Chapter Text
Katsuki and Shouto have been roommates for many years. Looking back on it, Shouto feels as though he was deceived. He was stressed, broke, depressed, and his friend offered to help him find an apartment after his father threw him out. Who would decline?
Endeavor didn't take very well to his favorite daughter coming out as trans, to be expected. Katsuki picked up every piece. The money Katsuki had saved up from modeling when he was a child was more than enough to make up for Shouto getting cut off from his trust fund.
At first, Shouto didn't like the handouts, feeling like a burden, but he felt even worse seeing the sad look and flinch of rejection crossing Katsuki's features every time he declined an iced matcha, or cologne, or a new phone, or Katsuki paying his rent.
Shouto was sure he had informed Katsuki that his budget for apartment hunting was $600 a month maximum. He had expected that his future was bleak, painted with mattresses on the floor, living in a shoebox with 6 roommates he hates. Shouto trusted Katsuki with his life; more than that, he trusted Katsuki with his soul. He knew Katsuki would hunt until he found the best for Shouto, so when Katsuki told Shouto to pack up cuz he found the perfect place for him and put the down payment, Shouto was ready.
The apartment is fucking massive. Full kitchen, living room, three bedrooms, penthouse, floor-to-ceiling windows, and the ceilings are HIGH, in the middle of Tokyo… for 600 bucks? Something was wrong.
“Katsuki, I don't understand,” Shouto said with a pout, looking down. He couldn't help but feel pranked, like the way Touya used to play with him before he passed. Showing him a donut box, only for Shouto to open it and find an apple. Or maybe this is the reverse of that? Expecting a closet-sized room with the only window showing you a view of a brick wall, but instead he was seeing the Tokyo skyline and a pretty glint in katsukis eyes that let Shouto know how pleased he is.
“What's not to understand, halfie? You wanna be homeless?” Katsuki is very blatantly ignoring the elephant in the room.
The trust Shouto has in Katsuki runs so deeply that usually, he just goes with the flow, but this is a bit too far.
“Katsuki.” Shouto pleads. Usually, hearing his name come from shoutos mouth sounds like a prayer. It makes the hero feel warm and gooey, like an idiot, like Deku. But, hearing shouto plead to him, begging for answers, it makes Katsuki's stomach twist. He never wants to be the reason Shouto is unhappy. This is something he knows for certain.
Katsuki drops the luggage he was hauling, not that it's much; Shouto didn't have a lot. Katsuki turns to face Shouto and in two quick strides, crosses the room so close he could feel halfie's breath beating on his neck.
Katsuki isn't used to feeling nervous. He is the pinnacle of confidence, poised and controlled, but around Shouto, he loses that, and Katsuki knows exactly why.
“It's big cuz it's for us. Both of us.” Katsuki finally admits, his voice is hard. Well, at least it's hard to Shouto. He knows Katsuki spoils him, most of their conversations being calm, soft whispers, so fucking soft. With anyone else, the way Katsuki is speaking to him right now would resemble a pillow, but Shouto knows Katsuki well enough to feel that it's a rock. Similar to the one down Katsuki's throat as he tries to choke up a suitable explanation as to why Shouto $600 are going towards a princess suite in the heart of the city.
“You can't afford rent on your own, so I thought we could share a place.” Katsuki tries to shrug it off and get back to unpacking, but Shouto grabs his wrist and pulls him back towards him. Somehow closer than before. “I'm- I'm not angry.” Shouto feels the need to breathe that out before he continues. With all Katsuki has given him, it's hard to ever be angry. “Katsuki, how much was this place?”
“12 hundred.” It's a bold-faced lie, and they both know it. Shouto doesn't see the use in arguing; regardless of the cost, he needs some place to sleep, and Katsuki won't have this any other way. It would be rude to turn down such a beautiful apartment.
“Katsuki,” Shouto calls out one final time. Bakugou can almost feel the rock starting to form in the base of his throat once again, but it dissipates as Shouto starts to speak once again. “Thank you, I don't know what I would do without you.”
The last part is whispered, soft. So quiet, Katsuki didn't even hear it. But he felt it. He felt how Shouto pulled him into a hug and how his left side warmed Katsuki so perfectly as they collided, and even more as they stayed there, together, neither willing to pull away first.
“I'd do anything for you, princess.” Soft and definite.
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Shoto's life revolves around Katsuki. When he decided he wasn't meant to be a hero, Katsuki reminded him that his life was his own, and he could do what he wanted. Shouto decided he wanted to go to school.
Online courses, of course. His face is too well-known to walk around a campus, and he doesn't think his heart could take the looks and the scrutiny. So all day, every day, he stays in their apartment. He lies in bed listening to his professor with his camera shut off, sometimes for a change of scenery, he'll go to the living room and lazy on the couch. When he's missing Katsukii extra while he's away on missions or out with his friends, Shouto will make a home for himself in Katsukii's bed. He never bothers to fix it up afterwards or wash the sheets. Katsuki never complains, though.
Well, he does complain. He complains about Shouto rotting away. Katsuki is a homebody himself, but every so often, Kirishima will manage to convince him to get out. Izuku tries to do the same for Shou, but it's less effective.
The only time Shouto leaves the house is to visit his mother, and even then, he won't do it alone. He brings Katsuki with him every time, and if Katsuki is busy, he’ll cancel the visit.
Even when Fuyumi wants to visit, she must come over to his apartment. She doesn't mind, though the kitchen is phenomenal, and the house smells so warm and amazing. It smells like katsuki; the sweet scent of nitroglycerin has permeated the walls over the years.
Shouto thinks that's part of why it's so hard for him to leave. He is used to smelling nothing but katsuki 24/7. Even when he's not physically there, as long as Shouto can smell him, he feels so fucking safe. He wishes he could bottle katsukis into a perfume bottle and take it with him anywhere. He wishes he could feel safe anywhere.
Katsuki is his anchor.
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“Shou, we are just concerned for you.” Fuyumi starts to pace around the apartment as she talks. Katsuki is sitting calmly on their couch, petting the cat he got for Shouto's birthday. He's nodding along as Fuyumi speaks while he sips his tea, only half listening. He's had this conversation with Shouto so many times that he can’t bother anymore.
“I have a coworker and I'm setting you up with him.” Fuyumi stops her pacing in front of Shouto. Before Shouto can respond, he hears a choke and a sputtering sound coming from Katsuki. He sees ripples of tea drip from Katsuki's mouth onto their cat soba, causing her to hiss. Sho feels overwhelmed; he just wants Fuyumi to go so Katsuki will hold him. “You need to get out of this stump, Shou. I love you and I want you to be happy, you know that, but you can't just leech off Katsuki forever! You both have lives to live.”
He doesn't respond. He just looks over to Katsuki, feeling the tears prickle slightly in his eyes, and Katsuki takes care of the rest. He rises from the couch and has a private, hushed conversation with Fuyumi before showing her out. Shouto doesn't know what was said, but he doesn't need to know. He trusts Katsuki!
Before Shouto can even think about anything, anything negative, anything self-deprecating, Katsuki speaks up. “You'll never be a burden to me, princess. You are my life.” Katsuki plops down next to Shouto. He cups his face for a split second, then pulls away and just leans on Shouto like a lifeline.
Shouto is sure that if Katsuki ever felt burdened by him, he would say something, but just because Katsuki doesn't feel it doesn't mean it's not the truth. Shouto is a leech. He wants to fix it.