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“WHAT THE FUCK!”
Izuku jolted up from his note-taking at the boom of Katsuki’s furious voice. Izuku’s brow furrowed, he quickly pushed himself up from his desk and hurried out into the hall.
“Bro, it’s okay. No-one’s hurt.” Eijiro’s placating voice floated up the stairs.
“Calm down, man.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
Crashes resounded from the ground floor. Heart in his throat, Izuku descended the stairs two at a time.
“You caught it on time though, right? No harm done.”
“Has all the electricity finally fried your puny brain?! Metal in microwaves create sparks!”
“It was just a mis—”
“Don’t you dare. Say. Mistake. This asshole’s stupidity could’ve blown the fucking place up!”
Izuku’s nose caught the caramel smell of burning nitroglycerine as his feet hit the landing and he jogged through the empty living area, straight to the communal kitchen.
“Dude, you’re over-react—”
“What happened?”
Those closest to him swung around to stare at Izuku in the kitchen doorway, thankful he was able to stop the completion of that sentence. There was only one way a sentence like that would end with Katsuki.
Crackles and pops pierced the silence, as Katsuki seethed with his jaw clenched in the far corner. Mina, Denki, Eijiro and Kyouka looked between themselves, each waiting for the other to respond. Katsuki’s eyes remained trained on the shattered porcelain shards scattered on the floor.
“Uh, Denki put his bowl in the microwave with the spoon,” Eijiro explained, subdued. “Katsuki pulled it out before it was in for too long.”
Katsuki growled, “I’m outta this cesspool of idiocy.”
He shoved past Denki and Izuku moved to allow him out of the kitchen.
“Kacchan?” Izuku quietly called, lightly grabbing Bakugou’s wrist on his way passed.
But it was wrenched from his grip, “don’t touch me, shitty Deku.”
Izuku flinched, recoiling from the sheer visceral in his voice. Those piercing red eyes finally looked at him, widening, before Katsuki turned on his heel and stormed through the living room.
It had been a very long time since Katsuki had used ‘Deku’ as a stabbing insult.
“What’s up with him today?” Mina questioned.
“He’s like first year Katsuki all over again.”
Heart pounding, Izuku snapped his lax jaw shut and swallowed hard. Katsuki had been distant that day; silent in class, unreachable during lunch, abrasive excuses to go to the gym alone after school.
Someone cleaned up the broken bowl, scraping the shards into a dustpan. Shouto came around the corner leading from the staircase where Katsuki had disappeared.
“Why did Bakugou look like he’s contemplating murder?”
That jolted Izuku into action.
“I’ll,” Izuku faltered, clearing his throat. “I’ll talk to him.”
Protests of dissuasion came from the kitchen, telling him to wait and let Katsuki cool down, but Izuku ignored them. Bounding up the stairs, he quickly passed his own floor and nearly crashed into someone coming down.
“Whoa, nearly floated you up there for a second, Deku.”
Thankfully, they both had the ingrained reflexes to side-step before any collision.
“Ah! Sorry Ochako!” He very nearly bowed as an old habit.
Lowering her hands, Ochako’s brown eyes flickered up then back to Izuku. “Has your hurry got anything to do with Bakugou’s mood?”
“Did he pass you?” Izuku tried not to sound worried.
“No, but I heard him.” Ochako trailed off, wincing. “I’m surprised he didn’t break the hinges off his door, it was slammed so hard.”
“Uh, yeah, he’s not in the best of moods. Thanks, Ochako,” Izuku rushed. “Have a good evening,” he called behind.
Reaching the fourth floor, Izuku tore down the hall until he was outside Katsuki’s door. He took a moment to breathe, to centre himself and calm his emotions before he lightly rapped on the door.
“Kacchan?”
Silence.
Frowning, Izuku tried again. There was no response.
Tentatively, he wrapped his hand around the metal doorknob and turned, slowly opening the door to peek through. The familiar room was illuminated by only the moonlight. Expecting a seething blond, a quick scan instead revealed no signs of Katsuki.
“Where?”
Izuku stepped in, closing the door behind him and turning on the light with dismay, noting the chill within. He saw Katsuki’s hearing aids laying on the desk, haphazard. That was… unlike him to treat something so integral without care. Going to the bedside cabinet, he took out their case and placed the hearing aids inside before putting them back on the cabinet.
The dark curtains swayed with a breeze, catching Izuku’s attention. The balcony door had been left slid half open. Walking out, Izuku glanced around and stopped at the railing. Katsuki was nowhere to be found, save for the faint smell of smoke that lingered in the air.
Tilting his head up to the roof, Izuku sighed gently through his nose. “Just like old times, huh?”
Izuku lifted himself onto the railing, balancing, before he jumped and activated seventh’s float. It took a matter of seconds to spot Katsuki sitting on the edge of the flat roof once Izuku’s feet touched down.
With Katsuki’s back to him, Izuku watched the soft spikes of Katsuki’s hair shift side-to-side. It was shorter than it used to be and buzzed near the nape, akin to Izuku’s own green curls that were buzzed at the sides.
He slowly moved to sit on Katsuki’s left, his better ear, so as not to startle him.
“Hey,” Izuku greeted gently, swinging his legs over the side of the ledge to match Katsuki’s.
“Tch.”
Izuku took in Katsuki’s side profile: brow furrowed, lips thin and eyes resolutely boring into the distance. A horizon, dotted with city lights and metal cranes, that showed the herculean efforts to remove the scars from the collapse of hero society.
“Should’a known you’d follow me up here,” Katsuki grunted.
Izuku grinned. “You should definitely know by now that you’ve got to try harder if you don’t want me to find you.”
“Insufferably clingy is what you are.”
Once upon a time those words would have hurt, but not anymore. There was no real heat behind them, whatever blaze that had gripped Katsuki back in the kitchen had been snuffed to barely smouldering embers.
They sat in companionable silence for a while, close enough to feel the warmth from each other but not touching. Izuku gave Katsuki time to process, his thoughts and feelings not the easiest for him to voice. But Izuku was not known to be the most patient person when it came to a certain blond.
He eventually broke the quiet.
“The nightmare you had last night seemed intense.”
Katsuki’s twitch and sudden intake of breath were almost imperceptible. Izuku peered at him from the corner of his eye, seeing the clench of his hands and the downward turn of his mouth. That was answer enough.
“It’s okay to seek comfort in me, Kacchan. Just like I do with you. It’s why we started sharing a bed in the first place, so that we could be reassured that the other was still there.” The silence continued. “I understand you needing to take a step back to help keep your anger in check. I see your effort and you’ve made amazing progress. You can achieve anything you put your min—”
“Don’t you find it exhausting?”
Izuku blinked, ramble screeching to a halt. “Find what exhausting?”
Still avoiding eye contact, Katsuki vaguely waved his hand in front of Izuku. “All this… ‘Kacchan is amazing’. All sunshine and rainbows, and shit.”
“Eloquent,” Izuku snorted.
“Shut up,” Katsuki replied with no real bite.
With a sigh, Izuku spoke with reverence. “I’ve always thought you’re amazing, Kacchan. Nothing has ever changed that, even when you were at your worst.”
“How can you stomach me?” Katsuki’s voice was like gravel. “After everything I did to you?”
Izuku’s eyes widened, stunned. He swivelled to face Katsuki, bringing his leg back onto the ledge for balance. “I forgave you for all that. You apologised! Exactly when I needed it. Kacchan… Katsuki.”
Tired of keeping his distance, Izuku placed his hand on Katsuki’s chest where the scar from the wound that almost pierced his heart laid. “You nearly died for me. Twice. Think of all the things you’ve done for me. You’ve done for everyone. You’re the best hero.”
Chest heaving from the force of his words, Izuku watched Katsuki take his scarred hand within both of his own and drop them to his lap.
Katsuki’s face twisted into a grimace. “I could damn well see how cautious everyone was of me in the kitchen. Like I’d explode their dumb faces.” His larger hands tightened around Izuku’s. “I even spoke to you in a way I fucking swore to myself I’d never do again.”
Izuku shook his head. “You get angry when you’re scared. We know it’s because you care,” he soothed, manoeuvring one of his hands to rub slow circles into the back of Katsuki’s. “I think everyone was just taken aback as it’s been a while since you’ve been so… volatile. It’s okay to have slip ups.”
Katsuki curled into himself and spoke quietly, “and what if I fuck up and you decide it’s one too many times? That I’m beyond help.”
The breath whooshed out of Izuku all at once.
With Katsuki shuddering against his chest, Izuku held onto him with all his might.
“It’s okay, Kacchan. You’ll be okay.”
Lips moved against his collarbone and Izuku tried his best to hear the words over Katsuki’s gasps.
“D-Don’t leave me.”
“That’s what your nightmare was about,” Izuku said faintly.
He stared at the man before him. After two years Izuku had thought that Katsuki had mostly reconciled with, and healed from, their past. The therapy was going well, evident from what Katsuki told him about it and in his own actions. But clearly he struggled just as much as Izuku did sometimes.
Turned out that getting better, being better, just like healing, was never a linear process. They both had fears, insecurities and guilt that haunted them.
“Kacchan, I’ve chased you all my life,” Izuku smiled with serenity. “You’ve shaped me in ways I can’t begin to describe. But one thing I do know, is that I cannot imagine a life without you.”
Red eyes whipped up to finally look at him, the moonlight shining on his unshed tears.
“You’re everything to me,” Izuku murmured, as his vision wobbled and tears slipped over his cheeks.
Katsuki surged forward and wrapped his arms around Izuku, crushing him in a hug so fierce it startled a small laugh from Izuku.
“Izuku.”
Returning the hug, Izuku turned his head place a small kiss on Katsuki’s temple.
“You damn well better keep up with me then, otherwise I’ll come after your ass and make you.”
Warmth filled Izuku’s whole body with the reciprocal kiss pressed to his neck. They would weather this storm, just like they always have and always will. “I’d have it no other way.”
“We’re partners for life.”