Chapter Text
The next day, Katsuki is back to his routine. When he doesn’t go to the UA gaming house to see Deku stream, Katsuki spends the whole day working on his own stream and things like that. He’s been trying to focus on being entertaining and informative, not letting the rage take over his whole streaming time — he wants to, someday, be able to introduce himself properly to Deku.
Katsuki may not have much hope of ever confessing to Izuku, but to keep lying about who he is and his connections with gaming has been tough. So many times in these last few months he’s gotten close to blowing his cover; the only reason he managed to keep this hidden is because Izuku is a fucking angel.
Deku never pressured Katsuki into talking about anything he doesn’t want; every time Bakugou clearly stumbled on his words and had to change the subject of the conversation, Izuku just smiled and went along.
But Bakugou still hasn’t given up. Even if their time together will soon end since it’s becoming clear how good Izuku is getting with his stream, they’ll still be friends. They text each other often enough and Deku is the kind of person who never lets go of those he considers his friends. So Katsuki’s current ambition is to clean up his online act enough to introduce his stream to Deku.
A bunch of his viewers were complaining that he hasn’t been raging and that the poll he did for his subscribers to help pick his next game doesn't have rage-inducing options. But fuck what those suckers think. Katsuki may lose some asshole viewers, but he’ll work fifty times as hard to get new a-little-less-asshole viewers.
Izuku may not know, but he’s been the biggest source of inspiration for Katsuki in this shit. It was humbling and moving to watch the little nerd struggle so much and still keep trying to talk in his stream these last months. Bakugou saw first hand Izuku trembling and cold-sweating every time the camera went live but Deku still soldiered through it, even though he needed calming tea to get his shaking hands under control at the end of the stream.
The courage he saw in Deku and the desire to be completely honest with Izuku motivated Katsuki to take a serious look into his own life and career to decide what changes needed to be done.
It hasn’t been easy. He lost subscribers, his opinions aren’t being taken seriously by the community, and most people think he’ll come back to raging soon; but Bakugou Katsuki never gives up. Every day he wakes up with the sole objective of not losing his temper on stream — and what Izuku doesn’t know is that he’s been helping in that too.
Seeing and spending time with the boy makes Katsuki so freaking happy that the shit that usually made him furious just barely annoys him now. Sure, some people online continue being shitheads and some games are complete jokes; but does that really matter in the grand scheme of life when he can sit by Izuku’s side and laugh at Kaminari’s badly made videos? No really.
The world continues to be a fucking big ball of shit but, little by little, Katsuki has been caring less about it. Let the world be a mess, it’s not such a big deal if Bakugou can spend time with Izuku. He’s probably sounding like an obsessed stalker, but fuck it — if seeing Izuku’s smile can help Katsuki to not be in a state of anger around the clock, he’s just gonna accept it.
“This shit is as good as I remembered,” he chuckles. There’s no way he’ll rage with WoW Classic, so today it’s probably going to be easy to keep his temper in check during the stream. “They really did a good job remaking this so the mechanics flow better without losing the style of the game. Look at this-”
Katsuki’s phone buzzes on his desk and takes his attention from the screen. The caller ID says “ROUND FACE”, and that makes him frown. Deku’s manager has never called him before, they exchanged numbers as a mere formality when it was decided that Katsuki would be coming to the house a few times every week to work with Izuku. He has never expected her to actually call, and he’s sure she wouldn't want to either.
“Sorry, guys, I’ve gotta take this,” he says absent-mindedly as he turns off the sound of his mic and answers the call. “I’m here.”
“Bakugou?” Round Face’s voice sounds through his phone.
“Yeah, who else? The fuck are you calling for?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, and I know this isn’t your job or anything like that it’s just-” The woman hesitates for a second before continuing. “Izuku isn’t doing very well, he got some news that he’s not happy about and, since you seem to always calm him down after streams, I was wondering if you could come by the house today to talk to him?”
“I’m on my way,” he says finishing the call and jumping into action. “RACOON, SHITTY HAIR, I’VE GOTTA GO. CLOSE MY STREAM.”
He runs to the street, still putting on his shoes and coat. Izuku needs him and he won’t waste even one freaking second before showing up to help the boy. The whole way there Katsuki is in full freak-out mode, wondering why the fuck hasn’t he asked for any information from Round Face about Izuku’s condition.
When he got to the gaming house, he almost destroyed the doorbell until the manager showed up to open up for him.
“Open up, Round Face!”
“Calm down, Bakugou!” She comes annoyed. “I’m not letting you in if you can’t keep yourself in check! He’s already stressed enough!”
“I’m not going to fucking stress him more,” Katsuki hisses to her. “It’s your damn fault for making me worried!”
Ochako opens the gate still rolling her eyes, “if you had waited for a second on the call, I could have explained things better to you.”
“Well, I’m here now. Explain away,” Katsuki enters and they make way to the mansion.
“This morning Monoma, our marketing specialist, informed Izuku that he’ll have to participate in a live panel next week in a Con to promote the next WCS. He and a few other players will answer questions from the audience in the con.” Ochako explains walking beside him. “Izuku got nervous because- Where are you going? He isn’t in his office! He’s in his room.”
The manager stops Katsuki, who was marching to the room where he always met Izuku. She pulls Bakugou’s wrist towards a huge staircase at the end of the living room that he never really thought about.
“As I was saying, Izuku got nervous because he won’t be able to use the technique you taught him in the panel. Then he started mumbling things about never being able to do anything on his own and bothering you too much. He said something about you going away and not helping him anymore when I went to make him his tea. But he ran away to his room while I was doing that and hasn’t come out since then, not even for lunch.” They go up flights of stairs, Izuku's room must be on the third floor. “I tried giving him time to calm down, but he doesn’t answer when I talk to him, so I thought you might manage it.”
Finally, they reach a closed door in the middle of a hallway and Ochako knocks softly, “Izuku? Can I come in?”
No sound comes out of the room and the girl sighs disappointed.
“I’ll talk to him,” Katsuki says with certainty because he’ll not leave until he sees Izuku smiling again.
“If you get him to calm down, tell him I’m talking to Shouto about Monoma and that I’ll make sure he won’t need to do the panel,” the manager says with fire in her eyes.
For a second, Katsuki feels sorry for whoever this Monoma guy. But he has bigger things to worry about now. After exchanging short nods with the girl, she leaves the corridor and Bakugou faces the door.
He knocks again but, as he expected, no sound comes from the room. So he slowly opens the door and steps into the almost-dark room. The lights are off, but a soft clarity comes from the window through blue curtains. The bedroom isn’t very different from Deku’s gaming room, there are lots of posters, merch, books, comic books, manga — basically every nerdy thing Bakugou could imagine Izuku owning.
Pushed against the sidewall there is a twin-sized bed with a lump of blankets in the middle of it. If Katsuki had to take a wild guess, he’d find the love of his life underneath those blankets.
And he was right — as him being in the room becomes clear, the lump softly complains.
“I’m fine, ‘Chako. I just wanna be here on my own.”
“Too bad I’m not Round Face and I don’t understand Bullshitish,” Katsuki says quietly.
The pile of covers jumps startled and a mop of curly green hair shows up for just a second before hiding back under the blankets.
“Is that how you’re gonna welcome me to your room?” Katsuki teases playfully and gets closer to the bed.
“I- I don’t want to talk right now, Kacchan,” Izuku grumbles with a muffled voice.
Bakugou kneels down so his face is on the same level as Izuku’s under the covers, “alright. I’m going home then… and I’m taking this super neat All Might Golden Age figurine. It’ll look nice in my-”
The lump of covers moves again and Izuku’s face comes out of it looking terrified, “Kacchan, no!”
Katsuki cocks an eyebrow to Deku as the boy notices he isn’t, in fact, stealing his prized merch.
“Hi,” Bakugou says softly.
“Hi…” Izuku answers unsure.
“Heard you’re dealing with some shit.”
“I’m- I’m fine, Ochako shouldn’t have called you,” Izuku says, looking away. “I’m sorry that you had to take the time to come here.”
“Well, I ain’t,” Katsuki says earnestly. “I like spending time with you and I’ll always come when you need me.”
“But I shouldn’t need you. Nothing really happened, I’m just-... overreacting.”
“If nothing really happened, even better. I’m skipping work, you’re skipping work — we can take the chance to laze around the whole afternoon doing shit we like,” Katsuki says shrugging.
“I don’t want to impose on your time…”
“You ain’t fucking imposing, Deku. And I can guarantee you that I lose way more working-hours trying to keep my roommates in check,” Katsuki gives him a half-smirk. “Besides, I deserve a day off, don’t I?”
“I suppose you do… Kacchan works very hard,” Izuku mumbles.
“Want to watch Dr. Stone with me? I haven’t seen the last two episodes.”
That finally makes Izuku’s eyes shine, “But you need to! The last two episodes were great! You’re gonna love them!” The boy pulls the covers away and points to the laptop on the floor. “Pick that up! We can watch it here!”
Izuku scooches in bed to give room for Bakugou to sit by his side and Katsuki's heart squeezes painfully on his chest. Here he is, climbing in bed with the boy he loves to watch anime — but he can’t cuddle Izuku, can’t steal kisses and make sweet confessions. However, Katsuki ignores his pain because right now what matters is that Deku seems to be calming down from his anxiety.
They sit down with their backs against the wall and their legs almost falling off the narrow twin bed. Katsuki plops the computer on a Hearthstone pillow and puts the show to load.
“I know you don’t want to talk about why you got so nervous. But Round Face asked me to tell you that you don’t need to worry about that, she’ll talk to Shouto and fix things,” Katsuki says softly because he doesn’t want to bring this shit up again after he manages to make Izuku relax.
“Oh,” he says looking away. His green eyes fill with tears instantly.
“Hey, nerd… Why the waterworks? Shit’s gonna be fine, you won’t have to do this panel bullshit,” Katsuki says, softly brushing a falling tear from Deku’s cheek with the back of his hand.
“I’m always giving people trouble,” Izuku says with a broken voice. “Shouto, Ochako and everyone in UA are always having to fix things for me. And you- I’m always wasting your time, here, online… Kacchan is always taking care of me and defending me.”
More tears run from those beautiful green eyes and Katsuki feels his heart break at the sight.
“You ain’t a waste of time, ok? Every second I spend helping you is fucking worth it and I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Katsuki doesn’t stop cleaning away the tears to the point he’s now softly caressing Izuku’ face.
Deku turns to face him, the green of his eyes even more prominent against the red from the tears.
“Kacchan…” Izuku whispers. “Can I ask you one thing?”
“Yeah,” Katsuki whispers back.
At this moment, there isn’t anything that Deku could ask from him that Bakugou wouldn’t give him.
“I’ve been looking online and I may have stumbled on something I shouldn’t…”
Katsuki instantly pulls his hand away from Izuku. That’s it, that’s the end and that’s why Izuku said the manager he couldn’t get help from Bakugou anymore. Deku found out he’s KEM and wants Katsuki to vanish from his life.
At the moment, Bakugou panics and blurts out his apology as fast as he can, hoping it’ll sway Izuku’s heart in his favor.
“I’m sorry I didn’t say I was KingExplosionMurder.”
“Are you my Kacchan?” Izuku asks at the same time.
“What?” Bakugou exclaims confused, jumping back a little.
“Oh…” Izuku diverts his eyes away. “I-... I suppose I should confess that too… I already knew you’re KEM.”
“What the fuck?!” Katsuki asks confused. “How did you- Since when-? And what ‘my Kacchan’ is-?”
He can’t seem to finish any sentence, too many questions run wildly in his head.
“That you are KingExplosionMurder? I’ve known since PAX. Ochako told me as soon as we got back here.” Izuku explains Katsuki’s biggest fear as if it was nothing.
They’ve been seeing each other for months and he has always known about Katsuki’s secret online persona.
“And why the fuck did you ask for my help?” He asks in complete disbelief.
“Why wouldn’t I? You’re amazing at everything you do,” Izuku says with a confused expression as well. “Is that why you haven’t told me? You thought I wouldn’t want to be your friend if I knew?”
“Of course! I’m a fucking rager!” Katsuki barks, pulling his own hair, overwhelmed. “And you are-… I thought I’d scare you.”
Izuku clicks his tongue, “you could never scare me, Kacchan. I’m not afraid of you just because you complain about some bad games.”
“Oh,” Katsuki looks stunned at the beautiful boy by his side.
A boy who has been his true friend from day one. Who wasn’t in the dark about Katsuki’s flaws, and still reached out for his help. A boy who said just last night that Katsuki would be better than him in media shit.
“Then you should have known how much bullshit it was saying the sponsors would prefer me over you,” Katsuki says bitterly looking away.
“It’s not bullshit! It’s true! Kacchan is amazing! KEM is the best streamer I’ve ever seen!” Izuku says earnestly. “You’re fun, and entertaining, and you know so much about so many games! You can play anything! And you always do your research to bring news about releases and things like that! I’ve been watching your stream since we met, I love it and I know any sponsor would pick you over me instantly.”
Katsuki blushes a deep red during Izuku’s speech and he has to look away scratching the back of his head.
“I-... you’re one fucking embarrassing nerd…” he grunts pulling his knees close so he could hide his face on them.
“You… you haven’t answered my question, though,” Izuku mumbles.
“What question?”
“Are you my Kacchan?”
Bakugou’s heart falters a couple of beats but he doesn’t allow himself to be so hopeful. He already won way past his quota with Izuku not being afraid of KEM.
“The fuck does that mean?”
“There’s a Kacchan online who always defends me,” Izuku says softly also looking away and blushing. “I see them on Reddit and on Discord… They always bet on me in every tournament, they always make the best analysis of my matches, and they always argue with people who are criticizing me online.”
A soft sad chuckle comes out of Katsuki’s lips without his permission, “I didn’t know you were reading all that shit.”
“It’s you, isn’t it?” Izuku asks with hope in his voice
Bakugou throws his head back hitting the wall. Well, he already got exposed as the violent streamer with anger management issues; how bad will it be to have his stalker tendencies out in the open as well?
“Ain’t you a fucking online Sherlock…”
“I-... I wanted to thank you, Kacchan. Reading your support and kind words online has always helped me when I get too nervous… That was actually what I was doing that day at PAX under the desk, I was looking to see if my Kacchan had posted anything on Reddit to soften the blow.”
“I’m glad I could help you,” Katsuki says forcing his eyes shut and keeping his head tilted back to not let any fucking tear spill against his permission.
“I’m just curious to know… Why would you go through all of that to support me?” Izuku asks softly.
“Isn’t it fucking obvious?” Katsuki asks with a self-deprecating tone in his voice. “I have the biggest fucking crush on you and couldn’t let those fuckers spout shit they know nothing about.”
There, he said it. All the truth is out in the open. His heart is exposed to Deku because he couldn’t keep living a lie for the person he loves. Now Izuku will understand why being around Katsuki is such a bad idea and he’ll have to go back to watching the boy from afar.
Katsuki is so caught up in his depressing thoughts, he doesn’t even feel the bed dipping as Izuku’s weight moves closer to him. All that he feels are soft wet lips giving him a gentle peck on the cheek.
“I’ve got a big crush on you too, Kacchan,” Izuku whispers softly, his warm breath fanning over Katsuki’s face.
KingExplosionMurder.exe stopped working .
His eyes shoot open startled and he turns his head towards Izuku so fast he gets whiplash. Izuku has a crush on him. Izuku, the beautiful boy sitting just inches away and looking at Katsuki with expectant eyes, has a crush on him. The love of his life just said he has a crush on him.
How can that be? How can Izuku know about him being KEM and him being stalker-Kacchan and still say he has a crush on Katsuki?!
“Kacchan?” Izuku asks confused.
“H-how?” He stutters.
The fuck?! He’s stuttering now?! That’s Deku’s thing! When Izuku does it’s cute, when Bakugou does it’s pathetic.
“Kacchan is amazing,” Izuku smiles. “You truly are. You’re nice, kind, funny… You helped me so much and you weren’t even aware. I may-... I may have been kind of a stalker for these last months… Even though you didn’t formally introduce yourself as KEM, I’ve been watching your streams… They gave me strength to improve mine.”
Izuku looks away blushing but Bakugou’s hand reaches for his face unconsciously, trying to get the beautiful green eyes to look at him again.
“I-... Can I kiss you?” He asks breathlessly.
“Yeah,” comes the answer just as winded.
As their lips touch, Katsuki’s heart slams on his chest painfully. It’s so much he doesn’t think he can take it but, at the same time, he’d rather die of premature heart attack than stop kissing Izuku.
His lips are soft, warm and so eager for Katsuki’s own. Bakugou threads his fingers on the soft green curls of the boy’s head, pulling him impossibly closer. He’s instantly in love with Izuku’s taste and the little sighs that come out of the boy.
When they separate for air, Katsuki’s awarded with the brightest smile he’s ever seen.
“Kacchan…”
“Deku…”
“Don’t ever say I don’t need again, ok? It’s not about needing, I want Kacchan by my side, always.” Izuku pleads.
“I’ll be by your side for as long as you have me,” Katsuki answers still in a daze after the kiss.
“Kacchan, does this mean you’re my boyfriend?” The green eyed boy asks with a small smile and shiny eyes.
“If you want me to be, yeah,” Katsuki says looking away embarrassed. “I just want to be with you, nerd, in any way you’ll have me.”
Izuku tackles him in a hug and rubs his head on Katsuki’s chest, making the blond’s heart rate skyrocket.
“You’re the best, Kacchan,” Izuku whispers.
It takes quite a lot of little confessions and sweet kisses before Bakugou truly believes that it's all real; that he isn’t hallucinating a happy ending for himself. Izuku ends up having to calm Katsuki down just as much as Katsuki had to calm Izuku down from the media issue — but it’s alright because they find out they make each other better and both like to take care of the other.
***
“What are you doing? You just exploded a bomb on Susie!” Izuku complains trying to protect the little character on the screen.
“Bitch was on the way! I need to test if this shit exploded right!” Katsuki argues back trying to make Kirby swallow the bomb this time.
“KEM! You can’t swallow everything you see!”
“I’m fucking Kirby! That’s the whole point of this game!”
“No, the point of this game is to free Dream Land from Jamba Heart's corruption! And we can’t do that if you keep eating the whole scenario!”
“Well, why the fuck don’t you play with Kirby then, Deku?”
“Because if I pick Kirby, you will pick one of the boring other characters and our nice viewers won’t be able to enjoy the vast array of playable characters in this game,” Izuku says with a confident posture that makes Bakugou want to kiss the living shit out of him.
Who would say the boy who used to shake with just the idea of turning on a stream would now be bantering with KingExplosionMurder live for thousands of people? It’s been a long path, but they’ve been trailing it together and Katsuki can say with absolute certainty that he’s loving every second of it.
It’s their first weekend to be together without any kind of responsibility in months — no media appearances, no business meetings, no tournaments, no training, just the chance of enjoying each other’s company and doing what they like.
The WCS was ruthless, Izuku had to train long hours and travel for matches very often. He also had several interviews and public appearances that weren’t easy for him; but Katsuki was together with Deku as often as he could. They didn’t even attempt to keep their relationship off the public eye — they were done with hiding things, be it from one another or from anyone else — so KingExplosionMurder became a regular face in Deku’s entourage during the tournament.
Katsuki was worried about his bad reputation rubbing off on Izuku but, in the end, having two famous gamers coming out as gay and in a relationship was what really dominated the news. They had to put up with some people being bigoted assholes, but they also got a lot of support.
And KEM’s new less-aggressive stream also got noticed pretty quickly. Now Katsuki also has sponsors and he can’t yell so much at his friends for calling their place a gaming house. It’s been hard work, but it’s nice to see shit coming along. And it’s even nicer to be able to share all this good news with the boy he loves.
“Kach- KEM! Pay attention! We almost lost Gooey!” Izuku whines by his side taking Bakugou off his head.
“And that would have been a fucking blessing,” he answers with fake grumpiness. “These fucks are useless on the team! We could save this fucking Kingdom all on our own!”
“Don’t talk about them like that, Kacchan. They are our teammates, we need to take care of them,” Izuku berates him.
“Like that?” Katsuki forces Gooey to fall from the platform they are on.
“Kacchan!” Izuku yells indignant and Bakugou laughs so hard his eyes close and he bends over his belly, almost rolling through the bed.
They set up the stream on Izuku’s bedroom and are sitting on his bed, each one playing on their switch with a camera catching their faces and conversation. They aren’t even looking at the stream's chat, but Katsuki knows it’s probably a mix of ‘OMG, THEY ARE SO CUTE’ with other less wholesome remarks.
“I thought you were great at every game you played, but I was wrong! You suck at co-op!” Izuku says pouting and that’s too much for Katsuki to resist.
“That’s enough for today, go do something else,” he says to the camera before reaching for the computer next to the bed and turning the stream off.
“What?” Izuku asks confused looking from the notebook to Katsuki.
“I’m gonna show you what type of co-op I’m good at,” is the only warning Bakugou gives his boyfriend before tackling him down onto the bed and attacking him with kisses.
Izuku giggles between their lips and hugs Katsuki tight against his chest.
“Yeah, you’re pretty good at this, Kacchan,” the green-eyed boy says smiling. He’s so freaking beautiful that Bakugou’s heart skips a few beats looking at his boyfriend’s face.
“You’re perfect,” Katsuki whispers without noticing and Izuku blushes instantly.
“Kacchan… you’re so unfair,” Izuku whispers back. “How can I be mad with you when you say things like that?”
“Then don’t be mad. I only want to see you happy,” Katsuki touches Izuku’s nose with his own.
“I’m always happy when I’m with you,” Izuku says smiling. “I love you, Kacchan.”
“I love you too, nerd.”
And that was just one of the several streams together they had to cut short because they just couldn’t resist kissing and cuddling for even one more second. Their viewers got used to the fact that every co-op game played by KEM and Deku would always take months to be finished.