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Katsuki didn’t always have a birthday.
When Shouto first asked him when his birthday was, he was met with a blank stare. He told him that he never celebrated his birthday, nor did he know when he was actually born. This shocked Shouto but at the same time, he didn’t know what he was expecting. Katsuki has been a gang leader for three years, was a part of a large mafia group for fifteen, and his last clear memory of a quiet, normal life was his parents’ blurry faces before he was taken away. He was three then.
So any semblance of a birthday party was completely hazy in his memory. It made Shouto’s heart ache knowing that a man this young couldn’t even remember let alone celebrate his own birthday. Katsuki told him that he never cared. He usually just chose the date where he was taken from his parents as his de-facto birthday. It was mostly just a way for him to keep track of how old he was.
However, that date holds a lot of trauma for Katsuki. So, Shouto asked him if there was any other day that seemed fitting for him. Literally any day besides that. It could have been the day he escaped the mafia or the day he formed his gang. Or even a random day when he bought ice cream. Anything. Katsuki just shrugged and dismissed any other discussion of birthdays for the time being.
Shouto wasn’t satisfied with that answer.
He went around the hideout they were in, asking members of Katsuki’s gang if they had any memories of their boss when he even showed the tiniest glimmer of happiness. A lot of them didn’t have a memory like that. The closest thing they could think of was when Katsuki either saved them from a messy raid or shot someone in their honor. That wasn’t quite what Shouto was looking for.
But he wrote any semblance of a pleasant memory in a notebook that Katsuki bought him once when he was out sealing a deal with a local doctor. May 15th was when he bought his first gun with his own money. June 29th was when he ate a cheeseburger for the first time. October 3rd was when he helped some of his gang members out of a skirmish with the police. Every single date that held a significant memory for Katsuki, Shouto noted down.
“Why’re you asking anyway, Shou?” Kirishima, Katsuki’s right hand man asked him while Shouto wrote in his little notebook. “You know that the boss doesn’t exactly have a lot of happy memories.”
“I know,” Shouto sighs, while writing down another date (January 15th, Katsuki punched the mafia boss) but still he wasn’t satisfied with it. “I just don’t want him to keep using the day he was kidnapped as a benchmark for what’s supposed to be a milestone in his life.”
“Being kidnapped is a pretty significant milestone.”
“Thank you Kirishima, as always, for your kind contribution.”
“I live to please!” Kirishima says with an imaginary tip of the hat. Shouto looks through the dates again, each one looking more disappointing than the next. At this rate, he would have gone through the entire calendar and still haven’t decided on what would be a good date to use as Katsuki’s birthday. He frowns, suddenly extremely frustrated, and throws the notebook across the room.
Kirishima lets out a low whistle. “Woah. Didn’t think you’d get so worked up about this.”
Shouto groans, flopping face first onto the couch. He knows Katsuki wouldn’t even take time out of his busy day to celebrate something as trivial as turning one year older. Katsuki barely allows Shouto to throw Christmas parties. But he allows Shouto because his gang’s morale gets boosted every time. Also, Katsuki lets Shouto do a lot of things that his gang doesn’t always have the luxury to enjoy.
They live in a dog eat dog world with danger lurking on every corner. Each member of Katsuki’s gang consists of kids who grew up roughing it up on the streets, former criminals with a semblance of a moral compass, and fellow ex-mafia members who followed Katsuki out of the system. Shouto wasn’t like any of them.
Shouto was a spoiled rich kid who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was a boy who wanted to be freed from the burdens of his household name but was caught in the crossfire between a boy with bloodshot eyes and a man in a blood-soaked Gucci suit. Shouto was saved by this boy and then he chose to forever follow him to the ends of the earth, no matter the risks that came with it.
Katsuki has saved him so many times already. Shouto just wants to give him this one thing. It may not have the same weight as shooting someone, but it holds as much impact for Shouto more than anything else. He wants Katsuki to have something that’s his. A small, insignificant date to mark as the day he was brought into this word. To remake a trauma-filled event into something new.
If this was one way that Shouto can save him, then he’ll do it.
Today was one of those days where Katsuki just wants to go to sleep for ten years.
He just came back from a gruesome ten-to-one knife fight with a rival gang which 1) was absolutely unfair due to the sheer disadvantage in numbers and 2) had to coincidentally happen on the same day he was supposed to go undercover at a high-end event. Now his good suit is all bloodied up and ripped to shreds. He’s going to have to ring up on that favor from the tailor after this.
For now though, all he wants is a nice warm shower. Maybe some beer. He trudged to the hideout’s kitchenette, grabbing a bottle of beer from the fridge, and headed straight for his and Shouto’s shared bedroom. It was around 2AM so Shouto should be asleep by now. Sure enough, when he entered their room, Shouto was sound asleep on their bed, arms and legs wrapped around his pillow like an overgrown koala.
Katsuki stares at the sight before him with an overwhelming fondness. He has a lot of these rough nights out on the job. A lot of the time, he doesn’t make it back to base in time for breakfast, and he worries Shouto. But sometimes he gets lucky and he’s able to just watch him sleep for a few minutes. It puts his mind at ease to see him sleeping so peacefully despite the looming dangers of the outside world.
He gives the gang a sense of normalcy every once in a while. Shouto never forgets to say good morning to all of them, even to the grumpier ones who would only grunt a response at him. He tells them all funny stories of his times as an elite young socialite. Katsuki appreciates his presence within the team. He makes them all calm down in one way or another.
Him more so than anybody.
Shouto was his rock but even that seemed like an understatement. Shouto tends to him, talks to him about random things that sparks his interest, and scolds him a lot when he returns a little too rough. He provides a sense of security, comfort, and stability in Katsuki’s hectic everyday life. He shines a light into Katsuki’s dark mind and is the one thing that Katsuki can always attribute to coming home.
He takes a long swig from his beer, just watching Shouto’s steady breaths and eyelashes flutter against his cheeks every other minute. Katsuki can’t help but think about how effortlessly beautiful he is. Shouto was truly a work of art. Katsuki has stolen a lot of things in his life but none more precious and priceless than the heart of Shouto Todoroki.
Although he didn’t steal it, Shouto reassures him everyday. Shouto gave it to him with no questions asked.
Katsuki approaches their bed and sits down next to Shouto’s head, brushing a few strands of hair away from his face. Shouto nuzzles deeper into his pillow with a small noise of content. Katsuki’s heart feels like it’s about to burst into flames. God. What did he do to deserve this man? He stays there to brush his hair with his fingers a little longer when he notices the open notebook right next to the pillow.
Curious, Katsuki takes it and thumbs at the edges. It’s the notebook he bought Shouto on a whim one day. He always loved to write poetry and short stories. Sometimes Katsuki would ask him to read them out loud for him, though only after a few minutes of coaxing Shouto away from his own embarrassment. Maybe he’ll memorize a short piece for him for next time.
But when Katsuki read through the pages, he doesn’t see a single poem nor a story that goes once upon a time. Instead, the pages are littered with different dates and notes that correspond to each of them. At first he thought they were just random dates, maybe something to use for Shouto’s next short story. The more he went through them, however, he noticed that all the notes beside each date related to him.
March 6th - Katsuki buys a set of throwing knives
August 21st - Katsuki escapes from the Mafia. BY himself. What an incredible man.
November 8th - Katsuki eats cold soba for the first time. I’m not sure if it’s a happy memory. It sure made me happy.
The rest of the dates followed the same format. Each date would have a memory of Katsuki’s that was either extremely significant, vaguely pleasant, or a moment that Shouto deemed to be precious enough to write down. At first, Katsuki is confused by this. Why would he need to write all of this down? Is this for a new poem he was working on?
Then their conversation from a few days ago popped up in his mind.
“Katsuki, when’s your birthday?”
“What? I don’t have one of those.”
It all suddenly made sense to him. Now, looking at all these dates, Katsuki can’t help this overwhelming feeling of joy that he has right now. This sensation of knowing someone he holds dear goes out of their way to do something like this for him. Katsuki couldn’t have cared less about his birthday in any other year but this year… Shouto wanted to change that.
Katsuki smiles down at Shouto’s sleeping form. You’re really something else, aren’t you? Shouto shifts a bit, subconsciously nuzzling into the hand that was still petting him and brushing his hair. Katsuki’s fondness overflows. He looks down at the notebook again, flipping through the pages and each date with careful consideration.
When none of the dates stood out to him, he notices finally that there was one date that Shouto hasn’t listed down yet. He’s not too surprised that he doesn’t remember but it’s a day that Katsuki will never forget. So, he takes the pen from the bedside table, flips to an empty page, and writes down what he deems to be the most important day of his life. After a few beats, he encircles the date numerous times.
Katsuki looks down at his handiwork with a little smile before placing the notebook next to Shouto again.
Shouto woke up with a strong arm wrapped around his middle and the sun greeting him a warm good morning. He turns his head a little bit to see Katsuki’s sleeping face squished against the pillow. Shouto practically coos. Now, he knows he’s the only one in the entire gang who gets to witness Katsuki’s softer moments like this. It’s a true testament to how young the respected gang leader really is.
Usually he wakes him up but he figures that Katsuki probably had a rough night last night if the bruise on his cheek had anything to do with it. He’ll scold him later but for now he lets Katsuki cuddle him. It’s the least he could do. Besides, providing comfort for Katsuki just became second nature to him. A few more minutes of sleep wouldn’t hurt anyone.
Just as he’s about to nestle back into his pillow, he catches a glimpse of the notebook he was writing in last night. He forgot to put it away last night and he groans a bit at the thought that he has to stand up from this really comfortable position to put it back in the drawer. He reaches out for it, moving only minimally so that Katsuki’s sleep isn’t disturbed.
That’s when he notices that the page it’s currently on is not the one he was writing on last night. Shouto squints at it and confirms that it’s an entirely new page. Shouto is confused for a second until he realizes immediately that the handwriting on the page was not his. He rubs at his eyes to clear away any last traces of sleep. Who would write in his notebook without telling him?
The soft snore from Katsuki gave him an indirect answer.
He stares at the young gang leader for a few seconds, biting his lip at the thought that Katsuki went through this little notebook of Katsuki’s most significant memories. Is he mad? Did he write something in here just to make fun of him? Either way, his heart is beating faster than normal. He takes a deep breath before he reads what Katsuki wrote down. What he sees makes him absolutely melt.
April 20th - The day you told me you’d stay.
Shouto could feel the tears well up inside of him. Katsuki even encircled it. Shouto was so busy trying to find the most precious memory that he practically forgot about this one day. It was the day that he saw Katsuki truly smile for the first time. It was the day Katsuki kissed him until he was breathless. It was the day they both realized that they’re better together than they ever were apart.
And if this is the day Katsuki chooses to be his official birthday, Shouto can’t complain.
He reaches over to the bedside table where his phone is charging with the intent to put Katsuki’s new birthday on his calendar. Just as Shouto opens the app, he pauses and just stares at his phone screen. He looks at the date today and his smile comes before he’s able to stop it, though he wouldn’t be able to even if he wanted. Shouto tosses the phone to the side, carefully turning around so that he’s facing Katsuki.
He places little kisses all over Katsuki’s face, one on his forehead, one on his nose, one on each of his eyelids, and finally one on his lips. Katsuki wakes up only to kiss him back. Shouto smiles into the kiss, feeling Katsuki wrap his arm around him tighter, and Shouto does well to remember this feeling forever.
“Good morning, beautiful.” Katsuki says when they finally pull away. Shouto smiles and rubs their noses together.
“Good morning,” Shouto runs his fingers through Katsuki’s hair, finding delight in the way Katsuki hums, the vibrations tickling the palm of his hand. He places another soft kiss on Katsuki’s lips before he whispers to him with all the tenderness in the world.
“Happy birthday.”