Chapter Text
Katsuki Bakugou was so fucking tired. He and Deku had been battling another group of villains who’d decided to rob a bank for at least three hours in the blazing sun, and while that heat had done wonders for helping him sweat his nitroglycerin faster, the water bottles he’d chugged to keep up were empty and that dehydration was starting to kick in. Luckily for him, it looked like Deku had snagged the last remaining member of the heist team - some bitchy leader whining about how working wasn’t fair, and as Bakugou rolled his eyes, Deku leapt into the air and performed his shoot-style kick, holding back just enough so that the shitty leader’s neck wouldn’t snap. Damnit.
If it were up to Katsuki, those powerful legs would be entitled to do whatever fucking level of damage their owner wanted them to - not that Deku would ever be really into killing or paralyzing a villain. It would probably take someone torturing a kitten for any kind of murderous rage to spark in those dazzling green eyes.
Blinking hard, Katsuki felt a strong wave of confusion overtake him. Where was he again? Huh, the world seemed to be getting a bit fuzzy, and as he stepped forward Katsuki noticed his trademark filter softening. Instead of having curse words take the place of adjectives he’d rather not use (being mushy over a goddamn nerd was humiliating enough, if he gushed over him openly or let anything slip he’d never hear the end of it), the typical substitutions weren’t being put in their place and actual feelings… Ones beyond sexual-tension-induced anger were being allowed to seep out. So fucking annoying.
Grunting and tightening his abdomen, trying to get the blood to stop leaving his head, Katsuki kept stumbling forward. He squinted, and when the familiar silver shine of handcuffs met his gaze he sighed in relief. Deku had stopped the stupid dick from getting away, they could stop fighting now.
“Oi.” He called, his demanding tone a bit rougher than usual. His boots felt heavier than ever before, and a tingling sensation bloomed in his chest as he reached his rival.
As Deku turned to face him, Katsuki couldn’t tell what about it was different but something about the way the light glowed on soft freckled cheeks and twinkled in electrifying green eyes did something to him. Those irises were still sparking with flashes of One for All, the intimidating lightning strikes serving as a reminder of the power bestowed in the man who was looking at him, meeting him step for step, move for move, word for word. In later years he’d say it was just the exhaustion urging him on, the same forces removing his thinking filter pushing him to do what was about to happen next. But as Izuku’s compact, muscular form finally reached Katsuki’s wavering one, something in the fiery man’s mind snapped.
After years of tension, walls built and leveled by Izuku, Katsuki should have expected that Izuku would have repeated this feat. It had been part of their development their entire lives, with every misunderstanding being ground into the mortar, every wave of guilt formed into a stone to raise the barriers ever higher. But this was more than walls crumbling. There was a dam bursting behind them, water coursing forward and threatening to drown all in its wake.
Katsuki grabbed Izuku’s right shoulder, the calloused hands gripping it pushing into solid muscle and the thick scars left behind from previous battles they’d fought together.
Turning his head down to meet those eyes, those stupid, fucking encapsulating eyes - Katsuki was a goner. Mossy colored eyebrows met in confused concern, only emphasizing how doe-like and transparent they were. That was something Katsuki always found beautiful in Izuku - his raw emotion, something Katsuki had never had. Dizziness worsening (though whether it was from fatigue or interest, he’d never know), he ignored Izuku’s questions and muttering. Whatever the nerd was worrying about now could wait, all that mattered was that he was okay and they could finally fucking rest. Unclasping the mask his partner wore, Katsuki felt a part of his spirit relax.
Raising his other hand to gently hold Izuku’s chin, Katsuki took a deep breath, sighed and leaned in. The shorter man still hadn’t shut up, and by his voice raising in pitch and his eyes growing wider, it didn’t look like he would until…
“Kach-mmph?”
Their lips made contact.
Katsuki was taken back, back to the moment when they were four years old, smaller and more innocent. Back when bad guys were always defeated by All Might, back when Katsuki had gotten his quirk. When the first sparks appeared in his small, soft hands Izuku’s eyes had glittered in fascination and Katsuki preened at the positive attention, feeling that for once he’d gotten to be on the level of All Might in his best friend’s mind, and damn had he acted like a bird of paradise.
Moving slightly, Katsuki changed angles and heard Izuku whimper softly against him, white-gloved fingers tugging on Katsuki’s uniform. Kissing Deku a little rougher, a little deeper, Katsuki began feeling incredibly light and wonderful and alive - before his knees buckled and he started having tunnel vision. Toppling into warm arms which supported him so easily, so effortlessly, Katsuki crashed face-first into Deku’s chest.
“Oh my god,” was the last thing he heard before he blacked out.