Chapter Text
“What if it’s not good enough, what if they think I’m crazy, or that I’m trying too hard, or that I have an extreme savior complex or-” a well-aimed pillow to the face interrupts panicked mumbles.
“IZUKU” Katsuki yells at him, sick of his self-doubt “It’s literally a perfect essay, there’s no way they won’t accept you” Katsuki flicks him on the head for good measure.
“But Kacchan, the program only takes like 30 people every semester and I have no idea how many people are applying and oh my god if I don’t make it in this semester it’s gonna set me back for graduation-” he murmurs nervously, the amount anxiety radiating off him practically drowns them both.
Katsuki grabs his face in his hands, forcing eye contact from where his head had been lowered in distress, “Izuku” he tries to be reassuring “You are gonna be the best damn social worker ever, so hit the fucking submit button already and prove it!”
Izuku gulps, but shakily hits the button to send the final email. He’s silent for a minute before his body goes limp and he collapses sideways, head landing in his partner’s lap. Katsuki runs soothing fingers through his scalp, trying to provide whatever relief he can offer from the overwhelming nerves that are engulfing his boyfriend at the present moment.
“Kacchan” Izuku speaks up after a few minutes of silence “Really… what if they don’t accept me” his voice is so unsure that Katsuki’s heart cracks a little.
“They will nerd, they have no reason not to” he replies softly “You’ll finish out your last 2 years of college in your kickass program, while I’m blowing shit up in the lab. Just like it was always meant to be” he punctuates his statement with a kiss to Izuku’s hairline.
“Please try not to blow up the lab again, Mr. Maijima was not happy with you last semester” Izuku chuckles, finally releasing a solid breath. Katsuki can tell he’s finally coming down from his anxiety attack.
“Eh, Power Loader doesn’t care, he has crazier students than me to worry about” Katsuki shrugs, jostling Izuku slightly with the motion. Izuku just hums noncommittally, and Katsuki can’t help but internally scoff at that slight jab. He’s not that crazy… Izuku just hasn’t met his lab partner yet.
The couple lay there silently for several more minutes, basking in the calmness of the moment (post-anxiety attack) before Katsuki finally says “All right, c’mon nerd” and goes to stand, pushing Izuku off his lap in the process.
Izuku looks at Katsuki, a little peeved that his comfy pillow moved but curious nonetheless “…where are we going?”
“Out” is all Katsuki says before turning and walking towards the door, knowing full well that Izuku will follow him wherever he goes.
Izuku nearly trips over his own feet to follow “Wha- out?” he says incredulously “Kacchan you’re practically a hermit, you never just want to go out”
Katsuki whirls around to glare at Izuku “I’M NOT A HERMIT, YOU TAKE THAT BACK”
Izuku gives him a pointed look and Katsuki stutters “Well- I mean- whatever! We’re going out to celebrate you submitting your application for the program. All our stupid friends are coming too” he adds.
At the mention of their friends, Izuku perks up and starts babbling excitedly about how long it’s been since he’s seen them, and Katsuki retorts that he just saw everyone last week “Well yeah Kacchan but in college that’s like dog years” he rolls his eyes but nothing could hide the fond smile on his face. Damn, he loves seeing Izuku so excited, even if it’s for something lame like this.
As they walk to their destination Izuku gets increasingly quiet and suddenly Katsuki worries he’s gone down another panic spiral until he speaks “So…have you heard from Toshinori yet?”
Damnit, he does not wanna think about his own lingering anxieties right now. A panicking Izuku is bad enough, but the two of them are a match made in hell when they spiral together. It’s happened once before and was dubbed The Incident™. They don’t ever discuss The Incident™, at least while sober.
“Izuku…” he warns, though it comes out more of a whine.
Izuku puts his hands up placatingly “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I know you don’t wanna talk about it until you know for sure… I was just asking” he bites his lip in clear worry.
“Listen, nerd, you have your own shit to worry about, so don’t take on my anxieties too okay?” holy shit he’s such a hypocrite, literally all he does is worry about what Izuku is worried about “Besides you’ll be the first person I tell once I do find out” he bumps Izuku’s shoulder lightly and Izuku smiles lightly at that. A small win but still a win nonetheless.
“I gotta make sure my boyfriend is there cheering me on in the stands while I’m fucking it up on the court” Katsuki continues, lightening the mood and trying to calm his own raging nerves.
“Kacchan will be the best, I just know it” Izuku grins up at him, standing on his tiptoes to plant a sweet kiss on his lips.
Somehow they’d walked all the way to their destination without realizing it and the clearing of someone’s throat interrupts their very nice kiss. Izuku breaks away bashfully, Katsuki with a glare and a curse on the tip of his tongue. Who would dare interrupt their moment? When he meets the eyes of his dumb friends, the curses die in his throat. He immediately switches from downright murderous to just mildly annoyed because they still ruined their kiss… the fuckers.
The smiling faces of Kirishima, Kaminari, Mina, Uraraka, and Todoroki greet the couple. Katsuki can’t help but think they look like creepy clowns, smiling at them like that. Especially half-and-half, the wide grin looks unnatural on his normally stoic face.
“You dumbasses” he says, flipping them off.
“You know you love us Bakugou” they all say in creepy unison, it kinda gives him the chills. Or maybe that’s just the thought of having to spend ‘quality time’, as Izuku calls it, with these idiots for longer than 30 minutes.
Katsuki huffs at the same Izuku says “AHHH GUYS I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE ALL HERE!”
Uraraka and Mina step forward to snatch Izuku away “Of course Izu! We’re so proud of you for applying, and of course, we all know that you’re gonna be admitted with no problem” Uraraka says easily, the excitement for her friend clear in her voice. The others in the group nod in agreement with her statement.
“You guys…” Izuku says tearfully
“Oh no young man, wipe away those tears! Tonight we celebrate!” Mina shakes her finger at Izuku, her tone leaving no room for argument.
“Okay, okay” Izuku sniffs and wipes at his eyes with his sleeves “Where are we anyway, I didn’t even ask Kacchan”
Katsuki breaks his silence “I actually don’t even know, I just knew the address we were supposed to go to” he looks at the idiots expectantly.
“We… drumroll please Todoroki” Todoroki makes a halfhearted attempt at a drumroll on Kaminari’s back “are at a karaoke bar!” Mina says with a flourish, waving her jazz hands around like her life depends on it. What a weirdo.
Katsuki and Izuku look at each other with apprehension, their friends tend to get out of hand at places like these… but really, what could go wrong when they’re just singing some shitty pop songs?
_____
So much, Katsuki thinks, so much could go wrong. It’s a damn miracle they haven’t been kicked out yet, they have to be the loudest ones here. Now, Katsuki was usually not a big drinker but tonight he’d gone a little overboard and was nearly as wasted as everyone else. The only sober one in the group was Todoroki, who was looking increasingly amused as he watched their antics play out.
Katsuki and Todoroki sat at the table together, Katsuki slurring his words in a way that he knew half-and-half would make fun of him for later but he honestly didn’t have the presence of mind to care about it.
“Isn’t my boyfriend so cute… look at him isn’t he so cute” Katsuki says dreamily, pointing at Izuku on the little stage in the corner of the bar.
Todoroki snorts “Yep, I’m looking at him, he is cute”
“WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT MY BOYFRIEND BASTARD, ARE YOU TRYING TO STEAL HIM?!” Katsuki launches himself at Todoroki who merely holds a palm to his face to stop the oncoming assault, his arms swing and hit at nothing like a pissed-off toddler.
“I’m looking because you told me to look” Todoroki says
“Oh”
Katsuki then goes back to ogling Izuku and watching the girls on the small karaoke stage, who were serenading the room with their rendition of Nicki Minaj’s “Va Va Voom”. It’s at this point, Katsuki realizes that his two other dumbasses aren’t anywhere in sight. Huh, well nothing seems to be on fire and no one is screaming in pain so he’ll let it go for now and them down later. Besides, he’s got a nerd to watch.
“KACCHAN” Izuku yells from across the room “COME SING A SONG WITH ME!”
Katsuki groans internally, he hates doing anything he’s not good at in public, but for Izuku he’ll make the effort. He makes his way over to the songbook as the girls leave the stage.
“Knock 'em dead tiger” Uraraka says to him, throwing up cheesy finger guns and grinning in a way that tells him she’s about to tease the shit out of him for his ‘performance’.
He shoves her playfully “Yeah like you guys are any better, sounded like dying cats up there”, Uraraka just cackles all the way back to the table. Such a witch.
“All right nerd, what’re we singing?” he asks Izuku, hoping it’s something easy.
Izuku looks up from the songbook with such unrestrained joy Katsuki thinks he’s staring into the sun for a second “I thought we could sing an Elton John song, I think I wanna do “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”…” He trails off shyly “I’ve always liked that duet”.
Katsuki looks at his blushing nerd and his throat goes dry because of course he knows that song. They sing that song in the car together all the time when they’re just being silly, pretending that their water bottles are microphones. He feels the air leaves his lungs and he doesn’t quite know why.
“Yeah, okay” he breathes
Izuku selects the song and the opening notes play, they both look at each other and smile. Katsuki always starts first
“Don’t go breaking my heart”
Izuku echoes his answers, the answer that’s as easy to him as breathing
“I couldn’t if I tried”
Katsuki starts to move around the stage now, hamming it up like he always does when they’re alone. If the idiots want to make fun of him for this, then he’ll just have to knock their socks off… plus, the alcohol rushing through his veins doesn’t hurt in loosening him up
“Oh honey if I get restless”
Izuku interrupts Katsuki in the song with a playful bump to his shoulder
“Baby, you’re not that kind”
Katsuki clutches his chest in a dramatic manner, almost like the lyrics pain him. But his grinning face tells Izuku he’s just being funny
“Don’t go breaking my heart”
Izuku puts the back of his hand up to his forehead, much like a frail Victorian woman would
“You take the weight off of me”
Katsuki mimes knocking on a door and then opening it. Then he places a hand out for Izuku to take, stepping through the imaginary door
“Oh, honey, when you knocked on my door”
Izuku takes Katsuki’s hand and spins himself into his arms, swaying lightly as his back hits Katsuki’s chest
“Ooh, I gave you my key”
The two continue the song like that, playing into the theatrics with each other on stage and generally having a good time despite Katsuki’s initial reservations. When they’re finished they walk hand and hand back to the table to find their friend's shocked faces.
“What the hell was that?” Mina asks incredulously
“I believe that was Bakugou ‘letting loose’” Todoroki helpfully inputs, miming air quotes.
Mina sputters “Yeah I could see that I mean- where have you been hiding that cheesy side of you??”
Katsuki shrugs, but he can feel his ears get hot and he knows it’s not from the alcohol “Izuku always manages to bring out different sides of me”
There are a couple of ‘awws’ from the table and Izuku pecks his cheek, Katsuki can feel the smile on his face as he moves away.
Katsuki surveys the table and notices that the idiot duo still isn’t here, and now he’s concerned “Has anyone seen ketchup and mustard?” he asks slightly annoyed.
There are some murmured no’s but then everyone goes immediately silent when Izuku holds his hands up, attempting to quiet the table. With wide eyes, he points rapidly to something in the corner and everyone slowly turns their heads to see what he’s looking at.
Horror. Disgust. Shock. Would not even begin to describe the sight of his two friends heavily making out in the dark corner of this bar. But also the relief because he knows those two have been pining after each other and he was getting sick of the tip-toeing. Then it quickly turned back into disgust because he knew someone would have to walk over there and pull them apart since the display was really bordering on indecency.
Katsuki stomps his way over to the two and pulls them away, holding them by the scruff of the neck like a cat would hold a kitten. He can tell by their glazed eyes that they were seconds away from doing something extremely scarring in the middle of this very public bar.
“Bakugouuuu” Kirishima tries, a nervous laugh making its way out of him.
“Get the hell out of here, I’ll call a cab” he reprimands and they scramble up from the seat, attempting to hide their crotches as they amble towards the bar’s exit.
“BYE GUYS, HAVE FUN” Mina yells out, giggling at her two friends.
Katsuki shakes his head and calls the cab, then shoves the two out the door to ‘cool off’ even though he knows they’ll just make out more against the wall of the building. He’s secretly happy for them, he remembers the ‘honeymoon stage’ with Izuku, and that involved a lot of janitor's closets.
“Kacchan” a sleepy voice breaks him from his thoughts, as Izuku latches onto his arm.
He looks down and he can tell that Izuku is fading fast, and he feels pretty damn beat himself. He knows the alcohol is not gonna be kind to him in the morning if they don’t leave now.
“All right fuckers, we’re gonna head out” he says to the group.
“Already?” They all whine
“Yep, gotta get this one home and in bed” he points his thumb at Izuku who’s become like a koala clinging to his side.
“Aw okay” Uraraka concedes “Get him home safe for us, okay Bakugou?”
Katsuki merely flips the table off as he escorts Izuku out of the bar and calls a cab for them. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Izuku waving back to the table like he’s waving his husband off and away to war, white handkerchief and all. Katsuki snorts at his antics, he’s such a weirdo sometimes.
As they settle into the backseat of the cab, Izuku lays his head on Katsuki’s shoulders and lets out a sweet sigh. Oh yeah, there’s nowhere else he’d rather be in the world right now than in the backseat of this dingy cab with a semi-drunk Izuku.
_____
Shepherding the both of them back up to the apartment was a bit of a task since neither of them was very steady on their feet. Thankfully the building had elevators and they didn’t have to walk up 4 flights of stairs.
Once they both make it safe and sound into their shared apartment Izuku collapses onto the couch.
“Oh hell no” is all Katsuki says before he hauls him up and points him toward the bathroom to get ready for bed.
An annoyed grunt is all he gets in return “You’ll thank me in the morning nerd!” he calls out to Izuku’s retreating form, then Katsuki goes about setting out waters and Advil for them to take before they fall asleep.
He meanders around the apartment getting things ready for bed before meeting Izuku in the bathroom. He comes up behind him and wraps his arms around his torso as he’s brushing his teeth at the sink.
“I’m so proud of you for submitting your application today nerd” he whispers in his ear “I have a gut feeling that everything is gonna work out just fine, so stop stressing” he kisses the back of his head and releases his hold on Izuku to brush his own teeth. He misses the misty-eyed look of fondness that Izuku gives him.
Once they’ve taken medicine and their heads hit the pillow, they’re both out like lights.
A loud ringing wakes Katsuki up from what feels like only seconds of sleep. He can feel Izuku shift and lightly slap him on the chest to get him to stop the noise. Katsuki groans and sits up, blinking his eyes at the sudden light invading his senses. It takes him a second to register that it’s his phone ringing and he blindly feels around until he finds it.
Thinking that it’s just one of the idiots calling him at ass o’clock he doesn’t bother checking the caller ID.
“Yeah” he croaks out
“Good morning Young Bakugou” the booming voice of Coach Toshinori greets him “Is this a good time?”
Katsuki is suddenly sitting ramrod straight, wide awake. The movement startles Izuku who turns his head to look questioningly at him.
“Uh yes sir” he clears his throat hoping to sound more awake and not like he was just resurrected from the dead, or, you know, hungover “It’s a good time”
“Oh good!” comes the cheerful tone “I just wanted to let you know that you have officially been invited to join the UA collegiate basketball team!” wow, Katsuki feels like this is too many emotions to process after a night of drinking so he just sits there, shell-shocked
“T-thank you, sir” he says, after finding his voice “I look forward to playing for y’all” at that Izuku’s eyes widen, likely having figured out the gist of the phone call.
“We look forward to having you! Practices start next week at 7 am!” and with that, he’s gone.
Katsuki drops the phone and sits in silence for a couple of seconds, then turns to Izuku and simply says “I did it”
Izuku launches himself at Katsuki, wrapping his arms around his neck and peppering his face with kisses.
“I” kiss “knew” kiss “you” kiss “could” kiss “do it!” Izuku pulls back to see Katsuki’s flushed face and plants one more kiss on the tip of his nose, just for good measure.
“I’m so proud of you Kacchan” he says, echoing the words that were said to him last night “You were right, everything is gonna work out exactly like it’s supposed to”
“Course I’m right, I’m always right” he says smugly.
Izuku snuggles into Katsuki’s chest and the two lay there, content to bathe in the early morning light and the pleasure of their accomplishments. Katsuki doesn’t know how anything could ever go wrong when things are continuously going so right.