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Katsuki throws the garbage bag he and Izuku filled with leaves onto the large pile of other bags of leaves and wipes the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. He looks out across the UA training grounds and sees that they’re not even halfway done and growls as he watches another fucking leaf fall down from the tree above his head.
“ GODDAMNIT, SHITTY FUCKING LEAVES-” Katsuki yells as his palms crackle with irritation. He takes a deep breath, holds it for ten seconds, and exhales for seven. (Take that, shitty anger management classes!) He’s irritated for a plethora of reasons that he will list below:
- It isn’t his fault that they (they being himself and shitty Deku) missed curfew because they got into a petty argument about which All Might costume was superior as they hung out at the park (because the correct answer was obviously his Bronze Age while Deku was delusional and said his Golden Age was superior. Like, it wasn’t bad, but Deku also has the fashion sense of a third-grader so, in Katsuki’s opinion, Deku’s argument is already null).
- It was also, yet again, not his fault, that Deku happened to trip over his leg as he was trying to use OFA to jump away from Katsuki’s explosions (that weren’t even that massive and wouldn’t have even hurt him) after saying that Katsuki wasn’t as big of a fan as All Might as he was (which was also bullshit because fashion sense does not equate to a measurement of favoritism).
- He has to listen to Deku ramble until they’re done with their punishment all the while he has a splitting headache from his fucking allergies because of some dumbass grass now being in season. Like why the fuck are there so many goddamn types of grass anyways? Fucking bullshit!
Katsuki picks his rake up with a grumble and is about to walk over to another pile of scattered leaves when he hears-
“KACCHAN!”
Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth so that he doesn’t scream in frustration, he turns to see the goddamn idiot running to him. If he wasn’t in such a shitty mood, he would have mused about the fact that, once again, the nerd resembles a bunny that has had a little too much Redbull, but alas, he wasn’t in the fucking mood.
“Hn.” He gets out through his clenched jaw, trying to stay calm.
“We should build a giant pile of leaves!” Izuku says with a massive grin and a sparkle in his eye that, on a normal day, would have made his insides feel like butterflies trapped in honey, but right now it annoyed the ever-living shit out of him.
“Fucking why would we do that?” Katsuki all but barks at him, his irritation levels slowly growing.
“So we can jump in them, duh,” Izuku states while rolling his eyes as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world and why wouldn’t Katsuki want to build a massive fucking pile of leaves after raking the whole training field for the past three hours.
“The question still applies, dumbass.”
Izuku gives him a pout that has him ready to risk it all but Katsuki knows that he has to stay strong or else they were never going to finish before the sun set for the evening and that if they had to come back out tomorrow, there would be even more fucking leaves for them to rake up.
“Because it’s fun?” Izuku states, once again, as if the answer is obvious. “C’mon, Kacchan! Live a little.”
“Deku, we have been raking fucking leaves for three fucking hours and you want to make a giant pile that is going to take even longer to clean up ?” Katsuki questions, trying hard not to explode the guy out of irritation.
“But Kacchan,” Izuku starts to whine before he pauses and Katsuki can see the various gears turning in the nerd’s head. He knows that he’s doomed when he sees his eyes widen before his usual 30-watt smile slowly stretches into a mischievous grin. Whatever is about to come out of that gorgeous mouth is gonna get him and Katsuki hates it.
“I think you’re just worried that I am gonna rake more leaves than you faster than you and that’s why you won’t do it. Which is fine because we all have our weaknesses. There’s no shame in it.”
Katsuki knows that he is just trying to rile him up and due to his current short fuse, he is loathed to admit that it is working. “Hah?! Do you think you’re better than me? I’ll fucking show you, shitty Deku!” Katsuki grabs his rake tightly with both hands and stomps over to where the leaves are the densest. “I’ll rake more leaves than you in half the fucking time and you’ll regret looking down on me !”
Katsuki sees Izuku pump his fist victoriously from the corner of his eye but he doesn’t fucking care as he begins to rake up leaves like a madman. He hears Izuku set a timer before he starts to join him.
By the time the timer goes off, Katsuki grins triumphantly at the fact that his side is just slightly taller than Izuku’s and he doesn’t fail to rub it in his face. “Hah, take that, you fucking nerd! What was that about being weak?”
Izuku lets out a low whistle. “You’re right, Kacchan. I was wrong. Kacchan really is the best at everything!”
Even though Katsuki knows that Izuku is patronizing him and that he played right into the nerd’s hands, he flushes slightly at the praise. “Damn right, I am. And don’t you fucking-”
Katsuki only just barely sees the crackling of green lightning before suddenly, he is no longer on the ground.
“Oi! " Katsuki sputters as his face turns a deeper red and he feels the tips of his ears heat up. “The fuck are you doing , dipshit?!”
Izuku sprints away from the pile before looking down at him with a bright glint in his eyes (or maybe that’s OFA. Either way, Katsuki knows that he is about to be in some deep shit). “Showing you how to live. Hold onto me tight, Kacchan!”
That’s all the warning Katsuki gets before Izuku starts to sprint and they shoot up fucking twenty feet into the goddamn air.
Katsuki doesn’t scream because screaming would indicate fear and Katsuki isn’t afraid of anything . He does, however, wind his arms tightly around Izuku’s neck and bite back a noise that would have definitely given the nerd fuel to make fun of him even more.
He hears Izuku laughing maniacally behind the own voice in his head telling him that this is how he is gonna die, in the arms of his shitty nerd as they freefall into a pile of fucking leaves that will end up becoming their grave.
Well, I’ve had a good run. Fuckin’ pissed that I never got to be the number one hero and that I’m gonna die in such a lame-ass way and I fucking hate that I won’t have a cool ass headline for my death-
It gets even worse due to the fact that Izuku decides to let him go in mid-air and now Katsuki is falling by himself and he thinks that maybe this was the nerd’s plan the entire time; to kill him in order to become the number one hero-
“Kacchan!” Katsuki sees a hand extended out to him and he thinks about ignoring it out of spite but then again, he has never been able to completely ignore the guy...so he takes the hand and as he does, he looks at his face and sees the biggest grin on Izuku’s face and it makes his heart fall faster than 9.8 m/s2. He thinks that his heart is never gonna come out of this alive regardless of if he is physically okay and he accepts this fact as they collide into a kaleidoscope of autumn leaves.
Their impact causes the leaves to go flying and Katsuki rolls over to look at the sky and wonders if he has, in fact, died when he hears giggling right beside him. Turning towards the laughter, he sees the most beautiful sight that he has ever witnessed.
Izuku lays in a pool of oranges and browns as his face scrunches up in mirth. When he opens his eyes and looks Katsuki’s way, Katsuki decides then that this must be heaven.
Their eyes lock and Katsuki no longer ignores the fact that Izuku holds his heart between scarred palms and decides that maybe fall isn’t so bad if it means that he can see Izuku grin like that. He may hate autumn allergies but even they can’t dim the light that is his nerd and even if they will have more fucking leaves to rake up, he would rake up a thousand football fields of them if it means that he can see that look on Izuku’s face again.
9.8 m/s2. That’s the acceleration of gravity and Katsuki thinks that scientists should do a measurement of how fast a heart can fall into love. It’s a slow descent and yet, Katsuki never realized how quickly the Earth could swallow him into its atmosphere; maybe that’s why they call it falling in love. Because you never see it coming and yet, you can see everything in perfect clarity during the freefall.
And it’s about damn time that he accepts the fact that no matter how hard he tries, he can’t avoid Izuku’s gravity. So while he lays there staring at the sky and listening to Izuku ramble on, he decides that maybe it’s okay to just let himself fall like the leaves during the changing seasons and for once, he isn’t worried about where he will land.
