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Two stars. There are two stars in our universe that cannot leave each other’s sides. They have gone by multiple names. But they are two stars who stay together, side by side, shooting across the galaxy in tandem. They intertwine and combine every few millennia, forming into one single being that interacts with others and thinks on its own. Sometimes they are two beings, two entities to interact with each other and flourish together. But they are always together. They are inseparable. “Soulmates”, some would call it. Perhaps “Twin Flames”. These stars have been together from the beginning of time; they have lived through war, plagues, and burnings. They have lived through ice ages and heat waves. They have lived through it all, and they do it together.
Eijirō had dirt caked under his fingernails and smeared on his cheeks. He had been bent over the small plot for over an hour trying to figure out where he wanted his seeds to go. The tomatoes should have gone in the middle, but then, the pumpkins needed room, too. His ears were ringing slightly, his shoulders tinged with heat that would end up peeling his skin for weeks to come. He was torn from his inner discourse when a strong, cold, slightly damp hand clapped down on his shoulder. “Drink.” Another hand held out a glass of lemonade that had already started to sweat.
“For me?” Eijirō chuckled as he stood up and wiped his hands on his shorts. “You shouldn’t have.” He took the glass gratefully, downing half of it in record time.
“Jesus, babe, you’re gonna end up dying out here. You should come back inside, it’s supposed to start storming soon.” Eijirō looked up. “I said soon. The clouds are rolling over our area now.” The hand on his shoulder started to rub lightly. “It’s depressing cooking alone.”
“Well. I can’t have a depressed husband, now, can I?” Eijirō wrapped one arm around Katsuki’s shoulders and pulled him in closer, pressing a gross kiss against his lover’s cheek. “I’ll come in with you, but you have to help me plan this tomorrow. It isn’t as big as the last one was, there isn’t enough room for everything to be slapped down. You’re better at this than I am.”
Katsuki hummed and wiped his cheek off. “You smell rancid,” he groaned. There was no venom behind it. Eijirō just grinned at him and lifted his arms out.
“I smell like shit, and I’m proud! I smell like a hardworking man! Come on, don’t you support me and my pesky hobbies? It gives you fresh food to work with, and it gives me dozens of little babies to look after for a couple months.” Eijirō bent back down to grab the seed packets, sighing softly when he straightened himself back out. He looked over the packets carefully. He really did love gardening. It was something he could share with Katsuki that wasn’t just about work. It gave him something to do outside of work, a reason to actually leave the living room every day.
He had gotten in trouble for it a few times, opting to sit outside and stare at his bean plants as if he’d be able to watch them grow rather than staying in and vacuuming like he was supposed to. Katsuki wasn’t too happy about that. But it was something that they could share together. Katsuki had taken a liking to cooking in their second year of high school after he was stuck with looking after a flu-ridden Eijirō for two weeks. It was something he could do with his hands. Something he already knew how to do, and something he was really fucking good at, but something that he never had an excuse to do it for anyone other than himself.
There was something that neither of them were ever able to place, but neither of them were uncomfortable with. From the start, Katsuki physically was more comfortable around Eijirō. Even if Izuku was around, his shoulders wouldn’t tense and his jaw wouldn’t set. His hands, if balled into fists, wouldn’t shake. Eijirō wasn’t a fix-all, but he was a huge help in getting Katsuki to be better—in getting him to admit to himself that he wanted to be better.
He hated himself a little bit less around Eijirō.
Eijirō felt safe around Katsuki. He didn’t have to keep his hair above his head or his eyes trained to look for any sign of betrayal. He could let his hair touch his shoulders, let his eyes stay trained on the ground. His thoughts behind his complexes would go fuzzy. Turn off for a while. Katsuki was the person he didn’t have to be afraid of leaving him in the dust, because he knew that Katsuki wasn’t the type of person that would do that. He would never. And for that, he was grateful.
He was a little bit less scared around Katsuki.
This of course, made them into a fine team, both in work and out. Nonverbal communication was something they had to practice in their high school days for when Katsuki wasn’t up to talking or when they were both down, which came in handy on the field. They weren’t the first openly LGBT heroes, nor were they the first heroes in a relationship, but they were the first heroes to be in a public gay relationship. They got letters weekly from kids who looked up to them because of this, kids who came out because they realised that not being straight was okay.
After some loving back-and-forth, Katsuki finally got Eijirō inside and into the shower. He waited in the living room for his husband, throwing himself back and groaning dramatically when he saw him finally. “FINALLY! I’ve been waiting for years! I’m old and wrinkly now. Do you still love me?”
“You’re twenty-six,” Eijirō hummed. He leaned down to cup the back of Katsuki’s neck and kiss his forehead. “Of course I love you. Your wrinkles mean more skin to love!”
“I hate you.”
“K’Suki, I’m suh—sorry, I didn’t—couldn’t— tried, I—” Eijirō gripped the back of Katsuki’s shirt harder and hiccuped out another sob. “S’my fault, s’my fault, I did it—”
“Eijirō,” Katsuki said softly. He pet Eijirō’s hair down and smiled sympathetically. “Honey, I love you, but it was just a cup.” Eijirō was fucking smashed. They had gone to Shōto and Tenya’s wedding, which was fine, but then they ended up drinking. Katsuki only had a glass of wine, but Eijirō had forgotten that getting drunk was something that happened, and he was a blubbery disaster because of it.
“It wuh—was your favourite! I’m so suh—sorry, Katsu, m’so sorry—”
“Eijirō.”
“M’the worst ever—”
“Eijirō.” Eijirō looked up. Katsuki cupped his cheeks and laughed quietly, kissing his husband in an attempt to get him to calm down. It worked, for the most part, and he was left with a sniffling, drunk mess clinging to him in his lap. “I love you,” he mumbled. Eijirō hummed against his lips and pulled back to bury his face in Katsuki’s neck, pressing a gentle kiss to the warm skin there. I love you, too, it said. Katsuki wrapped his arms around Eijirō, rubbing his back gently and trying to ground him.
“You’re the best,” he murmured. “I love you so much. You’re so cool… and you’re really handsome… and you’re super good at stuff… like singing… you’re really good at singing, I love you singing… laaaa… love you so much, Katsu, you’re the bestest in the world ever.” He pressed another kiss against Katsuki’s neck and smiled.
As drunk as he was, and as difficult as it was to understand just what the fuck Eijirō was on about, Katsuki’s heart swelled up and his chest got warm. “Thanks.” He closed his eyes. He thought, for a moment, about how proud he was. They had both come so fucking far from their pasts, Katsuki especially. It had taken him three years after graduating to apologise to Izuku, but it had happened. It wasn’t some big thing, and it wasn’t that big of a deal to Izuku. He just smiled and accepted it. He offered to hug Katsuki, but Katsuki held his hands out and said that they weren’t there yet.
They weren’t friends. They worked and lived on opposite sides of the city. But they had mutual friends (RE: Shōto and Tenya’s wedding), their work overlapped sometimes, and Katsuki was just tired. He had gotten tired of holding onto the childish paranoia even after he was away from the people who instilled it into him, and he had gotten tired of being so fucking bitter about it.
The exchange was quiet and short, but it had rocked Katsuki’s world for weeks. He wondered if he had done it wrong, he thought about taking it back, he thought about what that meant, but in the end, it didn’t mean that much. It was something simple that he had been putting off because of his pride.
It just meant that he could finally move on.
Eijirō didn’t tell Katsuki about his past for nearly a year. Katsuki knew that it was a little messed up, he knew that there was dark shit there, but he wasn’t going to pressure Eijirō into telling him about it. He never did. It happened when they were sitting together at the beach, Eijirō’s head on his sticky shoulder, and it started with a soft, “I used to be a huge asshole.”
He told Katsuki about how he met Mina, and how she had managed to pull him out of his assholery, but not his depression. He told Katsuki about the attempts, about the self harm, about everything. Katsuki just sat there, one arm around his shoulders, hand rubbing at his bicep occasionally. They stayed on the sand until sundown and watched the stars move quietly as all of it processed.
And then they got married.
They moved in together six months after graduating, then got married six months after that. Their wedding was small: Eijirō’s moms, some of their friends from school, and Katsuki’s aunt. They danced and laugh and ate and drank, and it was genuinely the best day of Katsuki’s life. He was so used to being looked down on and laughed at for his problems, but there Eijirō was, all sharp teeth and dumb smiles and shitty hair, holding him close and swaying to music with him under the moonlight.
“K’Suki?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, Eijirō.” Katsuki paused. “Do you want to sleep?” Eijirō nodded and decided he would get himself more comfortable. “Hey, wait, not here!”
“You look ridiculous.” Katsuki flicked the party hat on top of Eijirō’s head and chuckled softly. Eijirō just hummed and kissed him, one hand in the back of his hair and the other on his hips. They stayed there, in the kitchen, just kissing. Nothing more, nothing less. Enjoying their brief time alone before they both had to go out and face the hoard of people in their living room.
Eijirō hummed again as he pulled away, pressing another gentle kiss on the corner of his mouth, then kissing down to his shoulder. There was a scar there. It was an old scar, nearly seven years old, but it was puffy and stood against Katsuki’s skin like pepper in milk.
“Thank you,” Eijirō whispered. He pressed his lips against the scar. “Thank you for everything. For talking to me, for trusting me, for staying, for being here, for marrying me. For this. For saving people. You do so much all the time.” He pulled back and put a finger against Katsuki’s lips when he went to protest. “You do. You do so much. Listen.” He took Katsuki’s hands in his own and smiled. “I love you so much. You’re my husband and my best friend, and I could never ask for anything more.”
“What are you getting a—”
“I want to have kids.”
Katsuki blinked.
He blinked once, then twice, then three times, and his eyes started to well up with tears. He made a soft, choked noise like a sob, and Eijirō’s eyes went wide. “We don’t have to! We really don’t! I don’t care that much, it isn’t that big of a deal! I just thought I should let you know that if that’s something you want, I want it too, and I think we’re ready now, because you had to retire, and you’re doing really well with the kids at your new job, and it’s really heartwarming to see, and I think you’d be a really great dad, and—” Katsuki crashed forward to smash his lips against Eijirō’s.
Eijirō’s arms instinctively wrapped around Katsuki’s, pulling him as close as humanly possible. He didn’t understand what was going on, or what Katsuki would say after, so he took the time he could to appreciate what he was getting. “I love you,” more kissing, “so fucking much.” When he finally pulled away, Eijirō could see the tears flowing freely down his cheeks. “I—fuck,” Katsuki laughed and he pulled back to wipe at his eyes. “Sorry, just—everyone has told me my whole fucking life that I’d be some… some asshole father, like mine was, or even worse, that I’d turn out like her, but here you are. You always change everything, you asshole. Let me know one thing that’ll happen in my life!”
Eijirō cupped Katsuki’s cheeks and he narrowed his eyes. “You’re gonna be the greatest dad ever.” He pulled Katsuki into a hug. Katsuki gripped the back of his shirt and cried into his shoulder, mumbling the whole time about how rude it was of Eijirō to keep springing surprises onto him. He was smiling the whole time.
That night, they laid in bed, Eijirō’s head on Katsuki’s chest, and talked about names. They talked about what brand of clothes they would buy, which room would be the baby’s room, whether it would be space or dinosaur themed (they settled on both), what possible Quirk combinations their kid would have. Their favourite was the idea of them being able to melt things.
There was a time in Katsuki’s life where he had thought that he would die alone. He thought that he would live alone, die alone, but at least be able to become the number one hero. All of that was flipped. Sure, he was forced to retire because of a particularly vicious attack when he had only gotten up to number four in the rankings, but he was happy.
He had Eijirō. He had a comfortable house in the quiet part of the city that he loved with the man he loved.
He got the happy ending he never thought he would deserve.