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“Wow, Kacchan, you’ve really improved your Howitzer Impact!” Deku exclaimed as he made his way across Ground Beta, chest heaving from their collaborative training session.
“Of course I have, nerd!” Katsuki retaliated. “What’re you wasting your time with, huh?!”
Or at least, that’s what Katsuki would’ve said. The words of UA’s resident therapist echoed in his mind. After everything that happened in first-year, it was about time he and his classmates got some professional help, although he resisted at first.
“Maybe, instead of putting yourself on a pedestal, you can start reciprocating attention to your classmates as well.
After all, we all know the consequences of isolating yourself, especially in this line of work.”
The lone figure of All Might stood amidst the rubble, smoke rolling off his body as his fist stood upright in the air.
A trembling finger pointed at the screen. Weak strands of blonde hair wilted.
“You’re next.”
Instead, Katsuki shuffled ahead with a curt “Your shoot style is getting more refined. But you need to stop telegraphing your movements when you’re about to kick. Shit makes it easy for me to dodge.”
Deku squeaked in shock at the constructive complement before settling into a bright smile, red blooming across his face. “T-thanks Kacchan!”
Katsuki glanced back at the nerd as they limped their way back to the dorms, time appearing to slow down as he studied Deku. The nerd hobbled slightly behind him with sweat-drenched hair, a dopey smile, and blush across his freckles.
Did he make Deku blush?
The fleeting thought was pushed away as he felt his stomach flip, twisting himself to face forward. Shoulders hunched over, Katsuki stammered, “W-whatever, nerd.”
Later that night, Katsuki definitely did not lay awake as he thought about the nerd’s infuriating blush, of how he was the one to make stupid Deku blush.
Nope, Katsuki thought as he shifted to his side among his sheets, his chest feeling warmly content. He wasn’t thinking about that at all.
He definitely did not dream of the nerd’s dopey smile that night.
They’re improving every day, Izuku thinks.
Ever since they started training together and discussing One For All, Kacchan seems to tolerate him more! He even complimented him in class the other day. Sure, it caused Izuku to run into a wall, but never mind that!
Since the beginning of second-year, he and All Might have been doing more private training sessions in the evenings and early mornings. One night, after a particularly grueling training session, Izuku trudged his way back to his dorm room, stomach rumbling.
He was sore in places that he didn’t even know was possible, Izuku thought wearily. He entered his room and collapsed on the bed, about ready to doze off before he caught a whiff of katsudon coming from his desk. Curious, Izuku peered up from his pillow and noticed a beautiful bowl of katsudon awaiting his stomach, which rumbled once again at the sight.
He scrambled to his desk and read the note placed next to the dish.
Had leftovers and didn’t want to waste the shit. Don’t ball your eyes out too much, nerd.
Izuku instantly recognized the handwriting with a wobbly smile. Kacchan knew him so well!
And if the leftovers measured up to the serving size recommended in his diet plan, Izuku never brought it up.
He certainly didn’t complain when they started arriving at his room more frequently.
Katsuki thinks the arcade is a shitty place.
He would rather be in his room getting some well-deserved rest after today’s grueling heroics training, but Shitty Hair strong-armed him into going to the arcade local to U.A.
He stood idly by as Pikachu exceeded his way up the leaderboard on Guitar Freaks . Tape Dispenser gawked at yet another loss as he wailed, “Kaminari’s cheating!”
Katsuki scoffed at the scene as a flash of green at a nearby claw machine caught his eye. Glancing around to see if the idiots were still preoccupied with the guitar game, he slipped away to check it out.
The claw game didn’t stand out. It was an ordinary light yellow compared to the flashy and colorful arcade games that surrounded it. Katsuki stopped in front of the claw game with a token in his hand, pausing to check if his idiots noticed he was gone.
A round, green bunny about a foot long peered up at Katsuki in return. There weren’t many of them in stock based on the scarce of green in the sea of plushie prizes.
Fuck it, Katsuki resigned as he inserted his token. He could use a challenge.
Getting that damn specific plushie took more tries than Katsuki will ever admit.
Fuck these games and their useless claws! They can’t even do their own job right , Katsuki cursed as he finally retrieved his prize from the compartment with satisfaction. It was softer than he expected, its little stubs for legs accentuating the plushie’s roundness.
He snapped at the questioning looks from Dunce Face and Tape Dispenser once he returned to the guitar game. Shitty Hair didn’t question the plushie in favor of challenging him to a game of air hockey, which Katsuki absolutely crushed him at. However, their arcade trip was cut short because he and Shitty Hair were getting too competitive. Apparently sending smoking pucks flying at haphazard directions warranted being kicked out of the damn arcade. Fucking amateurs.
Second-year flew by as the bunny plushie sat on the shelf of his dorm, nearly forgotten under the bouts of homework and training. He didn’t own many superfluous things, so it was a rarity in his dorm room. At one point it fell onto his bed and stayed there ever since. He didn’t bother to move it back to the shelf because it turns out that it was pretty comfy to hold while sleeping, not that he’ll ever admit that to anyone of course.
Much to Katsuki’s dismay, coming back to the plushie in his dorm room after a long day of heroics training became strangely comforting. He discovered that holding it helped lure him to sleep better, which he was relieved at, because he hasn’t gotten a good night’s rest since the shitshow at Kamino Ward last year.
One morning, Katsuki woke up with a start as the alarm on his phone blared on the nightstand next to him. After nearly blowing it up to snooze the godforsaken noise, he rolled over on his side with his eyes squeezed shut.
Katsuki groaned as he felt a wave of soreness from yesterday’s brutal heroics training and opened his eyes to a mop of green in front of him. Deku’s hair comes to mind in his daze, a warmth of content filling up his chest at the sight. Not yet fully conscious, Katsuki rolls forward a little bit more to press a light kiss on the green plushie in question before laying on his back as if nothing abnormal happened, his hands resting on the back of his head.
His eyes remained closed only for a moment before jolting awake when he realized what he’d just done.
FUCK!
He just kissed the stupid Deku plush like he was a goddamn school girl with a crush! What the fuck was wrong with him?!
Katsuki turned to his side once again, angrily forcing the erratic beating of his chest aside in favor of glaring at the green offender in question. The plushie stared back at him with its bright, innocent smile, locking his gaze in an unspoken staring contest.
He was rudely interrupted by his alarm blaring once again. Groaning angrily, he rolled off of the bed to get ready for the day, stalking away from the green devil.
Green.
Soft.
Cute.
Katsuki ignores the implications.
He sauntered his way off to class after completing his morning routine, not stopping when he heard the bane of his existence call out to him.
“Good morning, Kacchan!” Deku said brightly, catching up to walk alongside him.
Katsuki grunted in acknowledgment and continued forward, making an effort to avoid eye contact.
Deku’s smile is too big. Too bright. Too innocent.
Deku is too green. Too soft. Too cute.
Katsuki nearly stopped in his tracks as his mind raced to process his intrusive thought. His breath hitched as he rapidly compared how similar Deku is to his dear plushie.
Or how similar his plushie was to Deku?
No. That can’t be it. He refuses to even ponder the possibility.
Katsuki is both confused and angry at what that stupid smile does to his chest.
“Hey, Kacchan?”
“What do you want, nerd?” Kacchan snapped as they entered Heights 3A Alliance after training with All Might.
Izuku cringed under his gaze with his eyes averted, twiddling his thumbs. “New Year’s is coming up and I was wondering...I was wondering..." Izuku stuttered.
Kacchan raised an eyebrow in question and motioned him to get on with it. Izuku’s getting more confident these days and shaping up to the hero he wants to be when he graduates, but one look from Kacchan is enough to get him nervous.
“I was wondering if you wanted to come to see the fireworks display at Mutsufatsu with me,” Izuku finally forced out of his mouth, “Like when we were kids!”
Izuku took the silence that followed as a rejection and tried to brush it off nonchalantly. “It’s okay if you don’t want to of course!” Izuku hastily added, “It never hurts to offer.”
They stepped into the elevator in awkward silence. Kacchan mumbled something he couldn’t quite catch.
“What was that, Kacchan?” Izuku asked while he pressed the button for his floor.
Kacchan mumbled once again with his hands stuffed in his pockets, eyes trained to the closed elevator door in front of him. Was Kacchan taking a leaf out of his book now?
Finally, Kacchan sighed out of exasperation and leaned his head back to glare at the ceiling tiles, the tips of his ears stained pink. He huffed for a moment before focusing on his shoes and mumbled once again.
“...I said sure, nerd.”
Izuku froze for a moment to process what he said before launching himself at Kacchan without a second thought. Only then when he had his arms tightly wrapped around the blonde did he realize what he was doing, his eyes popping open with a start as he peered up slowly at the time bomb he undoubtedly ignited.
Izuku had expected Kacchan to shove him off right away and yell at him, or at least had the gall look angry as he continued to hug him tightly.
Instead, Kacchan’s eyes were averted and his posture was stiff, his arms rigid at his sides. Oh no, was he making him uncomfortable?! Izuku hastily let go and started to back away with an apology on his tongue, but was suddenly pulled back in by strong arms, his face hitting a firm chest.
“If you’re gonna fucking hug me, you better fucking commit, Deku,” Kacchan grumbled as he carefully rested his chin on the top of Izuku’s head, the unsureness of his actions betraying how hesitant he really felt. His arms once again returned to his sides, but at least now he rested more of his weight on Izuku.
Izuku stood frozen in shock for a good couple of seconds before the reality of the situation hit him. Kacchan!! Was letting Izuku hug him!!! Izuku felt a light giddiness rise up his chest as he scooped Kacchan up in his arms with a giggle. His bright smile couldn’t be contained, especially when Kacchan was around.
Izuku predicted he had about five seconds before he made Kacchan truly uncomfortable with his hug, so he made the most of it while he still could. He leaned forward and turned his head to the side to rest his cheek on Kacchan’s chest, unable to stop the content sigh he let out as he did so. He had five seconds to hold Kacchan like this. Five seconds to take in his scent, five seconds to feel Kacchan against him, five seconds to imagine how it would be like to hold Kacchan this close every day—
Izuku hates how fast five seconds could be.
He hastily let go when the elevator opened for his floor and gave an adequate space between him and Kacchan with a stuttering thanks. He whirled around and left the elevator in a hurry, his face aflame.
Hugging Kacchan is dangerous, not only because he is a literal bomb, but because anything to do with him seems to set his face aflame and his heart into overdrive.
But when has he ever not run straight into danger?
What Izuku didn’t see was how the fellow third-year stood there in an identical state for minutes afterward, his mind racing almost as much as his heart was.
Katsuki remained inside the elevator in shock, jaw slack, as his mind replayed the hug from minutes before. He ended up missing his floor and had to take the stairs up to his room, but he couldn't care less.
Deku’s arms, Deku’s hair, Deku’s stupid happy giggle, Deku’s sigh.
His chest felt more empty now that the nerd wasn’t pressed against it, an unsettling cold lingering in Deku’s place.
For days afterward, Katsuki absolutely doesn't think about how he felt wrapped in Deku’s arms, sighing when his chest ached just a bit too much at the emptiness.
Katsuki has a problem. What else can explain the racing of his heart and the aching in his chest? What else can explain the stolen glances, the warmth of his chest, the lingering touches? There’s a special vulnerability to it all that he can’t quite name.
Vulnerability.
What a fitting word. Their mended friendship is vulnerable, too vulnerable for Katsuki’s liking. Since the beginning of third year, they’ve really been getting closer, but sometimes it feels like the two have to perform evasive maneuvers to avoid stepping on eggshells. Katsuki hates how fragile their new friendship is, but he knows that it’s supposed to be like this for them to heal. That doesn’t stop him from wanting more, now that he’s had a taste. It definitely doesn’t stop his chest from aching for stupid reasons whenever he thinks about Deku’s embrace.
He doesn’t know what he wants more of, exactly. It’s a bundle of feelings and abstract emotions that he has trouble identifying, but he wants it regardless. What does he want from this friendship? Happiness? Familiarity? Nostalgia?
Love?
His heart flutters in recognition.
...Nevermind that, he doesn’t need to unpack that right now.
Class 3A is the busiest they’ve ever been this year with internships, work studies, and graduation creeping up their backs too slow yet so fast. Katsuki couldn’t afford to lose to Deku over some feelings. Especially feelings that definitely don’t exist. He couldn’t afford to lose Deku at all, not now that he’s felt like he just got his friendship back.
He definitely doesn’t think about Deku’s touch, gentle and welcoming. Deku’s blush. Deku’s hair. Deku’s goddamn smile. Katsuki can still feel the ghost of Deku’s arms around him, recalling how it felt to be held by the nerd. To be held close .
Closeness.
Could that be what he wants? Katsuki felt his arms wrap around himself as if to fill in the blank space that would have otherwise been occupied by the target of his affections.
Affection.
Is it affection that he wants? To be close? To have Deku’s embrace all to himself? The emotions brewing in his chest are difficult to separate, but Katsuki has been improving thanks to his much-needed therapist. Regardless of the answer, his heart seems to agree.
Katsuki’s heart had been Deku's to break for a long time, he suspects. It feels at home when Deku is around. His heart sings to his praise, to his voice. It flutters under his emerald gaze and races at closeness, at affection.
It’s as if the nerd had made himself home in his heart with no intention of ever leaving.
If that’s the case, then the nerd is more than welcome to stay.