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Katsuki was really getting tired of these D-listers.
He and his squad (ok his friends, whatever) had separated from the rest of Class 2A to chase after a villain when they'd managed to split their forces up. Or, more accurately, Katsuki had pursued this guy because he found him particularly annoying, and Kirishima, Denki, Jirou, Mina, and Sero had followed. This villain was one of those who insisted on giving endless monologues and haughtily laughing to cover up the fact that his quirk wasn't suited for battle.
Yeah, he was the worst kind of villain. The kind that made Katsuki's anger management therapy work overtime.
“Good luck catching me, heroes!” the villain sneered as he rocketed away using his support gear. His speed frustrated Katsuki to no end. Before the war, before his heart had literally stopped beating, he would've been plenty fast enough to catch up to this guy and punt him into the nearest cop car without much effort. But with his slowly recuperating body and rusty quirk, the villain just kept slipping through his fingers. Combine that with the winter chill plus a slight drizzle, and Katsuki was not only cold; he was also having flashbacks.
The only hero in his group that was fast enough to keep up other than him was Sero, and his quirk wasn't much help due to the fact they were fighting in a wide-open, abandoned parking lot. The rest of the crew trailed a little behind, ready to provide support whenever this villain was knocked to the ground.
The villain was running out of room to escape, so he began to simply dodge their attacks, seemingly biding his time for an unknown reason. Katsuki wished he could blast him into next week, but he couldn't risk severely injuring himself or his teammates. It was the same for Kaminari.
“Tsk, tsk. Heroes are so limited by their moral codes, aren't they, Katsuki Bakugou? You could've blown this whole parking lot to ashes by now if you had the freedom to do so,” the man said, a strange grin on his face.
Katsuki knew better than to take the bait. It was an obvious trick to stall for time. Even if he got on his nerves, Aizawa had managed to drill that into Katsuki's head.
“Yeah but if there's no body to arrest, that's not a win!” Katsuki snapped back. “Tape Arms, what do we know about this guy?!”
Sero zipped up to his side only a second later, secured to a light pole by his elbow. It was apparent that the January weather was wearing on him, because his movements were becoming the tiniest bit sluggish.
“His name is Intel: quirk, Mind Probe! He can read minds and uses that to psychologically exploit his opponent. When he's split up from his allies, he's actually not that good in combat. That's why he keeps running away.”
“Well, now we've got you cornered, huh?! It's over for you, stupid!” Katsuki jeered, triumph in his tone. He needed to quickly wrap this up and go help Izuku with the more dangerous villains.
“So why hasn't he used his quirk yet?!” Jiro called, her voice uneasy.
“Yeah, none of us have had our minds probed! Ew, I hate that word!” Denki yelled in agreement.
“Silly heroes, I've been skimming your thoughts this whole time! I just needed something useful—”
A flash of green lightning in the distance, and then the appearance of a silhouette.
Izuku.
Katsuki worried about him using up too much of his embers of One For All on such a petty villain attack. He hoped Izuku wasn't being reckless again, putting his own well-being on the line to arrest some D-listers. That was such an Izuku thing to do. And Katsuki hadn't managed to find him before the emergency call came in, so he didn't know whether he'd eaten properly, either. But what he did know was that Izuku had stayed up the night before cramming for midterms, so he was potentially fighting on an empty stomach with no sleep, which was a recipe for disaster. Crap! He really needed to just finish this fight and go help Izuku–
“Ah. There it is.”
Katsuki snapped his attention back to the villain, who was now wearing a delighted, wicked grin.
“Oh please, you're so full of–” Katsuki started, but he was interrupted.
“That's the boy you've been thinking about this entire time! I was trying to figure out if he was in your little posse, but it all makes so much more sense now!”
“Yeah, yeah, we all know Bakubro cares about Midoriya, dude! You're not special for mind-bending that out of him or whatever,” Denki replied, rolling his eyes with a smile.
Kirishima laughed. “We've all known it for years! It's super manly.”
Katsuki threw a left hook at the villain's head, but came up empty. Despite all his rehab, his movements were still too slow.
“Oh, I don't think it's a manly thing, dude,” the man mocked, still locked in a vicious back and forth with Katsuki. “They don't know how much you care, do they? I'll bet Izuku doesn't know, either.”
Okay. Now Katsuki was really getting fed up. Hearing Izuku's real name instead of his hero persona coming out of that slimy man's mouth was nearly enough to push him over the edge. Nobody else called him that.
Katsuki could hear the angry sizzling of his palms, new power surging through his veins despite the disadvantage of the weather.
“GET HIS NAME OUT OF YOUR MOUTH!” Katsuki roared, throwing another punch and missing yet again. He inwardly cursed his arms for not doing what he told them to. Almost like he nearly blew them off not even a year before.
“Don't fall for his bait, man!” Kirishima shouted.
“Izuku, Izuku, Izuku. You just love his name, don't you? And that's not the only thing you love about him, right?”
Katsuki kept punching, since being this close to everyone meant his explosions had to be very controlled. He was doing just enough to keep himself in the air, but he still couldn't let loose.
“Tape Arms! See if you can wrap this guy up!” he shouted, trying his best to ignore the villain's cackling that was driving him insane.
“On it!” Sero replied. It was easier said than done, though, because Intel actually had pretty good mobility, and Sero's tape kept jamming due to the relentless chill.
Now Izuku's silhouette was getting closer, because of course it was. That nerd was probably burning through his embers like gasoline just to check up on Katsuki because he was a self-sacrificial maniac who had no concept that Katsuki was just fine–
“Oh, good! He's almost here! Then you can tell him how much you love him! That'll be a good show!”
Katsuki faltered, just for a moment. This was stupid. It was inconsequential and irrelevant to the battle. He shouldn't let his teenage emotions get in the way of his victory, but he couldn't prevent his cheeks from heating just a little as he caught the knowing look his friends shared with each other.
“Don't listen to him, Dynamight! Keep going! He's getting weaker!” Jirou said, encouraging everyone to stay focused.
In another breath, Izuku was there. Just this once, Katsuki really wished that the nerd didn't have super speed. Kirishima appeared to be the first to realize how bad the situation could turn and tried his best to stop Izuku.
“Midoriya, wait! You'll only—”
Luckily, Izuku had enough sense to not Detroit Smash the villain into space, instead opting to slow and assess the situation.
“Kacchan! Is everything ok?!” Izuku shouted, his body crackling with lightning. It was obvious he was high on adrenaline, seeing as this was one of his first times seeing battle in months. He was using way too many embers.
“YEAH! Everything's fine, Deku! Don't waste your quirk!” Katsuki replied gruffly, growing increasingly frustrated that this standoff was still ongoing.
Intel's face had twisted into a look of utter ecstasy now. Apparently, he was sure he'd found the ticket to his escape.
He had a dagger to the heart up his sleeve. Something perfect to distract a group of naive teens long enough for him to get away. Something they could hold over Katsuki's head for a looooong time.
“If it isn't the man of the hour! And does Izuku know that you've spent countless, long, sleepless nights wishing to be different? Wishing to be a girl?”
That made everyone freeze, including Izuku. He stopped, turning to look at Katsuki with an expression that was a mixture between confusion and horror.
Katsuki knew it. He knew Izuku would think he was gross.
He was gross. And now all of his friends knew it, too.
“...what?” Katsuki croaked, his voice so small and boyish he barely recognized it as his own.
The villain realized his audience was hanging onto every word he was saying and began to act theatrical. With disgust, Katsuki understood that Intel was actually enjoying his cruel mind games.
“You can't lie to yourself, Hero! Does he know that you wish for tiny, delicate hands and a soft voice? Because he wouldn't be afraid of you if you were someone else! Oh, it's sad really. How envious you are of that brunette girl he likes; how much you want to be her! Oh, you have nasty, mean thoughts about her, don't you?! I never expected such a strong hero like you to have the embarrassing secrets of a middle school girl!”
Katsuki's blood ran cold. He was cold all over. He was numb. He'd never felt this cold in his life, not even when he died on the battlefield, the rain pouring down on him as his heart stopped. Somehow, this moment was icier, more frigid, more hopeless. More final.
There was no coming back from this, at least not for him. And while some deep part of him raged with fury, the rest was filled with despair. He was so, so broken. Katsuki could practically feel his heart breaking in his chest, then sinking down, down, down, until he felt nothing but shame and disgust in the pit of his stomach.
He loathed himself.
That was the truth, wasn't it? It always had been. Being friends with Izuku again had only masked the hatred he felt for himself.
He was dirty, disgusting. His cruel, inhumane heart loved Izuku to the point it was suffocating. Katsuki chose to take out his own insecurity on Ochako because what else could he do? Because why would Izuku love him back? The boy who bullied him, and belittled him, and never missed a chance to make him feel worthless? When Katsuki knew better than anyone that Izuku was anything but?
Yes, he loved Izuku in the same way a parasite loves its host. He was a leech. A pest. Something Izuku should flick off his shoulder and never spare a second glance with those eyes that shone like stars. Sometimes Katsuki saw galaxies in his eyes, whose contents had leaked onto his cheeks in glorious smatterings of freckles. He was so good, so beautiful. Too beautiful for Katsuki.
Ochako was like Izuku in that she was warm, sweet, and pretty. If Izuku was vanilla, she was chocolate. They went together perfectly. How many times had he wished to have her kind eyes, her gentle hands instead of his rough ones, her full lips, her bubblegum voice that made people smile? She was so sweet it made him sick. If Katsuki was sweet like her, good like her, then maybe, maybe…
Izuku would love him.
He was falling out of the sky now. Huh.
Katsuki let out a half choked, guttural sob, clutching his hands to his chest. His cry pierced the air, which made the moment brutally vulnerable and raw. It was as if he'd been stabbed.
“Kacchan!” Izuku cried as he reached out, but Sero had already swooped in to catch him.
“Oh yes, fall, little hero! Does he know how often you think about him? You're doing it right now! I mean, honestly, you're like a schoolgirl! It's pathetic. You think about his hair, and his eyes, and his ugly freckles. You spend a lot of time thinking about those.”
The rage radiating from Izuku was palpable.
“Midoriya, just stay calm–” Kirishima warned, but it was too late. The rest of the group stood motionless, completely unsure of what to do. They knew Izuku was about to explode, but nobody knew how to stop it. Intel had laid Katsuki's soul bare for all to see, and everyone knew that was practically begging Izuku to go berserk.
Sero wrapped an arm and some tape around Katsuki, buckling under the sudden weight as he hit him with an unceremonious thud.
Intel had almost cleared the path to flee, he just needed to distract Midoriya.
“Do you know, Izuku, that your friend here thinks about marrying you? Yes! Alot, actually. And he imagines you calling him that stupid nickname, Kacchan, Kacchan, Kacchan, while you sleep in the same bed, and wake up together, and go grocery shopping– yuck, it's so cheesy! The explosion murder boy, a hopeless romantic—”
His plan backfired. Izuku Midoriya was only human.
His fist collided with Intel's face a moment later, sending him flying backwards into a building. Izuku was panting, his breath visible from the cold, Blackwhip curling around him like a venomous snake. He looked terrifying.
“MIDORIYA! YOU CAN'T KILL HIM, BRO!” Kirishima screamed in panic, beginning to race over to where the villain landed.
Izuku spared one indifferent glance at Kirishima before approaching Sero and demanding him to hand Katsuki over.
“Hey man, I don't think that's a good idea. You're both really freaked out right now and–”
“Give Kacchan to me, now,” Izuku replied sternly, his eyes still glowing from the remnants of One For All. Sero gulped and then reluctantly placed Katsuki in Izuku's arms.
Meanwhile, Katsuki was panicking. His brain was filled with white noise as his heart raced a million miles per hour. He hadn't heard anything after Izuku punched the villain, and was barely aware of his surroundings by this point. He tried to breathe, but he couldn't. All that happened when he tried to suck in air was a shallow, whistling sound. Was he dying again? It felt like he was dying.
He'd been exposed. Every secret he'd tried to keep so carefully, every weak spot he kept covered in his thickest armor, every emotion he kept buried under a mountain of sarcasm and anger— all of it was on display, and to the one person he'd tried so desperately to hide from:
Izuku.
Izuku who was now gently propping him up against the side of an abandoned building, away from the prying eyes of their well-meaning friends. He quickly removed Katsuki's gauntlets before taking off his own cape and wrapping Katsuki up tightly to protect him from the oncoming sleet.
Katsuki couldn't even thank him; his mouth wouldn't work. Hot tears stung at the corners of his eyes, and he wasn't in control of himself enough to stop them.
Finally, finally, he managed to make a noise, but instead of his usual “get away from me” snarl he'd been expecting, it was another broken, wobbly sob. Izuku's eyes filled with worry as he placed a hand on Katsuki's cheek to wipe away the tears.
“Shhh, Shhh. It's ok, Kacchan. I'm here,” he whispered softly, doing his best to remain calm. It was a wonder he hadn't broken down in tears yet, either.
Katsuki wanted to yell, to scream at him to go away, but all he could do was cry and gasp for air. He didn't want to be seen like this, especially not by Izuku.
Izuku, never one to take a hint, instead shuffled impossibly closer and stared at Katsuki with those wide, earnest eyes that made his already compromised heart do backflips. Katsuki could feel the heat of his breath against his numb face.
“Kacchan–”
“D–don't…” he snapped, trying and failing to push Izuku’s hand away. “I'm gross. I'm so gross, Izuku!”
“Kacchan, don't say that! You're not gross! You're so strong, and amazing, and–”
“Can it, ‘Zuku! I don't need you to try to make me feel better about that shitshow back there!”
Izuku stopped, his lips hardening into a line.
“Kacchan, there's no need to push me away anymore. I understand.”
“You don't! You don't! I don't need your pity!”
Katsuki was almost whining now, thrashing around like a petulant child while Izuku stared down at him with concerned affection. Affection he didn't deserve. Its warmth burned him like fire.
“Kacchan, I'm not pitying you! We've already worked past all this–”
“JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!”
“NO!”
Katsuki was stunned by Izuku's sudden anger.
“No, Kacchan, I will not leave you alone! You didn't leave me, so I'm not leaving you! You don't get to push me away anymore!”
“I don't deserve to be anywhere near you, Izuku! Why can't you see that?” Katsuki replied, his voice beginning to falter again.
Izuku's eyes widened in shock.
“You risked your life for me, Kacchan! More than once! How can you say that?!”
“Izuku, you heard. You heard what that damn villain said about me… and it's all true! You can't possibly want to be near me after–”
“Are you serious?! Kacchan, I've spent my whole life feeling exactly the same way! That guy was practically reading my thoughts, too,” Izuku shot back, suddenly growing a bit shy, not meeting Katsuki's eyes. A slight blush crept across his face.
“Izuku, you can't mean–”
“I mean it, Kacchan. I would never lie to you.”
“But– after all of it, I mean, me being jealous of Round Face and everything?”
And Izuku laughed. He laughed.
“I've been shooting daggers at Kirishima for weeks, because… because… well, you know…”
“I don't.”
Izuku narrowed his eyes.
“Are you teasing me?”
“Me? Never.”
Izuku moved even closer. Now Katsuki could count the freckles painted across his nose bridge. He was amazingly warm in comparison to their bleak surroundings.
“I have thoughts like those too, you know. About– about us sleeping in the same bed… and getting m–married, and… other things,” he whispered, a deep, red blush spreading over his face.
“Are you serious?”
“Yes,” Izuku replied, the word tumbling out in a hushed, flustered tone.
Maybe it was because Katsuki was chronically insecure, or because he was still shaken up from earlier, but he was completely floored when Izuku leaned in and kissed him. Something in him was just having trouble believing that this was real, that Izuku wasn't totally repulsed by him.
He didn't seem too repulsed as he gently tipped Katsuki's chin up and smiled against his lips with a contented sigh.
Izuku moved himself into Katsuki's lap, a hand on his jaw and the other in his hair. He tried his best not to jump, still surprised by this brand new territory for them. Katsuki wrapped his hands around Izuku's waist and tugged him closer, his body still numb from the cold. Izuku was wonderfully warm against his aching chest.
They broke away for air, each grinning and laughing like little kids, their faces flushed due to the chill. Izuku smiled and hummed in delight, still running his fingers through Katsuki's hair, sending shivers down his spine and leaving him breathless.
“I'm sorry that it all came out that way, Izuku. I should've been strong enough to tell you to your face.”
“I wasn't, so how could I ask the same of you, Kacchan? I'm sorry you had to go through that, too.”
“I don't know what I'm gonna say to all those nosy extras. I don't even know how I'm going to look at them.”
Izuku cupped his face, locking their eyes.
“Nobody is stronger or better than you, Kacchan, not to me. Everyone has secrets, you know? I'm just glad that you don't secretly hate me–”
“Izuku.”
“Hmm?”
“I love you. I could never hate you. I never did.”
Izuku Midoriya was only human. His tears wouldn't be thwarted any longer.
“Oh, I love you too, Kacchan,” he replied tearily, leaning forward and giving him another soft kiss.
And the two of them were happy, and would have been totally content to stay there on the icy concrete in the freezing cold, but then they heard footsteps.
Izuku snapped his head up, still tense from the battle, to see a worried Kirishima, who was now looking extremely embarrassed but grinning all the same. Just as Katsuki went to bite his head off, Izuku beat him to the punch.
“You tell anyone, Kirishima, and One For All will be gone for good. Are we clear?”
“YEP! The group just nominated me to ch– check on you guys, and um… ok! You're both doing just fine, I see so I'll just…”
With that, he turned and scampered off. Katsuki waited until he was sure he was gone before laughing. He hadn't laughed, really laughed, like that in a long time, mainly because he hated the way it sounded like broken glass, but he just couldn't help it. Not when he felt so light, lighter than he had in ages.
Izuku loved him.
Izuku loved him.
“Why are you laughing, Kacchan?”
“I guess I'm just in shock.”
“Wait– seriously? Do I need to call an ambulance–”
“No, Nerd! C'mere,” Katsuki snorted, planting a kiss on Izuku's forehead, which made him color up fiercely. He looked adorable that way, like a bunny caught in the headlights.
“O–ok, Kacchan. Can you walk or do I need to carry–”
“I can walk!” Katsuki huffed, pushing himself up from the wall to sit a little straighter. His muscles were killing him after sitting against the concrete for so long, and Izuku's cape was still draped across his shoulders.
There was still a lot they needed to discuss, and a lot they needed to mend about their relationship. Katsuki's insecurities had removed their sharp claws for now, coaxed away by Izuku's gentle lips and voice that dripped like honey. And when they bared their teeth in the future, Katsuki wasn't sure what he'd do. But at least now he knew that Izuku would be there to get him through it, as a lighthouse guides boats to safety from a raging storm. The lighthouse doesn't ask why the boats were out at sea to begin with, or chide them for being so needy, or refuse to shine its light because the boats were too late coming in with their apologies.
So this time, when Izuku offered Katsuki his hand for support, he took it.