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"I can't believe you would do something like that!" Shouto yells the second they're back in his dorm room.
"Chill out, Shouto. It all worked out in the end." Katsuki leans against the door, watching as his boyfriend paces around the room.
Shouto whirls around and stalks toward him, pressing him up against the door. Normally, Katsuki'd enjoy this position, but not when the temperature is fluctuating so rapidly like Shouto can't decide whether he wants to freeze him or set him on fire more.
"Oh, yeah?! And what if it didn't?? You think I would have wanted to see you get injured in front of me? Or captured again?" The 'or worse' isn't said but both of them hear it anyway.
Katsuki winces as it becomes clear that Shouto's not angry at him, not really, but is some combination of concerned, afraid, and relieved. "No. I don't think you would have. But come on, everything's fine, babe. We saved the day back there. There were no casualties."
Shouto deflates a little and presses up against him. Katsuki curls his arms around him, a hand drifting up and playing with Shouto's hair softly.
"There could have been…" Shouto mumbles after a moment. "If that didn't work out like it did, it could have gone so badly."
"I know." Katsuki lightly scratches Shouto's scalp, sighing softly when Shouto relaxes some. "I'm sorry. I can't promise I won't do it again, but I'll consider other options first."
"I guess that's all I can ask." Shouto nuzzles into Katsuki's neck, clinging to him for a moment before huffing softly. "You make this so difficult." He mumbles, almost petulantly and Katsuki can't help but snort as he lifts him up to carry him to the bed.
"Oh, yeah. How so?" He settles them with Shouto in his lap, chuckling a little at the pout on his boyfriend's face.
"You calm me down so easily. I had this whole punishment in mind but now I don't think it's worth it anymore."
Katsuki raises an eyebrow and nudges Shouto lightly. "A punishment, huh?"
Shouto rolls his eyes and shoves gently against Katsuki's chest. "Oh, hush. It wouldn't be anything fun. You know you're not supposed to enjoy a punishment after all."
"What would it have been?" Katsuki asks and Shouto chuckles a little as he curls further into Katsuki, tracing his fingers over Katsuki's cheek.
"No cuddles for a week." Shouto chuckles again at the way that it's been less than ten minutes since their argument and they're already cuddling. There's no way they would've lasted a week. Even if Katsuki could manage it, Shouto has a feeling he would've caved before the week was up.
"Ouch, princess. That's harsh." Katsuki says, drawing Shouto in further. "Doubt you would last the whole week before ending the punishment early."
Despite having thought the same thing himself, Shouto narrows his eyes at the competitive tone, feeling like he needs to defend himself. So he does.
"Like you wouldn't be suffering either. Need I remind you who starts most of our cuddle sessions?" Shouto raises an eyebrow as he looks Katsuki in the eye.
"Uh, yeah, that's you, princess. Hate to break it to you, but I know how affectionate you truly are under that icy exterior. You wouldn't last the week." Katsuki challenges, smirking when Shouto sits up sharply.
"Oh, yeah? Wanna make that a bet? Loser does one thing the winner wants, no matter what it is."
"You're on," Katsuki says and they shake hands. "However, this should start tomorrow so that it's a full week."
Shouto glances at the setting sun outside the window and nods. "That's fair."
This was about to be the most difficult/interesting week they've had in quite some time.
Nothing changes immediately the following day. They don't usually get to spend a lot of time with each other between classes and training and the same is true of the first day of their bet.
In fact, they make it well into the evening without it being a problem, caught between homework and studying with their respective friends. Even the fact that it's a scheduled movie night with their classmate doesn't phase either of them.
Katsuki goes to sit near Kirishima while Shouto sits with Midoriya, receiving a confused look almost immediately.
"Um, Todoroki-kun? Are you fighting with Kacchan?" Shouto shakes his head and Midoriya frowns a little. "Then why aren't you sitting with him?" His eyes widen and he waves his arms around. "Not that I mind you sitting with me! It's just you guys tend to cuddle during movies…"
"I know. But we're in a bit of a challenge right now." Shouto says with a small grin. "To see who can make it through the week with no cuddles without caving."
Midoriya starts laughing at that, apologizing when everyone turns to shush him and muffling his laughter with his hands until he calms down. "I'm sorry!" he whispers to Shouto, who waves off his apologies.
"I know, it's not an easy bet, but it'll certainly be interesting."
"Mhm." They turn their attention to the movie then.
After the movie, Shouto starts to go through his normal routine, freezing at the fact that the no cuddling rule renders this little habit obsolete. Normally, about an hour before Katsuki goes to bed, they meet up to talk and cuddle. It's a good way to get out any stresses they had that day before going to sleep, but now that's not really possible… Is it?
He pulls out his phone and texts Katsuki.
S: So, are we still meeting up or does the bet negate this?
K: Why would it? … Oh yeah…
K: Still, you can come over. We can still talk, just no cuddling this time.
Shouto nods and almost forgets to confirm that he's coming before pulling on some comfy clothes and heading down a floor to Katsuki's room. When he arrives, he almost instinctually crawls into bed beside Katsuki before remembering himself and sitting at the foot of the bed, leaning up against the wall.
It's weird for a moment but they settle into it, the whole process of getting to talk to each other still being relaxing. In fact, they get so into it that they nearly forget that there's a no cuddle rule in the first place aside from a few idle thoughts.
When Katsuki's alarm goes off, Shouto stands up with a soft chuckle. "It is a bit weird for me to leave so promptly, huh?" Katsuki nods, both of them thinking about how neither of them wants to stop cuddling when it's time to separate for the night.
Shouto walks over and kisses Katsuki softly before turning to leave. "Goodnight, love."
"G'night," Katsuki mumbles back, causing Shouto to smile as he leaves the room, returning to his own dorm.
As he's preparing for bed, he receives one text that makes him smile.
K: The bed's too damn cold…
The second day is much the same, but it's a little easier without the movie night reminding them that they can't cuddle together. But the third day, it's like everything that could go wrong is.
First, Katsuki wakes up late, which throws the whole day off. Normally, he has time to go for a run and cook a basic breakfast for him and Shouto (and the rest of their friends but shush, he just makes 'extra' even if that is enough for everyone else). But now, he's barely got time to get up and get dressed before he has to leave the dorm.
If that had been the only thing wrong, then he would've shrugged it off as a weird occurrence and went on with his day, but no.
During one of his classes, he realizes that he left his assignment back in his dorm, leaving him unable to turn it in on time. Thankfully, the teacher understands when he talks to them after class and says that he can turn it in the next day for full credit, but only because he does this so infrequently.
During training, his gauntlets malfunction for some unknown reason and end up literally blowing up in his face, causing him to mess up the task for the day. But then he has no problems for the rest of class, so he doesn't know whether that was just a fluke or not. Still, he'll have the support course students look at them just in case.
His bad luck chills out a bit after school ends, but that's mainly because he doesn't have to patrol today, so it's back to the dorms for him. Thankfully. He honestly believes that he had gone out today that something would go wrong given what's happened so far.
Normally, on a sucky day like this, he would call Shouto to his room a bit early and they'd cuddle more to calm him down, but that's not really an option, is it?
Part of him is tempted to just call the whole thing off so he can cuddle his boyfriend, but the other part really wants to see if Shouto could even last a full week without cuddles.
The rest of the evening proceeds as normal, his bad mood lightening some when he gets to talk with Shouto and see how sympathetic and concerned his boyfriend is. On anyone else, that kind of expression would just make him angry, but he knows Shouto genuinely means it and it's become very comforting to him.
He also notices the way Shouto half-reaches out to him before firmly putting his arms at his side, causing Katsuki to smirk. It seems his urge to comfort him is at war with this whole bet, which makes him even more confident that Shouto's going to be the one to give in first.
Katsuki sits up with a gasp, clutching a hand over his heart, his breathing coming in short gasps. He shakes his head to try to clear the images from his dream, but they're persistent, clinging to him like a parasite to its host.
He flicks on the lamp on his nightstand and grabs his phone, already dialing the numbers before he has the conscious thought of who he wants to talk to. Not that it'd be anyone else.
"Katsuki?" Shouto asks, his voice sounding adorably sleepy and confused.
Katsuki tries to respond but all that comes out is a soft whimper, tears pricking his eyes at the confirmation that Shouto is safe, that what he had seen didn't happen.
"Katsuki? Are you okay?" Shouto sounds significantly more awake now and a mix of concerned and almost afraid, one that breaks some of the nightmare's hold on Katsuki enough that he can reply.
"Yeah, just… Had a nightmare…"
Shouto hums softly, the sound soothing some of Katsuki's ruffled nerves. Normally, Shouto would offer to sneak down to his room to cuddle him back to sleep, but Katsuki has a feeling that he'd have to offer that this time with the bet going on, and some part of him doesn't want to give up just yet even if that sounds heavenly.
"What do you want me to do?" Shouto asks, so obviously giving him that out that he could just reach out and take if he wanted.
"Just talk to me?"
"Alright." Shouto starts talking then, telling stories that Katsuki's heard before, but that doesn't matter now. The familiar tales soothe him and he settles under the blankets, letting Shouto's voice lull him back to sleep.
This time, he doesn't have any nightmares.
Day four isn't the most difficult day. It's no day full of bad luck for either of them, the main issue is just the weirdness of the whole situation. Shouto can't recall one time since they started dating that they've gone anywhere longer than two to three days without some sort of cuddle session, even back when Katsuki wasn't as outspoken about enjoying it.
So, it's weird to sit apart from each other during study sessions or movies that the whole class puts on to relax. It's even stranger to not cuddle when they're in Katsuki's room at night, but it's almost starting to feel normal now that it's the fourth day. Which is odd by itself.
Shouto finds it harder to keep his eyes off of Katsuki on the fourth day. The closeness would normally reassure him that the other's alright or happy, but he finds himself watching Katsuki just to do the same thing.
This finds him in the kitchen after their patrols are finished watching Katsuki stir some combination of ingredients in a bowl. He really should be working on an assignment right now, but it's almost hypnotizing. It's like all the stress melts off of Katsuki while he's baking, leaving him looking, for once, fully calm and, in Shouto's eyes at least, unfairly pretty.
"What are you making?" He asks, setting his pencil down and fully giving up on the illusion that he's working.
Katsuki glances up and gives a little shrug. "Cookies."
Shouto smiles a little, smug enough that Katsuki glares at him. "What are you looking at, peppermint?"
"Oh, nothing Just… Those wouldn't happen to be snickerdoodles, would they?" Shouto asks, playing the innocent card all while snickering mentally.
Katsuki freezes for a split second, causing Shouto to start snickering out loud. "So, they are, huh? Why? Is the lack of cuddles stressing you out?" Shouto says, teasing lightly and once again offering an out if Katsuki wants to take it.
"Pfft no." Katsuki sets the bowl down, a touch too hard, and starts rolling the dough into little balls. "Why would it be? I can make a week without cuddles easily."
"Uh-huh," Shouto says, knowing that he's bluffing. Katsuki tends to make snickerdoodles only when he's needing the comfort of his favorite childhood treat, so he's clearly more stressed than he's wanting to show. But Shouto respects the way he won't back down. If he were really upset, then he wouldn't let his pride get in the way.
"Can I--?" Shouto starts to ask but Katsuki shoots him a quick glare.
"Only if there's dough leftover, you greedy little shit," Katsuki says, rolling his eyes when Shouto gives him a happy look. Both of them know that he's going to leave some extra cookie dough for Shouto, but he doesn't have to admit it out loud.
Katsuki finishes rolling the dough into balls and puts the tray into the oven before dropping the bowl by Shouto's workspace, shaking his head slightly when Shouto immediately scoops some up and eats it. Katsuki turns to go clean up, but notices how little work Shouto's gotten finished while they've been here.
"If you can get that done by the time the cookies are done, I'll let you have two fresh out of the oven." He specifically doesn't say that Shouto gets a single cookie regardless, but he doesn't need to as Shouto nods, a determined look crossing his face as he gets back to work, letting Katsuki clean up.
Shouto does manage to get his work finished on time and they spend the rest of the evening together, not having to worry about class the next day. Though, both are worried about the extra challenge the weekend will bring since they won't have the excuse of training and classwork to busy them.
Shouto whines softly as he wakes up, burrowing under the blanket as his head pounds at how bright the light streaming in through the window is. He lays in bed for a little longer before getting up, wincing as he has to grab onto his desk to steady himself.
He shakes his head barely, regretting the motion almost immediately as it makes his stomach roll. It's clear that it'd be a bad idea even going downstairs so he just goes to the bathroom and brushes his teeth before crawling back into bed and grabbing his phone.
S: Kat… I don't feel good.
He doesn't immediately get a response, though the text has been read, and he's nearly fallen back asleep when there's a light knock on his door. Shouto whines softly but gets up to answer the door, smiling a bit when he sees Katsuki on the other side carrying container of soup.
Katsuki jerks his head in the direction of Shouto's bed and Shouto obediently goes and crawls under the covers. Katsuki sets the container on Shouto's nightstand and kneels down, brushing some of Shouto's hair out of his face.
"Mind eating some of that for me, Shou?" Katsuki asks softly, shushing him softly when Shouto just makes a face. "I know, but you have to eat something."
Shouto nods and sits up while Katsuki removes the lid from the container, handing the container and gesturing for Shouto to sip at it. Shouto does and realizes that the soup mainly consists of broth, meaning Katsuki guessed right at how he was feeling.
He's able to stomach about a third of the container before his stomach complains and he pushes it back into Katsuki's hands, who nods and puts the lid on it before setting it to the side. Katsuki looks at him with a contemplative expression before sighing softly.
"The bet's over." He says. Shouto gives him a confused look, the words not making any sense. Just because he's sick doesn't mean they can't still do the bet. "Shut up. I know you, princess. You're even more cuddly when you're sick and I'm not going to withhold one of the things that makes you feel better just because of a damn bet."
Shouto nods, leaning back in bed while Katsuki grabs Shouto's laptop off his desk and settles on the bed beside him. Shouto leans his head against Katsuki's shoulder while the other pulls up Netflix, picking Shouto's favorite movie before pulling Shouto properly into his arms.
They spend the rest of the day watching movies and cuddling with Shouto drifting in and out of sleep and breaks where Katsuki would go down to the kitchen and bring back more soup/eat his own meals.
"It is kinda funny though." Katsuki says while the credits of one movie are rolling. Shouto hums in responds and Katsuki chuckles a bit. "The one week we decide to do this, everything goes wrong and makes it even more difficult."
Shouto giggles a bit. "Yeah. I mean, it's supposed to be a challenge, right?"
Katsuki nods and presses a kiss to the top of Shouto's head. "Yeah, makes me wonder, though. If we can't manage a week of no cuddling while we're still in school, how are we going to make it through any week-long missions as heroes?"
Shouto yawns softly and nuzzles into Katsuki's neck. "Hmm, guess we should try to always be paired up. Then we won't have to go without."
Katsuki chuckles and picks another movie, figuring Shouto's not going to be awake for much of it the way he's acting. "Hmm, maybe. Rest, princess. We can figure that out later."
Shouto nods and snuggles a bit closer to Katsuki, falling asleep to the opening credits.