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Katsuki was having a crisis.
Not at this precise moment. Actually, this was one of her actual calm moments, sneakers hitting the pavement swiftly, no one around, earbuds blasting American pop music that she’d never admit listening to. The neighborhood was quiet, but it always was this time of night. Her parents’ wealth afforded them a sizable home in a reputable neighborhood, safe, well lit streets and all. Probably the only reason her mom didn’t throw a bitch fit about her only daughter out alone on evening jogs.
The big ball of protective fluff keeping pace alongside didn’t hurt.
This was her time. A way to sort out her thoughts- or avoid them entirely- and train her body at the same time. Two birds, one stone.
Probably what Deku was doing on that damn beach right now.
Her left shoe caught slightly on a crack in the pavement, making her stumble. She cursed, catching herself before she fell. King slowed to a stop and tilted his head at her, tongue lolling out. She took the moment to catch her breath, unconsciously looking around for witnesses, but found none. Great. She almost landed on her ass thinking about that nerd and there wasn’t even anyone around to take her aggression out on. Tack on another thing to her annoyance at the nerd.
Fuck, and now she was thinking about it again. She yanked the earbuds out, the crooning of Ariana Grande interrupting the quiet before she pressed pause and shoved them and her phone in her shorts pocket and walked leisurely.
This was all stupid Deku’s fault.
Ever since The Incident- yes, in capitals, fuck you very much- things were weird between her and Deku. Katsuki couldn’t deny she’d been more than a little humiliated that day. All her boasting about using her powerful quirk to be a hero and she’d been overwhelmed by a giant puddle of mucus. Disgusting and a low blow.
Try as she might she couldn’t forget the feeling of that villain’s slime wrapping around her, clogging her mouth and nose as she gasped for air. She didn’t let herself think about the vile sensation of tendrils traveling lower down her body and the taunting that followed. Mostly because a second later a backpack was projected through the air.
Deku said she looked like she was screaming for help. Maybe she had. All she remembered was the panic and fear.
When she finally got home, she did what she always did when distressed. Yell at her mother until all the vitriol left her system and flee to her room, breaking into angry, frustrated tears.
Pathetic.
That night she resolved to get even stronger. To focus on training and maintain her pristine grades. To never, ever be unable to back up her promises of greatness. She was serious before, but in a way she was reinvigorated.
What she couldn’t figure out was her boyfriend.
Katsuki wasn’t the only one affected since The Incident. It started small enough. Or at least she’d been too caught up in her own bullshit to notice at first, but regardless.
Deku was training too.
That little nerd who dreamed about heroes and filled up notebooks always talked a lot about his ambitions, but never seemed to grasp the hard work involved. His grades were good but not spectacular, his hero research was thorough but she was probably the only one besides Auntie Inko who could read his chicken scratch, and he couldn’t communicate it without trailing off into mumbles. Not to mention he’d never worked out like this in his life. Maybe he thought if he didn’t really try it wasn’t really failing.
But fuck if he wasn’t trying now.
He was studying a lot more and his grades were getting better and better. He hadn’t even prompted (begged) Katsuki to tutor him like he’d done a number of times. So that was a thing she noticed peripherally.
The muscles were significantly less subtle.
The day after The Incident, she gone to Deku’s apartment and laid out her plans. Well, there was an impassioned, off the cuff monologue about not being a fucking damsel in distress followed by ranting about not being a boy crazy bitch and needing to focus on getting into UA.
It was kind of a hot mess jumble of emotions she flung at him with full force. But if anyone spoke the language of Katsuki Bakugou it was Izuku. He’d not only taken it graciously, but countered with his own intent to get better.
She’d taken it with a grain of salt. It was no secret how she felt about his intentions or follow through, but she could deal with that later. Honestly, she was almost a little insulted how okay he was with not seeing his girlfriend on such a regular basis, but she’d never admit that.
Just like she’d never admit that over the course of months her boyfriend had gotten significantly jacked and she didn’t know how to handle it.
Deku was cute, okay? Kinda plain faced, at first glance. But then you’d notice his freckles, and everyone knew freckles made people cuter. And his eyes were big and green, almost like an anime character. If he wasn’t quirkless, and didn’t spend so much time with the second biggest outcast at their school, he’d have a million confessions by now. But he was, and did, so fuck off.
So, cute? Yes. Deku was cute.
Hot was new.
She couldn’t even fathom what the hell kind of nightmare regimen did that to your body in such a short amount of time, but for the first time ever she actually did feel like one of those boy crazy bitches that ogled their boyfriends. Sure, the way he dressed (like a five year old) didn’t allude to what was hiding underneath. But she’d spent her whole life with the dork and he’d never had biceps like that. Or legs. Or thighs. Or-
Do you see? Do you see what was happening to her? She wanted to punch something. She wanted to punch Deku.
In the mouth.
With her own mouth.
But could she? No! Because her stupid fucking boyfriend was being a stupid fucking asshole and keeping secrets that pissed her off.
She’d been annoyingly missing him awhile, and suggested he go on a night run with her and Splodo (goddammit that name stuck). He would be embarrassingly sweet and she’d threaten his life and everything he stood for.
You know, couple stuff.
Then he turned her down. Then turned her down again, and the next time, and what the does that even mean?
Katsuki had maybe, slightly, like only barely and probably even not really overreacted.
At the beginning of all this, before he started working out like a total monster, Deku told her a secret. Or rather, he’d confessed to having a secret. According to him, he’d met someone in the heroics business who was going to train him to get into UA. He couldn’t say who, why, how, or anything at all useful because apparently it wasn’t his secret to share. She’d been angry, honestly, that some asshole was giving his hopes up like that. She’d been ready to find the fucker and give them a peace of her mind.
The thing was, she hadn’t seen Deku so hopeful in a long ass time, maybe not since they were kids. So she let it go.
Correction. She pretended to let it go.
She still had her own shit to accomplish, so it’s not like she was going to trail her boyfriend like an insecure loser. It was honestly a coincidence- and lucky for her dignity- that she was walking her dog on the beach and caught sight of that familiar broccoli head lugging trash away from the shore while some sickly, skinny weirdo yelled encouragement.
She’d made sure to be out of his line of sight, and more importantly Deku out of the mutt’s so the not so little monster didn’t blow their cover by running over. Nothing fishy seemed to be going down, unless you count underage boys hanging out with older men in their free time. It looked completely innocent, far as she could tell. Just doing hard labor for exercise.
Something he needed to do on his own, apparently.
Because fuck her, right?
God. She reached her front porch, having given up on the whole getting away to clear her head thing. She plopped her ass down on the cement as King sidled up next to her and did the same. He pushed his head under her arm and she obliged him and scratched behind an ear.
“Boys are stupid...”
“Tell me about it.”
She jumped, turning her head backwards to glare. “Wear a fucking bell, Jesus.”
Mitsuki only smirked from the doorway, closing the front door far louder than she’d opened it. “But then I’ d have one less way to torment you and I couldn’t possibly give that up.”
“Bitch.”
“Devil spawn.”
“You’re my mother, so yeah, that tracks.”
The elder Bakugou woman walked forward and ruffled Katusuki’s hair roughly, ignoring the scowl and sitting down abruptly right next to her.
“Yes, yes. I’m a demon, old news. Thought I heard you talking about boys out here, my little hellion.”
Katsuki scoffed softly, fidgeting the hand not busy petting the dog. “Like I’d tell you about my boy problems.”
Her mom smirked. “Didn’t say nothin’ about problems, sparky.”
She paused, cheeks going marginally pinker. “Whatever. Wouldn’t talk about those, either. Cuz I don’t have ‘em.”
“Oh, really? Then where is that handsome little green bean of yours, then? Seem to remember you talking about a definitely-not-date.”
She kept her eyes on the ball of fluff at her side, internally scolding herself. She forgot about yelling her evening plans as she ran out the door earlier today. Next time she’d keep her damn mouth shut.
“Yeah, well, change of fucking plans. It’s whatever.”
She missed the look Mitsuki gave her, eyes soft with understanding. She scooted a touch closer to her daughter, throwing an arm across her shoulders. “Come on, tell your mom what the boyfriend did this time.”
“How bout I don’t and say I did? That work for you?” Katsuki shot back with annoyance, standing abruptly. With that the teen stomped off into the house, four legged companion quick on her heels as she ran up the staircase loudly.
“Geez, is a little damn girl talk with my only daughter too much to fucking ask for?”
“And you wonder where she gets her mouth.”
Mitsuki jumped, turning to see her husband at the doorway with a smile and a raised eyebrow. She snorted. “We need some goddamn bells.”
Irritated at her mom’s nosy ass, Katsuki made the way to her bedroom with a scowl. When she got there she threw the door open and let it stay that way long enough for King to follow after, slamming it shut as loudly as possible. From downstairs, she heard yelling and smirked in satisfaction.
Then she turned to her bed and nearly screamed.
On the other side of the room, Deku smiled apologetically.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly, ducking his head under to get all the way inside. Inside her bedroom. Inside her bedroom from a window two stories up.
“What the actual fuck?”
Meanwhile, King took all of .5 seconds to realize his second favorite human in the whole entire world was within glomping distance and jumped into her boyfriend’s muscular arms looking rapturous. She wasn’t jealous.
“Sorry! Again, I’m sorry. I…” he gave the pup a kiss on his fluffy head before letting him down to his feet. The pooch wandered over to the great big dog bed next to her own, happily preparing to snooze. “I know this is weird.”
“Really, is it?” Sarcasm was strong with this one.
“Well, yeah. I mean-”
“You climbed into my bedroom window from the tree. What is this, a 90’s sitcom?”
“Yeah, really should have grabbed your dad’s ladder and gone for it.” He snarked back, smiling softly. She scoffed.
There was a quiet pause as they both took each other in, Katsuki with her arms crossed and nearly glaring holes into him, and Izuku with his hands in his short pockets, looking utterly worn out and a little bruised up. His hair was sweaty and all over the place, and his hands looked dirty.
She averted her eyes and stared at the floor. “The hell are you doing here anyway?” Don’t you have better plans, she didn’t say out loud. It was annoying to know she might as well have.
He sighed and scratched the back of his neck, looking guilty even from her peripheral vision. “Y-yeah, I… Yeah. I did, you know, have training. It’s important, I’ve got a so much catching up to do and not a lot of time to do it, so I’ve been really focused, like super focused, on doing everything I can, and I know you are too. Not that Kacchan needs to! You’re already so strong and-and in control of your quirk, you’ll get in for sure! But I need to try more than my best, so I’ve been pushing myself really, really hard and maybe overdoing it and not thinking about anything else, but he noticed how tired I am and-
“DEKU!”
He startled, meeting her annoyed expression and blushing once he realized he’d gone on a tangent. “Sorry. I’m sorry.”
She snorted, and rolled her eyes, flopping down on the edge of her bed. “I’m used to your rambling, nerd. Pretty sure it’s not going anywhere.”
“NO!” The raised voice startled her now, and she sat up with a raised eyebrow. “I mean, not no. The mumbling is weird, sorry. But not the sorry I mean. I’m-” He snapped his mouth shut, visibly collecting his thoughts. After a deep inhale, he said, “I’m sorry I bailed on you today. We’re both busy a lot, but I’ve been kind of a bad b-boyfriend. So. Yeah. I’m sorry.”
He looked so sincere it was almost nauseating. How did he always do that so easily? To show genuine emotion to someone the stars had to be aligned, the gods working in her favor, a ritual sacrifice made. Deku just laid everything bare like it was no big deal.
Like he just trusted her with his feelings. God.
“It’s fine.” Great. Well done, Katsuki, you could write sonnets.
He stepped closer to the bed. “It’s not. Just because we have goals doesn’t mean we…” He searched for the right words, face scrunching up cutely. He was at a loss, apparently, looking down to the floor, frustrated. “I care.”
Katsuki would be hard pressed to deny the fluttering in her chest. She knew that, of course she did. Self-doubt was hard for her though, something she barely ever admitted outside of her own head. It didn’t not occur to her that her boyfriend might be getting sick of her.
But of course he wasn’t, because she was an awesome, badass future hero and also a very good kisser.
So she stopped thinking for the moment and did what she did best. Action over words.
He was too caught up in his own thoughts again to realize she scooted forward to the very edge of the mattress, and only had enough time to yelp before she yanked him by the t-shirt and pressed her lips against his.
Katsuki liked kissing. Honestly more than she ever thought she would. It just seemed wet and gross and pointless as a kid, and she didn’t get why adults went around doing it so much. Really, the only reason she’d kissed him the first time was out of some weird mental obligation. Girlfriends and boyfriends kiss, right? He’d want that wouldn’t he? God knew she didn’t do anything half assed, and one day after he walked her home after school she stared at him until he started to fidget and then yanked him to her not unlike she did just now.
Then she ran inside and slammed the door, leaving him wide-eyed and mumbling to himself the whole way home. She knew, cause he was practically hyperventilating when he got home, and Auntie told mom, who laughed hysterically and immediately ran to Katuski’s room to laugh at her expense. It was one of the few times she didn’t actually give a shit about the mocking, too excited thinking about doing it again.
The next day she planned to do the same, when Deku pulled the same move before fleeing to his apartment.
So she wasn’t the only one, clearly.
This was the first time they’d kissed in her room, alone. She really couldn’t think of a better time to test out making out with her boyfriend, and Deku really wasn’t complaining. Despite how shy he could be, he never failed to respond exactly as she wanted. As her arms wrapped around him his hands went to her hair and tangled in it perfectly.
"Alright, brats, time for bed! Get home safe, Izukun!”
The shout made them jump apart, and if she wasn’t so annoyed she’d be more than enjoying how red Deku had turned. She twisted her lips.
“There’s no chance you’re gonna just ignore that, right?”
He was already scrambling though, mortified at being caught sneaking into her room like some kind of delinquent. He did stop halfway through the window and catch her eyes.
“See you tomorrow, Kacchan!” Then he was climbing over and down. She snickered.
Then she noticed the plastic bag by the window that Deku must have left behind. Inside there was her favorite brand of spicy chocolates. Nerd was bribing her with food. Katsuki smirked. He was learning, anyway. She ripped the package open and took a bite, setting aside her worries for later.