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- holding hands
Katsuki holds still amidst the crowd of moving strangers, arms crossed at his chest and a frown wrinkling his brow. His foot taps impatiently to offset the unsettled buzz under his skin at being surrounded by so many strangers. Finally, Deku catches up.
“Sorry!” the nerd apologizes breathlessly, scratching at his hair. Katsuki rolls his eyes and merely sets off again. People seem to sense his aura off “back the fuck off” and he manages to weave his way through the crowd easily. Meanwhile, Deku falls behind again, stuttering out apologies, when he tries to move forward and accidentally cuts someone off, only to take a step back and bump into someone else. Katsuki sighs at the other man’s actions; for Kami’s sake, he was acting like a 5’2” high school boy instead of the 6’1” number 4 pro hero he actually is now. He feels the stirring of old jealousies- he’s only number 8 in the rankings- but he squashes those feelings instantly. He’s different now and he won’t let himself give into his insecurities ever again. Besides. He’s two inches taller.
He waits again until Deku makes his way over to him. They’ll never make it anywhere at this rate and the booth they’re trying to reach is still far away. Katsuki grabs the nerd’s hand, interlocking their fingers casually, and starts back into the crowd before Deku can say anything more than a surprised squeak of his name.
It must be the crowd because his ears and face feel overheated, the skin where they’re connected practically on fire.
With Katsuki leading, they make better headway through the crowd, although he can still hear the nerd apologizing whenever he bumps into anyone. His eyes scan over the crowd’s heads until he finally catches sight of the right stall. He moves more purposely now, taking Deku at an angle and cutting through a current of people. His grip on Deku’s hand tightens when he can feel the other’s grip loosen.
They finally come to a stop by the stall, Katsuki halting so abruptly that Deku collides into his back. When he glances over at the nerd, he’s grinning up at him with lightly pink cheeks. Katsuki feels his own cheeks heat up in response and immediately drops the hand hold. He ignores Deku’s pout.
“Let’s do what we came to do already,” he grumbles. “I wanna get home-”
“Look, Kacchan!” Deku exclaims and points into the sky. “It’s Freefall!” Katsuki follows Deku’s gaze until he sees the pro hero Freefall- number 32 in the rankings- standing on top of a shop about a block down, their eyes scanning over the crowd. He also notices Rollover and Twig- numbers 17 and 29 respectively- making their way through the crowd.
“This many civilians- it’s a prime target for any villain looking to make a name for themselves,” Katsuki points out. “Come on, focus, nerd.”
The stall is busy enough- it’s Winter Holiday themed merchandise for all the pro heroes. Deku’s eyes tear away from the skies and narrow in on the products. He seems to have no trouble, pushing his way to the front and starting to pick out the items he hasn’t bought yet. Katsuki rolls his eyes but inwardly groans; they’re gonna run out of space in the apartment at the rate that Deku buys his friends’ merchandise.
Sometimes Katsuki is just as bad though he’ll never admit to it.
A picture frame catches his attention as he glances around from further away. Is that… Holy shit, what a gold mine.
Casually, heart pounding, he makes his way to the front of the stall and makes a show of looking around the other items, before picking up the picture frame. A sticker on the back of the frame declares the pricing at ten dollars.
“Oi!” he calls out to get the stall owner’s attention. “Ten dollars for this picture, right?” The owner barely glances at the frame before nodding and returning to helping Deku pack up all the shit he wanted. Katsuki can hardly believe his luck, but he pulls out the money and hands it over before it runs out on him and tucks his treasure away, returning to his previous position and waiting for Deku to be done.
“Kacchan!” Deku exclaims, turning around and rushing toward him with both arms full of crap. “Check all this out!” He pulls out a scarf from one bag and wraps it around his neck. “It’s all of the top 10 pro heroes! What did you get?”
“Nothing,” he sniffs. “Let’s go home.”
“Must have been something good,” the nerd remarks. “You’re smiling.”
Katsuki immediately forces his mouth into a frown. “I’m not, liar.” He ends the conversation before Deku could pry the answers out of him by grabbing a bag and grabbing a hand and pulling Deku into the crowd for the long walk back to the subway.
- watching TV together
Katsuki jerks awake, his heart pounding, gasping for breath. Images from his nightmare play on repeat across his mind. Deku stirs next to him, mumbling his name in confusion. It’s still fucking weird to wake up next to Deku. Friends share beds though, don’t they? They’ve been sharing the bed ever since Katsuki had fallen sick a few months ago. They don’t talk about it, but Katsuki… enjoys falling asleep and waking up next to Deku. In a friend’s sort of way. His presence is soothing after a nightmare.
“Go back to sleep, nerd,” he whispers softly. He waits until Deku shifts back into sleep before he carefully stands and heads into the kitchen. The green lights on the clock reads 2:13. His heart still thuds loudly in his ears. Katsuki pours himself a glass of ice water and sips it slowly until the rapid pace of his heart returns to its normal beat. His fingers tighten as the worst of the images flash through his mind again. He just has to stop thinking about it.
He refills his glass and heads into the living room. Maybe there’s something on Netflix that will distract him. Katsuki scrolls through his watchlist and decides on the Witcher. Kaminari had mentioned it the other day; if the hardheaded idiot liked it, it might be good.
“What are you watching?” Deku’s sleep-raspy voice startles him halfway into the episode.
“Witcher,” Katsuki replies and scoots over when Deku approaches the couch. He almost jumps when Deku lays down facing the screen, placing his head on Katsuki’s thigh. His heart starts pounding for a totally different reason from earlier.
“Restart it?” Deku asks hopefully, rolling back a bit to look at Katsuki.
“Su-sure,” he agrees and fumbles for the remote to hit restart. Deku shifts around to get comfortable while Katsuki feels frozen, eyes on the TV but not seeing what’s happening. After a few minutes of Deku not moving, he finally feels comfortable to relax slightly and set his arm down on Deku’s side. Feeling the nerd’s chest move steadily up and down relieves the last of Katsuki’s leftover tension from the nightmare.
- playing video games together
Katsuki slips the key into the door and steps into the apartment, feeling the weight of the day hanging heavy on his shoulders.
“Welcome home!” Deku calls from the living room, where he’s playing on his Switch on the couch, his back to the door. Katsuki freezes in the middle of slipping off shoes.
“…I’m home,” he says back, his tone slightly offbeat with being caught off guard by Deku’s greeting. This arrangement still feels surreal, but if Katsuki were being a hundred percent honest… it’s… nice. Despite the nerd’s overwhelming All Might collection that Katsuki is totally not jealous about at all.
“Rough day at work?” Deku asks, glancing away from the screen at him briefly. Their eyes meet and Katsuki falters at the visible concern in Deku’s green eyes. He tears his eyes away and grunts noncommittedly. Deku frowns but turns back to his Switch when Katsuki heads towards the bedroom to change out his day clothes.
He returns ten minutes later, in plain black pajama shorts and an All Might t-shirt, his own Switch in hand, and plops down on the couch on top of Deku’s legs.
“Hey!” the nerd exclaims, but it's tinged with laughter. Deku pulls back his legs enough that only his toes remain tucked under Katsuki’s thighs.
“Wizard of Legend?” Katsuki asks, already opening up the app.
Deku shifts again so that his legs are straightened, but his toes stay in place. “Sure. Whoever gets fewer kills makes supper?”
“Does dishes,” Katsuki corrects with an eye roll. “Last time you made food, you nearly destroyed the building.”
“It was just a little smoke!” Deku cries in dismay. “There was no danger!”
“It’s not supposed to smoke!”
“You make it too spicy!”
“Don’t be such a baby!”
Deku’s eyes are shining with mirth and Katsuki privately decides to make a portion of dinner a tiny bit less spicy for the nerd. IF he somehow manages to win their competition.
“Gonna change up your deck this time?” Deku asks, flipping through their available spells.
“Yeah. We got a new chaos spell last time that I wanted to try out.” He finds and selects the aforementioned spell. “Are you changing it up?”
When Deku doesn’t reply, he glances over, but Deku avoids his gaze almost guiltily. He rolls his eyes. Of course, he isn’t.
“We’ve gotten countless new spells and you’re still rolling with the same lineup every time,” he teases.
Deku rolls his eyes this time and pointedly ignores him. Katsuki drops it- it’s not serious anyway, more amusing, especially when Deku gets flustered about this habit. He reaches over and ruffles Deku’s hair, but the green-haired boy smacks his hand away with a scowl and a light blush. Katsuki stares, transfixed, at the coloring on Deku’s cheeks until he realizes what he’s doing and turns away quickly, rushing forward and starting the game before Deku can open his damn mouth.
- living together
The July sun radiates heat that seeps through even the most powerful A/C. Beyond the relative safety of that, it’s unbearable. Katsuki starts sweating the instant he leaves his house. It’s tempting to retreat, except he’s not a fucking coward, and he is actually, sort of looking forward to hanging out with Deku. The summer has scattered everyone across Japan back to their family homes for a brief vacation until their work at Pro Hero agencies begins in August. Deku lives the closest and since Spring, they’ve been hanging out pretty frequently.
Sometimes Katsuki will catch Deku eyeing him expectantly, but he has no idea what that’s about. Any attempt to question the nerd results in blushing stammers of “I don’t know what you’re talking about”. It’s fucking annoying but Deku can’t keep a secret from him for long, so Katsuki is confident that he’ll find out before long.
He walks over to Deku’s as quickly as he can bear- while he vastly prefers summer to winter, there’s still a limit. At least, thanks to his Quirk, his sweat does not smell disgusting.
Katsuki knocks on the apartment door. There’s a clatter of noise on the other side and then the door swings open to reveal a red-faced Deku and scattered books and papers on the floor behind him.
“Idiot,” he grumbles and raps his knuckles against Deku’s forehead lightly as he steps past him. “Lose track of time?”
Deku laughs and rubs the back of his neck. “Maybe?” He kneels down besides Katsuki and helps him pick up the fallen materials. Katsuki’s eyes skim briefly across words- it looks like some Quirk analysis paperwork. He grabs the next closest thing, and he can hardly believe his own eyes as he recognizes the torn and water-stained notebook.
“You… kept this?” his voice cracks in the middle of his question and he clears his throat of some weird emotion that’s welled in his throat.
Deku takes the notebook out of his grasp carefully and runs his hand over the cover gently. “Of course, I did, Kacchan. It has notes about you.” His lips are quirked upwards in an impossibly gentle smile. Like there’s no hardship attached, no history between them over it. Katsuki suppresses his gut reaction to apologize again- Deku has made it clear that he has already accepted Katsuki’s numerous apologies and wishes to move forward, not forgetting but not lingering on past mistakes.
Katsuki takes a deep breath and releases it slowly. “Nerd.” He whacks his collection of papers lightly against Deku’s green curls. Friends. That’s what they are now. He’s late to the party, too late in some regards, but he’s… glad he’s here now. For however long it lasts.
“We gonna play this new game or not?” He drops his papers into Deku’s already full arms and goes over to the couch, wondering distantly why the A/C hasn’t cooled him down yet- his cheeks feel like he’s still walking around outside. Katsuki slides his backpack off, leans it against the couch, and pulls out his Switch before he plops down, spreading out across the entire seat.
Deku comes over a second later with his own Switch. “Scoot over.” Katsuki tsks his tongue, but he’s not really that annoyed. He swings his legs off the couch and sends Deku an invite to the game he set up.
“I hope you’re ready to lose,” Katsuki teases Deku with a- gentle- elbow to his side.
Deku retaliates by kicking at Katsuki’s outstretched legs. “I’ll never lose against you.”
“Turning into an old man with memory loss already?” He hits play and the game takes them to the loading screen.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” However, the way Deku looks away is a crystal-clear indication that he remembers vividly losing their sparring match the other day.
Katsuki barks out a laugh and resolves to remind Deku of his defeat by beating him at this game. Even if it is a co-op, he can still “win” by getting more eliminations.
They settle further into the couch as they play through more matches. For all of Katsuki’s big talk, he and Deku are coming up about even each match. It’s almost frustrating but Deku’s competence keeps Katsuki sharp. Nearly an hour and a half later, Katsuki’s back is against one end of the couch. His right leg is stretched across the couch along the edge, lying innocuously against Deku’s body. Deku is slouching in a similar position; his right leg is stretched along the back of the couch, his foot resting just behind Katsuki’s elbow.
“Wanna go apartment hunting on Monday? Have a picnic in one of the parks?” Deku asks suddenly in the middle of a fight they’re both struggling in.
Katsuki’s hand jerks in surprise, sending his ultimate ability uselessly off the edge of the map. “For an apartment together?” he questions, his eyes focused completely on Deku, not even caring that he’s dying and losing their side competition.
“Sure,” the nerd says with a shrug, keeping his eyes focused intently on the game, although from the sporadic way he’s moving, he’s not doing very well anyway. “Our agencies are in the same city. It’d be. You know. Cheaper. Economic. To move in together.”
Friends do get apartments together, Katsuki reasons. Sharing space with Deku would probably be more bearable than sharing an apartment with Hair-for-brains. More unbearable in other ways.
“Fine.” Katsuki assented and forced his attention to return to the game. “I’ll make the food. You prepare a list of the apartments we’ll check out.”
With his attention focused on the game, he misses the way Deku looks up at him with an incredulous smile and a sheen of tears in his eyes.
“G-great! I’ll do that- Oh shit, behind you!” Katsuki spins around in game and manages to kill an enemy that had snuck up on him. The sneak attack serves to direct their attention away from apartments back to the game, enough to clutch a win.
- eating together
“Welcome home,” Katsuki calls from the kitchen when he hears the front door unlatch.
“I-I’m b-b-back,” Deku returns through chattering teeth.
“Go take a shower,” he orders without looking. The idiot definitely forgot his umbrella and is probably covered in snow. The apartment is silent. “And if you touch me with your frozen hands, I will warm you up with spices from hell.”
A giggle riddled with teeth chattering interrupted the silence directly behind him. “H-how did y-y-you kn-know?”
Katsuki sets the spatula down and spins around to whack Deku in his snowy curls with the side of his hand. “I know because you’re an idiot. Now go warm up in the shower.”
Deku captures his hand as it drops back down to his side; it’s fucking freezing, which irritates him. “Take a shower with me?”
“Hah?” Katsuki snatches his hand back, glaring at the green-haired nerd. “Did the snow also freeze your brain cells?”
“I m-meant for body h-heat!” Deku splutters. “That’s wh-what you’re s-supposed t-to do when c-c-cold!”
Katsuki hopes Deku isn’t coming down with some sickness, since the idiot’s cheeks are looking uncomfortably flushed. His own heart is beat erratically in his chest at the thought- no, he is not thinking about sharing a shower with Deku. “Begone, thot,” he says with a roll of his eyes. “If you catch a cold, I am not taking care of you.”
“But you did such a great job-” Deku starts to tease him but cuts himself off when Katsuki glares at him ferociously and holds Deku’s gaze until the nerd relents and heads for the shower.
“Make it quick!” Katsuki calls after Deku’s retreating figure. His acknowledgment is a middle finger. He grins; Deku can be such a little shit. Though he’d like to strangle the nerd for joking about sharing a shower.
He finishes preparing supper and is setting everything out on the table when Deku [slumps walks] down the hallway in baggy pajamas and a towel resting on his neck. “Smells delicious,” he grins tiredly up at Katsuki.
“Of course, it does. I made it,” Katsuki says with a sniff, though the praise is nice. “Dry your hair before you catch a cold.” The nerd’s cheeks don’t look as red as earlier, which hopefully means that he’s not coming down with anything.
“After supper,” Deku whines. “I’m hungry.”
Katsuki stares into Deku’s pleading eyes. He grumbles under his breath about how the number 7 hero is a baby and stomps forward and grabs the towel off of Deku’s shoulders. Deku starts to pull away, but Katsuki jams the towel onto his dripping hair and starts drying it off, easing off his aggressive pressure when Deku stops trying to pull away and just stay docilely in his chair.
“Thanks,” the nerd mutters, almost sullenly. Katsuki grunts and continues his ministrations. He’s interrupted by a timer going off in the kitchen. Had that much time already passed? He hadn’t been drying off Deku’s hair for that long- he glances at the clock and can’t believe his own eyes. Katsuki’s been at it for nearly 10 minutes.
His cheeks heat up in embarrassment; he throws the towel at Deku’s face when the nerd murmurs his name inquisitively. “Supper’s ready, idiot. Wake up.” Katsuki retreats to the kitchen and takes care of the last finishing touches to supper before bringing it all over to the table and sitting down across from Deku.
Deku’s eyes rove hungrily over all the food Katsuki had prepared. “Let’s eat!” he declares happily and doesn’t even wait for Katsuki to say it back before starting to grab food.
“Let’s eat,” Katsuki says quickly and reaches for the food he wants before Deku can snatch it up.
- going out together
“Let’s go, Deku!” Katsuki calls, irritated, from their mini foyer. “The movie is going to start soon!”
“I’m coming!” Deku wails from their bedroom. “I can’t find that one-”
Katsuki checks the time again on his phone. “Left side of the closet!” His foot taps against the ground, impatiently counting the seconds until Deku gets his ass out here.
“Sorry, Kacchan,” Deku mutters subdued as he pulls on his shoes.
“It’s-” Katsuki cutes himself off and takes a deep breath, breathing out all the anger. “It’s fine,” he tries again, gentler. It mostly only comes off as less curt.
Deku flashes a weak grin up at him, like he appreciates the efforts, and stands. “Alright, let’s watch this movie!” They exit their apartment. After Katsuki locks up behind them, he grabs Deku’s hand, and they start sprinting for the subway.
Running shaves enough time off their lateness so that they arrive at the theatre with plenty of time to spare.
“Go get our seats, I’ll grab the popcorn and drinks,” Deku offers. Katsuki ruffles his green hair, feeling a little guilty for yelling at him earlier. He receives an elbow in his side and Deku’s eyes rake across him with a glare.
“Seats!” he says quickly and turns away before Deku can cut into him needlessly. He’s allowed to feel guilty, damnit.
His phone buzzes with a text not half a second later. Katsuki clicks on the notification, already knowing what it says.
if i had a prob, id say smth! He scowls, even as a chuckle bubbles up in his chest.
Alright. Letting it go.
As long as Deku remembered to bring the chili powder for his popcorn.
- taking care of each other
Katsuki wakes up for an early shift at 2 am. His head and nose feel a bit congested. He takes some medicine before heading out, figuring it’s just an early morning thing. Once he wakes up and moves around a bit, it’ll clear up quickly.
He could not be more wrong.
The congestion grows worse with every passing hour, he develops a headache, and he starts alternating between feeling way too hot and way too cold. Halfway through the day, he also gains a cough that quickly turns nasty, rubbing his throat raw.
Fuck. This is probably serious.
Somehow, he manages to make it through the rest of his shift, and somehow, he manages to take the subway home, although it’s become harder to think. Katsuki just needs to nap and sleep it off.
His key is not fitting in the door lock properly. He stares at the lock and tries to insert the key carefully. Another miss. Another cough shakes through his body. Come on, hands, stop shaking, he orders them crossly. They don’t listen.
The door magically opens. Deku is standing in the threshold, looking both confused and concerned. His expression quickly morphs to worry. What is that pretty idiot worried about now? Katsuki tries to step forward, but only his top half moves, and he starts falling towards the floor.
Ah. This is going to hurt. He closes his eyes and braces himself for pain. Instead of colliding with the floor, strong arms wrap around his body and lift him off the ground. That’s weird. He blearily opens his eyes. Deku is carrying him towards his bedroom. How nice.
Katsuki snuggles into the blankets, enjoying their softness. When Deku releases him though, a surge of panic cascades through his body.
“Don’t leave!” he cries out, grabbing ahold of Deku’s arm.
“Kacchan?” Deku turns back, his head tilting to the side. “I have to go get some medicine and a cold rag. You’re burning up.”
“Please don’t go,” Katsuki whispers, trying to hold on tighter. He’s not sure if he does; his hands feel abysmally weak.
Deku places his free hand gently over Katsuki’s. “I’ll be right back. Just gotta grab some stuff. Ok?”
Katsuki hears the words but it takes a while to process them. “Ok. Come back soon,” he tries to say. He’s not sure if he actually manages to get the words out, but Deku smiles down at him. It’s a nice smile. He prefers it when Deku smiles.
Deku’s face turns bright red. Is he also sick? Green hair spins through the hair and flees from the room.
“Come back,” he tries to say. He definitely feels his mouth move that time.
His eyes want to fall close so that he can sleep this shit off, but anxiety thrums through his veins. Deku isn’t here; he can’t relax. It feels like an eternity before the nerd returns and gives him disgusting medicine and places a cool cloth on his forehead, which feels very soothing. Katsuki’s fingers immediately latch onto Deku’s wrist and he refuses to let go even if Deku looks at him pointedly and shakes his arm gently.
“Stay,” Katsuki commands. He pulls at Deku’s arm and scootches over in the bed. Yes. If Deku is here, he’ll be safe and able to sleep without worry. Deku can take care of himself but Katsuki still worries about the stupid, self-sacrificing nerd. He has pretty eyes.
“Oh, Kacchan, I really hope you don’t remember any of this,” Deku says through laughter as he crawls into the bed next to Katsuki.
Of course, he’ll remember. He remembers everything about Deku. Deku is important. Deku is two inches shorter than him.
“Hey!” Deku replies to his thoughts, offended. Is mind reading a new Quirk in One for All, he wonders absently. “Go to sleep, Kacchan!’ the nerd is laughing again. Good. Laughter means he’s not afraid of Kacchan anymore.
“I was never afraid of you!” Deku protests. “Yeah, you were an asshole, but I’ve never been afraid.”
Good. Katsuki can’t keep his eyes open anymore. He leans closer to Deku and rests his forehead against Deku’s. If he could stay here forever, he’d be content. If he can keep Deku safe forever, that’d be… the follow-up to his thought is lost forever as he drifts off to sleep.
- preparing gifts
Katsuki glances at the clock and frowns. Nearly four. Deku would be home soon. He checks his phone again. Most recent messages are the same: omw! cu soon! from Deku 16 minutes ago and Your package is en route to be delivered. Estimated time of delivery: 3:45 P.M. from the delivery service 25 minutes ago. His package is late, Deku is early. The universe is against him, and he has a sudden, intimate understanding of why Deku mutters; Katsuki is close to muttering himself- very, very unkind things about the delivery person and his heritage.
The lock clicks in the door and Deku’s green mop is first through the door, but his eyes are focused on a medium-sized brown box nestled in his arms. “I’m home,” the nerd says, turning the box over to get some clue of its contents.
“Welcome home!” Katsuki snaps as he stomps forward and snatches at the box. Deku’s eyes widen a fraction at his aggressiveness, but it’s too late for him to take it back. “It’s my package,” he says defensively, clutching it close.
Deku looks at him like he’s lost his mind. Maybe he has. “I know, Kacchan,” the slightly shorter man says calmly, although Katsuki can see that he’s very confused. “It has your name on it…” His voice trails off at the end, while he turns around to lock to the door.
Katsuki wishes he could have handled this differently but it’s too late now. “Welcome home,” he blurts out again and before he can make this situation any more unbearable, he forces his body to turn around so hard he almost wrenches his back and walks (flees) to the bedroom, shutting the door very gently (slamming, really) behind him. He falls to his butt, back against the door, and lets his head fall into his hands.
That had been awful. Normally he’d have been completely unfazed since this wasn’t really that big of a deal. Maybe living with Deku has made him lose the rest of his mind- he certainly doesn’t know why he’s moved in with the nerd in the first place.
It’s not all that bad. It’s just… living together now- being better friends…. well, its nearly Christmas, they’ve lived together for five months now without any casualties or collateral damage… so Katsuki had bought a present- a meaningless, tiny trinket- for Deku. And now he’s absolutely regretting it because Deku hadn’t mentioned getting him a present so what if he’s going to be the only one invested in this. Not that it was anything significant. That’s right. He’s overthinking it.
He places the box under the bed, resolves not to think about it until Christmas Day, and heads back out to the living room.
- calling each other by name
Katsuki is sitting on the couch, reading the newest Quirks Weekly- there’s an interesting speculation piece towards the back about the changes of society comparing now to before Quirks and what these changes mean for the future of society. Deku had written and submitted a piece for this magazine two months after they’d moved in together about Quirk analysis, so they now received each edition of it, along with some light requests for more essays from the number 12 hero. Since Deku’s essay had actually been decent after Katsuki had edited it and removed a lot of his ramblings- sometimes he typed like he talked- he thought it was something that Deku should try again if it interested him- which based on his blushes and his continued Quirk analysis in his free time, it was, but whenever Katsuki broached the subject, Deku avoided it and did his best to change topics. He didn’t want to push too much, but it was confusing.
Deku interrupts his musings by plopping down on the couch next to him and staring at him intently.
“What, nerd?” he asks.
“We’ve been together for a while now,” the nerd states firmly. It’s oddly phrased, but Katsuki writes it off as an incomplete thought and waits for Deku to continue. He doesn’t.
“And?”
“I’ve decided that we should call each other by our first names. Aren’t we close enough to do that now?”
Despite this topic catching Katsuki severely off guard, he manages to tease Deku. “Are you sure you can actually pronounce my name now?”
It flusters him enough to make his cheeks red. “O-of course I can! I’m an adult!”
Katsuki looks at him dead in the eyes and tilts his eyebrows skeptically. “Right. Of course, you are… Izuku.” He hopes his own cheeks are free from any blush.
“I- You- What-” Deku stammers out, turning even redder somehow. “That’s not- I hate you, Kacch- Katsu-Katchan!”
There’s a beat of silence and then Katsuki howls out laughing, forgetting about his own embarrassment at saying Deku’s actual name. His stomach clenches painfully as he tries to breathe in through his laughter, but he can’t stop laughing.
“Kacchan!” Deku wails, obviously humiliated, which makes Katsuki laugh all the harder.
“You- you said- said Katchan!” he wheezes out. He can’t feel his lungs or abs anymore but its totally worth it, even as he falls off the couch.
- doing chores together
As soon as the sun lights up his bedroom, Katsuki wakes up. Today is Saturday. He and Deku both have the day free. It’s been a few weeks since they both had a full day free at the same time. Maybe they could go out to the park for hot chocolate and ice-skating after lunch.
But they’ll have to survive the morning first.
Katsuki exits his room and knocks firmly on Deku’s door. “Wake up, nerd. It’s time for chores!” Incomprehensible muttering is his only reply on the other side.
“I’ll make breakfast,” he attempts to cajole the night owl on the other side. No coherent response.
Well, he’ll get started on breakfast and that should give Deku enough time to drag himself out of bed. If not… there’s always the ice from the freezer.
Katsuki is separating the food onto plates when he hears Deku’s feet shuffling across the ground, hears a chair squeak across the floor, and a hard thump as Deku collapses on the chair. Perfect timing. He turns around with the food and sits on his side. He slides the other plate of food across to Deku and pours him a glass of orange juice. Still partially asleep, Deku is slow to start eating, but by the end of the meal, he’s woken up completely.
“Do you want the kitchen this week?” he asks Deku when he brings his plates over to the sink where Katsuki is sipping on the last of his juice before he rinses out the glass.
“Su-sure,” Deku confirms through a wide yawn.
“Kay. I’ll tidy of the living room and then we’ll tackle the bathroom.” He downs the last of his juice and places the cup in the sink. Katsuki starts walking away.
“Oh, wait, Kacchan-” Deku calls him back; he turns to face the nerd- Deku also turns to face him except he’s still holding the spray nozzle. And Katsuki ends up getting splashed with water. He blinks, surprised. What the-
Deku bursts out laughing. “Oh Kami, Kacchan! I’m so sorry!” He can barely get the words out.
His temper snaps under Deku’s laughter. “I’m going to murder you!” he snarls and lungers for his idiotic, former roommate. Deku squeaks in fear and throws the spray nozzle down at just the right angle to unleash a small burst of water straight into Katsuki’s face. Deku howls behind him.
Katsuki slowly straightens his back and turns around towards Deku, whose laughter cuts off abruptly at the look on Katsuki’s face. Good; the nerd should be afraid. He lifts up the spray nozzle and hits Deku straight in the face with water. Vengeance is sweet.
“Hey!” Deku sputters, wiping at his eyes. “It was an accident!” Katsuki mercilessly pulls the nozzle and sprays Deku in the face again.
“Sorry,” Katsuki says drily. “My hand slipped.” Deku lunges at him and they grapple for control of the nozzle. They both end up getting soaked in the kitchen, with no clear victor.
“You’re such a jerk,” Deku says through a laugh, panting, back leaning against the sink. Katsuki’s position mirrors him on the island in the middle of their kitchen.
“You started it,” he retorts. “Now, enough of your stalling tactics. I’ll buy you hot chocolate at the park this afternoon if you finish up the kitchen before I finish up the living room.”
Deku’s eyes light up. “Yes, hot chocolate! Kacchan, you’re going down.” He immediately turns away from Katsuki and starts to clean in the kitchen. Katsuki rolls his eyes and heads into the living room, not in any rush.
This is one competition of theirs he won’t mind throwing.
- sparring together
Katsuki finishes rolling up the boxing tape around Deku’s hands and runs his fingers over it quickly to make sure it’s snug and secure. If the number 5 hero broke his hand while sparring with lowly number 9 hero, it would be a huge tragedy.
“Kacchan, I’m fine,” Deku half-whines. “Let’s go!”
“That eager to get your ass kicked?” Katsuki taunts with a light shove backward. Deku, unprepared and off-balance, falls onto his butt.
“I won last time!” He springs to his feet and starts moving through some stretches.
Katsuki mirrors Deku’s stretches. “That was a fluke. No way it’s happening again.”
Deku grumbles about Katsuki’s selective memory under his breath. He grins at Deku’s indignation. He remembers perfectly well how all their bouts end up; he just likes the way he can rile Deku up with pretending to forget. They finish stretching in mostly silence, a few words from each of them correctly each other’s balance or posture.
“Ready?” Katsuki asks after fifteen minutes.
Deku nods and walks onto the sparring matt, hopping lightly in place. Katsuki takes his place across from him and brings up his fists, keeping light on his feet. Their agencies have hired various martial artist masters over the years to train them in different techniques for close-range combat when Quirks failed to do the job.
They trade jabs and swipes at each other, dancing on the edges of their reach. Deku makes the first move into Katsuki’s space, but quickly retreats when he can’t get through Katsuki’s defense. Katsuki aims a kick at Deku’s left leg and follows up with a punch on the same side. No luck. They rotate around each other and matching grins illuminate their faces.
Each of them thinks the same thing at the same time. Kacchan-Deku- is going down this time.
- kissing
Katsuki opens up the door quietly and steps into the apartment, shivering slightly. He pauses in the foyer, right before closing the door. Those aren’t his or Deku’s shoes. Who’s here?
He can hear voices coming from the spare bedroom. Katsuki tiptoes down the hallway, hoping that he can time it right and scare the shit out of Deku. Payback for two days ago when Deku had done the same thing to him.
The voices come into focus when he reaches the outside of the closed door. He recognizes both speakers: Deku and Kirishima. What’s Hair-for-brains doing over here? Katsuki doesn’t recall them agreeing to hang out today.
“-I don’t know what to do or how to bring it up,” Deku is saying. “Has he said anything to you?”
“Sorry, bro, but he hasn’t mentioned anything to me,” Kirishima replies. Katsuki can imagine him placing a comforting hand on Deku’s shoulder at this point.
“Kirishima, you don’t understand!” Deku practically wails. “We’ve been dating for almost 17 months and he hasn’t even tried to kiss me! I don’t want to force him, of course, but am I doing something wrong?” Katsuki feels his blood turn to ice. Deku is dating someone? Has been dating someone for 17 months? He feels… betrayed. Why hadn’t Deku told him? Why was Deku hiding-
“I know you don’t want to, Deku-kun, but you gotta ask Bakugou straight up what’s going on,” Kirishima’s voice cut through Katsuki’s panicked thoughts and the words short-circuited his brain. Ask… him? But… he and Deku weren’t dating?
Katsuki all of a sudden remembers a conversation he and Deku had the month before graduation.
Katsuki sat on the couch in the UA dorm ‘living room’, flipping through the pages of a book for class.
“What do you want, nerd?” he asked without looking up when he heard Deku’s footsteps coming up on him.
“H-how’d you know it was me?” Deku asked with wide eyes.
Katsuki closed his book and stood. “You’re not very subtle,” he told him, rolling his eyes. “What do you want?” He walked away from the nerd and headed into the kitchen for a drink. Deku trailed after him wordlessly.
He felt impatience brewing under his skin, but forced the feeling away.
Deku kept his eyes focused on the ground. “Would you, uh, like to… go out with me?”
Katsuki’s brow crinkled in confusion. The nerd had been nervous just to ask him to go out? “Sure. Why not?”
Deku’s body froze and he looked straight into Katsuki’s eyes like he couldn’t believe Katsuki had agreed. Katsuki started to feel anger rise that the nerd had been so nervous to ask him out- they were better friends now, weren’t they? It wasn’t like he was gonna tear the idiot’s head off for asking to hang out. He swallowed his anger and waited for Deku to follow up with where they’re gonna go.
“You won’t regret this, Kacc- Katsuki!” Deku exclaimed. Katsuki choked on his drink and had to turn around to spit out into the sink. When he recovered and turned around, Deku was already gone.
Oh. Kami.
Katsuki is an idiot.
No, Deku is the bigger idiot. How the fuck was Katsuki supposed to realize that Deku had been asking him out like that? Some of Deku’s odd phrasings start to make more sense now. Kami, he can’t believe they’ve been dating for 17 months and Katsuki never realized.
All that time… wasted.
He bursts through the door and gazes angrily at Deku, who leaps to his feet, looking mildly worried. Katsuki… wants to kiss that expression of fear off his face. He wants to scold Deku fiercely for being so stupid, wants to berate his younger self for being fucking oblivious. But mostly right now, he just wants to kiss Deku and resolve his moronic delusion that Katsuki is not interested in him.
Katsuki has always been interested in Deku; he had only held himself back because of the ”friends” label. With that out of the way…
He takes three thunderous steps towards Deku and then a fourth because Deku backs up. Katsuki holds Deku’s cheeks firmly in his hands and leans in. “You’re a fucking moron,” he says matter-of-factly. Just as Deku opens his mouth to object, Katsuki closes the rest of the distance between them and presses their lips together gently.
When Deku doesn’t kiss him back, he pulls away and searches Deku’s face for any sign of displeasure. He sees only shock.
“Oh,” Deku breathes out. Then he fists his hands in Katsuki’s collar and drags him back down to kiss him again. And again. And again.
And again.