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Katsuki’s been dating Izuku for three years. It’s something he’s discovered feels right; laid out for him since the moment he was born. Izuku joined his agency five years ago, and ever since then, they’ve gotten closer and closer, and Katsiki finally confessed his love to Izuku one dark night after a heated argument in his apartment.
It’s no longer his apartment. It’s their apartment.
Katsuki smiles as he looks at Izuku, the morning sun hitting his face from the open window behind him. He nudges the man and Izuku groans. “Wake up, sleepyhead.”
“Go away.” Izuku mumbles, rolling over and burying his face in his pillow. Katsuki chuckles and gets out of bed, taking off his clothes to get changed into his hero costume for his shift today. “Mm.”
“If you’re staring at my ass I will fucking kill you, Izuku. I don’t care if you’re my boyfriend or not.” Katsuki says. Izuku throws his pillow at Katsuki’s back. “Hey!” Katsuki turns around, glaring at his boyfriend on his bed.
Izuku laughs, and Katsuki pulls the straps of his hero costume over his shoulders, before launching himself at Izuku. He screams as Katsuki lands on him, then laughs as he rolls over, grinning at Katsuki from above him. “Not fair,” Katsuki grumbles, “You overpowered me.”
“It wasn’t very difficult,” Izuku mutters. Katsuki opens his mouth in mock-shock and shoves Izuku gently. “Hey!”
“Get your damn clothes on, you child.” Katsuki says.
“You’re the one who tackled me.” Katsuki pushes Izuku off of him, and he grins in response. “Breakfast?”
Katsuki rolls his eyes. “If you can get ready in five minutes. And that also means brushing your teeth–you’re disgusting.” Izuku pouts and Katsuki leaves the room, entering the main room of their apartment.
He sighs as he grabs an almost-empty box of cereal out of the cupboard above him and tips out the contents into two bowls. He throws the box in the trash can next to the fridge as he opens it, the picture of him and Izuku as kids attached to the front passing his vision.
He stops and looks at it, then smiles and grabs the milk from the other side. Izuku jumps next to him as he’s filling the bowls. “Hey! You always add too much!”
“It’s only soggy because you take fucking forever to eat it, asshole.” Katsuki scolds. Izuku pouts and leans his head on Katsuki’s shoulder. “What is it?” Katsuki asks, quieter this time, more serious.
“Nothing. Just got a bad feeling.” Izuku mutters.
“You wanna skip? You can if you want—“ Izuku shakes his head quickly.
“No. It’s okay. My head’s just messing with me.” Izuku sighs, grabbing the bowl with less milk in it and leaning back against the kitchen counter to eat it. Katsuki looks at him, then takes his own bowl and begins to eat from it.
Izuku shifts around as he leans against the counter, and stares at the ground, his eyes flitting from Katsuki back to the tiled floor of their kitchen. Katsuki glances at him, but Izuku doesn’t say anything. “Are you sure you’re alright? I can find some cover–”
“I want to go, Kacchan. I’ll be fine.” Izuku cuts him off. “When are we leaving?”
“Two minutes.” Katsuki finishes his cereal. “Hurry up, slowpoke.” Izuku scowls as Katsuki ruffles his hair, then grabs his grenades from their hooks on the wall beside the door.
“We really need to move those.” Izuku puts his unfinished cereal on the counter. “One day someone’s going to open the door and it’ll bang the wall and explode them.”
“I drain my sweat out of them after patrols, idiot.” Katsuki grumbles, moving his grenades so he’s able to hold them both in one hand. “Hurry up.”
“I’m done.” Katsuki raises an eyebrow. Izuku sighs and finishes his cereal, leaving the bowl in the sink. “Happy now?”
“Estatic,” Katsuki drones, opening the door for Izuku. He smiles and leaves with his case in hand, and Katsuki follows, turning to lock the door behind him.
They walk to the agency, as per Katsuki’s demand. Izuku doesn’t go outside other than for patrols or the gym, and so Katsuki’s been making him walk every single day when they go to his agency, ten minutes away from their apartment. Izuku’s case bounces against his knees as he walks, swaying forward and backward.
Katsuki watches him, more than he probably should, because he doesn’t really deserve Izuku. He’s never deserved Izuku, especially ever since the past, when he bullied Izuku in middle school, when he told him to take a swan dive off the school roof if he wanted a quirk in the next life.
Katsuki scowls and looks away. Izuku glances at him, but doesn't say a thing. Izuku tells him every time Katsuki overthinks that he forgives Katsuki–Kacchan–but it never truly sinks into Katsuki’s head. The ugly thoughts take root and grow like a sick flower, while the kind thoughts burrow themselves into the soil with no fertiliser to boost their growth. The only fertiliser is Izuku’s reassurance, and that only goes so far. Katsuki needs to believe it himself for it to grow.
They arrive at the agency, and walk to the elevator together. Katsuki prods the third floor button with his finger and Izuku leans his back against the wall, jumping slightly as the elevator shaft begins to rise. Katsuki snorts and Izuku glares at him.
Their communicators go off at the same time, and now they both jump. Katsuki looks at Izuku, then slams his hand into the button on the wall for the lobby. The elevator shoots back down and Izuku holds his case tight to his body when the doors open. They exit, pushing through the workers attempting to get to the lower levels of the building, which Katsuki rents out for offices, and run out onto the crowded street they were just on a few moments ago.
Katsuki grabs Izuku’s wrist and tugs him into an alleyway, allowing him to have space to change into his hero costume as he checks the location of the emergency. It’s a few streets away–which is probably why they were chosen for the job specifically–surrounded by old, abandoned, unstable buildings.
“Make sure you have protective gear,” Katsuki warns. “Unstable building with a villain inside. Could collapse at any minute.” Izuku nods as he puts the rest of his hero costume on, then pushes the case against the side of the alley. They’ll be able to find it later, and, if not, Katsuki can get a replacement.
They start running, clearing the streets with their presence alone. Katsuki barks orders as Izuku apologises behind him, parting the crowds of people attempting to go about their regular Friday routines.
They arrive at the scene within five minutes and Katsuki immediately surveys the area. The building is old and abandoned, which means there isn’t a likelihood of a civilian rescue situation. But–it could still be a hostage situation. Iida’s at the side, ordering people around, and Katsukui walks over to him. “What is it?”
Iida turns to him. “Hostage.” Katsuki grits his teeth. “On the fourth floor, but we can’t find anyone who can go up.” Katsuki looks at the building, but Iida shakes his head. “Your quirk is too destructive. We need you down here to blast any falling debris on the civilians we’ve already rescued.”
“Tch. Who’s going in, then?” Iida looks behind him, and Katsuki turns to see Izuku getting fitted with a harness. “No–”
“I’ll be fine, Kacchan. I have my protective gear on, and I’ll be pulled out at any time if anything goes wrong.” He smiles. “I’m okay.”
Katsuki clenches his jaw. He has half a mind to go up to Izuku and kiss him, in case it will be his last chance, but he can’t because nobody knows they’re dating. Not even Iida, who needs to know where his classmates are every second of every day. Sure, their classmates have guessed, but Izuku and Katsuki have always shut that down because there aren’t any gay heroes that have come out. Ever. Their entire careers rely on their popularity, and they risk that if they do anything of the sort. No matter how much Katsuki and Izuku hate it, they can’t do anything that could put each other in danger, or put their careers in jeopardy.
Even so, it’s dangerous to be vocal about who you’re dating as a hero, because villains always target the people you love. Katsuki and Izuku saw it in the war against Shigaraki, and they've seen it over and over again still, with either themselves and villains who have seen the small touches and words shared between the hero partners and exploited it, or others they work alongside.
Katsuki stares at Izuku as he prepares to enter the building. “Don’t get killed or I’ll kill you myself.” It’s the same as, if you sacrifice yourself I’ll hunt you down forever you idiot.
Izuku turns and smiles, “I’ll be counting on it.”
He continues to watch as his boyfriend walks into the broken entrance of the building, and Katsuki falls back into his usual role of a hero. That’s what they do–they separate their relationship from their hero personas. Not just because they have to, but also because they need to be as focused on their job as possible to complete their jobs. However, there’s a voice at the back of Katsuki’s head, unlike usual, that reminds him constantly that Izuku’s in the building, a building about to collapse, a building Katsuki has to protect people from. The last reminder allows him to slip back into Dynamight instead of Kacchan. But, the voice reminds with the previous reminders, and he looks up at the building to check its stability.
A piece of concrete falls and Katsuki’s eyes widen. He raises his hand and blasts the falling chunk into small pieces, as previous hostages scream behind him. Their screams soon die out, and Katsuki looks at them. “Once you’re healed, you need to get out of here. Got it?” They nod, and the nurses helping them nod, too.
Someone yells around the back of the building and Katsuki blasts himself through the air, destroying the falling debris once he’s reached the area it’s falling upon. The hostages being healed thank him, and the cycle repeats, like some minigame. But, it’s not a minigame, because real people’s lives are at risk, and every time Katsuki thinks of a minigame his mind drifts to Izuku still in the building.
The hostages start to remove themselves from the dangerous site, and once all of them are gone, Katsuki circles round the building to the front of it. The press are here now, and Katsuki avoids them as he approaches Iida. “What’s going on in there?”
“Deku has engaged in combat.” Iida informs him in his usual, clipped, professional voice. “He’s managed to help the hostage to escape from the room, but it’s still unstable.”
Still unstable. Of course. Katsuki glares at the building as if it’s personally offended him, trying to find the room Izuku’s in. He can’t. The building is too tall, probably 300 metres tall, and at one point in time, years ago, it must’ve been a skyscraper. The outskirts of cities like Hosu are always like this, because they’re new cities, building upon old buildings used for offices in the past. But, with the introduction of quirks, these buildings have become unneeded–everything is centralised to allow for easy access for heroes if a robbery or infiltration occurs, and they’ve fallen into despair.
Katsuki doesn’t trust it. He doesn’t trust it even more when the ground seems to shake from an attack in the building, and it begins to crumble. His eyes widen and the people with the spool of wire connected to Izuku’s harness begin to reel it in. But, it gets caught on something inside the building, and when they tug it again, the wire comes out of the entrance with nobody attached to it.
“No!” Katsuki yells, starting to run forward. Iida grabs him by his shoulders and pulls him back. “Get off me–gfet–Izuku!” He shouts, elbowing and hitting Iida in an attempt to get him away from Katsuki.
Instead, Iida pushes him behind him and passes him onto someone else who’s arrived at the scene, then enters through the entrance, as the top of the building begins to crumble. Katsuki stares, frozen in place. That should be him. It should be him who’s going into there, because Izuku’s probably dead or being self-sacrificial, and–is that a body leaning out of the window?
Katsuki gasps, and Todoroki starts to speak to him. When did he get here? “Bakugo, you need to calm down–”
“Get the fuck off of me–I need to–Izuku!” He screams, his voice becoming hoarse. “No–”
The building groans, and Katsuki watches in horror as it completely collapses. Everyone surrounding it runs, and Todoroki pulls him further back. Katsuki closes his eyes as the force of the dust originating from the debris attacks him in the face, and when he opens them, the building is in pieces, a pile of rubble on the ground. A sob rips itself from his throat, and all he can think about is Izuku, then Iida, who had been braver than Katsuki, who hadn’t stood still and had run to Death’s door as soon as he could. Todoroki gasps behind him, and Katsuki staggers closer to the rubble.
He should’ve listened to Izuku in the morning. He should’ve listened and made Izuku sit out for the day, call in sick. Maybe then, this never would’ve happened. He should pay attention to Izuku when he gets a bad feeling, because it never goes right. Last time, Izuku was captured by villains for a week straight, and now he’s buried under rubble–definitely dead.
Someone groans under the rubble and Katsuki steps back. A piece of rubble is shoved to the side, paired with the sound of Iida’s engines, and Iida resurfaces from the chunks of concrete. He pulls himself up, then drags someone with him, someone covered in blood and dust and injuries.
Izuku grimaces as he stands up, and Katsuki runs over to him. He grabs Izuku quickly, pulling him into a hug–not tight enough to hurt Izuku, but so much that it must be overwhelming. Izuku lets out a shaky sigh into Katsuki’s shoulder, and when Katsuki pulls back, he knows what he wants–needs to do.
He’s not letting Izuku out of his sight again, and he means it when he grabs Izuku’s face and kisses him. He can taste the blood spilling from Izuku’s split lip, but he doesn’t care because it’s Izuku. It’s him. He’s still standing, which means he’s alive.
Katsuki pulls back to let Izuku breathe, then checks over his body for injuries. Part of his costume is ripped, and there’s dust covering the fabric everywhere. He’s covered in blood, but most of it isn’t his blood, apart from small cuts on his face and exposed skin and the blood running from his split lip. Izuku looks over Katsuki’s shoulder at the press, but he doesn’t seem worried. If anything, Katsuki’s been more worried about the reaction of the public, because Izuku’s never truly cared about anything but him. “Are you hurt?” Katsuki asks.
Izuku shakes his head. “Well, kind of. But, not–not much.” Katsuki looks at Iida, who only nods, then looks over at Todoroki and smiles. “You made us public.”
Katsuki looks at Izuku. “Is that–is that okay?”
Izuku scoffs and pulls him into another kiss.
Katsuki lays in bed as Izuku gets changed for a press conference. “Do you seriously have to go? I could think of a few more fun things we could do.” He winks, but the only thing really on his mind is cuddling on the sofa and watching movies while stuffing their faces with unhealthy fast food.
“You’re lucky they’ve invited me and not you. They don’t trust you with the press.” Katsuki rolls his eyes. Last week, someone asked him if he really is gay, and he almost fucking killed them.
But, the aftermath has mostly been great. Eraserhead and Present Mic announced they’ve been dating for fifteen years, Todoroki and Iida came out accidentally in an interview, and Ochako revealed the full dedication of her charity; to Toga Himiko.
While Katsuki looks at Izuku, he thinks back to when he thought that Izuku was dead. When he thought, for a minute or two, that Izuku would never be standing there, in front of him, ever again. He smiles. “You happy?” Katsuki asks.
“Of course.” Izuku turns around. “I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.” Katsuki grins, and Izuku walks over, then leans down and kisses him.
“Careful.” Katsuki murmurs as he kisses Izuku back. “I won’t let you leave.” Izuku pulls away and prods his shoulder with his finger. Katsuki laughs, and Izuku finishes doing up his buttons. “Get home safe.”
“Mhm. I will.” Izuku says. He smiles, then leaves the room. Katsuki’s on bed rest, due to an injury from a couple of days ago, and it reminds him of that day once again.
Katsuki stares at his door as it opens, and watches Izuku walk inside. He was attacked by a villain while shopping four days ago, and Izuku has refused to leave his side. “Why do you do this to yourself?” He mutters.
Izuku narrows his eyes and turns around, food in a bag hanging off his shoulder. It’s food from a place down the road–~Katsuki can tell because he can smell it even from this far away. “What do you mean?”
“Keep coming back.” Katsuki stands up from his seat on the couch. “Like I never did anything to you in the past.”
“Don’t start–”
“Why? Because you know you’re self-destructive? Because you know you’re only caring for me when you feel pity, even though you know that you should never feel that towards someone who’s hurt you so badly.”
Izuku sighs. “Kacchan–”
“Don’t.” Katsuki warns. “Don’t even try to hide away from this, or pretend like it doesn’t matter. Even if it doesn’t matter to you, it matters to me, and I care about you, Izuku. I care about you, and I hate what I did, and I hate how you’ve forgiven me so easily.”
“Because you deserve my forgiveness, Kacchan.” Izuku puts the bag of food on the kitchen counter. “You deserve it, especially after you did that during the war–”
“I didn’t do that shit for you to hold it over my head!” Katsuki yells. “I don’t fucking deserve anything from you, Izuku, not after everything I did!” He spits as he shouts, but he doesn’t care about hygiene right now. He cares about pushing Izuku away because he’s scared, he’s scared of hurting him again, of breaking him beyond repair.
He’s known how he feels about Izuku for years now, ever since just before the war, when they spoke about what they might do after it. But, he can’t do that to Izuku–he can’t intoxicate him like that, corrupt the boy he knows is too pure for Katsuki–will always be too pure for Katsuki.
Izuku approaches him, and Katsuki steps away, clenching his jaw. “Don’t,” he mutters. “Don’t do this, don’t break yourself for me, I can’t–stop looking at me like that!” His voice breaks as he yells.
Izuku grabs his face, and Katsuki looks at him. He tries to move away, but Izuku’s grip tightens on either side of Katsuki’s face. “Kacchan. Why do you think I come back here?2
“Because you hate yourself.” Katsuki provides.
“No. Because I care about you, and I don’t want to see you get hurt. I committed myself to this when I ran forward to try to get you out of the sludge villain. That was the day I chose to become a hero, no matter what it takes. It’s you, Kacchan. It’s always been you.”
Katsuki stares at him. “You care.”
“I care.”
“Nothing more?” Izuku narrows his eyes, shooting Katsuki a quizzical look. “You don’t think of me as anything more than that?”
“I don’t understand–”
“I know how I feel, ‘Zuku.” Katsuki says, “I know how I feel, and I hate it, because I don’t deserve any of it. But you think I do, and you don’t–you don’t feel anything more than just care for me?”
“What do you mean?” Izuku asks.
Katsuki purses his lips, then opens his mouth. “I love you.” Izuku freezes, and his hands fall from Katsuki’s face as if he’s been burned. Shit. Katsuki opens his mouth, then closes it, half expecting Izuku to leave the apartment. “I–sorry–shit–”
“No.” Izuku says, shaking his head. “No, don’t apologise, I just–I didn’t expect that.”
“You don’t feel the same?” Katsuki asks quickly, trying to receive the disappointment as quickly as possible so he can dissipate some of the hope building in the pit of his stomach. Izuku stares at him, and Katsuki looks away. “Fuck.” He looks back at Izuku, but he’s still staring, his mouth open. “Dammit, Izuku, say something!”
“I don’t know!” Izuku shouts, a tear falling down his face. “I don’t know how I feel, everything’s so confusing and I don’t–I don’t get it! I don’t know how you could–”
“You keep getting yourself in danger. Throwing yourself in front of me.” Katsuki says, “I do the same, but I–I hate it when you do it because I’m a goddamn hypocrite. And, goddammit, I love you, Izuku and I’m sorry–I’m sorry if you don’t feel the same about me, I’m sorry if I’m putting all of this on you right now because I know you hate disappointing me or hurting me, but you need to know. And fuck it–fuck it if this breaks anything between us, because neither of us are stable, and this was bound to happen at some point. I love you, and I won’t stop, ever, even if you love me back. I meant it when I said I’ll chase after you for the rest of our lives, and I’ll continue to, even if you push me away or stab me in the heart. Izuku, I–” He’s stopped by lips on his own, Izuku’s tears mixing with his saliva in his mouth.
“I love you too, Kacchan.” Izuku mutters, “I think I have for a long time.”
Izuku comes back from the press conference at 2AM. Katsuki’s still awake, watching something random on television he’s barely paying attention to since the conference aired. Izuku puts his keys on the table, the sound of them clinking reverberating through the apartment, and walks into the bedroom, laughing when he sees Katsuki staring absentmindedly at the television, his eyes drooping. “You don’t have to stay up if you’re too tired to, by the way.”
Katsuki’s head snaps to look at Izuku in the doorway of the bedroom. “Izuku.” He smiles sleepily, opening his arms. Izuku rolls his eyes and gets into bed, leaning his head on Katsuki’s chest. Katsuki wraps his arms around his boyfriend, and hums into his hair. “Love you.”
Izuku grins. “I love you too, Kacchan. Night.”
“Night-night.” Katsuki murmurs. “Sleepytime.”
Izuku snorts. “Go to sleep.” Katsuki grumbles.
“Demanding bastard.”
“Shut up. Go to sleep.”
“Mmmm. Idiot.” Izuku glares at Katsuki, whose eyes are closed. He smiles, already knowing the look on Izuku’s face. “I love idiots, though.”
Izuku rolls his eyes. “Good for me.” He moves around, getting into a comfortable position, before he falls asleep in his boyfriend’s arms.