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Izuku remembers the first time felt a deeper feeling than friendship with Katsuki. They were in their first year at UA, right after he was brought back to the school that had turned into a shelter.
He couldn’t stop thinking about Katsuki’s apology.
“Izuku, I’m sorry for everything”.
A part of Izuku was shocked, even though Katsuki and him had been mending their friendship after their fight in Ground Beta.
Izuku knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep alone that night. Not after what happened or what was still happening.
Izuku stood outside Katsuki’s door, and knocked softly five times. It was the way they had let each other know that it was one of them at the front door when they were kids, and they both still unconsciously used the same rhythm when knocking at each other’s dorm room.
Katsuki opened the door gently, the bags under his eyes visible.
Izuku sucked in a sharp breath and Katsuki reached a hand out,
“Izuku.”
He broke muttering apologies to Katsuki as he closed his room door and lowered both of them gently until they were a tangle of limbs on the plush rug close to Katsuki’s bed.
“I’ve got you. It’s okay. I’m here, Izuku. There’s no need to apologize to me. You’ve apologized enough for a lifetime.”
Izuku sobbed harder than he did when he found out he was quirkless that night, and he felt an invisible line was crossed between them.
They got even closer after the final battle.
Izuku remembers seeing Katsuki, laying unconscious on the battlefield and his breath catching in his throat.
He remembers sprinting over to him and feeling for a pulse, realizing Katsuki was alive and breathing, and sobbing, cries of relief leaving his body.
Katsuki wakes up five days later, scar across the right side of his face and alive, and Izuku sobs at his bedside again because he couldn’t imagine a life without the other man in it.
Izuku recounts every detail Katsuki missed while he was out, and then confesses his deepest feelings for the man laying in front of him.
“Kami, I really thought I lost you again, Katsuki. I can’t imagine a world without you in it by my side.”
Katsuki admits softly that he’s felt the same about Izuku since before they brought him back from going rogue that night.
Since that day forward, they were just Izuku and Katsuki, or Zuku and Kacchan,
“If you have a childish nickname for me, I will get to have one for you.”, was Katsuki’s reasoning.
They were secretly both saps.
They both agreed early on that they were okay with pet names for each other. Katsuki called him by one first. They were cooking in the dorm kitchen while the class finished training.
Izuku remembers the way his heart skipped a beat when Katsuki softly said to him, seemingly in his zone,
“Pass the bell peppers for me, sweetheart.”
They both stopped what they were doing for a split second before Izuku passed over the chopped peppers.
Izuku remembers how he added as he walked out of the kitchen to set out water bottles for the class, “I’ll be right back, love.”
He was promptly tackled to the floor and a giggling mess by the time the class walked into the common area.
They never kept their QPR a secret from the class. That being said, it wasn’t announced to them either. It didn’t have to be because they were affectionately given the name “Wonder Duo” by class 1a, and that was the end of the conversation.
They were just able to be themselves without any judgment.
Now that they’ve graduated UA and opened an agency together after two years of debuting as a hero duo, they live comfortably together in a small two bedroom, one bathroom apartment.
The media always speculates of course, but it’s nothing they can’t handle together.
Since Katsuki’s autism diagnosis, Izuku has been helping him tweak his support gear and helping him navigate social situations, aka nosy reporters.
Contrary to popular belief, Izuku can be extremely foul-mouthed when he’s protecting the people he cares about. He ends up shocking the media when they become a bit too nosy about asking Katsuki why he went no-contact with his parents after they graduated. If anything, Aizawa and Mic-sensei were more family than the Bakugou’s ever were to Katsuki and accepted every bit of him with open arms.
“It’s frankly none of your fucking business.”, was Izuku’s most famous comeback after a reporter asked a highly invasive question to both of their personal lives.
HeroTube video compilations of “Hero Deku Putting the Media into Their Place” were very popular, and Katsuki laughed and even commented on some of them every time a new one came out.
Izuku and Katsuki both enjoyed coming back to their little apartment after a long day, and cooking together.
Sometimes, they would just take a shower and lay under their weighted blanket and drift off to sleep after a long mission.
They both enjoyed each other’s company and would never change what they have for anything else.
That reminds Izuku of the gift he made for Katsuki for their anniversary of sorts.
He grabs the thin, square box and heads out to the living room where Katsuki sits reading his favorite novel.
“I made you something for our anniversary.”
“Zu, you didn’t have to do that.”
Izuku huffs at that, “You gave me a new tool box, so you have nothing on this one. Besides, it took me a month to make.”
Katsuki smiles softly and opens the box gently. His eyes widen at the contents inside as his breath catches and he stammers out, “Izuku, you-you made these?”
They were simple necklaces. Both in the shape of an explosion with their first name initials carved into the metal. The only difference was the color of each one. A deep red and an emerald green to represent their eye colors.
“Do you like them? I figured we could both wear them to remind us of each other when they send us on those separate missions once a year.”
A tear made its way down Katsuki’s face as he pulled Izuku into a crushing hug,
“This is the most thoughtful gift, Izuku. Words cannot express how much you mean to me.”
Izuku smiles into Katsuki’s hair, “Happy five year anniversary, love.”
Izuku couldn’t wait to spend the rest of his life with this man.