly, Deku broke free of his friends and tackled Katsuki with a hug. Katsuki hadn’t been expecting how heavy he was and had to twirl in a circle to keep from toppling back to the ground, which would’ve surely turned into another wrestling match. “Gah! Get off, you leech!” He yelped as Deku held him.

“I missed you, Kacchan!” Deku said, squeezing him tighter with his new, weirdly strong arms. Katsuki flailed around to try and push him off, but Deku didn’t let go.

Katsuki growled, face pressed into Deku’s shoulder, knowing what he needed to say. “Okay, fine, I missed you too. A little.” A lot.

He realized his mistake too late. He’d hoped the admission would make Deku let up, but instead, he found himself being lifted off his feet to Deku’s squeak of surprise. That was as much as he could take, and he lifted his legs to kick Deku’s thighs. Deku yelped and finally released him to the grass.

“Dammit, Deku,” Katsuki swore. “Since when did you get strong and sh*t?”

Deku grinned his stupid blinding grin that Katsuki missed so much and flexed his freckled arms. “Since the past five years, Kacchan!” He stepped towards Katsuki, grin turning playful and a bit mischievous. “And I guess I’m taller now.”

Katsuki yelled and lunged, but Deku had been expecting it and ducked under his arms, sweeping to the side. Instead, Katsuki rammed into Kirishima and wheezed. He turned to glare at Deku.

“You f*cker, I’ll kill you for that.”

“I can’t control my height!”

“Yo, dudes,” Kaminari cut in, holding a hand out. “Can we back up maybe 5 or more steps here? You two know each other?”

“Obviously, dumbass,” Katsuki snarled as Deku said, “Yeah!”

“How?”

Katsuki and Deku gave each other a look, then Deku shrugged. “Childhood? I don’t know, Kacchan’s been my best friend since forever.”

“If you’re best friends then why are you throwing hands on sight?” Mina asked.

“All Fights,” Katsuki and Deku said, again at the exact same time.

“All Fight for All Might!” Deku chanted.

Katsuki groaned. “One for All and All for One,” he responded on automatic.

“We won’t give up ‘til evil is done!” they both finished, Deku saying it excitedly while Katsuki said it like he was being forced to by a crying child for the billionth time in a minute.

“You are so f*cking stupid,” he grumbled. The two groups of friends were just staring at them, shell-shocked. Deku suddenly squeezed him into another hug, this one from the side, and Katsuki yelped and shove him off quickly. “f*ck off! You got your one hug, asshole!”

Deku let go. “I have five years of hugs backed up, though!”

“Nope, that’s not how it works.”

“Okay, what is the deal here?” Sero said abruptly.

“The f*ck do you mean, Soy Sauce?” Katsuki snapped.

“I mean what’s the deal? You two start brawling the second you see each other –”

“ – which is very uncharacteristic behavior, Midoriya –” Four Eyes cut in.

“—and now your reciting rhymes and saying you’re best friends?” Sero finished.

“Yeah, and?” Katsuki said, frowning at Sero like he was an idiot. What exactly was he so confused about? That’s just how he and Deku were. Suddenly, all their friends burst into questions, voices overlapping.

“Since when do you have friends that aren’t us, Bakugou?”

“Why’d you never mention him?”

“What is All Fight?”

“Why did you want his shoe?”

“Why would you assault your friends?”

“What’s up with Deku and Kacchan?”

“Why do you-”

“UUUUUUGH!” Katsuki groaned at full volume, drawing it out. “Shut the f*ck up!”

“This is a lot of questions!” Deku said, putting his hands out in front of him like his friends were going to attack.

“Can we just f*cking eat?” Katsuki grumbled.

“You can ask us questions as we eat!” Deku suggested.

“No,” Katsuki corrected. “They can ask you questions. I’m not f*cking dealing with that.”

“Fine then, Kacchan, I guess I’ll just tell them all about the time Auntie said you couldn’t keep Missy and you cried the whooole day.”

Katsuki’s eyes went wide and he kicked Deku’s leg. “f*ck you, I didn’t cry that much! And I was six!”

All of Katsuki’s friends had started laughing. “Missy?” Mina choked out.

“Missy was a stray dog who lived by our school!” Deku explained. “Kacchan named her.”

“He named a stray dog Missy?” Kaminari laughed incredulously.

“Yup! Full name Missile Launcher, of course.” Katsuki’s friends cackled even harder, and Katsuki growled and lunged at Deku. Deku met him head on, grabbing his hands and pushing back against him. Before they could go further, Kirishima and Four Eyes were dragging them apart again.

“Stop f*cking doing that!” He yelled.

“Then stop attacking each other!” Kirishima responded.

“Midoriya, what has gotten into you?” Four Eyes said, chopping his arm up and down like a malfunctioning robot.

“It’s just Kacchan!” Deku said, like that explained everything. It should, at least Katsuki thought so.

“Does Kacchan make you feel sick or something, Midoriya?” The tall guy with half white, half red hair said, frowning.

“Don’t f*cking call me that, you Canadian flag asshole!” Katsuki snapped.

The guy looked up with slightly wider eyes. “Am I the Canadian flag asshole?” he asked, voice monotone. Was he messing with him?

“Obviously, idiot!”

“Why can I not call you Kacchan? It is what Midoriya calls you, yes?”

“Yeah, and it’s what only Deku calls me,” Katsuki growled, feeling his old rage bubbling back up. “It would be Bakugou to you. Or you could just not ever speak to me, Half-n-Half bastard.”

The boy’s expression didn’t change one bit. “You have…creative nicknames, Bakugou. And you are very aggressive.”

Katsuki huffed and stomped towards him. “You have a f*cking problem, Halfsie?”

Deku stopped him with a hand on his chest. “Kacchan, wait! Please don’t get into fights with my friends!”

“My name is Todoroki Shoto,” Half-n-Half said, bowing slightly. Okay, this guy had to be messing with him.

“And I don’t f*cking care,” Katsuki retorted.

“Kacchan…” Deku whined, giving him a look. “You are not making a good impression here.”

“Tch, who cares about your sh*tty extras. Or my sh*tty extras, for that matter.”

“Aw, they’re your extras? Kacchan, you have friends!” Deku poked his head around Katsuki to look at the dumbass squad behind him. “How’d you manage that?”

“Hard work and perseverance!” Kirishima announced, pumping his fist.

“And a very long time!” Mina added.

“Shut the f*ck up, all of you,” Katsuki interrupted, making his friends laugh. Katsuki tensed up, about to yell, then let out all the anger with a long huff and counting to ten like the school therapist had taught him. He turned back to Deku’s friends. “You fu-you people brought food, right?” Deku gave him a questioning look, then smiled. He returned the smile with a small glare and huffed growl.

“Yeah, we did!” Deku answered.

“Great,” Katsuki deadpanned, turning to grab his bag off the ground and then sitting down. Deku smiled and hopped over to sit next to him, then waved all their friends over. They looked cautious and confused, and Katsuki performed a mocking version of Deku’s smile and wave. Finally, all ten people were sitting on the grass in a circle, and Round Cheeks and the girl that made Katsuki think of a frog were taking food boxes out of their bags.

“Hey! We should all be formally introduced, first!” Kirishima said from his spot next to Katsuki.

“Oh, yeah!” Deku agreed from Katsuki’s other side. Wonderful, he was trapped between the sunshine extroverts. Maye it meant he’d have to talk less. “Okay, well my name is Midoriya Izuku! Nice to meet you all!” Katsuki friends tittered their greetings and pleasantries, a Katsuki just stayed quiet. There was a poke on his shoulder, and he turned to see Deku watching him expectantly.

He huffed. “Bakugou Katsuki.” Deku kept staring. “Nice to f*cking meet you or whatever.” He rolled his eyes when Deku smiled. He tried to make himself care about the other’s names. Round Cheeks was Uraraka something-or-other, Four Eyes was Iida, and the frog girl told everyone to call her Tsu. Lastly, there was Todoroki f*cking Shoto, and Katsuki hated that he remembered that full name. He tuned out when they started talking about majors and things, instead trying to keep himself in check, impatient for food.

He also couldn’t stop thinking about Deku next to him. They hadn’t seen each other in five years, and yet the second they did, it was like they’d never been apart. It made Katsuki feel those stupid warm fuzzies that Deku had been bringing around his whole life. He didn’t know what the feeling meant, he just knew that it was a good feeling, but he hated it because he didn’t get it.

He came out of head when he heard Deku start talking.

“-used to live pretty far away from here, but I got a scholarship middle of the year and now I’m transferring! It’ll-”

“WHAT?” Katsuki suddenly yelled, digging his fingers into the ground so hard he ripped up a chunk of dirt and grass. Deku beamed at him.

“Yeah! I’m starting classes next week!”

Katsuki heart was racing. He reached up the smear the dirt across Deku’s freckled cheeks, making him squeal. “And when were you going to tell me this?”

Deku laughed and tried to rub the dirt off his face, but really only succeeded in spreading it around. “I wanted to call you, but I don’t have your number anymore!”

Oh. Right. He’d destroyed a couple phones in his middle and high school days, meaning he didn’t have the same number he did five years ago. With a flutter in his chest, he wondered if Deku had ever tried calling or messaging him before.

“Also, I didn’t know you went to school here!” Deku continued.

“You could’ve asked my mom or something,” Katsuki said without meaning to. Why did he care about this so much? Yes, Deku was his friend. A friend he missed. (A lot.) But then why did he feel like he was going into cardiac arrest about going to school with the guy?

Deku opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. He puffed out his cheeks. “I-…I did not think of that.”

Katsuki hurled a fistful of grass him. “Idiot.”

Deku tried to slap the grass away, then gave Katsuki a wild grin. Katsuki returned it, but once again Kirishima grabbed the back of his shirt and yanked him back, like he already could tell what they were about to do.

“Oh my God, what is up with you two?” Kirishima said, letting go of Katsuki shirt as he growled.

“Are you going to keep trying to fight each other this whole time?” Round Cheeks asked.

“You haven’t let us finish a f*cking match yet, so yeah,” Katsuki snapped. Round Cheeks gave him a confused frown.

“Actually, I won, but Kacchan won’t admit it so we have to keep going,” Deku said with a co*cky smile. Katsuki punched his shoulder, bumping him into Frog Girl next to him.

“You did not win, sh*tty nerd.”

“I did, and you owe me candy or a shoe already!”

“A…shoe?” Todoroki asked, frowning slightly. Every motion on the guy’s face was slight. He was practically expressionless.

“That’s the rule,” Deku explained. “Loser of the All Fight has to give winner candy within five minutes, or else the winner can throw their left shoe in the river.”

Katsuki’s friends started laughing behind him. Katsuki groaned and threw another chunk of dirt at Deku, hitting him square in the mouth. Deku coughed and spat grass out of his mouth, wiping it off his tongue with a disgusted look.

“Kacchan! That’s playing dirty.”

Katsuki couldn’t hold back a snort of laughter at the unintentional pun, and Deku giggled. The sound made his heart squeeze again.

“What kind of rules are those?” Kaminari cackled, halfway around the circle from Katsuki.

“The kind of rules a four-year-old makes up, Dunce Face,” Katsuki growled.

Sero laughed loudly. “So, you’re saying Bakubro has to give Midoriya candy or his shoe or you won’t stop fighting?”

“That, or we have to continue our match and one of us wins for sure,” Deku said.

As much as Katsuki wanted to keep wrestling with Deku like they were kids again, he also really wanted to eat. And his heart was so beating fast at the sound of Deku giggling that he wasn’t sure he’d win anyways. Not that he would ever say that out loud. Because of this, he groaned loudly, untied his left boot, took it off, and threw it Deku.

Deku barely caught the heavy thing with a small ‘oof’ as it connected with his chest. He held up the boot like a trophy, making his dumb curls bounce around and his eyes shine as he grinned.

“Ha! He admits defeat!”

“Like hell I do, I just want to eat already,” Katsuki growled. He took off his other boot for good measure and shifted into a cross-legged position, glaring as his friends laughed. “Deku, if you throw that in a river, I’ll kill you,” he warned.

Deku smiled and set the boot down next to him. “I don’t even think there’s a river near here.”

“So, are you done trying to jump each other?” Round Cheeks asked.

“For now,” Deku and Katsuki answered in synch. Katsuki scowled at him as Deku smiled and laughed some more.

“Damn sh*tty nerd,” Katsuki grumbled with a hint of affection. “Can we f*cking eat now or am I gonna have to leave for my own sh*t?”

“There is no need for that kind of language!” Four Eyes cut in, chopping his hand up and down.

Katsuki scowled at him. “f*ck you, I talk how I want.”

“Kacchan’s always been a potty mouth.”

Katsuki raised an eyebrow and snorted. “What are we, f*cking five? Potty mouth?”

Deku moved towards him and Four Eyes jolted to attention, probably thinking it was another attack. But Katsuki knew better and leaned back to let Deku flop down face-up into his lap, smiling up at him. His green hair fell back, splaying out over Katsuki’s legs. Katsuki flicked his exposed forehead, making him laugh and stick his tongue out. f*ck, why did his stomach feel all fluttery?

“What the hell?” He heard Kaminari murmur under his breath. Katsuki growled at him, but for some reason didn’t snap back. Something in the back of his mind told him it was because Deku was there, but he ignored the thought.

“Okay, well, if you two are done…with whatever you were doing, let’s eat!” Round Cheeks said, clapping her hands together and starting to open the takeout boxes.

“Yes, and then you are telling us all about this whole situation,” Mina said, putting her hands out towards the two of them and waving them around to make her point.

“I’d call it friendship?” Deku said, trying to look at her but keeping his head in Katsuki’s lap. Katsuki just rolled his eyes and grabbed the spiciest thing he could find in the spread of food.

Mina looked them up and down. “Yes…friendship…let’s elaborate on that.”

“I’ll try my best!” Deku said, all bright and cheery.

For the next 2 hours, Katsuki just sat back and listened to Deku talk animatedly about every little thing with their friends, only cutting in to add his perspective on certain stories or stop the nerd from mumbling. Deku eventually sat up from his lap to eat but didn’t move more than an inch away from him. On multiple occasions he had to use his Deku-senses to block an excited hand from hitting him in the nose, and after the fifth time he stuck his socked foot over Deku’s face as retribution.

Eventually, it hit the time where Katsuki had to get going to his later classes, as well as some of the other people in their group, so they packed up their stuff to go.

“Here you go, Kacchan!” Deku called before tossing his boots at him, which was unnecessary, seeing as they were sitting right next to each other. Katsuki snatched them out of the air and shoved them on, then put a hand on Deku’s head to push himself up to his feet. Deku laughed and swatted his hand away, then grabbed onto his elbow. Katsuki couldn’t tell if Deku was trying to stand or pull Katsuki down again, but he didn’t let himself fall and Deku soon jumped up next to him.

Then, with all the courage of a crazy man, Deku lifted a hand and shoved it down into Katsuki spiky blonde hair, ruffling it around and bringing attention to their height difference. Katsuki kicked him in the shins, growling, but Deku just jumped away and laughed.

“Oh, hey!” Deku said before Katsuki could tackle him. He pulled a yellow phone out of his pocket, and Katsuki could immediately tell it had an All Might case. Deku held the phone out to him. “Here, give me your number so I can have it again!”

Katsuki grabbed the phone and saw that it was open to a contact by the name of kacchan!! :( with his old phone number typed out below. He scowled.

“Why do I get a frowny face?”

Deku startled, then rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Oh, well…I texted you a bunch after I left but you never responded…so…”

Katsuki heart hurt to think that he could’ve been in contact with Deku all this time. “I…I was so pissed that you left I smashed my phone, and the hag didn’t let me get a new one for a year,” he explained.

Deku’s eyes went wide, then he started to laugh. “Oh my God, Kacchan. Why would you-of course.”

“Of course?” Katsuki snapped. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Deku waved a hand. “Never mind, just put your number in, I’ll change the name.”

Katsuki huffed at him, then switched the contact from his old number. At the last second, he changed the contact name to kacchan!! :D and handed the phone back. Deku giggled when he saw it, then typed something into his phone. Katsuki’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he put the new number under Deku :/.

“Great, now we’re in contact!” Deku beamed at him. “Talk to you later, Kacchan!”

“Yeah, whatever,” Katsuki responded with an instant of a smile. They each turned and walked back to their respective friend groups, and Katsuki caught all his friends staring at him with funny smiles that made him feel uneasy. “What?” He snapped.

“Nothing!” Mina said, grinning.

“f*cking li-”

“Kacchan, wait!” Katsuki turned to see Deku jogging over to him. He came to a stop in front of Katsuki holding out his hand like he was expecting a handshake. Like he was expecting the handshake.

“No,” Katsuki said immediately.

Deku shook his outstretched hand side to side. “C’mon, you have to.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Pleeeeeaaasee! It’s been five years! Please do it!” Deku whined. “Please, Kacchan? Just this one more time.” Katsuki knew full well that Deku would be trying this sh*t every time they saw each other, but he just groaned and rolled his eyes.

“Fine.”

Deku squealed in happy victory as Katsuki held out his hand the same way. They moved their hands towards each other, thumbs catching and then turning their hands into finger guns before pulling apart and pumping a fist in the air.

“Plus Ultra!” Deku shouted enthusiastically.

“Plus f*ckin’ Ultra,” Katsuki deadpanned at the same time. “Why do you do this sh*t to me?”

“You never do things you don’t want to do, Kacchan, so I know you like it too,” Deku said with a grin.

“What the f*ck?” He heard Kaminari whisper behind him, sounding honest-to-God distressed.

Katsuki turned his head back to glare at him, but Deku piped up. “One more thing, Kacchan!”

“What more could there f*cking-” Katsuki cut himself off as soft lips were pressed against his cheek, and then Deku was racing off down the hill. Katsuki slapped a hand to his cheek and screeched. “WHAT THE f*ck, DEKU? GROSS!” He rubbed the leftover spit off his burning face and glared at Deku’s back as he ran across the grass, wanting to chase him but unable to or else he’d risk missing class. That bastard.

“I’m not f*cking five years old anymore,” he growled under his breath. The cheek-kiss was a thing young Deku and Katsuki had picked up from their mothers. Though he wasn’t planning on doing it when they were f*cking eighteen! When he turned around, his face still felt flushed and his chest was all fluttery, but he set his face in stone. His friends were staring at him with four pair of wide eyes. “Not a f*cking word,” he warned. Of course, they didn’t listen.

“Is he your secret boyfriend or something?” Mina squealed.

“WHAT?” Katsuki shrieked. “NO! WHY WOULD YOU f*ckING THINK THAT?” His face was bright red now.

“Oh, I don’t know!” Sero said, throwing his hands up. “He kissed you and survived?”

“He laid on your lap and survived?” Kaminari said.

“He made you smile, like, fifty times!” Mina pointed out.

“You said only he could call you Kacchan!” Kirishima added to the list.

“You have a handshake!”

“And a rhyme thing!”

“That’s all friend sh*t!” Katsuki yelled in protest, whole body aflame in embarrassment.

“Sure, Bakugou.”

Chapter 2: past scars

Chapter Text

Izuku couldn’t believe his luck. First, the school of his dreams accepted him – with a full-ride scholarship, no less – and he got to follow his friends and move back near his hometown, even without his stupid dad’s stupid money. Then, of all things, he finds Kacchan again. And Kacchan recognized him! And said he missed him!

When he first turned and met those ruby red eyes again for the first time in half a decade, he nearly choked on his own spit. Kacchan’s eyes widened, and Izuku’s heart jumped in his chest, and before he knew it, his childhood instincts kicked in and he was ready for a fight. For an instant, Kacchan didn’t react, and Izuku nearly died of shame thinking that maybe his old best friend really had hated him all these years and hated him now. And then Kacchan dropped his bag on the ground and twisted his lips into that old, manic smirk.

After that, it was like the years apart hadn’t happened at all. Except for the glaringly obvious fact that they did, because Kacchan did not used to look like that. And by that, Izuku had no idea what he meant. There was the thing with Izuku having somehow grown taller than Kacchan, which was very strange. He didn’t feel taller, though, because Kacchan just had that personality between the two of them. It was strangely cute when Kacchan had to look up a bit to glare. Still intimidating as it always was, but cute.

One thing Izuku did notice way too many times was just how strong Kacchan looked. Izuku wouldn’t have been surprised if he went to the gym every day of the week. He probably went with his friend with the crazy cool red hair – Kirishima? His muscles were completley unhidden by his black skull t-shirt, sleeves tight around thick biceps and broad shoulders. Izuku got the tiniest bit flustered just thinking about it. And he had thought he’d buffed up over the years.

Another new thing about Kacchan was that he apparently wore jewelry now. There were two rings on his big hands, one of which Izuku recognized as belonging to Uncle Masaru – a thick, dark silver band. That one was around his ring finger on his right hand. The other ring was black with thin silver engravings of a vine-like design on his middle finger, left hand. Izuku couldn’t help but notice him fiddling with them sometimes, slipping them off and on and twisting them around. Izuku didn’t think Kacchan was the type to fidget, but he never was very good at sitting still. Neither of them were. Izuku had been chided many a time about his incessant habit of tapping things and bouncing his legs, both by teachers and friends.

Maybe it was something Kacchan was doing to calm himself nowadays? Izuku had definitely noticed the whole ‘deep breath’ thing Kacchan had done after almost blowing up on Todoroki. It was nice to think that Kacchan was trying to improve his temper, because no matter how used to it Izuku was or how immune to it, he knew how scary it used to be when Kacchan got really mad.

So, yeah, everything was different just as much as it was the same. And he was so, so happy about it. Giddy, even.

“-Midoriya?”

Izuku startled out of his thoughts and jolted upright in his seat, kicking out his legs and hitting his toes against the underbelly of the table with a bang.

“Ow!” He yelped. His eyes found Tsuyu’s concerned green ones. “Sorry!”

“Are you okay, Izuku?” She asked, tilting her head and poking her cheek. Izuku couldn’t get over how adorable his friend was.

“Yeah, you seem kinda out of it,” Ochako said, leaning towards him across the table. Izuku and all his friends were gathered at a table in a campus lounge area, studying over lunch. Izuku had apparently gotten lost in thoughts about Kacchan and his muscles and his jewelry and his hands and – stop it! He shook his head like his brain was an etch-n-sketch and the thoughts would disappear.

“Sorry,” he apologized again. “Just thinking about some stuff.”

Todoroki studied him with his mismatched eyes. “You look a little pink, Midoriya. Are you sick?”

Izuku resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands and melt into the floor. Was he that flustered just thinking about him? Maybe this childhood crush was not as far in the past as he thought it was. “No, I’m okay. Thanks, Todoroki.”

“Then what is distracting you from your studies? And you’ve hardly eaten your lunch!” Iida told him, gesturing to his untouched bowl of curry. Curry, which was Kacchan’s favorite and maybe – no! Gah. “It is unhealthy to skip meals, Midoriya!” Iida lectured.

“I know, sorry. I’ll eat,” Izuku assured him, grabbing his spoon and taking a scoop of his curry that was probably already cold.

Ochako looked at him with questioning brown eyes. “Is it Bakugou?”

Izuku yelped again and dropped his spoon into the bowl, splattering curry across his open textbook and shirt, as well as some of his friend’s homework. His eyes went wide. “Ack! I’m so sorry! Lemme just…” he trailed off, face burning as he jumped up from his chair and raced to go get paper towels from the bathroom. When he returned, his face was still red and heart still fluttering from embarrassment, both about the mess and the question. He wiped up the mess, refusing to meet his friend’s eyes. None of them said anything until he’d cleaned the curry off and thrown the paper towels in the trash.

“So,” Ochako said. “Bakugou.”

That was all she had to say before Izuku’s face went back up in flame and he dropped his head down on the table, pretzeling his arms over his head like the ceiling was going to fall on him. He mumbled a bunch of incoherent things towards the floor and felt his friend’s stares boring into his skull.

“Oh my gosh, Izuku!” Ochako practically squealed. “You have a crush on him!”

Izuku shot up in his seat then shrunk backwards. “N-No, I don’t! I just missed him!”

Ochako pointed an accusatory finger at him. “Then why is your face all red?”

“You know I’m easily embarrassed!” Izuku cried, putting his hands out to block his face from view. “I don’t like Kacchan like that!”

“But you were thinking about him, right?” Ochako says, and Izuku can hear the knowing smile in her voice.

He put his hands back down and sighed. “Okay, yeah, but I haven’t seen him in five years! It’s totally normal friend thoughts!” Like how his hair ruffles in the wind and is still so soft or how it felt when Izuku kissed his cheek or his pretty red eyes or-darn it! Stupid brain!

“It really seems like you have a crush, Izuku,” said Tsuyu, watching him with her big, perceptive eyes.

“I don’t have a crush on Kacchan anymore!” Izuku shouted, then slapped his hands over his mouth. He hadn’t meant to add the last part or be that loud. He curled in on himself in the chair as his friends blinked in surprise.

“Anymore?” Ochako echoed, quirking an eyebrow up. “Meaning you used to?”

Izuku buried his face in his hands. “Maybe a little,” he mumbled. It was a lie. He always adored Kacchan, and then the teenage feelings exploded, and he might even say he was a step down from in love. Utterly enamored could describe it best. He hadn’t had a crush on anyone else, even after leaving Mustafa. But those feelings were gone now, and he and Kacchan could go back to being friends.

“Is that why you kissed him?” Tsuyu asked, interrupting his thoughts.

He jolted his head up to look at her with wide eyes. “No! We’ve been doing that since forever, it’s not like that!”

“And the whole head-in-the-lap thing?”

Izuku blushed harder. “Again, just a thing we do!”

“Wait, I’m lost,” Todoroki said with a frown. “I’ve never been good at this kind of thing, but does Midoriya have a…a crush on Bakugou, or are they dating? Or was it both, I can’t seem to understand.” The last sentence was drowned out by Izuku near-shriek as he jumped to his feet.

“I am not dating Kacchan!”

Todoroki looked slightly taken aback by Izuku’s reaction. “I am sorry to offend, I misunderstood. My fault.”

Izuku sighed and slumped into his chair. “Wait, no. Sorry, Todoroki, that was rude. You didn’t know.” Izuku knew just as much as anyone at that table the reasons Todoroki didn’t understand things like dating or crushes, or even most jokes. His childhood hadn’t exactly been full of the normal kind of love, except maybe from his siblings. “But no, Kacchan and I are not dating. I don’t have a crush on him either.”

Todoroki nodded slowly, and there was a sudden buzz from Izuku’s phone on the table. It was face-up, meaning all of his friends saw the notification pop up from kacchan!! :D. The higher powers were probably cackling the sky about this timing. Izuku scrambled to snatch his phone away from sight and hugged it to his chest. His friends stared at him, and Ochako had and eyebrow raised with a hint of a smirk. He huffed at her, then looked to see what Kacchan had said despite knowing that was exactly want Ochako wanted him to do.

kacchan!! :D

>> do you have classes yet?

Izuku didn’t know why he’d ask that, but he was just glad Kacchan was texting him anyways.

<< my first class is monday! so no

>> ok then you can come to this party later

Izuku’s heart skipped a beat. A party? That Kacchan was inviting him to? What did that mean?

<< party??

>> yeah a f*cking party

>> the dumbass brigade is dragging me along and I don’t want to go

<< since when do you do things you don’t want to do?

>> since f*cking therapy and ‘friendship’ bullsh*t

Ah, so Izuku had been right, Kacchan was trying to improve! Therapy was more than Izuku had even thought of, but he was elated for his friend.

>> so are you coming or what, deku

<< why are you inviting me again?

>> dumbass are you f*cking kidding me. oh my god

>> because I f*cking want you there?? and if you are then I can escape the mayhem of the idiots

Izuku was definitely blushing now. ‘Because I want you there’?

<< okay then!! not that we don’t create our own mayhem

>> I like our mayhem better than theirs

>> oh and you can invite your extras if you want I guess

>> frog girl seemed chill and im 90% sure dunce face has a crush on round face so he wants her there

>> though I can’t promise I won’t kick halfsie’s teeth in if he speaks to me

<< kacchan why

<< and tell whoever dunce face is that ochako is taken

>> I do what I want, deku, and that bastard pisses me off

>> by who?

<< hes actually very nice, kacchan, just a little monotone. he has his reasons

<< and she’s been dating tsu for 6 months!! theyre very cute :D

>> would that be frog girl?

>> good for them I guess

<< frog girl??

>> she looks like cute little frog, deku, sue me

Izuku let out a tiny, audible giggle at that, glancing up at Tsuyu, who had gone back to her studies. She did kind of look like a frog. And it was nice to hear Kacchan call something cute instead of just complaining about everything.

<< okey dokey, kacchan

<< i’ll ask if they want to go

<< oh and yes I’ll come

<< wait I already said that

>> thank f*ck

>> here’s the address, it starts at 7 tonight

<< see you then!! :D

>> yeah ok nerd

Izuku put his phone down with a dopey smile. He was going to see Kacchan again! Kacchan wanted to hang out! He guessed he shouldn’t be so surprised, knowing what happened last time the met, but still. After 5 years of radio static, it was nice to know Kacchan was still his friend.

“Whatcha smiling about?” Ochako said, leaning towards him with a look and waggling her eyebrows.

“Stop that!” he frowned at her, but the smile broke through again. “Kacchan invited me to party tonight and said you all could come too! Want to?”

“A party?” Iida repeated, sounding faintly scandalized. “But this is school!”

“Iida, people can have parties if they want,” Ochako said. “Sounds like fun! Want to go, Tsu?”

Tsuyu poked her cheek and smiled at her girlfriend. “Sure.”

“Yay!” Ochako cheered, giving Tsuyu a peck on the cheek.

“Are you saying that Bakugou is a partier, Midoriya? Does he drink too much?” Iida frowned, staring Izuku down.

“What? No!” Izuku wasn’t one-hundred percent sure on that, but he knew Kacchan. “He’s not that kind of person at all! He’s actually very anti-social, I think his friends are trying to make him do stuff like this to stop him from being a hermit.”

“Bakugou, a hermit?” Tsuyu tilted her head. “Doesn’t seem like the type.”

“Oh, he definitely is,” Izuku said, smiling a bit. “He doesn’t see the need for things that aren’t studying and his rigorous exercise regiment.” Oh. Oh no. Wrong thing to say. Wrong thing to think about. Stop thinking about Kacchan’s arms!

“Wait, hasn’t it been, like, five years since you saw each other?” Ochako asked. “How do you know he’s still like that?”

Izuku tapped his chin with his finger. “Well, I know Kacchan. He’s not exactly big on change.” Izuku thought back to the time Auntie Mitsuki had signed six-year-old Kacchan up for drum lessons – as an outlet for his bratty rage, as she put it – and they were at the same time that Kacchan usually had outdoors time. He threw quite the fit. The drums did work as a pretty good outlet for that. Izuku briefly wondered if Kacchan still played, then kept talking before he could go down that rabbit hole.

“And the whole drinking thing? His health is super important to him, so I doubt he’s getting drunk at 18.” Kacchan used to yell at him for eating too many processed foods from the konbini. Izuku always thought it was sweet that he cared.

Iida made a hm noise, crossing his arms. “I might stop by to make sure you are being responsible, but I have to study for a test tonight and get good rest for tomorrow.”

“Iida,” Ochako whined, “It’s Friday! You can stay up a little later!”

“I said I might stop by,” Iida concluded.

Ochako gave up on him and turned to Todoroki. “What about you, Todoroki?”

“I do not think Bakugou likes me very much.”

“That’s not true!” Izuku protested. His friends all gave him looks. “Okay, maybe it’s a little true, but that’s just how he is! Besides, his friends will be there, and they liked you!”

“Did Bakugou say he wanted me there?”

Izuku paused, thinking about Kacchan’s text; I can’t promise I won’t kick halfsie’s teeth in if he speaks to me. “He didn’t…say he didn’t want you there.”

Ochako sighed at him, then turned to Todoroki. “Come on, Todo! You gotta come, it’s part of the college experience.” When Todoroki didn’t react, she leaned across the table and met his eyes. “Your dad would probably hate it if you went.”

“I’ll be there,” was the immediate response.

Ochako jumped up and clapped her hands excitedly. “Yay! Party time! When is it?”

“Uh, 7pm,” Izuku answered.

Ochako got an excited sparkle in her eye that for some reason made Izuku want to run. “We gotta get Izuku dressed up.”

“W-what?” He spluttered, jolting back. “Why?”

“Because you have been invited to a party by your not-crush and…,” she trailed off with a sigh. “Izuku, you know I love you, but your fashion sense? Not so much right now.”

Izuku clutched a hand to his chest like he was protecting his shirt. It was a green one that said ‘suit and tie’ on the front. “What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“Nothing! Except that you’re not getting a man like that,” Ochako said with a grin.

“I’m not looking for a-a man!” Izuku squawked.

“Or a lady, but I’m pretty sure you’re leaning towards a man right now.” Ochako shrugged.

“I’m not looking for either!” Izuku said, his voice high-pitched and cracking like he was a fifteen-year-old again.

Ochako waved her hand at him. “Fine, fine. But my point still stands! It’s a party, mix it up a little!”

Izuku could tell this was an argument he wasn’t going to win. “Okay, I give up. You can…do your thing.”

Ochako grinned. “Don’t make it sound like a death sentence! This’ll be fun!”

One hour of Ochako insulting everything in his wardrobe, three hours of forced shopping, thirty-four minutes of trying – and failing – to tame his hair, and fifty-two minutes of nervous pacing later, Izuku and his friends pulled up to the front lawn of an enormous house. They’d all piled into Todoroki’s very fancy car that Izuku could never remember the name of, but always felt scared to touch. His father had given it to him, possibly to attempt to make Todoroki stop hating him, but it was highly unlikely that was ever going to happen. Izuku and all his friends had already made the resolution that if they ever saw the man in person it would be a fist to nose or knee to the groin on sight. Even Tsuyu, arguably the least impulsive and most rational person in the group.

Getting out of the swanky-car-2000-something, Izuku gaped up at the building in front of him. It was bigger and fancier than even Kacchan’s childhood home, which was saying something. The huge mahogany double doors were at the top of sleek concrete steps, and the house was made of old bricks with ivy growing up the walls. Not crazy, overgrown ivy, but the kind of ivy that someone obviously pays someone else a lot of money to trim and preen every week.

He was insanely nervous to go inside, especially feeling so weird in the clothes Ochako had coerced him into wearing. The jeans were normal wide blue jeans with rips at the knees (It’s fashionable, Izuku!) and he’d cinched them at the waist with a long, vintage, blue All Might belt with the yellow V adorned on the buckle. It was possibly one of the nerdiest things he owned, but it was the only way he was going to go along with Ochako’s outrageous request of his shirt; It was white, with short sleeves that barley covered his shoulders, and it was tighter than any other shirt Izuku had ever worn (Show off those guns!). Maybe that didn’t sound too crazy, but the non-baggy shirt was very new to him, and the super short sleeves meant the black band he used to protect and cover the scar on his left arm was totally visible. Ochako and Tsuyu assured him it looked like he had funky taste in shirts at worst and badass at best, and that most likely nobody would care. He’d go with the first option if he were placing bets.

Because of all these nerves writhing around in his gut, he elected to text Kacchan to come meet them outside instead of going in unprepared and unaware.

kacchan!! :D

<< are you sure you invited me to a party and not the intro to a horror movie

<< or is this a prank and I’m gonna get arrested for attempting to break into someones mansion

>> very funny deku

>> I’ll be right out let me escape the idiots

Izuku smiled and pocketed his phone, letting his friends know that Kacchan was going to come meet them. Soon enough, the heavy mahogany doors swung open and Kacchan sauntered out onto the porch, looking down at his phone. Izuku’s breath caught in his throat at the sight.

Kacchan had on a black bomber jacket with orange bands of color around the bicep area and what looked like silver studs on the shoulders, and Izuku thought he looked like the old pictures of Auntie and Uncle that he remembered being shown to them when they were around ten. Maybe he’d even gotten the jacket from one of his fashion designer parents. His skinny black jeans were ripped up and down (okay, maybe it was fashionable, Ochako) and he still had his signature heavy black boots. Underneath the jacket was a dark grey top with a big orange X crossing over the center. His hair was still the same perfectly tousled spikes of ash blonde. But what shocked Izuku the most was that, as Kacchan approached, it became increasingly obvious that he was wearing sharp eyeliner, and that he was hot as hell.

sh*t, no, friendship thoughts only, Izuku!

“Hey, Kacchan!” He managed out with a normal voice. At least, he hoped it sounded normal. His heart felt like a panicking percussion section in his chest, and then Kacchan looked up from his phone and met his eyes. The red eyes went wider, then slowly made their way up and down as Kacchan closed the distance between them. Uh.

Kacchan came to a stop in front of him, mouth open slightly, still staring. Izuku felt like the fiery red was melting him into the grass. Did he really look that weird?

“I-” Kacchan finally started to say, then stopped. “f*ck,” he breathed. “What the hell are you wearing?”

Izuku fiddled his hands nervously behind his back. What kind of reaction was that? Apparently, Ochako had failed in whatever she was trying to do.

“Uh, well,” Izuku stuttered, “Ochako told me I wasn’t allowed to…dress like I normally do because this is a ‘real college party’ or something,” he said, making air quotes around ‘real college party’. Kacchan was still staring. “I know, I can’t exactly pull it off, but it’s a little late to change,” he said, with what he hoped was a natural laugh and shrug at the end.

Kacchan jolted up to meet his eyes. “No, you-er-you look-uh…” Kacchan broke the eye contact again. He was acting very strange. Suddenly, Kacchan squinted at his waist. “Is that a f*cking All Might belt?”

“Oh!” Izuku squeaked, looking down at the old belt. “Yes?”

Katsuki let out a snort of laughter and looked up at him, apparently returned to normal. “I’m glad to know you’re still a giant f*cking nerd, Deku.”

“As if you don’t have just as much merch as I do,” Izuku retorted, glad for the break in the tension.

“If I do, that’s no one’s business but my own. I least I don’t flaunt the sh*t.”

“Are you trying to get your butt kicked again?”

Kacchan gave him a look, one eyebrow quirked up and sh*t, Izuku couldn’t get over the eyeliner. “Three things, nerd. One, just f*cking say ass. Two, the f*ck do you mean by again? And three, I wouldn’t want to get your one non-horrendous shirt all dirty, now would I? Round Cheeks has done the world a great service today.”

Izuku felt a blush rise on his cheeks despite that very-much-not-a-compliment. “Uh huh, sure.”

“Izuku, are we going to stand out here while you flirt or actually get to the party?” Ochako suddenly called from behind him. Izuku’s eyes went wide and he whirled around.

“What?” He and Kacchan yelped at the same time.

Ochako smiled and winked at him. “Nothing, it’s just getting cold out here!” she said casually, wrapping and arm Tsuyu and pulling her girlfriend closer. “Hello again, Bakugou, by the way. And you’re welcome.”

“You’re wel-for f*cking-what the hell are you on about?” Kacchan snapped. Ochako didn’t respond, just grinned wider and wiggled her eyebrows a bit. Izuku’s mind was still reeling. Flirting? Him? With Kacchan? No way! If that was flirting, they’ve been flirting since they were eleven.

“Hello, Bakugou,” Todoroki said, stepping forward. “Good to see you again.”

Kacchan looked him up and down, scowling. “f*ck off, Halfsie.” Izuku startled out of his mind and moved to stop Kacchan from insulting his friend further, but he was too late. “Ya’know, I told Deku he could invite you thinking you’d have a stick too far up your ass to come.”

“Kacchan…” Izuku started.

“I don’t usually come to parties, no, but I hear it will piss my old man off,” Todoroki monotones. “And he is an asshole, so I’m always up for that.”

Kacchan’s eyes widened a bit, then he smirked and barked a laugh. “Maybe you’re not too bad, Half-n-Half.” Todoroki almost smiled at that, the corners of his lips twitching up. It was about as close to a smile Todoroki got most of the time. Kacchan turned and motioned for them to follow as he heads back to the house. “C’mon, Deku and others, let’s get to this f*cking sh*tshow before Bubblegum Girl comes looking for me.”

When they enter the house, Izuku is immediately hit by how loud the music is. He physically flinches backwards at the shock, but slowly gets used to it. He struggled a bit to keep up as Kacchan darts and weaves between other guests, and they finally emerge in a living room. There are people lounging everywhere, drinking from plastic cups and eating food and talking. He easily spots Ashido’s bright pink hair next to Kaminari’s bright yellow and Kirishima’s bright red. Man, Kacchan had some colorful friends. With colorful personalities, too.

“Hey there, cuties!” Ashido called, waving her hand way up in the air from her perch on the back of the couch. “Glad you made it!”

“Hi, Mina!” Ochako chirps, leaning in to give her friend a one-armed side hug. Ochako and Ashido share a class or two and were the whole reason Izuku was able to reconnect with Kacchan. Speaking of Kacchan, he seemed to be having a silent argument with Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero. The three boys are all grinning at him, and Izuku thinks he sees a couple gazes thrown his way. Kacchan was glaring at them with malice, and his cheeks looked slightly red. Once again, very weird.

“Oh, Midoriya!” Ashido sings, taking his gaze away from Kacchan. “Don’t you look all fancy tonight! I like it!”

Izuku feels the embarrassed heat creep up from his neck. “Uh, thank you, Ashido.” Why did everyone care about his outfit? He was far from the most eccentric of the two friend groups. Ashido herself was wearing a bright neon teal and purple mini dress and white heels that looked like foot-torture. Izuku should know, he’d tried on his mother and friend’s heels before. “Ochako picked it all out, I can’t take responsibility for any of it.”

“Nonsense, you picked the belt!”

Izuku heard Kacchan snort again and rolled his eyes as he blushed. “Sorry, Ochako, I won’t blame you for the belt. That’s all me.”

“In all your nerdy f*cking glory,” Kacchan added, patting him on the shoulder. His ring feels slightly cold against the apparently very thin sleeves of Izuku’s shirt.

“What’s the armband all about?” Kaminari asks, making Izuku’s heart rate spike and eyes go wide. That wasn’t supposed to happen. “Some kind of club thing? Or is it fashion? Bakugou, your parents are fashion people, right? Is that a trend?”

Kacchan gives him a look, and Izuku can immediately hear the unspoken Am I lying for you with this? in his eyes. His heart warms and calms at the reassurance that Kacchan would be there for him even without knowing what was going on, but he shakes his head no.

“No, it’s not a fashion thing,” Izuku explains. “It’s a…medical thing.”

Kaminari’s mouth fell open slightly and Ashido reached out to bat his shoulder. “Sorry!” He said, “None of my business, then!”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” Izuku told him, shrugging. It wasn’t like he was self-conscious about the scars, nor did he regret the ways he got them, but it could turn a bit embarrassing. “It’s just to cover a scar. Uh, one of many, that is.” Izuku held up his scarred arms and hands, then performed and exaggerated shrug. He sensed Kacchan’s eyes on him and turned to see concern in the red. Kacchan met his gaze and narrowed those eyes, and then his hand was around Izuku’s wrist and he was being dragged away.

“Woah- Kacchan, what are you doing?” Izuku yelped.

“Talk,” was all the answer he got.

He decided it was best not to resist as Kacchan pulled him through the crowd and into an empty bathroom, kicking the door shut behind them. Izuku stood in front of the bath as Kacchan stared him down from in front of the closed door. And yes, it was somehow staring him down, no matter Izuku’s height advantage. Suddenly, Kacchan drew in a deep breath, drawing his shoulders up, and let it out as a harsh stream of air as he fiddled with Uncle Masaru’s ring.

“Look, Deku, you don’t have to explain all the way, but you’re okay, right? With the scars and sh*t?”

The utter sincerity in his voice and expression nearly knocks Izuku off his feet. “Oh. Um, yes. I’m okay. Sorry to worry you.” Kacchan purses his lips and Izuku can practically feel the way his eyes rake up and down the mess on his arms.

“I just-” Kacchan let out another huff and crossed his arms across his chest. Izuku had never seen him this…unsure of himself. “You f*cking worry me, asshole. You have never had any self-preservation, so coming back with all…that” – Kacchan waved a hand up and down, trying to encapsulate the scars – “it makes me think some things. I mean, your f*cking hands, Deku.”

Izuku looked down at his rough, scarred palms and fingers. Kacchan was his best friend. He doesn’t hide things from Kacchan. The only consequences of telling him was probably getting scolded. Izuku sighed and met his friend’s eye.

“Okay, Kacchan, the truth is that-”

“Don’t tell if you don’t want to, I’m not trying to force sh*t here,” Kacchan interrupted.

Izuku smiled at him. “No, I want to tell you. You’re Kacchan, I don’t keep secrets from you.” Except maybe one, but the crush is a different situation. “Anyways, the truth is that there were some…not great people at my high school. You know the kind.” Kacchan flinches, just barely, and Izuku suddenly remembers that Kacchan could possibly think he should be put in that category. “Not like that, I mean actually horrible people. They beat kids up, badly, behind the school, for fun.” Izuku’s blood starts boiling and he clenches his fists just thinking about it.

“Deku,” Kacchan growls, low and dangerous, and Izuku’s heart does not know how to react to that sound. “Are you saying these motherf*ckers gave you those scars, because I swear…” He trails off, and Izuku feels like that sentence would end with something about hunting them down for sport and murder.

“No, they didn’t. Well, kind of.” Rage burns in Kacchan’s eyes but Izuku can’t help a tiny smile. “It was a bit of a two-way street.”

Kacchan blinks in surprise, rage melting to confusion. “…what?”

“They pushed me around a bit for the first few months, nothing too bad. But there were a couple kids…they really did a number on. A lot. And one day I walked by an empty alleyway and saw them with this one poor kid…” Izuku blanches, remembering. “I just…I don’t know, lost control? Anyways, when I woke up, I had some new…” – Izuku looks down at his arms – “you know.” He looks back up. “The assholes got expelled, and I got a week of suspension that I spent in the hospital. I feel terrible for hurting people, but I was defending someone else and myself. I don’t regret it.” Kacchan is just staring at him blankly.

Abruptly, he turns to the door and slams his forehead against it with a bang. Izuku jumps at the noise.

“Kacchan?” He squeaked.

“What the f*ck, DEKU?” Kacchan yelled to the door, slumping against it. “I can’t even f*cking-what the f*ck. Holy sh*t. I’m going to kill you. WHAT THE f*ck. You are insane, and I am going to kill you, holy f*cking sh*t why would you do that?” He’s rambling now, which feels wrong. Izuku is always the rambling one, he doesn’t know how to deal with the other side.

“Uh, Kacchan, take a breath,” he tried.

Kacchan whirls around and stomps up to him like impending doom. Nope, nope! That did not work! Izuku scrambles back until he’s pressed against the lip of the bathtub, leaning away from Kacchan’s fist that he’s waving in his face.

“I WILL NOT, DEKU. YOU f*ckER!” He screamed, probably scaring people outside of the bathroom. “Christ, I leave you alone for a couple years and you go off and nearly get killed! Were you even thinking?”

“No,” Izuku snapped, alarmed at his own burst of courage. “But it doesn’t matter because I wasn’t going to sit around and do nothing. I’m never going to do that.”

“And that’s why you’re going to keep scaring the sh*t out of me for the rest of my life, right?” Kacchan has leaned away from him now, shoulders slumped and voice cracking with emotion. This is all very new, and all very not Kacchan, and Izuku feels like they’re both going to cry. Kacchan lets out a shaky sigh, rubbing a face over his hand, then looks up to lock eyes with Izuku. His crimson eyes are full of…pain? Care? Izuku can’t tell, but it hurts to look at. Slowly, Kacchan sheds his bomber, dropping it to the floor, and lifts up the bottom of his tank top. An old, pale, scrape of a scar is revealed on his left side.

“You f*cking remember this sh*t, Deku?” He asked quietly. Deku stares at the scar, unable to hold back his tears now, and nods.

When they were eight, chasing each other up and down the sidewalk, Izuku had spotted an injured bird in the middle of the road. He had run right towards it to help, not paying attention to the surroundings. One second, he was making his way towards the poor bird, the next he was on his back on top of a screaming Kacchan as a car sped by in a blur, horn blaring. Kacchan had managed to yank them out of the way just in time, but Izuku’s weight had sent him skidding across the rough concrete and cut him up. They sat there on the side of the road for probably half an hour, Izuku sobbing apologies as Kacchan chided him to stop and held back his own tears.

“A f*cking bird. You nearly died because of a f*cking bird. Because for some reason you were born caring about every little thing on the entire goddamn Earth.” Kacchan took in a shaky breath. “And to the people who care about you, it is the scariest f*cking sh*t in the world, because you care for everything but your damn self. So you telling me that sh*t? I have two things to say to you.” Kacchan glared up at him. “f*ck you, and I am never letting you leave again.”

Izuku felt like the ground under him collapsed into a mudslide, and he burst into sobs, throwing himself at Kacchan and gripping him tightly. After a moment, Kacchan hugged him back, for real, for the first time since they were five. It made Izuku sob even harder.

“Goddamn self-sacrificial asshole,” Kacchan mumbled into his shirt. “You are so f*cking lucky I’ve been to therapy for so long or you would be dead meat right now.”

Izuku hiccups another sob mixed with a laugh and squeezes Kacchan tighter. “I’m sorry, Kacchan,” he whispered.

The hands on his back clench, gathering his shirt in fists. “Don’t say that, idiot. You don’t-don’t have anything to be f*cking sorry for, just…keep your head in the future, okay?”

“Okay,” Izuku sniffles as they both pull away. He presses their foreheads like Kacchan used to do when ever he cried, breathing in a deep, cool breath of caramel mixed with sticky sugar. It’s the smell of Kacchan, and he didn’t realize how much he missed it until now. Without thinking, he made a little happy hum.

“What?” Kacchan asked, noticing the noise.

“Oh,” Izuku said, cheeks feeling warm. “I…uh, well, you smell like burnt sugar and kind of candy maybe, and you always used to smell like that and it’s a really nice smell I guess I just missed it? Wait, no, that’s a really weird thing to say, I don’t, like, smell you all the time, that’s creepy, and oh man, I really shouldn’t have brought this up-” Izuku was quickly becoming flustered by all the words coming out of his mouth and the weight of the conversation they just had and the fact that they’re still so close and he’s starting to overheat. He felt a pinch on his cheek, making him blink in surprise.

“Shut up, it’s fine,” Kacchan said, standing upright and brining their foreheads apart. He looks slightly to the right of Izuku’s eyes. “You, uh, smell good too, I guess. Like mint. It’s obnoxious as f*ck.”

Izuku’s heart goes right back to fluttering around in his chest. “Oh! Ha, um. Cool.” Kacchan still doesn’t meet his eyes, almost like he’s embarrassed. Since when does Kacchan get embarrassed? “I like your eyeliner,” Izuku suddenly blurts. He is on fire. He has to be on literal fire from how much his face is burning.

Kacchan’s eyes went a little wide, then he finally made eye contact again with a hint of his snarky grin. “Thanks, Mina forced it upon me one day in 2nd year and I looked badass as f*ck, so I kept doing it.” Now that was the co*cky, confident Kacchan Izuku knew and was used to.

“You look badass all the time, Kacchan,” Izuku told him.

“Hell yeah, I do.” Kacchan was now grinning his full smug smile, though his cheeks looked a little pink.

“We should probably go back to the party, right?”

Kacchan looked almost disappointed as he leaned down to grab his bomber jacket and tie it around his waist. “Yeah, those f*ckers might start getting ideas.” He turned to open the door.

“What kind of ideas?” Izuku asked as they entered the mostly empty hall.

“Well, they could always start drinking too f*cking much and do some stupid sh*t that causes injury to destruction of property,” Kacchan said, making his way towards the room they left their friends in. “Which has happened before because, as I said, idiots.” Izuku chuckled a bit at that and they finally made it to the living room. Their friends all turned to look at them. “Or,” Kacchan continued, “They could do the stupid sh*t they’re about to do.”

Chapter 3: giggles and realizations

Chapter Text

“What do you…mean…uh oh.” Izuku had to fight of the instinct to run when he saw Ochako’s grin, or the looks Kacchan was getting from his four friends.

“So~!” Ashido sing-songed, swaying back and forth from her perch on the couch. “Where did you boys run off to for so long?” There was an undeniable air to her voice that suggested she had very specific, very incorrect ideas of what they had done.

“Do anything interesting?” Ochako added, smiling.

Izuku couldn’t believe this. Ochako was his best friend, how could she not tell that he had literally come back from sobbing in the bathroom? He knew for a fact he looked very messy after crying, though maybe they were assuming that was because of…something else. He couldn’t even think that whole thought without fainting.

Kacchan growled beside him, making his heart jump. “Shut the f*ck up,” he snapped.

Suddenly, Tsuyu was in front of Izuku, speaking quietly. “Are you okay, Izuku? Do you need to leave?” Of course, Tsuyu always knew when something was up. She glanced over at Kacchan, who was still glaring at his friends, then back to Izuku. Izuku’s eyes went wide and he quickly shook his hands in front of himself.

“Oh, no! No, it wasn’t like that, or like that,” Izuku assured her, not really sure what he meant by the second part. “Thank you for asking, though. Kacchan and I just…talked about something.” He smiled at her softly. Tsuyu was such a wonderful friend, he was lucky to have her. “All good.” Really good.

She tilted her head, then smiled back and nodded. “Okay, I’m glad to hear that.”

“What the hell are you implying, sh*t Face?” Izuku heard Kacchan snarl, leering over his friends on the couch.

“Excuse me,” he told Tsuyu, before making his way to Kacchan’s side to pull him back before he killed a friend. Kacchan was extra grumpy and full of rage after he went through something emotional. Sometimes while he went through something emotional.

“We weren’t implying anything!” Sero said, holding up his hands to show his innocence, though his smile said differently.

“And dog food tastes like skittles,” Izuku and Kacchan deadpanned at the same time. They both started and gave each other a look, then Izuku burst out laughing for no particular reason. And then he heard a familiar, long-lost giggle beside him and nearly fell over.

Kacchan was laughing for real. His real laugh that he’d been hiding since kindergarten. His light, airy giggle that sometimes dissolved into a snort, or even a squeal if he was really in it. Izuku’s heart stopped beating for a second at the sound, and then he looked over and his world came to a screeching halt. He forgot how to breath.

Kacchan had his eyes closed, his mouth an open grin to show off his teeth and natural smile, his hair messy and falling over his face as his nose and corners of his eyes crinkled up with the laughter. Everything was in slow-motion, and then suddenly it wasn’t, and Kacchan clapped a hand over his shoulder and shoved him back a little, not letting go as the world came crashing back into a view in a blur around him. Kacchan was the only thing Izuku could clearly see.

“I can’t believe you f*cking remember that!” He laughed, opening his ruby-red eyes again, still smiling his real smile.

Izuku felt giddy. “Of course I remember!” When they were young, an older cousin of Kacchan’s had convinced that the food the fed they family dog tasted exactly like, well, skittles. They tried it, and after Kacchan had raged and tackled his cousin to the ground as Izuku cried and chugged water in the background, they were let in on the family tradition (Izuku as an honorary Bakugou). It was, of course, a tradition from Auntie’s side of the family. It had also become a bit of an inside joke, a way to call bullsh*t on somebody. Apparently, both him and Kacchan had kept using it over the years.

“Midoriya,” Kirishima said abruptly from his seat, eyes wide as he sat up and leaned towards them over the back of the couch with an open-mouthed smile. “Do that again.”

“Do what?” Izuku asked, confused.

“I don’t know what you did, just do it again.”

“What the f*ck are you saying, sh*tty Hair?” Kacchan snapped. “Are you drunk?”

“I didn’t think so, but I think I might be hallucinating, so maybe. I need Midoriya to do the thing again to be sure.”

“Yeah, me too,” Kaminari said from beside him. Sero nodded.

“Same here,” Ashido chimed in. All four of them looked something between star-struck, shocked, and amused.

“What thing?” Izuku asked, even more lost.

Finally, Kirishima leaned in towards him. “Make him laugh again so I’m sure that I heard that right.”

“What?” Izuku squeaked, drowned out by Kacchan’s indignant yell of, “WHAT THE f*ck?”

“He giggled!” Ashido squealed, leaning so far back Izuku was worried she would fall. “Blasty McDarkness giggled!”

“SHUT THE f*ck UP, YOU BUBBLEGUM BRAINED IDIOT!” Kacchan screeched, face turning red in a way that Izuku found almost endearing. It was a weird thought to have. “I WILL END YOUR f*ckING BLOODLINES.”

“Bakugou giggles!” Ashido repeated as her friends laughed beside her. “I have known you for so long and I never knew you giggled! It’s adorable!”

Kacchan sucked in a huge breath of air, shoulders inching up to his ears and Izuku panicked. There were other people in here, Kacchan could not blow up right now, no matter how cute and flustered he was about his amazing laugh. In a flash of instincts, without much thought behind his actions or what could follow, he grabbed Kacchan’s hand, interlaced their fingers, and squeezed. Kacchan’s eyes went wider than Izuku had ever seen them, and he froze, whatever profanities he was about to scream dying on his lips.

“What the hell are you doing, Deku?” He growled quietly. Izuku didn’t really have an answer for that, so he let the childhood take control of his body again. Before he knew what was happening, he leaned down to plant a quick kiss on Kacchan’s bare shoulder, let go of his hand, and bolted.

He heard Kacchan yell and didn’t have to turn to know he was following him as he dashed through surprised people and yelped out his apologies, making a break for the mahogany front doors. He threw them open with a grunt of effort and took off down the concrete steps, skidding to a stop on the grass outside.

He spun around just as Kacchan lunged at him, and barely twisted out of his way before he was smushed into the ground. Instead, Kacchan got to his legs and toppled him from there. While attempting to scramble away, he realized that he really did not think this through, and then suddenly he felt giggles bubbling in his chest and burst out laughing. Kacchan glared at him, but his lips quirked into the beginnings of a smile.

“You think this f*cking funny?” He growled, the smile creeping into his voice.

Izuku giggled even more. “Kinda,” he managed, pushing himself up on his feet, still squatting down. Kacchan broke into a full grin, a mix between his manic fight smile and his real one, and jumped at him again. He slammed Izuku back into the grass and pinned him with a knee to the chest, but Izuku threw his arms around Kacchan’s neck and used all his weight to wrench them both sideways.

They grappled around on their sides for a second until Kacchan managed to get a boot on Izuku’s chest and shove him backwards and onto his back, wheezing. Kacchan took advantage of his moment to catch his breath and landed on top of him, hands wrapped around his biceps, pressing him to the ground. Izuku’s eyes went wide with the pressure around his scar and he let out a tiny yelp.

“Ow!” In a flash, Kacchan was reeling back and off of him, hands up, looking worried and apologetic. Izuku smiled at his friend, but he wasn’t done yet. He grabbed a handful of grass, sat up, threw it, and lunged at Kacchan, taking him by surprise and slamming him back into the ground, hands pinning his wrists as he straddled his waist and held his legs down with his feet. “Onetwothreefourfive!” He rattled off way too fast, panting heavily. “I win!”

--

Katsuki spat the grass out of his mouth, eyes squeezed shut, the weight of Deku on his stomach much heavier than he thought it would be. How dare that little f*cker mess with him like that? He’d thought he’d actually hurt him!

“f*ck you!” He shouted, opening his eyes to glare. “That was f*cking…” he suddenly trailed off, insults totally forgotten. “Cheating,” he managed, more like a breath than a word.

Deku was above him, caging him between lean muscled arms, green hair wild and sticking up in all directions, panting with a grin. His fitted white shirt was smeared with dirt and grass stains, and part of it had come untucked from his jeans, exposing a triangle of skin above his belt. His freckled face was shining in the moonlight with a light sheen of sweat, and his emerald eyes sparkled. He looked…f*ck, Katsuki couldn’t put it into words. Or maybe he didn’t want to out of fear of what those words would be.

“What?” Deku panted, titling his head a bit so a strand of hair fell in front of his eye. His eyelashes fluttered and he tried to blow it off, crinkling up his nose as he did. Katsuki heart did a hard rock drum solo in his chest, flopped around like a suffocating fish, and promptly died. He forgot how to breath.

f*ck.

“Kacchan? Oh no, are you concussed or something?” Deku asked, concerned and cute and hot and f*ck! Deku leaned toward him, squinting at his face like that would let him know if Katsuki had a concussion. Katsuki face went up in flame and he jolted upright, slamming their foreheads together and knocking Deku back. “Ah! Kacchan!” He was still straddling Katsuki’s waist, holding a hand on his forehead as he cringed in pain.

Katsuki felt a bit of guilt rise in his chest with all the other stupid feelings and he tried to keep himself calm instead of lashing out. He counted down from ten in his head and took a deep breath. Okay, Katsuki, say it. This is a small thing, the therapist said to start small. Just say it.

“Sorry,” he finally managed.

Deku’s green eyes went wide as dinner plates and his mouth fell open, hand dropping off his head. “I-you-uh, it’s…” he blinked at Katsuki. Katsuki felt more guilt tighten around his heart. Had he really been so bad that a single sorry elicited that reaction? Yes, yes he had. Then, out of nowhere, Deku broke into a sunny grin. “It’s okay!”

Katsuki shook his head slightly to snap himself out of the Deku-smile-trance. “Whatever,” he tsked, “cheating asshole.”

Deku shrugged and kept smiling. “I didn’t cheat! Totally fair fight.” He held out a hand and made a grabby motion. “Now give.”

Katsuki growled at him. “I obviously don’t have any f*cking on me, nerd.”

“Then you have five minutes to find some.”

“IZUKU!” said a voice from behind them, very loudly. They both startled and Deku jumped and scrambled off of Katsuki’s lap. Uraraka stalked up to them, hands on her hips. “Bakugou! Look at what you did!” she whined, gesturing to Deku’s dirt-stained shirt. There was even a slight boot imprint on his chest. “I worked so hard for that!”

“He started it,” Katsuki said, sounding like a whiny toddler.

“I did not!” Deku protested. “I finished it, though! By winning!”

“Because you cheated!”

“No, I didn’t! You just lost!”

Katsuki lunged at him and they were once again grappling around on the grass. Then, something terrible happened. As they wrestled, Katsuki ended up above Deku, and for an instant, their eyes caught. Something overcame Katsuki and he felt like the glittering green was swallowing him whole. He froze up. Deku was able to flip them both over easily and pin him back down, and suddenly he was in the same position he was in a few minutes ago, staring up, star-struck, at what was probably the most beautiful person in the world.

Motherf*cker.

“Got you again!” Deku laughed, unaware that Katsuki was going through a f*cking crisis right now. He’d practically let Deku do this again. What the hell was wrong with him? His stomach felt like someone shook up a bunch of butterflies in champagne and let the cork pop. The heat in his neck crept up to his cheeks. He was sweating. How do you breathe? f*ck, f*ck, f*ck.

“Is this some form of silent communication or are they just…” Kirishima suddenly said, trailing off before he finished. With a start, Katsuki realized he and Deku had just been lying there on the grass, staring at each other. Deku’s eyes widened and he jumped off again as Katsuki sat up and scrambled back, glaring at all their friends that had apparently come outside to watch them.

“f*ck off, sh*tty Hair.”

“Oh, sorry, did I interrupt something there?” Kirishima said with a raised eyebrow and insufferable teasing smirk.

Before Katsuki could yell at him, Deku leaned into his side. “Your five minutes are running out, Kacchan.”

Katsuki’s eyes widened at the closeness and the warning, and he jumped to his feet. “f*ck you, Deku. Wait right here.” He took off running back into the house and searched the kitchen for anything candy-like. Finally, he found a bowl with a bunch of mini candies in it and grabbed two packs of skittles with a grin. He ran back outside to find Deku on his feet again and slammed the packs into his scarred hand. “There, have some f*cking dog food.”

Deku stared down at the candy and broke into giggles. The noise sent fizzes through Katsuki body. What the hell?

“Thanks, Kacchan, guess you can keep your shoes,” he gave Katsuki a look, “for now.” He giggled again and tossed Katsuki a skittles pack before tearing the one he kept open and dumping it into his hand.

“Don’t tell me you still do that,” Katsuki said, laughter creeping up from inside.

“Are you saying you don’t?” Deku said, not looking up from the skittles he was sorting into color piles on his scarred palm.

Katsuki pursed his lips. He definitely still did, he just never told anybody why. But whatever, this was Deku. “Fine.” He ripped open his own skittles and sorted the colors, then carefully put all the green ones in his other hand. He then exchanged the green skittles for Deku’s handful of orange. Deku smiled out him, holding out his fistful of candy. Katsuki rolled his eyes and bumped their fist together like they were clinking cups, and then started eating the skittles.

In the middle of chewing, he caught Deku’s eye, and suddenly they were both doubled over and giggling. And f*ck, he hated that he was giggling right now, at eighteen years old, in front of his friends that he had managed to hide it from for four years, but he couldn’t stop. Not with Deku around. Even when he heard Kaminari whisper ‘He’s doing it again!’, he couldn’t stop. Because Deku was back and he was here, and he remembered the dog food and the way they had to eat colored candies and all of it.

“Kacchan!” Deku giggled, making his heart go crazy. “You remembered!”

“Of f*cking course, nerd,” Katsuki said, bumping their shoulders. “I never ate a green piece of candy,” – he leaned over and lowered his voice so their friends wouldn’t hear –, “I swear on All Might.”

Deku beamed at him. “No orange stuff here, either.” It was another childhood rule. If there was ever candy that had green or orange in it, Katsuki always got the orange, and Deku got the green. Especially with skittles, because the other three colors of skittles were All Might colors (if you counted purple as blue).

“Is that why you never eat the green M&Ms?” Kaminari asked.

“And why you never eat orange candy, Izuku?” Tsuyu added.

Deku shrugs and Katsuki flips his smiling friends off.

The rest of the night passes by quickly after that, and Katsuki can’t stop watching Deku smile and laugh just exist in the vicinity. Every time he sees him it’s like everything else kind of blurs around him, and Katsuki has never been more confused. Before he knows it, it’s almost midnight and they all stumble out the doors and into the cool night air.

Well, everyone but Katsuki, Deku, and the frog girl are stumbling. The three of them are the only people that didn’t decide to be idiots and drink whatever pink concoction was shoved their way. Katsuki was pretty sure Half-n-Half downed a shot or three without knowing what they were, and now Deku was having to keep him on his feet. Lightweight asshole.

Katsuki stopped when the reached the sidewalk, about to go their separate ways. “Uh, see you later, Deku.”

“Ah, yes, of course!” Deku beamed at him, then tilted his head. “Wait, I thought you said I could never leave you again.”

Katsuki tensed as a blush slammed into his face. He had said that while feeling a lot of things. He kind of meant it, though. “Shut up, Deku, or I will make good on that,” he snapped, getting defensive and flustered.

“Good to know, Kacchan,” Deku said with a soft smile. Before Katsuki registers what’s going on, Deku closes the distance between them, kisses his cheek again, and then is back with Todoroki slumped on his shoulder as he walks away. “Bye, Kacchan!” He calls back as Katsuki just stands there, dumbfounded and slack jawed. He can feel his heart beating wildly in his chest, and his palms start to sweat as his cheeks burned.

What the f*ck?

The next day is full of thinking about Deku, texting Deku, calling Deku, and nearly punching a hole in his wall because he can’t get Deku out of his head. When he wakes up Sunday morning and finds that his first instinct is to check his phone to see if Deku messaged, he can’t stand it anymore. He doesn’t have a therapy session scheduled until tomorrow, but he needs to figure this out before he goes crazy. And there is only one person besides Deku himself that Katsuki trusts enough to talk about this.

When he slams open the dorm room door unannounced, Kirishima barely flinches. Instead, he just glances up from his seat on a floor beanbag where he’s eating a bowl of cereal and watching TV and smiles. Repeat, he’s eating cereal on the floor.

“What the f*ck, sh*tty Hair?” Katsuki asked, staring him down. “Sit at a f*cking table or some sh*t.”

“Hello to you too, Bakubro,” Kirishima said cheerily, setting his bowl down on the carpet. The f*cking carpet. Katsuki can’t believe he’s going to ask for advice from this. “How can I help you this lovely morning?”

“Put a sh*tty sock in it,” Katsuki snaps, kicking the door closed behind him. He’s too stressed to be nice, but he knows he’s about to ask for help, so he takes a deep breath. “I take that back. Sorry.” It’s a bit easier to apologize to Kirishima because he’s done it before.

Kirishima give him a look, and Katsuki knows that he knows something is wrong. He turns off the TV and gestures to the beanbag across from him. Katsuki scowls at it, wondering how many bowls of mac n cheese or soup had been spilled on it, but sits anyways. Kirishima, having dealt with Katsuki for so long, doesn’t ask him what’s wrong or say anything at all, just sits there and waits for him to get his head together.

Okay, Katsuki, this is fine. It’s Kirishima. You can trust him with this, he thought to himself. He took a deep breath and looked up to meet Kirishima’s watchful eyes, opened his mouth, then chickened at the last second and slumped his head in his hands. f*ck. Stop being a coward!

“Have you ever-uh, had a f*cking…crush or whatever?” he finally asked. Gah, he sounds like a 12-year-old. Not his fault he’s never thought about this before! He was focused on school. And Deku wasn’t there anymore, his sh*tty brain supplies.

He hears Kirishima shift in his seat and looked up to find him quickly wiping surprise off his face with a smile. “Yep!” he answers. “A couple, actually. Why do you ask?”

Katsuki’s mind went blank. He didn’t really come in here with a plan. “How do you…know?” He eventually thinks to say.

“Know that you have a crush?” Kirishima clarified. Katsuki nods. “Hm. There could be a couple kinds of crushes. Or levels? Like, at first, you just kind of see this person and you maybe think ‘hey, they’re attractive’ or cute or something. Or maybe you start feeling nervous around them. And you know you want to hang out with them. And if the crush goes deeper than that, you might start thinking about them a lot. And you notice more than their looks, such as their sense of humor or manliness or-”

Or their stupid f*cking heroic selflessness and bravery that makes you want to kill them for getting in dangerous situations, Katsuki’s brain adds to the list. Uh oh.

“-and that’s what I would call a crush,” Kirishima finished, and Katsuki realized he missed a chunk of what sh*tty Hair had said. It didn’t really matter.

“But…” Katsuki started, then trails off. In a sudden burst of anger, he grabs a nearby pillow and whips it at the wall. It lands with a soft thunk and slides to the ground. “f*ck. Sorry. f*ck.” The rage squeezes tight in his chest and he grabs another pillow, this time shoving his face into it and trying not to scream. He couldn’t keep doing this. He had to stay in control of his stupid emotions. He lets out a low groan-yell into the pillow, then takes a few deep breaths, counting to ten and then back down. He looked back up and Kirishima, who was just watching him, knowing that pushing wouldn’t help.

“Sorry about the pillow. I just-f*ck, I don’t…AGH!” He shoved his face back into the pillow and groans again. He hated not being able to form his thoughts correctly. “This doesn’t make sense! It just seems so-so f*cking juvenile!” he finally said. Crushes made him think of sh*tty hormonal teenagers and giddy first kiss sh*t. The stuff he felt about Deku was…something like that, but it was more than that. Maybe?

“What do you mean?”

“When you-f*ck. Okay, pretend you have this person that you know. A friend or some sh*t,” Katsuki said, not quite sure where he was going with this. Kirishima nodded. “And then you…whenever you see them, it’s like…like-f*ck! Like sun came back or some sh*t.” He can’t even meet Kirishima’s eyes. He sounds so f*cking cheesy and dumb, but it’s true. “And you f*cking…feel all happy and sh*t around them and you don’t care what anyone thinks except maybe them? And you kind of, sort of think they’re a bit…pretty or something and all that like nervous stuff happens too.” Katsuki feels himself blush.

“And when they hypothetically tell you that somebody hurt them…” he trails off, thinking about the scars and the look on Deku’s face when he told Katsuki about seeing the bullies beating somebody up. “…you get more angry than you have ever been because they keep throwing themselves in danger for other people or the goddamn bird, but their never f*cking thinking about themselves because they’re too selfless and brave and that pisses you off because if something happened to them what the hell are you supposed to do if they’re not okay?” The words come spilling out too fast for him to even think them beforehand. He’s on the verge of hyperventilating, so he rakes his hands through his hair roughly to ground himself before everything becomes an angry blur.

“Bakugou?” He heard Kirishima shift towards him, but he puts a hand out to stop him.

“I’m fine, just give me a second.” He rubbed his hands over his face, huffing, then sighed and flopped backwards on the beanbag to stare at the ceiling. “Would you call that sh*t a crush?” he finished. Kirishima was quiet long enough for the panic and anger to start creeping back, but he finally says something.

“Dude. That’s…a bit more than a crush.”

It’s what Katsuki had been expecting, but he still doesn’t have any other explanation. “Then what the f*ck is it?”

“Uh. It kind of sounds like you are…in love with this person.”

“WHAT,” Katsuki shrieks, shooting upright. “No! That’s not-I’m not f*cking-” the denial dies on his tongue. He can’t explain it. He doesn’t get any of it. But as soon as her hears it, it just makes sense. Like the last puzzle piece finally clicking into place in his brain.

I’m in love with Deku.

“sh*t.”

“Bro, don’t be like that! Love is a good thing!” Kirishima said, an attempt at calming him down. But it’s unnecessary. Katsuki feels like he should be raging right now. Freaking out. Something. That’s what he does. But for some reason he just feels…acceptance. And maybe a little sadness. It was highly unlikely that Deku would like him back, let alone love him. Not after he’d been such an asshole in their middle school days. He didn’t bully Deku as bad as some other people did, but he was still a huge jerk. He’d push him around and throw insults at him. He always told Deku to stop being such a crybaby and suck it up. He was angry at everything back then, and Deku pissed him off most of all because he just never seemed to go away. He always was trying to help, and it made Katsuki feel like Deku thought he was an inferior. And then Deku had left before he could figure his sh*t out and apologize.

Wait.

Deku was here now.

“Is it ever too late to apologize for something?”

Kirishima blinked at him and tilted his head, surprised by the seemingly sudden change in topic. He thought on the question for a moment. “I don’t think it’s ever too late to say sorry, but it could be too late to have the apology accepted.”

“But you should say it anyways, because you really mean it, right?”

Kirishima gave him a funny smile, maybe soft. “Yeah.”

Determination overcame the sadness. He needed to apologize to Deku. Not to make him fall in love or any sh*t like that, Katsuki would have to deal with those feelings later. But because he should. It would take a therapy session or two to build up to, but that never stopped him before. At least, not since 1st year of high school. And as a bonus, if the nerd did end up accepting the apology, Katsuki could feel free to flirt his brains out. He couldn’t stop a grin.

“Okay.” He flopped back on the beanbag. “Thanks.”

“Of course, dude. You know, that was manly as hell for you to do.” Katsuki huffed a tiny laugh at that. “Can I like, ask you some stuff though?”

Katsuki sat up and sighed. After what he’d just done, Kirishima deserved to know whatever he wanted to know. “Sure.”

“Why’d you come to me about this?”

That wasn’t what he’d been expecting. “Because I trust you. And it’s my therapist’s day off and I really needed figure it out.”

Kirishima smiled at him. “Oh! I’m glad you trust me, bro! Now, would you be okay with me asking the other type of questions?” Katsuki could tell by his expression exactly the kind of questions he wanted to ask. He wanted to say no, but he’d have to deal with this eventually. No time like the f*cking present.

“I reserve my right to silence,” he answered. Kirishima grinned.

“Who is it?”

Now that, he had expected. “Take a guess.”

Kirishima responded immediately. “Midoriya.”

Katsuki resisted the urge to bury his face in a pillow and just answered with silence.

“Oh my God, bro, that is so…it’s like a movie! Childhood friends reunited only to fall in love!” Katsuki growled at him as a warning and Kirishima settled down a bit. “How’d you figure it out?”

“You literally just saw me figure it out.”

“No, no! I mean, what made you come in here? The catalyst event, per say.”

Katsuki felt his cheeks warm. “The f*cking party.”

“The party?” Kirishima asked, pushing for an explanation.

“We, uh, had a really serious talk in the bathroom and then…” Katsuki was full on blushing now. “He f*cking…uh…”

“Pinned you the ground?” Katsuki whipped a pillow at Kirishima and hit him square in the face, but sh*tty Hair just cackled. “Am I wrong?”

No. Again, Katsuki didn’t say anything, just blushed furiously as he glared. It was all the conformation Kirishima needed.

“Wow, Bakubro likes being pinned. Wow. Imagine what Mina would say. Or Kami.”

Katsuki could imagine many things Cotton Candy Brains and Dunce Face would say about that, so he scowled at Kirishima. “If you tell them I will hunt you down.”

“Wouldn’t think of it, bro, not my place. What was your talk in the bathroom?” Katsuki jolted at the question and Kirishima quickly backtracked. “Wait, no, you don’t have to answer that. Personal. Got it.” Katsuki nodded and Kirishima tapped his chin, thinking of more questions. “How long have you…loved him, or whatever?”

Katsuki thought about that for second. His first answer was not long, but he immediately knew that was wrong. He thought back to his very first memories of Deku; He and Deku squished next to each other on the floor, reading the same comic book as Katsuki made silly voices for every character because Deku always looked so impressed. He and Deku excitedly drawing themselves as heroes, always as a pair. He and Deku wrestling in the grass in the middle of summer then going to get ice cream, grinning all the way even as they were chided by their parents for getting so messy. Katsuki practicing climbing up every tree in the neighborhood just to take Deku there the next day and show off his ‘perfect first try’. Katsuki being instantly attracted towards anything colored green, despite telling people orange was his favorite. Katsuki forcing himself to stay awake just so he could talk with Deku late into the night on a sleepover, hiding under the covers with a flashlight.

Katsuki being totally ready to jump in front of a car to get Deku out of the way. His body moving on its own to save him.

Oh.

Well.

“Bakugou? Sorry, was that too much?”

Katsuki looked up at Kirishima, unsure of what to feel. “No, it’s just…complicated.” He might have loved Deku even back then. But who does the things he did and says the things he said to the people they loved? How can you claim to love someone while having caused them pain? “I want to say since I knew him, but I don’t know if I have the right to say that.”

“The right?”

“I…” Katsuki sighed, guilt overfilling at the image of Deku crying. Crying because of him. “You don’t…you don’t do the things I did to somebody you love.”

“What do you mean?”

Katsuki swallowed thickly and rested his chin on his knees. “I f*cked up. Badly. I mean, you remember how I was in high school.” Kirishima nodded. “I was…angry. I still am, but at least now I kind of deal with it. Back in middle school, before Deku left…I…I don’t know. A horrible person. I mean, I say I love him, but I called him useless every day of our lives.”

“Do you think he’s useless?”

“No!” Katsuki jolted up, insulted for some reason. “He’s not useless, he’s…f*ck, he’s the kindest, nicest, brightest person ever and he just…I didn’t…I wasn’t that. I was an angry asshole and I pushed him around every day of middle school and yet he was always there. Every day after school, he was just there, waiting for me. And when I ignored him, he just followed me home along with the f*cking dog and when I fell in the stupid river, he tried to help me out, but I told him he was useless and couldn’t help anybody. I thought he was looking down on me, or like he thought I needed him and-” Katsuki can feel tears brimming in his eyes. “And I did need him, and I hated that.” He’d talked about this stuff with his therapist before, but he’d never brought up Deku specifically. And f*ck, it hurt to admit.

“He almost got hit by a car and I saw my life flash before my eyes like I was the one who was about to die. Like if he died, I would too, and that scared the sh*t out of me. He scares the sh*t out of me. f*ck.” He’d thought he’d got the feelings over with. He’d thought he’d accepted this. Apparently not yet. Suddenly, there was an arm around his back and Kirishima was squeezing him into a side hug. He was so overwhelmed that he let him, even melting into it a bit.

“f*ck,” Katsuki swore quietly. “This is too much to dump on you. I should’ve waited.”

“Dude, no, it’s okay. I’m your friend, I’m always going to be here for you.” Kirishima laid his head on Katsuki’s shoulder. “I’m really glad you trust me with this.”

“You’re probably one of two people I ever would,” Katsuki admitted. Not even his therapist had made that list, because he’d only known her for the past six months of college. The school therapist he’d had for four years, maybe, but even she was shaky. Kirishima, though, felt like a brother in more than blood. He’s the reason Katsuki was even able to sit here and say all these things out loud.

“Would the other be Midoriya?”

Katsuki sniffled. “Obviously.”

“I’m honored to be so far up in the list of people you don’t hate,” Kirishima joked, bringing back his usual casual air. Katsuki was grateful for it. “Second only to the soulmate, I feel like I should get a reward.”

Katsuki glared at him. “Shut the f*ck up, I am the reward,” he said, not disputing the soulmate claim. He could think about that after he apologized. Kirishima laughed and let go of him, returning to his own beanbag and grabbing his bowl of cereal off the floor. “I can’t believe I trust you with this sh*t when you eat bowls of cereal sitting on a carpeted floor, sh*tty Hair. No one should trust you with anything ever.”

“I’m an adult, I do what I want,” Kirishima said, grinning. Katsuki rolled his eyes and his phone buzzed in his back pocket. He pulled it out to look.

Deku :/

>> kacchan help

<< with what

>> I have to finish this math assignment before I start a class and I am Lost

<< didn’t you get in with a full-ride academic scholarship

<< you’re supposed to be smart

>> okay but two things. one: math

>> and two: /math/

>> and three: maybe I just want to hang out with you ever thought about that

Katsuki’s heart does a happy dance in his chest and he can’t help a smile.

“You texting the love of your life?”

Katsuki glared at him. “Shut up. Yes.” Kirishima grinned but Katsuki returned to his phone, blushing.

<< that’s three things, deku

>> would you look at that! bad at counting! counting is math! and I am bad at it!

>> please help kacchan I know youre a genius

As if Katsuki would ever say no.

<< okay fine I will help you with your f*cking math

<< today?

>> if you could, today would be great!!! it's due tomorrow and im free all day

<< same. I can come to your dorm at lunch

Wait, sh*t. Was that too forward? No, he and Deku used to share beds, for f*ck’s sake, they can be in each other’s rooms.

>> sounds great!!! yay yay thank you kacchan!! :D

>> my dorm is 3A

<< see you nerd

>> yeah see you in a few hours!!

He used so many exclamation points. Too f*cking cute. Katsuki pocketed his phone again, still smiling, but he wiped the look away when he saw Kirishima watching him, looking utterly amused.

“Shut the f*ck up,” he snapped.

“I didn’t say anything!”

“You were thinking things.”

Kirishima laughed. “So, what did Midoriya want?”

“I’m going to go help him do math or some sh*t.”

Kirishima wiggled his eyebrows and smiled. “Ooh, study date.”

“Not a f*cking date, sh*tty Hair,” Katsuki corrected.

“Come on, not even gonna try? No flirting?”

“Not until I apologize,” Katsuki said, face serious.

Kirishima looked shocked, then grinned. “Dude, that’s so manly! Are you going to apologize today?”

“I think I need to talk to my therapist before I do that.” He really didn’t want to f*ck this up.

“That sounds good. I’m proud of you, man.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Katsuki stretched out his arms and got to his feet. “I’m gonna go on a run or something. Have fun with your sh*tty floor cereal.” Kirishima laughed and Katsuki paused, turning around halfway out the door. “Uh. Thank you. You’re a…a good guy.” He really didn’t say that enough.

Kirishima beamed at him. “No problem, bro. Have a great day, call me or barge into my room anytime.”

Chapter 4: french dip

Chapter Text

Izuku might be doing too much. He didn’t really need that much help with math. What was he thinking?

The answer was that he wasn’t thinking. Not when it came to Kacchan. He was practically never thinking when it came to Kacchan. Or he was thinking way too much, and it was all about him. Like whether or not he still liked fireworks as much as he used to, or those little things you throw on the ground to make really loud POP noises. One time he and Kacchan were playing around with those out on the street and Izuku threw one down just as a dog walked by and it scared the dog. He got so sad about scaring the dog he started crying and Kacchan got into an argument with the lady who owned the dog about it. But Izuku kept-

Knock knock.

Izuku jumped at the sound, nearly falling backwards off his chair.

“Deku, I can hear you mumbling in there,” Kacchan called through the door.

Izuku shook his head to bring himself out his mind, realizing he had been so nervous he started rambling alone in his room like a crazy person.

“Sorry, just a second!” he called back. He glanced at himself in the mirror as he passed, adjusting his headband slightly to tuck back in the flyaway hairs. It was a futile attempt; all the hair pushed back behind the headband looked like an exploded cactus. But whatever, not anything Kacchan hadn’t seen before or would even care about. Izuku wasn’t he even sure why he himself cared. He shook his head again and went to open the door.

“Hey, Kacchan!” he smiled. Kacchan blinked at him, then his eyes seemed to flick around from his face to his arms then back to his face. Maybe he was still thinking about the scars? Izuku really hoped that whole thing didn’t make it weird. As a test, he stuck out his hand for a handshake. Kacchan looked down at his hands, squinted, then rolled his eyes and shifted the takeout boxes he was holding to under one arm. Izuku grinned as they did the handshake, pumping his fist in the air excitedly. “Plus Ultra!”

“Plus Ultra,” Kacchan said, sounding bored yet amused.

Izuku started, realizing he was still blocking the doorway, and moved to the side. “Come on in! Did you bring food?”

“Yeah,” Kacchan answered, entering the room and letting Izuku close the door behind him. “I figured you still did the whole dumb ‘I can’t eat until I finish all the work I have to do’ thing.”

“I don’t do that!” Izuku protested.

Kacchan gave him a look. “Okay, have you eaten today?”

“I had a…” Izuku trailed off, poking his fingers together. “No.”

“That’s what I f*cking thought.” Kacchan shook his head and almost smiled. “How the f*ck did you survive without me for five years?”

“My mom,” Izuku said with a smile and shrug. He grabbed a chair from the spare desk (he’d gotten lucky, no roommate) and set it by his desk.

“How is Auntie, by the way?” Kacchan asked, setting down the boxes of food on the desk.

Izuku plopped into his seat, twisting it to face Kacchan, and gestured for him to take the other chair. “She’s good! I think she’s got a bit of an empty nest thing going on, but hopefully she gets used to it.” He was touched Kacchan was asking about his mother.

Kacchan sat down across from him. “Did you live with her before?”

“Right up until I transferred here! It was cheaper than the dorms at my old school.”

“Why’d you come here?” Kacchan asked, popping open one of the takeout boxes to reveal – Izuku could hardly believe it – katsudon. Did Kacchan remember that it was his favorite? Did he do this on purpose? Probably just a coincidence. Yeah, why would it be anything else?

“Uh,” Izuku said, trying to remember the question. “Like I said, I got the scholarship and they let my credits transfer. UA has always been my dream school, so…”

“Lucky you.” Izuku looked up from the food to find Kacchan watching him with a foreign yet soft expression. Izuku cleared his throat quietly and tried to will his blush away.

“Yeah, especially because the scholarship means I don’t have to use any of my dumb sperm donor’s money,” he said, forcing himself to focus on the conversation. Kacchan’s eyes widened and he made a choking noise, then laughed loudly.

“Your what?”

Izuku couldn’t help a giggle. “Sperm donor. It’s what one of Todoroki’s brothers call their sh*tty dad, and I thought it was fitting for mine.” It had been shocking when Touya – Todoroki’s mysterious eldest brother with lots of piercings who worked at a tattoo shop with very strange people – had said it, but as soon as Izuku got over that, he thought it was hilarious and the best thing he’d ever heard.

Kacchan laughed again. Izuku would never tire of that sound. “Damn. I like it.”

The two of them slipped into easy conversation over the food after that, and Izuku almost forgot what he’d invited Kacchan there for in the first place. He was right, Kacchan was still a genius, and easily helped him figure out all the problems he’d been stuck on. It was a little hard to focus, though, because every so often, he’d glance over to find Kacchan watching him a strange look on his face. Sometimes he looked confused, sometimes he looked sad, most of the time he was almost smiling. What in the world was he thinking about?

Time flew by quickly, and suddenly it was early evening. They’d finished studying hours ago and moved on to playing some video games – Kacchan was way too good at them, as with everything – and then just to talking. About everything: the latest comics they’d read, the funny things their friends said the other day, the worst and best teachers they’d had, and a thousand others. It felt so natural to do, and it was a feeling Izuku had been aching for the past five years. Maybe longer than that, because of their falling-out-kind-of back in middle school.

Really, if you forced him to sum up his history with Kacchan in one word, he wouldn’t be able to. He could say complicated, but it was probably only complicated to outsiders. To him, it went like this: friends since they were babies because of their parent’s relationship, best friends though elementary, and then still friends in middle school, but only on their own. At school, Kacchan almost totally ignored him. Maybe a few mean words here and there, but never enough to push Izuku away. Izuku didn’t think Kacchan could push him away even if they both really tried.

And then, of course, second year of middle school his mom dropped the bomb that his sh*tty dad’s child support had gone down significantly, and she was forced to get a job that moved them halfway across Japan. Izuku had told Kacchan, not totally knowing the reaction to expect, and was met with anger. He probably should’ve expected that. Kacchan ignored him in and out of school for a full week. Arguably one of the worst weeks of his life.

Then, in a sudden turn that nearly gave Izuku whiplash, Kacchan went from being pissed and ignoring him to literally not letting Izuku leave his side for an entire weekend before his move. He invited him over on a Friday night and every time Izuku mentioned that maybe he should be heading home, Kacchan ignored that and came up with a new thing to drag him into doing. He stayed at the Bakugou’s house the whole weekend, confused but kind of happy. And finally, Izuku left and never heard a peep from Kacchan again except through the mom grapevine.

“Deku,” Kacchan said, laying back on Izuku’s bed and tossing a stress ball up and down, “you can’t f*cking expect me to believe you think All Might is going to lose against f*cking All for One.”

They’d moved back to talking about comic books, and Izuku had been unable to stop himself from sharing his theories. He had so many, and Kacchan knew it.

“Think about it!” Izuku protested, cross-legged on his desk chair next to the bed, “All Might always wins stuff, and saves all the people, but what if he didn’t?”

“Then he wouldn’t f*cking be All Might?” Kacchan said, like Izuku was an idiot, which was a common tone.

“Exactly,” Izuku said, snapping his fingers and leaning closer to the bed excitedly, “which opens up so many interesting possibilities if he did lose! Would he be All Might anymore? The Symbol of Peace, unable to keep the peace? Think of the storytelling possibilities!”

“Okay, but you’re still missing one thing,” – Kacchan snatched the stress ball out of the air and sat up, glaring – “All Might doesn’t lose.”

“But All for One is super powerful, and the hero always has to fail before they win! It adds the drama and makes it so much more impactful!” Izuku pressed on.

When Kacchan didn’t answer, Izuku suddenly noticed that, in his excitement, he had leaned far towards the bed, and now that Kacchan was sitting up, their faces were maybe 6 inches apart. Very close. Close enough for him to notice small details about Kacchan, like how long his eyelashes were or the pink flush on his cheeks, or once again how striking his sharp crimson eyes were. Or just the all around fact that Kacchan was very, very attractive. Uh oh.

Just as he was about to scramble away, a foot landed on his chest and he was shoved backwards in his chair, rolling halfway across the room. He barely reacted, too focused on the fact that Kacchan was still staring at him, foot halfway up after pushing him. And he was staring back.

His first thought after What is happening happened to be Staring contest, so he latched on to that train of thought before he dissolved into a panic over Kacchan’s face, narrowing his eyes a bit and quirking an eyebrow up.

Kacchan’s eyes widened ever so slightly, but he didn’t blink or look away, so Izuku didn’t either. He had the fleeting wonder what someone would think if they walked in on this moment. Izuku had no idea what he would think if he did. He had no idea what he was currently thinking. As he mentioned, he rarely thinks properly when it comes to Kacchan.

Which is probably why, also without thinking, he instinctually started shuffling his feet on the floor to roll his chair closer to Kacchan, stopping in front of desk. The staring contest was still going, but Izuku felt like he didn’t even remember how to blink anymore.

“DUDE!” suddenly yelled a very loud voice from outside, followed by a crash and obnoxiously loud laughter that made Izuku jump a little in his seat and look back to his door. He blinked for a second, eyes burning, then frowned and turned back to Kacchan.

“Darn it, that’s not fair,” he bemoaned.

The loud people outside and his words seemed to cut through whatever tension had been building, and Kacchan smirked. “Ha, loser.”

Izuku pouted at him and huffed, “That doesn’t count.”

“Oh, it totally does. You lost.”

“Fine,” Izuku conceded, “what’s the damage?” For the two of them, losing a contest meant you have to do whatever the winner said, usually give them something. Izuku had lost quite a few action figures in his youth thanks to that rule.

Kacchan leaned back on his bed – for some reason Kacchan is in my bed comes to the front of his mind, which is weird, because that’s happened a billion times – propping himself up on his hands and tilting his head to the side.

“What time is it?” Kacchan asked.

Izuku checked the clock on his desk, then gasped a little. “Oh! It’s five thirty already!” Time flies with Kacchan, per usual.

“Alright,” Kacchan said, pushing himself off the bed and to his feet, “you’re buying me dinner. I’m starved.”

Izuku’s heart jumped and fluttered at the idea of having dinner with Kacchan, but he tamped the feeling down quickly because nope. People have dinner with their friends. It’s a thing. A friend thing.

“What?” he moaned anyways, “That’s so expensive!”

Kacchan rolled his eyes. “Not some fancy sh*t, just takeout. There’s a place down the street. Besides, you’re the one who lost.”

Izuku stood, groaning. “It was the people’s fault!”

“Didn’t make me blink,” Kacchan said, smirk widening as he bent to put on his boots.

“That’s ‘cause you’re…you’re a stone man!” Izuku protested, whacking his friend on the shoulder before slipping on his own shoes. Kacchan laughed in his throat, a slightly rough, baritone sound that was very much unlike his giggling but made Izuku’s heart react all the same.

“You should know better than to start staring contests with me then, dumb Deku.”

Izuku put his hand on the door handle, cracking it open slightly, before turning to look at Kacchan next to him. “At least I’m taller than the stone man.”

Kacchan screeched, but Izuku was already out the door and sprinting down the hall, laughing. He skidded to a stop in front of the door to the stairs, then flung it open and raced down them, hearing Kacchan following him. Despite the slight fear, being chased down by Kacchan was one of the most fun things he ever did.

It was weird, seeing as he always did the metaphorical chasing in their friendship, but in terms of physically chasing each other down, he was always the one running. He could never chase Kacchan down because Kacchan was too prideful and brave to run away from him (and Izuku was never nearly as threatening).

He burst through the door on the first floor, startling a couple people in the hallway as he rushed past them and yelled an apology. He turned a corner, then came to a screeching halt on the carpet, trying to stop himself before he slammed into a wall. He still had no idea how the dorms were laid out, and this was obviously not an exit. Uh oh.

Izuku whirled around and raced back into the main hallway, and then suddenly someone slammed into him and swept him off his feet, making him yell in surprise.

“Kacchan!” he yelped, realizing that Kacchan was the one who ran into him and had now slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “What are you doing?” he yelped again, but he couldn’t keep the rising giggles out of his voice.

“I’m stronger than you,” was how Kacchan answered, and Izuku was fully giggling now. Was Kacchan really that butt-hurt about the height difference?

“Okay! Put me down!’ Izuku laughed, not really meaning it.

“Nope, deal with it,” Kacchan answered. Izuku couldn’t see his face but he could hear the smug smirk anyways. He felt himself blush, unsure if it was the closeness or that fact that his head was hanging upside down. The blood rush made him giggle even harder.

He heard a door open and warm evening air hit him, filling his lungs nicely along with the smell of Kacchan. “Are you carrying me to dinner?” he teased. In response, Kacchan stopped walking and dumped Izuku off his shoulder. Izuku barley caught himself on his feet, stumbling before Kacchan grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him upright, glaring.

“I’m not your f*cking chauffeur,” Kacchan grumbled, letting go of Izuku’s shirt.

“You’re the one who picked me up!” Izuku said, laughing some more and readjusting his shirt. He looked up, expecting to be scowled at, but instead found Kacchan staring at him with a surprisingly neutral expression. For Kacchan, who’s resting face was halfway to a scowl, neutral was practically soft, and Izuku felt his cheeks start to warm. “Where are we going?” he managed.

Kacchan stared at him for a moment longer, just long enough for Izuku to start being both flustered and concerned that Kacchan hit his head, then blinked a few times turned on his heel, stalking off towards the parking lot. “There’s a ramen place near here,” Kacchan said as Izuku jogged to catch up, still very confused.

“Ramen sounds good!” he said, trying to sound normal, “Do you go there often?”

“sh*tty Hair’s mom runs the place, so I’ve been there a few times,” Kacchan answered.

“sh*tty Hair,” Izuku repeated, thinking over all of Kacchan’s friends in his mind, “Kirishima?”

Kacchan gave him a side look and a smirk. “Yeah.”

“But his hair is so cool!” Izuku protested, throwing his hands up.

“Of course you think that,” Kacchan scoffed.

“You’re so mean, Kacchan.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Kacchan said, smirk growing wider, “Besides, they’re the idiots who wanted to be my friends, I told them to f*ck off.”

“And yet you still call them your friends,” Izuku said, bumping their shoulders together as they walked, “You’re a big ‘ol softy now, Kacchan.”

Kacchan bumped their shoulders together again, but this time it was more his attempt to body slam Izuku to the ground. “Take that back right now.”

Izuku stumbled to the side then righted himself, giggling. “No way! You care about people now!”

Kacchan kicked his shoe, a lot lighter than Izuku would’ve expected. More a scuff than a kick. When he spoke, his voice was somehow both a grumble and the gentlest Izuku had ever heard it. “You say that like I haven’t been caring about you our whole f*ckin’ lives.”

Izuku nearly tripped on air, and in his haste to catch himself, he stepped on his own shoelace and did trip on it, then went careening towards the pavement. Because he’s so cool and collected like that. But before he could even think about trying to lessen the impact of his fall, a hand wrapped around one of his flailing wrists and he was flipped over, shoe twisting on the pavement. Another hand was on his back, and all of a sudden Izuku found himself in a position he’s pretty sure he had a dream about in sixth grade.

Because Kacchan just French dipped him to the ground. And he is now stiff as board, forty-five degree angle to the sidewalk, Kacchan’s knee pressed into a the small of his back, hand still around his wrist that’s sticking straight up in the air, other arm curled around him to reach his back that had Kacchan’s face and body so close to his own he was about to combust.

He froze, and Kacchan seemed to do the same, the only sound coming from loud people way back in the dorms and a few cars on a nearby street. The spring air was fairly warm around them, but he could still starkly feel the contrast of Kacchan’s warmer breath on his face.

I am going to die, he thought, this is literally going to kill me but at least middle school Izuku can die happy.

“Guess you do care,” he said after a moment of tense silence, and it came out way too hoarse for his liking. Very smooth, Izuku. You sound like a choking pre-teen.

Izuku half expected Kacchan to drop him, half expected him to just push him to his feet again and tell him to tie his shoes better, and 100% did not expect him to look almost sad. And yet Kacchan looked like that, his eyes full of something heavy, something akin to regret. About what?

Izuku frowned up at him. “Are you okay?”

Kacchan opened his mouth, then took a deep breath and shook his head, closing it again. “This is why you’re supposed to tie yer f*ckin’ shoes, Deku.”

Ah, there you are, Kacchan!

Izuku rolled his eyes. “Okay, I’ll tie my shoes. Can I stand now, though?”

Kacchan huffed at him, then Izuku possibly momentarily ascended this plane of existence because Kacchan moved his hands to his waist to bring them both back up to standing. Okay, maybe Ochako was making some points about the crush. Oh God. He could feel his cheeks burning even after Kacchan let him go and stepped back.

Desperately hoping that Kacchan didn’t notice his blush, he knelt down to tie his shoes, willing it to go away. He mustered up a normal smile, standing up and sticking a foot out.

“That better?” he asked, gesturing to his shoe.

Once again surprising him, Kacchan just said, “Yeah,” and turned to keep walking instead of making some teasing comment or even an eye roll. Weird.

Izuku fell into step beside Kacchan again, glancing over to find him staring at the sidewalk beneath them. His first instinct was to ask if Kacchan was okay again, but he knew that would probably be met with a snappy, defensive ‘I’m fine’. He knew Kacchan. Izuku would just have to piece together some of the story himself, then try to help. Right now, though, he had to cheer Kacchan up again.

“Hey,” he said, “you said the ramen place is just a block down this street, right?”

“Yeah…” Kacchan said, squinting at him. He definitely knew what Izuku was about to say, and Izuku grinned at him.

“Race you.” He got a barely one step head start before Kacchan was taking off down the sidewalk, making him sprint to catch up. Izuku had always been a fast runner, and he had longer legs (ha), but Kacchan was fast enough to keep his head start and grabbed the door handle to the ramen shop first. Izuku had so much momentum built up that he skidded to a stop and bumped into his friend, bouncing back and almost toppling before righting himself.

“Christ,” Kacchan said with a laugh that made Izuku celebrate internally, “you have no balance to speak of.”

Izuku laughed too. “I’ve never been a coordinated person, you know that.”

“Like a drunk baby deer. Who lost. Again.” Kacchan smirked at him, and Izuku couldn’t help the feeling that he had definitely won.

“I barely lost, c’mon,” he protested, “give me a break here.”

“Fine, you owe me a soda or some sh*t,” Kacchan said with a wave of his hand before opening the door to the shop. There was a light tinkling of bells, and Izuku stepped into a shop that immediately soothed everything inside him and smelled like warmth. It was very homey and comfortable.

“Good evening!” Kacchan called into the empty shop. Or at least, Izuku thought it was empty until a tall woman with long, curly black hair ducked into the behind-counter area from a back room. Izuku might have guessed this was Kirishima’s mother, even if Kacchan hadn’t told him beforehand, and despite the hair color difference. The two of them had the same presence: that presence being comforting and large. Mrs. Kirishima was just as tall and nearly as buff as her son, and their grins were identical.

“Bakugou, I thought I heard you!” Mrs. Kirishima said, a little loud for the small space, “Who’s this?”

Even with all his attempts at improving his self-confidence and social skills, Izuku was still startled at being addressed and momentarily forgot his own name. “I’m…Midoriya Izuku,” he finally blurted, remembering to bow, “Nice to meet you.”

“Kirishima Ishi, pleasure to meet you too! What’s a polite kid like you doin’ with Bakugou?”

Izuku stifled a giggle and Kacchan elbowed him in the shoulder, making Mrs. Kirishima laugh loudly.

“Alright, what can I get you two?”

Izuku and Kacchan ordered their food and sat at the counter as Mrs. Kirishima bustled around the kitchen to prepares their orders, making pleasant conversation about where he was from or their school life. Mrs. Kirishima seemed a very kind, boisterous woman, and a very good chef. Izuku had to stop himself from inhaling his food in one go.

“Thank you so much for the meal, Mrs. Kirishima,” he said, “That was really good.”

“You’re welcome, kid!” Mrs. Kirishima said, swiping a hand through his hair to ruffle it like his mother sometimes did, “Come back anytime, you’re sweet.”

Izuku smiled nervously and nodded, as he did with most compliments, then reached into his back pocket for his wallet. “Oh!” he said, pulling out the money to pay, “Do you happen to have soda here?”

“Sure do!” Mrs. Kirishima answered, “co*ke?”

“Yes, please,” Izuku said, adding the extra money to his payment. Mrs. Kirishima handed him a can of Coca-Cola, which he promptly handed to Kacchan. “There. My debt is cleared!”

Kacchan smirked, cracking the can open. “For now.”

“You wish,” Izuku said, poking his friend’s shoulder, “You’re paying for dinner next time.”

“As if,” Kacchan challenged, jabbing him in the shoulder back. If they weren’t inside, Izuku would’ve tackled him, but instead he just glared and stuck his tongue out. Being with Kacchan made him act childish, and he knew it, but he couldn’t help it. That was their bond.

“See you later, Mrs. Kirishima,” Kacchan said, waving at their host and heading for the door.

“Yes, thank you!” Izuku said before rushing out behind Kacchan. By that time, the sun was low in the sky, the beginnings of a sunset. Izuku was hit with a sudden wave of nostalgia at the sight, remembering young summers spent glued to Kacchan’s side, the two of them doing anything and everything until the sun went down and their parents called them home. It seemed so long ago, and he’d been sure he’d never get it again. But here he was.

Whatever rope that tied him to Kacchan – and he was sure there was one – hadn’t been cut. It was merely frayed a bit at the middle. The world could be amazing like that.

Thinking all this made his heart warm from the inside as the setting sun warmed him from the outside.

“What are you so smiley about?” Kacchan asked, bringing Izuku out of his head. They were walking so close Izuku could’ve linked their pinkies together, but he didn’t.

“Just thinkin’,” he answered.

“About?” Kacchan pressed.

Izuku smiled wider and bumped their shoulders together. “About how lucky I am that the universe brought us together again. I’m very blessed.”

“Lame,” Kacchan said, but his soft expression didn’t match his words. Worried that he was about to do or say something stupid, Izuku tore his gaze from Kacchan’s crimson eyes and looked back at the road ahead of them, but couldn’t stop his smile or faint blush.

After a bit of silence, he glanced over to find Kacchan still watching him with the same face, and his blush deepened. Somehow, they’d gravitated towards each other so much Izuku was surprised he hadn’t tripped over Kacchan’s feet yet, or that Kacchan hadn’t pushed him away. He was becoming increasingly flustered and confused by this day. It was so unfair how much power Kacchan had over him just by looking at him.

“Thanks for helping me study,” he blurted, because he talks when he’s nervous and Kacchan was making him very nervous, though in the best way.

Kacchan kept staring for a second, not responding, then blinked at him made a slight coughing noise. “What? I mean-sure. Yeah. Whatever.”

Did he actually give Kacchan a concussion at the party?

Before he could ask, he realized that they had reached the front door to his dorm building and were stopped in front of it.

“Guess I’ll see you later, Kacchan,” he said, trying to sound put-together. He held out his hand for the handshake, and Kacchan complied, not even rolling his eyes that hard.

“See you later, nerd.”

Izuku ran a quick risk calculation in his head, and, before he could chicken out, leaned down to kiss Kacchan’s cheek again. He was inside with the door shut before he even saw how Kacchan reacted, heart fluttering. He didn’t know what overcame him to kiss Kacchan that first day, or why he kept doing it, but he wasn’t planning on stopping until Kacchan told him to. He’d survived the last few times, at least.

Today was a very good day.

--

Katsuki was pretty sure he stood outside of Deku’s dorm for a full thirty seconds before he remembered that he was supposed to be walking back to his room. His brain had got to be f*cking broken. All trains of thought had been delayed at the station for far too long.

Jesus f*cking Christ I hate this. Except he kind of didn’t? His feelings were all a jumbled mess of happy and confused and angry and guilty and ugh. By the time he got back to his dorm room, he’d moved past the giddy cheek kiss Deku’s-pretty thoughts and had landed right back in all that stupid guilt.

He had been that close to saying it. It had been the perfect moment to say it. But he didn’t. The words got stuck in his throat like lumps of jagged coal and he couldn’t cough them up. f*ck. Two words. Maybe more, that’s all he had to say.

”I’m sorry for being such an asshole and making you think I don’t care.”

But he didn’t say it, because apologies are for when you’re wrong, and Katsuki hates being wrong. He knows he was wrong though. He just has to make sure Deku knows that he knows.

And then there was the fact that Katsuki thought about kissing Deku today on about twelve different occasions. Which made him feel even guiltier, because why should he get to think about kissing Deku when he was such an asshole, and then he was angry for feeling guilty and everything started spiraling out of control like he was in high school again.

Instead of letting himself be a dumb high schooler again and probably punching a hole in a wall, Katsuki forced out a series of deep breaths and flopped face first onto his bed. He would get through this. Stupid feelings had nothing on him, and he would not be defeated by them. He’d get things sorted out. Somehow.

He squeezed his eyes shut tighter, breathing in the laundry detergent smell of his pillow and suddenly he was thinking about Deku’s smile and how he’d made a fool of himself. How long had he been staring at him? Deku probably thought he was creepy or something now.

Ugh, stupid Deku made him feel so unsure and he hated this.

A buzz from his pocket brings him out of his head, and he rolls over to check his phone. There were multiple missed texts from Kirishima.

sh*tty Hair

>> dude I’m so confused why is my mom telling me you went on a date???

>> with a “cute green haired kid” aka mido??

>> what happened???

>> bakugou answer me

>> BAKUGOU

>> don’t leave me hanging dude!!

>> bakugou!!?

Katsuki goes shooting upright in his bed and actually yells “What the f*ck?” out loud to his empty room.

<< what the hell? I wasn’t on a date with deku why would your mom think that?

>> bakugou! you’re alive! If it wasn’t a date then what was it?

<< we ate some f*cking ramen, that’s it! I told you I’m not doing that sh*t right now

>> I know that’s why I was confused! she said he paid for it?

It was difficult to be mad at a woman like Kirishima Ishi, but Katsuki was getting dangerously close.

>> HE LOST A f*ckING CONTEST OH MY GOD

<< so you made him pay for dinner?

>> it’s a thing we do, dumbass. you lose a contest, you have to do something and I wanted f*cking ramen it’s not that deep.

<< my mom is so sure he’s your boyfriend dude. she thinks you’re cute together if that helps

>> WHY WOULD THAT f*ckING HELP?

Deku, his boyfriend. Going on a date with Deku. Kissing Deku. He felt like a high schooler in those sh*tty rom-coms Mina loves so much. Was he freaking out right now? Holy sh*t, he’s pathetic. Pathetic and in love and gross.

<< okay, sorry! I’ll correct her

>> you better

<< wait you don’t want people thinking he’s your boyfriend? thought that was the eventual goal

Katsuki nearly hurled his phone at the wall.

>> why the f*ck would I want other people to think that if he’s not my actual boyfriend, idiot.

<< ah, I see.

<< anyways, how was your day?

>> f*ck off

Katsuki almost left it at that, but with all the thoughts and feeling jumbling around inside him right then he wasn’t sure what he’d do if he stopped distracting himself.

>> how do people deal with this sh*t?

<< what sh*t?

>> having a crush on someone

He can almost hear Kirishima laughing in the time it takes for him to respond, and glares at his phone because of it.

<< oh come on, it’s not that bad

>> yes it is.

<< crushes are nice! they make you happy!

>> no

<< so dramatic, dude. you’ll be fine! you got me! :D

>> how does that help at all

<< I can be your wingman supreme!

>> NO.

<< oh, yes.

>> you know what, this friendship is over. bye.

<< if you left me who would you talk to about this?

Katsuki glares at his phone again, huffing.

>> whatever. besides, no flirting or ‘wingmanning’ sh*t is happening

<< I know, not until you apologize, which I still think is super manly to do :)

>> no, not until he forgives me, and if he does

If he does. Either way, Katsuki is intent on making things right, no matter if Deku forgives him or not. He wants to deserve Deku, whether that be his friendship or anything else. And he definitely doesn’t deserve Deku if he can’t muster up the strength to say what Deku deserves to hear. Katsuki knows he’s sh*t at words and communication. It’s a problem he’s worked on in therapy for years now. He also knows words mean a lot to Deku, though he always had this annoying way of understanding everything Katsuki said with actions. Which means Katsuki has to say it. He has to. He will.

>> you know, I said it this morning, but I’m really proud of you, man. you’ve grown a lot since when I first met you, and I may not know Midoriya that well yet but I’m sure he knows it too. and I meant it when I said I’m always here for you :)

<< gross. thanks.

Chapter 5: anpan

Chapter Text

The next morning came without much fanfare, which was just fine with Katsuki. He went on his usual morning run and gym workout with Kirishima, texted Deku good luck on his first day of classes, and went about his own school day as normal. Until lunch, that is, at which point he realized meeting up with Deku’s friend group on the field was now supposed to be an everyday thing. Which he had no big complaints with, but the look Kirishima gave him upon relaying the news was enough to make him suspicious.

He walked to the picnic tables with Kirishima, who had a class in the neighboring room to his before lunch, and found the two friend groups spread over two tables next to each other. Deku was on the end of one, talking to Round Cheeks and Four Eyes about something nerdy as sh*t, if his excited expression and energetic hand movements were any indication. It was the same thing he’d been doing since they were brats. It was cute and he hated that the sight of it made him feel warm inside.

“Hey!” Kirishima called loudly.

Deku stopped talking and whipped his head around, eventually meeting Katsuki’s eyes and breaking into a grin. “Kirishima! Kacchan!” he chirped. And then Deku stood from the table, narrowing his eyes and grinning wider, and Katsuki barely had enough time to drop his bag before a blur of green hit him and sent him toppling to the ground.

But Katsuki was not having that, because he had already decided he could not f*cking handle being pinned by Deku again, and he had other sh*t to do today that required a working brain. He almost faltered when Deku started laughing, but pulled himself together enough fight Deku off and pin him with a knee to the chest, wrists by his head. He was so gross. Deku’s laugh? That’s what got to him now? Seriously? Ew.

“Ha,” he barked, smirking as Deku pouted up at him, “loser! Third time in a row, Deku.”

“I know,” Deku groaned, “you’re already rebuilding your streak. Now get off, I’m hungry.”

Katsuki complied, dusting the dirt off his shirt. It was probably a good thing he wore so much black.

“Help me up?” Deku said with feigned innocence, making grabby hands out to Katsuki.

Katsuki glared at him. “Not falling for that.” One time in elementary school he tried to help Deku off the ground and Deku repaid him by yanking him into a mud puddle. He never fell for it again.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Deku answered, smiling.

“f*ck off,” Katsuki scoffed, kicking Deku’s foot, “Stand by yourself, dummy. Or I’m taking your shoe right now.” Deku made a face, crinkling up his nose and sticking his tongue out like a five-year-old, then kicked off one of his shoes and flung it up at Katsuki, who batted it away. “Gross.”

“You wanted it!” Deku said, finally standing up and grinning at him.

He’s so pretty when he smiles, and Katsuki knows he’s in deep sh*t when he doesn’t even feel grossed out by that thought. f*ck. It’s like the realization came to him and now he can’t stop wondering how he had been so confused before. He loves everything about Deku. But all the happy thoughts are weighed down by the guilt, like thorny vines digging into everything and trying to tear it apart. He won’t let it tear it apart.

“Izuku!” Round Face called from her seat, making Deku turn, which let Katsuki snap out of his head. “I’m taking your Pocky!”

“No!” Deku yelped, rushing back to the table to snatch his food, but not before Pink Cheeks had stuffed a few Pocky sticks in her mouth. Gross. Katsuki grabbed his bag off the grass and took the empty seat next to Kirishima, on the side of the table that was end-to-end with Deku’s, so they were almost next to each other, separated by the space between tables. Probably better for Katsuki that he wasn’t sitting right next to Deku. He went to get his food from his bag, then turned to find Kirishima staring at him with a small, open-mouthed smile.

“What?” he snapped.

Kirishima made a noise that sounded and awful lot like stifling laughter, bringing his fist up to his mouth. “Dude,” he said quietly, leaning in a bit, “you just stared at him for like a full ten seconds.”

Katsuki resisted both the urge to punch Kirishima in the face and slam his own head into the table. He just f*cking what now? How did he not even notice?

“Shut the f*ck up.” He scowled as Kirishima stifled more laughter into his hand, jabbing his friend in the ribs with his elbow. He might as well have punched a brick wall with how little Kirishima reacted.

“Sorry!” Kirishima whispered, “I just thought you should know!”

“What are you two whispering about, huh?” Mina said, poking her head out from the other side of Kirishima.

“Nothing,” Katsuki said, a little too loud and sudden. Kirishima was obviously still trying to hold in laughter, and Katsuki was seriously about to hit him.

“Nothing?” Mina repeated dramatically, “You sure?”

“Yeah, now f*ck off.”

Mina gave him a look, then slowly her eyes drifted to somewhere behind him and a grin spread over her face before she looked at him again. “Yeah, nothing.” Mina relaxed back into her seat, still grinning, and Katsuki glanced behind him to find Deku watching him. Before he could stop himself, he made eye contact with the emerald green and Deku was beaming at him again.

“Kacchan, are you yelling at your friends again?” Deku teased with a smile that was somehow both sly and kind. What the f*ck.

“They deserve it,” he managed, hoping he responded at a normal speed. This was the worst.

Deku cracked a laugh. “Sure, Kacchan.” Another second passed, then Deku looked away and Katsuki could think straight again. “Oh, Kirishima!” Deku said, making Kirishima turn. “I met your mother yesterday, she was really nice! And a great chef!”

“Yeah, she told me about that!” Kirishima said, making Katsuki try to glare at him without being too obvious. He was ignored. “She thought you were nice, too.”

“Wait, how’d you meet Kirishima’s mom?” Round Face asked.

“She owns a ramen place down the street,” Deku answered, “Kacchan and I went there last night!”

“’Cause you lost,” Katsuki quickly added before any of their friends got the same idea Mrs. Kirishima had. People thinking Deku was his boyfriend made him feel gross and wrong at this point. He didn’t deserve that.

“There was outside interference!” Deku protested.

Katsuki smirked at him. “You just get spooked easily.” Deep down, Katsuki knew part of the reason he won the staring contest was because he’d gotten so wrapped up in Deku’s eyes that he hadn’t even noticed people yelling until Deku turned around. But no one needed to know that but himself.

“What did you lose?” Todoroki f*cking Shoto asked from his seat across from Deku.

“Staring contest,” Deku said. Katsuki heard another of Kirishima’s stifled snorts from behind and elbowed him again. “But I only lost because there were people yelling outside!”

“Excuses, excuses, you son of a bitch.” Katsuki didn’t know he was going to say it until he said it and Deku burst out laughing. The last part had been added on automatic, a recitation of an old lady neighbor from their childhood. She would invite Katsuki and Deku inside sometimes for cookies and snacks, but she’d always be playing soap operas on her TV. She loved making comments and made her hatred for certain characters clear. She said some phrases so often Katsuki and Deku started using them too.

“Make up your goddamn mind!” Deku practically cackled before breaking into another fit of laughter. It made Katsuki start laughing so hard he was barely angry at how flustered he was becoming and pressed his forehead into the table, trying to breath through giggles. Why did Deku have to have such a nice laugh? Meanwhile, he was struggling not to squeal like a dying pig.

“Lying bastard!” Deku said, sounding like he was attempting to do an impression of the old woman but was really just choking on his own cackles. Katsuki put a hand over his mouth and kept trying his damndest to keep his pride somewhat intact, but when he turned to look at Deku he couldn’t help it anymore. Deku, having always been one to show and feel his emotions 100%, was laughing so hard he was falling off the bench. And then Katsuki just watched as he did fall off the bench, giggling too much to even react.

“Deku,” Katsuki managed through deep breaths and laughter, “get off the f*cking ground. It’s not that funny.”

“But I-hah, oh my God” – Deku rubbed a hand over his face, sitting up a bit and still shaking – “I totally forgot about Grandma Ito!”

Oh, right, that was her name. “She would be insulted,” he said with a smile he wasn’t in control of, nudging Deku’s side with his boot and making him laugh again.

“Do I even ask at this point?” Kaminari said, drawing Katsuki’s attention away from the adorable mess on the ground to glare at him.

“Old lady who loved yelling at her TV,” Deku said, snickering, “Man, now I really want anpan.”

When Katsuki’s mind immediately went to whether or not he had time to go the store and get stuff to make anpan today, he stifled a groan at his own disgustingness. He’d probably have time after therapy.

“You could get off the ground and eat your f*cking lunch, dumbass,” Katsuki said, poking Deku with his boot again.

“Help me?” Deku tried again, holding out a hand.

“I already said I’m not falling for that again.”

Deku raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying I’m strong enough to pull you down?”

Katsuki was smart enough to know when he was being baited, but dumb and prideful enough to take it anyway. “f*ck you,” he said, grabbing Deku’s hand and pulling him up. As expected, Deku tried to pull back, but Katsuki just bent his arm and yanked his friend forward and to his feet. “There. Happy?”

Deku smiled at him. “Thanks, Kacchan!” It was only when Deku’s hand shifted slightly did he notice that he still was holding it, and he quickly let go. Deku sat back in his seat and was quickly occupied by some conversation with Round Face, and Katsuki turned back to his own lunch, wiping his sweaty palms on his pants leg. Gross.

Katsuki’s therapy session that day felt like the longest he had since he was first forced into them by his teacher and parents. Back then, the sessions were long and painful because he hated them and refused to cooperate for a good while. This time, though, was because there was just so much sh*t to unpack and backstory to reveal before he could get to actual business of apologizing. His therapist, a very kind woman named Dr. Nakamura Yu who reminded him a lot of his dad, just sat and listened as he eventually managed to tell his story with Deku in the most concise way possible, stopping just before he got to the whole I’m in love with him thing. It was difficult to think that, let alone say it out loud.

“Why do you want to apologize?” Dr. Nakamura asked at one point.

“Because…” Katsuki started, twisting his dad’s ring on his finger, “he deserves it. And I guess because I want to stop feeling so guilty, though that seems selfish.” Katsuki had a momentary feeling of pride in himself, weird timing as it was, because he knew his middle school self would never have said any of this. If he could do sh*t like this now, say these things out loud instead of burying them deep inside himself and covering them with anger, maybe he had changed enough to deserve Deku. Or at least, he was moving in that direction.

“Why do you think it’s selfish?”

“I shouldn’t be doing this for me. I don’t want to do it just to prove to him or myself that I deserve his friendship or some sh*t, or to make myself feel better. I want to do it so he’s happy.”

“Then it sounds to me like you have the right intentions here,” Dr. Nakamura said, smiling gently in a way he would’ve found condescending if he didn’t know better now. “But I also want to add that apologies are meant to heal relationships, and relationships are a two-way street. It’s okay to get something out of it, such as relieving your guilt, though it’s right to focus on him.”

“It’s not like I expect him to accept,” Katsuki admitted, still fiddling with the ring, “And I think that’s the reason I find it so hard to say.”

“How do you mean?”

“If he didn’t forgive me, I wouldn’t blame him. And I guess I’m also worried that it’ll be pulling up old sh*t he’s been ignoring, and he’ll think about it and realize that he should’ve run the other direction the second he saw me again,” Katsuki said, staring intently at the potted plant on Nakamura’s desk, thoughts starting to drift. Auntie Inko used to have a small potted plant ‘garden’ in the Midoriya apartment, and he and Deku had been banished from it for knocking nearly every plant over during an overexcited game of keep-away. In their late elementary and early middle school days, though, Katsuki noticed that Deku became a caretaker for the plants, and even named a few of them. The mini porch garden was quite the sight by the time Deku left.

That always seemed to be what Deku did: help things grow, nurture them, build them up. Katsuki was often too blinded by his own ego that he didn’t notice when he knocked it all down or crushed it, and when he did notice, he didn’t care. But for his relationship with Deku to work – in whatever capacity ‘relationship’ was defined – he needed to use his lane of the two-way street. He needed to be like Deku, to build things up and let them grow.

He didn’t have to be nice, he had to be kind. It was something his mother told him back in high school, when he was too angry and dumb to realize what she meant. He’d thought she was being stupid, because nice and kind were the same f*cking thing. But when he thought back on that a few years later, he realized his mother was speaking from experience, and that they were not the same thing.

His mother was not a very nice woman. She was brash, loud, aggressive, and un-withholding with her brutally honest opinions. But she was kind, on some occasions. She never hesitated to help the Midoriyas out when they needed it, taking Deku for nights at a time so Auntie could work or take a break for once in her life. She chided his father for working too late while giving him coffee and fresh baked goods she’d gotten for him that morning. She always offered comfort when it was most needed, and blunt words when they were needed instead.

Being nice was not his mother’s personality, nor was it Katsuki’s. That was fine. They were assholes, and they had the people that, for whatever reason, dealt with them anyways, like his dad and Auntie or Deku and Kirishima. But being kind was something he could do without changing his entire self. If his hag of a mother could do it, he could too.

He took a deep breath, feeling a strange knot in his chest loosen ever so slightly, and realized Dr. Nakamura hadn’t said anything. Probably letting him think. He appreciated it.

“I want to be a better person because of him.” And isn’t that what love feels like? something whispered from the locked box in his mind where he’d tucked those feelings for the time being. He shoved the thought away. He knew jack sh*t about love, and being in it didn’t change that. “I want to deserve his forgiveness, if he gives it to me.”

“Do you feel prepared to be forgiven?”

Katsuki blinked at her, momentarily taken off-guard, then takes another deep breath. “I don’t know. I think I’m a step or two behind that. Nothing I think means sh*t if I don’t act on it.”

Dr. Nakamura peered at him over her glasses with her dark, knowing eyes, then shrugged. “Then act on it.”

Katsuki left therapy feeling like a man on a mission. His mission? Be the kindest f*cking friend to Deku anyone had ever seen. First step was something he’d already been planning to do: make Deku anpan like the kind Grandma Ito or Auntie Inko used to make. He didn’t know the exact recipe they used, but he was pretty sure there were only so many versions of f*cking bread and bean paste a person could make.

He stopped by the grocery store on his way home, gathering all his ingredients and a few other things he needed. At one point, he passed through the aisle with all the instant noodles and microwave meals and was hit with the memory of all those days as a dorky pre-teen with Deku, hanging out at each other’s homes late into the evening because both of their parents were working. They always ended up making some kind of instant ramen or cup of noodles from the konbini, eating in the living room or on a bed while playing video games, knowing full well they’d be in trouble if their parents found out.

And here he was getting sappy over f*cking instant ramen. How dare Deku do this to him.

When he got home, he set right to work, knowing anpan took a lot of waiting for things to boil or dough to rise. During the waiting periods, he worked on homework and thought about other things he could do to be a kinder friend. He briefly wondered if being kind was something that was supposed to come naturally, but brushed that off quickly. He thought maybe people like Deku were born kind, but it was entirely impossible that his mother was. Working towards sh*t and making a conscious effort was just as good as doing it naturally, if not better.

So, he’d make a conscious effort. And that started with calling Deku after setting the bean paste filled balls of dough to the side to rise.

Deku picked up on the third ring with a bright, “Hi Kacchan!” before Katsuki could even say anything. How excited Deku sounded made him almost forget he was supposed to be starting a conversation here.

“Hey, Deku. Got a minute?” he said, leaning nonchalantly on his kitchen counter like Deku could see him or something. Weirdo.

“Sure!” Deku chirped, “I need a break from homework. What’s up?”

“Nothing, just wanted to talk,” Katsuki answered with what he hoped was a cool and level voice, “How was your first day?”

“It was great, thanks for asking!” Deku said, and Katsuki could hear his smile. “Well, great but exhausting. The things they say about UA are all true. It is hard.”

Katsuki laughed a bit at Deku’s groaning. “No sh*t, that’s why I’m here. It’s one of the top schools in the country for a reason.”

“Yes, and I’m very grateful to be here, of course! I think things will get better once I catch up. These classes are a little ahead of my old school so I’m stuck reading five chapters in this textbook I only got today. My general psych teacher is super strict, though, so I have to.”

“Good luck with that. What’s your major, by the way?” Katsuki asked, realizing he hadn’t heard Deku say it before, and hoping that was just because he hadn’t mentioned it, not because Katsuki hadn’t listened.

“Psychology!” Deku answered, sounding very excited, “I think I want an emphasis on cognitive psychology, but I figured I can learn about other stuff for a bit before diving into one thing. I have a tendency to get obsessed with things and I’m trying to keep this obsession on a broader spectrum for the time being.” Deku chuckled, like he’s laughing at himself. So, Deku’s going to do the stuff Dr. Nakamura does. It made sense. Deku was always analyzing people, and he was pretty good at reading people and talking them through things as long as he wasn’t super nervous around them. “What about you? Don’t think you’ve mentioned it before.”

“Chemical engineering,” Katsuki said.

“Ah, still a science nerd!”

Katsuki glared at his phone, which was on speaker on his kitchen counter. “You’re the nerd.”

Deku laughed. “I know. Chemical engineering sounds interesting, though! What kind of jobs can you do with that?”

“I’m interested in the medical or environmental side of it,” Katsuki answered.

It felt good to talk with Deku like this. These were the kind of things they might have talked about in high school, discussing futures or colleges they wanted to apply to. He and Deku talked for a while about their studies, Katsuki managing to turn the conversation away from his sh*t to Deku’s. He hit the jackpot when his questions led to Deku start happy-ranting about one of his teachers, some renowned psychologist named Dr. Yagi Toshinori. Some of the stuff he said was interesting, but Katsuki was mainly content with listening to him talk about it. He wasn’t going to lie and say he could listen to Deku rant for hours, because patience was a virtue he’d been blessed with so little of not even Deku could get an infinite amount from him, but he was definitely willing to let Deku talk about whatever was interesting him for the time being.

An hour passed before he knew it, and the anpan had been baked and was now on the counter to cool.

“Didn’t you say you had a textbook to read?” Katsuki said, knowing he also had homework to get back to.

Deku groaned dramatically. “Yeah, I should probably get back to that. Ugh.”

“Have fun with your brainy sh*t, nerd. See you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Kacchan! See you!”

Katsuki hung up, smiling to the privacy of his dorm room, then turned to glare at the anpan. “You better f*cking taste good,” he grumbled at them before going to finish his homework.

It was only during the next day’s lunch break did he realize he hadn’t thought about actually giving the sweet rolls to Deku. He could just be chill about it, but if Deku tackled him like he did yesterday, there might be a problem. Thankfully, he got there before Deku, claiming his same spot as yesterday, then setting the Tupperware of anpan on the table in front of him.

He immediately had to slap Kaminari’s hand away. “Nope.”

Kaminari pouted at him. “What? Why not?”

“Not yours, dumbass,” Katsuki snapped. Another thing he failed to think of: his idiot friends. He wasn’t stupid; he knew that his feelings for Deku – to an extent – were obvious enough for at least some of his friends to notice, but he did not want them to start getting ideas. This was not an attempt at courting. He didn’t need any more offers of ‘wingmanning’, and, even worse, he didn’t need them meddling on their own accord. They would probably have good intentions, but that could seriously f*ck things up. Hopefully, Kirishima would handle them.

“Kacchan!” Deku called loudly, waving a lanky arm above his head wildly, wearing a f*cking All Might hoodie. He jogged up the grassy hill, Halfsie and Four Eyes behind him. Round Face and her girlfriend were already at a table, chatting with Mina.

“This is a friendship thing, so don’t start,” Katsuki hissed to Kirishima next to him as Deku approached, not giving time for a response before grabbing the box of anpan and holding it out to Deku. “Here.”

Deku blinked down at the box, seeming lost. “What’s this?”

Katsuki pushed the box further towards Deku, making him take it. “Anpan, obviously.”

“For me?”

Katsuki suppressed an exasperated groan. Deku was really intent on making this difficult for him, huh? “Why else would I be giving it to you, dummy?”

Deku blinked at him with his dumb bright eyes, then broke into a grin. “Oh! Thank you!”

“Yeah,” Katsuki managed. Deku sat down, smiling at the box like it was something far more special than f*cking bread, and Katsuki celebrated a bit internally.

“Did you make these?”

It took Katsuki a second to register the question, because apparently nowadays Deku smiling at him made his brain lag like a computer from the early 90s. “Yeah, ‘s not that hard.”

Deku gave him an impressed look, so much like the one he had when they were kids it was doing things to Katsuki’s heart. “Wow!” Deku said, grinning, “That’s so cool! Last time I tried to help my mom make these I got kicked out of the kitchen.”

Katsuki snorted a laugh at that. Deku must have really f*cked it up if Auntie Inko, the world’s most patient woman, kicked him out. “Of course you did.”

“We can’t all be good at everything, Kacchan,” Deku shot back with a mock glare.

“You’re good at plenty of sh*t,” Katsuki said, another conscious effort made. “I’m just better,” he added, because he’d already said there wasn’t going to be some massive personality change here. Besides, competition was a pillar of his and Deku’s friendship, he didn’t have to give that up. Deku stuck his tongue out, and then lunch went on as normal, friends talking and shouting at each other across tables. Katsuki didn’t miss the looks he was getting from Sero, Kaminari, and Mina, though, and he might have to deal with those later. But for now, he was content with today’s victory, ready for the next thing.

And then he glanced over at Deku for probably the millionth time and found him tearing up, half eaten roll in his hand.

“Deku, are you f*cking crying?” he asked, almost incredulous and slightly concerned. Deku crying didn’t automatically mean something bad – everything made the nerd cry – but Katsuki still had no idea how to deal with it.

“No!” Deku said, wiping his eyes with his free hand.

Round Face leaned over the table and frowned at him. “Izuku, are you okay?”

Deku sniffled loudly, wiping his leaky eyes on his hoodie sleeve now. “Sorry! I just miss my mom!”

Round Face looked confused, but Katsuki nearly breathed a sigh of relief. Okay, that was actually a good thing. Well, no, it sucked that Deku missed Auntie that much, but it meant Katsuki had succeeded in making anpan as good as she used to.

Deku was stuffing the anpan in his mouth now, still crying, and Katsuki couldn’t figure out how he thought it was endearing instead of gross, but Round Face and all their other friends were starting to look increasingly concerned for Deku’s sanity.

“His mom used to make us anpan all the time,” Katsuki offered, since Deku was in no position to explain right now. Great, now he was feeling nostalgic and missing Auntie, too. She’d practically been his third parent. Maybe she’d come visit Deku sometime.

He awkwardly reached out to pat Deku’s head, feeling how soft his green curls were and accidentally making Deku cry harder. “Holy f*ck, Deku, pull yourself together.”

“I’m trying!” Deku wailed. “This is your fault!”

“I made you some damn bread!”

“Special bread!” Deku blubbered like that meant anything, wiping his face with his sleeves again. Before Katsuki could even start thinking of a response, Deku was out of his seat and wrapping Katsuki in a warm, almost familiar hug. It was a strange angle, seeing as he was still sitting, but Katsuki reached up to pat Deku’s back in an attempt to placate him.

“Thank you, Kacchan,” Deku said into his shoulder.

“Yeah, sure, you sentimental crybaby,” Katsuki grumbled. Were all future attempts at kindness going to be met with tears? He probably should’ve expected this.

Deku snorted quietly, standing up again and taking a deep breath. “Okay. I’m okay now.” Deku sniffled, then let out a tiny laugh. “I cry too much. I need to call my mom. Ugh.”

Katsuki half-laughed, half-scoffed at him. “Alright, Deku.”

Deku smiled at him, dopey and friendly and kind and somehow special, and Katsuki was close to smiling back before the moment was cut short by a loud All Might cartoon theme song. Deku’s eyes widened in surprise and he fished his phone out of his back pocket, clicking something and turning the very nostalgia-inducing alarm off.

“Ack! I gotta go, I have a meeting with Aizawa-sensei!” Deku said, turning around to scoop all his things back into his backpack. “Bye everyone! Sorry for crying. And thanks again, Kacchan.” Deku was rattling off sentences so fast Katsuki had just processed what he said when Deku leaned down to kiss the top of his head and rushed off back towards the school building. The lagging computer that was Katsuki’s brain fully crashed and shut down. Motherf*cking f*ck.

“Bakugou,” Mina said, making him start to come back to himself, “how did you of all people ever become friends with someone so sweet? He’s adorable!”

Katsuki pulled himself together enough to know he should glare at her for that, so he did. “Shut…you, shut up.”

“Oh my God, I think he’s broken,” Sero muttered, sounding way too amused. Round Face snickered, and the reminder that Deku’s friends were also witnessing this shocked him all the way back.

“f*ck you!” he yelled.

“Leave him alone, guys,” Kirishima said. Katsuki appreciated the attempt, but it was useless. He should probably deal with this now before any sh*t happened.

“Look,” Katsuki snapped, standing to glare at the combined groups of friends, “I…f*ck.” He cut himself off with a deep breath, trying to calm the growing anger that was stemming from the embarrassment. “I know that you all can tell that I…uh…Deku.”

What the hell, that made no sense, Katsuki.

“Never mind,” he grumbled, face heating. This was f*cking humiliating. “You know. But I’m telling you right now, do not try to interfere or some sh*t. I have…we…there is sh*t that needs to be dealt with.” The teasing smiles were gone now, replaced by confusion and concern. Katsuki hated being looked at with concern, but he shoved the anger down again. “That’s all. Bye.” Katsuki snagged his bag off the ground and stalked off, knowing he was leaving Kirishima behind to deal but trusting him enough to not care.

By the time he got to his dorm room that evening after classes, he’d sorted himself out enough to send Kirishima a quick text.

sh*tty Hair

<< sorry for leaving you to deal with them earlier

>> it’s okay dude, I got you :) and don’t worry, nothing private was revealed and they all promised not to play matchmaker or anything

>> even mina, which is saying something

<< thanks

Katsuki went to turn off his phone but was suddenly hit with the realization that he hadn’t called his parents in a couple weeks. Deku’s lunch breakdown probably reminded him. No time like the present. He called his dad, but, as expected, his mother answered, having probably snatched her husband’s phone as soon as she saw his name come up.

“Katsuki, you little brat!” she yelled, “’bout time you called! I was starting to think you forgot about us!”

“Whatever, hag,” Katsuki huffed, “I’m calling now.”

“How’ve you been, Katsuki?” his dad said, slightly muffled.

“Fine.” Pretty good, actually, except for all the f*cking feelings.

“Oh, hey, forgot to tell you!” his mother said, “Remember little Izuku? He’s transferring to your school! Inko called me the other day.”

Old news, hag. “I know, I saw him last week.”

“Did you say hi?” his dad asked, sounding hopeful. His dad and Deku always seemed to get along.

Katsuki had done a little more than said hi, seeing as he tackled Deku immediately, but that was irrelevant. “Yeah, and I’ve hung out with him every day since then,” he said, not sure why he was being so honest.

“That’s great, kid,” his dad responded.

“I remember you two crazies as kiddos, always coming up with new sh*t to destroy our house with,” his mom said, barking a laugh. She didn’t seem to think it was so funny back then, but okay.

After that, the conversation turned to whatever boring stuff his parents had been up to and his school life. By the time they were about to hang up, Katsuki had talked himself into something probably stupid.

“Wait, mom, can I talk to you for a minute?” he said before he could stop himself.

“Eh? Mom?” his mom said, “Alright, guess this is important! Beat it, honey.”

“Bye, Katsuki,” his dad said, “I love you.”

“Love you too, dad,” Katsuki grumbled.

“Okay, now shoo!” his mom snapped. “What do you need, kid?”

“Remember when you told me ‘you don’t have to be nice, you have to be kind’?”

There was a moment’s pause, then his mother said, “Sure I do.”

“I’ve decided to try that out,” Katsuki said, sighing. “And, uh, I was wondering how you did it.”

“You asking me for advice, Katsuki?”

Katsuki groaned, wanting to throw his phone across the room. “Yes.”

“I’m flattered. Let me think for a second.” Katsuki waited for her to talk, bouncing his leg with slight nervous energy. “It ain’t easy being kind to everyone,” his mom finally said, “that’s the part you work on. But the easier part, the part that’s also easier to work for, is being good to the people you care about. The big thing is, you’re probably going to f*ck up sometimes. I can almost guarantee it, because you’re too much like me, kid. But if you want to be good to someone, just follow your heart. There ain’t exactly a guide book.”

Follow his heart. That was some of the cheesiest sh*t he’d ever heard, and it came from his f*cking mother. And she was totally right. f*cking hell.

“Thanks, mom,” he conceded.

“No problem, kid, I’m proud of you. Don’t take so long to call next time. I love you.”

“Love you too,” Katsuki mumbled before hanging up.

Follow his heart, huh? He could f*cking do that.

Chapter 6: hoodies and hiking

Chapter Text

Izuku had eaten over half the box of anpan Kacchan gave him by the time he finished his homework that evening. He couldn’t help it. They were probably the best things he’d ever tasted, and he wasn’t sure if it was because of his home sicknesses, because Kacchan made them, or because Kacchan made them for him, presumably because he offhandedly mentioned wanting them. The last option made him warm and fuzzy inside. He forced himself to put the lid back on the Tupperware and tuck the anpan into the fridge, saving some for later, and knowing he should probably eat an actual dinner.

He wondered if Kacchan could bake anything else or cook. Auntie Mitsuki had always been a great cook, Kacchan probably learned from her. Maybe Kacchan could cook for him someday, he thought slightly dreamily. He stared into his nearly empty fridge for a second, and decided that that fantasy had merit for more than just watching Kacchan cook. He could get an actual meal.

Of course, he could always try cooking himself, but why spend time trying that when he could just microwave a cup of noodles thing and watch old All Might reruns on Youtube. He watched the container rotate slowly in the microwave, stifling a yawn and checking the time. It was nearing midnight. Did Kacchan still go to sleep so early? If he did, how in the world did he get all his work done too? Izuku felt like he was drowning in all the reading and assignments, interesting as he found them.

Izuku slumped into his desk chair with his noodles and chopsticks, pulling up some old superhero analysis video he’d probably watched a hundred times. The familiarity of the video was comforting, but it also meant his mind quickly blurred it into background noise and started to drift. As to be expected, it landed back on Kacchan.

He was acting different, but somehow still the same. Middle school Kacchan would’ve never admitted to caring about him. Middle school Kacchan would’ve never called to ask about his day out of the blue. Middle school Kacchan would’ve never made him nostalgic desserts because of one throwaway sentence. Middle school Kacchan would’ve shoved him off instead of hugging him back when he was crying. But Kacchan was still calling him a crybaby and a nerd, still challenging him on things, still being Kacchan.

Just, a version of Kacchan that was making these feelings a lot harder to ignore.

Izuku groaned, slurping up noodles and slumping further into his seat. If Kacchan kept this up, he knew there would be no more tamping down old feelings. For heck’s sake, he could hardly control himself as it was. He kissed Kacchan’s head today! And then practically ran away!

He momentarily considered trying to distance himself a bit, but that was met with vehement denial from every other part of him. Sure, that might make these feelings lessen, but 1) absence makes the heart grow fonder, if seeing Kacchan after all these years taught him anything and 2) that would hurt way too much. He had just got Kacchan back, he wasn’t pushing him away. Especially not when Kacchan was seemingly making attempts to reach back to him, another thing he didn’t used to do. Besides, the feeling were mostly good ones, if not tinged with a little hopelessness, so he could deal. He’d take everything Kacchan could give, he always had. He wouldn’t ask for more than that, though, even if he wanted it.

He sighed, smiling a bit despite himself and finishing off his noodles before going to toss the container. He tried to hold back for a second, but gave in easily and quickly snatched another roll from his fridge, warming it in the microwave before eating it. Kacchan would probably hate that he was using the microwave instead of his oven.

As a last thought, he took a quick selfie of himself holding up the anpan and sent it to Kacchan with another thank you and a good night. He forced himself not to care that he looked a total sleepy mess in it and flopped into bed, doubting that Kacchan would be awake to respond.

He fell asleep with the lingering taste of anpan and warm feeling in his chest.

Izuku woke up to the blaring of his alarm clock, feeling around on his side table until he clicked it off and got out of bed. He stretched a bit, then went to make himself a bowl of cereal and check his phone.

kacchan!! :D

>> what the f*ck deku go to sleep earlier

Izuku chuckled to himself. Yep, same old Kacchan.

<< good morning to you too, kacchan!

>> smartass. were you doing homework?

>> yes >_< so. many. readings.

<< you were smart enough to get into this school, so I have no pity for you. but I do think you should f*cking sleep more

>> you realize most people our age usually stay up past 9, right?

<< f*ck you, I go to bed at 10

Izuku laughed, louder this time.

>> wow kacchan what a bad boy B)

<< shut the f*ck up

Izuku was laughing uncontrollably into his cereal now, leaning over the counter and trying not to choke.

>> and you say /I’m/ the nerd

<< call me a f*cking nerd again I dare you

>> okay. you're a nerd.

The next thing Kacchan sent was a picture he took in his bathroom mirror, glaring at Izuku with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth while flipping him off. He was wearing a headband that pushed his hair off his forehead and a pair of reading glasses, and the domesticity of it all made Izuku’s heart flutter as he laughed again. Of course, he immediately saved the photo and set it as Kacchan’s profile picture.

>> okay, okay! I take it back! your obv very badass and not nerdy at all

<< damn right

<< gotta go, see you at lunch.

>> see ya kacchan!! :D

Izuku stared at the picture for a little longer than he’d like to admit before finally putting his phone down and setting about his day. The glasses weren’t something he’d seen before, and he did not understand the way they made him feel, but that was irrelevant. Also, he knows he reads into things a lot, and often makes connections that aren’t really there, but the photo feels like a good representation of how Kacchan’s been acting. Still his same old self, but a little softer. Kacchan would hit him over the head if he heard Izuku call him sweet, but it was exactly that.

Izuku startled a bit, realizing he’d gotten lost in his thoughts and had to make it to an early lecture. He got dressed as quickly as he could, snagging the first hoodie he found and rushing out of his dorm. He only took three wrong turns this time, which was an improvement. The UA campus was a lot bigger than his old school. He made it to his lecture just in time, only a minute before the professor got there, introducing herself as Kayama Nemuri. She had some…interesting theories.

Izuku went through the rest of his day like that, jogging around campus to get to places on time and almost getting lost far too many times. Thankfully, he had a few classes with Tsuyu, so she helped him around a bit. They ended walking to lunch together, too, which was nice.

He waved excitedly upon approaching the tables and seeing that Kacchan had made it before him again, calling out to them and making Kacchan look up. As he got closer, he noticed that Kacchan’s eyes had gone wider and he was staring at Izuku’s hoodie, looking confused or angry, Izuku couldn’t tell.

“Kacchan?”

Kacchan looked up at him, definitely glaring now. “Deku! What the f*ck?”

“What?” Izuku asked nervously, stopping.

“You f*cking stole that? For five years?”

Wait, what? Izuku blinked at him for a second, then looked down at his hoodie and froze. It was a dark navy blue All Might hoodie with the bright yellow insignia on the front, an older design, and Izuku suddenly remembered that it definitely used to be Kacchan’s. Kacchan had ordered it secondhand, so it had been a bit too big back then, but it was a perfect fit for current Izuku. He either stole it or it got left at his house at one point, then never made it back. Uh oh.

Izuku slowly looked up to find Kacchan still glaring at him and licked his lips nervously. “Uh…I didn’t…mean to?”

“How the hell do you steal my sh*t accidentally?”

“I’m sorry! I probably thought it was mine!” Izuku said, taking a step backwards.

“I looked for that for months!” Kacchan yelled, “Give it back!”

“Finders keepers, though,” Izuku said, consciously digging his own grave and grinning. Kacchan stood up, menacing, and Izuku decided to book it right then and there, dropping his bag before he did. He sprinted towards one of the buildings on campus, skidding around a corner and knowing his longer legs were giving him the advantage here, but that would definitely tire before Kacchan did. Oh well, he accepted his fate.

“Deku!” Kacchan yelled from behind him, making him yelp and turn another corner, back onto a grassy area.

He took off towards a hill, then suddenly his feet flew out from under him as he slipped on a patch of muddy grass and hit the ground. He scrambled to stand, but his fall gave Kacchan time to catch up, and the second he was on his feet he was tackled back to the grass. He yelped again, twisting around and putting a hand on Kacchan’s face to try and shove him back. Kacchan grabbed his wrists and pushed them down, pinning them, but Izuku wasn’t giving up. He really likes this hoodie, and he still had legs.

He kicked Kacchan’s thigh, making the knee he was holding himself up on go straight so Kacchan toppled slightly off balance, and used that momentum to free one of his arms. Kacchan grabbed his hand to push it back down, and they grappled back and forth in an almost standstill for a second. Izuku couldn’t help but start smiling, looking up at Kacchan and raising and eyebrow. Then, for some reason, Kacchan’s push weakened enough for Izuku to shove him back and flip them around, sitting right on Kacchan’s stomach and pinning him down.

“Ha! Streak broken, Kacchan!” he announced victoriously, leaning over Kacchan and grinning, “The hoodie is mine now.”

Kacchan blinked up at him, and Izuku wondered if Kacchan usually got so red from running around. His cheeks were flushed deep pink. He also didn’t respond. Izuku stopped himself from leaning closer, seeing what happened last time he did that, but was still concerned.

“Kacchan? Hello?” He waved a hand in front of his friends face when Kacchan just opened his mouth slightly but didn’t say anything.

“Get off,” Kacchan finally said, sounding hoarse.

“Not until you admit defeat!” Izuku said, though he lessened his weight on Kacchan a bit. He didn’t want to be attacked the second he got off, but he didn’t want to suffocate Kacchan or anything.

“Okay, you can have it,” Kacchan conceded.

“Yay!” Izuku beamed at him and rolled off to the side, then jumped to his feet. “Don’t worry, we can share it.” They used to share clothes all the time, mostly Kacchan’s. Izuku’s were too ‘weird’ for Kacchan to want to wear. He personally thought his fashion sense was hilarious and perfectly fine, thank you very much. A shirt that said pants on it was the pinnacle of humor and class.

After a second, he realized Kacchan hadn’t moved, so he tapped him with his shoe. “Kacchan, you can stand now.” He was acting really weird again. Kacchan blinked again and looked up at him, then shook his head and got to his feet. He was still flushed pink. Izuku frowned at him, then turned to look for their table. “Wait, where are we?”

Kacchan cleared his throat, then pointed towards the building Izuku had run around. “They’re back over there.”

“Oh, okay! Let’s go then, I’m hungry!” He glanced back to find Kacchan still staring at him, and felt his cheeks heat up. This was all very weird, and he needed to get out before he imploded from how flustered he was becoming.

“Race you!” he shouted, then took off in a sprint. He raced around the building and up the small hill to their picnic tables, skidding to a stop and slamming his hand down on one of them, startling his friends. “I win!”

Kacchan stopped behind him, glaring and still pink in the face. “f*ck off.”

“That’s bad sportsmanship, Kacchan,” Izuku chided, “Now show me your lunch, I want to steal your snacks.”

“My clothes aren’t enough for you?”

“Never!” Izuku cackled, feeling giddy for some reason.

“Greedy bastard,” Kacchan grumbled, sitting down in the same spot as yesterday. Izuku took his own seat, leaning over the distance between tables to look into Kacchan’s bag. Kacchan pushed him back. “Chill out, Deku.”

“Did you two wrestle again?” Mina asked with a smile that made Izuku a tad nervous.

“Yeah, and I won, so this is my hoodie now,” he answered, pulling the hood up and grinning.

“How do you decide who wins?” Tsuyu asked, tilting her head.

“Whoever gets pinned down for five seconds loses,” Izuku explained. He heard quiet laughter and turned to see Sero and Kaminari snickering into their hands. “What’s funny?”

“Nothing, they’re just idiots,” Kacchan interrupted before his friends could answer. Kacchan tossed something at him, which he barely caught. “You still like those, right?”

Izuku opened his hands to find that Kacchan had given him a pack of kiri-no-tane and smiled. “Yeah, thanks!” He met Kacchan’s eyes for a moment, then suddenly Kacchan reached out and yanked on the drawstrings of his hood, pulling it around his face and blocking his vision.

“Ack! Kacchan!” He managed to open the hood so he could see again and found Kacchan smirking at his food. “Rude,” he grumbled before getting to his own lunch, still smiling.

Later that evening, while he was doing homework and snacking on chips, Kacchan called him again. The picture from this morning showed up fully on his screen. It was almost embarrassing how fast he went to grab his phone, accidently knocking it off the table and lunging out of his chair to catch it before it hit the ground, yelping.

“Deku?” the phone said, making him squeak in surprise and click speakerphone. Apparently, his mad dash to catch his phone had picked up Kacchan’s call. At least it didn’t hang up.

“Hi!” he chirped, getting back into his seat. “Sorry about that, I knocked my phone off the table.” He dusted chip dust of his phone and licked it off his fingers, knowing full well how Kacchan would react if he could see him. He would be disgusted.

Kacchan laughed. “Still clumsy, huh?”

“Well, I tripped over my shoelaces last time we hung out, that should answer your question,” Izuku said, feeling his face warm at the memory. “Anyways, what’s up?”

“Nothing,” Kacchan said, same as last time, “How was your day?” Izuku blushed harder and pressed his forehead onto his desk, smiling like an idiot. Kacchan was going to kill him with this.

“It was good! I got a new hoodie!” he joked.

“Okay, f*ck you,” Katsuki responded, making him laugh. “Thieving asshole. I can’t believe you took it in the first place.”

Izuku sat up and smiled at his phone. “Kacchan, there was so much All Might merch and shared clothes between the both of us I feel like it was inevitable. I bet you have some of my stuff still.” He wouldn’t be surprised if he left a few shirts after sleepovers or during those times he got his clothes dirty and Kacchan let him borrow stuff. And they had multiple pairs of identical All Might hoodies and shirts, though Kacchan always refused to match with him.

“Well, if I do, it’s mine now, according to your finders-keepers ass.”

“Hey! I fought you for it fair and square!” Izuku protested.

“Fine. I’ll fight you for whatever sh*t I might find.”

“Deal. How was your day, Kacchan?”

“Some asshole stole my clothes.” Izuku laughed again.

Kacchan talked about his classes for a bit, saying a lot of very smart chemistry and math things Izuku didn’t totally understand but was impressed by anyways. They went back and forth after that, and it was so much like those nothing conversations they used to have. The conversations you have with close friends, just content to talk and joke and not have it mean anything specific. Izuku loved it.

“By the way, do you have any weekend plans?” Kacchan asked after a while.

“Don’t think so!” Izuku answered, “Besides the inevitable homework. How ‘bout you?”

“I’m going hiking on Saturday,” Kacchan said.

Kacchan likes hiking now? He always did love the outdoors, especially when they were young. “That sounds fun! Where?”

“There’s a cool place about a forty-five minute drive from here.” Kacchan cleared his throat quietly into the phone, then added, “Want to come with?”

If Izuku had been holding anything at that moment – which he thankfully wasn’t – he would’ve dropped it and probably created quite the commotion. Instead, his mind just wiped blank for a second, and then the more logical part of his brain whacked him upside the head with a big ol’ Kacchan is not asking you on a date, stupid! What he was asking was multiple hours of presumably just the two of them, but that was normal and Izuku could handle it.

“Deku?”

Izuku startled, realizing he had just left Kacchan hanging. Oops. “Yeah! Sorry about that. Yes, that sounds really fun!”

“Cool. I’ll pick you up at eight.”

Izuku blinked at his phone in a moment of disbelief. “Eight in the morning? On a weekend?”

Kacchan snorted a laugh. “Yeah.”

“That’s so early!” Izuku moaned, draping his top half over his desk like a dramatic actor to the audience of absolutely no one.

“Suck it up, Deku. Maybe we can do a sunrise hike instead.”

“No!” Izuku said quickly, jolting upright. “Eight is fine! Dear God, how are you conscious enough to exercise before sunrise?”

“Sheer force of will,” Kacchan answered, totally serious.

“Kacchan is strong and also insane.”

“Yeah I am, and f*ck you.”

The rest of the week passed in a blur of essays, textbook chapters, study sessions with friends, and seeing Kacchan every day at lunch and calling him in the evenings. Every time so far, Kacchan had been the one to call him, which was mind-blowing in its own small way. Because Kacchan was reaching out to him, on purpose, without Izuku even having to say anything. He was finally starting to be convinced that yes, Kacchan did want to talk to him that much, and yes, he could call first and it wouldn’t be weird.

Saturday rang in with the sound of his alarm clock way too early for a Saturday, but he forced himself out of bed with a smile because he was spending this godawful time of the morning with Kacchan. he sleepily made his way around his dorm as he fixed himself a small breakfast and brushed his teeth. He also probably stared at himself in the mirror for a full couple minutes, debating whether he should even try with the mess of curls on top of his head. He decided no when he asked himself why he even cared. He didn’t feel like answering that.

Soon after, there was a knock on the door, and he flung it open a little too excitedly and mustered up his brightest, “Good morning, Kacchan!”

Kacchan blinked up at him, looking a little taken aback. “What happened to ‘this is too early’?”

Izuku grinned at him, putting his hands on his hips in a mock superhero pose. “I am very tired, but I’m using my sheer force of will, like you said!”

Kacchan snorted a laugh. “Alright, dork. Do you have a water bottle?”

Izuku stared at him for a second. “One moment, please.” He quickly closed the door in Kacchan’s face, hearing him laugh again, then went to fill up a water bottle and grab a warmer sweatshirt like the one Kacchan was wearing. It was fall, after all, which meant it would be cold. He opened the door again, smiling at a Kacchan who looked thoroughly amused. “Yes. I had this the whole time.”

“Once and idiot, always an idiot. Let’s go.”

Izuku followed Kacchan out into the hall, locking his door behind him then jogging to catch up. “Sorry I’m not a boy scout like you! I bet you have way too much stuff for one hike in your car.”

Kacchan hip-checked him, making him laugh. “Being prepared is a f*cking good thing.”

“Sure is,” Izuku said, draping an arm around Kacchan’s shoulder almost unconsciously, “That’s why I bring a Kacchan with me everywhere I go. They always have everything I need.”

“’A Kacchan’?” Kacchan repeated, tilting his head to glare up at Izuku and very much not pushing his arm off, “Screw you, I’m one of a kind.”

“Then I guess I’m pretty lucky to have you at all,” Izuku said, smiling in the uncontrollable way he did around Kacchan. Especially being so close to him. Kacchan was very warm, he noted, something that hadn’t changed over the years. And Izuku was really starting to like his height advantage. Kacchan was anything but small, but he was short enough to fit right into Izuku’s side like this.

“Damn right you are, Deku,” Kacchan said. Izuku snickered, then reluctantly dropped his arm off Kacchan’s shoulders so they could walk through the door out to the parking lot and get in Kacchan’s black car. It was very Kacchan: simple, dark, clean. Very clean. Did Kacchan not ever eat in his car? What kind of person has a car this clean?

“Where exactly are we going again?” Izuku asked once Kacchan got in the driver’s seat next to him.

“Mount Takao,” Kacchan answered, turning the car on. “It’s nearby and pretty cool.”

Izuku smiled again at Kacchan’s interest in something new. “Do you hike often nowadays?”

Kacchan pulled out of the parking spot and started out of the parking lot. “Yeah. It’s relaxing.”

“You? Relaxed? You’ve changed, Kacchan,” Izuku joked, making Kachan shoot him a glare.

“f*ck off, Deku,” Kacchan said, but he didn’t sound bothered whatsoever. Izuku snickered, then turned to prop his elbow up on the car door handle, resting his chin on his hand and looking out the window.

He’d grown up in Mustafa, but there were definitely changes in the past five years. They passed a few shops and restaurants he’d never seen before. A lot of other stuff was still the same, though. When they drove up on a highway that let him get a bird’s eye view of a big chunk of the city, he could even make out his and Kacchan’s old elementary school. He squinted out the window, trying to find the small park he knew used to lay a few blocks away, but he could only see a few patches of green between the houses. He and Kacchan used to spend entire afternoons at that park when they were young kids, playing on swing-sets or digging in the sandbox. He wondered if they could even both still fit in that sandbox. Probably not. Might be fun to try.

Kacchan used to dump shovel-fulls of sand on his head whenever he was annoying him, so maybe he could return the favor.

“What are you laughing at?” Kacchan asked, making Izuku realize he’d snickered out loud at that thought. He backed away from the window, leaning back into his seat.

“Just thinking,” he answered, “Remember that old park we used to hang out at?”

“Yeah, haven’t been there in years, though.”

“Well, I remembered you dunking me in the sand and thought maybe I could get you back,” Izuku said, smiling and raising an eyebrow.

Kacchan snorted. “Revenge best served cold, huh? You can f*cking try.”

If Kacchan weren’t driving at that moment, Izuku would’ve punched his shoulder. “Maybe I will. Watch yourself, Kacchan.”

“What, you gonna go get sand somewhere just to dump it on me?”

“That’s for me to find out and you to also find out,” Izuku said, feigning a dramatic tone. Kacchan laughed again. He really liked making Kacchan laugh. “Both of us will go on that journey of discovery together.”

“You have the dumbest sense of humor of anyone I have ever known,” Kacchan said.

“Well, you’re laughing, so what does that say about you?” Izuku said, declining to mention that he only had this much smooth humor and confidence around Kacchan. He was easier to talk to.

“I’m laughing at you, not with you,” Kacchan corrected, smirking.

“Pretty sure my mom told me it’s the other way around, so…,” Izuku said, drawing another laugh. “My mom would never lie to me, Kacchan.”

And then Kacchan actually giggled, and Izuku forgot any follow-up he might have had. “You need to shut up,” Kacchan said, laughter filling his voice.

“You need to focus on the road,” Izuku shot back, smiling. “Meanwhile, I’m gonna figure out how to turn on your radio.” He reached out to the dials on the car dash, but his hand was immediately slapped away.

“Do not f*cking touch those, your cursed clumsy ass is gonna break something,” Kacchan said, pushing away his second attempt.

“How can I break your radio?” Izuku bemoaned, “I’m not that bad!”

“Still don’t trust you. Here.” Kacchan pressed a button and turned one of the knobs, and an old song Izuku recognized from his mom’s love for 80s music filled the car. Within minutes, Izuku was singing along with every song that came on. Kacchan gave up on stopping him after he’d kept singing with the radio turned off (Better if the actual singers can drown you out, oh my God). Izuku caught him smiling, though.

By the time Kacchan parked the car in front of a trailhead, Izuku had settled to just swaying back and forth in his seat and sometimes muttering lyrics. Kacchan shut the radio off with the rest of the car, smirking at his pout in response.

“C’mon, Deku, get your ass moving,” Kacchan said, opening his door and exiting the car. Izuku got out and joined him at the trailhead map, coming up just behind him and making him realize he could rest his chin on Kacchan’s head if he went on his tip toes a bit. That would probably get him yelled at, though, so he didn’t. Not now, at least. There was nowhere to run. “Alright, let’s go.” Kacchan started off onto the trail, having apparently chosen his path. Izuku was glad he wouldn’t have to deal with directions.

They walked in silence for a while, Izuku keeping his marveling to himself because he knew Kacchan liked peace and quiet sometimes. The mountain woods were amazing, the fresh air was crisp and cool, and he was hanging out with Kacchan. He could be content in silence for a while.

His curious nature got the better of him, though, when he noticed a narrow side path leading straight down to a little creek. Exploration always made things more fun (Izuku knew full well that attitude had earned him a few of his scars, but he was always open to the slight risk). He cut off towards the path and cautiously started to make his way down the steep decline.

“Deku, what are you doing?”

“Adventure!” Izuku answered, not looking back out of fear of slipping. It was muddier than he thought it would be, then he remembered it rained last night. One foot started to slip, so he quickly jumped and stumbled down the rest, skidding to a stop at the creek. He turned, grinning, to find Kacchan staring down at him from the main trail. “Come on, Kacchan!”

“Why would I do that,” Kacchan deadpanned.

Izuku raised and eyebrow and brought his fists to his hips. “What? You scared or something?”

Kacchan glared at him, then stepped forward and slid down the small muddy decline with perfect balance, almost like he was snowboarding. “Shut up,” he snapped when he reached the bottom.

“Very smooth, Kacchan.” Izuku smiled, then turned back to the small creek and hopped onto one of the rocks, windmilling his arms a bit to keep balanced.

“Deku, you’re gonna slip and fall on your ass.”

“Only probably!” Izuku said brightly, gearing himself up for the next rocks a little further away.

“I’m not dealing with you complaining about being cold.”

“I won’t complain, then!” Izuku jumped to the next rocks, landing with a foot on one rock each, squawking indignantly when he almost slipped. “Besides, I’m not gonna fall!” he assured Kacchan, though he nearly just had. He yelped a bit at the next jump, landed precariously on the other side of the creek, just barely not falling backwards into the water. “Boom!” he declared victoriously, turning to face Kacchan again. “Success!”

Kacchan was smiling at him, a slightly crooked, very soft smile, and Izuku warmed from the inside at the look.

“Now it’s your turn!” he said, gesturing to the rocks. To his surprise, Kacchan’s smile didn’t drop at his challenge, he just shook his head and snorted in quiet laughter.

“f*cking watch me, Deku.” With that, Kacchan leapt forward and hopped from stone to stone, making it to the other side a with a lot better balance than Izuku had. He did stumble a bit on the landing, so Izuku didn’t feel too much like a gangly mess. He was mostly just impressed.

“Very impressive, Kacchan!” he chirped, clapping his hands in quick applause, “You have proven yourself a true adventurer!”

“I swear, you haven’t changed since we were five,” Kacchan said, still smiling that small smile.

“Okay, one, my teacher says it’s a good thing to nurture the child within,” Izuku said, earning a tiny laugh, “And two, there are a couple things that have changed. For instance, this!” He punctuated his last sentence by reaching out to pat Kacchan’s head to accentuate his own tallness, ruffling the soft blonde spikes a bit as he did. Then he immediately turned and scrambled his way back across the river, miraculously making it across and back up to the trail without falling. He whipped around to find Kacchan right on his heels, but suddenly Kacchan misstepped and started to fall. Izuku lunged forward, grabbing Kacchan’s hand and pulling him upright before he fell backwards.

“Ah! Kacchan, are you okay!” he yelped, pulling Kacchan all the way back up to the flat trail.

Kacchan stared at him with wide eyes for a second, flushed slightly pink again, then blinked and licked his lips. “Yeah.”

Izuku was momentarily startled that Kacchan wasn’t yelling at him for the tease or the offer of help, then grinned. “Good! Let’s keep going, maybe we’ll find more adventures!”

It was only when they got all the way back to the bottom of the mountain did Izuku realize he had kept holding Kacchan’s hand.

Chapter 7: holding hands

Chapter Text

Katsuki wasn’t entirely sure if inviting Deku on a hike was the best or worst idea he had ever had. Because Deku had helped him up the stupid mud hill, and then seemed to completley forget that they were holding hands. And then Deku continued to not let go of his hand. The whole time.

He wanted to scream, he wanted to kiss him, and he really needed a pillow to shove his face into before he exploded. Thankfully, Deku didn’t start many more conversations during the hike, meaning he could get by on monosyllabic replies to his excited comments about birds and mushrooms and sh*t.

Why did he have to have such sweaty f*cking hands?

Deku didn’t seem to notice, though, or didn’t care if he did. Deku’s hand wasn’t nearly as clammy as Katsuki’s. It was the one on his more scarred arm, and the palm was calloused, and scars were slightly raised. Katsuki had to hold himself back from swiping his thumb over the back to feel the scar there, worried that Deku would let go if he did. Maybe he should’ve done that.

By the time they reached the lookout point halfway through the roundabout hike, he had relaxed into the feeling a bit, his heart not racing so much. Katsuki had done the hike a couple times before, and the view was always great. Deku just made it better. He was staring out with wide, sparkling green eyes, an open-mouthed smile spread across his face, dark forest curls ruffling in the wind.

Deku breathed out a small wow, and Katsuki had to bite his tongue to stop himself from doing something dumb and impulsive. f*ck. Deku was so much.

Eventually, they headed back down to the car, at which point Deku tripped over a small rock and Katsuki pulled him upright. Deku’s eyes shot wide and he jolted his hand away, flushing red.

“Oh my gosh, Kacchan!” he squeaked, “I’m so sorry! Didn’t realize I never let go!”

Katsuki swallowed his dumb f*cking nerves and shrugged, knowing he was f*cking blushing but hoping it wasn’t too obvious. “’S fine.”

Deku didn’t look convinced. “So sorry, again, that was pretty weird of me I don’t know how I didn’t notice-”

“Deku,” Katsuki snapped, cutting him off before he could start nervous-rambling, “I said it’s fine. I would’ve pushed you off if I cared.” Well, he did care, just in the opposite direction. Deku still looked nervous and pink in the face, and his eyes kept flitting around but not meeting Katsuki’s. Ugh. Katsuki had been controlling impulses all day, and he was fed up now, so only after he had grabbed Deku’s hand again did he realize that was probably the dumbest thing he could’ve done. Too late to back out now.

“See?” he said, holding their hands up, “Fine.” Yes, fine. This was fine. Friends hold hands. Mina holds hands with her friends all the time. No big deal.

Katsuki quickly averted his eyes from Deku’s shocked face and started dragging him the rest of the way to the parking lot. He let go as soon as they got his car and got in without a word, which was probably weird as f*ck, but he did not trust whatever words might’ve come out at that moment. Deku got in next to him, and he forced himself to glance over to see his reaction.

He was smiling like a dumbass.

Okay, that was worth it.

Deku turned to look at him, still smiling, and Katsuki averted his attention to turning on the radio before he said or did something dumb. Just like on the drive over, Deku spent most of the time humming along to old songs their parents used to love and singing whatever lyrics he knew. He wasn’t too bad of singer, but he probably wasn’t winning any talent shows anytime soon. Katsuki liked hearing it anyway.

By the time they got back to the campus, it had started pouring rain, and Deku had tired out enough to be half asleep against the car door. Katsuki parked, then reached out to poke his shoulder. Deku immediately shot up and made some weird squeaking noise.

“Hello!” Deku blinked for a second, then rubbed his eyes. “Oh gosh, I think I fell asleep.”

“I noticed,” Katsuki said, poking his cheek, “We’re back, though.”

Deku nodded slowly, then yawned and rolled his shoulders back. “Man, I’m hungry. I should probably go grocery shopping, I don’t have much food in my room.”

“We could go somewhere right now,” Katsuki blurted.

Deku grinned. “Sure! I already miss Mrs. Kirishima’s ramen, let’s go back there.” Then, to Katsuki’s mild surprise and confusion, he unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door. “Last one there pays!” Deku chirped, then shot out of the car into the rain. f*ck!

Katsuki did an embarrassing mad scramble to get out of the car and lock it behind him before sprinting after Deku, who had already gotten way too much of a head start. f*cking cheater. Katsuki was soaked through his sweatshirt by the time he got to the ramen place, whacking a just-as-wet Deku on the shoulder as the latter laughed.

“f*ck you,” Katsuki snapped without much venom, squeezing next to Deku under the small awning so he could try to shake himself dry before going inside.

“I told you you’d be paying next,” Deku said, smiling and running his fingers through his wet hair to push it back off his forehead. f*ck, that was kind of hot. Katsuki pulled his gaze away after what he hoped was only a second, focusing on squeezing water out of his hoodie sleeves, then opened the door, squishing Deku behind it as he did. Deku made noises of betrayal, then slipped through after him.

“Back so soon?” Mrs. Kirishima said, looking up from wiping off the counter and smiling.

“Afternoon, Mrs. Kirishima,” Katsuki said.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Kirishima,” Deku chirped, bowing, “Guess I couldn’t stay away too long!”

“Aw, thanks kid. You two looked soaked!”

“This dummy decided running here was a good idea,” Katsuki said, jerking a thumb towards Deku and taking a seat.

“You ran after me,” Deku said, sliding into the seat next to him, “so you’re just as much of a dummy as I am.” Katsuki glared at him, but Deku just smiled and shrugged innocently.

“Well, let me warm you two up with some good food, huh?” Mrs. Kirishima said, tossing her cleaning rag over her shoulder.

“That would be wonderful!” Deku answered. He seemed to be in a really good mood for someone who just ran three blocks through soaking wet rain. But Katsuki could relate. Deku kept the energy throughout the meal, and somehow Katsuki found himself in the middle of him and Mrs. Kirishima tossing stupid puns back and forth. At one point, Deku laughed so hard at some joke about rocks he almost choked on his noodles. f*cking dork.

“Thanks, Mrs. Kirishima,” Katsuki said, handing over the payment and starting towards the door.

“Yes, thank you so much for the meal!” Deku said, bowing again.

“You’re welcome, kids,” Mrs. Kirishima said, waving, “See ya later.”

“So,” Katsuki said when they made it outside and under the awning, “you make friends with moms now?”

Deku f*cking smirked at him – or at least as close as someone like Deku could get to a smirk, and said, “What, you jealous she likes me better than you?”

Katsuki opened his mouth to retort, but no sound came out, because Deku’s hair was still slicked back, a few strands falling out of place, and he was smirking down at him with one eyebrow raised. In other words, he looked a lot hotter than usual. Usually, he was just pretty or cute. This was new. f*ck! Snap out of it, Katsuki!

“f*ck off,” he eventually managed. He felt like a malfunctioning robot that reverted to a few default phrases every time it overloaded. f*ck off, f*ck you, shut up.

Deku’s smirk turned into his smile, and he slung an arm around Katsuki’s shoulder, just like that morning. “Don’t worry, Kacchan, I’m sure she still likes you fine.”

Katsuki elbowed him in the waist, both as revenge for the quip and to get his arm off. It wasn’t that Katsuki didn’t like it, but because he liked it way too much. And with Deku deciding to look hot right now, he had no idea what he might do if they kept standing that close together. Nothing congruent with his plan, that’s for sure. And nothing he deserved to do.

Deku laughed at his jab, then pulled his hood up and started back towards campus. After a moment of space, Katsuki did the same. By the time they reached Deku’s dorm building, Katsuki was once again drenched. Deku didn’t look much better off, but he was smiling brightly anyways, turning the full force of his cheer onto Katsuki when they got to the front door.

“Thanks for inviting me out, Kacchan! That was fun!”

“Yeah, next time it can be that sunrise hike,” Katsuki said, making a desperate, conscious effort to stay focused on what Deku was saying instead of just his face.

Deku’s smiled dropped, then he made an overly dramatic determined face and brought up his fist. “I’ll do it for you, Kacchan.”

“You are so dumb sometimes.”

“I’m glad I have you back to remind me every day,” Deku said, smiling again and bending forward a bit.

For a moment, the rain coming down around them blurred all of Katsuki’s thoughts into white noise as he met Deku’s eyes and lopsided smile. The white noise of the rain glitched into complete TV static when Deku leaned in all the way and pressed a kiss to his rain-soaked cheek. And then he immediately turned and disappeared into the dorm building, leaving Katsuki standing befuddled in the downpour, brain a foggy mess.

The rain started to come down harder, and a drop in Katsuki’s eye was finally enough to shock him into movement and back into his car, dripping wet and smiling. He moved his car to the parking lot in front of his own dorm building, then got to his room as quickly as he could, creating a small puddle on his floor when he got through the door. God, he hated rain. Worth it, though.

He stripped his clothes and wrung them out in his shower, then tossed them in the laundry hamper and got on new ones. He even had to towel his hair dry. After doing this, he opted to text Deku, figuring the dumbass would do something stupid and get himself sick.

Deku :/

>> you better change into dry clothes or some sh*t. you’ll get sick

<< aw thanks kacchan! don’t worry, I have plenty warmed myself up

<< see, I even have hot cocoa :D

The next attachment was a picture of Deku, a mirror selfie in his bathroom, one foot up on the sink counter to show off his All Might themed pajama pants. His hair was damp and frizzy, and he had an elbow propped up on his knee, holding an also All Might themed mug. Katsuki’s also pretty sure his t-shirt said ‘socks’ on it. He was grinning at the camera.

How could someone be so hot, cute, and f*cking dorky at the same time?

>> I see you still have everything All Might themed, you f*cking nerd

<< of course I do!! though I hardly got to bring any of it to school with me :((

>> so you just left it all with auntie?

<< yeah

>> poor auntie

<< are you saying you /don’t/ have a lot of all might merch?? am I a bigger all might fan than you now?? :O

>> you so f*cking are not, how dare you say such a thing.

<< I don’t know kacchan, I don’t see you with all might pjs now do I? I think I’m winning right now

>> give me a f*cking second I’ll make you eat those words

Katsuki dropped his phone on his counter, then went to rifle through his dresser until he found what he was looking for. All Might sweatpants and an All Might costume-themed sweatshirt, both of which things he rarely wore in front of other people. He didn’t doubt that Deku had more merch than him, but that didn’t make him more of a fan (and yes, it briefly occurred that comic books were a pretty kiddy thing to compete about, but hey, this was Deku).

He took a picture in his own bathroom mirror, same pose as Deku, then sent it.

>> wah so cool!! guess we’re even :D

<< no I won

>> by who’s judgment???

<< mine, duh

>> askhdhf kacchan

<< deku

>> you are insufferable

<< you just noticed this?

>> stop being funny I’m going to choke on my hot cocoa

Katsuki couldn’t stop a smile at the fact that he apparently made Deku laugh that hard. Nice.

<< that’s a you problem, loser

>> kacchan you are killing me. you are killing your best friend. do you even care??

<< you ain’t dead yet, obviously

>> if you keep this up I will be soon and where would that leave you? huh??

Katsuki stared at his phone for a second, then decided that a little honesty was the best way to go here. This was an opportunity, after all, even if Deku was joking.

<< pretty sad but I’ll live

<< there’d be a solid year of mourning then I’d be good to go

>> aw you’d take that long? that’s sweet of you, thanks!!

<< you’d better f*cking do the same, nerd

>> oh for sure

<< deal?

>> deal

>> wait please don’t die though

<< deku neither of us are actually gonna die

>> oh yeah I forgot you’re too stubborn to die

<< sure am

>> good :) okay I’m gonna go take a nap (because you made me wake up and DO THINGS) see you later kacchan

<< see you

Katsuki smiled a bit, then put his phone down and set himself to work on his studies.

All in all, he thinks this day was a success.

The next afternoon was what Mina loved to call the ‘Bakuquad study sesh’, but Katsuki thought of as ‘The idiots force me to help them for three hours’. His therapist called it social bonding time. Whatever it was called, it always ended up with him being badgered with questions about whatever classes his friends needed his help with as he slowly went insane. But, today, for some reason, he was feeling a little more generous. If that reason was his day with Deku yesterday, no one needed to know that but his innermost thoughts.

“Dunce Face, we learned that sh*t in third year high school,” Katsuki said, shoving the textbook back across the table. Kaminari frowned down at it, then slumped forward and put his face in his hands.

“I don’t remember though,” Kaminari groaned.

“Then read it over again, dumbass. The new stuff will make more sense if you remember the f*ckin’ basics,” Katsuki said a lot nicer than he could’ve, then turned back to his own work.

“You still have assignments, Bakugou?” Kirishima said from next to him, “Usually you’re done by now!”

Katsuki glared at him. “I was f*cking busy yesterday.” He’d tried to get more work done, but he kept getting distracted by sudden reminders that he spent multiple hours holding hands with Deku, then images of Deku in the rain, then Deku texting him about some new hero comic that just came out. Stupid Deku was going to make him fail his classes at this rate.

“With what?” Mina asked.

“Yeah, with what?” Sero repeated, “You never do things unless we make you.”

“f*ck off!” Katsuki snapped, “I do plenty of sh*t without you idiots!”

“We mean fun stuff, Blasty,” Mina said, waving her manicured hand next to her face and smiling, “Not practicing your scowls in the mirror for an hour or whatever you were doing.”

“Screw you, Bubblegum,” Katsuki growled, glaring at her then turning back to his work. There was a moment of silence, and Katsuki thought maybe the topic would be dropped. Of course, it wasn’t.

“Wait,” Mina said, leaning across the table a bit, “now I’m very curious as to what you were doing, because that was almost civil.”

“Yeah, you’re in a good mood or something,” Sero added.

Okay, what the f*ck? Katsuki looked up again, leering. “You’d rather I smash the table in half, dipsh*ts?” He was in a good mood, but he wouldn’t be for much longer if they kept this sh*t up.

“No, just tell us what you did yesterday!” Mina smiled. Katsuki glared at her some more, stubbornly refusing to open his mouth just because of her teasing. “Okay,” Mina continued after a moment, “we can guess then!”

“He saw Midoriya again,” Kaminari said immediately, making Katsuki tense and grip his mechanical pencil so tight he heard it crack. “I think that’s a yes.”

“Guys, hold up,” Kirishima cut in before Katsuki could start yelling or his friends could start teasing, “we promised not to bother him about that.”

“No, we promised not to play matchmaker or meddle!” Mina corrected. “There was no ban on asking him about it.”

“Well there is now,” Katsuki snapped, closing his laptop and swinging his bag around his shoulder, then standing from his seat and leaving without another word. He heard a few people call out, but Kirishima must’ve stopped them because no one followed him. He made it out of the building they were studying in, then headed straight for a nearby tree and slumped down against it, tossing his things to the side. He leaned his head back against the trunk, feeling the rough bark on his back and taking in the sparse fall leaves above.

He and Deku used to do this. They’d finally get tired from running around all day and collapse next to each other in the shade of the trees at their local park. Deku would point out any cloud shape he could see, making up stories about them that Katsuki would inevitably take over, claiming Deku wasn’t as good at it. Deku always told stories about saving bunnies and citizens, Katsuki always turned the focus to defeating the villains. The hero would win and save all the endangered creatures, and Deku would applaud and sprinkle flowers and leaves over Katsuki as a celebration. Because, of course, Katsuki always ended up writing himself in as the aforementioned hero.

Because it was always him. About him. Katsuki’s need to be the hero. Katsuki’s need to be cool. Katsuki’s need to be strong. Katsuki’s need to be the best. And the f*cked up definition he had of all those things. Being the hero meant coming out on top, no matter what. Being cool meant people liked you, meant you didn’t hang out with losers. Being strong meant not needing anyone or anything, especially not some weakling. Being the best meant doing it on your own.

So he built up these walls to keep people out, to keep himself to what he thought was right. He shoved Deku away and built up the walls brick by brick, forcing him out. Or, trying to force him out, at least. Because Deku didn’t want to let him do that. Deku pounded on the walls and begged him to stay, and just as Katsuki was considering adding a door, he left.

Now, Katsuki wanted to let him in. Wanted to build a door and give Deku the only key. Wanted to bring him inside with him. He wanted it so desperately, but he didn’t know if he deserved it.

He made Deku happy, didn’t he? That was his goal. To change, to grow, to nurture the relationship and prove he could be better. To make himself deserving. He didn’t think he could ever deserve to decide whether or not he should be forgiven, because that choice was Deku’s and Deku’s alone. But he could decide if he was worthy of asking for forgiveness.

He wanted to be one of things that made Deku smile and laugh and be happy. And he was. He should know, because every time Deku smiled at him was some monumental event in his brain.

He reached the end of train of thought, and realized that, really, the only thing holding him back now was fear. Fear that it wouldn’t work out. Fear that he’d be shot down.

But that was all bullsh*t and excuses.

He loved Deku. Loved him. So he could apologize. He could say what Deku deserved to hear. He couldn’t let Deku keep being so kind and dorky and amazing without making sure he knew how much Katsuki regretted it. He wanted Deku to smile at him because he’d earned it, with no hesitation in either of their minds.

He took a deep breath of the crisp fall air, watching leaf detach from the tree and flutter to the grass. Nature and silence, two of his favorite things. They let him think.

“Bakugou!”

That, not so much. Of course Kirishima would follow him eventually. His friend approached the tree slowly, then sat a few feet away and stared at him for a second. Katsuki stared back, not feeling like snapping and not sure what else to say.

“Hey, dude…,” Kirishima started, then trailed off.

“I’m fine,” Katsuki said.

“Okay.” Kirishima kept staring at him, not looking entirely convinced.

“I’m serious,” Katsuki said, “I’m fine. Don’t start pitying me or some sh*t.”

“I’m not!” Kirishima said quickly, holding his hands up, “I promise I’m not. You said you can handle it, and I trust you. It’s just a little concerning when you storm off like that.”

Katsuki reined in his first instincts to yell and defend, forcing out a breath. Kirishima was right, he left without explanation. “I didn’t want to deal with them.”

Working on controlling his emotions, he’d found, meant stepping out before he got overwhelmed and set off. Better to think things over and release the anger through some healthy outlet than go off on people who barely deserved it. His friends weren’t being malicious, they were just curious. But storming out could also leave a bad impression. Ugh. Complicated people and their complicated f*cking emotions.

“Yeah, man, I know,” Kirishima said, “they all say they’re sorry.”

“That’s not needed,” Katsuki responded. Teasing each other is what his friends did. He could take some f*cking teasing if it weren’t for the other sh*t going on. If everything somehow went well, they’d get to do that eventually. He huffed, then grabbed his stuff and stood up, waiting for Kirishima to do the same.

“Are you leaving or are you coming back?”

Katsuki thought on that for a moment, then shrugged. “You all would fail your classes without me.” Kirishima grinned at him. Ugh. Friendship.

“Kacchan!” Deku called from his seat at the lunch table, waving his hand above his head. “Come here!”

Katsuki stopped at the space between tables, looking down at him. “Where do you think I was going?”

Deku laughed and rolled his eyes, then turned to grab something from the bag behind him. “Ta-da!” he chirped, holding up a finger that had an old All Might keychain dangling off of it. A rare one, by the looks of it, part of a merch set fans could only get from cons.

“Is that a new one?” Katsuki said, squinting a bit.

“No, it’s from a few years ago, but it’s a rare one!” Deku said, smiling.

“Obviously I can tell that, nerd."

Deku snorted again, raising an eyebrow. “I think you should say that one more time, but slower.”

“f*ck you,” Katsuki laughed, flicking Deku’s forehead. “Why are you showing your old merch? Thought we agreed that I won that contest.”

“Okay,” Deku said, closing his hand around the keychain and pointing a finger at him, “we agreed on nothing. You judged it yourself.”

“I’d say I judged it well, though.” Katsuki smirked.

“You were so biased!” Deku protested, then closed his eyes and put his hands out, keychain still hanging on his finger. “Stop making me want to fight you when I’m trying to give you a gift!”

“You’re what?”

Deku opened his eyes, grinning, and held out the keychain. “A gift! You gave me anpan, then I stole your hoodie, so I wanted to give you something too!”

“I didn’t give you that sh*t expecting something in return,” Katsuki clarified, trying not to succumb to the grin.

“I know that, Kacchan! This is just another random friend gift! Here.” Before Katsuki knew it, Deku grabbed his hand and put the keychain in it, then closed his fist around it and smiled up at him again. “No give-backs.”

Katsuki huffed at him, then tried for a smile and sat in his own seat. Katsuki knew Deku well enough to trust he actually wasn’t giving him the keychain out of obligatory politeness, which was making him feel very weird. He should just start calling it the Deku feeling. He could also feel the unhealthy level of attachment to the gift forming, so he quickly clipped it to his bag and set it to the side.

He fiddled with the keychain during his therapy appointment that afternoon, twisting it between his fingers and feeling the texture in his hands.

Something about the gift solidified the determination in his chest. He had to do this.

“What do you think about writing it out?” Dr. Nakamura asked.

“That seems fake as sh*t,” Katsuki answered, frowning.

“Not necessarily,” Dr. Nakamura said, “writing things out helps us organize our thoughts. You don’t have to read from it or memorize it – though you could if you wanted – it can just provide a helpful space to figure out what you want to say and why.”

Katsuki thought on that for a moment. Writing things out is what Deku always used to do. He probably had hundreds of notebooks by now. Notebooks that Katsuki had destroyed, on occasion. “I can try it.”

“Want to do it now?” Dr. Nakamura said, offering him a notebook and pen.

Katsuki took them. “Sure.”

“Just write whatever comes to mind. What you feel.”

Easy for her to say.

Chapter 8: apologies

Chapter Text

It had been three days since therapy, and Katsuki still hadn’t figured out the best way to do something like this. He’d written his thoughts out like Dr. Nakamura said to. He’d gone over it a million times in his head. He knew what he wanted to say. Now he just had to say it. He could say it. He could f*cking say it.

Being sorry didn’t mean he was weak. Acknowledging his faults made him strong and mature. He knew that. He could be those things. He was those things.

At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.

But every time he saw Deku smile at him, or say something stupidly funny, or quote some joke from their childhood, there was a second knife twisting in his heart next to the guilt. He was selfish. He wanted Deku to stay with him at the same time he knew he didn’t deserve it.

He knew Deku could tell that he wasn’t totally there. Every look of concern and attempt at comfort just served to push Katsuki further into his spiral.

The guilt wrestled with the fear wrestled with the anger wrestled with the anxiety and at some point, he had to boil over. He always did.

Deku opened the door to his room bleary-eyed and squinting, his hair a mess and wearing his dumb All Might pajamas. “Kacchan?”

Katsuki stared at him for a moment, having not entirely expected Deku to open his door at this time of night. “Why are you awake right now?” he ended up saying.

Deku rubbed his eyes and squinted at him more, looking confused. “You woke me up.”

Right. Because Katsuki’s way of boiling over this time was storming across campus in his pajamas to knock on Deku’s door. Deku blinked at him, probably waiting for an explanation, but Katsuki had none.

“Kacch-”

“Can we talk?” Katsuki finally pushed out.

Deku frowned at him, running a hand through his curls and God, he’s beautiful. “Uh…okay. Want to come in?”

Suddenly, the hallway felt very claustrophobic. He needed space for this conversation. Space from Deku. Enough to keep him from trying to take more than he deserved, from pushing further than he should.

“Let’s go outside.”

Deku nodded, and Katsuki could see the gears starting to turn in his head. Probably overthinking things, trying to figure out what Katsuki wanted to say. He couldn’t have that. Knowing Deku, he’d find some random rabbit hole possibility that led to all the worst things.

“Stop thinking, just come with me,” Katsuki snapped, making Deku’s eyes go a little wider. He nodded again and ducked down to put on his shoes, then closed the door quietly after joining Katsuki in the hall. Katsuki turned, leading them out of the dorm building and over to the grassy area by the parking lot, sitting on the curb. Deku sat next to him, not close enough to touch but close enough to reach out.

Katsuki stared at the pavement below him, breathing in deep breaths of the evening air and trying to remember how he’d sorted himself out. The nearby streetlamp and illuminated windows in dorms above cast a soft light on the ground around them, and when Katsuki looked over, they glinted in Deku’s eyes and reflected off his skin like he was glowing.

His gaze wasn’t full of the concern or pity that Katsuki hated so much, but of quiet determination and that steadfast care Katsuki had only just begun to recognize. Deku’s friendship never wavered, his care never ceased, even when it should have. He didn’t back down from Katsuki. He didn’t let their relationship die.

The words came easier after that.

--

Izuku didn’t know what he expected Kacchan to say. His mind came up with a million possibilities, of course, but none of them were sure. All he knew was that whatever it was, it was bothering Kacchan. and whatever it was, he was intent on not letting it tear them apart again.

Kacchan finally looked up from the pavement and met his eyes with heavy red ones, and for once, Izuku didn’t have a clue what he was thinking. It was that same look he had that first day they spent just the two of them, when Izuku had teased him about not caring. Something that made Izuku feel heavy just looking at it. Knowing someone he cared about so much was burdened with something that made him look like that.

“I’m sorry.”

For a moment, all Izuku could think was What am I apologizing for? Until he realized he hadn’t said that.

Kacchan was looking at him with such intensity and weight that Izuku had no choice but to meet the gaze.

“What?” he managed, barely more than a breath.

“I’m sorry,” Kacchan repeated, firmer this time, “I’m so sorry, Izuku.”

The use of his given name punched right into his chest, knocking him near breathless and bringing tears to his eyes. Kacchan hadn’t called him that since they learned how to read.

“What?” he said again. Was Kacchan going to say something more? Something bad? Izuku had only ever heard him say those words once before to anyone but his mother. Why would he-

“I was horrible to you,” Kacchan continued, hints of emotion cracking through the solid façade, “I was…I was f*cked up, and I did f*cked up things.” Izuku stared at him, feeling tears start to roll down his cheeks as the confusion and worry begun to fade. “I-you…you scared me, so I pushed you away. And it’s not-there’s no excuse, I know that.” Kacchan sniffled, and Izuku realized he was holding back tears. “I’m not trying to excuse it. I’m trying to say that I’m sorry, and I’m trying to make up for it.

“I don’t want to push you away anymore, Izuku. I’m sorry.”

Izuku could hardly believe what he was hearing. Kacchan was apologizing. If he wasn’t already crying, he would’ve burst into tears.

“Kacchan,” he managed quietly. He didn’t know what else to say at that moment. “Kacchan, you-” he cut himself off, wiping away his tears just for them to be immediately replaced by more, trying to breathe and slow down the spinning in his mind. There was so much he wanted to say, needed to say, but for once he couldn’t manage a single word. So he did the first thing he wanted to do, which was grab Kacchan’s shirt and yank him close, pulling him into a tight hug.

Kacchan hugged him back, turning his tears into sobs.

“I’m sorry,” Kacchan whispered again, making Izuku jolt back and grab Kacchan’s face between his hands.

“No,” he choked out, far rougher than intended, “No-you…Kacchan.” Izuku’s mouth stayed open, but no words came out as his mind’s racing started to slow. He didn’t want to reject this apology, needless as he believed it to be. Kacchan was never this open. To push away his feelings like that would be cruel and unfair.

“This is…,” he started, still holding Kacchan’s face, “that’s…you saying that is so much more than I-than I ever thought…or even wanted. Kacchan…thank you, but I need you to know that I…I forgave you forever ago,” Izuku finally said, letting the words tumble out clumsily.

“What?” Kacchan said, voice rasping.

Izuku shrugged weakly, swallowing back more tears. “I did.”

Suddenly, Kacchan reached up to pry Izuku hands off his face and shove them away, looking almost angry. “Why? How?”

“Because…” Izuku said, grasping for any explanation, “sure, it…hurt when you said or did things, but I just kept hoping that you’d come back around. Because even if you were mean, you were still amazing and special and everything I wanted to be. You’d told me we’d do it together. I was holding on for that.”

Kacchan’s expression was pained, tears forming in his crimson eyes, but Izuku wasn’t done.

“I figured there were reasons for the way you acted. We were just kids, and there was so much pressure on you from…from everyone, really. I know it must have been difficult. All I really did was…hope. Hope that you wouldn’t leave me too far behind. So I…I forgave you because…”

Because I love you.

Izuku felt like the ground disappeared from under him and his heart dropped to his stomach, some pure feeling of terror ripping through him at how close he was to saying that out loud. It was on the tip of his tongue, one jostle from falling out and no doubt landing on the pavement like a bomb and destroying everything. He bit it back, scrambling for something else, some replacement while his heart raced and head spun.

“Because you’re Kacchan,” he landed on, barely registering his own words. All he could think was I’m in love with Kacchan. And he almost just told him that, in the same second he realized it. He’d been in love with Kacchan all this time, he was just too blinded by admiration to realize what it was. It wasn’t a crush. It wasn’t anything less. That’s why he wanted to stay close, because he loved everything about Kacchan so much he wanted any bit of it he could get his hands on.

“You’re an idiot.”

The shaky words snap him out of his head for a second, and he blinks away tears to find Kacchan staring at him, eyes full of something painful.

“You’re an idiot,” Kacchan says again, “You’re such an idiot for staying all this time.”

Izuku stared back at him, lips trembling and suddenly very aware of every small point of contact, every bit of warmth, every connection in each shared word. Despite everything, despite his fear and his realizations and the whirlwind in his head, he smiled, small and wobbly.

“You’re the idiot for thinking I’d ever leave.”

He really couldn’t leave Kacchan if he tried. Not again.

Kacchan takes a deep, shaky breath, his chest shaking with tears or laughter, Izuku can’t tell. “I…f*cking…Deku, you…”

Izuku lets out his own long breath, his smile widening as he leaned over and rested his head on Kacchan’s shoulder. “I know.”

They stayed like that for a while, taking in the soft white noise of the evening and their slow breathing that at some point became synced. Izuku doesn’t know what to think, really. He loves Kacchan. It doesn’t have to be that big of a thing, right? He’d loved Kacchan his whole life. He could just keep loving him, keep taking everything Kacchan was willing to offer. Every piece he could get.

“You know…,” Kacchan said eventually, breaking the silence, “I want you to know that I’m trying. I’m going to be better.”

“I know, Kacchan,” Izuku said, closing his eyes to focus just on Kacchan’s warmth. That’s what Kacchan had been doing, hadn’t it? The gifts, the phone calls, the time together. It was all proof that he was improving, working, trying.

God, I love him so much.

“Would you want to just…start over?”

Izuku blinked away the tears that pricked at the corners of his eyes. Start over?

“Kacchan…our past is complicated. We both know that. But I don’t think we have to forget it, because there was so much good stuff tied in with everything else.” Izuku sighed, thinking back. Every memory of Kacchan yelling at him, or knocking things off his desk, or pushing him away was interwoven with the kind promises of a little boy on a playground, saying he’d protect him. With the familiar hands squishing his cheeks as he cried, the forehead pressed against his own and the Stop crying, dumb Deku. I saved you, so stop it. The feel of a shoulder pressed against his in an all-too natural position, close to each for no reason other than they could be. The person he wanted to follow, the person he loved.

“So, no, I don’t want to start over,” he said, “I want to keep going. All I’ve ever wanted is to go forward with you, to whatever amazing places you’re headed.”

Kacchan let out a stilted, huffed breath, knocking his head against Izuku’s and letting it rest there. “I feel like I’m following you now, honestly.”

Izuku felt another set of tears make tracks down his cheeks, salt pooling at the corners of his lips that stretched into another smile. “How about side by side, then?”

“Okay, nerd.”

More tears came, but Izuku made no move to wipe them away or stop them. Side by side with Kacchan. That’s all he’d ever wanted. He’d thought it too much to hope. Maybe that’s why he never let himself realize what he really felt.

But now, it was not only a possibility, but a real thing. The contrast of his joy and the pain weighing it down hurt all the more, but he just pressed closer to Kacchan’s side. He could accept the hurt if it meant being here. With Kacchan, any way he could. Even if that meant holding feelings to the side, dealing with this constant ache that was building in his ribs. Even if that way was sitting on the curb in the middle of the night in his pajamas.

Izuku didn’t know how much time passed before he finally lifted his head off Kacchan’s shoulder, turning to look at him. When Kacchan met his eyes, he couldn’t help a small smile and held out his hand in invitation.

Kacchan looked down at his outstretched hand, then huffed and held out his own so they could do the handshake.

“Plus Ultra!” Izuku said excitedly, but still quiet.

“Plus Ultra,” Kacchan said at the same time, sounding soft and far less annoyed than usual. “We should go back to sleep.”

“I’m surprised your still awake,” Izuku said, smiling wider and leaning towards Kacchan unconsciously, like he was a magnet drawn to him.

Kacchan glared at him. “Shut up.”

Izuku tapped Kacchan’s nose, making him crinkle it up and glare more, then stood. Kacchan got up next to him, and they walked in silence back to his dorm building. When they got to the front door, Izuku paused and turned to face his friend.

“I…thank you, Kacchan.”

Kacchan stared up at him with that new, soft expression, making his cheeks heat and heart warm.

“Good night,” he said, leaning down to peck Kacchan cheek before straightening up again. This time, though, he stopped himself from bolting. Kacchan kept staring at him, looking ever so slightly dazed, then blinked a few times and shook his head a bit.

“Yeah, good night.”

It was Izuku who had to break the eye contact, forcing himself to go inside before he made things weird. When he got back to his room, he flopped face first onto his bed, exhausted and full of emotions.

Kacchan apologized. Actually apologized, saying things Izuku never even begun to imagine he’d hear. He felt like this was all some kind of dream. A really long one, since it had to have started the first day he saw Kacchan again. He hoped it lasted forever, even the ache.

He fell asleep smiling.

His alarm woke him from some blurry dream, making him jolt up and squint at the sun seeping into his room from the window. For a second, he wondered why he felt so much more tired than usual, then he remembered last night again. He almost started crying right then and there, but he forced himself not to.

He had his best friend back in a way he never thought he would. He had to be the luckiest person on earth.

He kept thinking about that all day, the thoughts and warmth growing somehow bigger and more overpowering when he saw Kacchan at the lunch tables. Or the back of Kacchan’s head, that is, a familiar sight. He’d follow that sight anywhere, but he didn’t have to. And he was taking full advantage of that now, sneaking up behind his friend and wrapping an arm around his neck, then sliding him to the side with his hips and squeezing in next to him before Kacchan could say anything.

“Hi, Kacchan!” he chirped, grinning.

Kacchan stiffened a bit under his arm, eyes wide, and for a second Izuku worried he pushed a little too hard too soon. But just as he was about to shift back, Kacchan relaxed and – dare he say it – leaned into the contact a bit. Izuku felt his heart and cheeks grow warm and resisted the urge to hold Kacchan even tighter.

“Hey, nerd,” Kacchan said, smiling a bit.

I could kiss him right now.

Izuku felt his cheeks heat even more, and quickly turned away from Kacchan before he even considered acting on that random thought. No, he could not kiss Kacchan right now. Or ever, probably. Which was fine.

To keep himself from thinking more impossible things, he drew his arm off Kacchan’s shoulders and reached into his bag to grab his lunch. But even without Izuku pulling him in, Kacchan stayed pressed into his side, thigh-to-thigh and shoulder-to-shoulder. The ache begged quietly for him to push away, but the rest of him knew that was never a possibility.

So, he just ate his lunch, attempting to act normal and engage in some conversation with Todoroki and Sero across the table. At some point, the closeness faded into background noise in his head, a natural way to be. He indulged in the feeling, nudging Kacchan’s knee with his own or tapping their feet together to get his attention sometimes.

He noticed that Kacchan looked a little red across his cheeks and ears, and briefly wondered if that was his fault, but brushed that thought off because Kacchan didn’t blush. Nor would Izuku ever be the reason to make someone blush. Especially not Kacchan. Maybe he was just cold.

Eventually, Izuku noticed that Kacchan had another pack of kiri-no-tane, and immediately tried to steal it. Kacchan slapped his hand away.

“Excuse you, Deku.”

“What?” Izuku said, sliding his hand slowly across the table again and smiling. Kacchan narrowed his eyes at him, grabbing the snack and holding it away.

“Nope.”

Izuku pouted at him. “Come on, Kacchan! Share!” Kacchan kept glaring at him. “You don’t even eat unhealthy food like that!”

“I, for one, went on a run this morning,” Kacchan said, raising an eyebrow, “so these are mine.”

“I would’ve done exercise,” Izuku said, leaning in closer, “but something kept me up last night, so I had to sleep in.”

Kacchan stared at him for a moment, then huffed. “Fine. Arm wrestle me for them.”

“What?” Izuku squeaked, looking down at Kacchan’s strong arms then back up, “That’s not fair!”

Kacchan smirked, shifting to the side a bit and propping his elbow up on the table. “You backing down?”

Izuku narrowed his eyes at his friend, smiling and clasping Katsuki’s hand in his own. “Never.”

“This is a new one,” Sero said nonchalantly, taking a bite of his rice.

“Go Izuku!” Ochako cheered from behind him. Izuku could hardly hear them, too busy being enamored by Katsuki’s eyes staring straight into his own. Kacchan’s eyes were insanely gorgeous. Unfairly so, even.

Suddenly, Kacchan started to push his arm down, and he jolted and struggled to push back. He was momentarily impressed that he was even fighting back at all. Kacchan was so much more muscu-nope! Don’t get distracted by that! He forced himself not to look at Kacchan’s arms, which meant he was looking at his eyes again. He bit his bottom lip, arm starting to shake, while Kacchan seemed relatively unfazed. Which was kind of hot-stop it!

His grip eventually gave out after who knows how long, hand slamming back into the table as he let out a breath he hadn’t meant to hold in. Darn it.

“I win,” Kacchan said, and only when Izuku felt the warm air of his words on his own lips did he realize how close their faces had become.

“I almost got you,” he responded, for some reason not leaning away.

“You f*cking wish, Deku.”

Neither of them moved for a number of drawn out seconds, then Izuku suddenly realized he was still holding Kacchan’s hand and jolted away, making Kacchan do the same. He brought his hands to his lap, cheeks burning, and noticed some of their friends staring at them. Uh.

“You’re pretty strong,” Kacchan said randomly, almost a mumble. Izuku felt a shock run up his spine at the compliment, embarrassment melting away, unable to stop a grin and not trying to.

“I should try to pick you up,” he suggested. Kacchan whipped his head over to look at him, eyes slightly wide and cheeks still red.

“What?”

Izuku grinned wider, moving to stand. “Yeah, you already did it to me, now I want to try.”

Kacchan leaned away from him. “No.”

“Wait, no, let him,” Mina said, clasping her hands together in front of her, “I wanna see that.”

Kacchan glared at her. “No!”

“Come on, Kacchan!” Izuku pleaded, grabbing his friend’s arm to try and pull him off the bench.

“Yeah, come on, Kacchan!” Kaminari echoed, making Kacchan growl at him.

“You’re gonna f*cking drop me,” Kacchan snapped, not meeting Izuku’s eyes.

Izuku decided to try his most effective way of getting Kacchan to cooperate. “You’re just scared that I’m actually way stronger than you, aren’t you?”

His friend finally met his gaze, glaring. “Wha-you-f*ck off! Fine!” Kacchan shook Izuku’s hand off his arm, sliding off the bench and standing in front of him, looking unamused but still pink.

Izuku took a step back, looking Kacchan up and down, trying to decide to best way to do this. He honestly wasn’t sure he could lift Kacchan. He was likely heavy, with all that muscle mass, but Izuku knew he could lift heavy things. He’d gotten fed up with being weak and spindly around first year of high school, done with being out of shape and unable to defend himself, and started working out. He definitely wasn’t weak. And Kacchan, being Kacchan, always brought out the most competitive in him, so he made a decision without thinking too much.

“The f*ck are you muttering for, nerd?” Kacchan said, making him look up and grin. Without answering, before overthinking, he moved towards Kacchan, bent down a bit, and, in one swift movement, hooked an arm under Kacchan’s knee and hoisted him up. Kacchan’s eyes went wider, and he let out an uncharacteristic ‘eep’ as he started falling backwards, but Izuku caught his back and straightened up, stifling a groan and holding Kacchan in a princess carry.

“Boom!” he wheezed victoriously, “This is harder then carrying you like a sack of potatoes.”

“Oh my god!” Mina cackled, clapping Kirishima on the shoulder.

“Nicely done, Izuku,” Ochako added, grinning in that way that made Izuku a little nervous. Kaminari and Sero were back to laughing again, for some reason. But despite their friend’s reactions, Kacchan still hadn’t said a word. When Izuku looked down at him, he looked a deer in the headlights, eyes wide and face flushed red again. Izuku was starting to get concerned.

“Kacchan?”

Kacchan blinked, licking his lips and opening his mouth. “Uh…you…okay.”

Izuku furrowed his brows, shifting Kacchan’s weight in his arms. That was weird. “I’m putting you down now,” he warned, before lowering his arms and letting Kacchan out of his hold. When Kacchan stood again, he looked like he might fall over. Without much thought, he reached out and held Kacchan’s face between his hands. “Kacchan, are you alright?” He felt very warm.

Kacchan blinked rapidly a few more times, then glared, the intimidation factor diminished by his cheeks squished together and nose crinkling up like an angry rabbit. “I’m still stronger.”

“Oh yeah?” Izuku said, shaking Kacchan’s head back and forth a bit and making him snarl. “Prove it!” With that, he tackled Kacchan to the ground again. Eventually, they ended up rolled halfway down the small hill, Izuku pinned face down in the grass, cheek pressed against the dirt and Kacchan’s knee on his back.

“Okay, you win!” he conceded, voice muffled. The weight on top of him disappeared, and he rolled over on his back, panting. After a second, he got back to his feet to find Kacchan staring at him. He titled his head a bit, smiling. “What?”

Kacchan’s eyes flitted to the ground beside him for a second, then he cleared his throat and looked back up. “I…uh…I guess we’re pretty…evenly matched, kind of. I still beat you though.”

The warm feeling welled back up in Izuku’s chest, and he reached out to pull Kacchan into a quick hug. “This time around,” he said when he stepped back. Kacchan batted at his shoulder, making him laugh before returning to his seat. He sat down before Kacchan did, and quickly snatched the pack of kiri-no-tane and shoved some into his mouth before Kacchan could stop him.

“DEKU!”

Later that day, he was studying with his friends in a common area during a longer break before his last class of the day. He’d finally finished an essay that’d been weighing on him for the past weeks, and during his break his mind had begun to wander. Ochako poking his shoulder brought him out of a daydream montage of Kacchan’s eyes.

“Yes?” he squeaked, sitting up straighter and finding Ochako’s gaze.

“You daydreaming about your not-crush again?” Ochako said with a smirk.

Izuku felt his cheeks heat dramatically, shrinking back into his seat and focusing on the table in front of him. “Uh…well…he’s…maybe I do, uh, you know,” he finally managed.

Ochako raised an eyebrow, probably holding back a laugh. “Are you trying to admit that you do have a crush on Bakugou?”

“Something like that,” Izuku mumbled, burying his reddening face in his hands.

Ochako made some gasping squeal noise, and he knew she was grinning. “Is that why you were flirting at lunch?”

Izuku dropped his hands and shot up straighter in his seat, eyes wide. “I was what?”

“Flirting!” Ochako repeated, like that wasn’t the most inane suggestion in the world. He didn’t even know how to flirt, and he definitely wasn’t doing it with Kacchan! “Oh, come on, are you saying you were just talking to him?”

“Yes?” Izuku said, voice cracking a bit.

Ochako was looking at him like he’d grown a second head. “Oh my god,” she mumbled.

“Izuku, you looked like you were this close to kissing him,” Tsuyu said, holding her fingers up and pinching them a centimeter apart. Izuku eyes blew wider, and he could feel the heat across his neck now too.

“I wasn’t gonna-I didn’t-I wasn’t-” he spluttered.

“I don’t know much about courtship,” Todoroki said, face bored as always, “but it looked to me like picking him up was a successful attempt.”

Ochako giggled. “Totally.” Todoroki’s lips quirked into a smile at his apparent correct assessment of a social situation, but Izuku’s head was spinning too fast to tell him how wrong he was. Picking Kacchan up was a competition thing, not a courting thing!

“Midoriya, you look like you’re about to pass out,” Iida said, frowning at him.

“I wasn’t flirting with Kacchan!” he finally squeaked.

Ochako continued looking at him like he was some oddity or possibly insane, then dropped her head forward and rubbed her temples. “This is going to be the early death of me, I swear.” Tsuyu patted her girlfriend on the back, looking sympathetic.

“Whatever is going on between Midoriya and Bakugou is none of our concern,” Iida said, giving their friends a stern look that made Izuku feel like he was being left out of something.

Ochako dropped her hands to the table, looking like she was thinking hard about something, then turned to look at Izuku. “By the way, Izuku, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

Izuku was momentarily startled by the sudden shift in tone, his brain still trying to catch up from ‘flirting with Kacchan’. “Uh…what?”

“Okay, so, Bakugou said…well, something came up one time when you weren’t there, and he mentioned some…’sh*t that needed to be dealt with’ between you two,” Ochako said, looking concerned and serious, “And I know details are none of my business, but as your friend, I just wanted to make sure there was nothing shady going on there.” Izuku could tell from her tone and expression she meant ‘no reason to use my extensive martial arts training to deck Kacchan’.

“No,” he answered quickly. ‘sh*t that needed to be dealt with’? “How long ago did he say that?”

“A week or two.”

Izuku smiled, heart warming again. Kacchan had been that worried about it, that regretful. Young Izuku had been right, he would come around eventually. In better ways than he could’ve hoped. “Yeah, that sh*t’s been dealt with.”

“It has?” Ochako asked suspiciously.

“Yes, it has,” Izuku assured her, “Please don’t try to fight Kacchan.”

“No promises,” Ochako said, grinning again, “But right now my goal is something entirely different.”

“Uh, Ochako…?” Izuku started nervously, but he was ignored. Ochako had a glint in her eye, Tsuyu was smiling, and he had a bad feeling about this.

“I need to text Mina to make sure of things first, though,” Ochako said. “And then maybe this torture can finally end.”

“Torture?” Izuku repeated, increasingly confused as the conversation seemed to move to a wavelength he didn’t understand.

“Don’t worry about it, Izuku.” Ochako patted his hand, smiling. “You can just keep doing what you’re doing. You know, not flirting with the guy you’re not in to.”

“You’re good at it,” Tsuyu said, making him blush intensely again.

“I’m not flirting,” he mumbled in his defense, covering his face with his hands again. He wished he could fall through the ground and disappear. He couldn’t even imagine flirting with Kacchan. He would be a total mess. Yeah, no doing that.

--

As soon as his brain started working correctly again, Katsuki was going to murder his friends. Specifically, Kaminari and Sero, though Mina was also at high-risk. Kirishima was getting close. But, as he mentioned, he had to wait for his brain to reboot fully because holy sh*t Deku is really strong and also holy sh*t Deku held me like that and holy sh*t we were kind of holding hands again. It had been a struggle focusing for the rest of the day, and he was still struggling now, hours later while studying with the Idiot Squad in Kirishima’s dorm room. Or at least, he was trying to study, while Kaminari and Mina were playing a video game and Sero was cheering them on.

Literally everything Deku had done at lunch was slowly driving him insane. What’s more, with Deku somehow forgiving him, the guilt tying his feelings down was weakening and making everything so much…worse? Better?

More. Just…more.

He honestly couldn’t believe Deku did forgive him. Had forgiven him already. The thought of it made him simultaneously feel like sh*t and more in love than ever, which consequently made him want to bash his head into a wall.

His thoughts were a total jumbled mess and he hated it. He’d barely been able to think one single cohesive thing about Deku since they reunited, and certainly not since this afternoon. He wanted to deserve Deku, to continue deserving him and not slip up. But, f*ck, could he make it up to him by making out with him? That’d be nice.

He was jolted out of that train of thought by a f*cking Dorito hitting him in the face. “What the f*ck?” he snapped, sitting up in his chair and Kirishima’s desk and glaring around the room. All of his friends were snickering at him, Mina, Sero, and Kaminari splayed across the ground and Kirishima sitting on his bed. “The f*ck are you laughing at?”

“You’ve been staring at nothing for like two full minutes, dude,” Sero said, grinning as he draped lazily over a beanbag. Katsuki grabbed the offending Dorito from the desk and whipped it back at Sero, who just laughed and batted it away.

“I’m f*cking thinking, asshole.” He scowled.

“About what?” Kaminari said, smirking, “You’re not even doing your homework!”

“Neither are you, f*cker,” Katsuki deflected. There was no snappy response. He could tell from his friend’s expressions they were trying not to push it, trying not to make him storm out again. f*ck that, he wasn’t fragile or something. He’d worked his sh*t out with Deku, for the most part, so he could tell them, right? He didn’t necessarily want to, but it wasn’t like some dumb teasing could get to him. Maybe Mina could even help him out.

f*ck. He was very desperate and in love if he was considering asking Mina for romance advice.

“I was thinking about…Deku,” he finally grumbled, poking at his keyboard instead of looking at his friends, “And, uh…the bans have been revoked.” His friends were silent, which was never a good sign – they were like toddlers that way –, so he turned to face them. Mina’s eyes were wide and sparkling, Kirishima was grinning like a proud dad or something, and Kaminari and Sero looked like they’d heard something too good to be true and were now getting diabolical.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t beat the sh*t out of you,” he warned, “And I still don’t want you meddling.”

“But now we don’t have a moral friendship obligation not to meddle,” Sero said, rubbing his hands together like a f*cking supervillain. Katsuki was starting to have regrets.

“Wait, before we go in that direction,” Kirishima said, “can I talk to you for a second, Bakugou?”

“Sure,” Katsuki answered, and they both went out into the hall for some privacy.

“What happened, dude?” Kirishima asked, grinning down at him.

“I apologized,” Katsuki said, leaning against the wall, “and he forgave me for some reason.”

Kirishima looked like he might cry. “I’m so proud of you, bro.”

“Gross.”

“Can I give you a hug?”

Katsuki stared at him for a second, then huffed and pushed off the wall. “Three seconds.”

“Five,” Kirishima said, already wrapping him in thick arms and squeezing him tight.

“sh*tty Hair!” Katsuki screeched, trying to escape to no avail. f*cking brick wall that Kirishima was. After what he was sure was longer then three or five seconds, he was released and punched his friend in the chest.

“So what now?” Kirishima said, barely flinching at the hit. “You gonna sweep him off his feet? Well, I guess he’s the one doing that, seeing what happened at lunch, but-”

“Shut the f*ck up,” Katsuki snapped, face heating. Kirishima snickered. “I’m going to kill you.”

“You’ve been saying that every day since high school, man,” Kirishima said, patting his shoulder, “And I’m still here somehow.”

“Not for long,” Katsuki shot back. Kirishima kept laughing as he opened the door. When they went back inside, Sero and Kaminari were hovering over Mina’s shoulders as she typed something out on her phone, all three grinning like the creepy madmen they are. They looked up, and Katsuki saw a dangerous sparkle in Mina’s amber eyes.

“This is gonna be so much fun.”

Oh, f*ck.

Chapter 9: hugs and wishes

Chapter Text

Katsuki’s first instinct was to turn around and leave, but Kirishima shut the door behind him and dragged him into the room. f*cking betrayer. Katsuki slumped into the chair again, glaring as his friends kept watching him like creepy stalkers. Maybe they wouldn’t say anything, and he could just get back to not doing his homework.

“Are you gonna flirt with him?”

“What?” Of course, silence was too much to hope for.

“I mean, you kinda already do,” Kaminari continued like he wasn’t in Katsuki’s punching range.

“I f*cking what now?” Katsuki snapped.

“You totally do!” Mina agreed, completely ignoring Katsuki. “I mean, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you two were already dating.”

Sero made a face. “Wait, if this is how they are when they aren’t dating, do we really want to know what it’s like when they are?”

“What the f*ck are you all on?” Katsuki yelled, “Deku ‘n I aren’t dating! Or flirting or whatever the f*ck you’re talking about!” His face was burning. f*cking f*ck.

“See?” Sero said, waving a hand in Katsuki’s general direction. “They don’t even do it on purpose!”

“Do what?” Katsuki shouted, angry at being ignored and becoming flustered.

“Seriously?” Mina said incredulously, finally responding to him. “You can’t think of a single thing you do with Midoriya that could possibly be romantic?”

“No,” Katsuki snapped, mostly just to be contrarian.

Mina looked completely baffled, like she couldn’t believe what he was saying. “Okay, I’m going to make you a list. Let’s make Bakugou a list.” She held up a single finger. “One. He kisses you goodbye.”

Katsuki blushed harder, remembering Deku kissing his f*cking forehead after lunch today, or his cheek after the apology. He didn’t run away that time, which had left Katsuki scrambling for enough brainpower to say something coherent. “That’s just a thing he does,” he said anyways, because it was. Just a Deku thing. He liked showing affection like that. In a platonic way.

“Two,” Mina barreled on, holding up another finger, “You two are magnetically attracted to each other or something.”

“The f*ck?” Katsuki snapped.

“Dude, you were practically on each other’s laps at lunch today,” Kirishima said. I trusted you, dumb f*cking double agent.

“And,” Kaminari said before Katsuki could defend himself, “you usually don’t act like that when arm wrestling with someone.”

“Like what?” Katsuki said, scowling and blushing.

“Bakubro, when I arm wrestle, I don’t end up centimeters away from kissing my opponent and then murmur competitive stuff while holding their hand,” Kirishima said, and okay that friendship had ended. All of these friendships have ended.

“Yeah, you were like this!” Kaminari said, turning towards Sero and almost pressing their noses together, then whispering in a fake deep voice, “I win, sh*tty Deku.”

“Wow, Kacchan, you’re so hot,” Sero whispered back. That was f*cking it, and Kirishima had to jump off the bed and pull Katsuki away before he strangled Sero while the three stooges cackled.

“SHUT THE f*ck UP BEFORE I RIP OUT YOUR VOCAL CHORDS!” he yelled, being shoved back into his seat by Kirishima.

“Dude, they were joking,” Kirishima said, still holding him down. Katsuki pushed him off so he could properly glower at the three idiots on the floor.

“Mock Deku again and you’re dead,” he growled. They started cackling harder, and Katsuki again realized this is why he was friends with these people. The only idiots dumb enough to f*cking laugh at him. They were good for him, took him down a peg or something. Didn’t mean he couldn’t f*cking hate them.

“Aw! That’s so sweet, Blasty!” Mina cooed, giggling again. “Defend your man!”

“He’s not my man!” Katsuki shouted, his voice dangerously close to cracking like a pre-teen’s.

“Not yet he’s not!” Mina said, grinning.

“You’re my first murder, Bubblegum,” Katsuki growled.

“I’m honored,” Mina said, completely unperturbed. They’d been around him too long. f*ck.

“Okay, due to the fact that you and Midoriya have apparently been not-dating or flirting with each other so long you don’t even recognize it,” Sero said, “we’re gonna have to come up with something big.”

“Something big for what?” Katsuki snapped.

“To woo him, duh,” Kaminari said, like Katsuki was the idiot here.

“I’m not gonna ‘woo’ Deku!” he shouted.

Mina gave him a look. “Seriously, you’re just going to pine forever? Too scared to do something?”

Katsuki grabbed the nearest pen and whipped it at Mina’s face. She dodged. “f*ck you! I ain’t scared of sh*t!”

“Then let us wingman you!” Kaminari chirped. Not this sh*t again.

“I don’t need a wingman,” he said, scowling.

“Bakugou, darling, you’re my friend, which is why I’m going to be honest here,” Mina said with false seriousness, patting his knee and meeting his eyes, “You’re hopeless.”

He slapped her hand away. “f*ck you!”

“Bro, you can hardly talk when he touches you!” Sero pointed out. Katsuki had no defense that, because it was undeniably true. He still glared at Sero.

“Don’t worry, Blasty, we’re gonna help you,” Mina said, like that should be comforting.

“Wingman alliance!” Kaminari declared, pumping his fist.

“And wingwoman,” Mina added.

“That too!” Kaminari responded with equal enthusiasm. “First step of our plan: come up with a plan!”

“Make Bakugou super hot,” Mina said immediately, grinning like a madwoman.

“I already am,” Katsuki shot back, because confidence in his appearance was not something he was lacking.

“Of course you are, Blasty, but you look even hotter with makeup.” Mina wiggled her eyebrows at him. Ah, so that was her agenda here. Deku did say he thought the eyeliner looked cool back at the party…was he really considering this? f*cking hell.

“I suggest you come up with ways to romance him,” Kirishima said, “What’s the stuff he likes?”

Katsuki’s mind was already off. Deku liked All Might sh*t, though giving him merch he didn’t already have was probably an impossible task. Make him more food, maybe? Or merch for other comic book characters…there were some new ones he’d been babbling about the other day. He could scroll through their text threads to see. Katsuki grabbed his phone, ignoring his friend’s continued conversation around him and opening his texts with Deku.

He eventually found some pictures of comic books Deku had sent him during a phone call. Two newer characters, Hawks and Mirko, then an older character that was getting revamped, called Edgeshot. They seemed cool, but not more so than All Might. Whatever, the nerd seemed to like them. Katsuki should probably read the comics so they could talk about them.

“-heart shaped balloons!” Kaminari’s voice tuned Katsuki back into the conversation, and he looked up to glare.

“The f*ck are you all talking about now?”

“Have you not been listening?” Sero asked.

“Obviously not.”

“Kaminari is describing the plot of a rom-com he forgot the name of,” Kirishima explained.

“I’m not doing some f*cking rom-com sh*t,” Katsuki snapped with disdain. That was cheesy and gross. So was reading comic books to impress your nerdy crush, probably, but whatever.

“Okay, you could have an idea, Bakubro,” Kaminari said.

“Already have one, f*cker,” Katsuki shot back, “I told you, I don’t need your help.”

“What’s your idea?”

“None of your f*cking business,” Katsuki said, turning back to his phone and navigating to the site of the nearest comic book store. They had up to the latest issues of the new characters, and some merch for them. f*ck yeah. They even had a Shimura Nana collection, something that was for some reason rare. Double f*ck yeah. Shimura was All Might’s mentor and predecessor, and she had a small spin off series of her own. Katsuki knew Deku used to love her.

“Come on, bro!” Kirishima pleaded, “Let your wingmen and wingwoman help you out!”

“You can help me by leaving me the f*ck alone,” Katsuki snapped, not looking up from his phone. He was becoming more confident in his plan. He knows he’s never been the best at words, which is why actions are more his things. Gifts are in his wheelhouse.

“I bet his plan is to go ‘Deku, if I beat you in this wrestling match you have to date me’ or something,” Kaminari teased.

“f*ck all the way off, Dunce Face,” Katsuki said, finally putting his phone down.

“Wait, Kami, that could work,” Sero said.

“I’m not fighting Deku into dating me!” Katsuki yelled, though the idea was tempting. “Just cut it out!”

“Bakugou,” Kirishima said, “we are all helping you with this, whether you cooperate or not.”

“I hate you all so much,” Katsuki growled.

“We know!” all four of them chimed at the same time.

“Now, I’ll drop it for the time being if you play me in this,” Kaminari offered, holding up his game controller and gesturing to the game loading screen on the TV.

Katsuki smirked. Great, a way to beat the sh*t out of him that wouldn’t actually hurt him. “Fine.”

Katsuki won every single round against Kaminari, though the f*cker didn’t seem deterred one bit. He was in the middle of a match, trying to ignore Mina yelling at the TV next to his ear, when he suddenly heard his phone ring. His heart rate rocketed, realizing that Deku must be out of class by now and this was the time he usually called him. He dropped his game controller mid-punch and shot up, practically diving for his phone on the desk. He flipped it over to see Deku :/ written across the top, the selfie of Deku with the anpan illuminating the screen below it. He’d set it as Deku’s profile picture because it was f*cking adorable, even with Deku looking half asleep and messy. Especially because of that.

Ugh, he disgusted himself sometimes.

He quickly scrambled around Kirishima’s desk and out the door, slamming it behind him and ignoring his friend’s confused calls after him. He clicked the button to pick up the call, trying to calm his breathing and sound calm. Pull yourself together, Katsuki!

“Hey, Deku,” he said into the phone, accidentally making his voice even deeper than normal. Why the f*ck would he do that?

“Hi, Kacchan!” Deku said brightly, making his heart flutter because he was pathetic. “Thought I’d call you this time around! How ya doing?”

“I’m okay,” Katsuki answered, forcing his voice back to its normal level, “What about you?”

“I’m great!” Deku chirped, “I just went to this super cool lecture on language acquisition and sentence processing. The professor was this really smart lady, but I totally forgot her name, which is kind of funny because my class this morning was all about the nature of retrieving from memory. Guess I didn’t learn much there.” He laughed a bit and Katsuki smiled at the sound, about to lean against the wall when suddenly the door to Kirishima’s room opened and his friends started coming into the hall.

“Who are you talking to?” Kaminari asked. Katsuki glared at him.

“Wait, Deku, give me a minute,” he said into the phone, cutting off the start of Deku’s ramble.

“Oh, sure, Kacchan!”

His friend’s eyes went wide and their grins turned teasing, and he felt himself blush as he shoved past them and back into the room. He collected his stuff as quickly as he could, ignoring the idiot’s stares boring into him, then flipped them all off before slamming the door behind him and escaping into the hallway. He shouldered his bag and brought his phone back up to his ear, heading for his own dorm room on the same floor as Kirishima’s.

“Okay, I’m back,” he said, “What were you talking about?”

“Oh, just the lecture,” Deku answered, “It would probably bore you.”

“You can talk about it,” Katsuki offered, “I’ll cut you off if I get fed up.” Deku might be talking about sh*t he didn’t understand or care about, but he was smart enough to be learning some stuff from it, and all that was outweighed by the sound of Deku’s voice when he got excited about something like this.

Deku started rambling on about language processing while Katsuki hardly fully comprehended a thing he said, too focused on imagining what he looked like while saying it. And no, the irony of that was not totally lost on him.

After a bit, Deku ended up having enough self-control to cut himself off and ask Katsuki about his classes. The conversation flowed to other topics after that, and Katsuki ended up lying on his bed for an hour or more, just talking to him. He mentioned Mirko again, solidifying Katsuki’s confidence in that plan, and said something about a new issue coming out that past week. Eventually, Deku had to get back to his homework and hung up with a cheery See ya later, Kacchan!

Katsuki had missed a few texts in his friend’s groupchat during the call. He should really just mute that since they were so f*cking annoying. He could hardly even keep track of the chat name since his friends kept changing it.

mrs. Kirishima's ramen

Dunce Face: good luck bakubro ;)

Soy Sauce: flirt with him!!!

sh*tty Hair: you can do it! be manly!

Bubblegum: love how you dropped everything to talk to mido… ( ͡¬ ͜ʖ ͡¬) you must reeeaaallly like him

Dunce Face: simp

Katsuki glared at his phone.

Me: f*ck off.

Dunce Face: oooooh look whos back!!! long call huh??

Soy Sauce: what’d you talk about?

Dunce Face changed the chat name to Kacchan’s Wing(wo)men

Me: I’m blocking all of you

Dunce Face: can’t believe you abandoned our game to talk to your crush 😔

Me: it’s cause I hate you and you suck at that game. got boring to keep kicking your ass

Bubblegum: so you admit it!!! you have a crush on mido!!

Me: I ALREADY f*ckING TOLD YOU THAT

Soy Sauce: bakugou’s a simp, /confirmed/

Me: BLOCKED. f*ck YOU.

Katsuki threw his phone down on his bed, glaring at his ceiling. He hardly f*cking knew what a ‘simp’ was. And he didn’t need f*cking wing(wo)men!

f*ck all of them. He could flirt with Deku. He could make Deku the flustered one, not him. Not hard at all. Next time Deku did some cute smile or hugged him, he would react like a normal f*cking human being.

The resolution lasted until the next day.

--

Izuku thought about Ochako’s accusation all day. Well, maybe ‘accusation’ was a strong word, but it felt like that. He was not flirting with Kacchan. Nor was Kacchan flirting with him. The stuff he did was just the way they were! And if that was flirting, then it was…platonic flirting. Was that a thing? Whatever.

His thoughts were finally drawn off the topic by his interesting lecture at the end of the day, but came back when he decided to call Kacchan. Every so often, he started wondering if what they were doing or talking about would seem like flirting, but always decided that it wasn’t. Because that was absurd.

He was glad he’d worked up the courage to call Kacchan first, though. It was only fair that he responded equally to Kacchan’s attempts at reaching out. It was also a small comfort that Kacchan picked up, a show that he would be equal on that end, too.

The next day was a Saturday, and Kirishima had invited their whole lunch group to UA’s opening soccer game of the season, because apparently Kirishima was on the team and here on a sport’s scholarship. Which was super cool.

It was a chilly day, and everyone had agreed to meet up at the grassy park a block away from the soccer fields. Except Kirishima, of course, who was with his team. He walked to the park with Todoroki, finding the rest of their friends standing in a circle and talking in the middle of the park. Kacchan had his back to Izuku again, meaning it was a perfect opportunity. For what, Izuku didn’t know until he got a few feet away. He decided on that thing he’d thought of way earlier, going up on his tip toes slightly to rest his chin on soft blonde hair and toss his arms over broad shoulders.

“Hi there!” he chirped, smiling. Kacchan’s hair smelled like fresh shampoo, and he felt like a space heater, which only made Izuku want to huddle closer in the cool fall air. He felt Kacchan go stiff again, but he didn’t move to push Izuku off. He didn’t move at all, actually. Taking that as hesitant invitation, Izuku slid his arms down to shove his hands into Kacchan’s pockets, only realizing too late that Kacchan’s hands were already there. He felt himself blush, but the need for warmth and to be close overpowered the embarrassment. “Oh my gosh, your hands are really warm,” he managed, trying to brush off his awkwardness.

“Hey Midoriya!” Sero said, waving from across the circle. Izuku smiled at him, still in shock that Kacchan wasn’t screaming at him yet.

“Hey Izuku,” Ochako said, “You excited for the game?”

“Yeah, I’ve never been to a live sports match!” Izuku answered.

“Never?” Kaminari asked.

Izuku tried to nod, but it was difficult with his head on top of Kacchan’s. “I’ve only watched a few games on TV. But I’m looking forward to this. And seeing Kirishima!”

“Say, Midoriya…,” Mina said, her lips twitching in and out of a smile as she pressed her knuckles against them, slight laughter in her voice, “do you…get cold often?”

Izuku frowned at her, because the question seemed strange and off-topic, then shrugged. “I guess. Not with Kacchan here, though!” In fact, he was feeling very warm right now, still hugging Kacchan from behind and feeling his hands under his own in Kacchan’s pockets. Mina let out a tiny burst of laughter, presumably looking at Kacchan, covering her mouth and averting her gaze to the ground. Actually, all of their friends seemed on the brink of laughter. Which was very strange.

Just then, Kacchan shifted slightly, and Izuku braced himself for the inevitable elbow to his gut and following wrestling match. Instead, his face went up in flame as Kacchan’s fingers moved in his pockets to interlace with Izuku’s. He instinctually responded, and suddenly he was holding Kacchan’s hands under his. Yeah, the cold was no longer a problem.

“I ain’t yer f*cking personal heater,” Kacchan grumbled, almost too quiet for him to hear and very much the opposite of his actions.

“Hmm, too bad,” Izuku hummed happily, squeezing his arms tighter around Kacchan’s shoulders for an instant. He decided right then that maybe his dumb father had done him some good: his mother’s genes certainly weren’t the half that made him tall enough for this. “’Cause you are now.”

Kacchan lightly stomped on Izuku’s toes with the heel of his boot, but simultaneously squeezed his hands a bit tighter like he was worried he’d make Izuku back off. Which, don’t worry Kacchan, that’s not happening. This was one of the best places he’d ever been. He took a deep, slow breath, chilled air and the smell of Kacchan mixing in his nose and making him briefly wonder if this is how it feels to get drunk. He was giddy. Kacchan was letting him hug him! And holding his hand! Not that it meant what he super wanted it to, but he enjoyed the feeling beyond whatever romantic fantasies he may or may not harbor.

“Sorry to end this,” Sero said, snapping Izuku back to reality, “but since we’re all here now, we should go grab seats before all the good ones are gone.”

“Yeah, and find some all together!” Mina added.

“Oh, okay,” Izuku said, trying to mask his disappointment. He reluctantly pulled his hands off of Kacchan’s and out of his pockets, but kept one arm around his shoulder as he moved to his side. All of their friends were watching them with a variety of expressions, and he got the gut feeling they found whatever interaction he was having with Kacchan entertaining. He ignored them, though, too focused on how much Kacchan was not pushing him away.

“The f*ck are you all waiting around for?” Kacchan eventually snapped, “Let’s go.”

With a few more poorly hidden snickers, the group started heading towards the soccer fields. Izuku and Kacchan fell into step easily beside each other, Izuku’s arm draped loosely over Kacchan’s shoulders the whole time. Only when they got all the way to field did it occur to Izuku that their friends were laughing because this was another not-flirting thing. Did Kacchan’s friends also think they flirted? Why would so many people think that? Besides, hugging your best friend wasn’t flirting with them. Neither was holding their hand.

They got to the field just before the bigger crowd did, filtering through smaller groups of people into the stands and finding a seat pretty close to the turf, but high up enough to see the whole game. Izuku, of course, wound up sitting next to Kacchan, probably because they hadn’t strayed from each other’s side since the park. Mina was seated on his other side, wearing a bright UA soccer team shirt with Kirishima’s name and number on the back.

Izuku had never been super into sports, probably because he never got picked for teams when he was younger, and his mother didn’t watch them much. He found them fun, though, mostly because his brain could and would analyze anything and everything it ever saw. Not to mention he’d sit through an hour and a half of literal TV static if it meant being this close to Kacchan. He found himself wishing on multiple occasions during the game that he could just reach out and grab Kacchan’s hand again. It got even more distracting every time Kacchan tapped his fingers on his knee or fiddled with his rings.

It got to the point where, about an hour into the game, he was watching Kacchan more than he was watching soccer. He hadn’t wished for this many things since his last birthday. One of his many wishes was that he could lean over and kiss Kacchan’s cheekbone, just under the corner of his sharp crimson eye, because there was a tiny mole there that he had never noticed. Another was to wrap his arm around Kacchan’s waist, under his bomber jacket. He was probably super warm. He really should’ve stopped thinking about those things.

This realization hit him a full speed when Kacchan glanced over and their eyes met. Once again, Izuku became painfully, completely aware of the warmth between their touching thighs contrasted to the cold stadium bench, and the brush of the sleeve of his hoodie against Kacchan’s jacket. He held Kacchan’s gaze for a second, feeling his cheeks grow warm, then smiled nervously because he felt like he was melting.

A shrill whistle blew somewhere on the field and people were still yelling and cheering around them, but Kacchan wasn’t looking away, so neither was Izuku. Then, Kacchan cleared his throat and opened his mouth as if to say something. He got as far as “Uh” when all of a sudden there was screaming from Izuku’s other side and he whipped around to find Mina cheering wildly on her feet. He must’ve missed something in the game, and he quickly scanned the field to find that Kirishima was still in goal, holding a ball he probably just dove for and preparing to kick it out again.

He cheered a bit, trying to support his friend, but mind was elsewhere. What was Kacchan going to say? Probably nothing important. Something about the game or…yeah. He shot a couple glances Kacchan’s way for the rest of the game, too nervous to let himself look very long. Kacchan’s face looked a little red again, which relieved him because maybe his blushing could also be excused by the cold.

Soon enough, the game ended, with UA winning 2-1 against Shiketsu, the opposing school. Izuku didn’t know how he felt about the game being over – besides happy for Kirishima’s win, obviously – because the game ending meant he was no longer sitting next to Kacchan. It also meant he was no longer in this weird limbo state where he kept having to wrestle his mind away from things he shouldn’t be focused on just then, like kissing Kacchan for about the billionth time. Not going to happen, Izuku.

Their group got up to leave, everyone else at the game doing the same, and Izuku had to grab onto Kacchan’s arm to avoid getting swept away by the crowd and separated. At least, that’s what he told himself he was doing. He just forgot to let go when they got away from the crowds. Yup.

“That was fun!” he said, mostly to fill the silence between him and Kacchan while the rest of their friends were chatting away, “Didn’t you think so, Kacchan?”

“Yeah, I guess,” Kacchan grunted, seeming very focused on the tree across the road, “sh*tty Hair’s good at what he does.”

Izuku grinned, squeezing Kacchan’s forearm that he was still holding onto with both hands. “Aw, Kacchan, that’s sweet.”

“Shut up,” Kacchan grumbled, shooting him a side glare.

“Nuh uh,” Izuku tutted, moving to wrap his arms around Kacchan while he was sideways, squeezing again, “You’re a big softy who loves his friends, aren’t you?”

“Get off me!” Kacchan yelled, pushing him away and forcing his release, “That’s all slander and lies, you ass.”

Izuku laughed at Kacchan’s disgusted scowl. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell on you.”

“Shut up before I make you,” Kacchan threatened, sticking a finger in Izuku’s face.

“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do, Kacchan? Tackle me?” Izuku said, pressing his nose into Kacchan’s finger and grinning. “Just try it.”

“The f*ck does that-” Kacchan yelped as Izuku lunged at him and snagged him around the waist, lifting him up off his feet again. “DEKU! f*ckIN-PUT ME DOWN!” Kacchan pounded a fist onto his back, making him crack up and start laughing even harder, stumbling forward and dropping Kacchan to the ground again, his arms still looped around his waist.

“You are just asking to get your ass kicked.” Kacchan glared, cheeks still red and not making a single move to remove Izuku’s arms from his waist.

“I don’t know, Kacchan, I think I’m winning our strength contest right now,” Izuku said, grinning down at him. Kacchan’s eyes went wider, and he straightened up at the challenge.

“Is that f*cking so, Deku?” he snapped. Izuku hummed an affirmation, then Kacchan broke into his near-feral competitive grin, making his heart flutter for the second he saw it before the ground disappeared from under him. He let out an undignified squawk, flailing his arms out in front of him, but was caught just as soon as he started falling. Kacchan stole his move, and now he’d been swept off his feet in the both the literal and figurative sense.

Kacchan hoisted him up a little further in the princess carry, and Izuku found himself frozen with his arm’s mid-flail in front of him, face burning as his very attractive crush/love of his life smirked down at him. Kacchan’s arms weren’t shaking at all, and Izuku guessed he could hold him like this for a long while before getting tired.

“Still think you’re winning?” Kacchan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Izuku breathed, a little too quick and enthusiastic, then shot his eyes wider and squeaked and surprise at his own words. He definitely had meant to keep that in his head. Kacchan looked either surprised or offended, and Izuku scrambled around for an excuse. “Uh…because…you-I mean, I did this…also. So.” He cleared his throat, feeling his brain start melting and go into overdrive when Kacchan’s thumb shifted slightly on his ribs. “Means we’re even now.”

“Well…you dropped me right away,” Kacchan said, sounding far less aggressive than Izuku would’ve expected, “so I’ll just…not put you down.”

“What?” Izuku squeaked, “You’re gonna carry me like this for longer? You could do that?”

Kacchan narrowed his eyes and grinned. “’Couse I can.”

Izuku felt himself blush harder and thought that if Kacchan did end up continuing to hold him like this he was going to combust. “Okay, I’m sure you could, but you can put me down now.”

“f*ck no, I’m proving that I’m f*cking stronger than you are.”

“Kacchan!” Izuku said, “Put me down!”

Kacchan raised an eyebrow. “Like this?”

Izuku eyes flew wider and he shrieked as the support under him disappeared, flinging his arms around Kacchan’s neck before being caught and realizing that Kacchan hadn’t been planning to drop him at all. He opened his eyes, having squeezed them shut before, came face to face with Kacchan’s hair. After wrapping his arms around Kacchan’s neck, he had apparently pulled himself in and was now hugging himself so tightly to Kacchan his nose was practically nuzzled into the crook of his friend’s neck.

He quickly leaned back, disentangling his arms from around Kacchan and mustering up enough brainpower to glare at him. “You’re so mean, Kacchan.”

To his surprise, Kacchan was not smirking down at him with some witty comment to poke fun. Instead, he was zoned out somewhere straight ahead, face flushed across red to his ears. Uh oh. Izuku had made it weird, hadn’t he? It was Kacchan’s fault for pretending to drop him!

“Sorry,” he said on instinct, making Kacchan blink and finally look at him.

“What?”

“Sorry,” Izuku repeated, unable to shrink back but wanting to, “I didn’t mean to…uh…well, you dropped me, and I thought I was falling so…I-”

“Shut up,” Kacchan interrupted, “I don’t know what you’re apologizing for and I don’t care.”

“Hey, you two!” Sero suddenly shouted from up ahead, “I don’t know what you’re up to this time, but we’re all going to get dinner now. Wanna come?”

“That sounds great!” Izuku shouted back, then looked to Kacchan. “Are you letting me down now? I will concede that you have definitely won this.” Kacchan gave him a look, then shrugged and lowered him back to the ground. Izuku stood, readjusting his hoodie then smiling at his friend, finally feeling his face cool from burning. “You coming to dinner?”

“Yeah, since you are,” Kacchan said nonchalantly, then started towards the rest of their group, bumping his shoulders as he went. Izuku grinned at the grass for a second, then turned to catch up with him.

“What was that whole thing about?” Ochako asked as they all walked down the sidewalk.

“Kacchan here was butt-hurt about me picking him up and had to prove that he could do it too,” Izuku said, lightly jabbing Kacchan in the side with his elbow.

Kacchan growled and jabbed him back. “f*ck off, you’re lucky I didn’t kick your ass instead.”

“You say that like it’s a given you’d beat me,” Izuku shot back, putting his hands in his hoodie pocket and smirking as he leaned down closer to Kacchan’s face, “Maybe I’d be kicking your ass.”

Kacchan didn’t respond, staring back at Izuku as they both kept walking. His eyes were a little wider, his cheeks the same pink as earlier. Izuku squinted at him and frowned, a little concerned. Finally, Kacchan’s expression changed back to a normal glare and he reached up to flick Izuku’s forehead, then turned to face forward. Izuku laughed, the turned too and noticed Ochako staring at him.

“What?”

Ochako let out a tiny laugh, then a huff. “Oh, Izuku,” she said, then refused to explain further.

Chapter 10: comic books

Chapter Text

Katsuki was having a rollercoaster of a f*cking day. And it was all Deku’s fault.

Deku, who for some reason thought it was a genius idea to hug him from behind without warning, then share Katsuki’s jacket pockets. And then he had to gall to say Oh wow, your hands are really warm like it was no big damn thing. Katsuki’s brain f*cking shut down until he heard Mina start laughing, at which point he was still so fried his impulses decided it would be goddamn genius if he held onto Deku’s hands. He’d already been holding back for so long, though, so he couldn’t even stop the thoughts that he did not want Deku to move away.

Then he caught Deku staring at him during the soccer game, which had been a boost to his confidence until he attempted to actually say something and could only come up with ‘Uh’ because Deku was smiling at him. Of course, if he had just blurted what he was thinking, it might have gone something like ‘You’re the most beautiful person in the world’, which…gross. Sappy and gross and not really flirting. At least, he didn’t think that’s what flirting was. It was supposed to be subtle or something. Maybe.

Following that dumb sh*t, Katsuki thought he nailed it. He picked Deku up, made him blush – probably –, and definitely impressed him. Except right after, he’d pretended to drop Deku just to mess with him and Deku had responded by hugging him and nuzzling into his f*cking neck. That practically broke him, his brain dissolving into a flaming pile of scrambled nerves.

And finally, Deku topped off his day of unintentionally playing with Katsuki’s emotions with that. Another f*cking smirk, and f*cking Maybe I’d be kicking your ass. Only when the smirk went away was Katsuki able to move, but he still didn’t trust himself to open his mouth, so he didn’t say anything. In fact, he didn’t say anything until they reached the place his friends had chosen for dinner.

He was a f*cking mess. Lovestruck dumb f*cking mess that needed to get his sh*t together. But that Sunday was a new day, and Katsuki was determined to do just that, starting with his plan.

It went off track immediately because the universe couldn’t give him a f*cking break and sent a neon red brick wall named Kirishima into the dorm room hall on his way out.

“Mornin’, Bakubro!” Kirishima practically yelled, clapping him on the back as he scowled. “Where you off to?”

“None of your f*cking business,” Katsuki stressed, making his way for the stairwell with Clifford the Big Red Dog on his heels.

“Ooh, is it about operation Decchan?”

Katsuki stopped dead in his tracks, whirling around to face Kirishima while still halfway down the stairs. “Operation f*cking what now?”

Kirishima snapped his mouth shut, eyes widening. “Uh…nothing. Pretend I never said that.”

“No, no, no, sh*tty Hair,” Katsuki growled, glaring up at his friend, “Repeat it. What the f*ck is Decchan?”

“It was Kaminari’s idea I have to go now bye dude,” Kirishima rattled off in one breath, sidestepping Katsuki and racing down and out the door. Katsuki glared after him but didn’t chase. He had other sh*t to do besides worry about whatever the f*ck Decchan meant. He had a sneaking suspicion it was a mashup of Deku and Kacchan, though, and another suspicion that he hadn’t properly threatened Kaminari in a while.

He huffed loudly to the empty stairwell, then headed out of his dorms and started walking for the local comic book store, Nighteye Comics. Apparently, it was legal to name your store after the country’s most popular comic book character’s sidekick. Katsuki had been going to Nighteye since he was a brat, most often with Deku when they were young. When they were around ten or twelve, they could spend hours in the shop, hiding behind shelves and reading all the comics they could get their hands on before someone kicked them out for not buying anything.

It was always an event when new All Might issues got released, because Katsuki and Deku would get to Nighteye the second it opened, every bit of allowance money they’d been saving up stuffed into their tiny pockets. Then it was a race home to flop down on the living room floor, laying side by side to read it all in one go and reenact scenes for the next few months. Neither Katsuki nor Deku ever wanted to be the villain, so they’d force the nearest parent to do it. Often, forcing meant just straight up attacking his dad while he was trying to read a book on the couch. Sometimes Katsuki considered more than just a mug as a Father’s Day gift.

Katsuki started going to Nighteye less in high school and college, only stopping by for the occasional new issue of All Might. Didn’t feel the same without Deku, as much as he used to hate that idea.

The shop looked the same as always, wall to wall shelves chock-full of comics, mangas, and merch selections. Katsuki ignored the greeting of the cheery blonde guy at the counter, heading straight for the section where they shelved new releases. He found the new Mirko issue right in the front, then grabbed the first issue at the back to flip through for himself. After a few pages, he decided Mirko was f*cking badass and collected the first few issues as well as the latest one for Deku. Part one, done.

Time for part two. Katsuki scanned the shelves, eventually finding what he was looking for tucked away in a back corner shelf. f*cking jackpot, a full small shelf of everything Shimura. Of course, Nighteye would be the place that had this stuff. Katsuki immediately snagged the first manga volume, then a Shimura keychain that reminded him of the All Might one Deku had given him. So they could…match, kind of.

God, he was such a f*cking sap. Disgusting.

He deemed the stuff he had a suitable haul for the time being, and definitely enough money spent, the headed to the main counter to check out.

“Hey there, guy!” the blonde at the register chirped when Katsuki dumped his stuff on the counter. “Find everything you came for?” Katsuki just grunted in affirmation, not interested in a conversation. Unfortunately, this guy seemed to be the kind that could chat up a wall and not be deterred. “Ooh, Mirko, she’s pretty cool! And Nana! Heck yeah, buddy, I love her. Too bad more people don’t.”

Katsuki shot him a glare at his lowest menacing level, wishing he’d just hurry up. They guy seemed to finally get the message, bagging Katsuki’s things and taking his money with a cheery smile. Katsuki returned his farewell with another grunt, then started the walk back to campus. Only on that walk did he think about how he was going to give this stuff to Deku. It wasn’t exactly like he had some birthday or holiday excuse anytime soon. It might be kind of weird to just give sh*t to him for no reason.

Well, no, the point was that Deku would figure his reason out. Besides, he’d been talking about the Mirko comic earlier, so there was that. His only worry was that Deku would take it as some back-and-forth thing he had to start participating in, which was not the point. The point was…wooing. Ew.

Katsuki got back to his room and tossed the stuff on his shelf before setting to work on his latest assignments. He survived through study group with his friends with out having to deal with too much of their teasing, but was so busy helping them out he forgot to yell about Decchan. Whatever, Kaminari could wait.

Katsuki texted Deku a few times throughout the day, though he seemed busy with his own schoolwork and study groups. Maybe Katsuki could suggest merging their study groups. The more the merrier…or something.

He managed to get through the first three issues of Mirko comics that he’d bought before the day ended and was happy to find that he wouldn’t be reading them just for Deku. They were actually pretty good.

He went to bed determined that at tomorrow’s lunch, he would get a 100% success instead all the weird ups-and-downs. He also resolved to give Deku one normal, not over dramatic and not choked out compliment. At least pretend to be as smooth as Deku seemed to be.

Not that Deku was flirting with him.

Yet.

Katsuki got to the lunch spot the next day after Deku did, which provided the perfect opportunity for his first move. Which was basically copying what Deku had done the previous week by coming up from behind and squeezing in next to him without warning.

“Hey,” he said, keeping his focus on Deku, who smiled at him.

“Heya, Kacchan!” he chirped, “How was your weekend? Do anything fun?”

“’S fine,” Katsuki answered, making sure he kept their thighs pressed together on the bench. Though, that wasn’t really flirtatious, because they always sat like that when they could. “Stopped by Nighteye for the first time in a while.”

Deku’s green eyes went wide, and he gasped, “Oh my God, I totally forgot about Nighteye! They’re still in business?”

“Yeah.”

Deku grinned. “That’s great! Ha, I remember going there like every week. I miss that.”

“Me too,” Katsuki forced himself to admit, turning to get his lunch to avoid Deku’s undoubtably blinding smile at his comment. Still had things to get to, needed his brain to work. “We could go back sometime,” he suggested, glancing back.

“Really? That would be so cool! Maybe they’ll have the new Mirko issue!”

That was his f*cking cue, and Katsuki grabbed the comic and keychain from his bag. “About that,” he said, presenting the gifts to Deku. “I figured…since I was there…you know.”

SERIOUSLY, THAT’S ALL I CAN SAY?

Deku made an excited squeaking noise, taking the comic and the Shimura keychain on top of it. “Ah! Kacchan!” His sparkling eyes went somehow wider, and Katsuki wanted nothing more then to kiss his stupidly cute smile. Ugh. “Is this a Nana keychain? They have those there?” Deku said, holding the keychain up to his face.

“Yeah,” Katsuki said, almost missing how his own voice sounded halfway to dreamy. f*cking hell. “They’ve got a small collection of her sh*t now.”

“Who’s Nana?” Half-n-Half asked from Deku’s other side, making Deku turn around a bit and adding another point to Katsuki’s grudge list against Todoroki.

“She’s All Might’s mentor and predecessor with One for All!” Deku answered with that excited voice and energy he got when talking anything nerdy. “Her quirk is called Float, and she’s super cool! She got mentioned in issue 63 when they went into All Might’s backstory, but her first appearance was issue 102, and then later they gave her own series-”

And there he went, off on another rant about things no one needed to know. Classic, perfect Deku. Katsuki just let it happen, figuring Half-n-Half had literally asked for it and he’d already succeeded in this particular mission. He started eating his lunch, letting the Deku-ramble fade into comforting white noise, then noticed Mina staring at him from the neighboring table. Her expression was one he didn’t quite understand, but was suspicious of nonetheless. If anything, she looked f*cking entertained. He glared at her, but she grinned, then held up her phone and typed something in. Katsuki’s own phone buzzed in response.

Kacchan’s Wing(wo)men

Bubblegum: a comic book??

Katsuki whipped his head up to glare, and Mina just raised an eyebrow at him and smiled. He flipped her off as discretely as he could.

Dunce Face: is this your super amazing plan?

Bubblegum: you’re gonna woo him with comic books?!

Katsuki growled at his phone, the glared at his friends across the table. At least they weren’t mocking him out loud. Also, f*ck them.

Me: I know what I’m doing, so you all can f*ck off to whatever lobotomy you walked out in the middle of

Soy Sauce: y’all, this is obviously nerd to nerd communication we just couldn’t understand

Dunce Face: ah, I see. nerd love.

Me: SHUT THE f*ck UP

Katsuki shut his phone off and shove it in his pocket before any of his friends said something that made him strangle them in real life, then noticed that Deku’s rambling might have gone on too long. Half-n-Half and Four Eyes looked like robots only programmed with smile and nod. Katsuki elbowed Deku lightly in the arms, making him jolt and snap his mouth shut.

“Oh my gosh, I just went off on a ramble, didn’t I?” Deku said, facepalming. “Sorry about that, I just get excited.”

“Don’t think they asked for the entire history of her character, Deku,” Katsuki teased. Deku finally turned back to him, smiling and rolling his eyes.

“You know me, Kacchan, I can’t help it!”

“Mm hm,” Katsuki agreed, “Your ass has been mumbling my ears off since f*cking kindergarten.” Deku snorted, and Katsuki decided to try a compliment. “Being a genius yet annoying as sh*t is your f*cking quirk or something.”

Okay, well. Maybe he had room for improvement. But that also felt very on brand for him, and Deku was still smiling.

“Well, I remember what your quirk was, Kacchan.” Deku grinned. “I’m gonna blow all the sh*t up with huge explosions!” he said in a mock voice that sounded like a cartoon villain, then cackled maniacally with his hands up in fists, miming an explosion. “Ka-boom!”

Katsuki felt his cheeks heat, both from Deku being cute and mild embarrassment at his childhood self. “Shut the f*ck up, I did not sound like that.”

Deku made a face, furrowing his eyebrows and trying to snarl. “Silence, extra! I am Great King Explosion Murder God Dynamite, the greatest hero ever!” he continued in the dumb voice, making Katsuki’s face flame even more. He put a hand over Deku’s face and shove him back a bit, making Deku laugh and start giggling. Him and all of Katsuki’s friends.

“f*ck you,” he snapped, taking his hand off Deku’s face to flick his forehead. Deku had dissolved into a cackling mess, literal tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. His laugh was amazing. “You thought it was cool when we were eight,” Katsuki grumbled, making Deku laugh even harder. He couldn’t help a smile at that. “Making fun of your hero partner’s name ain’t cool, Deku.”

Deku giggled, then unbent himself to make a sad face at Katsuki. “I’m not making fun! Everything you do is the coolest, Kaccha-Dynamite!”

Katsuki snickered, feeling himself blush harder. “You bet it f*cking is.”

“Dynamite and Deku, world’s greatest heroes!” Deku declared, tossing his arm around Katsuki’s shoulders.

“They always save the day,” Katsuki responded, only grumbling a little. He was doing Deku’s usual part in this right now.

“Evil cowers before them! No villain will be left undefeated!” Deku said, squeezing Katsuki tighter into his side. Well.

“And they do it all with a smile,” Katsuki continued, ears burning. Deku turned to smile at him, softer than his excited grins or impressions. f*ck.

“Because that’s what heroes do,” they both finished at the same time.

It was a whole dumb speech they’d come up with, a summary for the hero comics that would surely be written about their legendary adventures. Katsuki might even be taking a trip down nostalgia lane right now were it not for Deku’s arm around the back of his neck, pulling him in as Deku kept smiling softly. Close enough for him to lean and kiss him right on that dumb smile, or on that group of freckles on his cheek. It was taking every bit of impulse control he’d learned over the past five years not to do either of those things. But his brain was too overloaded to pull away, and Deku didn’t seem to want to move, so he was stuck. f*ck, he just want-

“Dynamite and Deku?”

Kirishima’s voice jolted him into action, and he turned in his seat so he was facing forward again. Deku’s eyes went wide and his cheeks flushed red, and he did the same but didn’t take his arm away. Katsuki could deal with that. Also, maybe Deku blushing was good? Depends, he did that a lot. He was probably just embarrassed. Dammit, Katsuki made it weird.

God, is this how Deku felt every day? Overthinking sucked.

“The hero names we came up with as kids,” Deku explained, answering Kirishima’s question Katsuki had nearly forgotten about.

“Aw, that’s so cute!” Mina cooed, placing a hand over her heart. Katsuki scowled at her. “God, what I would give to see baby Bakugou playing heroes.”

“Never,” Katsuki growled at the same time Deku said, “I’ll ask my mom!”

Katsuki whipped around to face him. “NO.”

Deku grinned at him. “Maybe I can text her right now, see if she can pull out the old photo albums. Ooh, or maybe Auntie Micchan can show me that scrapbook?”

“If you contact my mother, I am never speaking to you again,” Katsuki threatened.

Deku ignored his threat, eyes widening and gasping with some realization. “Oh. My. God. Do you have prom photos? I want to see those.” Katsuki felt his face flame again at the reminder of his friends dragging him to senior prom, forced into some dumb suit and hating every second of it.

“I burned all of those,” Katsuki lied, making Mina crack up.

“I still have some,” Kaminari said, holding his phone up.

“Wait, Izuku,” Round Cheeks said, “how about your prom photos?”

Deku’s face turned red immediately, which was f*cking adorable and felt like vindication. “I take it all back! No prom things! Or high school things maybe ever!” he spluttered, waving his hands around.

Katsuki grinned at him. “Oh, no, Deku, you got yourself into this. I want to see them now.”

“Just a sec,” Round Cheeks said, smiling and pulling out her phone, then tapping around a bit while Deku covered his face with his hands and shrunk down like he was trying to disappear into some nonexistent shell. “Behold,” Round Cheeks announced, turning the phone screen towards Katsuki, who was across the table from her.

Katsuki just about burst into laughter. The picture was of Deku and all his friends, lined up one someone’s front porch, all smiling at the camera. Well, Deku looked like he was trying to smile, all wobbly and awkward and stiff as a board. His suit was dark green, definitely picked out by Auntie Inko, hair slicked back by probably a hundred pounds of gel, and he was still wearing the f*cking red sneakers. To top it all off, he was wearing a goddamn bowtie.

“Ah, no! Look away!” Deku cried, shoving his hands in front of the screen and pushing it away as Round Cheeks laughed. “Those are embarrassing,” he groaned, splaying himself over the table with his head down, almost knocking into Katsuki’s lunch. Katsuki snickered, ruffling his hair.

“Yeah, but you looked cute.”

WAIT.

Katsuki froze, his hand still in Deku’s hair. Apparently, if Deku wasn’t looking at him, he could spit out compliments just fine. f*ck. He quickly unfroze himself, taking his hand away from Deku and trying to force himself into normalcy. This was fine. This was what he wanted to do. He meant to say that.

Deku slowly sat up next to him, and Katsuki kept his focus on starting to eat his lunch again. Play it off as a normal thing he was totally chill about saying out loud and did not care about Deku’s reaction to.

“Oh,” Deku squeaked quietly, which could mean f*cking anything, “Uh…thank you.” Katsuki finally turned to look at him, and found that his cheeks were still flushed pink. Good?

“I especially love the bowtie,” Katsuki said, smirking, “Let me guess, Auntie tied it for you?”

Deku’s cheeks went redder and he whacked Katsuki’s shoulder. “So what if she did?”

“I think the bowtie definitely completes the nerd look,” Katsuki continued, feeling a little more confident, “Add that to the daily wardrobe along with the shoes.”

“I like these shoes!” Deku protested.

“I can f*cking tell,” Katsuki said, kicking said shoes under the table. Deku responded by stomping on his boots and glaring, then smiling. “You trying to start sh*t, Deku?”

“You’re the one who started it.”

Katsuki raised a brow at him, moving his foot from under Deku’s and then clamping his ankles between his boots. Deku shook his feet back and forth to try and get free, but Katsuki didn’t let him. “I think that means I win.”

Deku narrowed his eyes. “Don’t speak too soon, Kacchan.”

“What are yo-” Katsuki cut himself off with an ugly choked out laugh as Deku’s fingers found his sides, on that one spot under his ribs where he was f*cking ticklish. Which was the stupidest thing, if you asked him. “f*ck! DEKU-” he laughed again uncontrollably, then grabbed Deku’s hands and shoved them away and onto to Deku’s chest, holding them there. Deku giggled and Katsuki glared at him. “Throwing stones from a glass house, Deku.”

Deku’s eyes went wide with realization and regret, but he was too late. Katsuki shoved his hands under Deku’s hoodie, turning him into a mess of giggles and yelps. “Ack! Kacchan-hah-no!” Deku grabbed his arms but was too busy shaking with laughter to push him away. It had always been way too easy to do this. Katsuki finally stopped when Deku leaned forward and bonked his head into the table, grinning victoriously.

“That was mean,” Deku finally whined when he caught his breath.

“You f*cking started it!”

Deku sat up and pouted at him. “You’re the worst and that was so unfair.”

“Sounds like a sore loser to me,” Katsuki said. Deku huffed, crinkling up his nose like a grumpy bunny, then broke into another smile.

“Ah, I guess I must accept defeat,” he said, leaning forward to rest his head on Katsuki’s shoulder. He shuffled himself closer into Katsuki’s side and traced a line with his hand across his back, making Katsuki brain glitch the f*ck out so he didn’t even notice Deku’s very obvious goal until an arm was wrapped around his ribs and Deku’s fingers were at the spot again. He jolted into motion, swinging his arm around Deku’s neck and pulling him into a headlock against his chest.

“Oh, no you don’t,” he chided as Deku giggled into his chest, making his already warm cheeks burn, especially since he’d used his other arm to essentially trap Deku’s arm around his waist to stop him from moving his hand.

“Kacchan, let me go!” Deku said, muffled against his jacket and wriggling a bit to try and get free.

“Nah, I’m good,” Katsuki said, grinning. Maybe this wasn’t flirting, but it was having Deku close to him, and it was them being friends, which he’d missed just as much as he wanted something more. Deku stopped wiggling around in his hold, and instead raised his free hand to put it over Katsuki’s face. “Agh, stop that!”

“Are either of you gonna eat?” Frog Girl said from across the table, tilting her head. Katsuki was momentarily startled by the realization that other people had been there the whole time, relaxing his arms and letting Deku sit up fully. Except Katsuki still had an arm around his shoulders, and Deku still had an arm looped around his waist.

Katsuki was sliding back into being a mess at an intensely increasing speed. f*ck.

“Hm, I guess this can wait, Kacchan,” Deku said, patting his side and then f*cking sliding his hand back so he could eat. f*ck, f*ck, f*ck. Katsuki’s entire torso felt tingly. What was wrong with him?

“Yo, Bakugou, catch!”

Katsuki pulled out of his head and moved to catch the soda can Kirishima tossed at him from the other table just in time, snatching it out of the air then glaring at him. “The f*ck, sh*tty Hair? I didn’t ask for this.”

“I know,” Kirishima said, smiling, “You just looked like you…needed it, maybe.”

Katsuki raised an eyebrow, then was struck with the realization that in the process of catching the can, he’d removed his arm from Deku’s shoulders and his brain had rebooted, avoiding any more awkwardness on his part. f*cking wingman sh*t again. Katsuki kept glaring as Kirishima sent him a thumbs up, then tossed the can back.

“Thanks, but no thanks.” He recognized that help was useful here, but he still didn’t want the soda.

Kirishima grinned wider and f*cking winked at him like they were secrets agents in cahoots or some sh*t. Whatever.

Katsuki got through the rest of that lunch while keeping his head, even when he ended up telling Deku he’s started reading Mirko comics and he got super excited and cute about it. Eventually, Deku had to get to class and started to leave with a few of his friends.

“Bye everyone, see you tomorrow!” he chirped, standing from his seat and waving a bit, Mirko comic and Shimura keychain tucked away in his bag. “And by the way, Kacchan, thank you so much for the comic and merch!”

Katsuki glanced over to respond, and suddenly Deku’s arms were wrapping his shoulders in a hug, squeezing him to the side and pressing a kiss against his cheek. And then he was off down the hill, jogging after his friends and leaving Katsuki staring at the table, mind wiped blank.

“Someone got a kiss~!” Mina sang. Katsuki turned to glare at her and all his other friends, grabbing his bag and standing from his seat.

“Guess the nerd thing worked!” Kaminari added.

“Yeah, so you idiots can f*ck off,” Katsuki snapped, flipping them off with a grin he couldn’t help, then leaving. He would admit that all could’ve gone better, but for the moment he was content in his one victory.

When Katsuki called Deku that evening, he was met with, “KACCHAN!” instead of the usual greeting. “Kacchan, oh my God!” Deku practically squealed into the phone before Katsuki could say anything, “Okay, just-I-let me send you something, you have to see this! It’s so cute!”

“Uh…okay?” Katsuki clicked the notification that popped up from Deku and was met with a picture of an old printed photo of him and Deku as brats, maybe five years old. They were wearing matching All Might onesies, one fist on their hips and the other pumped into the air, grinning.

“My mom just sent it to me!” Deku chirped through the phone.

“Ew,” Katsuki said. Deku laughed.

“Come on, it’s cute!”

“All children are gross,” Katsuki stressed, making Deku laugh again.

“Aw, even us?”

“Especially us.”

More laughter. Making Deku laugh was the f*cking best. “Alright, Kacchan. How was your day?”

“’S fine. You?”

--

After talking with Kacchan for a while, Izuku headed over to Ochako’s room where his friends were holding a Monday night study session. Izuku liked that his friends held study sessions, he much preferred working with them than by himself. He wondered if Kacchan would ever come to one. He could ask, maybe.

“Hey, Izuku’s here!” Ochako said when he entered the dorm room, looking up and smiling from her seat next to Tsuyu on the bed.

“Hey everyone!” Izuku said, flopping down onto a beanbag by Todoroki, “Sorry I’m late, I was talking to Kacchan.”

Ochako raised an eyebrow. “You were hanging out with Bakugou?”

“No, just calling him,” Izuku said, knowing he was blushing and turning his face away to grab his textbook and computer from his bag.

“What’d you talk about?” Ochako asked, wiggling her brows now.

“Just comic books and school and stuff, it wasn’t like that!” Izuku protested.

“It wasn’t like that,” Ochako mocked, “Izuku, did you see yourself at lunch today?”

“Huh?”

Ochako sighed dramatically. “Okay, let me reenact. I’m you, Tsu is Bakugou.” Ochako cleared her throat, then wrapped an arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders and pulled her close. “Hey, I’m going to say really sappy and sweet about our childhood.”

“I’m going to say that too,” Tsuyu said, smiling softly as she met Ochako’s eyes. Ochako stared at her for a second, then smiled wide and kissed her.

Izuku’s face went up in flame. “I didn’t kiss him!”

“I know, but Tsu’s really pretty and I love her, so I had to,” Ochako said, kissing her blushing girlfriend’s cheek.

“Love you too, ‘Chako,” Tsuyu said, making Izuku’s heart melt. They were so cute.

“Also, you might not have kissed him, but I wish you would,” Ochako said, turning back to him.

“What?” Izuku squawked.

“I second that,” Tsuyu agreed.

“If we’re discussing Midoriya’s crush instead of schoolwork, then I’d like to voice my agreement as well,” Iida added.

“I’m not gonna kiss Kacchan!” Izuku cried, burying his reddening face in his hands. He probably wouldn’t survive that experience, either because Kacchan would get mad or his own heart would give out.

“Why not?” Todoroki asked, titling his head, “You seem to want to.”

Izuku made a strangled noise, curling his knees to his chest. “I don’t-I can’t just do that!”

“Sure you can!” Ochako said excitedly, “Just go right in and smack one on ‘im!”

“No!” Izuku said, voice cracking with embarrassment.

“You kiss Bakugou every day, Midoriya,” Iida pointed out.

Izuku spluttered, shooting upright in his seat, “I do not!”

“Then what was that after lunch?” Ochako said, wrapping her arms around Tsuyu and planting a kiss on her cheek. “You do that every time! Now just do it a little to the left.”

“I can’t-I’m not,” Izuku tried, then became too flustered to continue. He opened his laptop instead. “I am doing homework now.”

He was not going to kiss Kacchan, probably – no, definitely – ever. If he tried, he’d just screw everything up and ruin the friendship that was so important to him. Did not matter how much his chest ached when Kacchan’s arms were around him, or when he smiled at him, or gave him thoughtful gifts for no reason.

Nope.

Chapter 11: sleep and study

Chapter Text

Izuku’s thoughts for the rest of the study session were occupied by Kacchan and confusion, tinged with a little hopelessness that kept distracting him from his work and making it impossible to get anything done. Eventually, he returned to his own room, forcing himself to stay at his desk until he’d finished everything he needed to get done that night. That didn’t happen until well past midnight, at which point he flopped into his bed and pulled to covers up to his chin, curling on his side.

He didn’t like that his friend’s comments bothered him so much, but they did. He’d resolved to put his feelings to the side, to not burden Kacchan with them, but his friends bringing them up made that a hundred times harder. They were so flippant about it, like he could just profess his love and prance off into the sunset, when it obviously wouldn’t work like that.

First off, who said Kacchan would even reciprocate? That would be insane. To think that Kacchan would even like him like that, let alone love him, was crazy. Kacchan was Kacchan, and he was Izuku. Sure, Kacchan cared for him – he’d said that much himself – but they were the closest friends each other had. Not more.

And second, in some miracle universe where Kacchan did return his feelings, he’d probably just mess things up. And Izuku didn’t think he could stand to live in a world where he had Kacchan then lost him.

Therefore, he was stuck here, with his lockbox of feelings and the ache in his ribs. And he had no out, as far as he could tell. He didn’t think he was physically or emotionally capable of pushing Kacchan away. And getting over him? He’d been failing on that front since they were four years old, and over five years apart. In other words, unlikely.

Izuku sighed heavily, closing his eyes and shoving his face further into his pillow. Being in love with your best friend sucked.

Izuku woke up exhausted, both from lack of sleep and the heavy feeling that had settled in his chest and didn’t seem to want to go away. Though, he figured the lack of sleep was the really catching up to him when he just about fell asleep in a morning class. He’d stayed up too late too many nights in a row.

In fact, he was so tired that by lunch time, he allowed himself no qualms about all but collapsing into the space next to Kacchan and dropping his head on his shoulder.

“Uh…hey,” Kacchan said slowly, “You good, Deku?”

“Izuku?” Ochako said from across the table.

“Tired,” Izuku mumbled, taking a deep breath. Kacchan smelled good, like clean laundry with a bit of spice or caramel. His eyes started to flutter shut.

“I told you to get more f*cking sleep, dumbass,” Kacchan huffed. Izuku just made a noncommittal humming noise, shifting more towards Kacchan to wrap his arms around the other man’s waist. He did his best to ignore the ebb and flow of the ache. Kacchan was both the source of his hurt and his best comfort. But he’d rather hurt than lose him.

He hugged Kacchan a bit tighter, hoping both that he’d push him off and that he wouldn’t.

What Kacchan did do was ten times worse than either of those options. He lay his arm loosely around Izuku’s shoulders, then said, “If you’re taking a f*cking nap, don’t drool on me.”

“I don’t drool,” was all he could come up with to respond.

Kacchan snorted. “You totally do.”

“Maybe when I was five!” Izuku protested, lifting his head off Kacchan’s shoulder.

“Look, I’m just saying that you better not do it now,” Kacchan said, taking a bite of his tofu.

“Maybe I’ll do it just to spite you,” Izuku said, trying for a smile.

Kacchan turned to face him with a glare, which happened to bring their noses about an inch apart. “Like f*ck yo-” Suddenly, Kacchan’s eye went wide, and he sucked in a breath so sharp Izuku could hear it and immediately started coughing, probably having inhaled the food he was eating. He took his arm off Izuku’s shoulder to cover his mouth, leaning away.

“Ah! Kacchan!” Izuku yelped, “Are you okay?”

Kacchan cleared his throat aggressively a few times, still turned away, then sat up fully. “Yes,” he said curtly, making another quiet coughing noise and keeping his eyes forwards and focused on the table. His face was red again. That couldn’t be good.

“Do you need some water?” Izuku asked, concerned.

“I said I’m fine,” Kacchan said, still not looking at him. Izuku frowned, but was distracted by muffled cackling from the table over where most of Kacchan’s friends were. Across their table, Ochako, Tsuyu, and Mina also looked on the verge of laughter. “Shut the f*ck up,” Kacchan snapped at all of them.

“Sorry!” Mina said, covering her mouth with her hand.

“You good, Kacchan?” Kaminari snickered from the other table. Izuku whipped his head around to face him, momentarily shocked. Kacchan? Other people were calling him Kacchan now? That was…okay. It was fine! Why did he even care? Kacchan was just a nickname, it wasn’t-

“I told you to stop f*cking calling me that, Dunce Face,” Kacchan growled. Izuku almost smiled, though he didn’t know why. Then he did smile, turning back to see Kacchan glaring at his lunch, cheeks and ears still red. It was kinda cute.

Izuku’s arms found their way back around Kacchan’s waist, his head back on his shoulder like before, figuring that if he hadn’t pushed him off the first time, he wouldn’t now. And if Kacchan wasn’t pushing him away, he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Deku, the f*ck are you doing?”

Izuku closed his eyes and turned his head further into the shoulder of Kacchan hoodie. “You said I could nap on you,” he mumbled.

“I didn’t-,” Kacchan cut himself off with a huff, his arm returning to Izuku’s shoulders.

The total allowance made Izuku’s heart warm, the feeling settling over him one much more pleasant than that morning. He found himself actually falling half-asleep until Kacchan poked him in the ribs after a while. He jolted, the slowly raised his head and blinked his eyes open.

“Hello?” he said, tiredness still fogging his brain.

Kacchan snorted. “Hello, dumbass. Figured you should actually eat your lunch while you can.”

“Oh. Yeah.” Izuku removed his arms from Kacchan’s waist, sitting upright again as Kacchan dropped his own arm back to his side.

“Wow, you were really tired, Izuku,” Tsuyu said from across the table, looking concerned, “Sleep is important, you should get more of it.”

“That’s what I keep f*cking telling him,” Kacchan grumbled in agreement.

“I sleep fine!” Izuku protested, “Not my fault Kacchan is a…warm.”

Kacchan raised an eyebrow at him. “A warm?”

Izuku waved a hand at him. “Shut up, you know what I mean.” What he did mean was that Kacchan was warm, smelled good, was an all-around comforting presence, and Izuku wanted to fall asleep with him forever. But he was going to say any of that out loud.

“Whatever, Deku, just eat,” Kacchan ordered.

“Yes, sir,” Izuku said, saluting.

“Dork.”

“Nerd,” Izuku shot back, grabbing his chopsticks.

“f*ck you,” Kacchan snapped, bumping him sideways, “You’re the nerd.”

“You’re the one who has glasses,” Izuku pointed out, smiling.

“The hell does that have to do with anything?”

“That’s a nerd thing!” Izuku said, laughing when Kacchan flicked his forehead.

“You wear glasses?” Ochako asked.

Kacchan huffed. “Yeah, my dad has sh*tty eyesight. What’s the big deal?”

“Nothing, just didn’t think of that for you,” Ochako answered.

“He’s one of those people that looks hot in glasses,” Mina said, grinning. Izuku felt his face flush, remembering the photo Kacchan sent him. Mina was right.

“Shut it, Bubblegum,” Kacchan snapped.

“What, I’m complimenting you!” Mina said, “Midoriya agrees with me, right Mido?”

Now it was Izuku’s turn to nearly choke on the bite of food he’d just taken in an attempt to distract himself. He coughed loudly, swallowing the rice. He could feel stares boring into his skull, and he wished he could melt into the grass. His face was burning enough.

“Uh…,” he managed quietly, “Su-sure.”

Don’t look at Kacchan don’t look at Kacchan don’t look at Kac-

“What?” Kacchan said after a few moments, sounding almost hoarse.

“I mean, uh, you-,” Izuku said, still not looking at him and trying to find any way to get out of this. He needed to backtrack. “How-how would I know? I didn’t even-I’ve only seen you wearing glasses once, so…I don’t-I mean I guess…you-uh…you…never mind. I don’t know.”

Kill him. Kill him right now. Open a hole beneath him and send him straight to hell, that would be better than this. The truth was that Kacchan looked hot all the time, not just in glasses. Izuku’s thoughts were slowly turning into a constant scream.

“Anyways!” Kirishima said loudly, barely snapping Izuku out of his head, “Has anyone watched the latest trailer for that new movie with Takeyama Yu in it?”

“The one where she turns into a giant lady?” Kaminari said, “Yeah, it seems cool.”

As their friends started talking about movies and stuff around them, Izuku was slowly able to relax enough to focus on eating his lunch, but made a point not to look at Kacchan. When the break time came to an end, though, and Kacchan still hadn’t said a word, he finally did look. Kacchan was staring down at the table, either zoned out or dazed, corners of his lips twitched up in the slightest of smiles. His mind was obviously elsewhere. What in the world?

“Kacchan?”

Kacchan blinked a few times, sitting upright and turning to look at him. “Ye-um, what?”

“You just looked a little…out of it,” Izuku said, tilting his head slightly.

“I what? I mean-” Kacchan cleared his throat quietly “-I’m good. I was just thinking about some sh*t…school sh*t.”

“Okay,” Izuku said, still a little confused, “Well, lunch is over now so I have to go. See you later!”

“Oh, yeah. See you.”

Izuku smiled and slung his bag over his shoulder, pressing a quick kiss to Kacchan’s cheek almost on automatic before leaving for his next class. He hoped Kacchan was alright. He also hoped he hadn’t noticed that Izuku had maybe, definitely agreed that he was hot.

He really, really hoped he hadn’t noticed that.

Later that afternoon, he got a text from the groupchat Mina had made for their lunch group that was hardly used for anything but the occasional memes Kaminari sent and the threats Kacchan responded with.

Lunch Babes!

Ashido: hey everyone!! I was thinking it would be fun if we all got together to study sometime? what do you think?

Kirishima: more people more fun!

Kaminari: mina don’t lie this was bakugou’s idea

Kacchan!! :D: stfu

Kaminari: ;)

Kacchan!! :D: what the hell is that supposed to mean, dunce face??

Izuku laughed a little. Kacchan’s friends were funny.

Ochako: good idea, bakugou :)

Kacchan!! :D: it wasn’t my f*cking idea

Sero: liar

Me: that sounds like fun!!

Tsuyu: yeah!

Iida: It would be very useful to study with more people.

Todo: Sure

Ashido: wooh! how about tomorrow after classes, maybe around five?

Kirishima: there’s a cool lounge area near the library we can go to!

Everyone responded with excited confirmations except Kacchan, who just said ‘fine.’ Izuku smiled at that. Same old Kacchan. Studying with him would be fun, especially with their friends around. Being alone with Kacchan right now would be difficult at best. At least with other people he had distractions and things to pull him out of his head before he freaked out or did or said something stupid.

Though, of course, Mina was the one who made him admit that he thought Kacchan was hot. Out loud. He agreed to that out loud. Then tried to cover it by rambling like a dumbass. Dear lord, he was a mess.

During lunch the next day, Kacchan thankfully didn’t seem weird, and Izuku started hoping that maybe he hadn’t noticed the slip up.

Kacchan had apparently read even further through the Mirko comics, having found a lot of the older issues online, and they talked about those both on their phone call and at lunch. Izuku liked talking about nerdy stuff with Kacchan, just like they were back in primary or middle school. It was nice knowing things between them hadn’t changed that much.

Besides the whole being in love with him thing, of course. Back in middle school Izuku just got flustered sometimes and had some rom-com dreams. (He was pretty sure the rom-com dreams were making a return now, though.)

Either way, he was feeling pretty good about keeping his feelings under wraps and sticking to friendship thoughts. Until, that is, he walked into the study room off the library his friends had decided to settle in, and found Kacchan sitting across from Kaminari, yelling about integrals and wearing his glasses again for some reason. WHAT.

Here’s the thing. It’s not that Kacchan wasn’t attractive without glasses, or was more so with them, but when he was wearing them he looked different. And Izuku had been dealing with normal Kacchan for long enough now that he could keep himself from getting too flustered – at least outwardly – but with a whole new Kacchan look, he had to figure that out all over again.

“Oh, hey, Midoriya’s here! And Tsuyu!” Kaminari said loudly, holding his hands out towards Izuku like Izuku could save him from the angry Kacchan trying to teach him math. Said angry Kacchan actually did stop yelling at his announcement, turning to face the doorway and Izuku standing in it.

“Hello,” Tsuyu said pleasantly, making her way to sit beside Ochako at the far end of the table.

“Hi,” Izuku said, waving a bit and sitting in the empty chair by Kacchan, trying not to stare. His face felt hot. Was he blushing? He definitely was. Oh no. “What are you guys working on?”

“Math,” Kaminari answered, groaning, “I hate it.”

“Me too,” Izuku agreed, “Not like Kacchan, who’s obsessed with it.”

“I am not obsessed with it,” Kacchan protested, “But I like it, and I’m f*cking good at it.”

Izuku nodded a bit in agreement, still not looking over. Kacchan had always been better at math and science, and more interested. Izuku liked certain aspects of science (i.e., neuroscience and psychology), but he usually preferred writing and history. It meant he and Kacchan’s homework sessions together as kids often worked out nicely, each of them filling in for what the other was missing.

“Well, I am neither of those,” Kaminari said, frowning down at his textbook.

Izuku chuckled. “Here, I can try to help. I think I’ve taken that class already.”

“You know what, yeah, let someone else deal with you for once, and I can finally do my own sh*t,” Kacchan said, opening his laptop.

Izuku was able to distract himself by helping Kaminari for the next half hour, only glancing over at Kacchan a couple times. He seemed focused on his work. Izuku wanted to sigh. Not only was Kacchan hot, but he was also super smart.

“Okay, okay, I think I finally get it now,” Kaminari said eventually.

Izuku smiled. “Yeah? Great!”

“Man, you’re so much nicer than Bakugou with this.”

“Shut the f*ck up, Dunce Face,” Kacchan snapped, not looking up from whatever he was doing. Izuku laughed. “Yer just lucky Deku’s got the patience of a f*cking saint. I don’t.”

“All that patience is from a lifetime with Kacchan,” Izuku said, smirking. Kacchan finally turned from his computer to glare at him, and Izuku felt his face go up in flame immediately. Angry Kacchan in glasses glaring at him. Oh no. Hot.

Also, whenever Kacchan glared, he got these little wrinkles between his eyebrows and Izuku kind of wanted to kiss them. Which was such a weird thing to think! Stop thinking!

“I’m not the one who mutters sh*t all the time,” Kacchan said, reminding him that he was in the middle of a conversation here. Unable to think of anything to say, he just poked Kacchan in the side and stuck his tongue out. Kacchan poked him back, forcing a little laugh out of him. He was too ticklish to start a poking fight, he should’ve known that.

“Stop that!” he said, slapping Kacchan’s hand. Kacchan grinned and poked him again in the same spot. “No! Not again!” Izuku scrambled back out of his chair and out of Kacchan’s reach. Instead, he moved around to come up behind his friend’s seat, leaning down to rest his chin on Kacchan’s hair and hug him loosely over his shoulders. “Ha, can’t get me now.”

“f*ck you,” Kacchan said with no heat to it, reaching up to squish Izuku’s cheeks between his hands. Izuku snickered at that.

“What are you working on?” he asked, much less awkward when he could only see Kacchan’s face in the faint, blurry reflection on his computer.

Kacchan moved his hands up, linking them on top of Izuku’s head and trapping him. Izuku’s heart fluttered with how comfortable Kacchan seemed to be with him doing this. “Organic chemistry,” he answered.

“Fancy nerd science,” Izuku teased, smiling as his face undoubtably turned pink.

Kacchan shook Izuku’s head back and forth a bit. “f*ck off.”

“I can’t, you trapped me,” Izuku pointed out, though he didn’t mind. Kacchan’s hands dropped off his head and back to his keyboard. Aw.

“You’re free. Now stop distracting me.”

“I’m distracting Kacchan?” Izuku asked with feigned innocence.

“Yes, by being an annoying little sh*t.”

“Excuse you, I’m your friend,” Izuku teased, moving his arms up to cover Kacchan’s eyes.

“Deku, f*cking-” Kacchan snapped, grabbing his arms. “Let me go.”

“Make me,” Izuku challenged. Big mistake. Kacchan immediately reached back to tickle under his arms, making him screech and jolt back, nearly falling on his butt. The second he regained balance, thought, Kacchan tackled him, sending them both to the ground and landing on one of the beanbags strewn about the room. Izuku yelped, trying to wrestle him off.

“No doing that indoors!” Iida said, chopping his hand up and down.

“Yeah, Kacchan!” Izuku agreed, pushing Kacchan back.

“f*ck you, Deku,” Kacchan huffed, glaring at him. Then, Kacchan turned and collapsed face-up on top of him like a deadweight, his back against Izuku’s chest.

“Agh!” Izuku wheezed, wrapping his arms around Kacchan’s waist in a half-assed attempt to get him off. “No fighting inside!”

“I’m not doing sh*t,” Kacchan said, resting his head back on Izuku’s shoulder and smirking at the ceiling. His cheeks were pink again.

Izuku titled his head with the intention of knocking it against Kacchan’s, but ended up just leaving his cheek pressed against the tousled blonde. “What happened to being busy?”

“Eh, I can take a break,” Kacchan said, relaxing his shoulders and making Izuku blush harder than he already was, “Just lay here for a while maybe.”

“Sure,” Izuku answered a little too quick. Uh oh. Maybe Kacchan would just think he was teasing back? Except, Kacchan apparently took his invitation and didn’t move to get up, or even move Izuku’s arms off his stomach. So, Izuku found himself practically cuddling his crush on a beanbag on the floor of the library with all their friends in the vicinity.

If middle school me could see this he’d faint.

After a few minutes, he actually managed to relax, the panicked yelling in his head fading away with the smell of Kacchan and the comforting warmth. They used to fall asleep together all the time as kids, and sometimes young Izuku would find himself unable to sleep alone after too many nights with Kacchan. Even when they got older and sleepovers became neighboring futons on a bedroom floor, they’d often wake up with limbs entangled anyways. The familiar feeling mixed with his tiredness and lack of sleep meant he quickly found his eyes fluttering shut, the sounds of his friends talking blurring away.

He’d just rest his eyes for a second, then Kacchan would eventually get off and they’d get back to studies.

At least, that’s what he thought would happen until he blearily opened his eyes to Ochako poking his forehead. She smiled at him. “Hello there, sleepyhead. You want to get any studying done during this study session?”

“What do you-did I fall asleep?” Izuku said, clearing his throat a bit to prevent himself from croaking.

Ochako laughed under her breath. “You and Bakugou both, though I’m not gonna be the one that wakes him up.”

Izuku felt his face heat again, trying to sit up a little to find that Kacchan was, in fact, still on top of him, his hands on Izuku’s. “Me and Kacchan? For how long?”

“Like, forty minutes,” Ochako answered, “I mean, you can go back to sleep if you want.” Ochako shrugged and winked at him, then stood up fully and went back to her seat. Izuku blushed at the implications of the wink. This was not flirting!

He craned his neck a bit to get a better look at Kacchan’s face, and his heart fluttered again. Kacchan was very much asleep, eyes closed and lips parted slightly, looking both peaceful and like the gremlin he always was. His glasses were slightly crooked, too. Izuku didn’t want to wake him up for multiple reasons. Partially because Kacchan might get mad or embarrassed about falling asleep around his friends. Partially because he was cute.

Because of the second reason, he decided he had to wake him up, and the first way he thought of to do that – besides kissing him awake, which was a no – was to flick his nose. Kacchan’s only reaction was to snarl, curling his upper lip and not opening his eyes. Izuku’s heart was melting.

His second attempt was putting his hand over Kacchan’s face and pushing his head off Izuku’s shoulder. Kacchan did make a noise at this, and Izuku quickly retracted his hand before he got bit (it happened a few times when they were six).

Kacchan opened his ruby red eyes, tilting his head to the side to glare and adjusting his glasses. “What the f*ck?”

“Good morning,” Izuku said, smiling, “We fell asleep. Also, it’s not morning. It’s like six pm.”

Kacchan squinted at him, seeming confused. “We…fell asleep? What-” Kacchan stopped talking suddenly as his eyes widened, sitting up quickly and scrambling off of Izuku’s lap. In the process, he slammed his hand into Izuku’s stomach, causing him to shoot upright also and wheeze, then start coughing.

“Ow! Kacchan!” he coughed, rubbing the last of sleep from his eyes.

“They’re both awake now!” Sero called from somewhere in the room.

Izuku opened his eyes to huff at Kacchan. “That hurt, Kacchan. And after I let you use me as a mattress.”

“Wha-I didn’t-shut up,” Kacchan spluttered, face red again. Was he embarrassed? If he was embarrassed, then he probably wouldn’t do this again. Kacchan was even starting to lean away from him, both still sitting on the floor. Izuku was having none of that.

“It’s fine, I don’t mind,” he said, smiling, “Kacchan can use me as a pillow anytime.”

He felt his face immediately go red as the words left his mouth. He very much did not mean to be that forward. Kacchan was still leaning away, eyes slightly wider.

“Anyways,” Izuku said loudly, breaking eye contact and forcing himself to his feet, “I should get to my essay now.”

“Chop chop, Bakugou,” Sero said, grinning, “Nap time is over.”

Kacchan stood and flipped Sero off, then aggressively took his seat next to Izuku.

Needless to say, Izuku had a difficult time writing that essay.

--

Katsuki read two extra textbook chapters than were assigned during the study session, knowing that the second he took his mind off chemistry and nuclear reactions, his brain would have its own nuclear meltdown. How in the f*cking world did he end up falling asleep on top of Deku? For f*ck’s sake, he’d woken up holding his goddamn hand again!

One second, he’s wrestling Deku and teasing him, the next their f*cking cuddling in front of all their friends. What the actual f*cking f*ck.

Deku was just so…comfortable. It felt like sleeping with your favorite stuffed animal as a five-year-old or something. If your stuffed animal also smelled really good and you wanted to kiss it.

Never mind that analogy.

Eventually, all of Deku’s friends left, leaving just Katsuki, Deku, and Katsuki’s merry band of idiots that thought they knew sh*t about romance. Though, to give them credit, Mina did somehow get Deku to maybe, kind of, possibly admit that he thought Katsuki was hot the other day. Which had definitely broken his brain for a full ten minutes. Thanks Mina.

Deku closed his laptop, making Katsuki realize he’d been re-reading the same sentence over and over again.

“Okay, I am finally done with that,” Deku said, smiling and stretching his arms out over his head. “Now I gotta go grocery shopping before the store closes.” He slipped his computer into his bag, standing and shouldering it. “Thanks so much for putting this together, Ashido!”

Mina looked up from her computer where she was almost definitely not doing schoolwork, smiling. “No problem, cutie! We gotta do it again!”

“I agree,” Deku said, “See you tomorrow, everyone. Bye, Kacchan.”

“Bye,” Katsuki managed before Deku gave him a peck on the temple and left the room. Nuclear meltdown initiated. f*ck.

There was a long, drawn-out moment of silence, then Kaminari burst out laughing. Katsuki was too fried to even yell at him, instead dropping his head forward and slamming it into his textbook. That made all his friends start cackling.

“Shut the f*ck up, all of you,” he snapped. They did not shut the f*ck up.

“Oh my gosh,” Mina laughed, and Katsuki sat up to see her wiping a tear from the corner of her eye with her finger, “That was – sh*t, I’m gonna mess up my makeup – that was the most-I don’t even know if that was a success or not!”

“You-” Kaminari attempted through laughter so intense it was starting to be silent, “-okay, let’s just-hah! Let’s just review here!”

“No, f*ck you,” Katsuki growled, but he doubted Kaminari even heard him.

“One,” Kaminari said, holding up a finger and sucking in a huge breath, “you suggest we have a study session with him so you can see him more.” Katsuki glared at him, wanting to protest but unable to without lying.

“Two!” Sero continued, “You wore your glasses because he might have said they were hot!”

“No, he definitely said they were hot,” Mina corrected, giggling.

“And three,” Sero said, grinning and leaning across the table towards Katsuki, “you fell asleep with him.”

“On top of him!” Kaminari clarified, breaking into another fit of cackles.

“f*ck you,” Katsuki hissed, “And quiet the hell down, we’re in a library.”

Kirishima reached over to pat his back. “Aw, man, don’t worry, bro. I think this was definitely successful.”

“I mean, yeah,” Mina said, shrugging, “he also fell asleep. It was cute.”

“I am not f*cking cute,” Katsuki growled.

“I think Midoriya would disagree, but okay,” Mina said smoothly, raising her eyebrows and looking down at her computer.

Katsuki opened his mouth to snap another retort, and then her words caught up to him and set his train of thought on fire. “What?” he choked out.

“Dude,” Kirishima said, grinning, “he woke up before you did, and I swear to God he was staring at you for a full minute before waking you up too.”

“And I could see those heart eyes from all the way over here,” Mina swooned.

Katsuki blinked at her, trying his damndest to pull any coherent thoughts or words out of his dumpster fire of a brain. “I-he-you-heart eyes?” was what came out. Yikes.

“He’s broken again!” Sero announced. Katsuki couldn’t even yell at him for it, because he was too busy trying to process that fact that Deku was staring at him.

Up until that point, he hadn’t really considered whether or not Deku felt the same way. He’d just been barreling forwards with his own plans in hopes to make Deku like him enough to say yes to one date or something, then go from there. Thinking about it now was f*cking him up.

Deku did say he was hot, though.

“He’s kinda creeping me out now,” Kaminari mumbled, just loud enough for Katsuki to hear.

“Give him a second to process,” Mina responded.

“The f*ck?” Katsuki snapped, glaring at them.

“Ah, you’re back!” Sero said, holding his hands up.

“You were smiling really weirdly at the table, I thought you were going insane,” Kaminari said.

“I’m not f*cking going insane, dipsh*t,” Katsuki growled.

“Are you just now realizing that Midoriya might like you?” Mina cut in.

Katsuki glared at her. It was perfectly logical of him to doubt that. After all, he hadn’t exactly been a great f*cking person to Deku their entire lives. And Deku might think he was hot, but Katsuki thought he was hot and was f*cking…in love with him. Which was entirely different ballpark, and Katsuki wasn’t even going to consider the possibility of Deku mirroring that.

Maybe someday, though? When Katsuki deserved it.

“Man, you’re more oblivious than Kaminari flirting with a lesbian,” Sero said, distracting him from his thoughts.

“Hey!” Kaminari protested, pouting, “That was one time!”

“More like five times,” Mina said.

“One of those times she was bi,” Kaminari said, like that made him look any better.

“Still rejected you, that just makes it worse,” Sero pointed out, shrugging.

“You’re so mean,” Kaminari moaned, “I feel single enough watching him and Mido every day.” He waved a hand in Katsuki’s direction. Katsuki snarled at him. His phone buzzed on the table, and he took it as a welcome distraction from whatever conversation the idiots were having. Especially because the message ended up being from Deku.

Deku :/

>> OH MY GOSH KACCHAN

>> KACCHAN LOOK

<< at what?

>> HOLD ON A SECOND

>> IM STILL AT THE STORE

>> akjsd wait caps lock was on oops

<< what’s the big thing, Deku

>> patience!!!

<< you’re the one freaking out!

>> shush here you go

Deku’s next text was a screenshot of some twitter page announcing a new special issue coming out that weekend that paired up Mirko and Hawks for a new mini arc. Ah, Deku was freaking out over comic books. Of course.

>> !!!!!!!!!

<< cool, I’ve only read Mirko stuff though

>> you should read hawks too!!! he’s pretty awesome

>> and I am VERY excited for them to work together its gonna be SO COOL

>> ooh this means I can go to nighteye again!!!

<< wanna go together? you can try to convince me of Hawks

Katsuki almost started fiddling with his ring from stupid nerves, but Deku responded immediately and didn’t give him a chance.

>> yeah!! that'd be so awesome I miss that

>> saturday afternoon?

<< sure

>> yay!!! you better be prepared to hear the essay I’m gonna write to convince you to read hawks

<< wait f*ck no

>> too late! mwahahaha >:D

<< ugh fine

>> :) see you tomorrow kacchan!

<< yeah see you

“Who you texting with that smile, Bakugou?” Mina said, wiggling her eyebrows.

Katsuki glared up at her. “Who the f*ck do you think,” he deadpanned.

“You should just ask him out, dude,” Kaminari said.

“No,” Katsuki answered immediately. Not yet.

“Ugh, fine. What were you texting about though?”

“We’re going to Nighteye this weekend,” Katsuki said, starting to pack up his stuff.

“Just the two of you?” Kirishima asked.

“Yeah,” Katsuki responded, weirded out by the blank looks his friends were giving him.

“You’re going to a comic book shop,” Sero said, “just the two of you. But no asking him on a date.”

“Yes, what the f*ck is the problem?”

The only response he got was Kaminari slamming his head onto the table.

Chapter 12: nighteye

Chapter Text

Deku wasn’t as patient as he claimed, judging from the fact that the very next day at lunch, he snuck up behind Katsuki and slammed a Hawks comic book down in front of him, leaning forwards to essentially cage Katsuki between his arms, chin resting on his head. Apparently, Deku had decided he really liked doing that, which was very unfortunate for Katsuki’s long-suffering heart and sweaty palms.

“Okay, so I was thinking you should at least read some Hawks if we’re going to get that new issue this weekend,” Deku said, jumping right into nerd sh*t with no time wasted, “and I figured you can start with mine!”

“Thought you were saving the essay for Saturday,” Katsuki managed, annoyingly aware of every point of contact between him and Deku.

“Don’t worry, you’ll still get the essay,” Deku said, and Katsuki could hear the smile in his voice. Cute.

“f*ck,” he swore in mock disappointment. Deku laughed, causing his hear to flutter again. Ugh, go to the hospital, you lovesick idiot. “You gonna sit, or are you waiting for me to read this to you?” he said, referring to the comic book in front of him.

Deku snickered and leaned forward more, pressing his chest against Katsuki’s back and squishing him against the table, sending Katsuki’s brain and heart into overdrive. “You always did great impressions.”

Katsuki forced himself into sitting upright, shoving Deku back and off of him. He was still laughing. Thankfully for his sanity, Deku stayed off and flopped down into the seat next to him instead.

“Who’s Hawks?” Mina asked from across the table. Katsuki immediately reached over to slap his hand over Deku’s mouth.

“Nope.”

Deku giggled and pried his hand off his mouth. “Kacchan! I won’t ramble, I promise.”

Katsuki raised an eyebrow at him, thoroughly unconvinced. Never in Katsuki’s lifetime of knowing Deku had he ever not rambled about superheroes.

“Okay, well you’re just gonna stop me when I do ramble, so it’ll be fine,” Deku amended.

Katsuki rolled his eyes and turned back to his lunch. “Fine. You asked for it, Pinky.” In no time, Deku was off on a tangent about this birdbrained comic book character, the same one he’d given Katsuki when first mentioning Hawks. Katsuki minded it a lot less in person than over the phone, because in person he could watch Deku’s eyes light up and see him wave his hands around as he talked. Even better when the ramble was at someone who wasn’t Katsuki, because then he could stare without worry of being noticed. Not that Deku was likely to notice anything in his surroundings when he got like this.

When Deku got that certain look that he got when starting to dive in deeper to something, usually about to analyze and probably slip into mumbling, Katsuki jabbed him in the arm with his elbow.

Deku blinked a few times, surprised, then smiled at him. “See, I knew you would.”

“Pretty much no one ever needs to know as much as you do about comic book sh*t, Deku,” Katsuki said.

“You say that like someone who hasn’t matched my All Might enthusiasm since we were five years old,” Deku shot back, grinning, “And like someone who doesn’t insist he’s a bigger fan than I am.”

Katsuki side-eyed him with a glare. “Shut up.”

“Meh, I guess you’re right,” Deku said, waving his hand dismissively and smirking, “I’d probably beat you in a trivia contest.”

“Like hell you would beat me,” Katsuki snapped back, same old pride rearing its head at the stupid challenge.

“That sounds pretty nerdy, Kacchan.” Deku smiled wider and leaned in closer, raising an eyebrow. Well, f*ck him and his stupid cute face.

“You trying to get me to kick your ass, Deku?” Katsuki said, feeling himself lean in to without meaning to.

“Try it, Kacchan,” Deku responded, his smile betraying his attempt at a serious challenge. But Katsuki hasn’t turned down that invitation since they were four years old. He lunged forward, pulling Deku into a headlock and ruffling his soft curls of green hair, grinning. Deku yelped, then laughed, wrapping his arms around Katsuki’s waist and making him blush profusely. Asshole. And then Deku squeezed tighter, fingers finding his one stupid ticklish spot, and they both yelped as Katsuki’s jolted reaction sent them falling backwards off the bench.

“f*ck!” Katsuki yelled, releasing Deku from the headlock against his chest and spreading his arms out to his sides, one foot still up on the bench. Deku groaned and giggled, rolling to the side so his head rested on one of Katsuki’s arms, his arm under Katsuki’s back.

“Ouch,” he said, panting. Katsuki titled his head over to see him beaming at the sky. He was pretty.

“That was your fault.”

Deku turned his head to say something back, but was interrupted by Frog girl calling, “Are you two alright?” from the table.

“Yeah, we’re good!” Deku called back. He winced a bit. “Ow, my back. And my head.”

“Your fault,” Katsuki repeated.

Deku frowned at him. “Excuse you, you’re the one who fell backwards. And now I am gravely injured. I’m dying and it’s your fault, is that all you have to say?”

“f*cking dramatic bitch,” Katsuki grumbled, smiling a bit, “You want me to kiss your boo boos better?”

Deku’s cheeks went pink. Hell yeah. “I think I have too many boo boos for that, Kacchan,” he said, bringing his right hand around to wave it above Katsuki’s face. The sleeve of his hoodie slid down a bit to reveal the scars on that arm and hand. “And an oncoming headache,” he added.

Katsuki hardly knew what he was doing until he did it, pulling Deku’s hand down to lightly kiss the scar across his knuckles then quickly releasing him. Deku made a choked squeaking noise, and Katsuki sat upright without looking at him, then forced a deep breath to keep his brain functioning. This was a f*cking opportunity, no matter how impulsive his action was. What the f*ck did I just do oh my God.

He glanced back over his shoulder to find Deku still laying on his back in the grass, eyes wide, cheeks red, hand hovering halfway to the ground again.

“Feel better?” he managed, trying to be smooth and not the on-fire disaster he had been the past weeks. Because yes, of course he could f*cking flirt with stupidly handsome and stupidly smooth Deku. He even f*cking made him blush. Again. Ha.

“Uh…it…you…,” Deku said, then mumbled something Katsuki couldn’t hear, the flush on his cheeks spreading to his ears.

“What?”

“Nothing!” Deku squeaked, sitting up. Right then, Katsuki kind of hated how flustered Deku always got when he was embarrassed, because he couldn’t for the life of him tell if his flirting was working or if Deku was just his usual shy self. Embarrassed because Katsuki had, you know, kissed his f*cking hand like some Disney prince type sh*t.

“What are y’all doing over there?” Sero yelled from a table. Katsuki flipped him off, then stood and brushed the dirt of his pants the best he could. Deku was still on the ground.

“Deku, you coming?”

Deku coughed, then nodded and scrambled to his feet. “Yep, I’m coming, all good.” He was still blushing, but now a wobbly smile had spread across his face, like a f*cking Charlie Brown character. Maybe kissing his hand wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

That Saturday came soon enough, and Katsuki had to stop himself from overthinking what he wore before going to meet Deku on campus. This was not a date. And his outfit was such a dumb thing to waste time over. Jeans and a f*cking t-shirt with his bomber jacket, move on.

Deku’s dorm was on Katsuki’s way to Nighteye, so Deku was waiting for him outside the building when Katsuki walked up, scrolling through something on his phone. Katsuki found himself unintentionally slowing his walk so he could look at him a few extra seconds. He looked nice, if not nerdy as sh*t, green flannel open to show a black graphic Hawks t-shirt loosely tucked into the blue jeans from the party. He also had the same dumb All Might belt to top it all off. f*cking attractive nerd.

“Hey,” Katsuki said, announcing his presence because he could tell from Deku’s expression that he was so wrapped up in whatever he was reading he wouldn’t have notice Katsuki’s approach. Or his staring, hopefully.

Deku looked up from his phone, his whole expression lighting up in a way that made Katsuki want to kiss him so badly. “Kacchan! Hey!”

“See you got the nerdy ensemble ready,” Katsuki said, nodding at his shirt.

Deku smirked. “You’re one to talk. I know a limited edition All Might shirt when I see one, Kacchan.” He was referring to Katsuki’s black t-shirt that said ‘Plus Ultra!’ on the back, with a small yellow V-shape on the front left breast. It was in fact a limited edition.

“This is classy nerd sh*t,” Katsuki said.

“Still nerd sh*t,” Deku grinned smugly. Katsuki punched his shoulder, making him snort. “Okay, let’s go!”

“Sure.” They both started walking off campus towards Nighteye, the cool breeze picking up a bit. Katsuki silently wondered whether Deku would do the hug thing again if it got colder.

“By the way, I wasn’t joking about the Hawks essay,” Deku said. Katsuki started walking faster, but Deku and his stupid long legs kept up easily. “Okay, since now you’ve read the very first issue you know his origin story, but there’s a whole plot twist there that you don’t find out until way later, where his parents are actually-”

Katsuki tuned Deku out about three quarters of the way through the walk, which was a f*cking feat if you asked him. From what he did pay attention to, Hawks was interesting enough, though he seemed a little pompous to Katsuki. He was still team Mirko if they were taking sides.

When they got to Nighteye, Deku cut off his own f*cking ramble to gasp, grinning wide. “Oh my gosh, it hasn’t changed a bit!”

“Not really,” Katsuki agreed, opening the door and going in after Deku. The bell chimed as he did this, making both the blonde guy from last week and some new guy with dark hair look up from behind the counter. The blonde guy grinned and waved.

“Heyo! Welcome to Nighteye Comics!”

“Hi!” Deku chirped back, just as bright.

“I’m Mirio Togata, let me know if you need anything,” Blondie said. The guy next to him hadn’t said a word, just stared at the floor like he didn’t know how to interact with people or didn’t particularly want to. Katsuki could relate to that.

“Nice to meet you, Mirio!” Deku said, approaching the counter, “Actually, I was wondering if you had the new Hawks-Mirko issue?”

“We sure do!” Blondie said with way too much cheer for any regular human being. His and Deku’s interaction was making Katsuki want to remove exclamation points from existence. “Right over there on the front shelf,” Blondie continued, pointing to the other side of the shop.

“Thanks!” Deku said, then suddenly grabbed Katsuki’s hand and dragged him across the shop like they were eight-year-olds again. Except, when they were eight, Katsuki did the grabbing and dragging. Deku let go of his hand when they got to the right shelf, though, and Katsuki wasn’t sure if he was disappointed or relieved about that.

“Oh my God, look at the cover, that is so cool!” Deku said excitedly, grabbing one of the comic books and running his thumb over the top. Him doing so brought Katsuki’s attention back to the scars on that hand and the ones he knew were under the green sleeves, and back to kissing them. Which was such a gross, sappy rom-com thing to imagine. Disgusting.

“Agh, Kacchan, I want to read all of this right now!” Deku bemoaned, pulling Katsuki out of all of his weird thoughts.

“Read it later, nerd.”

“Right,” Deku said, nodding, “we gotta look at other stuff!” He gasped, green eyes sparkling. “Wait, I want to find the spot!”

Again before Katsuki respond, Deku’s hand was in his and he was being led thought the shelves and out of view of the front counter. Deku stopped in a small corner tucked near the back of the shop, between two smaller shelves with the less popular characters, plopping down on the floor and pulling Katsuki down with him.

This was the same spot they used to hide in as kids, reading comics and whispering stuff to each other while thinking their parents had no idea where they were. Though it was a bit of a tighter fit than Katsuki remembered, probably because he and Deku were eighteen, not eight. It felt even closer when Deku turned to beam at him, and Katsuki realized they were still holding hands.

“Bet momma can’t find us here,” he said, raising an eyebrow.

Katsuki snorted. “I’m pretty sure they always knew where we were, just didn’t care enough to try and get us to leave.”

“We never did want to leave, did we?” Deku said, smiling in a soft way that filled Katsuki with the same gross nostalgia he was definitely feeling.

“Hell no,” Katsuki agreed. Deku laughed quietly, then reached into the shelf behind him and grabbed a random comic book.

“Let’s see what we have here nowadays!” He held to book out in front of him so Katsuki could see it too. “Ooh, Captain Selkie.”

“Ocean rescue hero,” Katsuki read off the cover. He squinted at the drawing of the seal-man superhero, poised on the bow of some ship. “Looks badass, I guess.”

Deku hummed in agreement, flicking the comic book open to the first page. “One a.m., somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean,” he read aloud in a strange movie trailer narration voice. Katsuki rolled his eyes, and Deku switched to a different, higher voice for the dialogue on the page. “Captain Selkie, we’ve got a reading on the sensors! Something big!”

Then Deku turned to him, raising his eyebrows and smiling expectantly. Katsuki stared at his doe-eyes for a moment, the huffed and looked to the page, feeling his cheeks heat a bit.

“Do you think it could be…,” he read from the next character’s dialogue bubble, trying not to laugh. Deku’s grin was worth the embarrassment, though. He flipped to the next page to reveal a full-page drawing of some crazy sea monster coming out of the ocean, a few inlaid panels of scared crew members.

“The giant sea serpent!” Deku yelled quietly, making an over-dramatic surprised face. “Oh no, Kacchan, not the sea serpent!”

“You’re so stupid,” Katsuki said, shaking his head.

Deku grinned and nudged him with his elbow. “It’s your turn to read, Kacchan.”

And so Katsuki found himself once again doing the same things with Deku they’d been doing since they were brats, this time squishing together in the back of Nighteye and reading a comic book aloud, stupid impressions included. After he let go of how stupid he felt, Katsuki actually found himself enjoying it. Especially because Deku seemed to be having so much fun with it, too. He kept smiling and laughing, and Katsuki’s chest felt warm because f*ck, I love him.

It just hit him at one point, he’s not exactly sure when. He looked over at Deku and remembered that he loved him, and found himself wondering how the thought had ever not been in his mind or left it at all. He didn’t even have it in him to think about how cheesy and gross that was.

“To be continued,” Deku finished with the same weird movie trailer voice. “The end!” he said in his normal voice, shutting the comic book with a grin and a laugh.

“We’re not continuing that sh*t,” Katsuki said, giving him a small smile back anyways.

“Maybe next time we come here we’ll return to the adventures of Captain Selkie, but right now, I am cramped,” Deku said, stretching his arms up over his head and wincing a bit.

“Yeah, we’re not exactly small anymore,” Katsuki agreed, trying to get the crick out of his back from hunching over for too long.

“Maybe I’m not,” Deku said, putting a hand on Katsuki’s head to push himself to his feet.

“f*ck you,” Katsuki snapped, punching his leg and standing himself.

“You can’t fight me in here,” Deku pointed out quickly, smirking and slipping out of the nook to the rest of the shop. Katsuki growled under his breath and followed him. f*cker. Deku made his way through some of the other shelves on their way to the front counter, but evidently found nothing of interest in his scans.

“Hey! Find everything you need?” Blondie asked when they got to the front.

“Yes, thank you!” Deku said, putting the Hawks-Mirko issue on the counter with a few yen. Deku and Blondie exchanged some pleasantries Katsuki didn’t care enough about to listen to, then Deku finally waved goodbye and they could head out. “Hey, want to go to a café or something? It’s lunch time, just about,” Deku suggested when they got outside.

“You just want to read that now, don’t you,” Katsuki deadpanned. Deku rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Maybe…and maybe I’d rather hang out with you than go be alone with my homework,” he said, finishing with a dorky smile. Cute.

“Sure, why not,” Katsuki agreed, shoving his hands in his coat pockets and starting down the sidewalk. “Follow me, there’s a new bakery and café over here that’s pretty good.” Deku fell into step beside him, smiling at nothing. He did that pretty often.

They made it to the bakery, a small place owned by a local and staffed by a few college students. Today, the woman behind the cash register is someone Katsuki recognized and remembered, a rare feat. Her name was Jirou, she had some badass purple hair, she went to UA, and seeing Kaminari get shot down by her the first time they came to the bakery was one of Katsuki’s most cherished memories.

“Oh, hey, you’re back,” she said, looking up upon their entrance and popping the bubble of gum in her mouth, “Long time no see, where’s the idiot?”

“Sup, Earrings,” Katsuki said, referring to the wild earrings Jirou always seemed to be wearing. Today was miniature electric guitars. Mina said it was a lesbian or bisexual thing. “The idiot ain’t here today.”

“Who’s the idiot?” Deku asked, confused.

“Kaminari,” Katsuki and Jirou answered at the same time.

Deku sighed. “So mean, Kacchan.”

“Who’re you?” Jirou asked him.

“Oh, I’m Midoriya Izuku, nice to meet you!” Deku introduced himself cheerily, “I’m Kacchan’s friend.”

Jirou raised an eyebrow at the nickname, smiling a bit, then shrugged. “Cool. I’m Jirou Kyoka. What can I get for you?”

They both ordered coffee and some kind of sandwich and took seats at one of the tables by the window after Katsuki bullied Deku into letting him pay. He pretty much just swiped his card first then pushed Deku away before he could protest, glaring him into silence.

As he expected, Deku immediately was absorbed by his new comic book, barely reacting when Katsuki put his coffee and food in front of him. Even watching him read a f*cking comic book made Katsuki feel things, with his stupid little focused face and the way his eyes went slightly wider at a surprise or plot twist, or the way he sometime worried his bottom lip absentmindedly. Katsuki definitely zoned out just staring at him. Eventually, though, he pulled himself together enough to eat his sandwich and drink his coffee, almost finished by the time Deku closed the comic book. He was grinning.

“Lived up to the hype?” Katsuki asked, sipping his drink.

Deku nodded energetically. “Definitely! You should read it, the way the writer set it up was-”

“Don’t f*cking analyze it to me before I’ve read it, sheesh,” Katsuki interrupted, “Now drink your f*cking coffee before it freezes over or some sh*t.”

“Sorry, Kacchan,” Deku said, still smiling as he took a bite of his sandwich. “By the way, how do you know…uh, Jirou? Her,” he said, gesturing to Jirou, who was leaning over the front counter and scrolling through her phone.

“I’ve come to this place a few times with my friends, and she’s had shifts,” Katsuki answered, “She’s pretty cool.”

Deku raised his eyebrows. “Pretty cool? That’s high praise from you! She does seem cool though.”

Katsuki nodded, crumping up his empty sandwich bag in his hand and standing to go throw it away. “Be right ba-”

“IZU!” a very loud, very excited voice interrupted as the door to the café flew open and blur of red and grey barreled inside and slammed into Deku in his chair. Deku’s eyes went wide and he jumped to his feet, allowing the blur that happened to be a child into his arms and lifting her up in a hug.

“Hey, there, Eri!” he said, sounding extremely confused yet happy, “What are you doing here?”

“Who the-” Katsuki started, but was once again interrupted by someone bursting into the shop, this time a very tired and scruffy looking man with long black hair and grey scarf. He was glaring at Deku.

“Give me back my daughter, please,” the man growled. What in the f*ck was going on? Katsuki glanced back at Jirou, who looked just as startled and confused as he was.

“Your daughter?” Deku repeated, still holding the young girl in his arms. The girl twisted around to face her father, grinning brightly.

“Dad! It’s Izu!” she chirped, bouncing up and down a little like kids did when they were happy. “Izu, this is my dad! Can you believe it? I have two whole dads now and a big brother! His name is Hitoshi and he has purple hair and he likes cats and I like cats and we have two cats! Muffin and Puddles! I love them, and they love me and they’re my family!” The girl was rambling just as much as Deku did, her red eyes sparkling as everyone in the bakery just stared at her. Deku was looking at her like he was about to cry, still smiling.

“Eri,” he said gently, cutting off her rant, “that’s so good to hear, and I’m so happy for you, but I think you should go back to Dr. Ai-I mean, your dad!” He set her down on the ground, but she just hugged to his leg.

“No, I missed you!” she said, squeezing him tightly. Deku was definitely holding back tears now.

“Aw, Eri, I missed you too!” he said, patting her head, “But I think your dad is mad at me for stealing you away for too long,” he added, looking up nervously at the scruffy man, who was scrutinizing him. “Sorry, Dr. Aizawa,” he said quietly when Eri still didn’t let go. Ah, so this was the infamous strict Dr. Aizawa that assigned way too much homework. Why did Deku know his kid? The f*ck?

“Dad, stop looking at him like that!” Eri finally whined, making her father look down at her, “This is Izu, remember? He’s the best!”

“You’re ‘Izu’,” Dr. Aizawa said, looking Deku up and down.

“Ah, I see you’ve heard of me,” Deku laughed nervously, “Let me tell you, I’m so glad that your Eri’s dad now, and that she got adopted!” he addressed the last part to the kid, smiling.

She smiled right back, nodding vigorously. “I sure did! Two years ago!”

“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Katsuki hissed next to Deku, finally losing patience.

“Oh, Kacchan, this is Eri!” Deku said, gesturing to the kid clinging to his leg, “I met her a few years back when I was volunteering at a homeless shelter. Helped her make it through the system as best as I could before she got put in a foster home.”

“With dad and papa!” Eri added.

Katsuki just stared at him for a second, dumbfounded and getting that feeling again. Of course. Of f*cking course, Deku was still some miracle angel Godsend whatever-the-f*ck, helping orphans and making everyone love him like he was Goddamn magic. He was so f*cking amazing it was annoying and Katsuki loved him for it.

“Wait, you’re Kacchan?” Eri said, making him tear his gaze away from Deku.

“Uh, Bakugou Katsuki, but yeah,” he answered.

Eri’s red eyes went wide and she grinned, pumping her fist in the air. “Plus Ultra! That’s you, right? Wow, we do have matching eyes! Cool!”

Wait, what? Katsuki glanced over at Deku, who had a hand over his mouth and flushed cheeks, then over at Dr. Aizawa, who looked confused and annoyed.

“Yeah, that’s me,” he confirmed, not great with children.

“Izu told me all about you and how cool you were,” Eri said, clasping her hand together excitedly, “He said he went away though and he was sad but now he’s back! And you’re back! You can be friends again!”

“He talked about me,” Katsuki said, looking over to find Deku blushing even harder.

“Eri…”

“Yeah!” Eri said, ignoring Deku, “He said we had matching eyes and that one day I could be great and strong and have cool friends too!”

“Nice,” Katsuki said, smirking, “He was right. You’re already super cool, kid.”

Eri’s eyes went wider. “Kacchan thinks I’m cool,” she breathed, eyes sparkling. Katsuki usually hated kids, but this one was alright, he decided just then.

“Hell yeah I do,” he agreed.

“Kacchan, don’t swear to a kid!” Deku whispered. Katsuki waved him off.

“Eri, we have to go now,” Dr. Aizawa interrupted, “We’re going to be late to meet your brother.”

“Aw, but I want to stay with Izu and Kacchan!” Eri whined, slumping her shoulders.

“Hey, it’s okay Eri,” Deku said, ruffling her hair, “Your dad is my teacher, so we can maybe talk later, okay? Right now, though, you should go with him.”

Eri pouted at him for a second, then hugged him tightly around the legs. “Okay. Bye bye Izu. Love you.”

Deku’s eyes went wide and Katsuki could see his physical effort not to cry. “Love you too, Eri,” he choked out. Eri let go of him, sniffling and wiping away her own tears before grabbing her dad’s hand.

“Bye Kacchan!” she called before leaving.

“Bye kiddo,” Katsuki called back, then raised an eyebrow at Deku, who was halfway to sobbing and slumped over the table. He reached out to awkwardly pat him on the back. “Everything okay, Deku?”

“Yeah,” Deku mumbled meekly into the table, sniveling, “Just give me a minute.”

“Sure.” Katsuki looked back at the counter, where Jirou was still bewildered. “I don’t know what the f*ck that was either.”

Jirou blinked at him, then shrugged. “It was the most interesting thing that’s happened here all month, that’s for sure.”

Katsuki sat back in his seat across from Deku, waiting for him to pull himself together again. It took a minute or two until he finally sat up, wiping his eyes with his flannel sleeves and taking a deep breath.

“Okay, I’m okay now,” he said, “I’m back.”

“Great, want to tell me what the f*ck just happened?”

Deku breathed out a little laugh, smiling. “There’s not much more than what I already said. I was just volunteering at the local homeless shelter in my first year, and one evening this little girl, Eri, came running in all scared. I tried to calm her down and she immediately clung to me and refused to let me go. Turns out she ran away from a pretty bad home life.” He frowned down at the table, tapping his coffee cup with his fingers. Katsuki shoved down some directionless anger. Though, if he ever came across anyone that had hurt Eri, that anger would have a direction.

“Anyways,” Deku continued, “since she seemed to decide I was the one to trust, I stuck with her through social work stuff as much as was legal. Her issues were…really bad. I only got her to smile after a month of trying.” Deku sighed heavily. Katsuki immediately felt pained for Eri, but not at all surprised about her attachment to Deku. Deku was just like that. Apparently, he and Eri had more in common than red eyes.

“But thankfully, there was a doctor with a degree in psychology in children that was willing to foster her, and she got moved across the country. Apparently, that foster parent was Dr. Aizawa!” Deku concluded, “Which is great, because he’s a great man, and she seems really happy. I’m just so glad I got to see her again, I didn’t think I’d be able to.”

“Well now you got some leeway with your professor,” Katsuki pointed out.

“That’s unethical, Kacchan!” Deku chided. Katsuki laughed.

“I’m just saying, you complain about his homework assignments every f*ckin’ day.”

Chapter 13: katsudon

Chapter Text

When Izuku got back to his room later that afternoon, leaving Kacchan out in front of the dorm with another kiss on the cheek, he got right to writing an email to Dr. Aizawa. As far as he was concerned, the day had perfect from start to finish. Not only had he gotten to hang out with Kacchan, bond with him like they used to, and get a new issue of some of his favorite superhero characters, he also saw Eri again. Eri, who he was convinced he’d never see again when she was moved to the foster home a few years ago. Eri, who apparently had a family and cats and smiled all the time now. He almost started crying just thinking about it.

He also decided he should explain himself a little to Dr. Aizawa, especially if he hoped to see Eri again, which is why he was writing the email. It had certainly been a surprise when he same into the café and called Eri his daughter. He didn’t quite seem like a family man, nor the kind of man to own cats named Muffin and Puddles. Just goes to show you don’t judge a book by it’s cover, Izuku guessed.

He detailed his relationship to Eri in the email, though he assumed that Eri had told Dr. Aizawa about him from their conversation at the bakery. Izuku was touched she remembered him so fondly. But there was, of course, all the things she remembered him saying about Kacchan. In all honestly, he had all but confessed to Eri that he had a crush on Kacchan, but she thankfully didn’t share that much.

He’d told her stuff about Kacchan mostly to make her feel better about herself. The man she called ‘father’ was a horrible person, from what Izuku heard from her and saw from her actions, and made a point to criticize every little thing about Eri, including her eyes. Her beautiful red eyes that made Izuku think of Kacchan, the most amazing person in his life, and he told her that much. And then she insisted knowing more about Kacchan, and Izuku had been physically incapable of saying no to her or to that request.

He sent the email, then grabbed his phone and opened the groupchat with his friends. He’d told all his friend about Eri, kept them updated on her situation, and even introduced them to her at one point shortly before she left. They’d definitely want to hear about seeing her again.

Cold Soba Noodles

Me: guys!!! guess who I saw today!!!!

Me: Eri!!!!!

Ochako: Eri?? what?! how?! where?? how is she?

Me: I saw her at a café today, apparently she’s one of my professor’s adopted daughter!! she seemed so happy it was amazing

Tsuyu: oh my gosh Eri!! that’s so wonderful!

Ochako: whaaaat awesome!! agh I want to see her again! which teacher?

Todo: That’s wonderful news

Me: Dr. Aizawa!

Tsuyu: Dr. Aizawa has a kid? Doesn’t seem like the type…

Me: I didn’t think so either but Eri seemed so happy and comfortable with him :D

Ochako: the strict scary teacher? oh boy

Iida: It’s great that you got to reunite with Eri. Will you be able to see her again and perhaps bring us along?

Me: I hope so!! I just sent Dr. Aizawa and email we’ll see…

Ochako: let us know when he responds!!

Me: for sure :)

Ochako: :) anyways, how was your dat-I mean how was hanging out with bakugou?

Izuku felt his face flush. Ochako!

Me: it wasn’t a date!!!

Ochako: sure it wasn’t…

Me: ajksdssdh OCHAKO!!

Todo: Did you have fun with your friend, Midoriya?

Me: yes, thank you todo. he is my friend and we did have fun

Izuku smiled at his phone. He did have a lot of fun with Kacchan today. He couldn’t believe he’d gotten him to sit there and read a comic book with impressions for nearly and hour, but somehow he did and the thought made his heart warm. And then there was seeing Kacchan interact with Eri, which was adorable and made his heart warm just thinking about it. Kacchan was so amazing.

Todo: Yes, he is your friend for now

Wait.

Me: for now???

Todo: Because you are not dating yet

Ochako: yes todo!!

Me: …O-O

Tsuyu: what did you two do? comic books, right?

Me: yeah, I got this new crossover issue that came out! we went to the café after and that’s where I saw Eri

Iida: I’m glad you had a good time with Bakugou, even thought it was not a date.

Me: …thank you?

Ochako: hold up, let me get this straight

Ochako: you went to a comic book shop with bakugou

Ochako: then a café

Ochako: and I’m betting you kissed him goodbye again

Me: uh…yeah?

Ochako: and yet this was not a date

Me: no

Izuku face was burning. When she put it like that it did look a little like a date. But that didn’t change the fact that if neither he nor Kacchan thought it was a date, it wasn’t.

Ochako: *sighs dramatically* someday…

Tsuyu: someday, babe

Me: stop being vague about me I don’t know what you’re talking about

Me: and I am going to leave and do homework before you keep making fun of me

Izuku turned his phone off, dropping it in his desk drawer before turning back to his computer. He didn’t do his homework, instead scrolling through a few blog posts about the Hawks-Mirko issue and commenting on a few of them. He was mostly anxious for Dr. Aizawa to respond to his email, though teachers probably wouldn’t check their work emails on a weekend, so he tried forcing his mind to other topics. When the online blog posts and forums got repetitive, his thoughts drifted to the one and only Kacchan, of course.

Kacchan, who, he suddenly recalled as had happened many times since that day, had kissed his hand. Kissed his hand. His hand! All out of nowhere and gentle and with a smooth one-liner after he did it. Izuku lightly traced the line of the scar across his knuckles, remembering the soft feeling of Kacchan’s lips against it. Was he being creepy? No, Kacchan’s the one that kissed him. On the hand. Just on the hand. Like some medieval prince, but somehow very cool and not awkward.

Izuku had practically asked him to do it, but he had been joking! Never in a million years would he have thought that Kacchan would actually take him up on it.

And then the final, mortifying end to the situation where Kacchan had asked ‘Feel better?’ like some rom-com protagonist and Izuku had responded by stuttering through random words then mumbling ‘It would be better if you kissed all of them’. Thank the higher powers Kacchan had not heard that. Hopefully.

Though, the fantasy was definitely a nice one.

Izuku sighed loudly to his empty room. He really thought about Kacchan kissing him or kissing Kacchan far too much for someone who was trying to stick to a friendship. He should stop that, and he should also stop indulging in these off-track thoughts or cheesy fantasies. It made it harder for him to control himself around Kacchan. Though, Kacchan thankfully seemed to be getting more and more used to and open to his casual touches, which made it a lot less awkward when he instinctively grabbed his hand to lead him around the comic book shop or surprised him with hugs from behind.

But, Kacchan being more welcoming of his actions made him want to see how much further he could go before getting pushed away, and that would lead to nothing good, he was sure of it. Kacchan was bound to snap at one point, and Izuku didn’t want to risk pushing him to a point of no return. Kissing him would be doing that.

He just had to find balance. A good place Kacchan was comfortable with and Izuku control himself in. Yeah.

He should really get to his homework.

The next day, a Sunday, Izuku found himself spending the evening with his friends, eating takeout and studying in Ochako’s room. Well, Iida and Tsuyu were studying. Izuku was trying to study, but kept getting distracted by Todoroki’s weird theories that he was telling Ochako about while Ochako braided her girlfriend’s hair.

“I mean, you’re right, we don’t technically know whether or not bigfoot is infertile, but I think the fact that there’s only one of them it what keeps their population down to that one,” Ochako said, somehow keeping a straight face through that entire sentence.

“But what about sasquatch?” Todoroki pressed on, also totally serious.

Ochako frowned. “Aren’t sasquatch and bigfoot the same thing?”

“No, they have different names,” Todoroki said matter-of-factly.

“He’s right, they’re different,” Iida added, not looking up from his computer.

“I always thought they were different names for the same creature,” Izuku said.

“Me too!” Ochako said, pointing at him for a second before returning to Tsuyu’s hair, “Besides, even if they were two separate creatures, that would be crossbreeding species.”

“And what’s wrong with that?” Todoroki protested, frowning slightly.

“Nothing’s wrong with it, per say,” Ochako clarified, “but if your point is there are more bigfoots in the world than just one, then a bigfoot-sasquatch hybrid isn’t exactly the same as plain old bigfoot.”

“Good point, love,” Tsuyu said casually, flipping to the next page of her textbook. These kinds of conversations were commonplace in a friend group including Todoroki.

“Thanks babe!”

“Hm,” Todoroki said, “then maybe the creature is a bigfoot-sasquatch hybrid.”

“What would happen if a bigfoot-sasquatch met a yeti?” Izuku suggested, giving up on his assignments in favor of watching Todoroki think up crazy theories.

“Bigfoots and sasquatches live in the woods, not the mountains, so that would never happen,” Todoroki answered, “I don’t think.”

“Okay, but what if they did meet somehow,” Ochako said, “Would we then get a bigfoot-sasquatch-yeti mix? What would that even look like?”

Todoroki looked thoughtful for a second. “Big, hairy, and angry.” Izuku laughed a bit at that.

“So, like, your dad,” Ochako added, grinning. Even Todoroki laughed at that. Izuku’s phone buzzed on the floor next to him, distracting him from the conversation. He picked it up to check the message, wondering if Dr. Aizawa had emailed him back, but was greeted with a message from Kacchan instead.

kacchan!! :D

>> okay I read the first three Hawks issues

<< ooh and what do you think??!

>> Mirko’s better

Izuku snickered at his phone. Kacchan apparently had a new favorite hero in Mirko. It made sense, Mirko definitely had the whole ‘aggressively crush bad guys and win everything’ situation that Kacchan loved.

<< that’s fair

>> yeah duh. you up to anything interesting?

<< study and dinner with my friends right now!! you?

>> just got off my idiot chaperoning duty, now it’s grocery shopping for the week

<< you make meal plans, don’t you?

>> of course I do, how the f*ck else do you eat non-microwave food on a college student budget

<< if you find out, lemme know, cup o noodles are getting old

>> deku do you eat f*cking packaged noodles every damn night

<< uh, yeah, remember what happened last time auntie micchan tried to teach me to cook?

>> pretty sure our entire neighborhood remembers that disaster. I was smelling smoke in the kitchen for weeks

<< exactly, cup o noodles it is

>> you know what, for the sake of auntie, the lovely woman who somehow kept both of us alive this long, you’re learning how to cook deku

<< my mother /is/ lovely thank you, but also what? how?

>> I’ll teach you, duh

Izuku felt his face flush. Kacchan teaching him to cook. Did Kacchan have a list of his deepest romantic fantasies or something?

<< not to doubt you but, kacchan, even your /mother/ couldn’t teach me how to cook

>> unlike my hag mother I’m a great teacher, even to a disaster like you

<< kacchan I am unteachable, pretty sure I’m cursed to always ruin food

>> like some sh*tty deku curse could defeat me, the best chef on earth

<< you can’t make claims like that without proving it, kacchan

>> square up deku, I’ll make you eat those words and some good ass sukiyaki

<< nice word play, but still just words

>> f*ck you, that was a genius line, and also you better step up your game because if you’re just trying to get me to make you a free meal I’m not falling for it

>> you want my cooking you work for it by helping me make it

<< okay, okay, I will let you try to teach me, if you want to risk that

>> no trying involved, you are learning how to cook whether you like it or not because auntie inko’s child will not be living off cup noodles and sh*t while I have anything to say about it

<< I’ll let my mom know of your service, I’m sure she’ll be grateful

<< oh she also told me to say hello to you the other day

>> tell her hi back and I deeply apologize for her kitchen failure of a son

<< :’(

>> suck it up, deku, you won’t be useless for long

<< okay kacchan, thanks for helping me out :)

>> get prepared bitch. I gotta go now, later deku

<< see you!

Izuku put his phone back down, smiling, and tried to tune back into his friend’s conversation.

“Whether or not your dad is bear is dependent on if he’s even gay, first of all,” is what he first heard from Ochako. What.

“We don’t know he’s not gay, though,” Tsuyu said.

Todoroki nodded. “Exactly, arranged marriages don’t count as being straight.”

“Is there a technical definition for a ‘bear’?” Iida asked.

“I’m sorry, where did this conversation come from?” Izuku interrupted.

“Do you think my father is a ‘bear’?” is how Todoroki answered him.

“Wha-why are you even discussing that?” Izuku asked, bewildered.

Todoroki shrugged. “It just came up.”

“Who were you texting?” Tsuyu said.

Izuku shook his head, still confused by the previous conversation. “Kacchan.”

Ochako grinned. “Ooh, what about?”

Izuku huffed at her. “It’s not like that. We were talking about comic books and then he said he was going to teach me to cook because I don’t know how.”

“He’s going to teach you how to cook?” Ochako said, disbelieving, “Bakugou knows how to cook?”

“Yeah, his mom taught him, he’s pretty good at it!” Izuku smiled. “He said it was unacceptable that my mother’s son lives off cup o noodles.”

“He’s right, your mom’s the best cook in the world and you can only make scrambled eggs,” Tsuyu said.

“I think we should go back to Bakugou teaching Izuku how to cook,” Ochako said, “As in, he’s coming over to your room? Just the two of you?”

Izuku blushed and frowned at her. “Stop saying it like that, I told you already! I’m not flirting with him!”

“Why are you so opposed to the idea that what you do with Bakugou is flirting?”

“It’s not!” Izuku repeated, flustered. He honestly didn’t know the answer to that question. Or maybe he did but he didn’t want to face it.

“Why not?” Ochako pressed.

“Because-because if I’m flirting than Kacchan is flirting back!” he squeaked, spouting his thoughts before he could think them all the way through.

“Exactly!” Ochako said, grinning and clapping her hands together like this was something to celebrate.

“No! Not exactly!” Izuku protested, face burning and random tears pricking at his eyes. Oh no. “Kacchan would never flirt with me!” he finally admitted, practically yelling. Oh. That’s what it was. “We’re just friends,” he mumbled, hugging his knees to his chest, “which is fine!”

Totally fine. One hundred percent fine.

None of his friends said anything for a second, and he struggled to hold back more tears. Yeah, that was his problem this whole time. All his friends seemed convinced that he and Kacchan had some kind of mutual feelings for each other, like that was even possible. His feelings had been one-sided since they were four, that wasn’t changing now, no matter how close he and Kacchan were.

Suddenly, Ochako made a long, frustrated groaning noise, pinching the bridge of her nose and squeezing her eyes shut. Tsuyu reached up from her seat on the ground between Ochako’s legs to pat her knee.

“Okay, Izuku,” Ochako said, dropping her hand and looking over at him, “Izuku, darling, I love you. You’re one of my closest friends. You mean so much to me. But you are also an idiot, and it’s making me sad.”

“What?” Izuku sniffed, wiping his tears with the sleeve of his hoodie.

“Why would Bakugou never flirt with you?” she asked, sincere.

“Because…because he’s Kacchan,” Izuku explained, feeling like that was the only way to explain it without writing out a notebook’s worth of reasons, “and I’m…me.”

“So?” Ochako said, raising an eyebrow, “You’re awesome.”

Izuku frowned, but Tsuyu piped up before he could say anything. “Yeah. I get that you think Bakugou’s great and everything, but you are too. I’m pretty sure half out homeroom class had a crush on you and the other half wanted to be your best friend.” Ochako nodded in agreement, and Izuku gaped at them.

“They…what?” he squeaked.

“As your closest friends,” Iida said, “we got multiple people coming up to us when you weren’t around asking if you were single or had a crush on anyone.”

This was a joke, right? This had to be a joke. “Wha-you-that’s…why did no one say anything?” Izuku asked. If people really did like him like that, someone would’ve said something probably. Though Izuku had no place in judging people for hiding a crush.

“Whenever we asked if you were interested in anyone you got all sad, so we always told them you probably weren’t available,” Ochako said, shrugging. Oh, right. Because every time he was asked about a crush, he’d think about Kacchan and start missing him.

“Okay…,” he said, still disbelieving, “people had crushes on me. That’s…okay. Why? I mean…yeah, why?”

“Because you’re adorable?” Ochako said, throwing her hands up, “You’re super sweet all the time, and smart, and everyone likes the cute, nice guy who could probably bench press them.”

“It’s true,” Todoroki agreed calmly, nodding.

“I could-the cute-who could-what?” Izuku spluttered, brain not comprehending what he was hearing.

“Come on, Izuku, where’s that self-confidence?” Ochako encouraged.

He took a deep breath, nodding. Right. Self-confidence. “Okay. Okay. People…liked me. Because…I’m nice?”

Ochako looked at him for a second. “That’s a start, at least.”

“I still don’t…people thinking I’m…attractive…in high school doesn’t mean Kacchan thinks of me like that,” Izuku said, feeling very awkward calling himself attractive when he’d thought of himself as plain since he learned the concept in primary school.

Ochako sighed. “Izuku…ugh, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that because of privacy, but you’re so awesome and special and-”

“Bakugou has a thing for you.”

Izuku’s eyes shot wide and he sucked in a sharp breath, inhaling his own spit and dissolving into a fit of coughs. Todoroki patted him lightly on the back.

“Kacchan has a what?” he managed when the coughing went down, face burning.

“He has a thing for you,” Todoroki repeated, nonchalant and monotone as always, like he hadn’t just dropped a bomb on Izuku’s heart. “That’s the way to phrase it, right?”

“Uh…yeah,” Ochako said, pursing her lips and stifling giggles, “I guess we could just tell you straight up, then.”

“Kacchan…has a ‘thing’…for me?” Izuku repeated slowly, feeling like the words were a loose screw tossed into the gears of his brain, causing a chain reaction that destroyed all thought capability.

“That’s what we assumed he was trying to express,” Iida said.

“Huh?” Izuku squeaked. This wasn’t real. Kacchan kissed him on the hand and it actually did kill him, and now he’s in a weird purgatory heaven-hell hybrid. He didn’t even get to go to comic con one more time. Tell his mother he loved her.

Ochako snickered, possibly not noticing that Izuku was checking his pulse. “Yeah, it was pretty funny. He was blushing a lot.”

Kacchan was blushing. Kacchan liked him. Kacchan liked him like that.

No.

No way.

“That’s…this is not a good joke,” he managed.

“Izuku, we’re not joking,” Tsuyu said, concerned, “We’re-are you crying?”

Izuku brought a hand to his cheek and his fingers came away wet. Why was he crying? “Uh…okay, you’re not joking.”

“No, we’re not,” Todoroki confirmed.

“Then-you…Kacchan…explain?” Izuku sniffled and wiped his cheeks with his hoodie sleeve. “Can you explain?” he tried again.

“A week or two ago Bakugou pretty much confessed that he was into you because he wanted to make sure we didn’t meddle or something,” Ochako said, “That’s when he talked about whatever sh*t that needed to be dealt with between you two. I didn’t tell you because he asked us not to meddle and I didn’t want to spill his secrets or whatever, but now you know I guess.”

Izuku was quiet for a moment to take that all in. He knew that Kacchan had been thinking about apologizing long before he did it, that wasn’t new. But Kacchan liking him back? Being interested in him? That felt both too good to be true and terrifying at the same time. He thought back to that miracle universe in his head where Kacchan did return his feelings, the one that he was apparently in now – he still needed a bit to process that, first of all – and came back to that deep-seated worry that he’d screw it up.

If Kacchan did like him and if Kacchan did agree to date him (which, uh, was certainly a thing to think about), he knew he’d mess up somehow. There was no way life could be that perfect, could work out that well. It just didn’t happen.

He called it the point of no return for a reason. If he had Kacchan and lost him, there would be nothing after that. Was that a chance he was willing to take?

“Izuku, are you okay?” Ochako asked gently, making him realize he was back to crying. “This is a good thing, right?”

“Um…,” he tried. “I…I don’t know? I mean…it should be. I think. But I just…I don’t want to…lose him.” Not again.

“How would you be losing him?” Iida asked, “That seems like an illogical conclusion.”

“Iida…,” Ochako started, then sighed, “Look, Izuku, just tell us what you’re thinking right now.”

“I don’t know,” Izuku said quietly, resting his chin on his knees and looking down at the floor, “I just…if what you’re saying is true…I don’t want to mess things up. I really don’t want to mess things up because I don’t just like him or want to date him.” He sighed, covering his face with his hands and sniffling again, mumbling something to the floor.

“What?”

“I love him,” Izuku repeated, louder this time but still not looking up. He’d never said that out loud before. The words felt right, but far too heavy for something that was supposed to be happy. “I have since we were like five and I only realized last week or something and I just…I don’t want risk having him then losing him because I wouldn’t…I couldn’t do that. Get through that.”

There was a silence that could’ve lasted seconds or minutes, then Tsuyu spoke up gently. “I know how you feel, Izuku.”

Izuku sniffed and looked up at her through tears. “You do?”

Tsuyu nodded, big pond green eyes thoughtful. “Being in love with your friend is difficult. You care about them so much, but you’re also scared. Asking Ochako out was the scariest thing I ever did.”

Ochako stared down at her girlfriend, then hugged her around the shoulders and kissed the top of her head. “It was?”

Tsuyu nodded, cheeks a little pink. “Yeah, you mean so much to me and I thought you would turn me down and not want to be my friend anymore. But I’m glad I was brave.”

Ochako smiled softly, leaning down further and titling her girlfriend’s head to plant a kiss on her lips. “I’m glad you were brave too.” Tsuyu smiled back at her, a look full of so much love that Izuku’s heart ached.

“How were you…how were you brave?” he asked.

Tsuyu turned back to him, poking her fingers together nervously. “Well, it sounds kind of cheesy when I say it out loud…but I was thinking about it for a long time before then, and simply put, I was brave because I loved her. Do love her.” Tsuyu let out a long breath, leaning to the side to rest her head on Ochako’s leg. “I figured I couldn’t go my whole life without taking a chance. I needed her to know how I felt.”

Ochako let out a little noise, slipping off her seat on the bed and wedging behind Tsuyu to bring her girlfriend up on her lap and hug her tighter. “Oh my God I love you so much. Everyone get out I need to make out with my girlfriend,” she said, making Tsuyu blush and smile. “I’m kidding,” Ochako quickly added when Todoroki started to stand.

“I’m not saying our relationship is perfect,” Tsuyu continued, “But we love each other and choose to stick together. The rewards are well worth the risk.”

“Definitely,” Ochako agreed softly.

You scared me, so I pushed you away.

That’s what Kacchan told him that night in the parking lot. Is that what Izuku was doing? Pushing Kacchan away because he was scared?

I don’t want to push you away anymore, Izuku.

He didn’t want to push Kacchan away either.

How about side-by-side, then?

Okay, nerd.

Kacchan was amazing and caring and brave and Izuku had wanted to be like him his entire life. He wanted to soak up every bit of Kacchan he could get like his friend was the sun itself. So what was stopping him now?

“Are you alright, Midoriya?” Todoroki asked, making Izuku look up.

“I think so,” he answered, sighing and mustering up a smile, “I just need to…think about stuff.”

“We are always here to support you, Midoriya,” Iida declared, nodding at him. Izuku smiled a little more real this time.

“Thank you, Iida. And thank you Tsuyu. And Ochako and Todo.”

“Of course, Izuku,” Tsuyu said, smiling at him.

“I think I’m going to go finish up my homework in my room and go to bed early,” he said, starting to pack up his stuff, “See you all tomorrow!”

That Monday, Izuku woke up to a foreboding email reply from Dr. Aizawa that responded to none of his questions and simply told him to meet his professor after class. This led to him stressing the entire morning and all through his morning classes and being insanely nervous walking up to Dr. Aizawa’s desk after his class. He almost felt like he was being interrogated during the conversation, scrutinized under Dr. Aizawa’s intense and frightening gaze. But in the end, Dr. Aizawa told him that he would do what he thought was best for Eri, and that meant letting them see each other again if she wanted to. Which was amazing news and had him floating on a high until he got to his lunch table, later than everyone else because of his meeting.

Because, oh yeah, he still has to interact with Kacchan. While knowing that Kacchan had a thing for him, which he was still having a hard time believing.

“Hey!” he said in what he hoped was his normal voice, taking his seat by Kacchan.

“Hey, Izuku! Where were you?” Ochako asked.

“I had to talk with Dr. Aizawa, but guess what? He says he’ll let me see Eri again!”

“That’s great news!” Ochako said, clapping her hand together excitedly.

“Tell her Kacchan says hi when you see her,” Kacchan said, smirking a bit, “super cool Kacchan who’s strong and has pretty eyes, right?”

Izuku blushed and hit Kacchan’s shoulder. “I never said your eyes were pretty.”

“Damn, thought we had something, Deku,” Kacchan joked, smirking even more and raising an eyebrow as he took a bite of his food.

“Your eyes are pretty, you were just putting words in my mouth,” Izuku admitted, refusing to break eye contact so he could see Kacchan’s reaction. His – yes, very pretty – red eyes went a little wider and his cheeks pinked again. Was he actually blushing?

“Uh, you…I mean, damn right,” Kacchan said, then turned away. Interesting. Izuku stared at him for another second, then caught Ochako’s gaze as she wiggled her eyebrows at him. He gave her an awkward smile and small shrug, then unpacked his own lunch and started eating, conversing with Tsuyu across the table about one of their lectures that morning.

Had Kacchan really been blushing all those times Izuku though he had been cold? That was…kind of a lot of times, he realized in hindsight. If Kacchan really did have a crush on him, he did a pretty poor job of hiding it.

Wait, was the Mirko comic and Nana keychain a flirting attempt? Holy crap. Wait. No. Maybe? No. But…maybe? Ugh, this was a lot.

Maybe he should test something. Yeah, he could do that. Taking a deep breath to steady his heart, Izuku reached out to his side and slipped an arm around Kacchan’s waist, trying his absolute hardest to seem casual. Kacchan waist was very small, he noticed just then.

“Uh…what are you doing?” Kacchan asked slowly, and Izuku glanced over to find his face even redder than before, looking a bit like he didn’t know what to do with himself. Oh. Well.

“Nothing,” Izuku managed, praying that his voice didn’t waver as much as he felt like it would. Kacchan didn’t say anything, just stared at him with his handsome eyes and maybe-blush. “By the way, when am I getting cooking lessons from the world’s greatest chef?” he asked, a bit more confident, “I was thinking that if you did somehow accomplish the impossible and get me to make one meal without screwing up, I could cook for my mom whenever I see her next.”

“Uh,” Kacchan cleared his throat, “this evening? I’m done with sh*t by five thirty.”

“Cool!” Izuku said, beaming. Kacchan continued to stare at him, and he felt himself start blushing too. “I feel like this is going to be unstoppable force versus immovable object.”

Kacchan blinked. “Am I the unstoppable force?”

Izuku nodded. “And me not being able to cook is the immovable object.”

“Well, f*ck that, unstoppable force is gonna win,” Kacchan said, smirking a bit. “Immovable object, prepare to be moved.”

“That’s not how it works,” Izuku snickered.

“f*ck you, also I don’t give a sh*t about physics, I’m a chemist.”

Hours later, Izuku found himself psyching himself up at the door to Kacchan’s dorm room. For what, he wasn’t entirely sure, he just knew that he was about to spend a lot of alone time with Kacchan who may or may not have mutual feelings for him that he was still hesitant about acting on, and he needed to be mentally prepared for whatever that might entail.

Just as he raised his first to knock, the door swung open to reveal an unamused Kacchan, ashy blonde hair pushed off his forehead by a black headband. “For f*ck’s sake, Deku, why are you standing out here mumbling?”

Izuku’s eyes widened in embarrassment. He didn’t know he was mumbling. “Sorry, I was just…thinking about school!” he quickly lied.

“Alright, well get in here, you’re about to get schooled,” Kacchan said, making him laugh.

“Again with the word play, Kacchan, you’ve got intellectual humor now,” he teased, entering the room.

Kacchan closed the door behind them and glared. “f*ck off, I’ve always been an intellectual.”

“Always?” Izuku repeated, raising an eyebrow, “Even when you were a kid and ate dog food ‘cause your cousin told you to?”

“You f*cking did that too, asshole,” Kacchan shot back, moving past him and into the dorm’s small kitchen. There were a variety of ingredients already out on the counter, and a rice cooker that was already on.

“You have a rice cooker?” Izuku asked, following Kacchan into the kitchen.

“Yeah, my mom wouldn’t let me leave the house without it,” Kacchan answered, “I already made the rice because I’m assuming you’re not that useless.”

“I do, in fact, know how to use a rice cooker, Kacchan,” Izuku confirmed, rolling his eyes. It was the one thing in the kitchen he could do, as long as there were timers with loud alarms. “So, Kacchan-sensei, what are we making?”

“Kacchan-sensei?” Kacchan echoed, raising an eyebrow.

“Bakugou-sensei,” Izuku tried, the name feeling weird in his mouth.

Kacchan made a disgusted face. “Nope, go back to Kacchan-sensei.”

Izuku laughed at that. “Yes sir.”

“We’re making katsudon, figured you should learn to cook something you actually like,” Kacchan said, tossing a dish rag over his shoulder in such a casual manner it was somehow attractive. Hm.

“Yay, katsudon!” Izuku chirped, smiling, “I wanna fry stuff!”

“That’s not ‘til later, dumbass,” Kacchan said, waving him over to the counter, “Just get over here.” Izuku joined him at the countertop covered in food, pulling the notebook and pen out of his hoodie pocket. “The f*ck are those?”

“For note-taking!” Izuku said, holding them up, “There’s no way I’m going to remember all the stuff without writing it down.”

Kacchan gave him that weird soft look again, not quite smirking but not quite smiling either. “Alright, just no f*cking mumbling.”

Izuku found himself meeting Kacchan’s eyes and smiling back, heart warm. “I’ll try my best,” he said, a lot softer than he really meant to. He suddenly noticed his body was starting to move towards Kacchan and tore his gaze away and back to the ingredients. That was too fast and way out of nowhere. No way.

Kacchan coughed, the grabbed a cutting board with two pieces of meat on it from the countertop and pulled it towards them. “Okay, since you took so f*cking long and I figured giving a you wooden mallet would be dangerous, I already pounded the pork flat.”

“How’d you do that?” Izuku asked, still feeling heat in his cheeks. At least Kacchan was blushing too, for some reason.

“Just hit it with the f*cking mallet ‘til it was a centimeter thick, not that hard,” Kacchan answered, and Izuku quickly jotted that down as step one his notebook. “Them sprinkle salt and pepper on them,” Kacchan said, doing just that. Izuku wrote the step down and moved to copy Kacchan’s movements, but his hand was slapped away. “Wash your f*cking hands first.”

Izuku huffed, rinsed his hand in the sink, then returned to Kacchan’s side and seasoned his half of the pork. After that, they dusted the pork with flour, which inevitably led to Izuku’s first slip-up and flour all over his shirt. But it made Kacchan laugh, and his laugh was amazing, so Izuku didn’t mind so much.

“Alright, Deku, think you can beat some f*cking eggs?” Kacchan said, placing a bowl with an egg in it in front of him.

“Did the egg commit a punishable offense?” Izuku asked, meeting Kacchan’s eyes. There was no reaction, just utter lack of amusem*nt at his joke, so Izuku snickered at it anyways.

“That was so f*cking stupid, I’m expelling you.”

“You can’t expel me, I pay tuition like everybody else,” Izuku protested, grabbing the egg and carefully cracking it over the side of the bowl.

“You’re not paying me sh*t for this, also don’t get any shell in there,” Kacchan said, watching him as he cracked the egg all the way into the bowl, rather sloppily but definitely not his worst job.

“Uh…I think I kept the shell out,” Izuku said, squinting.

“Nope,” Kacchan corrected, sticking his finger into the bowl and pulling away with a small bit of eggshell stuck to it, which he promptly wiped on Izuku’s nose.

“Ack! Kacchan!” Izuku swiped the egg bit off his nose and made a show of wiping his hand on Kacchan’s sleeve, right next to the towel he had over his shoulder.

“f*ck you,” Kacchan snapped, cleaning his shirt sleeve with the towel and punching Izuku in the shoulder.

Izuku just laughed. “So, what’s next? I gotta beat the eggs?”

“Yeah, just mix ‘em up with some chopsticks,” Kacchan said, gesturing to the chopsticks on the counter and moving to do something else. Izuku followed his simple instructions easily, making sure to copy them down in his notebook along with the margin note *Kacchan is in a good mood when he cooks…also hot.

“Done!” he announced, looking over to find Kacchan fiddling with the flame under a pan on the stove. Kacchan glanced back at him.

“Cool, now dip the pork into the eggs.”

“Uh, sure, I can do that,” Izuku said, nodding. He grabbed a cut of pork and dipped it in the eggs. “Like that?”

Kacchan snorted, joining him at the counter again. “I meant f*cking coat it in the eggs, dummy.”

“Oh, that makes more sense,” Izuku said, trying again.

“Then coat in breadcrumbs, I’ll do the other one,” Kacchan told him. Izuku complied, fingers getting covered in egg and breadcrumbs. “Put that in the pan when you’re done.”

“Frying things!” Izuku said, carefully holding the breaded slice of pork and dropping it into the pan full of sizzling hot oil. He squeaked a bit in surprise when some drops of said oil flew up and hit his hand.

“The f*ck are you doing over here?” Kacchan asked, scooching Izuku to the side with his hips and placing his own pork slice in the pan, a lot more gracefully and with less splashing.

“I’m okay, the oil just scared me,” Izuku assured him.

Kacchan snickered. “Big baby.”

Izuku huffed at him, then grinned and poked Kacchan’s nose with his breadcrumb and egg covered finger. Kacchan immediately reached up to wipe it off, but since his own hands were also messy, he only succeeded and adding more food to his face. Izuku laughed.

“f*ck you,” Kacchan said, though there was a smile in his voice as he smeared breadcrumbs across Izuku’s cheek.

“Hey!” Izuku protested, reaching out towards Kacchan but only catching him across the jaw as he stepped backwards to avoid his hand. Izuku lunged towards him, laughing, but Kacchan caught his hand and interlocked their fingers, pushing him back. Izuku blew a strand of hair out of his eye, then he met Kacchan’s red gaze full of something unnamed, watching the man he loved start to laugh.

The man he loved.

I love you.

And suddenly he was talking.

Chapter 14: the point of no return

Chapter Text

Deku was such a f*cking dork it hurt.

Katsuki also decided it was great idea offering to teach Deku to cook, because he got to see that dorkiness up close and personal. Though, it did come at the cost of kitchen cleanliness, but it was hard to get annoyed when Deku started laughing every time he f*cked something up. His laugh was f*cking amazing.

Katsuki was more disgusted with himself by the second.

And of course, with all of Deku’s f*cking dorkiness he just had to start a food fight, and now Katsuki was trying to fight off his eggy hands with his own, locking eyes with Deku’s vibrant green ones and feeling laughter bubble up from his chest. It’s such a dumb f*cking thing that they’re doing, but Deku looks so happy doing it and Katsuki feels happy himself, in that way he only does around Deku. Deku’s stupid laughter and stupid smiles and his dumb sense of humor and that inexplicable way about him that easily chips away at Katsuki’s inhibitions until he’s laughing and doing something like this, and God f*cking damn it, he loves him so much.

Deku’s bright face suddenly fell, and Katsuki’s heart damn near dropped to the floor because did I just f*cking say that out loud? Please say he didn’t. He didn’t think he did, but f*ck, he was thinking it way too loud.

“Deku?” he said after a second of Deku not saying anything, “Are y-”

“Kacchan I have something I really need to tell you,” Deku interrupted, speaking so quickly his words strung together like one long one. Before Katsuki could even react to that, Deku was off on a ramble. “Okay so I don’t really know how to say this and I didn’t plan it out beforehand and this is kind of all spur of the moment but I’ve been thinking for a while-actually I’ve only been thinking about telling you for like a day because I thought there was no way it could work out but apparently it could which is kind of unbelievable and really scary, honestly, and I’m not exactly sure where I’m going with this but I’m finding it hard to stop talki-”

“Deku!” Katsuki shouted, cutting him off and making Deku snap his mouth shut, eyes wide. “What the f*ck are you trying to say?”

Their breadcrumb covered hands were still interlocked between them, but something about the way Deku was looking at him made him not want to move. It was also making his heart race, because Deku wanted to tell him something that was obviously freaking him out, and that could be f*cking anything. But Katsuki gave him a second to collect himself, watching Deku take a deep breath and squeeze his hands a little tighter.

“Kacchan,” was all he said at first, then took another deep breath. “I…crap, okay, I just…I want to be brave like you always are and tell you that I, uh, really…um…” Another deep breath, and usually at this point Katsuki’s patience would be out the window, but he’s pretty sure his brain isn’t working properly at the moment.

“What I’m trying to say, Kacchan,” Deku finally said, “is that I really, really like you in a more than friend way and I have no idea what I’m supposed to do about it or how you’re going to react, and I’m honestly super freaked out about ruining everything because you mean so much to me and I care about you a lot but I figured nothing gets done if you let fear get in the way, which is something All Might said on TV I think and my-”

He kept rambling on about bravery and sh*t, but Katsuki stopped being able to listen somewhere after I really, really like you in more than a friend way. Because holy sh*t. Holy goddamn f*cking sh*t Deku f*cking liked him. And now he was babbling about f*cking things up and he kinda looked like he was about to cry and Katsuki should say something, right? He should be accepting the confession or confessing himself or something, but he’s at a loss for words and those were never his thing anyways.

So, f*ck it.

While Deku blabbers on about God knows what, Katsuki frees one of his hands from Deku’s hold, twists it into the collar of his shirt, and yanks him down until their lips meet.

It lasts barely until the count of three, too short for Katsuki to even tell if Deku was kissing back, and he pulls away feeling like every vital organ in his body is about to combust. His fist was still gripping Deku’s shirt collar, not allowing their faces more than a few inches apart, but Deku didn’t even try to back away.

Deku doesn’t actually move at all, just staring back at him with impossibly wide and bright viridian eyes, lips parted slightly and shock written over his handsome features. His warm breath fans over Katsuki’s face, the space between them seeming far too big and far too small at the same time, filled only by their breaths and the sizzling of the pork forgotten on the stovetop.

f*ck. He should say something. They’re just standing there. What’s he supposed to do?

Just as he’s about to let go of Deku and maybe punch himself in the face, Deku sucks in a quiet, sharp breath, and suddenly there’s a calloused hand on the back of his neck, pulling him in and pressing their lips together again.

sh*t.

Brain function out the window.

Katsuki’s not even in control of his body anymore, hardly aware of letting go of Deku’s other hand to hug him closer around the back, possibly a bit too harshly because it makes Katsuki stumble backwards into the kitchen counter. What he is painfully aware of, however, is Deku’s hand on the back of his neck, the other on the small of his back.

He can’t think. He’s not thinking. But he’s sure as hell feeling a lot of things.

Because Deku’s kissing him and he’s kissing Deku, and it’s soft and gentle and full of all the good things Katsuki’s ever felt between them. Every second spent in the late afternoon sun or shaded patch of grass, every bit of shared laughter or secret joke, every stupid promise sealed with dumb swears, every star counted side-by-side under the blanket of night, and every minute spent missing him.

It’s the feeling of Deku dragging him out in the rain, teasing him across backwoods creeks, reading comic books with him in silly voices, smiling and laughing and brighter than the goddamn sun. It’s the magic of whatever f*cking higher power decided to reunite them again.

There’s warmth exploding in his chest, and he’s suddenly full of so much need he doesn’t know what to do with it. It’s probably too much for their second f*cking kiss but Katsuki needs Deku to know that he loves him. And he knows he shouldn’t say that out loud or might not be able to, at least not yet, but he can sure as hell try to say it right now, in this moment, in his own way.

He released Deku’s shirt collar to hook that arm around his shoulders, pulling him impossibly closer, chests pressed so close he can feel Deku’s heartbeat. God, how did he used to be such a f*cking idiot that he wanted to push Deku away? Having him close was probably the only thing worth wanting.

And then Deku pulled away, just enough to bring their lips apart, and Katsuki felt like he stopped breathing.

f*ck, he needs to take an actual breath before he passes out.

He heaves one in, noticing Deku doing the same, and again they’re just staring at each other, too many things to say and not enough words to say them. But, f*ck, Deku’s practically panting and Katsuki knows he is too, and he wonders if they could just forget about katsudon and whatever conversation they should probably be having and sh*t, the katsudon!

The kitchen smelled like smoke. Uh oh.

“sh*t!” Katsuki said at the same time Deku opened his mouth to say something else. Katsuki only heard “I-”, a little preoccupied with pushing Deku off of him – with much too much effort because of his stupid hesitant body – and rushing to the stovetop.

The pork cuts are f*cking burnt to hell, and when he reaches out to move the pan off the flame it gets too hot before he even touches it. God f*cking damn it sh*t-sticks f*ck. He whirls around and goes to grab a hand towel to use as a makeshift oven mitt, but just as he grabs it, the rice cooker goes off with a high-pitched whine, harmonizing terribly with Deku’s coinciding yelp of pain. He turns back around to find Deku holding his finger up to his mouth, looking pained and probably having burnt himself on the pan like a dumbass. At that second Katsuki realized he already had a dish towel over his shoulder.

Of f*cking course this was how this situation went, was all Katsuki could think as he slammed his hand down on the rice cooker to shut off the annoying-ass beep, then grabbed the handle of the pan with the towel and pulled it off the flame. He turned to stove off fully, then tossed to towel aside in favor of helping Deku out with whatever the f*ck he did to himself.

“Deku, run that under cool water, not cold,” he ordered, mentally face-palming and very, very frazzled. Which was a word he despised, but here he was, f*cking frazzled to hell. His entire f*cking kitchen smelled like burnt pork. But he has been making out with Deku, so there’s that. Or rather, and he’d been making out with Deku. That was definitely a reason he was frazzled.

“Now keep it under there,” he told Deku, who was holding his burnt finger under the sink faucet, then went to his bathroom for some burn cream and gauze he kept just in case, rinsing off his hands and neck while he was in there, because they had breadcrumbs and eggs on them still. For some reason, that made him remember the time Deku called him a boy scout. Well, here he f*cking was, saving Deku’s ass with his preparedness, so f*ck him.

He returned to the kitchen, coming up beside Deku at the sink and placing the gauze and cream on the countertop.

“You okay?” he asked, glancing over at Deku, who was wincing a bit.

“Uh, yeah, the water helps,” Deku answered, then laughed a little and turned to look at him. Their eyes met, and suddenly Katsuki froze, feeling his cheeks heat up dramatically. Deku’s face went red too. Uh.

Katsuki cleared his throat and managed, “What did you even do?”

“Ah,” Deku said, turning back to his injured hand under the rush of water, “I was going to try and get the pan off the stove, then I stopped because I realized it was too hot to touch, but then the rice cooker went off and it startled me so much I moved my hand and got burnt.” He laughed a little under his breath again. “Oops.”

Katsuki snorted. “f*cking dumbass.” Deku made a face and hip-checked him lightly, making both of them laugh again. “Keep holding that under there until it doesn’t hurt as much,” he said, then moved over to the stove to see if anything was salvageable. It was not. He’d have to wait until the oil cooled down to clean it, though, so he should just leave it for now. He took the top off the rice cooker, letting the last bits of steam out so the rice could cool, then went to open the one window in his room in an attempt to air it out.

All of this to distract himself from the fact that he had just kissed Deku. And that Deku liked him back. And that he had gotten so caught up in all that he tried to confess his f*cking love. Right now. f*cking hell.

When he glanced back to see how Deku was doing, he could see a similar thought process written out of his face. That was comforting, at least. He knew they should probably talk about this, but he had no f*cking idea how to start that conversation. For now, Deku’s burn provided a welcome distraction.

“It hurts less now, Kacchan,” Deku said after a few minutes, and Katsuki joined him by the sink again.

“Okay, now give me your hand,” Katsuki ordered, popping the top of the burn cream open and squeezing some onto his finger. He took Deku’s hand in his own, rubbing the cream onto the burn. Deku hissed a little in pain. “Suck it up, this is what happens when you burn yourself,” Katsuki snapped, but he tried to be a little gentler.

“You know, I can do this myself,” Deku said, making Katsuki look up briefly to glare then return to what he was doing. “Okay, thanks Kacchan.” There we go.

Katsuki moved from burn cream to rip a strip of gauze with his teeth, then wrapping it loosely around Deku’s hand and securing it with a bit of medical tape. “There,” he said, “that should be good.”

“Thanks,” Deku said again, and with his preoccupation gone, Katsuki was forced to meet his eyes again. There was a beat of silence. Katsuki wondered if it would be inappropriate to just kiss him again. “So,” Deku began, fiddling his hands nervously, “because we kind of burned all our food and now your dorm is full of smoke, how about I…uh…do you want to go get dinner? Like…a date…situation.”

Katsuki blinked at him for a second. That f*cker. Beat him to a confession and now to asking him out. At least he had his victory in kissing first.

“Very smooth, Deku,” he teased.

Deku smiled. “Is that a yes?”

Katsuki huffed. “Yeah, whatever.” Deku grinned even wider. God damn it, why did he have to look like that.

“Cool! Where do you wanna go?”

“You’re the one who f*cking asked me out, shouldn’t you choose?” Katsuki said. Deku rolled his eyes, cheeks pink, and Katsuki noticed that he still had breadcrumbs stuck to his cheek. He grabbed a dish towel and reached up to wipe it off, making Deku’s eyes go wide and cheeks flush even more. Ha. “You still have sh*t on your face.”

“And who’s fault is that?” Deku shot back, smiling softly. “You do too, by the way.” Katsuki frowned, moving to wipe his face, when suddenly Deku’s hand was on his jaw, thumb swiping across it. What the f*ck.

“There, now you’re good,” Deku said, turning to rinse his hand off in the sink. Katsuki brought his hand to his face lightly, confirming that yes, that just happened and yes, all the food was gone now.

Wait, not all of it. He reached around to his back and brushed off the crumbs he found there. “Deku, turn around,” he ordered.

“Uh, okay?” Deku said. Katsuki felt himself blush at the mess he’d made on the back of Deku’s shirt, quickly brushing it all off. “Oh, thanks,” Deku said, turning back around. His cheeks looked about as red as Katsuki’s probably were.

There was a sudden knock on the door, breaking the awkward, flustered silence.

“Yo, Bakubro, you in there?” Kirishima called from the hall.

“The f*ck do you want, sh*tty Hair?” Katsuki called back. This was not the time for some idiot squad interruption, and if they tried, he was going to punch something.

“Nothing, I just heard some loud noises and smelled smoke and wanted to check that you’re not setting our dorm building on fire.”

“Of course I’m f*cking not!” Katsuki said, opening the door to glare at Kirishima as Deku laughed. “Shut the f*ck up Deku, it was your fault for being distracted.”

“More like your fault for being distracting,” Deku shot back, coming up right behind him and smirking. Katsuki felt himself blush. f*ck.

“Touché,” he conceded, making Deku blush this time. He turned back to Kirishima. “Was there something you needed, sh*tty Hair?”

Kirishima looked between the two of them, then shrugged. “Not really, as long as everything’s okay.”

“Great, now go away,” Katsuki said, closing the door in his face.

“That was mean, Kacchan,” Deku chided.

“Shut it, we have places to be.” Katsuki shoved his boots on, watching Deku do the same with his sneakers.

“Someone’s excited,” Deku teased, smiling. Katsuki kicked him in the shin, blushing furiously, then opened the door. Kirishima was still in the hallway.

“Thought I told you to go away,” Katsuki said, exciting his dorm with Deku on his heels.

“Where are you two off to?” Kirishima asked, raising an eyebrow. If only he knew.

“We’re getting dinner because we burned the food,” Deku explained, “Immovable object won.”

“I think this round is void because of…unexpected factors,” Katsuki shot back, carefully not giving any details before he and Deku had that conversation.

“Unexpected factors are part of my deal, Kacchan,” Deku said, smirking down at him like he knew how that made Katsuki feel. f*ck him and his dumb f*cking handsome smirk. Gah.

“Whatever,” Katsuki said, trying to collect his mess of a brain into something somewhat functional, “let’s go.”

“Yes, let’s!” Deku chirped, heading towards the stairway. Kirishima gave Katsuki a questioning look, but Katsuki just flipped him off by way of saying goodbye and followed Deku.

“You got a place yet?” he asked as the made their way down.

“Oh yeah,” Deku said, grinning and pushing the door open.

“What’s with the face?”

“What face?”

“That-what are you planning?” Katsuki demanded, narrowing his eyes at Deku who just kept grinning his dumb grin.

“Nothin’.”

“Bullsh*t.”

Deku laughed. “You’ll find out!” Katsuki f*cking hated surprises, but he’d let it slide because Deku looked so cute and happy about whatever this was going to be. Maybe he could kiss him again. He really, really wanted to do that again, but he wasn’t sure if he could. They were on a f*cking date, though.

Oh f*ck. Yeah. This is a date with Deku.

Okay.

He can deal with that. Totally fine.

Suddenly, he feels Deku’s knuckles brush against his, almost timidly, and looks over to see Deku blushing furiously and staring straight ahead as they walk. f*cking dork.

“What’s with the coward sh*t now, Deku?”

“What?” Deku squeaked, glancing over at him.

Katsuki snorted and grabbed his hand with a little more aggression than strictly necessary, squeezing it once. “Haven’t had a problem with holding my hand before.”

Deku made some weird noise that sounded like a verbal key-smash, and Katsuki relished the fact that he was making Deku flustered for a change. “That’s-okay-that’s totally different!”

“How the f*ck is it different?” Katsuki asked, smirking.

“Stop being mean, you know why,” Deku said, pouting and leaning down towards him a bit.

“I just don’t get why your being so shy all of a sudden, you certainly weren’t five minutes ago,” Katsuki hummed, with more internal celebration at Deku’s deepened blush.

“I-you-Kacchan…gah, you-” he spluttered.

“Take your time, Deku.”

Deku narrowed his eyes at him, pointing a finger in his face. “I-you…you have a crush on me.”

Now it was Katsuki’s turn to blush. Why the hell would he say that? “We’re on a f*cking date,” he pointed out, “I kissed you. I thought that was already clear.”

Deku’s eyes widened. “So you do like me?”

Katsuki was f*cking speechless. How the f*ck was Deku even questioning that at this point?

Deku’s surprised face melts into sheepish embarrassment. “Okay, maybe that’s kinda dumb to ask.”

“You f*cking think?” Nerd was f*cking oblivious.

“I don’t know, Kacchan, I just…” Deku sighed, turning back to facing forward. He looked worried, which Katsuki didn’t like. Deku was always worrying about sh*t that didn’t need to be worried about.

In an attempt to be comforting, Katsuki rubbed his thumb lightly over the back of Deku’s hand in his, like he’d wanted to way back on that hike. The corners of Deku’s mouth twitched up into a little smile and ha glanced over again. Success.

“It’s just hard to believe, is all,” Deku continued, sighing again. “Someone as amazing and special as you could probably get someone a million times better than me, and I-”

Katsuki stopped dead in his tracks, yanking on Deku’s hand to spin him around, then bringing his other hand to the back of his neck, pulling him down into another kiss. Because f*ck impulse control, and f*ck Deku for even thinking something like that. Also, f*ck him for being so tall.

“You are somehow the smartest and dumbest person I’ve ever met,” Katsuki said when they broke apart after a short time. “Shut the f*ck up about that sh*t or else.”

Deku blinked at him dumbly, looking slightly dazed. “Or else?”

“Or else I’ll beat your ass for insulting my goddamn boyfriend,” Katsuki threatened, glaring at him.

Deku’s eyes blew wide, and he made another incomprehensible flustered noise, face going red as tomato. “Boyfriend?” he squeaked.

Oh, f*ck, he did just say that, didn’t he? Well, he had to say it at some point. Might as well be now.

“Yeah, I’m not f*cking planning on letting you go anywhere,” Katsuki said, cheeks warm.

“That sounds vaguely threatening,” Deku said, smiling.

“When am not vaguely threatening?” Katsuki shot back.

Deku titled his head from side to side a bit. “Hm, usually you’re not very vague about it.”

“Shut up.”

Deku laughed, then started walking again, swinging their hands back and forth between them. “Sorry for the, uh, chaos back there, by the way.”

“Eh, seemed pretty on-brand for us,” Katsuki said, shrugging. Somehow, his and Deku’s first kiss ending with nearly burning his kitchen down and one of them getting injured seemed appropriate. Their parents used to call them their problem children all the time. “Besides, I’m not the one who burned my f*cking hand.”

“Guess you’re right.” Deku smiled. “And burning my hand was well worth it.”

Katsuki blushed and rolled his eyes. “Stop trying to flirt.”

“Is it working?”

“No,” Katsuki outright lied, cheeks burning.

Deku raised an eyebrow and gave him a knowing smile. “Okay, maybe I can try your way and give you comic books and food.”

“Wh-uh-what?” Katsuki stuttered, suddenly way too flustered.

“Yeah, I was just thinking, and I’m like ninety percent sure all that was you trying to flirt with me,” Deku said, “which was very sweet, but I didn’t realize until recently.”

Katsuki wanted to slam his face into a wall. “You didn’t even know?” All that and he didn’t get a f*cking hint.

“I thought you were just being nice!” Deku protested, “How was I supposed to know Kacchan flirted like a bird?”

“Like a what?” Katsuki snapped, bewildered.

“Like a bird,” Deku repeated, shrugging as his cheeks pinked, “You know, like how there are certain types of birds that give their prospective mates food and shiny rocks and stuff? At least I think so.”

“I’m not a f*cking bird!” Katsuki glared at him, more embarrassed by the second. A bird? A f*cking bird?

“And you didn’t give me a rock!” Deku said, throwing his free hand up, “I’m just making the comparison!”

“You’re lucky your f*cking cute,” Katsuki growled. A motherf*cking bird. What the hell.

Deku’s eyes went wide. “You think I’m cute?”

Katsuki stared back at him, momentarily at a loss for words. Was he really singing up for a relationship with this?

Who was he kidding, of course he f*cking was.

“Yeah,” he said, reaching over to grab Deku’s chin and squish his cheeks between his fingers, “with all those dumb freckles and sh*t.”

“Kacchan!” Deku whined, scrunching up his nose. “So mean.”

“I’m saying you’re cute, that’s a f*cking compliment!” Katsuki said, shaking Deku’s head back and forth a bit.

“I know!” Deku said, “And how am I supposed to deal with that?”

“Like this,” Katsuki suggested, bringing Deku’s face down towards him to plant another quick kiss on his lips. When he pulled away, Deku had a dumb dopey look on his face, smiling.

“Mm, okay,” Deku hummed, blinking slowly. Katsuki felt his cheeks heat and quickly turned Deku’s face back forward, releasing him.

“Where are we going?” he asked, realizing he’d just been letting Deku walk wherever without paying attention.

“I told you, you’ll find out,” Deku answered. Katsuki glared at him and he chuckled. “Okay, okay, right now I wanted to go to Mrs. Kirishima’s.”

‘Right now’ made Katsuki think he had other plans for after that, but he could figure those out later. “Why there?”

“Because I know we both like it,” Deku said, “and because…well, we went there that first day, and then after the hike…and, I don’t know, I feel like it’s our spot!”

“Our spot?” Katsuki repeated.

“Well, not ours, but…gah, you know what I mean,” Deku said, face flushed. Fine, Katsuki could let him off just this once.

“Sure, Deku.”

When they made it to the ramen place, Mrs. Kirishima came out of the back room like always, grinning wide when she saw them. At that exact moment, Katsuki realized he was still holding Deku’s hand, and that Mrs. Kirishima had wanted them to date. Well, today was her lucky day, apparently.

“Hey, my two favorite customers are back!” she said, opening her arms, “Good to see ya!”

“Good to see you too, Mrs. Kirishima!” Deku chirped, pulling Katsuki forward and towards the front counter. “How are you?”

“I’m great, thanks for asking, kid,” Mrs. Kirishima answered as they both sat down, “And you?”

“I’m doing so great,” Deku said, smiling that dopey smile that made Katsuki blush.

“Glad to hear that,” Mrs. Kirishima said, looking between the two of them for a brief moment. “What can I get you?”

After ordering and receiving their meals, Katsuki did his best to keep up a conversation. It wasn’t hard. Deku had always been easy to talk to, or easy to set off on some rant. He eventually started ranting about some cognitive psychology thing in relation to comic book characters, some nerd squared bullsh*t Katsuki would never admit he was challenged to keep up with. Though, to be fair to him, Deku often jumped between ideas and left out whatever bridge he took to get there. His mind was fascinating and annoying as f*ck.

They said their goodbyes and left, and Deku’s hand was back in Katsuki’s the second they got through the door, pulling him down the sidewalk like an excited dog who’s caught a whiff of the dog park a few blocks away.

“Where the f*ck are we going now?”

“Train station!” Deku answered happily.

“Why?” Katsuki asked.

“You will see, Kacchan,” Deku said for the millionth time, “Just trust me!”

“Having known you your entire life, there are a variety of reasons why I should never f*cking do that,” Katsuki said, “but fine.” Deku laughed, continuing down the street until they reached the station nearby to the school campus just in time to jump on a train before it’s departure, taking seats next to each other in the mostly empty car.

“How was your day, by the way?” Deku asked, “I kind of went off with something else before I got the chance to ask you.”

“Started out pretty boring but currently it’s going f*cking great,” Katsuki admitted. Deku smiled at him, leaning over to rest his head on Katsuki’s shoulder and hug him around the waist. Katsuki remembered the first time he did that without warning. He had nearly combusted on the spot, the only thing keeping his brain working being slight concern for Deku’s perceived tiredness. This time, though, it just made him feel warm inside, if not a bit flustered, and he wrapped an arm around Deku’s shoulder to pull him in.

“Same here,” Deku said, “What were the boring parts?”

For the rest of short train ride, Katsuki told Deku about his classes that day and his sh*tty professors, his fingers unconsciously finding their way into Deku’s soft hair to play with it. Yeah, he could get used to this sh*t. Eventually Deku did sit up, though, letting Katsuki know they’d reached their station to get off at. The second Katsuki exited the train he knew where Deku was going. Of course, the cheesy bastard.

Instead of ruining Deku’s surprise, though, he just let himself be led down the road until they reached the old park. He hadn’t been there in a while, but it had hardly changed. The old playground set in the middle was a little more beat up, slides and swing-sets a little rusty, but otherwise the same as it had been since Katsuki and Deku were brats in the sandbox.

Oh, right, the sandbox.

“Was this is all just going towards your eventual revenge, Deku?” Katsuki asked when Deku stopped in the grass in front of the playground set, raising an eyebrow. “Take me on a date so you can dump sand on my head?”

Deku laughed, the corners of his eyes crinkling up in a way that made Katsuki want to kiss him there. “No, dumping sand on you was totally separate from the date.”

“Yeah, sure,” Katsuki said, “Like I told you, you can f*cking try.”

“Oh yeah?” Deku said, grinning with that look in his eye.

“Yeah, nerd, you wanna f*cking go?” Katsuki challenged, also grinning.

Deku answered by tackling him backwards into the grass, landing heavily on top of him. Katsuki wheezed out a laugh, pushing against him and rolling them over. They grappled around on the ground for a bit, but just as Katsuki got an advantage, Deku kissed his cheek, startling him so much Deku was able to flip him over and pin his wrists above his head. f*ck.

Deku laughed above him, low sun in the sky casting a warm orange glow over him. His green hair was tousled and messy, freckled cheeks bright and laughter like sunshine, and Katsuki wanted nothing more than to kiss him.

Wait.

This was his boyfriend. He could f*cking do that.

The second he realized that, he yanked his hand out from under Deku’s pin and grabbed him around the back of the neck, pulling him down and starting to sit up at the same time to bring their lips together. Deku let out a tiny meep of surprise into his mouth, then melted into it, pushing Katsuki back down into the grass. Katsuki momentarily had enough coherent thought to hope there were no children coming to the park right now, but then Deku sighed into him and he succumbed to the exploding warmth in his chest.

Kissing Deku was the most phenomenal thing he’d ever done.

When they finally pulled apart, Katsuki let his head drop back fully into the grass, taking a deep breath of the fresh evening air. Deku smiled down at him, but it was hesitant, and his eyes looked worried again. Katsuki huffed.

“The hell are you worrying about now, dummy?”

Deku let out a long, soft breath, meeting Katsuki’s eyes with worried, sad green ones. “I just…really don’t want to mess this up.”

“How the f*ck would you mess it up?” Katsuki snapped, frowning. He was overthinking sh*t again. Deku always did that. His brain did too much for its own good.

“I don’t know, Kacchan,” Deku sighed, “but I know that I might, and I don’t…I don’t want to lose you.”

Katsuki glared up at him. “And here I thought you couldn’t get any stupider. You ain’t gonna f*cking lose me.”

Deku swallowed thickly, tears bubbling in his eyes and stirring something in Katsuki’s chest. “But-”

“No f*cking buts, Deku,” Katsuki snapped, “I’m not going anywhere.” This beautiful f*cking moron.

Deku sniffled, and Katsuki could tell he was hopelessly trying and failing to hold back tears. “You say that now, but-”

“Where the hell would I go, Deku?” Katsuki interrupted again, that feeling stirring in his chest again that made him say everything he was thinking, unable to keep the words inside and not even trying. “Who else? Who the f*ck else? There’s no one else.”

Deku kept looking at him with those wide, teary eyes, the same bright ones that had been watching him since childhood. The same kid that’d stuck to him like glue, that he’d taken for granted, promised to take care of. The same kid he almost died to protect. f*ck him for thinking he’d just up and leave if sh*t got tough. f*ck him for not knowing. And f*ck Katsuki for ever letting him think otherwise.

Katsuki sat up and pushed Deku to the side, flipping them over to cage Deku between his arms and trying to bite back the anger in his chest, knowing it was at himself.

“There’s never been anyone else,” he admitted, quieter than he meant to. He hoped desperately that Deku understood what he was really trying to say. “If either of us is f*cking up, it’s me, but I’m done with letting myself do that. Not with you. Not anymore. I told you already, I’m done pushing you away, and I’m not letting you go anywhere.”

A small gust of wind carried through the park, rustling the grass and making Deku’s eyelashes flutter over teary eyes, the only sound from him a shaky breath. Katsuki met his eyes, practically begging him to understand.

“There’s no one else,” he repeated, “there never was, Izuku. There never will be.”

Because I love you was left unsaid, hanging between them like the string that had tied them together their whole lives.

Deku took another shaky breath, sniffling quietly, and slowly brought one of his hands up, pinky finger outstretched. “Swear on All Might?”

Katsuki let out a weak, wet laugh, then linked his pinky with Deku’s. “I swear on All Might, Deku.”

Deku smiled, bringing his hands to the sides of Katsuki’s face and pulling him into a gentle kiss with soft lips that tasted of salt and tears. It hardly lasted as long as their one in the kitchen or a minute ago, but it was full of so much Katsuki thought he might break. Years of emotions, unrealized and pent up, years of caring and friendship and broken things they could put back together. Years upon lifetimes.

Because I love you, I love you, I love you.

He let himself fall as close to Deku as he could get, hugging around his neck and pressing their bodies together against the ground. Deku’s chest shook under his from laughter or tears, possibly both. He wondered if he was shaking too.

Deku kept his hands on Katsuki’s cheeks, palms rough and calloused, one hand still bandaged, holding him so tenderly Katsuki’s heart was going to burst from his chest. The viridian eyes met his, and he loved so much it hurt.

“I love you too, Kacchan,” Deku murmured, breaking some dam inside Katsuki.

That was it. There went his walls, his fears, his hesitancy. Everything fell away under Deku’s gaze, leaving just the man he was, the kid he used to be, and whoever he would be in a future with Deku by his side.

He kissed Deku again, wondering if all this could be conveyed through just the one action and trying all the same.

“I really like kissing you,” Deku said quietly, the wobbly smile having returned.

Katsuki couldn’t help a laugh, rolling off of Deku into the grass, but curling into his side and resting his head on Deku’s shoulder, one arm draped across his chest. “Same here, nerd.”

There was a long stretch of silence between them as they took it all in, listening to the grass rustle and train come into the station in the distance.

And then Deku giggled. It started small, a little burst of laughter like bells, then he started laughing harder.

“Deku, what the f*ck,” Katsuki deadpanned, not taking his head off Deku’s shoulder even as he started to snort with laughter.

“Kacchan loves me,” Deku said dreamily, then broke into another round of giggles.

Katsuki felt his face flush and he gripped Deku’s shirt under his hand. “Yeah, I do. Why’s that funny?”

“It’s not-hah-it’s not funny, I’m just-,” Deku couldn’t even make it through the sentence from laughing too much, turning towards Katsuki and wrapping and arm around him, hugging their chests together again. “I’m just really happy.”

Katsuki smiled, pressing his forehead against Deku’s and touching their noses together. “Yeah, me too.”

Chapter 15: kisses

Chapter Text

Izuku’s life was too good to be true. Too good to be real, too perfect to be anything but a dream. Kacchan loved him. Kacchan loved him. There was no way things could be this amazing, but when he held Kacchan against his chest or felt his lips against his own, he decided he’d rather accept the dream universe for all it’s miracles than doubt it any longer.

Besides, Kacchan swore on All Might. There was no going back on that.

It did briefly occur to Izuku that telling Kacchan he loved him on their first date was a little (a lot) fast-moving, but he and Kacchan had never exactly been keen on traditional relationships. Besides, he’d been holding the feeling inside him for nearly a decade and a half, and apparently Kacchan had been too. He might not have said it out loud, but Izuku heard it loud and clear anyways.

All of this made him feel so much he couldn’t keep it in, and for once it came out as laughter instead of tears. He rolled to his side, hugging Kacchan closer just because he could. “I’m just really happy.”

Kacchan smiled at him and leaned in, pressing their foreheads together. “Me too.”

More laughter bubbled out and Izuku pressed his nose into Kacchan’s cheek, closing his eyes. “You’re so awesome. You’re my boyfriend. I love you so much. This is crazy. This is real. Is this real?”

“Shut the f*ck up,” Kacchan grumbled, kissing him again.

Izuku, hardly sane enough at the moment to think through what he was doing, squeezed Kacchan’s waist and kissed him back with a little more force than Kacchan had started with, rolling them over to be above him again. His hands found their way under his boyfriend’s – his boyfriend’s - hoodie to press against his warm back over his shirt and confirm that yeah, Kacchan felt pretty real. Real and warm and solid and loving him.

It was almost too much to wrap his head around. Kacchan, his best friend since the time they could walk. Kacchan, his hero and inspiration and idol. Kacchan, who he thought he might not ever see again. Kacchan, who was Kacchan, and there weren’t enough words in the world to describe all the things that meant.

That Kacchan was the one here now, the person Izuku was holding in his arms, the person who just admitted to loving him.

And for once in his life, Izuku let himself be selfish, let himself take what Kacchan was willing to give. For once in his life, told his mind to shut up and let himself just feel. And, God, there was so much to feel.

He broke away from the kiss to breathe, and the look Kacchan met him with was so soft and he was so pretty Izuku couldn’t handle it. He made some embarrassing happy noise, leaning down to bury his burning face into the crook of Kacchan’s neck.

“What are you doing, Deku,” Kacchan said flatly. Izuku just mumbled something incoherent and thought don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry please do not cry on repeat in his head even as felt tears prick at his eyes. Kacchan laughed quietly. “Sentimental dork.”

Izuku pulled up a little to meet Kacchan’s eyes again, bringing his hands out from under his hoodie to cup his face. He brushed a thumb lightly across his cheek, making his crimson eyes widen slightly. “You’re really pretty, and I am going to kiss you so many times,” Izuku told him before leaning down to start peppering kisses across his cheeks.

“Deku-agh-what the f*ck?” Kacchan protested, scrunching his nose up in disgust. Izuku just laughed and kissed his nose, then his forehead, then his temples and everywhere else on his face too. “Gross. You disgust me.”

Izuku hummed in agreement, noticing the red in Kacchan’s cheeks as he leaned down to kiss his jaw, then the spot under his ear. He heard Kacchan’s breath hitch, then a hand was on his face, pushing him away and to the side.

“Deku,” Kacchan hissed, holding a hand to Izuku’s chest to keep him away, “we are in a f*cking playground.”

“Sorry,” Izuku giggled, feeling his face warm. He may have gotten carried away there. Oops. He rolled off Kacchan and dropped to the grass at his side, then shuffled his arms around Kacchan’s waist to pull his boyfriend on to his chest like he’d been that day studying with their friends.

“Wh-Deku, what the f*ck?” Kacchan said, grabbing his arm but not really trying to get him to let go.

“I like having you close,” Izuku murmured, smiling and fitting his chin over Kacchan’s shoulder.

“You don’t have to f*cking manhandle me for that,” Kacchan grumbled.

Izuku’s smiled grew and he tilted his head to kiss Kacchan’s neck lightly. “Good to know.”

“Gross,” Kacchan said again.

“Do you want me to stop?” Izuku asked, serious. Obviously, he wouldn’t keep kissing Kacchan if he didn’t want it. There was a pause of silence.

“No.”

Izuku did a poor job of stifling another laugh, and Kacchan reached back to shove a hand over his face. Izuku kissed his palm. Kacchan made some disgusted noise and jolted his hand back.

“Did you just f*cking lick my hand?” he snapped. Izuku laughed harder, too hard to resist when Kacchan pulled his arms off and flipped over to cage Izuku between his arms, glaring. “f*ck you, nerd,” Kacchan said, leaning down to kiss his cheeks. Izuku’s face started burning, the giddy feeling in his stomach bringing his laughter up to a level where he couldn’t even talk.

“Oh, you think this is funny?” Kacchan said, grinning. Izuku tried to respond, but just burst into another bout of snorts and giggles, abs starting to ache. Suddenly, Kacchan’s hands were at his sides, making him shriek with laughter as his fingers pressed into him.

“Ack, Kacchan-!,” he managed, reaching up to try and fight him off.

“This is what you get for laughing at me,” Kacchan said, snickering. Asshole.

“I wasn’t-ah! Okay! I’m sorry!” Izuku squealed, and Kacchan finally let up. Izuku took a moment to catch his breath and let out the last huffs of laughter, weakly hitting his fist against Kacchan’s chest. “Jerk.”

Kacchan snorted with another laugh, falling forward and landing heavily on Izuku’s chest, knocking the wind out of him. Izuku wheezed and coughed, wrapping his arms around Kacchan and patting his back. “Oof, you’re crushing me.”

“You said you wanted me close,” Kacchan mumbled, hugging around Izuku’s neck and using his collarbone as a pillow.

Izuku hummed in happy agreement. “You gonna fall asleep again?”

“Shut up.”

“No, it’s great,” Izuku said, smiling, “it’s like those fancy heated, weighted blankets except free and also my boyfriend. How lucky am I?”

“Very,” Katsuki answered, “you got me.”

“Exactly,” Izuku agreed.

“I guess I’m lucky to have you too,” Kacchan grumbled, so quiet Izuku almost didn’t hear it. His heart has melted and now he is dead. Oh my god.

“I heard that,” he said, grinning, “I’m quoting you on that forever now.”

Kacchan growled into his chest. “f*ck off, I take it back.”

“No, you don’t,” Izuku said, somehow confident in that.

Kacchan huffed, “No, I don’t, but if you don’t stop it, I’m never kissing you again.”

“No!” Izuku protested, squeezing Kacchan tightly and kissing the top of his head. “I’m sorry, you’re the great badass Kacchan and you never say anything affectionate ever.”

“You are so annoying sometimes.”

“Yeah, but you love me.” Izuku smiled, his chest warm. That felt surreal to say.

“I can hate you at the same time, it’s called having range,” Kacchan said flatly.

Izuku laughed. “Thanks, Kacchan. You’re the best boyfriend a person could ask for.”

“Damn right I am.”

They stayed there in silence for a while, laying in the grass with the soft wind and sinking sun washing over them. For once, Izuku’s mind stayed present in the moment instead of wandering off down a million new paths, just focused on the weight of Kacchan on top of him and the warmth in his whole body.

He wanted to remember every second of this forever. What was today’s date?

“As great as this is,” Kacchan said eventually, breaking the peaceful silence, “we can’t stay here forever, Deku.”

“Aw,” Izuku mumbled. Kacchan snorted, moving his hands to the sides of Izuku’s head and pushing up to be on all fours above him. Izuku leaned up at the same time he leans down, kissing softly when the meet in the middle. Izuku smirked when they pull apart, reaching up to place his hands on Kacchan’s chest. “Hey, Kacchan…bet I can beat you to the top of the playground!”

He shoved Kacchan to the side, laughing at his boyfriend’s shriek of betrayal, then scrambling to his feet and taking off towards the play structure. He took the tiny steps three at a time, jumping over the rope bridge and nearly hitting his head on the roof because the structure was made for toddlers, not a nearly six foot tall eighteen-year-old. He slammed his hand down on the old metal railing at the top level just before Kacchan, the same place the used to race up to as kids. Izuku had never won before. Felt good.

“I win!” he declared happily, turning to beam at Kacchan. Kacchan glared up at him, but broke into a small smile anyways. And then suddenly Izuku’s back was pushed up against one post of the play structure, his noise of surprise swallowed up by the deep kiss Kacchan pressed against his lips.

“I win,” Kacchan murmured when he pulled away, low and quiet with his gorgeous crimson eyes and a half-smirk. Is Izuku breathing right, or at all? Kacchan was still staring at him, one hand on his chest and – wait, he’s at eye level. Izuku blinked at him for a second to make sure, face burning, and can’t help a smile as bits of laughter start in his chest.

“Are you-are you on your tip-toes right now?” he managed, failing horribly at keeping the laughter out of his voice.

Kacchan’s cheeks flared red. “Shut the f*ck up.”

“Sorry!” Izuku said, the last bit dissolving into an almost squeal as he held back yet another laugh, “Sorry, you were being smooth and I ruined it.”

“It’s your f*cking fault for being so goddamn tall,” Kacchan grumbled, glaring at him. Izuku snickered and kissed him again, pushing himself off the post and making Kacchan drop back down to his normal height.

“Don’t worry, Kacchan, you’re still intimidating and hot,” he assured him, blushing.

Kacchan raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you think I’m hot?”

“Obviously,” Izuku mumbled, heat creeping up from his neck.

“Obviously,” Kacchan repeated, smirking.

Yeah, Izuku never wanted to forget this. “We should take a picture,” he suggested, the idea suddenly coming to him. He reached for his phone in his pocket as Kacchan scowled.

“Why?”

“To document the best day of my life,” Izuku said, smiling.

Kacchan looked momentarily surprised, blushing at bit, then rolled his eyes. “Do I have to?”

“Yes,” Izuku answered, holding his phone out and throwing an arm around Kacchan’s shoulder, squishing his cheek into Kacchan’s. “Smile!” he teased as Kacchan made a disgusted face.

“Fine,” Kacchan huffed, then suddenly there was a hand on Izuku’s chin, forcing him to look sideways before Kacchan pressed a kiss to his lips. Izuku squeaked in surprise, then let his eyes slide shut and returned the kiss. He might not ever get used to this feeling. Kacchan pulled back, patting his cheek. “There, hope you took a picture.”

Izuku, still dazed, blinked at him for a second before processing what he was referring to. He opened his photos to check, then laughed quietly. The first picture was him grinning at the camera with Kacchan looked grossed out next to him. The next was slightly blurry, surprise written across his face as Kacchan pulled him in. The last one was at a poor angle, but it made Izuku blush furiously.

“Alright, you’ve documented it, now let’s go,” Kacchan said, grabbing his hand and pulling him across the bridge and back down to the ground. Izuku smiled and pocketed his phone again, allowing his boyfriend to lead him out of their childhood park.

The sun was far lower on the horizon than it had been when they had arrived, sky melting into beautiful oranges and pinks in the fall sky. Izuku took it in, breathing in the cool evening air and enjoying the feeling of Kacchan’s hand in his own. They walked back to the station and waited for a train in comfortable silence, riding back to campus with Izuku’s head resting on Kacchan’s shoulder again.

Izuku felt more at peace than he had his entire life. The nagging fears in the back of his mind were still there, still worrying him, but all he had to do was remember Kacchan love him and they’d quiet again.

They reached Izuku’s dorm building first, just as the last bits of sunlight were fading out of the sky. Izuku stopped at the front door, turning to say goodbye, but was met with soft crimson eyes that sent a feeling of pure warmth washing through him. He smiled, hoping he wasn’t about to cry but knowing he probably was, then pulled Kacchan into a tight hug.

“I love you, Kacchan,” he murmured into his hair.

Kacchan hugged him back just as tight, leaning up to kiss him gently. Izuku knew what it meant.

“See you tomorrow, nerd,” Kacchan said, dropping down from tip-toes – cute – and pulling back a little.

“Are we going to tell everyone?” Izuku asked, realizing they’d see all their friends at lunch.

Kacchan shrugged. “I don’t really give a sh*t. Say whatever you want, or take it slow, whatever.”

“Don’t think we’re very good at taking things slow,” Izuku joked, making Kacchan roll his eyes, “Maybe we can just let them find out on their own.”

“That might be funny.”

Izuku snickered. “Okay, see you tomorrow, Kacchan.”

Kacchan stared at him for a second, then closed to short distance between them and pressed a chaste kiss to Izuku’s cheek before turning and walking away, calling a last “Bye, Deku,” as he went. Izuku blinked in surprise, bringing his hand up to his cheek and blushing furiously.

“That’s my thing,” he said quietly to Kacchan’s retreating figure. Copy-cat.

The next day’s lunch couldn’t come fast enough. It took Izuku forever to fall asleep that night, and his classes felt far too long and boring, even the interesting ones (which was all of them, to be honest). The second his pre-lunch class let out, he shoved his things into his bag and raced out the door as fast as possible without seeming rude. And then the stars must’ve still been aligned, because on his way out of the psychology building, he finally realized that the general sciences building was right across the field. And Kacchan was walking out of it right that second.

Before really thinking about it, Izuku took off sprinting towards his boyfriend, skidding to a stop and slamming into him with a hug from the side, making Kacchan yelp in surprise.

“Who the-Deku? What the f*ck?”

“Hi, Kacchan!” Izuku chirped excitedly through panting, releasing him. “I just-hah-saw you from over there, and-huh.” He was breathing harder than he thought he was. Maybe he’d run too fast.

“You good?” Kacchan asked, looking confused or concerned.

“Yes,” Izuku confirmed, heaving in a deep breath and standing up fully, “yes, all good. I was, uh…oh yeah. Want to walk to lunch? With me?”

Kacchan laughed shortly. “Sure.”

“Great!” Izuku grinned, grabbing Kacchan’s hand and starting towards their usual spot.

“Did you run across campus just to hold my hand?” Kacchan asked, raising an eyebrow.

Izuku opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again and blushed. “Maybe”

Kacchan laughed again. “I’m flattered. How were your classes?”

“Fine. I was kinda distracted the whole time, though,” Izuku admitted.

“Daydreaming about holding my hand instead of paying attention?” Kacchan teased, making Izuku blush harder because yes, that was in fact one of the things he had been thinking about.

“Among other things,” he answered, pulling their clasped hands up to kiss Kacchan’s knuckles. Now at least Kacchan was blushing too.

“How’s the hand?” Kacchan asked, probably noticing the bandage on Izuku’s hand he was holding.

“Eh, it only hurts a bit,” Izuku said, shrugging, “Maybe it’ll heal faster if you kiss it better.”

Kacchan locked eyes with him, glaring, then did just that by pressing a kiss to the bandage. “There, now shut up.”

Izuku giggled, smiling so wide his cheeks hurt. “Thanks, Kacchan.” They made their way up the small hill to their lunch table, and Izuku used his free hand to wave at everyone as they approached. “Hey!”

Their friends returned the greetings and he and Kacchan took their seats. For a bit, no one said anything, and Izuku got the sense he was being stared at. Maybe this was the point where they just found out. Izuku had no idea how to even start telling them.

“So,” Ochako said, the first one to speak up, “how was your cooking lesson, Izuku?”

Izuku grinned. “It was so great.”

Kacchan side-eyed him, and Izuku could see the faint pink in his cheeks. “Seriously,” he deadpanned. Izuku snickered.

“Didn’t you burn the food?” Kirishima asked, confused.

“And your f*cking hand,” Kacchan added, taking a bite of his rice.

“Pros outweighed the cons,” Izuku said, waving his bandaged hand in the air. Kacchan glared at him, but Izuku could tell from the way his lips twitched that he was holding back a smile.

“You burned your hand?” Iida said, frowning, “Are you alright?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. It was nothing,” Izuku assured him, “Kacchan made it all better,” he added, smirking and leaning towards his furiously blushing boyfriend.

“Shut the f*ck up,” Kacchan said, putting a hand in his face to shove him back. Izuku laughed, then noticed that all of their friends were looking between the two of them, seemingly inspecting their behavior. This was awkward. Maybe he really should just up and say it? Kiss Kacchan right now?

And then he heard a stifled laugh from his boyfriend at his side, watching him bring a hand up to his mouth and try to be casual about it. Apparently, Kacchan was enjoying their friend’s confusion. Who was Izuku to ruin his fun?

“By the way, Kacchan, did you hear about the new movie trailer coming out this weekend?” Izuku said, steering the conversation to usual topics.

Kacchan coughed into his hand, pulling himself together before answering, “Yeah, I’m surprised it took you this long to mention it.”

“The leaks I’ve seen look so cool!” Izuku said excitedly.

“What movie trailer?” Tsuyu asked.

“They’re making a new All Might movie and the first teaser trailer is being released on Saturday!” Izuku answered, “The movie’s not coming out until a few months from now, though.”

“And…who would you go with to this new movie?” Kaminari asked, trying and failing to be sneaky.

“Kacchan, probably,” he answered honestly.

Kaminari raised his eyebrows. “Just you and Kacchan?”

Izuku held his breath to stop from laughing at the attempt and heard Kacchan snort next to him. “Why wouldn’t-” was as far as Izuku got before choking through another poorly hidden laugh and leaning over to hide his face in Kacchan’s shoulder. “I can’t!” he squeaked.

Kacchan let out a giggle-squeal above him, pressing his face into Izuku’s hair as they both shook with laughter. “f*ck, they think they’re slick.”

“What’s so funny?” Sero asked, making both of them laugh harder. Oh no, laughing with Kacchan like this always led to both of them spiraling into being unable to talk. It was like Kacchan’s real laughter was infectious.

“Idiots,” Kacchan managed, snorting with laughter. Izuku giggled and wrapped his arms around Kacchan’s waist to squeeze him close, trying his hardest to keep breathing. He wanted to say it wasn’t exactly their fault but couldn’t form the words.

“You two are dating, aren’t you?” Kaminari yelled accusatorily, making Izuku bark with loud laughter and look up. Well, they figured it out. Didn’t take them too long.

Kacchan snorted with more laughter into his fist, neither of them able to speak to confirm what Kaminari said. So, instead, Izuku leaned in to kiss Kacchan’s cheek. He’s pretty sure Mina screamed.

“Oh my God, is that a yes?” Izuku heard Ochako yelp over their other friend’s yells.

“f*cking hell,” Kacchan managed to grumble, laughing again. “Fine, I’ll make it clear.” That was all the warning Izuku got before soft lips were on his, pushing him back so suddenly and forcefully he had to put a hand behind him on the bench to stop from falling backwards.

There were multiple yells of “Holy sh*t!” or “Finally!” and Mina definitely screamed this time. Izuku felt like he should be embarrassed, but he was too giddy for that. Kacchan pulled away, meeting Izuku’s eyes with a charming, affectionate smirk that made Izuku have no idea how to act. Izuku ended up throwing his arms around Kacchan’s neck and hugging him close. How was he even real?

“Tell us everything, right now!” Mina ordered, practically on her feet.

“f*ck off,” Kacchan responded. Izuku laughed and pulled away to just leave one arm over his boyfriend’s shoulders.

“No, no way!” Kaminari said, slamming his fist down on the table, “We did not sit through weeks and weeks of pining for nothing!”

“Exactly,” Mina agreed, “Talk.”

“Oh my f*cking God,” Kacchan grumbled, glaring.

“I have so many questions,” Ochako cut in, eyes wide, “First being how long? Because I swear, if you have been hiding this-” she trailed off there, but the look in her eyes was enough to make Izuku glad they’d found out so soon.

“Just since yesterday,” Izuku assured her.

“I knew it!” Kirishima suddenly yelled, grinning, “I knew something was different! You two were going on a date!”

“You went on a date?” Mina and Ochako practically shrieked.

“You burned the food because you were making out, didn’t you?” Sero said, looking utterly delighted.

“f*ck you,” Kacchan snapped as Izuku’s face heated.

“That means I’m right,” Sero said, completely right.

“Where was your date?” Tsuyu asked, seeming genuine and a lot calmer than their other friends.

“We got ramen and went to the park,” Izuku answered.

“What?” Kirishima yelled, “You saw my mom?”

“Uh, yeah,” Izuku said.

“She didn’t say anything! My own mother!” Kirishima said, shaking his head.

“I hate this,” Kacchan growled.

Izuku shuffled closer to him. “Well, you can’t leave me with them.”

“Who said anything about not taking you?” Kacchan mumbled.

“Running away together, how romantic,” Izuku said, smiling.

“No one is running away!” Mina interrupted, “Tell us about the confession!”

Oh. Oh no. Izuku’s face flushed, remembering his panicked word vomiting. “No thank you,” he said, flustered.

“Why not?” Todoroki asked.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Izuku said, staring down at the table. How what he did even worked is a mystery to him.

“Okay, well now I gotta know!” Mina said, “Bakugou, what happened?”

“Aaah, no!” Izuku moaned, leaning forward to hit his forehead on the table. He heard Kacchan snort.

“Deku is cute and doesn’t know when to shut the f*ck up, that’s all you idiots need to know,” Kacchan answered, making Izuku blush harder.

“You’re so mean,” Izuku whined into the table, then looked up to pout.

“Yeah, but you really, really like me,” Kacchan teased, giving him a quick peck on the lips.

“That was an understatement,” Izuku mumbled, feeling warm all over again. Kacchan gave him a soft smile, his eyes full of an unfettered adoration Izuku had never even dreamt of seeing on him. He loved Kacchan so much, and Kacchan really did love him back, even if he didn’t or couldn’t say it yet. He’d said plenty yesterday.

“Oh, God, do they have to do that right now?” Kaminari said, snapping Izuku out of his little trance.

“See, I said this would make it so much worse,” Sero added.

“The f*ck?” Kacchan snapped, turning to glare at his friends.

“Stop making heart-eyes at each other, some of us are trying to eat,” Kaminari said, making a grossed-out face.

“When are they not making heart-eyes at each other, if we’re being honest,” Mina muttered, shrugging.

Izuku laughed, only a little embarrassed, and Kacchan growled and flipped his friends off. “Sorry, Kacchan’s just too pretty,” Izuku said happily, pressing a kiss to the corner of Kacchan’s jaw.

“Ew,” Kacchan protested, making an overdramatic expression of disgust. Izuku was thoroughly endeared with this gremlin and he’s pretty sure everyone at that table could tell.

“Yeah, he’s gorgeous,” Mina deadpanned at Kacchan’s scowl, smirking.

“f*ck off, Bubblegum.”

The rest of lunch went on as normal, through their friends did ask a few more questions here and there. Izuku caught Kacchan before he left, grabbing his arm. Kacchan glanced back at him.

“Yeah?”

Izuku suddenly became nervous, which was very strange considering Kacchan was already his boyfriend and they already went on a date. He literally told him he loved him. And yet he still stuttered over his words. “Uh…do you-well, I know we usually-like, calling you every night is kind of a thing…but what if we studied together instead?” he managed horribly, “Tonight?”

Kacchan snorted a quiet laugh, then brought a hand to the back of Izuku’s neck to pull him down for a quick kiss. “Sure. I’ll come to your dorm so sh*tty Hair and Co. don’t bother us.”

“Yay! See you, Kacchan!”

Kacchan came to his dorm that evening like he said he would, pulling Izuku away from his latest essay with a kiss in greeting. Izuku would be happy forever if Kacchan kissed him hello every day from now on. And goodbye. And the whole time in between too. Maybe inviting his boyfriend over while he had actual work to do wasn’t his smartest idea.

But Izuku didn’t much care about his essays or readings when somehow a kiss hello became him on top of Kacchan in his bed, feeling Kacchan’s hand rake through his hair and on his back. Despite Kacchan’s demeanor and personality, his kisses and touches were so soft Izuku was on the verge of melting.

He pulled away after who knows how long to take a full breath, letting loose some embarrassing squeak at Kacchan’s serene face, the same affectionate smirk he seemed to get every time they kissed. It was the most handsome thing Izuku had ever seen.

“You’re gorgeous,” he said honestly, taking full advantage of his new ability to just tell Kacchan all the things he thought about him.

“So you’ve said,” Kacchan said, laughing quietly and raising an eyebrow.

“Like you couldn’t stand to hear it again,” Izuku responded, blushing.

Kacchan smirked and propped himself up with his elbows on the bed behind him. “I wasn’t complaining.” Izuku rolled his eyes and kissed him again, smiling when he pulled away. Kacchan squinted at him, cheeks pink, then grumbled, “You’re not so bad looking yourself.”

Izuku blushed harder and grinned. “How eloquent and romantic, Kacchan, you’re gonna make me swoon.”

“Shut up.” Kacchan glared, the flush on his cheeks betraying his words. Izuku tried to quiet his laugh and moved to meet Kacchan’s lips again.

He pulled back, chest blooming with warmth. “I love you,” he said, again just because he could.

The look Kacchan gave him was sadder this time, though, tinged with a heaviness Izuku understood even before Kacchan started to say, “I…” Kacchan trailed off there, clenching his jaw, then shoved himself off the bed to press a kiss to Izuku lips, pushing them both up to sitting. This kiss was a bit harsher than the others, but not in an aggressive way. This one had a point Kacchan was trying to communicate.

I love you too.

When they broke apart, Izuku reached up to cup Kacchan’s face in his hands, wishing that sad look away. “I know, Kacchan,” he assured him softly.

“I’ll say it,” Kacchan promised.

Izuku sighed, smiling, and leaned in to kiss his nose. “I know, Kacchan.”

Chapter 16: swear on all might (epilogue)

Chapter Text

Seven years. Izuku had been with Kacchan for seven years as of that morning. Seven of the best years of his life, if you asked him. Some days he felt like he was living a dream, especially when he woke up to Kacchan next to him in bed, or up early making breakfast in the kitchen while their cat, Ultra, tangled herself up at his feet – yes, their friends had made fun of them for naming their cat after a superhero slogan.

Ultra had been Izuku’s present to Kacchan when he graduated UA with his master’s degree last year, one of the kittens that Eri and her family fostered sometimes. She was an adorable orange tabby cat with a very loud purr, and Izuku and Kacchan loved her very much (though Kacchan hardly admitted that, preferring to call their beautiful kitty mean names like the jerk he was).

They’d moved in together after four years, scraping together enough money to rent a nice apartment nearby their campus. Izuku had started crying the second Kacchan suggested it, and cried even more when they were given the keys and on move-in day. Kacchan had told him that if he was going to keep crying, he might as well mop the floors, then immediately stopped him from doing that by starting a make-out session on their new couch. Some point during that he accidently fell off the couch and hit his head on the coffee table, but that was irrelevant.

Telling their parents about their relationship had happened way before then, seeing as Izuku was unable to keep secrets from his mother and Kacchan was too, though for different reasons. It was a looming childhood rule that Auntie Micchan would always find out. At a joint family dinner where Kacchan had officially told his parents (being coerced into doing so by Izuku’s urges), Auntie had responded by boasting that she had guessed this would happen by the time they were nine. Uncle Masaru and Izuku’s mother confirmed this claim. Needless to say, their parents were very approving and happy for them.

Kacchan had told Izuku he loved him. About a year into their relationship, in the middle of Izuku ranting about the All Might movie they had just watched, right as they walked down the street from the theater back to the dorms. Izuku was so startled he tripped on air and slammed into a phone pole, giving himself a bloody nose. They both were bloodied by the end of that situation, though, because Izuku had promptly whirled around to kiss his boyfriend, ignoring the flare of pain.

It was now a running joke in their relationship that any big step had to end with Izuku’s injury. Izuku thought it was worth it.

Though, he was holding out hope that today would end with no injury to himself or his boyfriend. Because today he was planning to take one more big step forward.

He and Kacchan had talked about it before, in passing conversations before bed or over meals, but going out and buying a ring with Shouto to then stuff into his desk at his internship was an entirely different experience. He’d taken the box home from work yesterday, though, and it was now in his shaking hands as he held it above his face, laying back in their bed with his boyfriend snoring quietly next to him, sun creeping through the windows. This was real. He was actually about to do this.

He’d been planning it for months, of course. Kacchan wasn’t very fond of surprises or big public gestures, so Izuku knew fireworks and a huge fancy dinner was not the way to go. Kacchan liked things that were simple, meaningful but straight to the point. Saturday morning, on their anniversary, in their home with an audience comprised only of their cat felt right.

Said cat jumped on to the bed right at that moment, crawling her way up Izuku’s stomach to mew quietly in his face for attention. Izuku smiled, turning his focus from the box and the ring to scritch Ultra’s head and make her purr. Kacchan always pretended to be annoyed by how loudly Ultra purred, but Izuku loved it. It reminded him of a certain sleeping someone who also had a very purr-like snore and enjoyed laying on top of him to nap.

“I’m gonna do it, Ultra,” he murmured to the blissed-out cat on his chest, quiet so as not to wake Kacchan. Ultra just kept purring, which he decided to interpret as approval and encouragement. “Thank you, kitty. Please don’t wake him up because I don’t want to propose to a grumpy Kacchan.” Ultra blinked at him, then shoved her head into his hand as if to say I won’t if you keep petting me. Cute little blackmailer.

After a few minutes of petting Ultra and watching Kacchan sleep peacefully next to him, Izuku decided to get up to feed the cat and start breakfast, knowing Kacchan liked to sleep in when he could. The prospect of food stopped Ultra from protesting too much when he pushed her off to stand, pocketing the ring box and stretching out his arms before making his way to the kitchen. After seven years with Kacchan, he had figured out a few meals he could manage on his own, including a simple breakfast with miso soup, grilled fish, and the like. He considered trying something special but figured that would definitely end with an injury, and setting the fire alarm off was not the way he wanted Kacchan to wake up this morning.

Kacchan came out of their room just as Izuku was laying strips of salmon in the pan, running his fingers through his tousled ash blonde hair and making his way into the kitchen to kiss Izuku’s cheek. “Morning nerd.”

“Good morning Kacchan,” Izuku said, leaning over to kiss Kacchan’s lips, heart fluttering and pocket suddenly very heavy. “How’d you sleep?”

“Fine,” Kacchan answered. “The little f*cker didn’t come try to suffocate me in my sleep again so that’s good,” he added, looking pointedly at Ultra, who had finished her breakfast and was now at their feet, probably hoping for some of their fish. “Yeah, I’m talking about you, asshole.”

“She was showing her love, Kacchan,” Izuku said, smiling.

“Love my ass,” Kacchan grumbled, “she wants to kill me. That innocent face is a farce.”

“What?” Izuku gasped in mock disbelief, bending down to lift Ultra up and hold her out to Kacchan. “This face? This angel face? How could you say such a thing?”

“She’s a monster,” Kacchan deadpanned.

Izuku laughed, then cuddled the cat close to his chest as she started to struggle. “Don’t worry, Ultra, he doesn’t mean that. Kacchan loves us.”

Kacchan made a face. “I love you, never said anything about the cat.”

Izuku let Ultra jump to the ground and leaned into give his boyfriend a peck. “I love you too, Kacchan.”

Kacchan gave him that small, affectionate smile that still made him feel like jelly after all these years. “You making breakfast?”

“Yeah,” Izuku answered, “thought I’d try since I woke up first.” Because he was too nervous to sleep much, he didn’t add.

“Thanks,” Kacchan said, kissing his jaw. He did that often, seeing as it was easier for him to reach than Izuku’s cheek. Izuku thought it was adorable if not hot sometimes. “I’ll be right back to set the table,” Kacchan told him, then glared down at the cat, “You better not follow me.” Ultra just stared at him, and Kacchan disappeared into the bathroom. Izuku’s heart started to race.

He was doing this. He could do it. He’d practiced in the mirror already. He was not going to panic. He was going to make it the whole way with out crying.

Okay, maybe that last part was unrealistic. But whatever, Kacchan had been dating him for seven years and known him for twenty-five, Izuku crying was nothing new.

Izuku’s hand found it’s way into the pocket of his pajama pants, closing around the velvet box and slowly pulling it out, forcing deep breaths to steady himself. Ultra moved to the living area to drape herself over the arm of the couch, almost like she knew what was about to happen and wanted a front row seat.

Izuku cracked the box open a bit, making one hundred percent sure the ring was actually in it, which it was. A simple diamond set into silver, something Izuku thought would match Kacchan’s other jewelry. It wasn’t anything super fancy, but, hey, he was an interned college student working towards his doctorate, money wasn’t something he had too much to spare. Besides, Kacchan wasn’t one for something crazy like that.

The bathroom door opened again, and Izuku quickly snapped the box shut and hid it behind his back in a move that was definitely extremely suspicious. Calm down, Izuku! He turned and busied himself with preparing the rice as Kacchan returned the kitchen and started pulling plates out of the cupboards to set out on their small table.

The second Kacchan had his back to Izuku, reaching up to grab cups, Izuku forced himself to the middle of the kitchen and down on one knee, popping the box open to present the ring. He might be about to have a heart attack. He just hoped he could talk through it.

Kacchan grabbed a glass, starting to turn back around. “Hey, I’ve been me-” Kacchan turned fully, eyes shooting wide and cup slipping out of his hands. Uh oh.

“f*ck!” Kacchan lunged for the glass, batting it between his hands and somehow catching it, just barely, before it smashed into the counter. And then he froze, eyes locking on Izuku’s. Izuku swallowed the nervous lump in his throat, praying that his voice would come out more than a croak.

“Kacch-”

“You’ve gotta be f*cking kidding me!” Kacchan suddenly yelled, seemingly coming back to himself.

“What?” Izuku squeaked. He may faint right now with how fast his heart was beating and how light-headed he felt.

“f*ck,” Kacchan swore, putting the glass on the countertop, “f*ck, okay-you little-wait, don’t start freaking out, I just-just wait right there.”

Izuku was already frozen where he knelt, possibly in shock from confusion as Kacchan left the kitchen quickly to return to their bedroom. Lots of grumbled cursing ensued. Izuku was definitely about to freak out, no matter what his boyfriend told him. Was Kacchan mad? Should Izuku have waited? Was it about the cup? Was he being rejected? Was-

“You’re not getting rejected!” Kacchan suddenly yelled from the next room, like he could read Izuku’s mind from all the way over there. Okay, then what the hell was going on?

Izuku’s question was answered when Kacchan came back into the kitchen, black velvet box in hand, and knelt down across from Izuku. He opened the box to reveal a gorgeous diamond ring mirroring the one Izuku was holding.

Oh.

Well.

That was fitting.

“Izuku,” Kacchan started to say, but Izuku beat him to it.

“Kacchan I love you will you marry me?” he rattled off in one quick breath, grinning at his boyfriend’s shocked expression.

“You-gah-f*cking-,” Kacchan stuttered, pursing his lips but unable to hold back a smile. “God f*cking dammit. You couldn’t have waited until literally tonight?”

“That’s not an answer,” Izuku said, feeling warmth start to bloom in his chest.

“Will you marry me?” Kacchan deflected, smirking.

Izuku bit back a squeal of joy. Holy crap Kacchan wants to marry me. “I asked first.”

“I asked second,” Kacchan shot back.

Izuku narrowed his eyes at his soon-to-be fiancé, raising an eyebrow. “Fine,” he said, taking the ring he was holding out of its box, then brandishing it in front of Kacchan, “guess I’ll have to put this on you.” Kacchan’s eyes widened as Izuku lunged at him, tackling him to the ground and grabbing for his hand as they both laughed.

“Like hell you will!” Kacchan laughed, rolling them over and plopping himself down heavily on Izuku’s stomach, pinning him. Izuku giggled, happier than he had ever been, pushing himself up to a sitting position so Kacchan was on his lap.

“I love you,” he said, leaning in to kiss him. Kacchan returned the kiss, deepening it and making Izuku’s chest explode with warm feelings like sunlight. And then he felt something cold on his finger, and realized he’d been tricked.

“Gotcha’,” Kacchan murmured into his lips, smirking.

Izuku let out a breathless laugh, grabbing Kacchan’s hand to slip the ring on. Now that Kacchan had won, there was no resistance. “I assume the answer is yes?” Izuku asked, smiling. “That’s my answer.”

“Mine would be f*ck yes, but it’s a similar sentiment,” Kacchan joked, lifting Izuku’s left hand up to kiss his knuckles. Izuku almost started crying when he saw the matching rings now on both their ring fingers.

“I love you so much,” he managed, not giving Kacchan time respond before kissing him hard enough to send him toppling back, following him to the ground so he was on top of him again. He kissed him deeper, then moved to kiss every other inch of him he could get. Kacchan chuckled and hugged him close, doing the exact same thing and making Izuku feel like he’d melt through the floor if Kacchan weren’t there to hold him up.

They were interrupted by a soft mrrrp? and a wet nose poking at Izuku’s cheek.

“Someone came to celebrate,” Izuku giggled, kissing Ultra on the top of her head. “I love you too, kitty.”

“Go away, cat,” Kacchan grumbled, “I’m trying to make out with my fiancé.”

Izuku blushed furiously and grinned at the new title, leaning down to resume kissing Kacchan. This was his life now, and it was going to be his life forever. Forever and ever and ever.

“Nerd, I think we’re burning the fish again.”

The weekend passed in a blur, most of it spent in bed, and before Izuku knew it, Monday had come again, and he had to return to his internship at a psychologist’s office. He’d somehow gotten lucky enough to gain favor with his all-time idol, Dr. Yagi Toshinori, during his first year at UA, which had led to a blessing of an internship while he worked on his doctorate.

He was met with kind congratulations from his coworkers and a few patients when they noticed the ring, and a warm hug from Dr. Yagi, who had become something of a mentor figure to him. Izuku often wondered what his past self would say if he saw himself now, working on a doctorate at his dream school with his idol as his mentor, and now engaged to Kacchan. He’d probably faint.

“We should probably call our parents,” he suggested over dinner that evening, watching Kacchan push Ultra away from him with a light foot on her side. She meowed in protest and stalked over to Izuku’s side of the table, knowing that he was the one more likely to ‘drop’ bits of fish.

“Yeah, probably,” Kacchan agreed, though he didn’t look to keen on the idea, “The hag’s gonna freak.”

Izuku thought on that for a second. His own mother would no doubt start crying. “Not to mention all our friends.”

Kacchan made a face. “Ugh, them.”

Izuku chuckled. “Well, we can’t not tell them.”

“Says who?” Kacchan shot back, “We could elope and never have to deal with any of their sh*t.”

“Come on, Kacchan, it won’t be that bad,” Izuku said, smiling, “Besides, I want to brag.”

Kacchan quirked up a brow. “Brag?”

“About you, duh,” Izuku said, reaching across the table to poke Kacchan’s nose, “I want to tell the whole world that the most amazing person ever is marrying me. Ha.” That’s right. Kacchan is marrying him.

He was having an internal meltdown.

Kacchan snorted a laugh. “Aren’t you a flatterer? If you’re trying for a kiss, you’re gonna have to stop feeding the brat cat from the dinner table.”

Izuku switched paths midway to giving Ultra piece of fish to eat it himself. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Kacchan laughed at him again. “Anyways, back to our parents?”

“We can facetime your mom tonight,” Kacchan said, waving a hand, “Then my folks later. I know you tell Auntie sh*t right away.”

The call to his mother went about as expected, which is to say Izuku and Inko both cried a lot while Kacchan watched. Izuku’s mother immediately made plans to take the train to their city that weekend to take them out to lunch in celebration. Izuku was elated to see his mom again and Kacchan didn’t seem to against it. Not, at least, until they told Kacchan’s mom and dad, and they were added to the celebratory lunch too.

They also told Eri that week, when Izuku happened to run into her and her older brother, Shinso Hitoshi, outside his office. Shinso, who had become his friend of sorts through their shared relationship with Eri, gave him a warm congratulations and Eri hugged him very tightly, telling him that Kacchan better be perfect for him in a tone reminiscent of her father’s threatening aura.

Lunch with their parents on the weekend was full of more tears, congratulations, and laughter after Izuku and Kacchan were coerced into telling their engagement story.

All that left was their group of close friends. Auntie Micchan and Uncle Masaru offered to host an engagement party at their home, which was rather large and luxurious due to their lucrative careers in the fashion industry, and Izuku requested some time to think on it before Kacchan could shoot them down immediately. Izuku liked the idea of a celebration, especially just with their friends. This was something he wanted to celebrate! He just needed to convince his fiancé.

“Does it have to be at my f*cking parent’s house?” Kacchan grumbled as they drove home from dropping his mother off at the station that Sunday.

“Not like we have space in our apartment,” Izuku pointed out, glad that Kacchan’s complaints seemed to be more towards accepting help from his parents rather than the party itself.

“Or we could just text them,” Kacchan suggested. Okay, maybe Izuku had hoped too soon.

“Kacchan,” he chided, “we are not telling our friends we got engaged over text.”

“I see no problem with that idea,” Kacchan deadpanned. “Oh, f*ck, we’re gonna have to invite them to the wedding too, aren’t we?”

Izuku rolled his eyes. “Yes. I’m pretty sure Mina would murder you if you didn’t.”

“She’s gonna want to be a f*cking bridesmaid or the goddamn wedding planner,” Kacchan said, smirking despite the complaining tone.

“Look,” Izuku said, getting an idea, “what if we just did the thing we did to tell them we were dating?”

“We never really told them that.”

“Exactly,” Izuku agreed, smiling, “just invite them over for a get-together and wait for them to notice the rings.”

Kacchan was quiet for a second, then snickered. “Alright, f*ck, you got me. That’s funny.”

Izuku did and internal fist-pump of celebration. “Your humor is so mean.”

“You suggested it, Deku!”

--

Katsuki could not f*cking believe Deku had gotten to a proposal first. By ten f*cking hours, because Katsuki’s original plan was to do it that evening after taking him out somewhere nice. He was even going to be romantic and sh*t and do it on that playground. But no, Deku just had to do it right that f*cking morning and throw his plans to hell.

Whatever, he’d gotten the ring on first. And besides, hard to be mad when he was now officially engaged to the love of his life. So that was great.

Telling their friends and family? Not so great. Though, Katsuki did like the plan Deku suggested (his fiancé knew him well, that’s why they were getting married), because no matter how annoying his friends inevitable yelling will definitely be, at least he’ll get a laugh at their oblivious expense first.

They’d invited them over to his parent’s house by saying his mom wanted to throw a dinner party and they might as well come for some free food. If there was one thing Katsuki’s friends would never say no to, it was free food. Especially if it came from him or his parents. The f*ckers had bummed off him all through high school and weren’t stopping now, even when he no longer saw them every day.

Luckily or unluckily, depends who you ask, all of his and Deku’s friends were able to make that weekend despite their busy lives. They’d all slowly gone off on their different paths after graduations but stayed close to home. He and Deku weren’t the first from their group to get engaged; Uraraka and Tsuyu had been married for about a year by now. Their engagement and following wedding were the first things that got Katsuki really thinking about a future with Deku. It wasn’t that much to think about. As he’d said on that first date, Who the f*ck else?

The wives were the first to arrive that night, announcing themselves with a happy squeal from Uraraka when Deku opened the door. He hugged them both while Katsuki stayed back, hoping to avoid that part. Uraraka apparently didn’t give a sh*t and came over to hug him anyways.

“Hey there, Bakugou!” she chirped, releasing him.

“Round Face.”

“This is a nice-ass house,” Uraraka said, looking around the genkan with wide eyes.

“Thanks!” Katsuki’s mom said loudly, appearing out of nowhere and making Uraraka jump. “Hey, I’m Bakugou Mitsuki, Katsuki’s mother.”

“Oh, hello!” Uraraka said, quickly composing herself, “I’m Uraraka Ochako, so nice to meet you. Thank you for inviting us to your home!”

“My pleasure,” his mom grinned.

“I’m Tsuyu Asui, Ochako’s wife,” Tsuyu said, stepping forward and bowing, “Thank you for having us.”

“God, Katsuki, all your friends are way too nice for you,” Mitsuki joked, poking him in the ribs with her elbow.

“You’re one to talk,” he shot back. His mom’s best friend was Auntie Inko, for f*cks sake, and she was married to his dad. Talk about to nice for her.

His mom just smirked. “Seems like you and I have that in common, son. Who knows how we got these people to stick around this long.”

“Probably your charming personalities,” his dad said, coming up behind his wife to kiss her on the cheek. Gross.

“Yeah, that’s it,” his mom grinned.

“Hi, by the way,” Masaru said, looking over at Uraraka and Tsuyu, “I’m Bakugou Masaru.”

Katsuki stifled a groan as Uraraka and Tsuyu repeated the same old pleasantries to his dad. He hated sh*t like this, all the bowing and politeness. Deku, knowing this, came over to kiss his cheek then poke his nose.

“Where’s that charming personality, Kacchan?” he teased, smirking.

“Must’ve left it at home,” Katsuki said, leaning into Deku’s side as their guests and his parents talked. Deku laughed quietly and slipped and arm around his waist, fitting them comfortably side-by-side. See, this is what Katsuki would rather be doing right now, spending alone time with his fiancé. But whatever, he might as well try to enjoy this, if not only for Deku’s sake.

The rest of their friends came soon after, last of which being Mina and Kaminari, who were late to everything. No one had said a thing about their rings, which Katsuki was pleased with. It would ruin the fun if they noticed right away.

And, fine, he’d admit it was nice to see all the idiots again. They’d been his friends for ten years, he was aware that he cared about them.

They spent the beginning of dinner talking about each of their lives and how things were going. Tsuyu and Uraraka were living their blissful married life, Uraraka enjoying her job as an engineer for her parent’s company and Tsuyu somehow juggling a job as an elementary school therapist and earning her doctorate, something she and Deku bonded over. Kirishima had recently gotten signed to a professional soccer team; Sero finally got some promotion he’d been going after; Todoroki was working his way through his dad’s company; Iida was also in some family business with cars and sh*t; Mina was taking trapeze classes, for some reason; and Kaminari was Kaminari.

Katsuki got caught up in it, but it didn’t stop him from sometimes glancing over at Deku or the rings on their fingers and remembering that, unfortunately for his friends, his life was always going to be exponentially better than theirs, solely because he had Deku, and they didn’t.

Another thing Katsuki had learned about himself over the past seven years: he was sappy as sh*t.

He suddenly felt a light tap on his shoulder and Deku leaned into his side to whisper, “I can’t believe no one’s said anything yet.”

Katsuki snorted quietly. “They’re a little busy with Mina’s stories, I think,” he whispered back. Just across the table from him Mina was spinning some dramatic monologue about how she’d ended up signing up for trapeze classes, something about a hot bartender and a pet snake, possibly a travelling circus. Katsuki hadn’t really been listening.

“It’s certainly a doozy,” Deku chuckled softly, “How much money says it’s fake?”

Katsuki shrugged and took a sip of his water. “All of it?”

“Really?” Deku frowned. “I feel like Mina has gone through some crazy stuff before.”

“Yeah, crazy sh*t she created,” Katsuki said. Deku laughed again.

“Alright, new bet,” he said, “how much says none of them notice before dinner is over?”

“No money, but I’ll wear the f*cking All Might onesie,” Katsuki offered.

Deku’s eyes sparkled, and he smirked. “And then a matching family photo?” He was referring to the All Might costume he had bought for the f*cking cat.

Katsuki scowled. “If you want that you’re gonna have to up the ante on your end, Deku.”

“I’ll…marry you?” Deku suggested innocently. Katsuki laughed.

“Already f*cking doing that.”

Deku smiled wider and kissed his cheek. “Oh, yeah. Then I got nothing.”

“Nice to know seven years together hasn’t put a damper on you two’s grossness levels over meals,” Sero said, making both of them look over. There were a few laughs from around the table.

“Shut yer trap, Soy Sauce,” Katsuki responded, taking another sip of water, this time with his left hand around the cup. Maybe he didn’t mind the All Might onesie. And pushing this dinner out was only delaying the inevitable.

“How is it in Deku and Kacchan land, you two haven’t said much,” Uraraka asked, smiling.

“That would be Deku and Kacchan and Ultra land, mind you,” Deku corrected, making Uraraka laugh, “and it’s great!”

“Yeah, ‘cept for the cat f*cking up my lab notes,” Katsuki grumbled, remembering how Ultra had knocked his coffee cup over that past week and spilled it all over the data he was transferring to his computer. Why did he love her so much?

“She just wanted attention, Kacchan,” Deku said, patting his shoulder.

“Everyone in my house wants attention,” Katsuki shot back, not really complaining.

Deku smiled and hugged him with one arm around his shoulders. “That’s because we love you!”

“Who knew one day Bakugou of all people would have a domestic life,” Kaminari said. The rest of Katsuki’s friends nodded in agreement.

“The hell is that supposed to mean?” Katsuki snapped.

“It means if I told first year Bakubro that by the time he was twenty-five he would’ve been in a committed relationship for seven years and had a cat named for All Might, he would’ve punched me in the face before I even started talking,” Kirishima joked, grinning. Katsuki scowled at him, though he was right.

“Yeah, next thing we know you’re the first of us five to get married!” Mina laughed.

Is she f*cking serious.

Katsuki just stared at her in judgmental silence, left hand still around his cup on the table, ring literally in full view for her to see. He heard Deku stifle a giggle behind him.

“Oh, come on, Blasty,” Mina said, somehow still not catching on, “you’re seriously that opposed the idea?”

Kirishima frowned at her. “Mina, that’s not really-”

Oh for f*ck’s sake, I’m done. This was funny, but he was getting impatient with his friends utter lack of observational skills. “I never said I was opposed to it,” Katsuki interrupted, drumming his fingers once through on the side of his cup. Deku put a hand over his mouth to muffle his laughter, also showing off his ring in the process.

Their friends looked confused for a second, then Katsuki watched as Mina’s eyes slowly travelled down. He leaned towards Deku to whisper, “Three, two, one-”

“OH MY f*ckING GOD I HATE YOU!” Mina screeched, jumping to her feet. Deku burst out in laughter so loud Katsuki eardrums were about to break, and chaos was upon them. Every single one of their friends were yelling at them at once, while Katsuki and Deku could only cackle in response. f*cking finally.

“MIDORIYA IZUKU, IS THAT AN ENGAGEMENT RING?” Uraraka yelped.

“I cannot believe you two would do this to us again!” Kaminari shouted, “You think this is funny?” Katsuki started laughing harder at that, a suitable answer to his question.

“Is this an engagement party? This is an engagement party!” Mina yelled, looking a little crazy as she raked a hand through her fluffy pink hair.

“I’m so happy for you two!” Tsuyu said, smiling brightly.

“How long?” Kaminari demanded, slamming a hand down on the table.

“You did it!” Kirishima grinned proudly, the one person Katsuki had actually told about any of this.

“You better start explaining,” Sero said, pointing a finger at them.

“Kirishima did you know about this?” Mina yelped, whirling around to face a nervous-looking Kirishima.

“Congratulations,” Todoroki’s pleasanter-than-usual monotone cut through the yelling.

“This is wonderful news,” Iida added.

“Oi!” Katsuki yelled, figuring enough was enough and he should probably stop this before Mina murdered Kirishima, which she looked dangerously close to doing. “Shut up, you’re being sh*tty dinner guests!”

“You’re being a sh*tty host!” Mina shot back, “And I didn’t mean that because I am so happy for you but also what the hell?”

“You madmen enjoy this, don’t you?” Kaminari accused.

Katsuki snorted and Deku giggled again. “f*ck yeah, that’s why we did it.”

“Okay, okay, you have had your fun,” Uraraka said, taking a deep breath, “Now can you please explain why you are both wearing engagement rings?”

“I feel like that answer is pretty obvious,” Katsuki deadpanned, earning a glare from everyone at the table except Deku.

“Kacchan and I got engaged two weeks ago,” Deku finally explained, laying a hand on Katsuki’s shoulder and beaming. Then came another round of happy squealing and more congratulations.

“Tell us the story!” Mina demanded, eyes wide and glittering with excitement. “You both have rings! Who proposed?”

“Me,” Deku answered, making Katsuki glare at him.

“Excuse you, I got your ring on first,” he corrected.

“That’s because you cheated, and also I still asked before you did,” Deku said, grinning.

“By like ten f*cking seconds!” Katsuki protested.

“Oh my God you guys proposed at the same time?” Mina said, giggling.

“And now they’re competing about it!” Kaminari added with a grin, “This is the most on-brand thing ever!”

“Okay, but where was it?” Uraraka asked, “Fancy date night? On the beach?”

“You proposed the me on the beach, that was beautiful,” Tsuyu said, making her wife smile.

“Nothing fancy like that,” Deku answered, “It was just in our kitchen.”

“Aw, that is so cute!” Mina cooed.

Deku was smiling so brightly Katsuki was going to go blind. “Kacchan got so startled he dropped a cup.”

“Which I caught,” Katsuki cut it, poking his fiancé’s cheek, “saving you from yet another injury.”

Deku nodded. “Yeah, I was very much hoping I made it through this one unscathed, which I did!”

“What do you mean?” Todoroki asked, tilting his head.

“Ah, well…,” Deku started sheepishly.

“Deku’s got a bad track record going,” Katsuki interrupted, starting to count off on his fingers, “First kiss and date he burned his hand, the day I told him I loved him he slammed face-first into a pole and got a bloody nose, the day we moved into together he hit his head on the coffee table and gave himself a migraine. At this rate he’ll be breaking bones on our wedding day.”

“But nothing happened this time!” Deku said as their friends laughed.

“You almost burned breakfast,” Katsuki reminded him.

“But no injuries,” Deku pointed out, grinning, “I’d say the curse is broken.”

“We’ll just have to see about that.”

They did, in fact, see about that, a little less than a year later on a warm August afternoon. As Katsuki had expected, Mina had jumped on her chance to play wedding planner, and seeing as Katsuki had little interest in doing so himself and little money to pay anyone else, he and Deku let her have her fun. She, Kaminari, and Uraraka whisked together a mix of Japanese and Western wedding traditions, as was apparently common nowadays. The only wedding Katsuki had ever been to was Uraraka and Tsuyu’s, so he didn’t know much.

What he did know was that he finally marrying Deku today, and that was f*cking awesome.

He was hardly hearing all the things his dad, their officiant, was saying, too busy looking into Deku’s gorgeous, misty viridian eyes and thinking about how goddamn handsome he was, how much Katsuki loved him. He hadn’t thought it was possible to love someone this much, hadn’t thought real people could ever look at someone else brushing their teeth in the morning or playing with a cat or talking about a movie and be overwhelmed with the feeling of something more than sunlight.

Deku started talking, making Katsuki realize his dad had stepped back to let them recite the vows they had written. Deku’s voice was already cracked and warbly, and Katsuki legitimately had no idea if he was going to make it through without crying. Hell, even Katsuki felt like crying right now.

“Kacchan,” Deku started, just the one word before he choked up and sniffled loudly, “oh boy, this is going to be difficult.” There were a couple chuckles from their small group of family and friends, but Katsuki hardly noticed. Deku took a deep, shaky breath.

“Kacchan, I don’t think there are enough notebooks in the entire world to fill up with everything I feel about you. Even-even love sometimes doesn’t feel like enough. And I bet you think that’s super cliché and lame,” he added with a wet chuckle as Katsuki rolled his eyes, “but it’s the truest way I’m eloquent enough to put it. You mean-you mean everything to me, Kacchan, and sometimes I can’t believe how far we’ve come from little kids wrestling on the playground every day.”

“Not that far,” Katsuki murmured, making Deku laugh and sniffled again.

“Yeah, maybe not that far in some ways,” he amended, smile soft and intimate. Katsuki wanted to kiss him so bad right now. “You’ve-you’ve been my hero since the first day I can remember, and I’d follow you to the ends of the earth if you let me. But I know you won’t, because I know last time I told you that, you said that’d be boring as f*ck and you’d rather have me next to you. And that’s my favorite place to be. I can’t wait to be by your side for the rest of our lives. And I have so much more I could say, but I’m going to wrap this up before I have a breakdown.” There were tears rolling down his freckled cheeks now, but his smile was still there.

“I love you, Kacchan. I promise to love you for the rest of forever and even longer. I promise to stay by your side and care for you, not because you need me to, but because I want to. And I promise to stick by every promise we made since we were four years old, because I loved you back then and I love you more now.” With that, he was finished, looking at Katsuki with so much love in his eyes Katsuki’s heart was aching in his chest.

He took a deep breath, composing himself because no, he was not about to cry right now.

“Izuku,” he started, thanking whoever that he wasn’t croaking, “you know I’ve never been one for luck. But, f*ck, there had to be some of it at play for me to be here right now. Sometimes that’s all I can think about. How goddamn lucky I am to see you every day, how lucky I was to find you again, how lucky I was to meet you at all. How lucky I am that you gave me that second chance, that you never gave up on me. But I’m not here to let luck take all the credit, because I want to work hard and deserve you. You’re so bright and smart and kind and brave to a fault and so much other sh*t it’d take forever to list.

“So, I promise to stay by your side too, to support you and love you and be what you need.” He took another shaky breath, smiling gently and thinking back to that day at the park so many years ago. “I promise that I’m never pushing you away again, and I’m never letting you go. Because there’s no one else. There never was, Izuku. There never will be.”

Deku was on the verge of sobbing now, bringing his hands up to his face to wipe away thick tears and letting out a wet laugh. “Kacchan’s amazing,” he whispered, giving Katsuki a look of adoration that always took his breath away.

Katsuki’s smiling father held out the cups of sake for san-san-kudo, and they each sipped from the cups before joining hands between them. That was something Katsuki could never tire of: holding hands with Deku. Cheesy as that f*cking was.

His dad addressed Deku first, handing him the ring. “Midoriya Izuku, do you take this man to be your husband, to love him through better and through poorer, through sickness and through health, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” Deku answered softly, slipping the ring onto Katsuki’s finger.

“Wait,” Katsuki said, stopping before his father read the line out to him. He met Deku’s eyes, trying to look and sound as serious as he possibly could. “Izuku…tell me…do you swear on All Might?”

Deku’s wet green eyes went wide and he let out a bubbly laugh, sniffling dramatically and squeezing Katsuki’s hands.

“Deku, that’s not an answer,” Katsuki said, making him start laughing even harder until he slowly dropped to a squat on the floor, holding Katsuki’s hands above his head. Katsuki bit back his own laughter, but a few giggles and snorts escaped. “Izuku, what are you-we are getting married right now. Stand up.” Deku broke into another bout of giggles, allowing Katsuki to pull him back up to his feet.

“Oh my God, yes, I swear on All Might,” Deku managed, wiping his eyes before grabbing Katsuki’s hand again.

Katsuki’s dad chuckled, turning to Katsuki even as Deku struggled with holding back more laughter. “Bakugou Katsuki, do you take this man to be your husband, to love him through better and through poorer, through sickness and through health, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” Katsuki said, only not swearing because he wasn’t sure if that would count.

“Swear on All Might?” Deku asked, holding up a pinky finger.

“Swear on All Might,” Katsuki agreed, linking their fingers together.

“Then by the power vested in me by Shizuoka Prefecture and the country of Japan, I now pronounce you husband and husband,” his father said, barely making it through the sentence before Katsuki and Deku were on each other, pressing tightly together.

The kiss felt like pure light soaking through him, warming him from the inside out, sunlight flowing through his veins. It was a love he’d felt since childhood, all the feelings he’d tried to repress and come to embrace. It was every one of those magical things he’d felt in their first kiss times a thousand, because now there were even more memories, even more beautiful things to look back on, even more instances to love Izuku and feel Izuku love him. And at the center of it all, burning through his chest, was the promise of so many more.

So many more, for the rest of their lives.

Swear on All Might.