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“Do you and Todoroki have any romantic dates you wanna tell us about, Bakubro?”
He’s been mulling over Kirishima’s question for a few days now, ever since Katsuki went to his apartment along with Kaminari and Sero to play video games.
It was a sort of tradition that the other three had forced him into all the way back in high school, and while in the beginning it annoyed him to hear them laugh and yell at a screen, now, as they’re pro heroes, it’s more of an escape.
And he can admit that he sometimes misses them, since they don’t see each other daily in classes or in the dorms anymore.
Along with video game nights came the usual banter and mindless chatter, anything to distract them from their tiring jobs.
Though ever since Kaminari had finally grew the courage to ask Shinsou out on a date, resulting in them getting together, the electric blonde would not shut up about what him and Eye Bags do all day.
And that opens the floodgates to Kirishima’s babbles about his dates with the shitty nerd.
Katsuki isn’t annoyed per say, he just doesn’t come over to his friend’s place to hear him and their other friends talk about their relationships. He doesn’t brag about Shouto all day, though he could, and he kind of does, but in his head, not out loud. Like these idiots.
He thought nothing of it when Eijirou and Denki started comparing their dates and giving each other more ideas for future outings with their partners. Bakugou had only been half listening, more focused on beating Hanta at the level they were currently playing against each other, when the red head addressed a question at him.
And, to be fair, the question wasn’t that complicated. It shouldn’t had put Katsuki in deep thought about his relationship with Shouto. And it sure as hell should have gotten an answer by now.
“romantic dates” wasn’t something him and Shouto often have. Or maybe at all. At least from what Katsuki thinks they don’t.
Their usual dates consist of them going at a place that has good food, or watching a movie in their shared apartment (now that they recently moved in together), or just, dinner at their place.
Is that considered a date?
Katsuki knows that they’re past the ‘dating’ phase, so why should he stress about ‘romantic’ dates anymore? They are busy enough as it is, villains making their appearance left and right, not giving the heroes a break.
He’s been frowning at his paperwork for the past minutes, rubbing at his temples because this was such a stupid thing to think about.
They don’t do romantic, or sappy shit or any of that. Well, maybe late at night when Katsuki loses the filter on his words and some embarrassing confessions are spilled between panted breaths and soft kisses.
Would that be considered romantic?
He’s not actively thinking about what to do to swoop Shouto off his feet, he’s a natural at that. Both in the figurative way and the literal one (he recalls back to the multiple instances Shouto asks to be carried around their apartment just to feel Katsuki’s strong arms around him).
And he’s not, he’s not a romantic person. He’s terrible with words, but he’s been lately getting better at conveying his feelings, for Shouto.
Everything that he’s doing in opening himself up has been for Shouto. And for himself too, but he finds that having a person by his side who loves him for who he is, and encourages him to do better every day, definitely helps.
Katsuki doesn’t need flowers and cliché candle lit dinners or dance classes disguised as dates.
He does allow a thought of Shouto doing this for him, bringing him flowers to his office when their schedules don’t overlap, taking him to a fancy dinner where they have way too expensive and too small portioned meals (because Shouto can’t be trusted to prepare a whole dinner, yet).
And, at first, it sounds ridiculous.
Imagining Shouto with a way too big bouquet in his arms, showing up at Katsuki’s doorstep like a love-struck teen asking him out on a date.
It sounds ridiculous, but then, why is Katsuki blushing?
Why is he starting to feel warmth spread in his chest at the thought of Shouto putting extra effort into doing these things just because he wanted to do something nice for his boyfriend?
This snowballs into more thoughts, about how Shouto deserves all of this. All of the extra efforts Katsuki makes every day to prepare their meals, to make him packed lunches for work, taking him to those godawful cat cafes where all the furry little demons seem to have personal beef with him.
Now he’s wondering if Shouto wants romance.
Cliché dates and flowers and all that stuff. More sweet loving instead of the rough fucking they have when they somehow manage to get home at the same time. He’s never asked him before, never thought to. He just assumed they are not like that.
He’s biting his lip now, brows furrowing at the potential of him ruining this for Shouto. This being their relationship. Shouto’s chance at happiness. Because he’s promised him that he’ll try his hardest every day to make him happy.
(Now that he thinks back on it, that might’ve been romantic, but it was also worded like a threat, so he’s not too sure about it).
Katsuki was now berating himself for overseeing this aspect on his way to becoming the best boyfriend Shouto has ever had- because he doesn’t plan on letting him go, ever.
And now he’s stuck in his head, walking back to home, trying to recall Kirishima and Kaminari’s conversations about their dates. Trying to see if he remembers anything useful from what they’ve been yapping about.
He hopes he’ll come up with something by the time Shouto gets home, Katsuki thinks as he’s taking his shoes off in the hallway. He doesn’t feel like asking around for advice.
I. Massages
He’s waiting for his boyfriend in their bed, book closed on the nightstand after he marked the page he’d left on. The swirling thoughts came to a stop the moment Shouto came home, Katsuki’s mind choosing to instead focus solely on the man before him, and not the growing doubts in the back of his head.
Shouto’s been on a double shift that day, and Katsuki can only imagine how much the dual hero wants to flop down on their bed and sleep for as long as he can.
He sees it on his face the moment he steps out of the adjacent bathroom, tired eyes and lips stretching into tiny yawns.
His hair is only partially dried out, the red and white mixed together, hair fluffed out from being freshly washed. He offers Shouto a small smile as he beckons him to bed.
“Come here, Shou.”
His voice is low, both of them more comfortable with whispering at this time of the night. They hear enough loud noises and voices throughout their day, Katsuki more than the average pro-hero, so the silent moments shared together feel like bliss amongst the stressful days.
Shouto only grunts in response, walking towards the bed until his knees bump into the edge, bending them forwards as he lets his body fall onto the mattress, just short of missing face planting right onto Katsuki’s stomach.
The blonde huffs a laugh at his boyfriend’s antics, and lifts one hand to thread his fingers through his slightly damp hair.
“’M tired…” Shouto mumbles, voice muffled due to the comforter.
“Get up so we can go to sleep then, shortcake.”
Katsuki replies, slightly amused. His smile threatens to grow when he sees Shouto’s bottom lip stuck out in an almost pout, as he pretends to fall asleep like that- legs dangling off the bed, head tucked near Katsuki’s stomach and the crease of his elbow.
Shouto lets out another string of incomprehensible mumbles- he only gets like this when he’s really tired, so Katsuki indulges him, and goes to pull Shouto into bed.
He makes a show of huffing out loud when he wraps his arms around Shouto’s waist and back to settle him properly on his side of the bed.
As his boyfriend settles deeper into his pillow, Katsuki sits there for a few moments, hovering above him, supporting his body on his right hand. He was supposed to roll over to his own side and fall asleep. Yet, he’s stuck. Frozen in place. He can’t seem to take his eyes off of Shouto.
(He’s been aware of this ever since he started developing feelings for this half and half bastard, but he thought he’d gotten better at forcing his brain to start working again around this- this beauty, around this infuriating pretty boy that’s all his. His, and doesn’t that just sound so fucking good?)
He opens his eyes, grey and blue, darker in shade now that the only light in the room is the bedside lamp, and he locks them with Katsuki's red ones.
“You’re staring.”
Shouto points out, with no particular intonation. He’s definitely not bothered by it, but he doesn’t sound smug either. It sounds like, like he’s used to it, like it’s a fact. Like it’s a given, that Katsuki is looking at him.
When had he became so transparent and soft around Shouto?
“Got a problem with that?”
He says back, because he sometimes likes to shoot himself in the leg instead of saying anything sweet back to his love.
Shouto shakes his head ‘no’ and lets his eyes roam over Katsuki’s face, a gentle smile settling on his lips.
The exhaustion is evident on his pretty features, dark circles fading under his eyes, chapped lips from him probably forgetting to apply chapstick like Katsuki tells him to do time and time again- due to his skin being dry constantly as an after effect of using his quirk and not having a skin care routine.
His blinks linger a bit, eyes lidded as Shouto struggled to lay awake and continue looking at his boyfriend, and really, Katsuki should move. Lay back in their bed and go to sleep. He can’t stop himself when he leans down and captures Shouto’s dry yet warm lips into his, pressing a flurry of little pecks on his mouth.
He pulls back slowly, watching Shouto’s eyes linger closed for a while, either because he’s basking in the kiss or he’d fallen asleep, and Katsuki finally finds the resolve to roll over and off of Shouto.
Heterochromatic eyes remain closed but Shouto lets out a tiny laugh, the kind of chuckle you let out when you’re too sleepy to think properly, and the sound bubbles up from his lungs and into the dark room.
Katsuki stares at him for a little while more, until Shouto opens his eyes again and sighs contented, as if that’s all he needs. As if the kisses were the last thing he needed for his day to come to an end.
He eyes Shouto’s battered body, the light bruises that are visible where his sleep clothes don’t cover his skin.
He extends his arm to reach into his nightstand and then scoots towards the end of their bed. Katsuki pulls Shouto’s feet to rest in his lap, not minding the way Shouto eyes him curiously, waiting for an explanation.
There’s a bottle of something in Katsuki’s left hand, but he doesn’t open it yet, instead choses to glide his right palm over the top of Shouto’s feet, which are warm- both from the shower he had just taken, but most likely from the amount of walking and running he had to do all day.
“What are you doing, Katsu?”
Comes the slur of words from Shouto.
“Giving you a foot rub.” the blonde replies, as if it wasn’t obvious enough.
“Oh, okay.”
Shouto lets out a delayed response, wiggling his toes at the feel of the cold cream on his feet.
The chill of the lotion must feel good, Katsuki reasons when he sees the way Shouto’s body sags into the sheets, and how he moves his feet closer to his hands.
He makes sure to press firm yet gentle, thinking of the many instances where Shouto massages his arms after a long day of blasting villains in battle.
It was oddly domestic, taking care of each other like this. Katsuki sort of feels like an old man, doing this, massaging Shouto.
It must be because he used to see his grandparents to this for each other when he went over to their house during summer break, and his grandpa would complain about his joints and whatnot.
There are thoughts about him and Shouto growing old together, but he doesn’t dwell on them too much. It’s too late, and he doesn’t want to drag this out, seeing how his boyfriend is teetering on the cusp of slumber.
His hands knead methodically, sometimes gliding up towards his ankles until he reached the hem of his pants, and then swipes back to the sole of his feet.
He tries to not make his touch too light, because of Shouto’s ticklish body. So he presses firmly with his thumb, and rolls his wrists as he massages the rest of the cream into his skin.
When his own eyes seem to close on their own, Katsuki pats Shouto’s feet one last time, before crawling back up next to him in bed. The cream gets tossed onto his bedside table, and Katsuki drags the blanket over the two of them.
He feels Shouto scoot closer to him and wraps long arms around his waist. There’s a fleeting kiss pressed under his jaw, a wordless ‘thank you’, before Shouto buries his face into Katsuki’s chest.
Maybe he doesn’t have to think too hard about how to be romantic to Shouto. With him, everything seems to come naturally to Katsuki.
II. Flowers
He’s coming back from grocery shopping when he sees them. And really, he has no idea what pushes him to buy an entire bouquet of roses. It was as if he couldn’t help himself, his mindless actions fueled by the ridiculous thoughts which have been plaguing him lately.
He’s holding the flowers in one hand and the grocery bag in the other, trying to not make eye contact with the few civilians who recognize the shock of blonde hair under his cap. These extras have no business staring at him and then down at the flowers he’s carrying.
There are a few more hours before Shouto has to come back from the agency, and Bakugou is sitting in their living room, watching the minutes tick by. He should grab a vase or something, but he starts feeling restless. The reality of what he’d just bought catching up with him.
He clenches his palm against the wrapping paper tied around the flower stems and shifts his eyes to the door.
In a flurry, he’s putting his shoes and hat back on and he’s walking to Shouto’s agency. He’s seen Eijirou and Izuku exchange gifts for Valentine’s Day- flowers and chocolates.
And Katsuki did make a comment about how they can’t be mushy at home and have to bring it to work too, which earned an equally snarky reply from Kirishima (it must rub off on him as well), telling Katsuki that he wouldn’t understand because he seems to not have a single romantic bone in him.
Which, at the time, Bakugou brushed off and told them to fuck off. He didn’t need store bought chocolates and flowers that’ll wilt anyway. And he doesn’t really care for these sort of holidays, they’re just a ploy to get people to spend more money on cheesy crap.
He doesn’t need a specific day to show Shouto that he cares for him.
As he’s ascending the elevator, flowers half hidden behind his back, he wonders if Shouto ever wanted to receive such things.
Neither of them has been in a relationship before getting together, so they don’t have anything to compare with what they do as a couple. At least not past experiences.
He knows Shouto’s parents didn’t get to experience a loving relationship, and that Shouto sometimes thinks that he doesn’t deserve all of Katsuki’s attention and efforts.
He’s always there for him to remind him that he would give Shouto the world if he simply asks- more with actions than words, Katsuki still struggles to voice what he feels.
What he doesn’t really know is how Shouto imagined relationships are. If Shouto had expectations of him, and if he wants the sappy shit that other couples do. Maybe he does and he’s not telling Katsuki, knowing that the blonde has expressed his disgust towards overly cheesy acts of love.
But this isn’t just about what Katsuki wants or doesn’t want. So, with new resolve, he grips the roses tightly in his hand and trudges down the hallway to Shouto’s office. He should still be on patrol, Katsuki thinks as he checks his wristwatch.
There’s no one inside when Bakugou opens the door, and he lets a small sigh of relief at the thought that he’d managed to sneak into the agency without running into any of their meddlesome friends or interns. There are also no vases in Shouto’s office, except for ones by the window, which already have plants in them.
He’s cleaning Shouto’s desk to leave the flowers in the middle, when he wonders if he should leave a note. It’s clear the flowers are from him, who the fuck else would walk into his office to leave him flowers?
He still swipes one of those sticky post it notes and scribbles on it, sticking it to the wrapping paper and turning around to leave the room.
The door handle moves by itself before Katsuki can open the door himself, so he backs away from it, mindful to not get hit in the nose. And of course it’s Shouto. Who else would it be, this is his office.
“Oh, Katsuki.”
The idiot is smiling, a hint of surprise but overall fondness etched on his face “what are you doing here?” he leans in, not waiting for an answer, and slots his lips against Katsuki’s, pulling him into a kiss.
He goes to move away, but Katsuki pulls him back in, apparently not done with Shouto’s soft lips, which taste faintly of the sweet fruit tea he keeps drinking on his lunch breaks.
Shouto’s trying to get words out through the kisses
“You didn’t” kiss “have” kiss and he starts laughing when Katsuki doesn’t stop pressing their lips together “to come and” kiss get me” kiss
Katsuki feels his own smile grow, slotting their lips together one last time, in a more languid kiss, before pulling back with a soft smack.
“Can’t I come and see my boyfriend?”
He arches one eyebrow in a mock challenge, arms looped around Shouto’s neck. The latter pushes the door closed with his boot, twinning his own arms around Katsuki’s waist to bring him closer.
He was being weirdly cuddly, but Katsuki suddenly felt shy about bringing Shouto flowers. So he’s trying to distract his boyfriend for a little while until he feels ready to have his little plan discovered.
“Yes, you can. But I was coming home anyway. You shouldn’t have gone through the trouble of coming all the way here.”
Really, it was only a 15 minute walk from their apartment to the agency they both work at. And while Shouto does have a point- he could’ve waited for him at home and given him the flowers there- he hadn’t been patient enough to do that.
So he only shrugged, trailing one hand to the back of Shouto’s head, pushing it to rest on his shoulder as he brought him into a hug. They stay there for a while, tangled in each other’s embrace, right by the door. It feels good, just being with Shouto. Especially like this.
“You’re weirdly affectionate today.”
He hears Shouto point out, feeling the mop of red and white move from where it was nuzzled in the crook of his neck to look at the blonde.
“Did something happen?”
Katsuki looks at him and notices the slight worry in Shouto’s eyes. Of course the first thing he thinks about is Katsuki’s wellbeing. Selfish bastard. Bakugou shakes his head slowly, but before he can get any words out, Shouto shifts his gaze towards his desk, catching sight of the flowers.
“Oh.”
A small panic alarm rings in Katsuki’s head for some reason unknown. Shouto was supposed to receive the flowers anyway, so he doesn’t know why he’s suddenly embarrassed at the thought of him having bought flowers for his boyfriend.
“Are those from you?”
Shouto asks carefully, a somehow incredulous tone in his voice. Well, figures, since Katsuki’s never done something like this before. He waits for Bakugou’s response, and the blonde feels how Shouto wants to detangle himself from his arms to go inspect the flowers.
But he doesn’t move, not yet. As if- as if Katsuki says that they’re not from him Shouto wouldn’t bother to unlatch himself from the comfort of their hug.
“Yeah” He croaks out, eyes never leaving Shouto’s face, watching his expression shift minutely as he takes in the information.
With a last squeeze to Katsuki’s waist, Shouto walks towards his office desk and picks up the bouquet.
The roses are white with red tips, some of the outer petals fully red. He didn’t have to think much about it when he had seen them, their color scheme immediately reminding him of his candy cane menace.
“They’re pretty.”
Shouto breathes out, face buried in the crown of the roses, sniffing at the fresh natural rose perfume.
Not as pretty as you, plays on loop in Katsuki’s head as he watches Shouto hold the bouquet close to his face, the colors blending in with his hair.
“But what’s the occasion? Is there a holiday today?”
There’s the typical ‘confused kitten head tilt’ Shouto does, and, while he clearly likes the flowers, he’s still confused. And really, Katsuki somehow feels just as confused as him.
“No, there’s no holiday.”
Katsuki manages to say, taking a few steps to close the distance between them.
“Then…why?”
He doesn’t like how unsure Shouto looks. As if he doesn’t deserve flowers ‘just because’. He looks down at the flowers once again, and then he lifts his head back up to look at his boyfriend, still waiting for an answer.
And, damn it, if this is how Shouto looks when receiving flowers, Katsuki should make it a habit of bringing him flowers more often. Until he gets used to it, and doesn’t question it anymore.
“Just felt like it.”
It’s the only explanation he can give, and he grins at Shouto, watching the fond smile return to his face.
As he turns the bouquet in his hands, Shouto’s fingers bump into the sticky note, which Katsuki tries to bat away before he can read it in front of him- he should have seen it when Katsuki wasn’t here, the plan wasn’t to embarrass himself even more- but Shouto pulls it close to his chest to read it.
Maybe he should have only left his name. He blames it on his stupid brain that 90% of times is filled with thoughts of Shouto.
Don’t overwork yourself, shortcake.
Love you, Katsuki.
And, well, when Shouto surges forward to kiss him again and again, pressing breathless ‘thank yous’ and ‘I love yous’ in between kisses, Katsuki figures that the embarrassment was worth it.
From then on, he makes it a habit to buy Shouto flowers at least once every other week, or when he’s had a hard day at work. He tries not to leave any more notes, but when Shouto insists that he loves reading them, Katsuki tries to come up with new ones for every new bouquet of flowers.
III. Candlelit dinners and slow dancing in the dark
He’s finishing up plating their dinner when he gets a text from Shouto that he’ll be home in a few minutes. They’ve both had the morning shift that day, but Shouto had gone to his mother’s new house to help her move stuff around.
He’s looking at their dining table, when he spots a few candles laid out next to the TV from when their electricity was out due to a thunderstorm. He grabs a few of them and places them in between the plates laid out, lighting them up.
It’s pretty dark in the apartment once he switches off the lights, to see how it would look like with only the light from the candles.
Was this too much?
Dinner is one of the few meals they usually get to enjoy together, and it’s a nice change of background once they switch their hero costumes for home clothes, most often than not changing right into pajamas.
His dad once told him that he used to do this to his mom, way back before Katsuki was born.
This being one of their to-go date ideas- Masaru cooking for Mitsuki when she would come over to his place, early in their relationship.
Katsuki was only half listening, because, at the time, it felt stupid to take dating advice from his parents. ‘I’ll sweep Shouto off his feet without your help, old hag’, he’d said to his mom back when she asked him where he was planning on taking Shouto for their first date.
His eyes are still fixated on the flickering candles, and he laughs at himself. A small snort, as he realizes that he became just as sappy as his parents.
And, maybe, that wasn’t so bad. Shouto did tell him that he admires Katsuki’s parents’ relationship, and that he wants them to end up like them.
It was a passing thought, when they were both in their car as Katsuki drove them home from dinner with his parents one weekend.
Shouto’s always felt at home in the Bakugou household, and his parents took him in as their new son right away. So really, what was wrong with Katsuki pulling some old tricks from his dad to romance Shouto once in a while.
After the roses incident, he’s stopped obsessing over his lack of romantic gestures towards Shouto. But now, as he looks at the candle lit dinner laid out in their kitchen, he sees another opportunity of showing Shouto that he can be romantic if he wants to.
Not that Shouto knows about the inner turmoil Katsuki has been having for the past weeks.
He doesn’t startle when Shouto opens the door and calls out the usual ‘I’m home’, he just flinches, a little, and realizes that he’s been sitting in the dark like an idiot. He feels Shouto pat his back as he’s making sure of Katsuki’s position in front of him in the dark, and proceeds to wrap his arms around his waist in a back hug.
“Welcome home, Shou”
The blonde whispers, leaning back into his broad chest. The candles are still flickering in front of them, casting a warm glow where Shouto has his arms locked around his tapered waist.
“Is the power out again?”
He hears his boyfriend ask, probably because of the candles on the table. And Katsuki thinks again that, maybe, he should’ve done all of these things for Shouto a long time ago.
(In the back of his mind he reasons that they have an entire lifetime for moments like these)
“No” he says back, recalling how similar this conversation is to the one in Shouto’s office when he first got him flowers. “It’s a candle lit dinner, idiot. What, never had one before?”
The words tumble out of his mouth on their own, always ready to jump into their familiar back-and-forth. Though Katsuki cringes internally at the stupid question, he really just called himself out on that.
“Hmm, no. My boyfriend likes to see what he eats when we have dinner.”
Is the playful response he gets from Shouto, his boyfriend most likely poking fun at the lack of light in the room. Even if there were around four candles on the table, they were small in size and they didn’t illuminate much around them.
“You complaining? We can light more if you want.”
Shouto shakes his head and mumbles back “no, it’ perfect like this”, and they take more time than usual to detangle themselves and sit down to eat.
Katsuki takes a seat at the end of the table, and, instead of sitting across from him, Shouto takes the seat to his left, saying that he sees Katsuki better from up close, what with the poor lighting.
He really doesn’t let it go, even when Katsuki angrily throws an unlit candle at his face and yells at him to light them himself if he has to squint his eyes to see in front of him.
Shouto laughs at him a few times when Katsuki misses the plates of side dishes and pokes his chopsticks into the edge of the porcelain or their tablecloth, and he does get threatened with said chopsticks.
Which only makes him laugh more and offer the pickled vegetables he’d piled up on his plate to Katsuki, who has to hold his arm steady so he won’t miss and bite Shouto’s fingers off.
By the time they finish eating and talking about their day, one of the candles had burned out, the wax reaching too low for the wick to continue burning.
They’ve finished washing the dishes, and the three candles are still burning low on their dining table. Shouto switches off the lights in the kitchen and goes to blow out the candles so they can go to sleep.
But something flickers in Katsuki’s mind, akin to the small flames at the top of the candle wicks, and he grabs Shouto by the arm, pulling him to his chest.
“Leave them like that”
He whispers in the small space between their faces.
There’s a line of warm, golden yellow on the side of Shouto’s jaw, coming from the candles, and his pupils are almost blown wide from the lack of lighting in their apartment. (Katsuki likes to think that it’s also because Shouto is looking at him)
He’s warm, and a tad cool on his right side, but it’s familiar. It’s home, for Katsuki. After so long, he cannot associate the feeling of holding Shouto with anything else other than the place where he belongs.
With him
He’s tangling his fingers together behind the small of Shouto’s back, bringing him in more of an embraced dance, rather than the typical one where they hold hands. He wants to feel him closer, the closest he can get to him.
Shouto seems to be a little lost on what they’re doing, but quickly follows and twines his arms around Katsuki’s neck, letting his fingers brush the short hairs of his undercut.
For a little while, they only sit there, looking at each other, before Katsuki sways their bodies together to a silent beat.
He doesn’t have a particular song in his head, the beating of Shouto’s heart against his own and his breaths enough of a music for Katsuki to keep lulling them from side to side. He’s aware of Shouto’s almost awestruck look on his face, because, they’ve never done this before, at least not like this.
They’ve danced on rare occasions at hero galas or even at the few parties their class threw during their years at UA. But it was short and awkward, with some of their friends stealing glances at them, with the inexperience of their teenage years.
Now, Katsuki still feels a little nervous, but it’s the good kind. The kind of swirling in his stomach he gets when he feels himself fall for Shouto again and again, even after years of confessing.
“Are we dancing?”
This time he manages to not bite Shouto’s head off with his thoughtless reply, as Katsuki bites his lip at the innocence in his boyfriend’s voice and instead says.
“I just, wanted to hold you close. For a while.” And presses a kiss to his forehead.
He chooses to ignore the fact that he can hold Shouto in bed as well, and they don’t need to be dancing in their unlit kitchen, but it’s fine. It’s fine because Shouto nods as if he perfectly understands, and lets his head fall on Katsuki’s chest as he lets himself be swayed by Katsuki to the silent beat in his head.
And if they stay there until all the candles are burned out, and they kiss just as the last flicker of fire is about to go dull, Katsuki marks this as a successful attempt at romancing his boyfriend.
IV. Stargazing
Shouto is in the passenger seat next to him as Katsuki is driving them home. Well, that’s what his boyfriend thinks, the blonde has something else in mind.
They’ve visited some of Katsuki’s relatives who live close to the countryside, and Shouto’s been looking out the window at the distinct scenery for a while.
Something that’s caught Bakugou’s attention was how clear the night sky is here. With how less light pollution there was, the stars seemed brighter than they appear in the city.
The moonlight filters in through the car windows, and rest on Shouto’s face, as he leans his head against the backrest of his seat.
He read about this in a book once, and while they still have almost an hour drive back to their place, he thinks they can make a quick stop. He’s sure there’s a stray blanket stuffed somewhere in their trunk, that is if they decide to sit down.
He’s pulling to the side of the road when he sees a small green hill and stops the engine. Shouto turns to look at him, puzzled expression on his face.
“Do you need to get something from the back?”
He asks quietly, eyeing the backseat for a water bottle or anything his boyfriend might be looking for.
“Nah.”
Katsuki shakes his head and undoes his seatbelt, getting out of the car. Shouto does the same and opens the passenger door, but doesn’t get out right away, still unsure of what Katsuki has in mind.
“Something wrong with the car then?”
He tries again, not knowing why they’re getting out of the car when they still have a pretty long way back home, and there are no gas stations nearby.
“Come with me.”
Katsuki calls out behind him and gestures for Shouto to follow him up the small hill. The dual hero closes the door, not before grabbing the keys so he can lock the car, and jogs after Katsuki.
They reach the top of the hill when the blonde stops, turning his sight towards the shine of the moon. He hears his boyfriend let out an awed ‘wow’ when he, too, gazes towards the night sky, and there’s pride swelling in his chest at earning these reactions from Shouto.
“They look brighter here.”
Shouto states, eyes fixated on the blanket of shiny white gemstones above them. Katsuki lets out a hum of approval, shifting his gaze to look at his boyfriend.
There’s a childish sort of look on his face, unguarded and so, so earnest. He decides to not think about how much Shouto’s missed during his childhood years, but rather chooses to focus on how much they can do together in the future.
He looks at the grass underneath their shoes, and curses in his mind at the fact that he forgot to bring the blanket. He’s not really eager to walk back to their car to get it, so he shrugs off his jacket and places it behind Shouto onto the ground.
“Sit down”
He offers, and watches his boyfriend look down at the jacket laid out for him, before he lifts his gaze back up to Katsuki.
“We don’t have to sit down, your jacket will get dirty.”
And really, Shouto’s niceness can sometimes mess with his plans.
“I don’t care, we can wash it at home.”
Katsuki insists and tries to gently tug Shouto to sit down. But the latter shakes his head and goes to lift the jacket up, when Katsuki puffs out through his nose and plops down onto the jacket himself.
“Just-“ he grunts, and reaches to grab Shouto by the waist, successfully bringing him to sit on his lap “-shut up and sit down, shortcake.”
There’s a few moments of silence, and if it were any brighter outside, Katsuki would’ve been able to properly see the flush on the tips of Shouto’s ears.
They both let out small chuckles to break the weird silence, and Katsuki sighs in content when he feels his boyfriend scoot closer and rest his back on his chest. There’s nothing he can lean against, so the blonde puts an arm behind to support his weight, and loops the other around Shouto’s waist.
“I used to watch the stars at night, when I was little.”
Shouto starts talking, and Katsuki is happy to listen. Always happy to be there to lend an ear to Shouto, whenever the younger feels comfortable enough to share parts of himself. Parts that Katsuki grows to love every day.
“It was one of the few things I could do without making noise-“ and that strikes something in Katsuki, as he imagines a small Shouto trying to make as little noise as possible so his old man won’t hear him have fun.
He doesn’t say anything, they’ve had plenty discussions about how Katsuki feels regarding Shouto’s childhood. And how he feels about what Endeavor did. But now’s not the case.
He bites his tongue, holds Shouto closer and makes a noise for him to continue.
“I used to think that, maybe, mom could see the stars from wherever she was, too. So we could watch the stars together, even if we were apart.”
He’s taken to rubbing at Shouto’s stomach, then the side of his arm, wherever he could reach, while still holding them up with one arm.
“I sometimes still think about her whenever I see the stars, but it’s more difficult in the city.”
He then turns his head to look at Katsuki, eyes shining brighter than all the stars in the sky.
“Thank you for bringing me here.”
Katsuki allows the smile to breach, and leans in to catch Shouto’s lips in his. He wants to tell him that there’s no need to thank him, but he’s too busy conveying that through kisses, rather than words.
He’s always been an ‘actions’ kind of guy.
They lay there for a little while more, before they conclude that they should be getting home, since it was getting pretty late. Shouto says how the stars will remind him of this moment too, not just of the hardships of the past.
And Katsuki feels accomplished that he can make so many happy memories with Shouto.
He promises to go stargazing with him more in the future.
+ I. Picnics
It’s Shouto's turn to shop for groceries this week, and he uses that as an excuse to make a quick stop by Fuyumi’s place to ask her for a favor.
So, with a basket full of homemade dishes, and a fluffy blanket rolled up in the backseat, Shouto drives their car to Kirishima’s place, where Katsuki is waiting for his boyfriend to pick him up.
He said that he could just take the metro back home, but Shouto had insisted that he can come and get him.
Despite Katsuki calling him ‘dense’ more times than he can remember, Shouto likes to think that he’s pretty observant. At least when it comes to his job as a pro-hero and, obviously, to his boyfriend, Katsuki.
At first, he thought Katsuki was acting a little weird, with the flowers and the dancing in their kitchen. But, soon, these instances turned into habitual activities, that they now do at least a few times a month.
He’s never thought him and Katsuki would be this type of couple, but he can’t really complain. The ‘sappy shit’ his boyfriend despises so much- or at least, used to- isn’t that embarrassing. He’s getting used to it with time.
He’s still clueless to what urged Katsuki to start acting so…Shouto doesn’t even know how to call it, maybe romantic? sweet? lately, but again, it’s not a bad thing.
He just hopes he’s not doing it solely for Shouto, and that Katsuki actually hates the flowers and the dancing and the slow walks through the park next to their apartment complex. He never felt like he was deprived of the usual activities other couples do.
He wouldn’t have accepted Katsuki’s confession if he wanted something other than exactly what Katsuki is; spontaneous, explosive, unfiltered words, stubborn.
His boyfriend doesn’t seem to be doing this against his will, he never does anything he doesn’t like, or say things he doesn’t mean, even if it is for the sake of others, Shouto included.
He never pulls his punches, especially with Shouto, because he knows he can take it. They both can. That’s why they work so well together.
And that’s also why Shouto’s been wondering, why is his boyfriend acting so…soft, out of nowhere.
He sends a quick text to Katsuki to announce him that he arrived, and the blonde comes out of the apartment building with Kirishima in tow. The red head leans one hand on the top of the car door as he greets Shouto, the latter mirroring his smile and exchanging a few words with the red head.
Katsuki tries to swat his hands away and usher him inside, telling Kirishima that they’ll have time to chit-chat the next day at the agency, and even jokes that he’ll close the window on Kirishima’s fingers.
The red-head confidently puts his whole arm through the window, knowing full well that Bakugou won’t do anything to inflict real harm on him. At least, not when they’re not training together.
They wave goodbye to Kirishima at one point, and Shouto starts the car as he pulls out of the parking lot. He takes a few turns, before Katsuki notices that this is not the way home.
“Did’ya forget to get something from the store?"
He mutters from his seat. Shouto tries to not let his smile show too much, and he eyes the picnic basket on the backseat through the rearview mirror. Maybe he shouldn’t have put it there. Though Katsuki hasn’t said anything about it, so he must’ve not seen it.
“No. We’re, going somewhere.”
His response must sound odd, because Katsuki gives him a weird look and narrows his eyes at Shouto.
“’Going somewhere’? Somewhere to eat or…?”
He tries again, clearly getting agitated at the lack of explanations.
“You could say that."
Shouto decides to entertain him, and the amused smile on his lips is too wide to be hidden anymore.
“Why are you being so damn mysterious for, Shouto?”
He doesn’t say anything to that, just continues to drive towards the spot Fuyumi’s told him about. They stop at one of the parks in the city, and Shouto asks Katsuki to help him carry the things he’s prepared.
The blonde’s eyes widen when he sees Shouto get the big wicker basket from the backseat, handing him the checkered blanket.
“A picnic?”
His eyebrow shoots up, and he looks skeptical. Probably because Shouto’s not one to organize these sort of dates, as he’s not the designated cook in the relationship.
Shouto only nods and starts walking, the reality of what he’s doing hitting him right about now. He always feels giddy whenever he spends time with his boyfriend. And it’s the same feeling he has when they go on dates, even if it’s not as often as he’d like, due to both of their schedules.
And this feels special, especially because Katsuki’s been doing so much for him in the past months, and Shouto sometimes feels like he’s not doing enough.
So with that in mind, he came up with the idea of taking Katsuki somewhere. Where to, he had no clue. So he told Fuyumi about it, the designated listener to Shouto’s rants about his past-crush-now-turned-boyfriend (soon-to-be-more-than-that hopefully) and she helped him organize a picnic for Katsuki.
He wasn’t as hopeless in the kitchen as he used to be, with the help of both his sister and lover, and now he can successfully prepare decent tasting meals. The food should still be warm enough in the basket, Shouto thinks as he tells Katsuki where this ‘ideal picnic spot’ is.
They reach the small forest behind the park, and Shouto spots a clearing surrounded by trees and tells Katsuki to lay down the blanket there. When Katsuki reaches for the basket to help him get out the food, Shouto pulls it towards himself and insists that he’ll do it.
That pulls a small chuckle out of Katsuki, as he raises his hands in mock surrender and then leans back on them, watching Shouto with fond eyes as he grabs each dish individually and places them on the blanket between the two of them, as if he would do on their dining table at home.
There’s platefuls of both of their favorite dishes, along with Fuyumi’s Mapo Tofu and a couple of bottles of ice tea. He hands Katsuki a pair of neatly wrapped chopsticks and they both dig in.
Shouto chooses to eat slower than he usually does, because he couldn’t help but try and gauge Katsuki’s opinion on the food. Try and see if he’s enjoying himself as much as Shouto does when he surprises him with toe curling massages or quiet nights looking at the sky.
Eating together has become one of their favorite activities to do together, tying it with Katsuki’s passion for cooking.
And it’s quiet enough, the distant sound of cars passing by and the occasional bird chirping the only sounds around. The blonde does show his appreciation for the food with small comments as he’s eating.
Shouto does end up telling him about how Fuyumi helped him with the food, going into a tangent about how they prepared each dish, and how he sacrificed his own tongue while making Katsuki’s favorite recipe of spicy noodles.
The sight of his boyfriend smiling at him while eating good food brings such a joy to Shouto’s heart. It reminds him of how he felt with Katsuki all those times before, and how he feels with him all the time, really.
“I’ve been meaning to ask” Shouto suddenly remembers, and waits for Katsuki to drink his tea before he continues “what started all of this?”
“What started what?” Right, he wasn’t that clear when asking.
“You know, the flowers and that.”
He sees the shift in Katsuki’s expression and, oh, he didn’t mean for it to sound incriminating.
“Not that I hate it. I love it, everything you’ve done, but it’s…different, from what we usually do. Did something happen?”
He tries again, because he knows that sometimes his questions are too forward and can cause misunderstandings. At that, Katsuki seems to relax a little, but he’s still shifting his gaze, and Shouto catches sight of his fingers fiddling with the blanket.
So he slides his own hand towards Katsuki’s to weave their fingers together, hopefully easing whatever nerves his boyfriend has.
“Nothing’s happened. It’s just, I’ve been thinking and…” his boyfriend’s voice turns quieter the more he talks, and there’s a light blush on his face.
The words are mumbled towards the end of the sentence, so Shouto grabs both of his hands and encourages Katsuki to repeat what he said, hopefully conveying the message that he has nothing to be embarrassed about.
“I was thinking…that maybe, I’m not romantic enough. With you. So I started thinking…about stupid romantic dates and stuff. In case you wanted that, but chose to not tell me, because I said that I don’t like sappy shit and…yeah.”
So that’s what’s been bugging his boyfriend.
Shouto feels like crying, from happiness. But also feels like punching Katsuki for thinking that Shouto wasn’t content with what they had before.
(maybe with his lips, on the mouth)
“You could’ve asked me”
He slowly says, now having moved to sit down on Katsuki’s side, peering at his face. He has one arm looped around the blonde, head close to leaning onto his shoulder.
“I know. Wanted to do it on my own, though.” And Shouto understands perfectly, what his boyfriend is referring to.
He didn’t want Shouto to feel like he’s doing it just because he asked. Didn’t want to feel like he’s making Katsuki do this. And, it wasn’t a topic they often talk about; romance that is.
“I was happy with what we were doing before.”
Shouto wants to put it out there, make sure Katsuki knows this.
“And I’m happy now. I’ve enjoyed everything you’ve done for me. But I would’ve been just as happy even if you hadn’t done them.”
It sure feels good to see the bouquet of flowers on his office desk, a reminder that Katsuki is thinking of him even when they’re not together. They’ve also taken to putting music during their evening dances in their unlit kitchen.
But it also felt good before, with their slurred talks before going to bed, no dancing, just holding each other close without all the pacing and swaying around.
There would be texts, short ones ‘don’t forget to eat, shortcake’ or ‘don’t be late, I’m making dinner tonight’, instead of flowers. Katsuki’s been good to him before too, without the ‘romantic’ addition. And they’ve been romantic on their own, they don’t need to do what other couples deem to be as such.
“But it feels nice.” Shouto continues, looking down at the empty plates, at their intertwined fingers “doing this for you.”
He lifts his head to lock eyes with Katsuki, smiling wider when that earns him a sweet kiss on his cheek, then the other.
“Yeah?” the blond inquires, all smug grin now, having gotten over his past embarrassment.
“Mhm, it’s rewarding, in a way, to see you enjoy it. And it was exciting, preparing all of this, for you.”
Katsuki is still smiling at him, as if he’s drunk on love for Shouto, and Shouto figures that he must look the same, if the churning in his stomach is anything to go by.
And it’s true, now that he thinks about it. Katsuki must’ve felt the same. Whenever he did those things for him, and he’s enjoyed them immensely.
“We don’t have to stop. But you also don’t have to keep doing this if you don’t like it. I know how you feel about ‘cliché couple crap’.”
Shouto says with a light laugh, bumping his shoulder into his boyfriend in a gentle nudge.
“I don’t like shit like this in general…but, it’s nice to do it for you.”
So that concludes it, Shouto thinks. He’s happy that Katsuki hasn’t been doing this just for his sake.
“I bet I can come up with something more romantic than this, though.”
There’s an edge of playfulness to Katsuki’s challenging words, and Shouto feels himself getting impatient for what his boyfriend is planning.
“Yeah? Then I can’t fall behind.” he adds fuel to the fire, loving the cocky smirk on Katsuki’s face.
“I’d love to see you try, shortcake. You’re several steps behind already, so you better give your all if you wanna impress me.” He’s almost laughing, but the confidence is still there.
And Shouto can’t resist but melt into Katsuki’s side, leaning in and taking his lips with his.
He swallows his boyfriend’s arrogant grin and replaces it with a satisfied smile, close to breaking the kiss when he hears Katsuki let out a surprised sound in the back of his throat when Shouto climbs in his lap.
“You’re on.”
He whispers against his lips, thinking of how he’ll win against Katsuki with the help of the small red box hidden at the back of his nightstand.
“Your plan will have to wait though.”
Shouto manages to let out in between kisses, palms going to push at his boyfriend’s shoulders, until he gets him on his back on the picnic blanket.
“’Cause I’m not done romancing you yet.”
He allows Katsuki to laugh at that, Shouto knows it’s ridiculous as hell, but he’ll be as ridiculous as he can, if it gets his boyfriend to laugh like that.
“Fucking hell, Shouto.”
Katsuki’s voice is strained, and he’s panting against Shouto’s mouth.
“I’ll give you romance.”
He almost growls the words as he hefts the both of them up, Shouto still in his arms as he’s kissing the life out of him before letting him down.
“Clean this up, I wanna go home.”
He whispers sultry in Shouto’s ear as he teasingly lets his palm glide from his waist and lower on Shouto’s body.
His boyfriend is laughing all the way back to their car as they’re trying to not make it so obvious that they’re going home with the sole purpose of rocking their bed against the bedroom wall, but really, they don’t care if others figure it out.
__________
There are burned out candles on both of their nightstands by the end of the night, and Shouto’s sprawled in their bed as Katsuki is running the bath for them.
As he’s pouring the sugary smelling bath salts that Shouto loves so much into the steadily rising water, Katsuki mulls over their previous conversation.
Maybe now he’ll have what to tell Kirishima. Talk about his own romantic dates with Shouto. Not that they needed to make them romantic in particular, they’ve both been content with what they had before.
It still feels amazing, showing their love for each other like this.