Work Text:
Aged 8
“Don’t get too close, Deku.”
“I’m not a baby.”
The two boys are hunched over a firework in Katsuki’s hand. The blonde holds it at arm’s length, scooting further away from Izuku to ‘protect him’.
“What time is it?” Katsuki snaps, and Izuku scurries to grab his mother’s phone from inside.
“Eleven fifty eight!” he calls from the kitchen, before rushing back to the other, clutching his mother’s phone.
Inko Midoriya’s phone screen is a picture of herself and Izuku, embracing and laughing on a beach. Katsuki wonders when the picture was taken. They both tensely stare at the phone, waiting for it to turn 12. The phone’s brightness is on max, a soft glow of white light in the dark garden. They both squint as they anticipate the moment. Izuku blinks as it arrives, but Katsuki is already lighting up his palm, and sets the firework off. They both turn their little heads to the sky as it soars up, erupting into a flower of orange brilliance. Izuku thinks it looks almost as cool as Katsuki’s explosions.
He glances at Katsuki and watches as his ruby eyes reflect the blaze in the sky. He feels like he watches him forever, with the crackling of fireworks in the sky and the rush of blood in his ears. How the sharp edges of Katsuki’s face reflect the lit sky, flashing colours of yellow and red. He’s snapped back to reality as the blonde boy waves a hand around in his face.
“Whatcha starin’ at, creep?” Katsuki’s brows knit together as he stares at Izuku.
“The fireworks! Not you!” Izuku exclaims a bit too loudly. He clamps a hand over his mouth, turning fifty different shades of colour.
“Weirdo.” Katsuki mutters, and jogs into Deku’s house as Mitsuki calls for them to get inside to sleep.
They are able to still hear the fireworks outside as they lay side by side in Izuku’s tiny bed. Izuku’s All Might curtains do very little to hide the blaze outside. Unable to sleep, Katsuki kicks Izuku under the blanket playfully, which turns into a spar as the two struggle and tackle each other. Katsuki eventually pins Izuku to the bed, who wiggles a little under his grasp but eventually settles. His face bursts into a beam, and two huge dimples appear.
“Let’s light more fireworks next year, Kacchan.” he giggles. Katsuki grimaces and lets go of the laughing boy, rolling over to Izuku’s side.
“Okay.” he whispers, unable to hide the small smirk on his face.
-
Aged 15
Katsuki and Izuku do not light up fireworks the year after that, or the year after, or for any of the years since. Izuku hurriedly peels an apple over the table as his mother flicks through a few channels on the television, wishing to join her at the sofa.
“Oh look, Izuku, it’s almost twelve!” She smiles and points to the clock above the TV. Izuku walks over to the couch and places the peeled apple in his mother’s hands, before crunching down onto another apple he grabs from the fruit bowl.
“Gosh.” he chuckles through a bite. “Here come the explosions.”
As if on cue, a loud series of banging and crashing rains down, illuminating the Midoriya living room.
Only a few blocks away, Katsuki sits in his room, alone. The curtains are drawn closed to block out the fireworks, and Katsuki flops down onto his bed. He hears his parents cheer downstairs and the clinking of glass. The hell was so special about New Year’s Day? To him, a new year just meant he was a year closer to becoming number one. His thumb clicks at the side of his phone, increasing the volume of his music and drowning out the chaos outside. He taps at his phone, which buzzes frequently in his hand.
“201 messages? Who the fuck keeps messaging me?” He scowls, and scrolls through endless contacts. His thumb stops at one name.
The message reads: “Happy New Year Kacchan!” and Katsuki scrolls right past it again, leaving Izuku on delivered like he always did for the past few years. He types out a few ‘yeah’s in reply to some of the people, and turns the phone off. Well, this year would be the last year of middle school.
Izuku thinks similarly as he sits and chatters with his mother. He considers taking the UA entrance exam this year, although feeling powerless. He wonders if Kacchan would easily get into UA, and decides he definitely would.
-
Aged 16
Izuku is sat cross legged on the floor of the Class 1-A dorm, beside his classmates Ochako and Shoto. Many students agreed to celebrate New Year’s Eve in the dorm together, before leaving to celebrate the real New Year with their families. He holds two cards in his hand.
“Uno!” he chirps, placing down a yellow 2 and deviously holding his single card closer to his chest.
“Oh god, is Midoriya gonna win? Someone plus four!” Mineta groans. Izuku looks over towards Mineta, and then at Katsuki, who is perched above Mineta and Kaminari, resting against the arm of a sofa. It’s the dead of winter, but he’s wearing a black tank. Izuku shivers looking at him.
Shoto nudges Izuku’s arm. “Plus four, Midoriya.” On top of the stack of cards on the floor is indeed a plus four card. Izuku lets out a fake gasp and his classmates sigh in relief.
“Oh no.” he grins, and throws down his last card. It’s also a plus four, of course. “I win!”
He leaps up cheerfully and his classmates toss their cards at the floor in defeat.
“You get to pick a game now, Deku-kun.” Ochako says next to him. “Everyone’s bored of Uno.”
The room nods at him and they wait in silence. Izuku scratches his head, thinking hard about it.
“Um, truth or dare?” he suggests. He couldn’t really think of any good games. Surprisingly, the whole class likes the idea and they all sit in a circle on the floor again. Katsuki included, although he looks extremely irritated.
“Let’s use a random name generator and go round the circle.” Mina says, grabbing her phone and tapping around. “I’ve got a wheel I made a while ago.”
“I think we need to establish some rules. No intrusive truths, and no dangerous dares.” Iida throws his arms around as he always does, in short, choppy motions.
“But then where’s the fun in that?”
“Violence and lack of manners is not fun.”
“I think we should have one pass each, just in case.”
Class 1-A set ground rules, and eventually Mina’s phone is going around the circle. Most of the people pick the truth, including Izuku.
“Midoriya!” Hagakure says after spinning the wheel, “Who was your first celebrity crush?” Izuku’s eyes widen and he stops to think. He didn’t really have celebrity crushes because he thought all pro-heroes were cool.
“It’s All Might, isn’t it?” a certain blonde pipes in, eyebrows raised. Izuku’s head shoots towards the source at the opposite end of the circle and his expression contorts into one of shock, and then horror.
“Kacchan, he’s like my dad! That’s weird!” Izuku shouts and Katsuki shrugs.
“What? You’re fucking obsessed with him.”
“So are you.” He points out, offended. “And on second thought, it probably is All Might.” Katsuki rolls his eyes and scoffs. “Just not in a weird way, okay?”
Hagakure’s question begins a debate about celebrity crushes and Izuku is a little embarrassed his was All Might out of all people, and not in a weird way. Most people said Uwabami, or Midnight, but no one named a fifty year old muscle man. Asui, who is beside Hagakure, takes the phone. She clears her throat and the class settles down after arguing if Midnight or Mt.Lady was better.
“Oh, Midoriya again. Truth or dare?” So far, no one had picked dare except Kirishima who had taken a vinegar shot. His classmates looked at Izuku with pleading eyes, and he felt pressured to pick dare. He also did not want to answer another question.
“Dare.”
“Read out the last five things in your search history.” she says, with a glint in her eyes. Izuku hopes it is nothing too weird, and pulls his phone out of his pocket.
“Wait, it’s almost 11.” He shows Ochako beside him his lockscreen, and it’s indeed almost 11. The class instantly forget about the game and either scramble to leave for their families, or pull out their phones to contact parents to get a ride home. Izuku told his mother he’d stay at the dorms this year just in case something terrible were to happen to him on the way home. Ochako excuses herself to call her parents, so he makes his way to the kitchen to drink some water. As he flicks on the bright light, there is already someone standing beside the stack of water, wolfing down a bottle.
“Are you going home?” Izuku asks, walking over to grab himself a bottle. Katsuki slams down the now empty bottle beside multiple crushed bottles on a kitchen counter.
“Nah, ’s too loud back there.” he replies casually.
“Did you drink all of that? Just now?” Izuku points towards the pile of bottles in Katsuki’s arms as he throws them all into the recycle bin. Katsuki huffs a ‘yeah’ and leaves the room, muttering something about needing to piss. Izuku watches from the counter he leans on as more and more people say goodbye and head home, and he’s eventually left in the too bright dorm by himself, sipping at his second bottle of water. Well, not truly by himself as his childhood friend is still somewhere in the building. He looks at the clock, which reads quarter past eleven, and slumps down on the couch.
Izuku flicks through multiple movies on the big screen. They’re all corny rom-coms his classmates like to watch, and many of the films have already been watched. He should’ve asked one of them for a movie recommendation seeing as they’re all movie fanatics. He finally picks out a classic he’d watched a couple of years ago with his mother and squeezes a fat pillow in his arms.
Many minutes later, the elevator pings and Katsuki appears. He’d chosen the worst time to come down. Izuku crooks his head back to stare at the distraction, huge tears plopping down his face. He swipes at his cheeks with his sleeve, eyes red and swollen.
“Oh, hi.” he croaks, shyly ducking his head into the pillow and picking up the remote to pause the movie. The television is paused at a frame where a woman leans closer to someone else’s face, faces inches apart. Katsuki stares at the screen for a while.
“This is that shitty movie about a quirkless woman who actually and secretly has a love quirk right? My parents are always fucking watching this rubbish.” Katsuki, surprisingly, managed to make out which film he was watching from just lips and noses alone. Izuku chuckles.
“Wanna join?” he asks, shuffling down the couch a little to make space for Katsuki. Katsuki says no, but sits down beside Izuku anyway. Izuku unpauses the screen and the quiet buzz of the film begins again. The two are forced to watch an excruciatingly long kiss scene, and little happens before the credits are rolling on the screen.
“There’s no way you’re actually crying to this sappy bullshit.” Katsuki laughs when Izuku sniffles and rubs at his sore eyes. He throws a bundle of tissue at him. “Don’t be so gross.”
“Don’t be so mean! The violin was so sad, and the last scene especially had an incredible backing track. How could you not cry watching this?”
“I couldn’t even hear the damn sound over your stupid sniffing. You put the volume at 10. How much of a fucking nerd are you, crying to music?” He scoffs in disbelief, and Izuku begins rambling to defend himself, which Katsuki has to reluctantly (fondly) listen to. Before they know it, it’s already almost midnight as they argue about what would be the best quirk to have.
“It’s obviously super strength. All Might is literally a breathing example of the coolest quirk ever.” Izuku says, crossing his arms over his chest.
“You’re fucking biased cause that’s your quirk too. Pick something else, nerd.”
“I won’t, I stand by what I say. You also said your quirk is the best. If that’s not bias what is it?”
“I said explosion’s the best cause it obviously fucking is.” His palms light up and a cluster of explosions fly towards Izuku, weakly extinguishing before they reach him. “See?”
“No I don’t.” Izuku argues, green and black lightning crackling around him. He shoots up off the sofa before Katsuki can throw more explosions into his face and exclaims “It’s twelve!”
Izuku’s smile is so bright it might as well have been a firework in the common room beside Katsuki. He runs across the room and yells at Katsuki to follow him outside, which he does. When Katsuki pushes the doors open, Izuku’s lying down on a grass bank, staring up at the flashing sky. He throws himself down beside Izuku, not lying down but at least not standing.
“I do.” Katsuki says so quietly that Izuku almost misses it. He doesn’t question whatever the heck Katsuki ‘does’, so Katsuki sits upright, and shoots up fireworks into the sky from his hands, a display so mesmerising Izuku can only watch with huge eyes. The light is intense and warm, lingering in the sky for longer than a store bought firework would. Glowing specks crash down towards Izuku and he stretches out his arms above him, touching his fingertips before fading into nothing.
“I take it back.” Izuku breathes. “Explosion’s the best.”
“Damn right it is.”
No more words are exchanged between the two boys as they wordlessly stare at the fireworks above them. Katsuki’s now lying down beside Izuku and their shoulders are touching, barely but touching, with the grass below them ticklish and cold. Although Katsuki’s in just a vest, he doesn’t say anything about the cold. He feels Izuku shiver slightly beside him, but he doesn’t say anything about the cold either. They both lie down for a long time, even after most of the fireworks have stopped and there’s a rare pop every now and again. Izuku works up the courage to speak up, voice soft and a little raspy.
“Will you do that for me again next year, Kacchan?”
“If you want.”
-
Aged 18
“Oi, what are you doing tomorrow?” Katsuki asks, shoving on his shoes before he leaves the Midoriya household. Izuku stands at the doorway of his own bedroom, watching him.
“Nothing much. Probably going to the cinema with some of our friends. Are you going? They said you weren’t coming.” Izuku says, chewing down on a hawthorn stick.
“Gimme one too. I’m not going, I’ll be at the gym training.” he replies, and Izuku tosses a huge packet of hawthorn sticks at Katsuki, who frowns. “I said one, not a whole fucking pack.”
“Take it, I have loads. See you later Kacchan.” Izuku waves and Katsuki nods at him before he disappears into the night, closing the door behind him. He uses the rest of the night to reshelf piles of manga and notebooks he and Katsuki spent the majority of the day flicking through and analysing, before sitting on Izuku’s still too small bed to watch a montage of films on his laptop. As he settles into his bed, sinking into sheets that still smelled like Katsuki, his phone pings.
Kacchan: I’ll be at the playground by your house at 12 tmrw. Come or don’t.
He taps back a response within seconds.
Deku: am? pm?
Kacchan: Figure it out yourself. Night.
Deku: Kacchan
Deku: Why are you being stupid
Deku: Hey tell me
Deku: Did u actually go sleep
Deku: Goodnight
Deku: Reply asap tomorrow morning OK
He stares at his phone for another minute, but Katsuki does not reply. He wonders what Katsuki’s up to, and drifts off to sleep, dreaming of scarred hands and explosive fireworks.
Katsuki, in fact, does not reply as soon as possible to Izuku tomorrow morning. Izuku scoffs at the ‘read at 5’ on their chat, and types out a ‘Morning!’ anyway. He changes into sweats and a windbreaker, and throws on a scarf to tuck his face into for good measure. Shouting a goodbye to his mother, he jogs out of his house, before picking up the pace a little more. The cold winter air blows at his face, and his breaths form clouds as he runs. He does multiple laps, before realising his friends were spamming his phone to ask him where he was.
“Sorry guys.” he pants, after sprinting to the town centre at top speed. His face glistens with sweat, and he pulls a napkin from his pocket to wipe it. His classmates don’t question his lateness seeing his outfit and red face, and usher him into the screening, where they eat half of the popcorn before the movie even starts.
He spends the morning watching a particularly bad film, which he still cries to, as terrible as it was. He quickly sends a review to Katsuki on his way out -who replies with ‘I told you it was shit’- and walks around the city with his huge group of friends like tourists, buying food and clothes. It gets late and his friends gradually disperse, and he decides he also wants to return home, as carrying around a large box containing an All Might figurine was not great for him.
“See you later, Deku-kun!”
“Goodbye, Midoriya-san.”
“Yeah, bye! And Happy New Year!” He waves enthusiastically at the rest of his friends with his temporarily free hand, and he runs home in fear that his merch would be stolen.
By the time Izuku gets home, it’s already 11 and he takes a quick shower, scarfs down a microwave meal from his sleeping mother, and flops down onto his bed for a well-deserved rest. He’s in a cotton tee which just says ‘sleep’, and fleece shorts from his mother for a New Year’s gift, and he’s so comfortable he closes his eyes almost instantly.
They shoot open as he realises it’s 11:51 pm and Katsuki is at the playground, waiting.
He doesn’t grab socks, or a jacket, and barely puts on his slides before dashing out of the house. Why is he running so damn much today? Fortunately, the playground is only a minute or so away, and his chest heaves up and down as he stands beside the gate, clutching the fence to catch his breath. Unfortunately, it is -4°C and Izuku is wearing very little.
“What the fuck, Izuku?” Katsuki stands up from his seat on the swing set and stalks over towards Izuku, pulling open the gate to grab Izuku’s arm and push him onto the swing. He sits down beside him. “Did you fall asleep or some shit? You look like you just crawled out of your fucking bed.”
“Cause I did.” he groans. “I’m so exhausted, Kacchan, I just sat on my bed and almost fell asleep.”
Katsuki frowns and pushes Izuku’s swing so he’s lifted into the air.
“You didn’t have to come if you were that tired. Fucking idiot.”
“In what world would I not come?” he asks, not looking at Katsuki as he swung up and down. Something is thrown at his face, and he grabs it and turns towards a jacket-less Katsuki.
“A world where you have some fucking self preservation. Jeez, it’s freezing. At least put some socks on, dipshit.” Izuku’s eyes are still blown wide as he clutches Katsuki’s coat. He smiles and thanks Katsuki, enveloping himself in his warmth. He chatters on eagerly about his eventful day, swaying up and down with his bare legs dangling. Katsuki gazes at him, head against the metal chain.
Izuku’s eyes are closed as he talks, his lashes fluttering slightly. His freckled face is tinted pink from the cold, and his ruffled green curls ripple with the wind, brushing against his eyes. Katsuki just watches and hums every so often in acknowledgment as he babbles on and on. And then, the first firework is in the sky and Izuku stops and opens his eyes. Katsuki says it first, for the first time ever.
“Happy New Year, Izuku.”
Izuku’s already open mouth opens wider, and he gapes at Katsuki.
He smiles, “Happy New Year, Kacchan!”, and turns his head to the sky as he has for the past couple of years. Katsuki adds to the fireworks above them with expertly fired explosions he’d improved over the years. They managed to flash twice as bright, so bright that Izuku had to cover his eyes and Katsuki laughs, and rained down with twice as much brilliance and beauty that Izuku did not think was possible. Katsuki also pulls out a store bought ‘shitty’ firework, as he calls it, which he lets Izuku light up.
They both crane their necks upwards as the green firework flashes above them.
“Do you remember? We lit our first firework when we were 8. It’s strange thinking it was already a decade ago. Now we’re dumb adults, lighting our second one.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I do.” Katsuki says quietly.
Izuku beams, and begins to blabber on again about other meaningless things. He chats as he lights up another firework.
And Katsuki has a realisation.
He doesn’t know why he blurts it out, but looking at Izuku bundled up in his coat, cheerily laughing and talking, sitting side by side in a stupid kid’s playground on swings they were too big for, how could he hold back? There’s no words to describe the feelings he has for Izuku at this moment, but love seems like the most reasonable.
“Izuku, I love you.”
“W-what?” Izuku stammers, accidentally blasting the firework into the air at the wrong timing.
“I love you.” Katsuki hesitantly repeats, each syllable clear above the bang.
“I, I heard. I know, um.” He’s pink in the face, and oh so cute, and he fiddles with the hem of his shorts. “Um. Kacchan.”
“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. Fuck, I just thought I’d let you fucking know.” He raises his hands to his face, and looks up in frustration. The swing creaks to a stop beside him, and he feels hands above his. Izuku pries at Katsuki’s, peeling them off his warm face, and takes them into his own. His hands are cold and firm, but fit right into Katsuki’s. Emerald meets ruby, and they maintain eye contact for a while.
“I love you too. Kacchan, I’ve literally been in love with you since we first lit a firework.” he whispers softly, standing above Katsuki. The blonde doesn’t hesitate to pull Izuku into a kiss right there and then, cupping his face as Izuku palmed his spiky hair. They pull away once they’re out of air, look into the other’s eyes, and reach in once again.
“This is gonna be the best year of my fucking life.” Katsuki laughs as the sun rises, Izuku’s head on his shoulder as they lean on the fence of the children's area, ignoring any strange looks sent their way. After all, they were adults holding hands and sitting in a playground at 6am.
“Let’s light fireworks next year too.”
“Yeah.”