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“I’m sorry.”
The words shock Izuku so much he chokes on the water he’d been sipping, devolving into a panicked coughing fit. His eyes bulge wide from his spot on the couch and he spins around frantically to look over his shoulder where the gruff voice originated.
Katsuki is standing, tall and broad and donning that pissed-to-hell look that seems to perpetually occupy his face, and Izuku cannot have heard that right. He sets his glass down on the coffee table with shaky fingers and slowly stands, turning to face Katsuki more fully.
“W-What?” is all he can manage to choke out through his gaping shock. He half expects Katsuki to shout at him, to tell him to fuck off he was just kidding, or to do something to lash out, but Izuku is once again blown away as he simply repeats himself, though clearly feeling a bit more aggravation than before.
Katsuki’s voice is mean and gruff and everything Izuku had ever associated with the word horrifying as he shouts,
“I’m fucking-!” but suddenly his voice cuts off. Izuku watches in dazed amazement as his features contort into a pained look, eyebrows furrowing and lips pinching up in annoyance. When he speaks again, his voice is immeasurably softer; so open and genuine and vulnerable that Izuku’s heart nearly stops out of sheer shock alone.
“...sorry,” is the whispered ending. Izuku’s heart slams into his ribs at a frantic rate and he balks, dropping the notebook that had been perched in his hand. His mouth falls open in candid distress because there was no way Katsuik would ever, ever say something like that to Izuku. Was this a fake? Someone like Toga disguising themself as Katsuki? Or maybe it really was him and he was under the influence of a quirk? Shinso maybe?
Izuku tries desperately to think back on everything he’d had today, wondering if maybe he was experiencing some startlingly vivid hallucination brought on by spoiled food. In the end, he comes up empty.
Apparently his winded expression coupled with confused wordlessness is not enough for Katsuki, because only a few seconds later he’s back to his usual barking tone,
“You just gonna stand there or fuckin’ say something?” he shouts, glare deepening on his frustrated features. The cut is enough to snap Izuku out of his trance and he grapples for words, waving his hands around frantically,
“Y-Yes! Or no? I don’t- uh- it was just, it was really unexpected is all! And- and I never really pictured you saying anything like that so- uh -it caught me off guard and I didn’t really know how to reply? Oh! But it’s not like I didn’t want to reply or anything! Of course I wanna answer you, I just-!”
Bakugou cuts off his panicked ranting with a sharp expletive and a sharper glare.
“Jesus, shut the fuck up, Deku!”
Izuku’s mouth snaps shut so fast he hears his teeth click together and that actually hurt quite a bit but there’s no way he’s interrupting Katsuki to complain about it. The man in question frowns, dropping his gaze to the floor and shoving his hands into his pockets awkwardly. He looks conflicted for a moment, as though wondering whether or not he should continue, but eventually, he seems to come to a decision.
With fierce eyes, he looks up at Izuku once more and bites out another,
“I’m fucking sorry, all right? For…” he grits his teeth and Izuku winces at the painful sound. “For being such a jackass in middle school, and...” He shrugs, “Well, for everything after that, too.”
Katsuki is silent for another moment, clearly anticipating Izuku to interject as if he hasn’t just dropped the world’s largest bombshell on the man and Izuku is so bewildered, so dumbfounded, so completely astonished at the unexpected turn of events that he struggles to process everything he’s just heard. Instead, he does what he always does when he’s overwhelmed: he bursts into tears.
Katsuki startles at the sudden downpouring of wet, salty liquid as it streams down Izuku’s face. He looks panicked for a split second before Izuku starts sobbing, and then he looks really alarmed.
Izuku lets out a deep, full-body sob and raises a trembling hand to his mouth in a vain attempt to muffle the distraught noises. He uses his free hand to wipe the overflow of tears but it doesn’t do much good, only serving to stain the cuff of his sleeve as he wails.
“K-Kacchan-!” he gasps through the tears, lungs seizing for air. Katsuki looks supremely uncomfortable and honestly, Izuku can’t blame him. He takes in a gulping breath of air and strings together his next words like he’s afraid he’ll chicken out of saying them,
“ThankYouSoMuchINeverThoughtYou’dApologizeToMe!” The tears start coming harder and now he really can’t breathe because Katsuki just apologized to him and he never thought this day would come but it has and he’s ecstatic and Katsuki definitely looks like he regrets all his life choices but it’s too late to take it back!
Izuku smiles and it’s positively blinding. His cheeks are flushed red from the hot tears and he’s a weepy, blubbering mess but everything is okay. Katsuki tsk ’s and looks away stiffly but he doesn’t gripe. Instead, he sighs heavily and trudges on,
“Don’t fucking thank me, Deku.” His scowl deepens. “You shouldn’t have to get an apology from me in the first place - I shouldn’t have done that shit.”
Izuku sniffs, doing his best to pretend Katsuki isn’t rocking his world to its very foundation, and smiles at him, bleary-eyed and dopey. The moment is so real, so visceral, and Izuku isn’t entirely convinced he’s not dreaming.
“That means a lot, Kacchan,” he says, eyes shining. Katsuki shoves his hands deeper into his pockets and rotates on his heel, making to walk away. Before he can get too far from the common area, he looks back over his shoulder with that same threatening glower.
“You comin’ or what?”
Izuku’s eyes blink wide and surprised before his grin is firmly back in place and he’s rushing to catch up with Katsuki, walking with him to class. And if he’s a little brighter that day? If there’s a bounce in his step and a smile on his lips? That’s his business.