Work Text:
izuku had been told he was pretty approximately three in his life.
and twice, he couldn’t believe the people that told him he was.
and katsuki, well katsuki was the reason why.
setting aside the countless years of bullying that happened when they were younger - they were over that now, they’ve moved on- katsuki couldn’t help the small micro aggressions that he layed onto izuku everyday.
he made small comments that didn’t go unnoticed by izuku, or even by some of the kids in class 1a.
but he didn’t think it was doing any harm to the boy - of course katsuki never thought he was doing any harm to izuku.
and izuku didn’t think it was doing him harm either, he didn’t until that one conversation he had with his mom.
-
“izuku honey, come here i’ve got your school pictures!”
“coming mom!”
and when izuku got to her room, she held the picture up and she smiled at him. her smiled was so big, it went all the way up to her eyes, it was a genuine smile. the smile that izuku loved so dearly.
and when she told him how handsome he was, he could tell the compliment was genuine too.
but what broke his heart that day was that he didn’t feel like it was.
-
and of course over the years izuku had built up his self esteem. he had friends and they were all in their last year of highschool together. he was -surprisingly- dating katsuki and he was happy too. his relationship was going good
until the day katsuki told izuku he was beautiful and he started crying, sobbing if you will.
-
“izuku!” katsuki called and izuku got up to go to their shared bedroom.
“what kacchan,” he smiled, like he always did when he talked to katsuki.
and katsuki had been falling in love with that smile more and more everyday. he didn’t want to let it slip that he thought izuku was so pretty. that wasn’t even what he called him in their room for, but as soon as he set his eyes on that million-dollar smile, he couldn’t help himself anymore.
“you’re so beautiful,” he said, and he meant it too. he really hoped izuku could tell he meant it.
but all that was going through izuku’s head was the fact that katsuki hadn’t given him a compliment like that in what felt like forever. in fact no one had given him a compliment like that in forever.
it just didn’t feel real.
and izuku could swear on his life that he wasn’t the emotional wreck that he was in his first year. he knew he wasn’t. but it broke his heart because he knew his boyfriend loved him, and he knew that katsuki wouldn’t say something like that as a joke. but he couldn’t feel it. and that thought hurt him so goddamn much.
and izuku started crying and katsuki was there. like he always was, he was there to hold izuku and to tell him that everything was gonna be okay. and he was there to ask him what was wrong, then he was there to listen. just like he always was.
-
a couple of weeks had passed since izuku’s initial breakdown. and he was ashamed to say the least.
he felt pathetic, he felt like he was so sad over nothing, over a couple of words to say the least. and well, that made him feel even worse.
he was trying, he really was. and katsuki was too! he called him beautiful everyday, and he always took the time to point out everything that he liked about izuku - there’s a lot of things.
and izuku was telling himself that he was handsome, and smart and even pretty.
-
then the day came when katsuki told him he was pretty, and he felt it in his heart that he was.
“thank you kacchan,” he smiled that million dollar smile before leaning in to give katsuki a kiss.
:))