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Sunshine flooded the room, dancing off the walls as it filtered through the soft curtain, driving Izuku’s cat, Mochi, into a frenzy. She sprang forth, making another fruitless attempt to catch the light, the sound of scraping paws and frustrated meows rousing Katsuki from his sleep. This was why–after three years of living together–he still considered Mochi ‘Izuku’s Cat.’ Sure, Katsuki fed her, threw toys for her to chase (that inevitably became lost), and her vibrating purr lulled him to sleep every night; but he refused to claim her, the pest!
“Not on our wedding day,” he groaned, swinging his legs to the side of the bed. Mochi jumped into his lap before he could stand. Now that Katsuki was awake, she’d abandoned her attack on the wall to instead demand attention, or food, or both. He scooped her up and carried her to the kitchen where he found Izuku hunched over the table, writing in one of his notebooks. Crumpled pieces of white paper littered the floor, his face scrunched in concentration as he frantically scratched away.
“Morning, Kacchan.” Mochi jumped from Katsuki’s arms and moved to rub herself against the table leg and Izuku’s.
“What’s all this?”
Izuku screeched and closed the notebook as Katsuki approached. “Nothing!”
“Nothing, huh?” Katsuki reached out to grab one of the crumpled pieces, but Izuku acted fast, smacking his hand away.
“No! You can’t see!”
“Wait. Is this...? Are you writing your vows right now? Little late, ain’t it?”
“Don’t make fun! I’m just...making a few revisions.”
“Ahh,” Katsuki smirked. “Well, I’ll leave you to it. Gotta get over to Kirishima’s anyway. He’d better have my suit pressed and ready!”
“Mina will have seen to that.” Izuku tapped the pen against his bottom lip, and for a momentary flash Katuski found himself feeling jealous of that pen. Wow, he thought, love makes fools of us all.
“Hey,” Katsuki moved to Izuku’s side and, taking him by surprise, leaned down to plant a soft kiss at the corner of his mouth. “Love you, nerd. I’m gonna marry you today.”
The depth of emotion that emanated from the forests of Izuku’s eyes was enough to make Katsuki forget to breathe.
“I know. I can’t wait.”
*****
“The flowers were supposed to be there at noon!” Katsuki’s mother fumed into her cell phone. He could tell by the popping vein in her neck that she was stressed as hell. That wasn’t right. She should relax and enjoy the day as much as the grooms. Leave the planning shit to the planners!
“Ma!” he called, tugging on her elbow. “Leave it. They’ve got it covered.” She looked at him as though she was only just registering his presence. With a small sigh she conceded, then calmly listened to the poor sap on the other line, nodding along even though they couldn’t see her, before finally hanging up.
“I’m a wreck today,” she said, pulling at the bottom of her dress.
“I can see that.”
“Where’s your father?”
“Changing.”
“You ready?” She moved to straighten Katsuki’s tie, though it was already perfect.
He nodded in affirmation.
“Masaru! Let’s go !”
*****
As Katsuki walked down the aisle towards his future, with his parents on either side of him, he achieved a Zenlike calmness, despite the fact that people were still shuffling to arrange the flowers at the last minute. This imperfection would have derailed Katsuki in the past but instead it just made its way into the specialness of the day. He’d later reflect on it as a fond memory. And then he was struck by an odd feeling in his gut, like deja vu on steroids. It gave him pause; enough that his mother looked at him with worry.
“Katsuki?”
“I don’t have cold feet,” he snapped, just as his dad had been about to speak.
“I wasn’t thinking that,” Masaru muttered, though he looked guilty. Katsuki exhaled and the feeling dissipated. He resumed his attention to Izuku’s bright-ass smile, which lit up the whole damn courtyard and Katsuki’s heart. When he joined Izuku in front of the altar, taking his hands, tears brimmed in both their eyes.
*****
“Beautiful!” Everyone echoed as the reception wore on. Once again Katsuki was struck with the feeling that this had all happened before. Izuku noticed him falter.
“What’s wrong, Kacchan?”
Katsuki couldn’t put a name to it and Izuku’s worried voice exacerbated the sensation rather than soothing it. He knew what his own expression must look like because it was mirrored in Izuku’s troubled face.
“Never mind,” he said, drawing Izuku close, enjoying the scent of his shampooed curls.
“You can tell me.”
Katsuki hated that Izuku sounded hurt. Of course, he would tell Izuku anything, only he didn’t know what there was to tell.
Then one of his aunts danced wildly by them and Katsuki knew without a doubt that she was about to trip; the combination of fast music, too much champagne, and a wobbly high-heel. Before it could happen though, Katsuki reached out, catching her in a dip; she giggled in his arms and pinched his cheek like she’d done a million annoying times when he was a boy.
“OH!” she exclaimed. “My hero!”
“Kacchan, how did you know she was about to fall?”
Katsuki looked at him gravely. “I don’t know.”
*****
When Izuku saw Katsuki walking down the aisle, his heart fluttered in anticipation, overwhelmed with joy that their wedding was finally here. Yet alongside that feeling sat a strange one. This whole day felt oddly familiar, somehow. And when Katsuki began to read his vows, Izuku felt certain he’d heard those words already. Maybe it was just the steadfastness of their love, the clarity with which Katsuki spoke and expressed his feelings. In any case, Izuku brushed it off as nerves.
At the reception, though, the feeling became more acute; and the looks Katsuki gave him all but confirmed that something was off.
When Katsuki saved his aunt from a tumble on the dance floor, Izuku’s blood froze. Yes. This had definitely happened before.
“Kacchan…we should talk.” Izuku gestured towards the door. With a nod, Kacchan followed and they left the din of the ballroom for the secluded hallway.
“What’s this about, Deku?” Katsuki asked, though his face said he knew exactly what Izuku was thinking. Had they had this conversation before?
“I don’t think…” Izuku trailed off, pulling hard on his bottom lip, suddenly afraid to say what was on his mind, “I don’t think this is real .”
“Hah!?”
“You feel it too, don’t you…deja vu? Kacchan. I think we’re dreaming.”
Just then, Katsuki grabbed the sides of Izuku’s face, somewhat aggressively, pulling him into a bruising kiss; his way of pinching himself, Izuku guessed.
“Feels pretty real to me.”
“Yeah. But something’s weird.”
Katsuki scrubbed his face with his hands and sighed.“You’re right, it’s odd. But I can’t put my finger on it.”
*****
That night, as they lay in bed, holding each other in the big hotel bed, Katsuki had a dream. Running down a dark alley, Izuku at his side. Katsuki’s explosive bursts, Izuku’s green lightning. A cloud of smoke. Knees buckling. Conking out on the pavement, Izuku passed out on top of him. Sirens. Shouting voices. Beeps of hospital machines.
“Deku!” He jolted awake to find himself not in the fancy hotel room, but in their apartment. Mochi the cat purred and nudged him with her head.
In the kitchen, Izuku sat at the table, writing–no, revising–his wedding vows.
“Morning Kacchan.”
*****
Katsuki ripped the phone from his mother’s hand before she could rip the poor florist a new one.
“Hi, this is the groom. Look, shit happens, I get it. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“Katsuki–”
“You need to relax, ma. Everything’s gonna be perfect, believe me. Best day of my life!”
She smiled then and pinched his cheek, looking proud. “Let’s get your dad, then.”
****
“Is Kacchan here, yet?” Izuku asked Ochako as he straightened his tie in the mirror.
“I’ll check.” She scrolled through the messages on her phone, confirming with a cheerful, “yep!”
Izuku exhaled sharply. “Okay. I need you to get him for me.”
“What?”
“It’s fine. I’m not worried about superstition. I just…I need to talk to him before we do this.”
She looked at him hesitantly, but did as he asked.
Moments later, Kacchan peered his head around the door. “Deku!
“Come in.”
“What is it? Is something wrong?”
Izuku grabbed his hands and pulled him into the room, “Kacchan. We can’t get married.”
“Huh!?” Katsuki attempted to pull away, incredulous, but Izuku held on tight.
“ You spent so much of your life chasing after me, for some reason. You never knew when to quit. And by the time I noticed you’d surpassed me, I realized I was the one chasing you…”
A stunned look crossed Katsuki’s face. “Deku, that’s–”
“Your vows.”
“How do you–?”
“We’ve done this before.”
Izuku cupped Katsuki’s cheeks, searching his eyes, willing him to see. “This isn’t real. It must be some kind of dream where our wedding keeps playing on repeat.”
“Wait.” Izuku saw it dawn on Katsuki then, as his expression shifted into a scowl. “This is new though. This conversation.”
“Yes. I only just realized, so I had to tell you.”
“A Quirk?” Katsuki asked, arching his brow. “ This is really you, right? Are we both dreaming the same thing?”
“Must be. What do we do?”
Katsuki shook his head, but after a few moments of silence, he looked at Izuku squarely. “We need to make little changes to the day. Meet me at the altar. Follow my lead.”
“Right.” Might as well try anything.
Katsuki moved to leave, but turned back around, grabbing Izuku’s face and kissing him.
“What was that for?”
“I wanted to kiss you as my fiance one last time.”
Izuku blushed. “As great as our wedding day was, Kacchan, I don’t want to keep living it. I married you for a reason; I want to spend all our days together,”
“Me too. We’ll get out, Deku. Trust me.”
*****
They kissed to uproarious applause. Katsuki’s lips lingered long enough to warrant more than a few wolf-whistles. When they parted, he looked directly at Kaminari. “ Save it for the honeymoon! That’s what you’re about to say, right Dunceface?”
Kaminari gaped; his only recourse was to shrug. Izuku shifted on his feet and Katsuki dragged him into another kiss, even more passionate. There were gasps and nervous chuckles. Izuku’s face was on fire, keenly aware of all the eyes on them.
The music swelled, encouraging them to break apart and make their exit as newly-minted husbands. When they turned to face their loved-ones, Katsuki raised their joined hands in a victorious pose, like they’d just won a battle against villains.
Then he squeezed Izuku’s hand and broke into a run. “Come on, Deku. Let’s get out of here!”
“Kacchan, what’re they gonna think?” Izuku panted as they left the crowd behind.
“Who cares what they think? They’re not real. I could punch All Might in the face; it wouldn’t matter.”
Izuku froze. “You wouldn’t.”
Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Of course not.”
“What’s next? I thought we were just making little changes.”
“Fuck it.” Katsuki shrugged. “I say we smash it.”
The word smash gave Izuku an idea. “The cake!” he declared. Together, they ran towards the ballroom where the cake was set up, sprinting through the double doors; inside all was quiet with ethereal fairy lights hanging above them.
A head popped in after them; the venue coordinator. “Oh! you’re here, would you like to see the–”
Izuku raised his hand above his head and karate-chopped the cake clean in half from the top tier down. Katsuki salvaged the little topper of them in their hero costumes, pocketing it.
“Wow, you’re a dork!” Katsuki beamed. “I didn’t think you meant to literally smash it.” Izuku embraced him, painting Katsuki’s face with icing, knowing full well he’d retaliate tenfold.
“Just what do you two think you’re doing?” The coordinator stomped towards them, fists clenched, more terrifying than any villain.
“It’s our wedding!” Katsuki retorted. “Let’s get a drink. Whisky?”
“Mmm! Let’s steal a bottle of that expensive sake!”
Katsuki jumped towards the bar, Izuku’s hand still in his, and did just that. The poor venue coordinator called for backup, but the ‘newlyweds’ were in their own world, entirely ignoring her.
Izuku had never felt more rebellious, more alive. His danger sense prickled. But what could anyone do? Kick them out of there? That was the whole idea!
Soon, their friends and relatives would be ushered into the space and confusion would set in. And maybe by then, Katsuki and Izuku would be long gone. Maybe by then the whole thing would dissolve and they’d finally be off living their lives.
They shared the sake and ran out into the calm pure land garden; the serenity at odds with the chaos they’d created.
“Come’re. I wanna dance with my husband,” said Izuku.
Tucked behind the trees, to the sound of flowing water, they danced. Izuku rested his head against Katsuki’s shoulder, relishing the soft, silky fabric of Katsuki’s suit against his cheek and the sweet fragrance of osmanthus from his boutonniere. “Kacchan,” he hummed, “I love you; today and every day.”
*****
Sunshine flooded the room, yanking Katsuki from sleep and from a very intoxicating dream. It wasn’t until his eyes fluttered open that he noticed he wasn’t in his own bed.
Hospital. Fuck.
He didn’t feel hurt and he couldn’t recall taking any damage. Did Deku?
Deku!
Turning his head, he found Deku was in the bed beside him, green eyes peering at him dreamily.
“Kacchan…”
“What the hell happened? Are you all right?”
“I don’t know. Yes. I don’t feel hurt.”
“You’re smiling like an idiot,” Katsuki remarked, eyes narrowing, though it was an amusing sight to see, the juxtaposition of dopey grin and hospital bed.
“I had a good dream.”
“Mmm. Me too. Weird though.”
Katsuki watched the light in Deku’s eyes; eyes full of love as they gazed at him. Suddenly something clicked in Katsuki’s brain, the details of his dream spilling over like a waterfall. “Deku. Did we have the same dream?”
Izuku gasped beside him, moving to sit up. Katsuki winced. The nerd always strained himself. “Our wedding day,” Deku said. “We…we were stuck there. Kacchan. We did it. We got out. We’re really here right?”
Katsuki grinned. Damn, he loved this smart, adorable fucker so much.
“Yeah, Deku.”
“Good.” Izuku heaved a sigh and fell back among his pillows, eyes still trained on Katsuki. “That was a beautiful day. But I’m glad it’s not the only one we have together.”
“Even if some of those days are spent in the hospital?” Katsuki ventured, already knowing the answer.
“Even then.”
Looking into each other’s eyes with determination and promise, Katsuki and Izuku took a breath together and said, “Today and every day.”