He's being stupid.

He knows he is, because this is something he's supposed to have put to rest years ago. That Midoriya Izuku will always work his way under his skin is something that he had to come to grips with after the war was over, when there was such a drastic shift that they couldn't ignore it anymore. Fine. Whatever. The sky is green, Izuku is important to him — that's just reality.

But it shouldn't be like this. Even if they'd gotten too close before graduating, even if he'd felt like his heart had been ripped from his chest when he was told that Izuku would be going to work abroad like All Might…that was years ago. He'd moved on. All those firsts they might have shared together went to someone else, instead, because they didn't begin their careers together quite like they'd always expected.

He's moved on.

He just wishes his heart would get the memo. Every feeling he thought he'd put to rest had come rushing back the moment the guest of honor arrived at the party. He's just some snot-nosed teenager again who has the audacity to reach for more than he has any right to. After all, when had he ever held back from going after what he wanted? What was holding him back now? What could?

The warmth against his neck is hardly any warning for the teasing voice in his ear, laced with an understanding that Katsuki doesn't want to give weight to: "What's eating you, hunny." Ah, right. That's what's holding him back. The rock-solid best friend of his life-turned-boyfriend, Eijirou.

His words are particularly pointed as he noses against the shell of Katsuki's ear, taking this rare chance to indulge in such a display because Katsuki's always more lenient when he's had a drink or two. He shoots Eijirou a side-eyed glare anyways, elbowing him as if it makes any difference. He'd never been cowed by him before — it's probably more difficult now that Eiji knows what Katsuki looks like when he comes.

"I told you; I hate it when you call me that." He grumbles even as rosiness dusts high on his cheeks. He doesn't really hate it, but it's in his nature to deny deny deny. Eiji knows it too — Kasuki thinks he even likes it — and just chuckles good-naturedly at him.

"But you're just so sweet." He emphasizes by nuzzling his nose into Katsuki's cheek this time and — okay, he hates that anyone could be seeing this, but it is a little cute and he can't help the way his stern expression cracks just enough to let out a huff of amusement. He grounds himself in this moment. Reminding him of the decision they'd made to change the shape of their relationship to allow this.

All the nauseating sweetness that comes with love or whatever. It is love. He loves Eiji in a way he's never loved anyone else before. But with Izuku back after so long, on the same island, in the same room…he remembers that he's always loved him, too, and that feeling churns in his gut like it never went dormant in the first place.

He ignores it – ignores Izuku and shoulders his way into Eiji's embrace. He doesn't really like being affectionate in front of all the extras — their friends — but maybe he's trying to make a statement or something.

That just because Izuku's back doesn't mean they'll be picking up where they left off, on the cusp of finally being more to each other than they'd always been.

That chapter of their lives was done. It had to be.

"Shut up," He grumbles, settling in and deciding that his dilemma can be rescheduled. Eiji's warm and solid, jostling them with his laughter.

Izuku's been gone a long time. Things change.

"So, Midoriya's sure different, huh?" Eiji's horrible at trying to be casual, so Katsuki notices his fishing for what it is and fixes him with a look of exasperation as he pulls his shirt over his head. He can't believe his boyfriend would break the sanctity of the moment with this — or, well, he really can.

"Seems like the same nerd to me," He's much better at feigning nonchalance but it doesn't matter much when Eiji already knew everything anyways. He still doesn't want to talk about this with his boyfriend, though — but that's the consequence of dating your best friend, isn't it? He knows all about his feelings, how close he and Izuku had come to solidifying them, all information he'd learned the way best friends do.

Is he worried? Eiji's confidence doesn't waver as much these days, but he isn't infallible. He grimaces at the idea that he might think Katsuki's going to kick him to the curb to live out some childhood fantasy. He keeps a discerning eye on him.

"Ah, come on, man. He's almost as big as me now! You can't tell me you didn't notice that." He teases as they continue the ritual they've done so many times after a night out with friends. Katsuki sputters at it — but he isn't wrong. Izuku had left matching Katsuki's height, now he was closer to Eijirou's and broader than he had any right to be.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean? I have eyes." He says, scathing, but it doesn't mean anything. It shouldn't mean anything. He doesn't care to decipher the look in Izuku's eyes when he'd turned his green eyes on him. Them. Eijirou and Katsuki had been a team for a long time, but now their closeness was different. Obvious for what it was.

"I'm just saying! Thought you might have an opinion." Katsuki throws his head back with a groan before he turns a deadpan look at his boyfriend, pointedly removing his hearing aids and setting them in the small dish on the bedside table.

"Well, you can keep saying to yourself. I'm going to sleep." He grumbles as he climbs into the bed. Eijirou moves in tandem with him to do the same. Katsuki holds onto the vision of it — this is his new normal, this is who he's sharing his life with. It warms him, makes his head swim with stupid sentimentalities.

Eijirou ruins it.

"Come on, you've got — " Katsuki can only barely make out his muffled words before he cuts them off.

"Shut up. I'm not talking to my boyfriend about this." He barks, flipping onto his other side, decisively turning his back to Eiji to shut him out and end the conversation. He almost thinks it works until he feels the bed shift, warm lips against his hair and a voice so clear next to his ear like Eiji does when Katsuki is trying not to hear him, but he has to be heard anyways.

"I'm your best bro, too, yanno."

Katsuki doesn't respond.

He did not, in fact, bring Eiji with him.

He knows what the extended invitation meant. The particular way that Izuku dances around expressing himself are routines that Katsuki has memorized by now. It's his way of acknowledging Eijirou's new place in his life. There's a hint of support in there, as if Izuku is trying to say 'See? We can be friends.'

Tch.

As if they were ever any good at being friends.

"Was Kirishima busy today?" Much like Eiji, Izuku isn't very good at subtlety. Katsuki sips his drink and glances around the coffee shop. Some hole in the wall that he doesn't know how Izuku found. He doesn't really know why he's here, or why he didn't even tell Eiji about it.

It hadn't been intentional. It wasn't like he was going to do anything that he shouldn't, or that Eijirou would be anything but supportive. He really doesn't know why he didn't tell him. Maybe he just feels like he and Izuku need to put to rest whatever it was that was blossoming between them the last time they shared the same air.

"Nah," There's a tenseness to the line of his shoulders but he tries to maintain neutrality, but it does nothing to stop the nerd from getting riled up. He looks a little bit like a deer caught in the headlights, both palms cupping his warm drink.

"He's not…" He trails off and Katsuki has half a mind to throttle him for the audacity. As if Eijirou has anything to be jealous of — anything that might have happened with Izuku is in the past. But it's just like the nerd to worry about something so stupid anyways.

Katsuki snorts something mean. "Don't flatter yourself. Eiji's got nothing to be worried about." It's been two years. Did he think he'd be waiting for him when he came back? Did he think they'd just keep on the same path?

He hates that it still rankles so long after the fact.

"Ah, well, good." He answers a little flushed, probably from being called out but that doesn't make him seem any less genuine. "I'm glad you're happy. Kirishima's always been good to you."

Katsuki's eyes narrow. He can't really tell what Izuku's after. Nothing, probably. The idiot can be alarmingly aimless. But he knows the little weirdo well enough to know that even if his feelings reignited the other night, too, he won't try anything knowing that he's taken.

So what's the point? Why bother entwining again and risking that same want?

What right does Izuku have to care about who's good to him and who isn't?

It's strange to contemplate that there might not be a place for Izuku in his life anymore. How can there be? He'd always felt too much where he's concerned, never able to separate the tangled mess of them. If seeing him the other night could make him feel like it had, how can they even try to be friends?

He loves Eijirou. He can't let himself love Izuku again, too.

"Yea, I'm happy." He is. He has a great partner, great friends, a thriving career. "You should be, too."

It's the only way he knows how to say that he hopes Izuku is, too.

INTERLUDE - EIJIROU

Eijirou's known Katsuki long enough to know when somethings up. And with Midoriya back in Japan, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what it is.

Does it make him a horrible boyfriend that he doesn't feel jealousy? Isn't that what he's supposed to feel? It's strange to think he's come into himself enough that he's not worried about losing Katsuki — but he's not blind. Even when Katsuki didn't want to say it in as many words, he's always understood what Midoriya means to him.

He can't decide if that makes it more surprising or less that he's apparently been acting like nothing's changed.

He'd never ask Katsuki to keep his distance from Midoriya. When he announced he was leaving, everyone worried what it would be like for the two of them if they weren't constantly orbiting one another. They're separate people with separate desires but the two of them spinning circles around each other seemed like such a certainty.

He knows how close they'd come to finally closing that distance between them.

Really, most of what he knows about Midoriya is through Katsuki. Or, at least, informed by him. From the earliest days of their friendship, it was clear that he was off limits. He never said anything, but Eijirou understood — he understood a lot when it came to Katsuki.

It would have been too easy to get tangled up in the inevitable explosion between them if he hadn't watched himself. If Katsuki could win his heart so easily, Midoriya would be like a thief in the night: he'd have his treasure before anyone even noticed. Eijirou thinks everyone feels the same way, though — it's easy to love him.

Eijirou just happens to know he's particularly weak to his brand of cuteness.

"I don't want him to avoid Midoriya because he's worried about how I feel about their…history." He bemoans with a flail of his hands to his friend, who sits seemingly uninterested, reading a magazine and sucking on a lollipop. Mina looks up to grace his pitiful form with a look that clearly says 'That's an understatement'.

"So, you want him to go for it with Midoriya?" she asks with a quirked brow. He groans and falls back into the pile of pillows she keeps.

"I just don't want him to act differently 'cause we're dating now." It's not like it's particularly new or anything. It'd been a kind of ease into it, really, over the past year. Maybe he's putting too much stock in Katsuki considering him, but he's confident that he isn't. "I mean, I don't really love the idea of Katsuki having another boyfriend, but I like Midoriya you know? And I don't want him to miss his chance." He wonders how he'd feel if he hadn't spent years being Katsuki's closest friend.

"Why don't you date him too, then?" Mina says offhand as she pops her sucker out of her mouth. "I mean, there aren't any rules to this Eiji. Do what feels right." She shrugs, turning the page to her magazine as if his woes are inconsequential.

He feels like he's been struck by lightning. An epiphany. She's right as she often is, and that's why he goes to her whenever he needs another set of eyes on things.

Now, he just needs to find the right way to approach it.

Out of sight, out of mind doesn't carry much weight when you share friends.

It'd be easy enough to blame busy lives for the dissolution of a bond they both thought would be lifelong. It's less easy when he's always around someone who's close to Izuku. He can't escape the ghost of him in his professional or personal life and every time one of those nosy extras that he (begrudgingly) calls friend points out the shift between him and Izuku he feels like he'll explode.

Of course Eijirou notices.

And of course he has all the subtlety of a rushing bull when he brings it up while they're making dinner.

"Soooo," Katsuki can already feel his brow creasing as soon as Eiji opens his mouth. "Is there a reason the mere mention of Midoriya makes your ears steam?"

His head nearly spins with how quickly he turns to shoot a glare at his boyfriend, who simply laughs, flashing a pointy grin.

"Yea! Like that!" He's still laughing when the dishrag Katsuki pulls off his shoulder hits his face.

"Shut up! How can you laugh about this?" He should know, shouldn't he? It's never been a secret that his relationship with Izuku was complicated to say the very least, and Eiji had always been privy to a little more insight as his best friend. Everyone was sure they'd graduate and work together and finally date the way everyone thought they would.

No one expected Izuku to reveal he'd been planning to go abroad for a while to kickstart his career.

Eiji's casual demeanor is genuine when he shrugs his shoulder, still chopping up some vegetables. "I dunno. I guess I just don't understand why you're torturing yourself like this. Everyone knows how you two are, so why are you trying to keep your distance?" He says it like it's nothing and Katsuki has to pause his task to look at him.

He's always seen between Katsuki's lines so easily. Like he was one of the few who knew the language he spoke. Somehow, it still manages to catch him off guard. Eiji must know it, because in an instant his dopey boyfriend is back, canting to the side to nudge him with a cheeky smile.

Katsuki groans. "Just say what you mean, dummy." There's affection in his voice that makes Eijirou beam.

"I mean, I know how you feel about Midoriya, yanno? And I don't want to be the reason you push him out of your life. You feel the same way about him, don't you?" At least he has the decency to flush at the question and avert his eyes back to the cutting board.

Katsuki can't believe what he's hearing. He's known Eijirou to struggle to see his worth, to need reassurance, to question his place in the lives of those he loves. But this? Is he trying to suggest…?

He turns on him in an instant. "What the fuck does that mean? What? I'm not gonna dump you bec—" He can't even finish the sentence. He isn't really sure he knows how to. Finding the right words to express how he feels about Izuku was always a fool's errand and that hasn't gotten any easier with time.

Eijirou's eyes widen. "What? No! I'm not going to let you go so easily." He says fiercely, dropping his task to wrap Katsuki in his arms. "I just mean, you know, I like Midoriya alright." He's almost hesitant.

Katsuki pulls away to give him an accusatory look.

"Not like that! I mean…" His hand reaches to sooth behind his neck in that nervous gesture he has. "I always knew Midoriya was off limits, so I never let myself get to that point? But I like him. I wouldn't mind taking him on dates and you two could finally do that, too, and you know I just don't think you can go wrong with two boyfriends!" His voice gets faster as he goes on, as if saying it out loud is the first time it occurred to him that it might be an insane idea.

Katsuki certainly can't wrap his mind around it.

"You want to date Deku?" He can't help but slip back to the same old nickname, something incredulous to his tone.

"Kind of? I want to get to know him better, see all the things about him that you see." He sounds so genuine, like he really has space in his heart to take in another, to know that Katsuki has, too.

He can't deal with this yet. Eijirou's telling him that he should have his cake and eat it too.

"Making dinners hard enough for the two of us. Focus on that first." He grumbles, intent on going back to his task.

Eijirou knows this means he's given him something to think about.

It's a week later when Katsuki brings it up again.

He isn't sure how to say it. If he didn't know Eijirou better, he'd wonder if this was some kind of test. But he knows better.

"I invited Izuku over." He floats over dinner one night. Eijirou pauses.

"That's awesome! When? I can make myself scarce." He promises with no hint of hesitation. Katsuki snorts in response.

"Why would you make yourself scarce? We're gonna woo him together or whatever, aren't we?" His boyfriend looks simultaneously sheepish and fond.

"Well, yea, but I thought maybe you'd wanna float the idea one-on-one first since he's already —" He gestures vaguely with his free hand.

"We're a team, aren't we? So we'll talk to him together. It's not like anything I'd say to him would be news to you anyways." He hopes he's convincing enough that he isn't nervous at all. He has no reason to really worry.

Still, it feels like there's so much riding on this.

Eijirou's smile warms and comforts him as he reaches across the table to touch his hand.

"'Course we are." He assures.

INTERLUDE - IZUKU

Izuku didn't know what to make of the invitation. Kacchan's disinterest was just as obvious as his interest, and he'd made it clear that their lives wouldn't intertwine any more than was necessary now. It was strange, to be home where everything was familiar again except having that one person.

Like he left a hole where he should be.

And now he was inviting him over to eat his favorite food for dinner made by his favorite person (Katsuki himself). He's already lamented to Ochako and Tsuyu about Katsuki — not even Tenya and All Might had been safe — and now he wondered if he needed to bother them with it again, as if he hadn't already spent so much of their friendship doing just that.

He thinks he understands Kacchan's distance. They'd been on the cusp of something else when he'd left, and he'd kept it a secret for so long…he was probably angry, still. He didn't know anyone who could hold a grudge like Kacchan — a thought that makes him smile despite himself.

With everything being what it was between them, was friendship even possible? Had they ever been just friends? Katsuki probably thought it was a better bet to leave that distance between them. Izuku could understand that even if he didn't like it.

He'd still found ways to hear about him, stolen moments of his time when maybe he didn't really need to.

And now he was being invited to his home and…Izuku felt happy. He had no expectations, had no worries, had no fears. He held his phone to his chest and only felt happy that Kacchan was ready to talk to him.

It kinda feels like he's always been waiting on him.

"Katsuki, you need to chill out." Eijirou's voice is calm and even, his hands are even up like he's placating a wild animal.

"I am chill!" He barks in response, the knife in his hand thudding against the cutting board in time loudly.

"Then why are you chopping those scallops like they cheated at game night?" His joke-question makes Katsuki pause. Eijirou sighs. "I know you're nervous, but it will be fine! What's the worst that could happen?" Katsuki could think of some things. Even more now that Eijirou's jinxed it.

What if Izuku doesn't want to date them both? Or either of them? What if he does? Katsuki isn't sure he's any good at having a single boyfriend, let alone two. He'd never thought about it before, or his capacity to want two people at the same time in distinct but similar ways.

The idea of finding one person to love him like that seemed daunting enough.

"You—" He cuts himself off before he can sound too mean. "That's not helping." He knows Eijirou means well, and he appreciates it. But he won't feel better until this conversation has played out.

Eijirou kisses his hair.

"Just try to breath, okay?" He tells him with a soft squeeze to his shoulder. Katsuki listens.

There's a knock on the door and he realizes he'd shut his eyes when the pop open again to look at his boyfriend. One look is all he needs, and Eijirou is off to answer. Their greetings are only muffled sounds, hardly indistinguishable voices too far away for his hearing aids to really help him suss out the details.

"Hey Kacchan!" He turns when he hears the familiar voice more closely. Izuku looks almost bashful — freckled cheeks dusted red, a hopeful smile on his lips. It's cute, like he's always been. He's kept his hair short even since moving back, but the green curls are messy as ever.

"Hey nerd. Dinner's almost ready." Even now, even knowing the subject he's about to broach, sweetness never dripped easy from his tongue. "Why don't you and Red make yourself useful and set the table, huh?" He watches them move in tandem like busy little bees doing his beckoning.

He tries not to look forward to seeing it more. How easily the two of them already seem to work together as they set places for them to eat.

Once they finish, they seem drawn to him at the counter like moths to a source of light. "Smells really good. What's the occasion?" Izuku asks, peeking over his shoulder because even in the smallest ways, he's always taking note of how people do things.

"You." Is the only response Katsuki gives, Eijirou's heavy sigh hot on the heels as Izuku blusters.

"Come on Katsuki, we talked about this! You can't be cryptic about it." He admonishes. Katsuki can feel his cheeks heating. It's true, but has he ever been able to easily tell Izuku what he was feeling? Is he sure he can do it with Eijirou right there?

"Me? But you two were at my welcome home part?" Izuku has no idea what's going on. His confusion is genuine.

"Yea well maybe if you weren't both hovering at my shoulder!" His voice is louder than he means it to be. He's irritable, but not really because of them. It's the situation. It'd been difficult enough to make the transition from friendship to more with Eijirou. It's only more difficult with Izuku, with all their history and the fact that Katsuki already has a boyfriend.

"Uhm. I'm confused?" Izuku backs away as he says it, as if experience has told him that an infamous Katsuki blowup is about to happen.

It might be.

"It's a date, nerd! We're trying to woo you!" Katsuki snaps with absolutely none of the grace or subtlety that he'd planned on. Eijirou earns a nasty look by immediately starting to laugh, clutching his belly, even.

Izuku simply looks between them.

"Huh?" Izuku's not an idiot. He doesn't actually need them to clarify any more than that, but he's still looking between them, and Katsuki swears he can see formulas dancing around his head as he tries to piece everything together into a clearer picture. Fuck knows they didn't help with that, any.

It takes him a minute, but Eijirou is a saint for clearing up his laughter enough to offer some context. Katsuki focuses on plating the food — somehow, it's easy for them to move around each other in the kitchen already.

"Well, you know how Katsuki was avoiding you because of old feelings? I thought he should cut that out. I mean, we get along, right Midoriya?" It's not how Katsuki would say it but, well, this isn't all about how he would do it. Dating Izuku is — apparently — something he and Eijirou are going to do together.

"Old feelings?" Izuku's words are practically a squeak, as if he somehow thinks that Eijirou isn't already aware of the whirlwind almost-romance between them. Katsuki shoots him a look.

Eijirou throws an arm around Izuku. "Yea, come on, man. I was his best bro! And you two aren't exactly subtle." He jokes, hip-checking him with a wink. "And well, I mean, you're the kind of guy I'd like to take out! Now that I know Katsuki won't blow a gasket about it."

A million little feelings cross Izuku's face. Katsuki doesn't have time to pin them all down.

"I — Kirishima, you want to date me? And Katsuki? Like, all of us?" He looks down to his hand. "I've never thought about that before…" He mumbles, at Katsuki rolls his eyes as he watches Izuku unravel into mumbling. "Of course, it would make sense. If Kacchan and I have feelings for each other, and you two are already dating, then why couldn't we all try it? But I've never thought about Kirishima that way…" He seems to realize he isn't alone, his head popping up to fix Eijirou with those big green eyes of his.

"Not that you aren't really handsome! Of course you are, and you're so nice too! With a great personality. It's not that I think I couldn't feel that way I jus—" Eijirou stops him with his hands held in front of him.

"Jeez, idiot, no need to open the floodgates." Katsuki grumbles as he tries to herd the pair of them to the table.

"Yea! Well, I would have said it nicer." Eijirou says. "I can't say I really ever thought about you like that either, but that's just 'cause I always knew how Katsuki feels about you." He bristles at the mention of his name and feelings.

"I'm right here!" He interjects.

"Then join the conversation!" Is Eiji's rebuttal.

It's Izuku's turn to laugh, snickering into his hand and earning a look from them.

"Sorry it's just — you two are really good together." He says with a flush to his cheeks. "Are you sure you want to…woo me? I mean, I'll always love Kacchan but —" He worries his lip. "I was starting to accept that it would always just stay with me." Katsuki frowns at the admission.

He doesn't know that he'll ever be able to have Izuku in his life and not be insane about him. But he doesn't want him out of his life, either.

Katsuki scoffs. "We were never great at being friends, loser. So let's try boyfriends or whatever."

"Yea and you and I can finally get closer, too, Midoriya!" Eijirou seems excited. "Man I have some great moves that would be lost on Katsuki here." He teases.

"Is it really that easy?"

"Probably not but we all like each other, right? And you and I both love Katsuki so — we can figure it out. We've figured out more difficult stuff." Eijirou's optimism makes this easier — both of their blatant proclamations of loving him make him squirm.

"You don't have to say yes right now. Or ever." Katsuki says, though he really hopes he does. "Now don't let your food get cold. It's your favorite, isn't it?" He nudges Izuku's foot under the table.

His smile is brighter than he's seen it in a long time.

"Yea! Yea, we can do this." Izuku seems to come to his senses and decision quickly. "Thanks for the food, Kacchan."

He grunts in response and ignores the way Eiji observes them. There's a lot they need to talk about, expectations they'll need to go over, boundaries they'll need to set. But as Izuku and Eijirou start in excitedly on some conversation or another, Katsuki has hope that this can work out.

That they can all find places in their hearts for whatever it was they plan to forge between them.

Obviously, Eijirou ruins the moment.

"Hey, aren't you gonna thank me for the Katsuki?" He pipes up after his first bite of food, a shit-eating grin on his face. Katsuki near growls but it's half habit, half performance at this point. He's used to his idiot — possibly even a little fond of his idiocy, too.

"I'm not a thing!" He objects.

"I know, but you two were having a cute moment. I wanted to be included." His response is cheeky.

Izuku laughs. "Thanks for the Kacchan, Kirishima!"

Katsuki shouts him with a glare. God, now there's two of them. "I can't believe I agreed to this." He groans as he focuses on his bowl, hoping his tilted head will hide his little smile.

He thinks they might both be insufferable about it if they saw.