Archive of Our Own ^beta

 Shouto moved against the panicked crowd, every person he passed shuffling past him in blind anxiety and murmuring fear. He saw the police force in front of the building, red and blue lights flashing silently, and moved more quickly, shoving past the crowd. As he drew closer, the brisk conversations of the officers and frantic clatter of walkie talkies as they reported to stations became clearer. He could hear them talking about hostages, a bomb, and a hero. Shouto ducked under the yellow police tape and started to who seemed to be the commanding officer.

 “What's the situation?” he asked. The officer looked at him with a brief look of surprise then turned back to the building in front of them, a more serious expression occupying her face.

 “The building is a small facility for shipping out posters and prints. There are five floors along with stairs to the roof, where he is. We don't know how many people are in there but seeing as it's a weekday, I'd imagine near a hundred, more or less. He threatened to activate the bomb if anyone came in or out. We asked what his demands were and he only said ‘Shouto’. So we called you and… here we are.” she explained. “We need to mic you so we can catch what you and him say. He might demand something from us and is just using you as a middle man.”

 Shouto nodded and allowed some man to fidget with his costume's collar, hooking a mic and giving him an earpiece. She gave him permission to approach the structure. He cautiously neared the glass doors, what felt like a million thoughts running through his head.

  A bomb? An actual bomb? He's never done anything as drastic as this. What could he want so badly that he needs hostages and a bomb? He thought to himself with a sigh, stopping and looking up to the building’s roof.

 Only one way to find out.

 “Deku!” he yelled. A green haired head peeked over the edge and he could hear the smile in his voice.

 “Shoucchan! You came!” he shouted gleefully. “Come up here! I wanna tell you something.”

 “Go. Comfort any hostage you meet along the way.” Her voice was clear in the earpiece even as he opened the doors and entered the workplace.

 The lights were all out, the only rays coming from the windows, providing minimal visibility for where he is. A few people looked out from under their desks, shaking and whimpering.

 “Please remain calm.” Shouto glanced around, still making his way to the stairs. “We're doing everything we can to make sure everyone gets out of this uninjured.” He opened the door to the stairway and climbed up the steps as quickly as he could. He eventually reached the roof, sunlight pouring out of the door's window. He turned the knob and stepped outside, hair instantly buffeted by the wind.

 To his left he saw a certain someone with a red, ribbon-like tie, shiny black shoes, and a fancy dress shirt of some kind. The palette of the entire wear was mostly black, deep olive green, and a light tan, the only exception being the flowing red bowtie. His curly green hair moved crazily in the wind, partly covering his half lidded eyes and almost flirty smirk. His body was leaned against the edge of the building, his fingers drumming on his concrete seat.

 “You're here.” he smiled. Shouto glared and cursed his pounding heart.

 “Yes, I'm here. Now what do you want?” he grunted. Deku tsk'd, each click of his tongue accompanied by his finger tapping his freckled cheek.

 “Slow down, Shoucchan. I'm not going anywhere.” He pushed himself off his spot and lazily swayed towards the hero before him. His hands were “politely” behind his back and his eyes were set on Shouto's face, staring at him with an intent he didn't understand yet.

 “Be careful.” the voice in his ear spoke up. “He might have a weapon.” Shouto visibly tensed, causing Deku to stop in place.

 “You can trust me.” he grinned. Shouto rolled his eyes with a scoff of contempt.

 “Sure. Now what did you want to tell me?” he focused back on the villain not three feet away from him. Said villain snickered and stood up straight again.

 “I suppose you want an explanation for all of this, hm?” With his hum, he bit down on his bottom lip but just barely, causing Shouto's heart thrum loudly in his ears.

 “That's ideal.” he choked out, hiding his strain as best as he could. He heard Deku giggle like a high school girl, bouncing on his heels.

 “Oh, I've waited so long to tell you this.” he murmured, most likely to himself.

  Tell what? Shouto was about to ask before Deku continued.

 “Ever since I heard of you, the unstoppable hero who always caught the bad guys, I knew you were what I was looking for. Someone who could finally match my power and hold a fair fight against me. And our first encounter was an exhilarating confirmation. I was instantly addicted to you and your power. Eventually I came to look forward to our fights. I became jealous of any other person you fought and immediately arrived to the scene. It became my obsession to be near you. Doing this shows it so, doesn't it? I know I'm feeding into this, and it's unhealthy. But I can't help it. In other words, Shouto…”

  Oh. Oh fuck .

 Deku rocked on his feet, swaying on his toes and heels, giggling hysterically. He went quiet and looked at Shouto.

 “I've fallen in love with you.”

 A heavy silence hung over the two of them and seemingly the entire world. When Shouto got the call that Deku was causing trouble, he expected another fight, more taunts, more excitement, more adrenaline, and at the end Deku would tie everything up by escaping easily last minute. Instead this was a much different fight. A war drove on in Shouto's heart, whether to give in or not, but he stood his ground where he was, half due to being paralyzed with shock, half because he didn't know what else he could do.

 “Y-”

 “Take off the microphone first, sweetheart.” his voice was dripping with warmth and sugar and it did not help the situation. But he complied, the officer on the other side telling him not to. He unclipped it from his collar and dropped it on the ground.

 “Good boy. Now you can speak your mind. Go ahead, honey.” he purred.

 “You're fucking insane . You risked the lives of hundreds to tell me this ? What the hell?” he spat, each word burning with conviction but every other syllable felt false. Deku seemed to have heard the hesitation, as he didn't back down. Shouto nearly choked on the words rising in his throat, but he pushed through and continued.

 “You haven't even listed any demands. What do you want?” Deku lazily stumbled backwards, as though rewinding his movements, until he stood near the edge of the roof again. God, the way he stood, the way his half lidded eyes stared into his heterochromatic ones, the way he'd bite his lip and poke his tongue out from them every now and then-

 “What do I want?” He echoed, an obvious red blooming across his face. He put his hands on his burning cheeks, tapping his skin again.

 “I want you to kiss me, Shouto.” He poked his smirking lips. “Right here. Or this building turns to dust.”

  Fuck .

 He was dead serious. He wanted a kiss. Shouto didn't dare to breathe, he was afraid Deku might interpret it as something outrageous. His entire body felt as though it were burning. He felt beyond frustrated from the fact that he couldn't tell whether it was because of embarrassment or if it was because he…

 “What do you choose? Will you swallow your pride and kiss me, or let the innocent people on the ground and in this building die and lose your career?”

 Shouto could feel his heart pounding in his throat, his nerves short circuiting and sizzling out. His pride versus his work, his morals versus his desires. He stood motionless in place as he tried to rationalize his thoughts, tried to weigh his options. Perhaps he could reason with him, change his mind, ask him to consider something not as taxing, not as risky as this was. He could lose himself in Deku's eyes alone, a kiss would leave him stranded in the ocean, his only shore being the lips of the villain he'd sworn to catch. But the lives of hundreds were more important, above his own being. He took a few slow, shaky steps forward. Deku squealed and clapped his hands.

 “Good choice, good choice!” he bounced on his heels and met the hero halfway until they were almost toe to toe. Deku was slightly shorter than Shouto so they had to look at each other at an angle. But still, Shouto got a close up view of the constellation of freckles dusting his face and the calm glittering of his eyes. And his lips. His presumably soft lips mere centimeters away that teased him more and more as time wore on. He expected himself to die on the spot, overwhelmed to the point of being driven to death.

 He was harshly snapped back into reality when his body instinctively tensed as he felt fingers trace his cheek to his jaw, the touch feathersoft and nearly nonexistent. Deku was gazing dreamily at his face, again with the lip biting. Shouto swore he'd do something about it later, it was too… he couldn't find the word and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

 “You're so soft…” he murmured. Shouto jerked his head away with a snarl.

 “You said just a kiss, nothing more.” Deku whined, crossing his arms and pouting.

 “What if I demand more than a kiss?” He raised a brow and winked. Shouto's mind went blank as he imagined the implications he might be suggesting. He shook his head.

 “Let’s just get this over with.” he mumbled, looking away from the teasing expression on the other's face.

 “If we're going to get this over with , you have to look at me, baby.” The fucking pet names made Shouto's blood simmer but he couldn't bring himself to tell Deku to stop. He always felt a shiver run down his body when he referred to him with a pet name. He didn't like it but he never tried to stop it.

 He turned back to Deku, eyes narrowed as he looked at the boy who was going to be his first kiss. It was a crazy thing to think about. 20 years old and still no one had kissed him. But of course it's his luck he'd kiss his worst enemy. Yet deep inside him he felt strangely elated to kiss him.

 His left started to steam as Deku's face drew closer, leaning in more and more… he was stuck in place and only watched him close the space between him. He could feel his lips ghosting his when he stopped and chuckled.

 “Shouto~.” he called. “Move in a little more, sweetie.” Shouto's face scrunched up in disgust but when he noticed a crooked hand slowly running up his hot left arm, he leaned in and made contact.

 Shouto could feel it then and there. He was already addicted to the chapped lips, the oddly sweet apple scent, the happy noises sounding from Deku, the scarred hand touching his skin. He needed it more than anything now that he had a taste. Deku pressed against him until they were touching hip to chest, both wanting so much but only one daring to seek it out. Deku tilted his head and added more pressure against their lips, deepening the kiss by the second. It took everything Shouto had to not respond, to not pull him in, to not hold his face. He shook with the effort, more steam drifting from his body. What felt like too soon and not soon enough, Deku pulled back, making sure to teasingly drag his teeth across the other's bottom lip, and happily sighed. He looked at the flustered mess before him; a boy red in the face, steaming billowing clouds into the wind, shaking in excitement. Deku giggled and tilted his head, coy.

 “ Let's just get this over with. Those were your words hm? Am I right?” He moved in again, standing on the tips of his toes to level with Shouto. He wrapped his arms around his collarbone, looking straight into Shouto's wide eyes.

 “You seemed to enjoy it. You might not have shown it, but you didn't struggle or anything like a normal person.”

 “It was a demand.” the hero whispered, his voice cracking. Deku snickered and curled strands of Shouto's hair with his index finger, his fist lightly brushing the back of his neck.

 “I have another demand.” he smirked. “I want you to kiss me however you want. I'll start it but you keep it going. Is that clear?”

 “Yes.” His voice was so quiet that Deku could only barely hear him. But with the confirmation, he closed his eyes and slowly moved in towards his lips again. Shouto quickly met him halfway and kissed him again, a hand tugging on his red tie. His hands went to his cheeks, cupping his face as he continued to satisfy his craving. Deku was only half surprised with this and went along with it. The kiss was sloppy and absolutely desperate but neither cared. They just wanted.

 Shouto kept tilting his head, slow and easing into the new direction, less difficult for Deku to keep up with. One of his hands had settled on the greenette's throat, his thumb moving up and down on the soft skin. Neither of them wanted to stop the mess happening between them, the hands running along arms and chests, the quick breaths between kisses, the low begs from Deku for more, the delivery from Shouto… it didn't matter what would happen afterwards but rather if they could keep the kiss going. But it was over much sooner than desired when, after biting at Shouto's lip for a full minute until he finally got an open mouth kiss, Deku scalded his tongue and jumped back with a yelp, leaving Shouto dazed in his spot.

 Deku laughed and clapped, bouncing up and down. “That was amazing, Shoucchan. I'll definitely keep that one in mind! Oh, and…” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a switch, sliding it to the steaming boy. Shouto was knocked back to reality when it bumped against his boot. He bent down and quickly took it.

 “The bomb switch. Just smash it and you're done.” He walked past Shouto, his fingertips grazing his jaw for a moment, before he opened the stairway door. “I'll see you again soon, Shoucchan~.” he purred before entering the building.

 Shouto, still stuck in place, watched the door close and didn't even move when he heard running footsteps in the alley behind as Deku made his escape. His lips still felt warm and were already missing the heat of Deku. His fingers touched his lips gently as if trying to substitute for the lost contact. But he knew he'd never feel anything that could replace Deku’s lips. Not for a long time.