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Sunlight streamed in through the sheer curtains of Katsuki’s dorm room, illuminating the space with blinding warmth. Katsuki, however, had been awake since before dawn. Normally he’d wake up before the sun rose to go on a run, get in some early morning training, go to breakfast and spend time with his friends. Today, however? Today, there was a very notable difference.
Today, Izumi was laying in his bed, still dreaming, still there .
Waking up to the greenette curled in his arms, Katsuki had had a small revelation… He wanted to wake up to her every single morning for the rest of his life. He’d already known this, of course, because he loves her with everything he has in him and would gladly give anything if it meant he could spend the rest of his life with her. Still, it was something he relearned each time he caught himself in moments like these. Quiet ones where they simply existed in the same space, on the same plane, and he was glad.
Sounds of his classmates drew his attention away from his thoughts, likely meaning breakfast was in the process of being made. He grumbled to himself; He hoped Tsu or Ochako were the ones cooking. Everyone else sucked at it--except Sato, but he preferred baking, and who could possibly hold it against him? Regardless, if there was breakfast being made, that meant there was coffee and tea at the ready.
One does not simply wake up Midoriya Izumi without some sort of offering of caffeine.
Reluctantly, he pulled himself out of bed, carefully sliding a pillow in her arms so she had something to hug before pulling on his robe and creeping his way out of his dorm room. He made a mental note to check a clock on his way to the kitchen; He had approximately ten minutes before Izumi woke up due to his absence. He needed to get the coffee -- and maybe some food, before she woke up so he could give her some semblance of breakfast in bed. After all, she’d had to endure an entire month with her asshole father, and then had to spend a lot of time with his classmates last night. The least he could do is pamper her a little bit.
“Woooaaaaah, look who’s finally awake!” Denki cheered, energized as always. Katsuki ignored him, making his way over to the coffee maker. The pot was warm and freshly filled. He should make sure to restock Momo’s favorite coffee blend…
“What had you sleeping in so late?” Shoji came over to the sink where the coffee maker was positioned. “You’re usually so diligent in rising early.”
“He was probably just catching up on sleep since his girlfriend is here,” Yuga purred with a wink.
Katsuki forced himself not to react. God he wanted to punch Sparkle Bitch in the face so much right now… No. No . Coffee for Izumi. Coffee for Izumi . Izumi is the priority here. Reaching over for a large mug, Katsuki poured some into it, then some into a smaller mug for himself. “Not that it’s anyone’s business,” he growled. “But I haven’t been sleeping well lately.” How could he sleep when his adorable girlfriend was so far away from him? He couldn’t protect her if she was on an entirely different continent!
“You have been really on edge lately,” observed Tsuyu, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Midoriya mentioned she had been gone for a month. Is that why you’ve been so cranky?”
“I wasn’t cranky !” He snapped, but it only proved her point. He chose to ignore that as he poured some creamer into his coffee, stirring it until he couldn’t feel the sugar at the bottom of the mug anymore. He glanced at the clock on the wall and frowned. Shit, it’s been almost seven minutes. She’d be awake soon… “Later, Shitty Extras. I’m going to go wake up my girlfriend. Don’t follow me.” He spun on his heel and walked out of the kitchen, but startled when he saw Izumi shuffling in through the doorway. Dammit! “What are you doing up? You’re supposed to be in bed, nerd!”
“Kacchan wasn’t there,” She said with a pout, rubbing her fists against her eyes. She was wearing one of his t-shirts, the material baggy and loose around her, and a pair of his workout shorts that were starting to sag on her. He sighed, frowning worriedly as he approached. Silently, he held out the mug of black coffee. She took it in both her hands with a grumble. She took a sip, then nodded, deeming it worthy. Good, he would preen about it later. She shuffled closer and he wrapped his arm around her, keeping her close. “You weren’t there when I woke up,” She repeated, pouting against his shoulder.
“I know,” He soothed, patting her back and rolling his eyes fondly. “I’m sorry. Come on, let’s go. Don’t want you to murder the extras due to lack of dirty bean water.”
Izumi let him lead her out into the living room, but only barely. He was likely the only person on the planet who would be able to get away with it, to be honest, and it was a privilege he did not take lightly. His classmates watched in shock and awe as he settled on the couch with his terribly sugary drink, the green haired teen climbing onto his lap and leaning against his chest and sipping at her own mug.
“Guys… are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
“Is there something in the food that’s making us hallucinate?”
“Maybe we really are living in a simulation!”
“That’s the only explanation why Bakugou’s not ripping her a new one for being so lovey dovey.”
“You’re all insane,” Todoroki said, rolling his eyes. “He’s just being a good boyfriend.”
Ochako raised an eyebrow at her friend. “Shoto, you’ve never dated anyone before. How do you know how to be a good boyfriend?”
Shoto looked at her very seriously. “Hanta and I may have only been dating for three months,” he said, holding up a finger. “But I have an older sister who’s engaged, and an older brother who’s gay, and they’ve both given me lots of advice about this kind of thing. Bakugou is performing the sacred act of making sure his girlfriend doesn’t murder us due to lack of caffeine.” He looked to the table, shuddering, eyes wide with horror. “Sis is terrifying without her coffee… Her fiance does a service to the world keeping her pleased. In exchange, he gets to worship the ground she walks on.”
Hanta came over and wrapped his arm around the other boy’s shoulders, smirking. “And I can’t wait to treat you like the king you deserve to be.”
There was a moment of silence as the entire room processed what was just said. Shoto stared up at Hanta with wide eyes, cheeks quickly heating up in a bright blush. Looking over his shoulder at the couple, Katsuki rolled his eyes at them, snorting and shaking his head. “Fuckin’ newbs,” he mused, rubbing his free hand over Izumi’s back as she dozed against him. “Can’t believe I have to deal with this shit.”
She turned her head a little to beam at him with a sleepy smile. “As if you’re not just like them,” she teased, reaching one finger up to tap the tip of his nose. “Dummy.” She squeaked when he tried to bite her finger, his teeth clicking loudly. It drew even more giggles out of her when he wiggled his fingers against her ribs. “N-No-- Noooo , Kacchan, I’m gonna spill my coffee!” He rolled his eyes at her affectionately, but stopped when he was prompted. She pouted at him and god damn she had such pretty eyes. He loved staring at her eyes… wait, no, that was sappy. Well… he could be sappy with Izumi. She’s his girlfriend, after all, and she’s the best . Why shouldn’t he be sappy with her? “--cchan? Kacchan! Are you even listening to me?”
“Hm?” He hummed curiously, still staring into those glittering emeralds that looked at him like he was a smitten idiot. And he was, but he had every right to be! She shook her head fondly at him, her smile hidden by her coffee mug as she sipped from it. He nudged her shoulder with his mug--his coffee was cold now, and he didn’t really like coffee anyway, but he saved it for her so she could drink it for him. “Hey,” he murmured to her, voice soft. She looked at him curiously, that adorable clueless smile on her lips. He knew there were bound to be witnesses right now, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care at the moment. He smiled at her softly, because god damn did he love this girl in his lap. “You’re pretty.”
It was always a lovely thing to see her flush like that when he complimented her. Despite having dated for so long now, she was still so bashful, and he sometimes still had a difficult time handling all of his feelings for her. “W-Well--I---Uh, thank you!” She sipped at her coffee, trying to hide her embarrassment. He snorted at her, leaning over to press a kiss to her temple.
He loved this girl so fucking much.
“Hey, Midoriya!”
DAMMIT!!
Izumi turned her head to look for whoever had called her name. She smiled when she saw a few of Katsuki’s classmates coming their way. “Good morning! Sorry for not greeting you guys earlier.” She smiled sheepishly at her mostly empty cup of coffee, cheeks flushed from embarrassment. “I’m not myself without my coffee in the morning…”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Momo reassured her. She sat down on the couch with Kyouka cuddling up beside her, resting her arm over the musician’s shoulders. “I get the same way without my tea in the mornings.”
“And in the afternoon,” Kyouka teased, smirking fondly at the other girl. “And at night before bed.”
Momo turned her head, bashful as she blushed and raised her mug to her lips. “Can I truly be blamed for my foul mood if someone always drinks my good coffee and tea mixes…?” She smiled at Izumi again, though she was still a little flustered from her girlfriend’s teasing. “Anyway, it was odd seeing Bakugou down here so late and preparing something for someone else for once. Normally he’s the one who prepares breakfast, but he leaves before we all have a chance to thank him, and if we try to give him our thanks, he yells at us.”
Izumi laughed, nodding in understanding. “Yup! That’s Kacchan for you! He likes to take care of people, but he has trouble accepting compliments and gratitude from people. It’s best to just let him do it and not acknowledge it unless he gives you something in person.”
“ Stop giving away all my secrets!” Katsuki growled. “These losers don’t need to know so much about me.”
“Wow, ouch,” Jirou complained, smirking at the blond boy and holding her palm to her sternum in mock-offense. “Gosh, Bakugou, your friends wanting to know more about you must be so annoying .”
Katsuki felt guilt wrap around his lungs and heart. It wasn’t that he didn’t want his friends to know more about him, it’s just… it was hard for him to get to know people and let them know him in return. He had walls built up for a reason, after all, and if they just climbed past all his carefully constructed walls then how was he supposed to protect himself?
Thankfully, Izumi came to his rescue. “Hey, Kacchan,” she said sweetly, resting her head on his shoulder and gazing up at him with those wide doe-eyes, those sparkling emeralds that he could absolutely drown in and he would thank her for it. “You’re always telling me about the training facilities here at UA… I was wondering if maybe you’d want to show them to me this morning? Plus, then you can train a little, I can analyze your quirk a little… I’d get to talk to you in private about that thing I wanted to tell you about last night. It’s a win-win situation, right?”
God his girlfriend was so smart. He pretended to think it over, sipping his coffee--ew, it was lukewarm, no yuck ugh--before grunting in affirmation. “Yeah, we can do that. Maybe we could recruit a couple shitty extras for me to train with so you can get a better idea of my combat abilities.”
Her smile was blinding. Katsuki could stare at it all day long and gladly go blind. “Kacchan, you have the best ideas!” She praised. He hid his preening smile behind his coffee cup, drinking the shitty lukewarm coffee again. It was effective in getting rid of his sappy expression, the taste of his caffeinated drink going cold. He offered her the cup, which she gladly took since her cup was empty by now. “Hmm, can we ask Kirishima to come with us? Oh, and Todoroki… and maybe Tokoyami too. I’d love to see how well your quirk works against theirs… for notes.” Her cheeks turned slightly pink. The sight made him smirk. She wanted to see him kick their asses and they both knew it. They couldn’t say as much, however, since they were surrounded by people, so he’d corner her about it later. Maybe by kissing her silly in his dorm room after lunch…now there was an idea.
“So! Have you two done it yet?” Denki cooed the question teasingly, but everyone groaned, because they all knew he was asking seriously. Katsuki growled, pushing his curled hand into the blond’s arm and letting off a mostly harmless explosion. It only made him laugh, but it was successful in making him step back from the couch. “What! It’s an honest question!”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP, DUNCE-FACE! It’s none of your goddamn business!” He held Izumi protectively against him, glaring at the rest of his classmates as they all scolded Denki. “...Besides,” he grumbled, annoyed that the question was asked. “We’re waiting until after we graduate high school.”
That seemed to please all the girls, and a few of the guys.
“Wow! So manly, Bakugou! Good on you for waiting, you’re so manly for respecting those boundaries!”
“A guy who doesn’t immediately want to have sex as part of the relationship? Amazing…”
“W-well, it’s not that we don’t want to,” Izumi stammered, holding her cup close to her chest and blushing darkly. “It’s--it’s just that--well I’m not quite ready to… commit myself that way, a-and Kacchan has to focus on school and hero work… not to mention we hardly have time to see each other for dates to begin with, what with our internships, and our work studies, and school, and homework, and--and--”
“Oi,” the explosive blond gently interrupted, resting his hand on her lower back and rubbing with his thumb as he gave her a firm frown. “You don’t owe anyone an explanation. Least of all Dunce-Face, he’s just teasing and being a creep. You set your boundaries, we had a long discussion about wanting to wait, and I have my boundaries too. It’s our business, and you don’t have to answer to anyone about our choices. Take a breath.”
Izumi inhaled shakily, nodding her head and then resting her forehead against his shoulder. “Yeah,” She breathed in agreement. “Sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, Nerd. Hey, let’s go get dressed, yeah?” The couple stood up, Katsuki taking both mugs, which were now empty, before they walked off together, Izumi hugging her boyfriend’s arm.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“...Okay, since when did Bakugou get so good at handling emotions and helping another person through their emotional crises?”
“Oh my god , Denki, can you shut up just once? Please?”
“But Hit--!”
“...Oh thank god, I thought he’d never shut up. Thank you, Shinsou, you’re the best.”
“Any time. Denki, come with me to my room, we’re going to work on homework together.”
~*~*~*~*~*~
Katsuki let out a sigh as he walked out into Ground Beta, his hand intertwined with his girlfriend’s. “Finally,” he huffed, beginning to stretch as a warmup. “Did you want to talk before or after I show you how much progress I've made in training?” He was met with silence at first. It made him pause, pulling his arm across himself to stretch out his shoulder and looking over at the greenette. She looked hesitant, her face pale and her expression so serious. He stopped his stretching to face her, a concerned frown on his lips. “Izu?” he put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing gently. “Is everything okay? What’s going on?”
Izumi closed her eyes, taking a deep breath in through her nose before letting it out through pursed lips. “...Kacchan,” she began. “Do you remember… when we were little, my dad told us that story of two brothers, one became a hero and the other became a villain?”
His eyebrows furrowed as he looked back on it. “Yeah,” He confirmed. “What about it?”
“What would you say if… if I told you that I’m not quirkless anymore?”
Katsuki’s eyes went wide, face paling as he stepped back in shock. “Wh- What ? That--Izumi, that’s im possible .”
The teen girl sighed again, resigned and tired. “I have a lot to tell you, Kacchan,” she lamented. “Come on. Let’s sit down. I’ll start at the beginning.” Her next words were ones that Midoriya Hisashi had spoken to them many times as children, whenever they’d have a playdate or a sleepover, words that were familiar, that Katsuki could recite by heart.
“
In the beginning, at the dawn of quirks, when everything was chaos, there were two brothers…
”