Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When morning came, Bakugou didn’t bother to go back to his room before exiting. 

Katsuki and Izuku slept together, woke up together, and they got out of the room together. 

As they entered the common room, still in their pajamas, they were proudly hand in hand. Ochako noticed first hit Mina in the shoulder with a squeak, and then Mina noticed second. Once Mina noticed, everyone did. 

“OH MY GOD!! CAN I BELIEVE MY EYES?” She jumped in place. 

“Yeah,” Izuku laughed, squeezing Katsuki’s hand in his, raising his gaze to meet those beautiful ruby eyes. God, how hard he missed that. And by the way Katsuki had his lip curled up, he had missed it too. 

“So you’re together now?” Mina asked, expectantly.

“Well… Officially?” Katsuki grinned at Izuku. “Yeah. We are.” 

“Wait, officially ?” Denki squeaked from behind them in the kitchen, brows raised. 

“Yeah……” Izuku sheepishly walked to the kitchen, passing by the boy straight for the cereal box. 

“Midoriya… My friend. My dear friend. Answer me this!” Denki hung from Izuku’s shoulder.

“I know that tone, Dunce Face. What did you guys bet?” Bakugou leaned against the counter, making himself a cup of tea. 

“DID’YA GET TOGETHER IN THAT DAY AT THE AMUSEMENT PARK?” Sero yelled from the couch in the common room. 

“Bakugou sighed, rolling his eyes, but Izuku answered, mouth full. “New year!”

“YES!!!” Mina and Denki yelled at the same time. 

Spring break came and went faster than they could keep track on. 

Suddenly they were back at school and the preparations for the Sports Festival had already begun. This year it was going to be different from their first time. Since now the Hero Course had been dissolved to a more broad education and everyone at UA had Quirk Development and Management classes, the number of students who signed up to the festival was way larger. 

They found out that, just like Shinsou last year, there were a lot of other people with great and interesting quirks in UA that just never had interest in hero work, and with the training they received in the past year, they got pretty strong. 

The group part of the festival was really funny and nostalgic to all of them, since they had to team up with people they didn’t know well, and didn’t know their quirks properly. It was amusing to do it. More because most of the students didn’t feel like they needed to prove themselves to anyone else anymore. 

They proved their worth already in more ways than it was necessary. 

In the individual phases, everyone was expecting the quarterfinals to be something around the formation of Todoroki Shoto, Bakugou Katsuki, Midoriya Izuku and Fumikage Tokoyami. Based on recent events and their locations last year. 

But Todoroki and Bakugou ended up fighting in the beginning, with Bakugou’s victory (this time a deserved one, since Todoroki let out everything he had). And Tokoyami surprisingly lost to this girl who could control and give form to shadows and she took over Dark Shadow in a minute. 

Izuku was winning his fights easily. Not that he wasn’t putting effort to them, but he learned to enjoy fighting when there was nothing more than a trophy at stake. You know, when no one’s life was at risk. And he totally blamed Kacchan for that. 

He now had full control of three of his quirks, but All Might advised him to only fight with One for All itself and leave the others for the heat of battle, when people wouldn’t pay much attention to ‘ why does he have all these quirks?’.

So it turned out the quarterfinals ended up being Bakugou Katsuki against Honenuki Juzo, the boy from 2B with a softening quirk, and Midoriya Izuku against Shiozaki Ibar a, the girl with Vines quirk, also from 2B. 

Bakugou had to struggle to fight without touching the ground, because if he did, Honenuki would trap him there. After a minute of battle, he had a terrible flashback that it was almost like fighting Shigaraki with his decay quirk. That feeling made him angry, and impulsed to finish the fight in seconds. “ Spite is a good way to get things done”. He smiled at himself as he stood victorious once more, guaranteeing his spot at the finals. 

The fight between Midoriya and Shiozaki was also fast. Ibara had become really agile with her quirk, and she could fight really well without having to move a muscle. But Izuku had trained way too much, and besides, it was like fighting Sero and Asui. Maybe a few Seros and Asuis, but still. The fight ended in less than 5 minutes, and he got classified to the finals for the first time. 

The fight between Ibara and Juzo was interesting, both of them being from the same class and knowing each other well. But in the end, Ibara came out victorious and got herself the 3rd place. 

Then it was time for the finals.

Everyone was excited for it, after all Deku and Ground Zero were already known for their hero work outside the school, so it was a fight everyone was looking forward to. But no one was more enthusiastic than Class 1A (maybe Aizawa, but he would not admit it). Because they all knew both of the boys, and they’d seen how far they’ve come and how they’d helped to improve themselves. 

But even their class didn’t know how much both of them had gone through. No one had the details of how deep their relationship went. Of how they had pushed each other over the limit over and over again. Of how much they owned to one another. 

In the resting room, Uraraka helped Izuku stretch, Iida brought him an isotonic drink, and Todoroki was improvising a cold/heat treatment on his right shoulder because it was a little swollen. He still had problems using his arms with One for All whatsoever.

Meanwhile, in the other room, the Bakusquad was doing basically the same things. Mina helped Bakugou to stretch, then Kirishima stepped in and started massaging Bakugou’s shoulders to relieve the tension because the boy did not know how to relax. 

“Dude, how do you feel fighting against your boyfriend?”, Denki asked, still a little goofy for recovering from using his quirk too much. 

“He’s not my fucking boyfriend, Pikachu”, he barked. 

“Oho? Did I miss anything? Last time I checked you were absolutely head over heels for him”, Mina said, taking a bite in a protein bar.

“Oh, shut the fuck up everyone. He is not my boyfriend today. He is just the arch nemesis that I happen to be romantically involved with”. 

“Oh, pardon us then!”, Sero laughed. 

“But anyway, you feeling excited about fighting him?”, Kirishima asked. 

“I don’t see why I would be. I fight that fucking broccolli on a regular basis!”, he said. Mic announced on the speakers that the fight would start in five minutes, so Katsuki got up, did some last quick warm up movements, and opened the door, ready to leave. “But it will be satisfying to roast that nerd in front of everyone”, he smirked before heading off. 

When he got to the corridor that headed to the main ring, he saw Izuku a few steps ahead of him already. 

“OI!”, Katsuki called, approaching the green haired boy in the hallway, before they entered the Arena. Deku looked back and grinned at him, his hoodie off showing just how messy his hair was. Cute as fuck. He reached him and gave him a quick kiss, then he said close to his ear “Try not to cry your ass off after you lose, babe”.

“I won’t!”, MIdoriya said, firmly. Bakugou smiled down at him. Then he realized his mistake “Lose, I mean. I won’t lose!”, he tried to fix it, yelling at Kacchan who was already walking away. 

“Too late, dumbass!” He yelled back. 

Deku could hear the cheering from the crowd as Bakugou got off the tunnel and greeted the audience. It was amazing how many fans he had got over the last year, being the angry gremling he is. But who was him to say anything? Izuku knew more than anyone the charm that talking bomb carried within him. He laughed at himself, thinking about how much progress they had since their last Sport Festival.

He put on his hoodie and his mask and followed Katsuki to the Arena.

Midoriya was on the last lap of the Rainbow circuit in Mario Kart when he heard the doorbell ring. His mother was already in the living room, so she opened the door while he kept playing. He only came to pause the game when he heard her speaking. More specifically, when he heard with whom she was speaking to.

“Katsuki, sweety! What a surprise!”, he heard her saying through his door.

“Hey, Aunt Inko. Is Izuku here?” 

“Yes! He’s in his room, come in!”, he heard the door close. “Do you want anything to drink? To eat?”, she offered. 

“No need, aunty, thanks!”, Bakugou said. 

Izuku could hear his steps getting closer, until he opened his room door, got in and closed immediately. Kacchan didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. Izuku put the remote down, and watched as the blond boy made way to his bed, sat and leaned over Deku’s, the weight of his body obliging both of them to lie down. Bakugou snuggled up until his head rested on Midoriya’s chest. 

“Okay, what’s wrong?”, Izuku asked, strolling his fingers on Katsuki’s hair.

“Argh, I can’t stand that house anymore!”, he confessed. 

"Why?”

“My mom, that stupid old hag! She won’t stop yelling!”

"Oh, the irony!”, Izuku joked.

"Ha ha, very funny, idiot”, he faked a punch on Deku’s chin, who then chuckled a little. 

“I’m sorry, keep going”. 

“I’m tired, you know? We fight all the time and I’m fucking tired of it. She is always yelling at me, saying that I can do nothing right, that I never do things the way she wants me to, and say that all of this mess of our relationship is my fucking fault because all I do is yell at her, so she can never talk to me”. 

“Well, don’t you, though?”

“No! Yes… No! I yell back at her. I fucking flinch every time I hear she say ‘Ka’. I’m so ready to have her complain at something I did or call me out over some stupid shit whenever she says my name that I get defensive if she even breathes at my direction. Maybe I do this with everyone else too, I don’t know…”, he relaxed more into Izuku’s arms. “All I know is that I’m done. I’m tired of it. And we have the sports festival as soon as spring break is over so I don’t want to deal with that shit right now”. 

“I guess you’re staying here then?” 

“Is there a problem?”

“No, I think it’s fair! I spent winter break at your place, and you get to stay the rest of summer break here.  We don’t have a spare room, though. You’ll have to sleep on the couch”.

“Like hell I will!”, Katsuki complained, intertwining their legs, as if saying that the bed could fit them both and he was not going anywhere, which drained a silent chuckle from Izuku, who proceeded to hug Kacchan tighter.

  “I take therapy is doing its work, then?”, Deku spoke again, after a few seconds of silence. 

“What the fuck do you mean?”

“You realized you were in an environment that was toxic for you and chose to leave. Then you analyzed the bigger picture and saw how it might have reflected in your life”, he lifted Katsuki's face with his index finger so he would look at him. “That is a great step. I’m proud of you!”, he said. Bakugou quickly set free and dove his face in Midoriya’s chest. “Too late to try to hide it, I’ve seen you smile”. 

“Idiot”, Kacchan roared. 

“Hey, look at me!”, Deku asked with a soft voice Katsuki couldn’t ignore. He looked up disregarding all his embarrassment. He could feel his face warm, so he knew he was blushing. He hated that. But when he looked up, the look in Izuku’s eyes made it worth it. “I mean it, you hear me? I am so, so proud of you. For everything”. 

There it was. The words he’d been longing for in so long. 

For years he’s been feeling like he was letting people down by not being as great as he could be. For not being the best at everything. Because that’s what people expected of him, the best. But he was never sure that he could reach their expectations. He always felt like a failure every time someone looked up to him. 

Something inside him clicked. The question he asked himself ever since he was a child, of why he couldn’t hear positive words coming from Izuku’s mouth, finally found its answer. It wasn’t because he despised the boy. No. It was quite the opposite. He couldn’t understand how his childhood best friend, the one who always saw through him, could say that he was an inspiration when he was clearly a fraud. That’s why it sounded condescent, fake, as if he was being pitted at. And he hated that feeling more than anything, and it made him angry. He just couldn’t figure out where that anger came from, so he targeted Deku for it. 

Hearing “you’re so good”, “your quirk is really so especial”, “you are bound to do great things”, “you’re such an amazing student”, “you have so much potential” was a nightmare. He didn’t want to hear those words because he never felt like he deserved them. No matter how much he tried, he was never going to be as good as people thought he was, so he didn’t want anyone to compliment him. He didn’t want Midoriya Deku Izuku to compliment him. To praise him. Not like that. That was not what he needed to hear. 

I am so proud of you. 

That. Those words were all he wanted. All he needed. To show that he had no other expectation to reach. That he was enough. He had done enough, for now. 

His vision got blurry. He could feel his whole face smiling, and there was nothing he could, or would do to stop it. He blinked a few times to get the tears out of his eyes, and before he could dry them off, calloused hands did if for him.

“Are you okay?”, his voice was so fucking sweet he just said it without thinking. 

“I love you”. He almost regretted saying it. He almost got up and went away. He still didn’t feel well putting his feelings out in the open. He felt like he was a crystal bow, midfall, waiting to be broken. 

Izuku’s mind blew up, but he knew he couldn’t panic or question what Katsuki had said. He had a split second to process those words, because he knew Kacchan way too well, and he’d damned if he’d let that beautiful crystal work shatter in front of him. So he made sure to catch him before he hit the ground. 

“I love you too”. His voice, his words, his hand on his face, his arm around him, his leg tangled with his, it was more than Katsuki expected to ever have. It was too much.

Bakugou bursted into laughter and tears at the same time. Of all the things he could have done, this was not the reaction he was expecting to have at this time. But that was the first time he ever felt whole in his life. Nothing ever prepared him for how overwhelming that was. It’s funny how two short sentences could complete the mending he was working so hard on. 

He was okay now. 

He grabbed Izuku’s face and kissed him. It was the messier kiss they ever had, between tears, and smiles, and giggles. 

He was aware that he still had things to fix.

It was the messier kiss they ever had, but every time Izuku’s lips touched his skin, it felt like pure light. He sensed it on his lips, on his neck, on his palm, on his forehead, on his shoulder. 

They were going to be okay.