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Bakugou Katsuki hates a lot of things.
He hates those big tags on shirts that make his skin itch, people who walk too slow, The Big Bang Theory, people who say ‘Guess what?’ and actually expect you to guess, jello.
Katsuki doesn’t, surprisingly, hate Christmas.
No, it’s not that he hates the holiday; he just doesn’t understand the hype. When he thinks of Christmas he thinks of shoveling snow, his mom’s half-burnt sugar cookies (the woman can cook, yeah, but baking is an entirely different story), and gross couples that remind him he will be alone forever. There is no magic in Christmas. It’s just an extra day off from work.
His friends, however, refused to believe that the blond was truly happy with staying home and critiquing shitty Hallmark movies.
“Bro, c’mon, just come over to our place tonight! We promise you’ll have fun!” Kirishima said from the other side of the phone.
“No.”
“Come oooon dude! You need to get into the holiday spirit! Ho-ho-ho and all that,” another, quieter voice— Kaminari, Kirishima’s roommate, added. Katsuki must be on speaker.
“First off, say that again and I’ll be committing a ho-ho-homicide. Secondly, it’s been storming out for the past two hours. I wouldn’t be able to get to your apartment this late if I wanted to. Which I don’t.”
There was a heavy pause, which practically said everything Katsuki needed to know.
“Huh. It is storming out. Damn. Well, at least come out tomorrow morning for presents! We start at ten!”
Katsuki took a deep breath, trying to stop himself from slamming his head against his coffee table.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Did he say yes?” Another, more feminine voice asked. Mina. “I’m pretty sure that ‘I’ll think about it’ means yes, in Bakugou speech.”
“You’re right,” Kaminari said. “I’m pretty sure he just said yes.”
“Oh shit, score!” someone, presumably Sero, called. “We did it guys, we annoyed him so much he agreed to something.”
“Tell Sero to fuck off.”
“I heard that!”
“This is great!” Kirishima said, a smile evident in his voice. “Hey, when you come over, could you—“
He was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Oh look, someone’s here, I’ve got to go,” Katsuki said in the driest, most sarcastic tone he could muster. He almost snickered at the affronted yells the group of idiots on the other line let out.
“Bakugou, don’t you dare hang up—“ Mina said as Katsuki hung up.
The blond pocketed his phone and stood, making his way to his apartment door. He wasn’t quite sure who the hell would be there, since no one but someone from his complex could safely make it to his apartment due to the huge blizzard happening outside, not to mention the fact that almost everyone in his apartment complex hated him, so it would make no sense for them to visit him.
Well, everyone in the complex hated him except for that one guy who lived four doors down and his next door neighbor—
“Deku,” Katsuki said as he opened his door. As expected, said green haired man was standing outside of his door, smiling brightly.
“Hi, Bakugou!”
“What do you need?” he asked, trying to be at least a little bit approachable. The idiot in front of him just smiled a fraction wider, making his freckled cheeks scrunch up around his eyes.
“Come spend Christmas Eve with me!”
Katsuki paused, blinking twice before asking, “What?”
“Well,” Midoriya started, having the decency to look a little bit sheepish, “I was planning on visiting my mom for Christmas, but— uh… the blizzard started up, so now that’s off the table. I was thinking about waiting it out, but it seems to be getting worse…” the man glanced over Katsuki’s shoulder, looking out the window in his living room. Katsuki already knew it was a greyish white blurr of snowflakes out there, so he didn’t bother to turn and look as well.
“What’s that gotta do with me, hah?”
“Well, I already kinda knew you wouldn’t be doing anything for Christmas. You don’t seem the type,” Midoriya shrugged, acting as if he hadn’t just insulted Katsuki’s nonexistent Christmas cheer.
“Just because you’re right doesn’t mean you have to say it,” Katsuki mumbled halfheartedly, studying the greenette’s face. Midoriya Izuku moved in only a few months after Katsuki had, which was almost a year ago. This meant that he missed the fight Katsuki had had with some scumbag in the middle of the halls a few weeks after he’d moved in. The fight caused a lot of dislike towards Katsuki from the others in the hall, which then branched out into everyone else steering clear from the blond in the long run.
Midoriya had to have heard about the fight by now (most likely from the only other person in this hall that kind of tolerated Katsuki, Todoroki Shoto), but he’d never let that get in the way of him becoming… something with Katsuki, and Katsuki, loath as he is to admit it, was kind of happy about that. Midoriya was a pretty okay person, much more interesting (and much more pretty) than his other friends. Katsuki wouldn’t mind knowing him better.
Midoriya hummed non committedly, apparently having heard Katsuki’s grumble. “Anyways, since I can’t do anything, and you weren’t doing anything, I just thought— hey! why not invite that meanie over? So now I’m here.”
“I… I just got called an avid Christmas disliker and a meanie back to back. I don’t know if my ego will ever be able to come back from this.”
“You’ve got enough ego to last you through a couple more hits. Now, are you coming over or not? I have homemade hot chocolate and those weird Christmas romance movies you watch all the time.”
“It’s kind of creepy that you know that about me,” Katsuki said, even as he slipped off his house slippers and slipped on his shoes.
“The walls are thin, dude. And you play your T.V. so loud I feel like I’m in your living room instead of mine half the time,” Midoriya shrugged as he walked the four feet over to his door. “Hurry up! I’ve got cookies in the oven.”
Katsuki winced as he thought of the burnt, misshapen cookies that his mom forced on him whenever he visited during the Christmas season. He could practically taste the expired sprinkles she’d pile on top of them.
He found himself praying for his taste buds as he followed Midoriya into his apartment.
——— ❅ ———
To Katsuki’s surprise, Midoriya was actually… really good at baking.
Did he feel bad about eating half of the cookies the other man had made? A little bit. The smile the greenette gave him when he mentioned how good they were made up for it, though.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Midoriya said through a mouth full of warm buttered popcorn, three horribly acted Hallmark movies later. “This guy is a total asshole. Why is she pining over him.”
“Fuck if I know,” Katsuki said, not even fully paying attention to the movie. The lights from Deku’s dinky Christmas tree made his green eyes glow nicely, made his freckles stand out more. He was close enough that Katsuki could smell his mint and pine shampoo.
“They’re gonna play it off like the spirit of Christmas made him a changed man or something. I bet in real life they’d last for about a week.”
Katsuki snorted. “Yeah, well. These things aren’t really about longevity, Deku. It’s just sappy shit to make people drool over Christmas even more than they already do.”
“Mhm,” Midoriya said, obviously not listening. “Ugh, mistletoe, too? How predictable! This always happens in these things. Something super stereotypical happens and then… boom! They’re kissing! Everything is right in the world! I really do like some Christmas movies, but Hallmark… even just watching this hurts..”
Katsuki, embarrassingly enough, smiled a little bit. To his horror, Midoriya happened to turn and look at him right at that moment. His eyes widened slightly, words trailing off as he blinked at Katsuki in something akin to curiosity. “Whatcha’ smiling at, Kacchan?”
To his horror (times two), Katsuki felt his face grow warm. “Kacchan? The fuck is that?”
Midoriya huffed out a laugh. “You call me Deku because you picked up my mail and read my name wrong. It’s only fair that I get to call you a nickname too!”
“My nickname for your dumbass has a good backstory. Kacchan came out of fucking nowhere.”
Midoriya just shrugged. “It’s a cute nickname! Cute, just like you.”
“ Haaaah??”
Midoriya giggled, and it sounded like the twinkle of wedding bells.
Huh.
Katsuki was fucked.
——— ❅ ———
Midoriya was in his kitchen getting more hot chocolate when Kirishima called for the tenth time that night.
“You should answer that,” Midoriya said as he handed Katsuki his mug. “They’ve been calling a lot.”
Katsuki scowled. He thought he was doing well with discreetly ignoring the fucker’s calls. His scowl did not leave his face, not even once he answered.
“What.”
“Bakubro, what are you doing? It’s like…. waaaay past your bedtime! Oh my god did we wake you up?? Is that why you did… don’t… don’t’n’t answer?”
“No. I was ignoring you. Are you drunk?”
“No,” Kirishima said as Mina yelled ‘Yes!’ at the same time. “It’s Chrimims, dude. Chrysler Eve. We are supposed to be drunk.”
“I don’t think that’s correct.”
“Okay and? Anyways I just w… wanted to make sure you were totally definitely coming to the present thingy tomorrow… at… at um…”
“Ten!” Kaminari reminded him.
“Yes. The sacred time of ten o’clock A.M.”
“I said I was thinking about it. I didn’t say I was going.”
“You never do anything fun you loser! Whatever,” Sero, the only man Katsuki was scared of (he is very tall) and hence the only man allowed to speak to him in such heinous, slanderous ways, said.
“We’ll see you at ten, Brokubak! Hey that was kind of funny…”
“How much did you…? Whatever. Drink water before bed.”
“Aw, he cares about us!” Kaminari cried. Katsuki hung up before they could say anything else. He settled back down on Midoriya’s, surprisingly comfortable, couch, taking a sip of the hot chocolate that was handed to him earlier.
Midoriya was strangely quiet. When Katsuki looked over, he noticed that the other man was smiling; a small, gentle thing.
“What, Deku?”
“Hmm? Oh, nothing,” Midoriya hummed, before unpausing the movie they were watching. “You’re going to your friends house in the morning?”
“Eh. I guess I have to, to make sure they haven’t all died in a drunken stupor.”
Midoriya laughed. “You’re a good friend, you know, Kacchan?”
“Whatever,” Katsuki responded, hiding his pleased smirk behind his mug.
“Well, if you have to get up early, we’d better… um… wrap this up? It’s getting late, I wouldn’t want you to lose too much sleep…”
“Oh?” Katsuki checked the time on his phone and— yeah. It was almost one in the morning. “Wow. Uhm, yeah, I should— I should probably head to bed soon.”
Izuku nodded and watched carefully as Katsuki finished up the rest of his coco. The other man took the mug back when he was done, going and leaving it in the sink as Katsuki went back to the genkan to slip off his guest slippers and put his own shoes back on. He waited there until Midoriya came back from the kitchen. The greenette opened the door and started to walk Katsuki back to his apartment which, while unneeded, was appreciated anyway.
They stopped in front of Katsuki’s apartment door, a hint of awkward tension settling in the air around them. “So.. uh…” Katsuki started, only to pause when he noticed that Izuku was not looking at him but past him. “Um…?”
Katsuki looked up, to where Midoriya was staring. There, hanging just above his door, was a sprig of mistletoe. A sprig of mistletoe that Katsuki had definitely not put up, as he hardly decorated at all for Christmas ever.
“Mistletoe,” Katsuki started, looking back down to Midoriya who was now staring at him with wide eyes. “How predictable.”
The greenette reached his hands up, cupping them around Katsuki’s jaw. “Tonight was really fun, Kacchan,” he said, bringing their faces closer together. Katsuki could feel the others breath on his lips. “We should do it again, sometime.”
They kissed, and Katsuki felt like everything in his life had clicked into place and settled. The press of their lips was chaste, at first, a quick peck before Midoriya pulled away slightly, only to surge back in and kiss Katsuki again with much more fervor. Katsuki matched his pace, barely even phased when he found himself pressed against his apartment door.
“Yeah,” Katsuki agreed, panting against Midoriya’s mouth, “let’s do this again sometime. Definitely. Holy shit.”
Midoriya laughed, a soft, bright sound that blessed Katsuki’s ears each time he heard it, and pulled away. “Well, you know where to find me, Kacchan.”
“Katsuki.”
Midoriya blinked up at him. “Hmm?”
“Call me Katsuki.”
Midoriya nodded slightly, before smiling.
“Call me Izuku, then.”
“Of course.”
Izuku smiled wider. “Goodnight, Katsuki. Merry Christmas.”
“Goodnight. Merry Christmas,” Katsuki mumbled, still leaning back against his door as he watched Izuku walk back into his own apartment. “Izuku,” he whispered into the barely lit hall, barely loud enough for himself to hear.
Katsuki decided, from that point on, that Christmas wasn’t all that bad.
——— ❅ ———