Archive of Our Own

Masaru rubbed at his aching eyes, placing his glasses on the little table beside his couch. He breathed in the natural sweet scent of his son sitting a few feet in front of him with his head buried in his school work. It was his first year of middle school and Katsuki was determined to have the best grades Aldera had ever seen (a feat he shared with Izuku- not that he’d ever mention that aloud) and be the first student from his shitty school to be accepted into UA’s Hero Course.

They had both decided to get a headstart on their respective work as soon as Masaru had picked Katuki up from school, reminding Kats that this weekend was his first weekend free since school had started up a few months ago and that it was time they did something fun as a family.

Mitsuki had suggested the zoo, maybe a movie or a new UA Lego set, but Katsuki was determined to get his hands on the new limited edition All Might action-figure, and really, who were they to deny their son anything? Mitsuki agreed as long as he promised not to accidentally blow it up again, and that he’d dry his hands thoroughly and run an ice pack over it before he added it to his collection.

They never voiced their concerns outloud, but they were both becoming increasingly worried about Katsuki ever since the school year started. He’d space out randomly, spending more time doing his homework then he usually would- there were times when they heard him teaching himself the new work they covered that day or talking to Izuku about it while they were playing in the backyard. Free weekends meant everything to them when it meant they got to spend a little more time with their son.

Masaru trailed his eyes over Katsuki’s arms, taking in the scars etched along his skin after he used his quirk for too long. “Kats? Kats?” he called, shuffling his new designs off his lap and onto the couch beside him as he leaned forward to touch his son’s shoulder.

Katsuki pulled back, a soft explosion detonating in his book as he turned to look at his father with wide eyes, breathing heavily as he dropped his pencil to clutch at his chest.

Masaru sprang off the couch, crouching beside Katsuki to gently hold him by his shoulders and turn him over in his hands, looking for anything that might explain his son’s reaction, his heart thumping in his chest with concern. “Kats? It’s okay, honey. It’s just me. Just dad. It’s okay, son,” Masaru whispered, pulling Katsuki into a tight hug.

Katsuki breathed in deeply, little fingers grabbing at the back of his father’s shirt as warm tears soaked into the front.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. You were just distracted–”

Katsuki pulled back, the only indication of his father speaking was the vibration in his chest, not the sound of his voice. “I-I didn’t hear you,” he sobbed.

“Did you use your quirk today?”

Katsuki moved further back, training his eyes on his father’s mouth while he spoke.“Ahuh, Deku and I did some target practice before you picked me up, and then a little more outside before I got started with my work.”

Masaru pursed his lips, hands moving forward to hug Katsuki tightly again.

They stayed like that for a little while longer, Katsuki’s breathing evening out just a bit as his chest pains subsided, until Mitsuki entered through their front door, dropping everything she had in her hands and joined her boys on the floor in the middle of their living room. She buried her face in the tops of their heads, wrapping her arms tightly around them as she traced circles onto their backs.

“Want to tell me what happened, honey?” Mitsuki asked gently as she pulled Katsuki into her lap, facing her son with equally red eyes while he looked up at her.

“I- I couldn’t hear when dad called me earlier…” Katsuki admitted softly, pulling his arms in front of him to show his mother the angry red burns along the inside of his palms, “and- and I can’t fully feel my fingers.”

Masaru stifled a gasp with a fist in his mouth, quickly excusing himself from the living room with his phone pressed tightly against his ear.

“How long has this been going on, Kats?” Mitsuki whispered, brushing Katsuki’s sweaty strands of hair away from his forehead. Her heart clenched at her son’s full body tremble, his erratic heartbeat pulsing against her fingers on his jugular.

“A few months,” he answered with a sigh, pushing the palms of his hands into his eyes. He tried breathing in deeply, tried imagining him and Izuku practicing his new trick shots in his backyard, tried thinking about his parent’s proud faces when he brought back a perfect test score, but none of that seemed to calm his racing heart. His breaths left him in quick puffs while he looked down at his fingers.

“Kento said that we can come in. He was just about to leave but he said that he’ll see us now if we don’t want to wait,” Masaru said a few minutes later, grasping a duffel bag tightly against his chest while the keys twirled around his finger.

Mitsuki nodded, standing up with Katsuki in her arms as she followed Masaru to the car and jumped into the backseat. She whispered small encouragements to her son, assuring him that it would all be okay and that they’d do anything to make him feel better.

Katsuki nodded, his eyes never leaving his parent’s mouths as they spoke to him during their short drive to the hospital.

⊹₊⟡⋆

It was four hours later when the Bakugou’s were called into Kento’s private office, the privacy doors tinted a hazy shade of grey. It smelt of lemons and hospital grade disinfectant, the type that felt like it was singeing your nose hairs the moment you breathed in too deeply.

Mitsuki took in the familiar room, looking over at Kento’s awards and certificates that adorned his walls while Katsuki poked listlessly at an anatomical model of an eyeball on the desk in front of him. Masaru was trying- and failing- to conceal his sobs behind a used tissue.

Kento pulled a soft leather chair to sit on in front of Katsuki, a small smile on his face as he looked directly at the little blonde. “Katsuki, what can you tell me about your quirk?”

Katsuki grinned, turning his hands palm side up as he looked proudly at his doctor. “I can secrete a nitroglycerin-like substance from my hands and make it explode. It’s extremely versatile and the size of my explosions depends on how much sweat I accumulate."

“Very good, Katsuki. Brilliant,” Kento praised, “if I put my hand in front of my mouth like this, can you hear me?”

Katsuki shook his head, a look of horror crossing his features for the second time that day. Katsuki could barely remember when the habit had started, he wrecked his brain trying to remember the last time he had managed to listen to someone without having to look at their lips.

Kento smiled kindly at Katsuki, resting his larger hands atop the boy’s smaller ones. “Due to the nature and breakdown of your quirk as well as a few tests we ran today, I- uhm- Katsuki, do you want to wait outside while I speak to your–”

“Spit it out, Kento. He deserves to know whatever you’re going to tell us just as much as we do,” Mitsuki interrupted. She crossed her arms, drumming her fingers over her bicep as she leveled Kento with a cool glare.

“Nitroglycerin belongs to a group of drugs called ‘nitrates,’ agents like these exert their effect by being converted to nitric oxide in the body by mitochondrial aldehyde dehydrogenase, which is a potent natural vasodilator. This is known as the widening of blood vessels, effectively increasing the flow of blood throughout your body. Katsuki, you have a naturally high resting heart rate and due to the nature of your quirk it just–” Kento looked down, taking a deep breath before looking back at Katsuki to talk clearly and slowly, “it’s adding to your anxiety. Making it much worse. You told me you had some chest pains earlier right? And that you couldn't really feel your fingers too, that’s signs of an anxiety disorder as well as nerve damage due to your quirk…”

The room went deathly silent. The only sounds audible was that of their combined breathing and Katsuki’s and Masaru’s leg shaking against the leg of their chairs.

Kento’s heart ached as he took in the family’s heartbroken faces. The destructive nature of his quirk settling over them like a dark storm cloud. “About your hearing, according to the tests my audiologist ran, it appears that Katsuki has a severe, bilateral, sensorineural hearing loss. I’m so sorry we didn’t pick it up earlier… we’ve always assumed that Katsuki’s quirk could affect him in more ways than we could see… I just don’t think we expected the most dire situation.”

Kento took Katsuki’s little hands in his, smiling in the gentlest way he could as his brown eyes met ruby-red ones, “it must’ve been so hard for you. Being surrounded by sounds you were struggling to hear, relying on context clues and reading people’s lips. You were so strong. So, so, adaptive, Katsuki. I am so proud of you for that. Most adults run into my office sobbing when they hear a normal ringing in their ear when it’s too quiet at night, and yet here you were, adapting and trying to make the most out of what you had.”

Katsuki sniffled, nodding his head along with Kento and begging his eyes not to betray him.

Mitsuki and Masaru moved closer, pulling their son in between them in a crushing hug. That was all it took for the damn to break.

Katsuki cried. He sobbed until his voice was hoarse and his eyes stung, and Kento, Mitsuki and Masaru let him. Patting his back and wiping his nose with the cliche blue-box of white tissues all doctors had in their offices.

Kento reached over his desk and settled his laptop onto his lap, pulling up his favourite simple diagram of the inside of a cochlear implant as well as emailing Mitsuki a few articles, reviews from previous patients as well as his own thoughts on the amplification device.

When Katsuki calmed down enough to slump into Masaru’s chest, Kento took that as his opportunity to explain the unfortunately invasive procedure in implanting the device.

“How does it work?” Katsuki asked, eyeing the cochlear and semi-circular canals on Kento’s screen skeptically. He reached his hand to touch the back of his ear, rubbing along the jutting bone Kento had called his “mastoid” a few minutes earlier.

Kento smiled, opening an old note that his audiologist had written him years ago when he got too tired of always walking into Kento’s office to explain to his patients how the device works. “The Cochlear Implant functions by collecting sound through the microphone- which will be an external component, it’s this little piece over here,” he explained, pointing to the small device held onto a little girl’s head with a bright pink headband, “this sound is converted into an electrical signal that’s transmitted through the skin.

“The electrodes on the Cochlear Implant send electrical signals that stimulate areas of the cochlear, these signals are then transported to the auditory processing centres of the brain. This implant is supposed to work like a regular cochlear. I think I can speak to a few Support Engineers, my audiologist- his name’s Leo- and an ENT so we could customize it a bit more to suit the nature of your quirk.”

“How long is the healing period and what’s rehab like?” Mitsuki asked, zooming into the device and reading the names of the different components.

“About a month and a half to two. Rehab… since this is an acquired hearing loss, Katsuki already has his speech fully developed as well as a good understanding as to how sound works, it would probably take some adjusting since i’ve been told that sounds sound a bit more mechanical and not… well natural, but we’re not too worried about how this will affect his communication, if anything does come up we’ll send him right over to our Speech Therapist and you’ll be in constant contact with Leo for the devices.

“He’ll probably experience a bit of dizziness at first, there’s a lot of care instructions that come with the device and there’s the fact that he will be completely deaf without his implants. If he wants to learn any form of sign language, that’s completely optional and it would help if he’s in a situation where he doesn’t have access to his implants, but thanks to the wonder of cellphones and all that jazz, I wouldn't be too concerned. It’s completely up to you.”

The next hour was spent filling out forms, asking Katsuki if he was sure that this was really what he wanted and smiling proudly when he declared that “a little thing like a hearing loss isn’t going to stop me from being me.”

“Doc, my arms… what will happen to them if this nerve damage continues?”

Kento excused himself from the forms at his desk and moved to the seat in front of Katsuki, taking the younger boy's hands in his once more. “The simple truth is that you’ll lose all feeling in your arms, you’d be lucky to regain some feeling back with physical therapy but that in itself would be a miracle. As for the nitric oxide in your blood, extreme levels may damage your heart and someday lead to heart failure, on top of making your anxiety absolutely unbearable.”

Kento hated that this was the way Katsuki had to find out about his quirk, his heart aching as he took in Katsuki’s crestfallen face once more. He wanted to assure him that he could become the hero he always dreamed of being, but he couldn’t feed this little boy, who wanted nothing but the truth from him, a bunch of lies and empty promises served on a golden platter. “With time… there could probably be some support items that would make it easier for you to use your quirk–”

“Yeah. Thanks, Doc,” Katsuki interrupted, shoving his hands into his pockets and settling on his chair beside his father for the rest of the session where they planned Katsuki’s surgery date as well as the best ways to deal with his anxiety.

The following month had been the busiest month of the Bakugou’s lives. Katsuki had stayed in hospital for a week, his Cochlear Implant surgery a success. They had also been visited by Cardiologists, Psychiatrists as well as Leo who had helped them schedule all the right appointments as well as ensuring that Katsuki’s implant worked perfectly (sometimes a bit too perfectly when he left his ‘ears’ on the kitchen counter and couldn’t hear when his parents had called out to him.)

Katsuki was way too busy focusing all of his energy on recovering that he didn’t give much thought to what he was going to do now that his dream of being a hero was no longer attainable. When things finally calmed down enough and his implants were fully healed, Katsuki had finally settled on a decision that he was ready to speak to his parents about.

Izuku had insisted on bringing his homework and assignments with Auntie Inko when they visited a few nights every week, the nerd even enrolled in the same sign language classes as him- albeit at a slightly different time because Katsuki threatened to blow him up.

He strolled down the stairs and stood in front of his parents, watching happily as they moved their new design sketches off their lap and gave him their full attention. “I want you to pull me out of Aldera- wait, before you say no, just hear me out,” Katsuki started, placing the sheets of paper he had hidden behind his back in Mitsuki’s hands. “Being a hero isn’t the only thing I can do. Attending Aldera is just going to hold me back, I know that technically I wouldn't have any trouble- not that I ever did- in classes anymore thanks to the implants but I really think that it’ll be a waste of time.

“I did some research on a few other online homeschools that’ll allow me to work at my own pace as well as take on a few other courses. There’s a page in my stack that has the design course I want to enroll in. I know that I could walk into our company and they’d have to welcome me with open arms but there’s a lot I can learn from this course. When I pass it I'll be allowed to help design Hero Costumes and suggest changes, and more importantly my word would actually mean something. I’ll enroll into UA’s Business course and maybe they’ll let me work part-time in the Design department. There’s a few other things that I still need to sort out, but I think that this is a good start.”

Masaru sobbed. Mitsuki ruffled her son’s hair and pulled out her laptop, settling it on the coffee table in front of their couch and pulling Katsuki between them. They spent the rest of their weekend finding the perfect new school for Katsuki, contracting Katsuki’s new design room and taking Katsuki to see all the little things that go into running their Design company. Katsuki wasn’t one to be easily impressed.

Growing up with a silver spoon in his mouth meant that he saw whatever he wanted whenever he wanted but nothing could’ve prepared him for the stack of folders his parents' fashion friends had dropped off at his house later that week, each page filled with designs that never made the cut and why. Katsuki was determined to show his thanks by fixing up their tiny messes and sending it back to them- and if he got to work in their factories for a few weekends whenever he was bored- well the more experience the better, right?

For the first time since Katsuki started middle school, he finally felt like he knew what he was doing with his life. Yes, his heart still ached at the loss of his hero dream- but a dream is not worth a life. Especially not his when there was so much else he could do. All Might was still the Symbol of Peace, All For One- the world’s greatest scum was killed- and the world could live in peace once more. With their Symbol of Peace watching over them while the next Symbol grew.

⊹₊⟡⋆

During the first semester break of Katsuki’s last year of middle school he had to sit through a nauseating suit fitting for Inko’s upcoming wedding. Katsuki had met her lanky blonde fiancé a year ago when Inko and Izuku dragged him to their families weekly dinners. He couldn't explain it, but there was something about the man’s bright blue eyes and broad grin that yelled ‘safe’ every time he was in the same room as him. Izuku had openly adored the man, smiling up at him in a way that surpassed the way he used to look at All Might’s fights while they were young and played ‘superheroes’ in their childhood park.

“Katsuki, please. If you could keep your ears on during the ceremony I promise I'll let you pick out anything you want for your design portfolio and give you free reign over the workshops, and you can order that new sewing machine you had your eye on,” Mitsuki promised, eyeing Katsuki through the mirror while she applied her final touches of lipgloss.

“Deal,” Katsuki grunted.

“And please be nice to Izuku. He misses you, he drops by every couple of nights to ask if you’d like to go skateboarding with him and last month he dropped off a box of signed All Might merch that you still haven’t opened. He’s really trying here and you’re giving him absolutely nothing.” Mitsuki slipped her lipgloss and a glasses wipe into her clutch purse, stepping away from her vanity to straighten Katsuki’s deep-red tie.

Her silent plea rolled off Katsuki’s shoulders, completely unwilling to listen to anything his mother had to say about that nerd. He huffed, shoving his hands into his pocket with his phone and implant case before he strutted towards the living room where Masaru had patiently been waiting for them.

“Ready to go?” Masaru asked, twirling a bright red car key around his fingers. He grinned at his wife and son, burning the memory of them all dressed up into the back of his eyelids. He wished they’d always have fun and peaceful days like this, where the only things on their minds were what they were going to eat and how to keep Katsuki from taking his ears off. His mind wandered to the last three years of his life. All the changes.

Katsuki was doing phenomenally in school now that he got to work at his own pace, his design portfolio was nearly complete and he even started a new portfolio on a completely new set of materials that he thought would be more durable and breathable for hero costumes- Masaru knew deep in his heart that UA was going to adore him and accept him with open arms. Katsuki’s anxiety had gotten a bit better too thanks to the new herbal pills Kento had prescribed as well as the yoga classes that Katsuki pretended to hate. Everything was falling into place for his son and he couldn’t be happier- everything except for the strained friendship between Katsuki and his oldest friend.

“Best behaviour, brat,” Mitsuki reminded Katsuki, slipping her feet into red Louboutin’s. She checked her makeup one last time in her pocket mirror before making her way to the car, her boys following close behind her.

It was going to be a long night and they needed all the energy they could get.

⊹₊⟡⋆

The ceremony was quaint and intimate, filled with the Midoriya’s close friends and a few new faces from Yagi’s side of the family- a kind detective wearing a ridiculous top hat, a grumpy old man dressed mostly in yellow and surprisingly- Principal Nedzu of UA.

Katsuki refused to let the opportunity to introduce himself to his future principal go to waste, so he steeled his nerves and took a deep breath. He lifted his hand to the small implant on the side of his head, ensuring it was securely in place before his conversation with the Genius Rat.

To call Katsuki’s conversation with the Rat eventful would be an understatement. He had personally given his email address to Katsuki, encouraging him to send him his final results as soon as he got his report card back as well as any portfolios he’d like to submit. Nedzu had even promised him a space in both the business class as well as one in the costume department based on Katsuki’s current work alone, but what really shocked Katsuki was when Nedzu suggested he take up some of the Support classes modules, specifically the materials class as it would greatly expand his knowledge on Hero Costumes as well as adding another certification to his name.

There was nothing wrong with being well-rounded and insanely educated after all.

Nedzu had left shortly after Inko and Yagi had cut into their three-tiered cake, a sobbing Izuku only a few feet away as he watched his parents with a dopey grin on his face.

It was a few hours later when the rest of the guests were leaving that Izuku had finally worked up the courage to tell Katsuki what he’d been dying to tell him for months. He walked over to the refreshment table, piled a few not-too-sweet desserts on a plate that he knew Katsuki would like and then grabbed two bottles of water. He breathed in, once, twice, then bit the inside of his cheek and forced his feet to take him to Katsuki.

Katsuki pushed around the blueberry in his plate with the tip of his knife, the soft buzzing of sugar in his veins keeping him awake despite it being a few hours past his bedtime. He looked around at all the familiar and unfamiliar faces, gaze settling on Inko’s tear stained cheeks and flushed face. This was probably the happiest and most relaxed he’d ever seen her.

And then there was the matter of Deku- Deku who had been jumpier than usual since he met Yagi, Deku who had gifted him a new pack of All Might cards with All Might’s signature on it for his birthday, Deku who looked like he was trying his level best to keep his voice from leaving his throat, Deku who was shakily walking up to him with water bottles and a plate of desserts that he had been eyeing since the ceremony began.

Izuku stopped in front of Katsuki, the tips of their dress shoes nearly touching as he looked down at the table then at Katsuki, noticing that he still had his implants on and would definitely still be able to hear him. He took a deep breath, reminded himself that blonde in front of him was his childhood friend and that despite the disastrous chasm that grew between them, Katsuki was still the one friend he remained friends with after he was told he was quirkless, and Izuku was still the one friend Katsuki still had after being told about the backlash of using his quirk and his new way of life. If there was anyone that deserved the truth from him- it was Katsuki. “Kacchan… can we talk?”

Katsuki grunted, leaning his back against the edge of the table and grabbing the extended plate of desserts out of Izuku’s hands. “What now, nerd? Scared mommy and daddy will forget about you while they’re on honeymoon?”

“Very funny, Kacchan. Yagi and mom wouldn’t do that, besides I'm sorta going with? Not really but kinda- it’s complicated. Do you have a second?” Izuku pressed the tip of his shoes into the dirt, rubbing his thumbs over each other as he nervously waited on Katsuki’s response.

Katsuki looked up at Izuku boredly, letting his disinterest show overtly on his face. His eyes trailed over Izuku’s suit, heart catching in his throat when his gaze landed on the tie he had gifted Izuku for his birthday a year ago. It was a simple make really, designed using the colors of All Might’s Silver Age suit, the red and gold making Izuku’s green eyes look more vivid. He took his time, slowly shoving spoonful’s of blueberry cheesecake into his mouth, revelling in the nervous way Izuku bounced on his feet and twiddled his thumbs.

Katsuki’s nonchalant and uninterested behaviour drove Izuku insane. It had taken him 4 months to finally build up the courage he needed to approach Katsuki and tell him that they needed to talk, and here he was, his childhood friend decked to the nines in typical Bakugou fashion. He tried not to let his gaze linger on the sharp cut of Katsuki’s white shirt beneath the blonde’s charcoal grey shirt. He swallowed hard- turning his head towards his parents instead of the grumpy blonde in front of him.

“What do you want?” Katsuki eventually spat, pushing his plate into the middle of the table before shoving his things into his suit pocket. He turned towards Izuku, his hard gaze settling on Izuku’s own determined ones and realised that there was absolutely no way the nerd was letting him leave before he got to say whatever it was that was trying to jump out of his throat.

“Can we- can we go somewhere a bit more private? The rose arch where we took pictures should be empty now since the photographer left.”

Katsuki clicked his tongue in response, stalking towards the small bench he knew was just a few feet away from the arch. He settled lazily against the back of the bench, unbuttoning the top button of his shirt and loosening his suffocating tie.

Izuku gulped at the sight, urging the blush on his neck not to spread any higher. Kacchan really was the most beautiful person he’d ever seen.

“Well? We don’t have all night, nerd. Spit it out.”

Izuku’s heart raced in his chest, threatening to run up his throat and into Katsuki’s open hands. The past two years felt like pure torture, not being able to walk with Katsuki back and to school, their family’s weekly suppers were often held with the blonde being locked up in his room or studio and if he had joined the rest of them at the table it was without his ears, even if Izuku did try to sign to him, Katsuki would yell about it being rude to wave his arms around while they were trying to eat- and Izuku had no choice but to watch the boy discreetly and hope that he’d be in a better mood to talk to the next time they came over. “Kacchan- Kacchan it’s… Kacchan I am so sorry. I-I-”

“You what?”

Trying to use his words was clearly getting him nowhere, the importance of what he was attempting to say was immediately lost as soon as he started stuttering. He shut his eyes, remembering what Yagi and Gran Torino had told him about feeling the power as not just a power- but as an extension of himself.

Izuku breathed in deeply, allowing One For All to buzz in his veins as small sparks of green lightning crackled around him. He focused on the ground beneath his feet, bending his knees slightly before he clumsily jumped on top of the arch and back down to stand in front of Katsuki- a very pale and shocked Katsuki. “Kacchan I- I’m moving to America. Next week. I know this isn’t exactly what we wanted after our whole quirk-”

Hearing Izuku say the word “quirk” seemed to be exactly what Kasuki needed to hear to snap out of the daze he was in. Izuku had a quirk. The nerd had a quirk. He had a quirk and he was going to become a hero. He had a quirk and he was leaving. Izuku was leaving. He stood, palms popping as he grabbed Izuku by the front of his shirt. Katsuki didn’t know what to say- what to feel. Too many things changed way too quickly and it suddenly felt like he was being pulled in by the sea, unable to swim back to shore. “Just fuck off,” he snarled, pushing Izuku away from him and onto the ground before he stormed off, grabbing the keys from his father and locking himself in their car.

Katsuki hated change. He loathed it, despite being a helpless victim to so many changes over the past three years of his life, every new change still managed to bring a deep ache to his heart that he could never seem to get rid off. Some days were a bit better than others- the ache didn’t feel as heavy, but other days it kept him rooted to his bed, unable to roll out of it until he desperately needed to use the bathroom, and even then the limpness of his muscles threatened to render him immobile.

He tried to tell himself that it was no big deal. That they weren’t that close regardless and that he shouldn’t be feeling so hurt that Izuku was going to move to a completely different continent- it hit him then that he wasn’t even hurt over the fact that Izuku had a quirk and was going to be a hero- what hurt him was that Izuku was leaving to become a hero somewhere else. He refused to look at that too closely, it was much too touchy-feely for him.

To say that Mitsuki was mad at him when they left the ceremony was an understatement. Katsuki had known his mother for his entire life- but never before had he seen her that angry until she yelled at his- “ungrateful, snobby, selfish ass”- her words, not his, about how unfair and childish he was acting towards Izuku.

⊹₊⟡⋆

The day finally arrived when the Midoriya family had to leave.

Since the day Mitsuki had ripped Katsuki a new one he had unconsciously started designing Izuku’s hero suit when he was supposed to be working on his last portfolio to send to Principal Nedzu- but it seemed that no matter how hard he tried to stop himself from doodling, his hands and mind had other ideas.

A few days passed and Katsuki had a pile of torn out design papers on the side of his bed, colored in with Izuku’s signature deep forest green. He spent the next two days cursing himself, calling himself an idiot and saying that it was probably the guilt of singeing Izuku’s tie that had propelled him to design his hero suit- but really, if he honestly sat down and thought about it- the simple truth was that he wanted the nerd to wear his designs- and his designs alone.

Katsuki knew from the moment Principal Nedzu’s eyes widened imperceptibly at some of his designs that he was going to be big- and it wasn’t his massive ego that was speaking- he was just that confident that he was going to do amazing work. He pushed his UA portfolio to the side, reminding himself that he still had three months left before he had to submit it to Nedzu and got started on another portfolio purely for Izuku.

It was a rigorous week- Katsuki pushing himself to work on his designs as efficiently as possible before Izuku’s plane took off in a few days. By the time he was done Katsuki had both summer and winter designs of Izuku’s new suit- and it looked damn good if he said so himself. He took inspiration from All Might- their shared hero- and molded a suit that was subtly reminiscent of his Golden Age, the color scheme for Izuku instead being a deep forest green, black and red. He also added in a yellow cape- the idea springing from the grumpy old man in yellow from the wedding.

He didn’t have enough time to test any fabrics- nor did he have the time (or courage) to ask Izuku about the specifics of his quirk- but that wasn’t an issue he had to deal with now. He could always call Auntie Inko and ask her to send him Izuku’s designer’s details and she would gladly give it to him.

Finally satisfied with the thick file, Katsuki neatly packed it into a large waterproof brown bag, pondering the implications of writing a small note. What would he even say? Sorry for getting mad at you, I'm just really hurt that you’re leaving? He eventually just scribbled ‘kick ass’ and signed it off on the last page of the file- and if Katsuki slipped in another tie that he made Izuku- well that was between him and the universe. All that was left to do was shove it into one of the nerd’s bags before he noticed.

In true Inko and Izuku fashion the two had sobbed from the moment they saw the Bakugou’s until after they had boarded their plane- first class thanks to Yagi. Katsuki had thankfully managed to slip the brown bag into Izuku’s backpack while he was sobbing into his parent’s shoulders along with Inko. Yagi had eventually promised that he would fly them back whenever they felt too homesick. Izuku and Yagi gathered up their large trolleys and headed towards the terminals, Inko reminding Izuku that they had a few minutes left.

Izuku nodded, realising that this was probably the last chance he got to speak to Katsuki before everything officially changed. He shook out his hands, walking with a barely concealed nervousness towards Katsuki. “Kacchan, I’m still really sorry about how this-”

“Forget it, nerd.”

Izuku stared, his jaw dropping at Katsuki’s mostly calm words. It took a moment too long for Izuku to snap back to his senses- only being brought back to the present when Katsuki sighed. “Kacchan, I- I know you’re going to do amazing at UA. You’re always going to be great at everything you do. UA should be honored to have you as one of its students-”

Katsuki shrugged, Izuku’s honest praise raising a deep flush on his cheeks and ears which he begged the nerd not to notice. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”

The air around them was heavy with the words they were both too afraid to say. The weight of each of their truths pressing roughly against their lungs.

“Stay safe.”

“Be safe.”

Izuku laughed at the choice of wording, their childhood bond shining through beneath the cracks of their strained friendship. Katsuki allowed himself a small smile, the edges of his mouth lifting imperceptibly.

“Izuku!” Inko called from the terminal, waving Izuku towards them, her voice hoarse from crying.

And with that, Izuku smiled softly at Katsuki, waving energetically at the Bakugou’s as he ran towards the terminal- the starting point of his new life.

⊹₊⟡⋆

Katsuki shuffled in the elevator, straightening the collar of his black and orange Dynamight shirt, ensuring that his X-shaped logo with two black dots in the top right corner were easily visible. What good were interviews if he didn’t use them to show-off his brand? He slid his sweaty palms over the sides of his black slacks, stopping at his pocket when he felt his phone ring. Sighing heavily, he unlocked the device and held it against his ear, watching as the small screen above the doors flashed vibrantly with every floor he passed.

“Katsuki, still on for lunch after your interview? Did you drive or should I pick you up?” Momo’s sweet voice asked from the other side of the phone.

Katsuki’s and Momo’s friendship had taken the media by storm. Almost every news outlet eager for an interview with two of Japan’s most popular tycoons- they were all sorely disappointed when Katsuki refused to give them anything more than, “we’ve been friends since UA when I redesigned her ghastly hero suit, the rest is history,” in a Vogue Magazine interview when a reporter had displayed pictures of Katsuki with Pro Hero Creaty’s arm looped through his while she wore one of his newest formal designs. During that interview, above being told that he “designs like someone who really loves and appreciates women,” he had also been shown other pictures the media had adored of him where he was laughing freely with other Pro Heroes from Creaty’s year group.

“Don’t sweat it. Ichiraku’s a few minutes drive from here. I’ll meet you there?”

“Great. See you soon, Kats. Market the fuck out of that interview,” Momo replied with a laugh, making an obnoxious kiss sound into the speaker before cutting the call.

Katsuki smiled at his friend’s antics, grateful to see the girl finally out of her insecure bubble. It had taken them years to get to the point where she could call him without feeling like a bother- eventually realising that- yes, Katsuki would still take her call even if he was currently on the way to the biggest interview of his life- the Hero Commission's Fashion branch- Hero’s Couture. The elevator eventually opened, signalled by a soft buzzing sound before he was ushered out of the elevator by Pro Heroes Hawks and Lady Nagant, who greeted him with warm smiles and complimented his latest collaboration with Pro Hero Suneater.

“Mister Bakugou, it’s so wonderful to finally meet the man who’s been working on our Pro’s suits. It’s truly an honor to meet you,” Haruhi, a petite woman with pale blue skin and fluffy tendrils of burgundy curls greeted, pulling him with a firm grasp towards the crisp white couches and black marble coffee table in the centre of the studio. Her dusty pink eyes seemed to glimmer with mischief, a huge smile on her face as she settled opposite Katsuki on her couch.

“The pleasure’s all mine, thank you for having me,” Katsuki responded politely, adjusting himself on his seat as he looked around at the studio. Huge cameras filled almost every spot in the large space, overhead lights casting a warm white glow onto the entire room- undoubtedly catching the glint of his silver smart watch. He allowed himself to fully appreciate the room he was in, smiling to himself as he regarded the professional manner every person in this studio held themselves in- it was clear that each and every one of them had worked hard to be there and that made Katsuki feel all the more proud.

His parents had squealed so loudly his implants rang, having to lower the volume from the app on his phone before he could show them his invitation that he had gotten in the mail.

The interview went by almost perfectly- Katsuki got to talk about the new materials he was able to work with thanks to Support Engineer Genius- Hatsume Mei- who he met in his materials class during high school and somehow the girl had wormed her way into his private workroom- the two had been collaborating with other Pros ever since.

He was positively delighted when Haruhi had brought up his parent’s company- proudly telling her that it was all thanks to the support of his parents that he had managed to start his own company at all, and that without them he’d probably still be a moody, rash blonde who only wanted to lock himself in a well-lit room and design hero suits all day. That little part seemed to be exactly the opening Haruhi was looking for.

“So, Mister Bakugou, we all know about all your Japanese Pro Hero fans, but what about your American ones?” Haruhi asked with a knowing smile on her lips, she turned her head towards the big screen that was still displaying a picture of a fondly exasperated Katsuki with Pro Hero Red Riot proudly showing off his new suit at the last annual Hero Commissions Ranking Ceremony. She fiddled with the Ipad on her lap and a paused newsclip of Pro Hero Deku, America’s Sweetheart, Number Two Hero and the world’s Symbol of Hope, replaced it.

Katsuki’s heart ached in his chest, the dried blood on his childhood friend’s face and neck made his gut churn. He tried to focus on anything else but the blood and ruined buildings behind the green haired man- but all Katsuki could see was Izuku’s bloody, hopeful smile as he politely regarded the reporters in front of him. He was finally seeing Izuku in his most honest and raw hero form- his anger and anxiety had previously spiked too much when he initially started watching Pro Hero Deku on screen, the worry made it hard for him to breathe.

The man would be bruised and bloodied, his hero suit tattered and sticky with substances he refused to acknowledge, but even so, the man always had a smile on his face- and more importantly, he always won. He had saved countless civilians from despairing situations- replacing their horror and fear with something much more beautiful- hope.

“Would you mind if we played last week’s Hero News Network's most viral post?”

All Katsuki could do was nod.

“Deku, we’re loving the new suit! It’s so different! Good-different from what you usually wear. I gotta admit that the full green was finally growing on us.”

“Thank you, Akira. I was looking forward to a new look and told my team to go crazy with it- they clearly didn’t disappoint. I got it commissioned from DynaMight’s back in Japan- honestly all of my suits are made by him and his team, I would definitely recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a new look! I heard he’s recently dropped a new streetwear line- I had it preordered the day it opened up for sales and it’s currently sitting in one of my moving boxes.”

Katsuki’s heart soared at the praise, his eyes widening when he picked up on the words “moving boxes.”

“That’s adorable, I'm sure all of your adoring fans are looking at their shipping costs right now. Do you really mean to tell us that DynaMight’s Katsuki Bakugou has been responsible for all of your hero suits? Was he a smaller, lowkey company before he started DynaMight? That’s what some of us are assuming considering he only started his company and launched his brand 5 years ago, two years after he graduated from UA with multiple certifications, and a year after you officially debuted.”

Izuku laughed, lifting his scarred hand to rub the back of his neck, unclasping his yellow cape and throwing it across his broad charred shoulder. “We’re childhood friends. We’ve known each other since before we could even talk and I adore his work- he does everything so passionately. He’s the only one I’d let my agency commission suits from- it’s my way of thanking him for believing in me and my way of showing him that I believe in him. He really does such amazing work! I’ve only ever worn suits made by DynaMight or Bakugou’s- they truly do cater for all types of people! If you’re ever in a bind and need something stunning to wear, I can assure you that you’d find something on their website.”

The video cut off after Izuku had started blushing furiously when the reporter had told him that he has a very obvious love and adoration for his coworker and that she’d definitely be looking at DynaMight’s formal line for a dress for her sister’s wedding in a few months.

Katsuki was half tempted to pull off his outer devices, dunk it in some water and wash it thoroughly with dish soap because there was no way he had heard Izuku publicly announce that he knew that he’s been the one designing all of his suits for all these years. Katsuki was going to hire a hitman for Izuku’s loose-lipped team as soon as he got into his car. News of Izuku moving was completely overshadowed by news of Izuku knowing he was the maker of his suits. It was something he had desperately tried to keep secret for all those years and now it was out in the open for the whole world to see.

The rest of the interview passed by in a blur, the only thing he fully remembered was when Haruhi had hugged him tightly after the cameras cut and thanked him profusely for being such a wonderful guest. She also assured him that he was about to get very busy and that he should probably start hiring more help, to which he had to agree if the constant buzzing of his phone was anything to go by.

He thanked Hawks and Lady Nagant a final time before he stepped into the elevator, pushing the ground floor button with more force than necessary as he fished out his phone and called his secretary to get started up on their hiring process.

Katsuki felt for his keys in his pocket, muting his phone as he headed towards the guest parking area. Ichiraku’s was basically around the corner and he contemplated on whether to drive there or take a walk and finally sort out the pandora’s jar of feelings his interview with Haruhi had inadvertently brought out. Upon reaching his car he realised that his hands were shaking, taking that as the last push he needed to walk to his lunch date with Momo. He made his way back to reception, asking the kind lady behind the desk if it would be possible for someone to take his car back to his building, politely handing her his keys when she said yes.

He was grateful that his fans no longer ran up to him and crowded him when they saw him in public- something that he had made very clear on his website and social media. Instead they had now preferred to wave from afar and hold out whatever they wanted to be autographed above their head so Katsuki knew what they wanted from him.

He was glad that today seemed to be the day where everyone around him had places to be- and everyone was rushing in the opposite direction? That should’ve been the first sign that something was horribly wrong- a second later a streetlight crashed into the pavement in front of him, the pressure of the fall causing a light rumble in the ground beneath his feet. Katsuki was about to jump into the open building on his side when he noticed an old woman trapped beneath the rubble of a nearby building.

He ran towards her, praying that he’d be able to pull her out of the slab before the rest of the building collapsed on them both. He laid his palms on the side of the woman, heating up his hands and exploding a chunk big enough for him to safely pull her out.

His chest was heaving, his heart racing in his chest from something more than just the nerves of being stuck in the middle of a random villain attack. He carefully helped the woman to her feet, guiding her towards the boutique he was previously planning to take shelter in when the building behind him collapsed. There was no way either of them were fast enough to outrun the falling debris- without thinking, Katsuki shielded the old woman with his body, her stringy grey hair tickling the skin under his chin as he prepared himself for the weight of the building- but it never came.

He looked up, his heart dropping to his feet as he noticed his childhood friend holding up the collapsed building, floating higher up to safely dispose of the rogue piece before floating back down to kneel in front of Katsuki and the old woman.

“Are you ok- Kacchan?!!”

Katsuki stared, then stared some more, then stared again. At some point during all of his staring, Pro Heroes Pinky, Uravity and Creaty swooped in, taking the villain into custody and helping civilians into ambulances. All the while, Izuku remained kneeling at Katsuki’s feet, gaze focused on the comforting red of Katsuki’s eyes.

“Kats, that is the last time I ever let you come to lunch unattended,” Momo scolded, standing just a few feet away from them with her hands on her hips, the material of her self-mending suit already stitching together over her bellybutton and upper arms and waved the elderly woman over.

Momo’s voice had immediately shook Katsuki out of whatever trance he was in, his heart rate calming almost instantly when he looked down at Izuku’s still kneeling figure. His gut churned with too many emotions to process- hurt, shock, anger and finally, relief. Katsuki reached out, tangling his fingers in Izuku’s curls to convince himself that this was real- that yes, he was just in the middle of a villain attack and was about to be crushed by the side of a building, but more importantly, yes- Izuku was right in front of him, looking up at him with the same dopey grin he’d given him since they were toddlers.

“Kacchan,” Izuku said warmly, rising to his full height and taking Katsuki’s hands into his own, turning his palms up to inspect the damage his small explosions may have caused.

Katsuki’s heart lodged itself in his throat, his shame for never accepting Izuku’s attempts to reach out to him leaving a sour taste in his mouth as he watched his oldest friend fret over the non-existent burns on his smooth palms. He catalogued Izuku’s every movement to memory, the steady rise and fall of his chest, the light tapping of his foot, his furrowed brows- everything. He always knew that Izuku had changed a lot during his years training to become a hero- he noticed it especially whenever he was looking over the measurements of Izuku’s new suits, but seeing him in front of him like this made Katsuki realise just how much Izuku had grown.

He was no longer the lanky, nervous boy he grew up with. Izuku was now well over six foot, his shoulders and back as broad as Kirishima’s and Iida’s, with a smile as warm as Uraraka’s. Katsuki trailed his gaze over Izuku’s arms, eyes widening at the thick muscles beneath his flimsy white shirt. He wasn’t an idiot, he knew that Izuku was called ‘America’s sweetheart’ for a reason, but seeing him this close made him wonder why he hadn’t joined the nerd’s fanclub any earlier.

“-chan, Kacchan?” Izuku called out, waving his scarred hand in front of Katsuki’s face before pulling him into his chest to look at the placement of his implants. Sighing fondly he moved the implants back into position before he pulled back to look at Katsuki, a huge smile on his lips as he looked at his old friend. He realised then that all the magazines and photoshoots didn’t do Katsuki justice.

He was way more beautiful up close, his still perfect skin, his ruby-red eyes, the sharp lines of his jaw and neck, and the light dusting of pink on his cheeks- none of it was fully captured in any of his pictures and he suddenly felt a bit out of sorts knowing that he never got to really grow up beside Katsuki.

Sure, he called his parents all the time, had weekly video calls with Katsuki’s secretary and design team, a few bits and bobs from the other Pro Heroes who were friends with the blonde, but that was nothing compared to actually seeing the blonde whenever he wanted to, complaining about their shared homework or shooting each other odd looks over the table if there was a dish they weren’t particularly a fan of.

“Why are you back?” Katsuki eventually asked, cursing himself for not being able to swallow his pride and say “welcome home, nerd,” shaking off Izuku’s rough hands and taking a step back, finally allowing himself to look at Izuku fully.

He shot Momo a pleading glare, which she quickly understood and made her way back to the others to give Katsuki some privacy- he was glad then that he did actually confide in her about his conflicting feelings for his childhood friend, because he was sure that anyone else would’ve interpreted that glare as a sign to help him get out of that situation.

In that short moment between letting out a breath and taking in another, his mind wandered back to the night a few months ago, where he and Momo were wine-drunk, expensive bracelets and watches discarded on the coffee table in front of them along with their phones. Katsuki could vaguely remember how he got to Momo’s mansion that night after their time at the Hero Gala, blood still buzzing from the too many flutes of champagne he downed to avoid making small talk with people he had no interest in.

Momo had invited him as her plus one, whether it was because she wanted the company of one of her oldest friends that night or because she wanted to push the front cover of America’s Vogue magazine into his face- well, Momo would gladly argue against the latter and insist on the former. Katsuki remembered popping open the cork of Momo’s most expensive wine after he had looked over the front page, Izuku’s hazy emerald eyes looking back at him. Momo had teased him relentlessly after that, cooing over how Izuku had always made sure to wear something of Katsuki’s during all of his interviews and photoshoots.

Izuku stalled, a small smile finally gracing his lips as he rested his hands behind his back, bending slightly to look Katsuki in his eyes. “It was finally time to come home,” he breathed, hoping that Katsuki would hear the sincerity and yearning in his voice. He had been waiting for this moment for the better part of 4 months. Ever since his mom had told his dad that she was feeling homesick, Toshinori immediately started working on a way to get them back home.

He had bought them a new house a few doors down from the Bakugou’s, their paperwork filed to the Hero Commission, a list of apartments for Izuku to look at- all that and more in a matter of a few days. Not only did Yagi become a father to Izuku, he became a husband for his mother, and Izuku couldn’t have asked for better. He could hardly remember the last time he saw his mother that happy, that carefree.

While Izuku knew he was going to miss the place that made him into the hero he was, he was much too homesick to think of anything else. Sure, he was going to sorely miss flying around with Stars and Stripes, making drug-busts every other day.

There was always an abundance of crime in America and he could hardly remember when he had more than a few consecutive days off. He was doing good work back in America- so good in fact that he was ranked the Number Two Hero and The Symbol of Hope, and he owed it all to his parents and friends who became family. But something was always missing.

No matter how many awards he won, how many smiles he put on people’s faces, how many times he acted as a light during someone’s darkest moments- nothing made him feel happier than when he was watching Katsuki’s interviews, reading Katsuki’s articles, collecting every magazine that had something about Katsuki.

Katsuki. Katsuki. Katsuki.

Always him. It took Izuku years to finally figure out what the gaping hole in his heart was, and it felt for a long time after that there was no hope in ever filling it- until one day, after a particularly gruelling mission when he stumbled into his office and overheard his secretary talking with Katsuki.

All it took was the sound of his childhood friend laughing with Toka for him to finally piece together the suspicions he’d had about his suit for years. It felt like the final puzzle piece was finally in its place and Izuku couldn’t be happier knowing that all this time his best friend had silently been supporting him, and that small admission had dissolved a guilt he’d been carrying ever since All Might had entrusted him with his quirk, telling him the words he had yearned to hear.

Izuku never forgot the way Katsuki’s eyes widened and his breath caught in his throat the night Izuku had told him he was moving to America to become a hero, the slight tremble in his hand that he hid by clenching it tightly against his thighs. It broke Izuku’s heart to see his best friend so heartbroken, and the worst part was that Izuku never even got the chance to explain before Katsuki pushed him away, running off to steal the keys from his father and locking himself inside until his parents were ready to leave. He shook the memories off, instead focusing on the light red gashes on Katsuki’s palms. “Kacchan! You’re hurt,” he said, pulling the blonde’s hands into his own and staring at the sickly pale-pink skin.

Katsuki’s breath caught in his throat, the sudden closeness and warm feel of Izuku’s hands on his sent a tingle up his spine and a churn low in his gut- feelings he refused to think about until he was flattened under his weighted blanket with an old All Might movie playing in the background. He forced the air back into his lungs, taking in a deep breath so he could tell Izuku off, “Deku, I’m-”

“Sorry! Over here!” Izuku yelled at the EMTs, waving at the lilac-skinned woman whose head swiveled in his direction the moment he shouted out. He shot her a brilliant smile when she nodded towards the open back of the ambulance, before she turned around and started setting up.

Katsuki wanted to snarl and yell at Izuku. Tell him that he was perfectly capable of looking after himself and that there was no reason for Izuku to drag him towards the EMTs. He hardly had a scratch on him and he barely had a first degree burn- he’d know better than anyone else the limits of his quirk and what would warrant serious medical intervention.

But the words died down in his throat the moment Izuku's hand laid against the middle of his back, gently leading him through the crowds of people and towards the ambulances lined up at the entrance of the street.

Izuku guided Katsuki to sit down at one of the chairs propped against the ambulance, carefully turning Katsuki’s hands palm-side up and explaining the nature of Katsuki’s quirk to- he looked down at her name tag- Tsukimi.

“It’s really sweet of you for worrying so much about your boyfriend, Hero Deku, but from what you told me about his quirk and well… the rapid healing of his hands, I’d say he’d be alright before he even gets home. That’s the thing about quirks, they heal us from the little things sometimes and that seems to be the case for your lover over here. If you have any issues, it would be better to bring it up with his doctor, but I don't think that there’s anything I can do for him,” Tsukimi explained kindly, looking over the pair with a soft smile on her face. “Oh, and Mister Bakugou, my girlfriend’s a huge fan of the collab you did with Hero Creati, I can't wait to tell her that I met the two of you!”

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, flushed red from embarrassment while Katsuki just nodded his thanks and walked out into the busy streets, trying to orientate himself so he could get home.

“-chan! Kacchan, wait up. Let me take you home! You were just in the middle of a villain fight,” Izuku pleaded, trailing closely behind Katsuki while trying to keep his face turned away from the reporters around them.

Katsuki made a shooing motion with his hands, readjusting his devices on his head before making a beeline towards the edge of the street- honestly, how did Deku even want him to react? He had no idea himself.

DynaMight’s was only a few blocks away and while it would’ve definitely been faster for him to drive there, he didn’t think it would be any easier considering the debris that currently littered the road. Walking it was then. “I can take myself home, Deku. I've been doing it for years,” he replied coldly, shoving his hands into his pockets and avoiding all attempts of Izuku’s eye contact as he suddenly floated in front of him.

“Kacchan, please. It’s been-it’s been years,” Izuku tried again, dropping Float so that he could stand in front of Katsuki with his hands stretched out at his sides, striking a very childish pose in the hopes of stopping Katsuki from leaving.

“I’m tired, Deku, I just had the biggest interview of my career and right after that I was immediately thrown into the middle of a villain attack. Excuse me for not throwing a party when I saw you- I didn't even know you were coming back,” Katsuki replied with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest and shooting Izuku what he hoped was his best ‘I am really annoyed and trying to be respectful about it’ face. It clearly didn't work if the blinding smile Izuku shot him was anything to go by.

“Kacchan, that interview was amazing! I always knew Kacchan could do it. You were always meant to be great,” Izuku gushed with a dopey grin, falling back into his old habits of always complimenting and praising his best friend.

Katsuki would like to say that the nerd’s praise did nothing for him- that he’s heard those exact words a million times before. He’s read the articles, he’s been pestered by the paparazzi, he knows he’s good… but hearing the genuine sincerity and pride laced in Izuku’s simple praise was indescribable. Those few words wrapped itself tightly around Katsuki’s heart, the ever-present faith his old friend had for him warming him in ways he could never imagine.

It suddenly felt like they were ten again in the most splendid way, Izuku bathing Katsuki in the kindest words and praises he knew and Katsuki soaking it up like a photosynthesising plant.

"Of course I was,” he finally replied when the moment had stretched too long. He didn’t know what he was doing and it was clear from the way Izuku was twiddling his thumbs and pulling at the hem of the bottom of his white t-shirt that he didn't know either.

It had been years since the last time they had been able to look each other in the eye, ruby red meeting forest green, and they were both struck with the nauseating knowledge that the man in front of them was so different then the boy they used to know.

Gone were Izuku’s messy frizzy hair, now replaced with well defined albeit debris-covered curls. Gone were Katsuki’s braces on his lower teeth, the perfectly straight teeth permanently covered by the blonde’s signature scowl. As the two continued to stare at each other, they mentally logged all the easily noticeable differences. The changes in height and build, jagged white scars, deep purple eye bags, twitching fingers… the list could go on.

Just as Izuku was about to attempt saying something else, Hero Creati showed up behind Katsuki and draped a silver shock blanket over the blonde, giving him a warm smile when Katsuki turned his head to snarl at his closest friend.

“Hero Deku,” Creati said warmly, extending her hand towards Izuku, “it’s really a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Izuku shook her hand energetically, his fanboy aura radiating from every pore in his body- Katsuki scoffed, the realisation that America’s #2 Hero was still a hero-loving nerd made him think that maybe he hadn’t changed all that much.

“Creati! The pleasure’s honestly all mine! I’m such a huge fan and I have so many questions about the Support Course Material component that you’re co-teaching. Do you really teach the kids how to discern the difference between the quality of metals by actually making all of it? How does that affect its molecular structure? Wow, you must have a really amazing memory because if you didn’t know the exact makeup of what you’re trying to make, it wouldn’t work right? What’s the smallest object you’ve ever made and how do you feel about nano-tech? Oh! And the material your suit is made out of-”

“Okay, I think she gets it, nerd,” Katsuki said with a sigh, effectively cutting off Izuku’s ramble before it started a ramble of Momo’s own.

“Wow, Deku… I, uh, yes?” Momo replied with a light flush, her eyes widening a bit at the rapid onslaught of questions that she wasn’t used to getting from others except Hatsume and her support crew. She let her eyes wander between the two men, wondering not for the first time, what exactly those two meant to each other.

Momo would never admit it aloud but she had been deathly curious about Midoriya Izuku, America’s sweetheart and Number Two Hero and surprisingly- Katsuki’s childhood friend, for many years now- ever since Katsuki’s little drunken slip up after one of their more boring galas.Their little interaction had only stoked the flames of her curiosity, a curiosity usually reserved for complicated ionic bonds and troublesome shapes.

She smiled kindly at the hero, taking pity on her best friend who was trying- and failing- to move further away from him and undoubtedly wanted to get home without the help of his oldest friend. “Thank you for all the help, Deku, I’m not sure we would’ve made it in time if you weren’t here.”

“No need, Creati. The pleasure’s all mine. I was in the area,” he admitted coyly, bringing his big scarred hand to scratch at the back of his neck. He turned towards Katsuki, eyes still set in that determined way that made the blonde want to pull at his hair, “Kacchan, are you really okay?”

“Yes. Stop pestering me. I’m going home,” Katsuki replied dismissively, shoving his hands into his pocket and already walking off towards one of the side streets that would lead him home.

Momo and Izuku watched as Katsuki walked closer and closer to the street, each of their hands clenching and unclenching with the need to follow the blonde to make sure he was okay, but the both of them knew him well enough to know when he needed his space.

“I’ll walk him home, Deku. I hope Japan will be seeing more of you,” Momo said kindly when Katsuki had disappeared around the corner, the need to make sure he was okay buzzed incessantly in her brain.

“Thank you. I hope so too,” Izuku replied with a smaller smile, a sudden weight of discomfort and disappointment heavy on his shoulders as he looked longingly towards where Katsuki had just disappeared out of his sight. He nodded at Momo once, made an effort to flash her a brighter smile and then hopped onto the nearest building, activating Float as he headed towards his new home.

Momo watched the hero disappear before she ran after Katsuki, catching up with him before he made it to the next stop street. “So, dramatic reunion, was it?” she asked as she bumped her shoulder into Katsuki’s, taking her time to properly look him over. It wasn’t often that he was in the middle of villain attacks, but every time he was, her heart lurched in her throat and her hands trembled.

There was this time back in their third year in UA when the press had gotten a little too eager to interview Aizawa and Yamada after their wedding was leaked. Everyone was intrigued to know how a romance between two Pros who fight and teach together could be maintained under such harsh and stressful circumstances.

A small petty group of villains had taken that as an opportunity to slip into UA, some had even managed to break into the support department, shattering windows, tearing into machines and even roughing up a few of the support students before Momo, Todoroki, Mina, Jirou and Kirishima crashed into the room and beat them into the next week.

Did they get detention for a week? Yes. Did Aizawa bless them with one of his rare proud smiles? Also yes. Did they watch their resident fashionista stand on a charred villain's back, his designer shoes cutting into the man’s muscle? Also yes. So all in all, it was worth it.

“Shut up, I really don’t want to think about it.”

Momo hummed in response, walking silently beside Katsuki towards his building. Despite spending the majority of her time in his building, Momo was still proud of his architectural masterpiece. It was a two story light beige brick building with a black barred balcony on the roof.

The base floor was strictly for Katsuki and his designers, beautiful modern tables and benches filled up the majority of the floor, each table equipped with state of the art sewing machines built to withstand and shape even the toughest of materials. There was always enough room for designers to walk around their own desks and have their mannequins near them- Katsuki made sure of that, fully aware of the need to have space and freedom without the fear of bumping into someone else and ruining yours or their work.

Momo was shocked when she discovered that there was a room for almost anything you could think off, there was a kitchen, a room stacked with rolls and rolls of material and spare parts and threads for the sewing machines, a huge bathroom equipped with lockers and showers, there was even a mini runway where they had their models (or heroes) strut around in their designs.

Katsuki had even rented out a room in Hatsume’s warehouse where he worked on testing out the flammability, durability and whatever else for the hero suits he often worked on. He really did have a great system- it was no surprise that he was one of Japan’s most influential and successful bachelors.

Katsuki sighed deeply as he made his way towards the back of his building, punching the code into the keypad and making his way towards his stairs to head on up to his house, Momo following close behind. They toed off their shoes at the entrance and Katsuki used an oddly shaped key and turned it in the keyhole before punching in another code to open up his door- some people may have found this level of security ridiculous but it made Katsuki feel better knowing he had a place where he could safely take off his hearing devices and sit in silence for a bit, it also never hurt anyone to be too safe.

Katsuki also had some of the top pro heroes of the country constantly crashing on his couch, and well, he knew it filled his friends with immense relief knowing they were in a place where they didn’t have to be on constant vigilance.

“Drunk-drunk or wine-drunk sort of day, Kats?” Momo asked as she peeked into Katsuki’s cupboards and pulled out a wooden board and crackers, planning to make a simple charcuterie board before she heard Katsuki’s stomach grumble. She laughed, making her way back to Katsuki to push him towards the closest bathroom so he could wash off the dirt and disappointment from the day.

Katsuki reappeared into the lounge thirty minutes later, beige designer Bakugou sweatpants on with a Red Riot hoodie hanging loosely around his shoulders. He watched fondly as Momo walked around the room in a hoodie and sweats of her own, probably something she had left at his place a few weeks ago. Katsuki looked around the lounge, finding the padded bowl he dropped his hearing devices in before he showered and retrieved them, walking off towards his room to charge it.

Momo laid out the last bowl and poured Katsuki’s favourite extra hot chilli ramen into it, laying his chopsticks beside it on the glass coffee table in front of the couch. “Your favourites,” she signed as she settled into her spot against the couch, legs spread beneath a thin blanket and a soft smile on her face.

Katsuki smiled warmly at her, squeezing her shoulder in thanks before he settled next to her on the floor, the thick carpet and floor pillows protecting them from the cold that was always coursing through tiled floors.

They ate their meal in silence, often passing each other potstickers or their shared can of beer- Momo had hero duty to return to the next day and Katsuki had emails and commissions to start on.

Eventually, after their bellies were full and their hearts were a lot calmer, the two packed their dirty dishes into the dishwasher, made a pot of tea and settled under FatGum’s weighted blanket on Katsuki’s couch. It was an easy routine to fall into, something they had been doing since Katsuki had bought the building a few years ago. It was exhausting trying to move in all of the things Katsuki had in his previous apartment. Jirou, Denki, Mina, Kirishima and Sero had left after they had packed his kitchen, promising they’d be back the next morning with breakfast and a game plan on how to maximise comfort in his lounge and the perfect placement for his award shelf.

Momo was determined to get the rest of Katsuki’s utensils packed when the others left, but was otherwise in no hurry. She and Katsuki had spent many nights together working until they couldn’t feel their arms and that night surely wouldn’t be the last. Before they knew it, Katsuki had pulled out the FatGum blanket and draped it over the two of them while they leaned against some pillows and before Momo could even ask Katsuki to turn off the light they had both succumbed to a deep sleep.

Momo nudged Katsuki’s foot with her own and pulled her hands out from beneath her blanket, pointing to her mouth and then shaking her hands when Katsuki looked at her.

“I’ll read your lips,” he said as he turned to face her properly, he reached blindly for a remote on the coffee table and switched on the warm orange ceiling backlights and then fiddled with his phone to switch on the alarm for the night.

“Want to talk about the interview?”

Katsuki shrugged as though it weren’t the most important interview of his life, as though it wasn’t the pinnacle of success for a designer in their age, the small twitch of his lips giving away the giddiness he had concealed the entire day. He had sent his parents a short text after the interview, promising he’d visit them that weekend to tell them how it went and how it changed things for him. “Was okay, I guess.”

“Bullshit. You loved it. I know you did. You’ve been dreaming about it for years! And now that more heroes know you work on suits, you’re going to be so much busier. You’ve really made a name for yourself, Suki, I am so proud of you,” Momo said with a huge smile, reaching over to squeeze Katsuki’s soft hands between her own.

Katsuki flushed, allowing himself to truly be happy with the interview as he told his best friend about the few emails he had glimpsed earlier and how he was fairly certain he was going to faint the moment he opened Best Jeanist’s text. He talked about the new streetwear line his team was busy with and the requests to collab with Shoto and Inasa on a Winter line. Momo had giggled when he told her about how Inasa was basically leaning on Shoto when they had spoken in his office a few weeks ago.

“Anything you want to say about Hero Deku?” Momo asked carefully, eyes soft and knowing as she watched Katsuki sigh defeatedly.

“Nothing to say. Deku’s back. Here in Japan. And he somehow wants to see me despite how things ended the last time we saw each other.”

“Katsuki, you know he probably doesn’t even think about it like that. I mean, you’ve made every single hero suit he’s ever worn and he knows it now, there’s nothing to hide anymore. He knows that you’ve been supporting him the entire time even though bratty, younger you made it seem like you wouldn’t,” Momo explained, reaching over to grab her phone from the table to find the exact article that Izuku had praised Katsuki and his brand in. “If he held grudges, he wouldn’t be telling the world how you’re the only designer who makes his suits and that he preordered your new line.”

“It’s nothing. It’s just Deku being Deku. He probably doesn’t even realise what he’s saying. It’s not like he- whatever. It doesn’t mean anything,” he argued, pushing the article back towards Momo as though it was about to combust. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Katsuki, be honest. If not with me, then with yourself,” Momo tried calmly, she threw her phone back onto the coffee table and turned to face Katsuki, lips pulled into a thin line as she watched her best friend pull at the hem along the edge of their shared blanket.

“I don’t know what you want me to say.”

“How about the truth for starters.”

Katsuki sighed, tilting his head to the side and leaning against the back of the coach, face pulled in a way that meant ‘please don’t push.’ “I’m tired. Can we do this interrogation another day, please?” he asked, resting his gaze back onto Momo’s lips, silently begging all that was good to make her drop the conversation he really had no interest in continuing- not now, not ever.

Momo reached out her hand again, laying it gently against Katsuki’s as she thought about her next words. “I’m not interrogating you, Kats. It’s just… we both know it’s going to be harder to ignore whatever it is you’ve been avoiding now that he’s back. You’re bound to run into him soon and you know you have to speak about how things ended the last time. It’ll give you some closure and maybe it’ll help you shed some of the guilt you’re always carrying around with you.”

Katsuki merely nodded, he looked down at his watch and enabled ‘night mode’ ensuring that the vibration was strong and annoying enough to wake him up the next day. He felt around for his phone, dimming the lights and toggling the vibrate button before setting it beside his pillow. He nudged Momo’s foot with his own, grateful that she was there after the day he had. Momo nudged him back, wriggling on the couch until she found the perfect spot.

Katsuki dreamt of bright green eyes and a smile that rivalled the sun.

Momo dreamt of Katsuki with a gentle smile on his face and a green head of curls leaning against his shoulder.

⊹₊⟡⋆

Katsuki really hated when Momo was right. Really, really hated it. Not because she gloated annoyingly or gave him a look that said, “I told you so,” but because she was always right about things that specifically irritated Katsuki. His newest cause of that irritation? Izuku Deku Midoriya trailing behind his parents as they showed him all of the food they had prepared for dinner.

He had half a mind to slowly back into the doorway and drive off, faking a sick phone call to his parents as soon as he stopped at the nearest stop street, but that plan was quickly destroyed the moment Inko Midoriya turned her head towards the door as soon as he lifted his foot to take a step back.

“Katsuki! Congratulations, dear boy,” Inko greeted warmly, pulling herself from the couch she had been sharing with Toshinori and throwing her short arms around Katsuki. “We are so proud of you, we’ve watched every show you starred in and we loved your Hero Couture interview! Izuku even has-“

“Mom, please,” Izuku groaned, effectively cutting Inko off. He stood stiffly in the kitchen, looking a lot like a child who ate the last cookie in the cookie jar while fully knowing that he wasn’t supposed to.

Mitsuki and Masaru wrapped their arms around the two, squeezing as hard as they could before Katsuki started pushing them off. They ruffled his hair, Masaru giving him one of those “I’m proud of you, son,” looks while Mitsuki shot him her signature proud glare.

Katsuki kicked off his shoes before padding inside, deciding that sitting with Inko and Toshinori would be less painful then whatever the hell was happening in the kitchen with his parents and Deku. He had forgotten how easily he had smiled around the two, despite not seeing them in years or being near them as a couple that many times, their comforting, warm presence never failed to put him at ease. He couldn’t explain it but there was just something about being near them now that they were married that made him feel incredibly safe. Katsuki answered all of their questions and showed them pictures of all the lines he was most proud of, unashamedly smiling at the Mirko picture he was tagged in of her wearing a jacket he had made her.

“Any issues with your devices, Young Bakugou?” Toshinori asked kindly as he set down his tea cup on the white marble table in front of him, making sure that it was perfectly centred in the middle of the coaster.

“All good, sir. Thank you,” Katsuki replied, grateful for the change in subject from the antics of the fashion world.

“Toshinori or Yagi is just fine, my boy. No need for formalities. If you’re ever having any trouble with them or just interested in any maintenance, I-Island has an incredible team that works on a whole range of support devices. Just let me know if you’re ever interested and I’ll give Dave and Melissa a call, they’re huge fans of your work,” Toshinori explained, shuffling some cards in his wallet before pulling out a small navy-blue one and handing it to Katsuki. “There’s something you can scan at the back of the card and it’ll take you to their page.”

Katsuki thanked him, smiling gratefully as he slipped the card into his own vintage Silver-Age All Might limited edition wallet, looking curiously up at Toshinori when the man seemed to choke and cough into his hands, Inko laughing lightly as she rubbed his back. He was about to tell them about his meeting with Best Jeanist when he heard his mom laugh and yell, “Izuku, no!” He moved curiously towards the kitchen, Inko and Yagi close behind him and what he saw made his heart drop to his toes and his stomach twist into knots- a strange mix of surprise and desire and- nope, he was not about to get into that right now.

Izuku Midoriya was holding up Katsuki’s parents on his strong shoulders, effortlessly, with no sign of his quirk and without a hint of strain.

Katsuki’s gut twisted even tighter. His brain yelled strong, strong, strong very unhelpfully. Dear God, Momo would laugh herself blue if she were here to notice his swirling, not-so-subtle desire. Katsuki was a grown man, he had no shame in admitting that he was attracted to strong men, what he did have shame in admitting was that Izuku was unfortunately, a very very strong man.

“Izuku, come on, don’t do this to an old woman!” Mitsuki yelled again with a laugh, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she looked down at the green haired man, her hands gripping tightly onto his white T-shirt (once again, a Bakugou staple).

“Wow, look at you!” Masaru said happily, patting Izuku’s back with one hand while the other held tightly onto the side of his shirt. He shifted around a little, leaning towards the cupboard above the kitchen counter to grab a few more bowls to use for lunch. “There, got it.”

Izuku looked up, noticing the three large bowls in Masaru’s hands and bent one of his knees, slowly leaning forward and bending down to let Masaru and Mitsuki down, gladly turning his head in their hands when they ruffled his curls to thank him.

Katsuki was about to scream.

Katsuki briefly thought about calling his cardiologist and asking him to book a CT scan for his heart. The way it was beating out of his chest was not normal- not even his anxiety attacks had felt like that.

Izuku moved around the kitchen like he lived there, like this was home and in some ways- it was. They haven’t changed much since the Midoriya/ Yagi’s left all those years ago, the utensils and dishware staying in the same places even if it had been swapped out for new sets multiple times over the years.

He moved fluidly, every movement intentional and calculated as he set down glasses while Blackwhip brought over the remaining plates and bowls. Their families seated themselves around the table, allowing Izuku to use his Blackwhip to pass over dishes and pour water into glasses. His control and precision was beyond exceptional.

Katsuki watched in awe as Izuku did all of this and more simultaneously, not a hint of his usual hesitance or anxiety in sight. He wondered again, not for the first time, how the nerd had changed so much, yet so little in the time they spent apart. He had that same soft and overly bright smile, same all-consuming big green eyes, same nervous habit of scratching the back of his head, same inability to take any praise without pulling in others to accept the praise with him, same muttering habit when he got too excited about something.

But now he held himself with a confidence that Katsuki had never thought was possible. He was tall and strong, charismatic in all ways good heroes always seemed to be, but there seemed to be this permanent weight on his shoulders, the muscles slumping imperceptibly when Izuku thought no one was watching- his eye would twitch, seem duller for a moment before his signature sparkle returned, his smile slipping for a second too long when he sipped from his glass. He looked like-

A call broke his train of thought, Izuku excused himself from the table to stand in the kitchen before rushing back in, complimenting the meal and then rushing out through the door. His half eaten katsudon lay sadly on his plate.

“There that boy goes again, it’s a wonder he isn't as thin as a stick with the way he skips meals,” Inko said with a sigh, dabbing a napkin on the side of her mouth as she stared at Izuku’s plate.

Masaru and Mitsuki shared a look, looking at Katsuki who pointedly looked away before smiling back at Inko. “We’ll pack him some food for you to take back for him- or wait, better yet, Katsuki can leave it at his apartment. We’ll put it in a food flask so it’ll still be okay for him whenever he gets back.” Mitsuki looked at her son, daring him to argue and tell her off, and when he did all she did was remind him of red ties and long nights and that was enough to shut him up.

They spent the next few hours cleaning up and folding dumplings that Izuku could freeze, then fry or boil whenever he needed a quick snack. Mitsuki was about to delve into a rant about freezer meals when Katsuki decided that that was enough hearing for today. He slipped off his devices, powered off the battery then gently placed it into the case he always carried with him (Mirko themed, because duh) and surrendered himself to packing the dumplings while his mom and Inko bustled around the kitchen, talking emphatically about meals they could start working on.

And that was how Katsuki found himself outside of Izuku’s apartment, a well secured building with multiple security guards and hero patrols in the surrounding streets. He looked down at his phone, making sure that he was outside the right apartment- he read 204 and rolled his eyes when he noticed the All Might themed number plaque beside the door.

He sighed, blaming his younger self for being a brat and knocked on the door, when there was no response- like he expected- he placed the insulated bag in front of the door and stuck the note his parents had written on the wall, pressing down on each corner to ensure it didn’t slip off or fly away. Katsuki stared at the door, wondering if the nerd had even had any time to decorate and fully move in or if he was still living out of his moving boxes and sleeping on an unassembled bed. Before he could think about it too long, he risked one last look at the number plaque before he headed back towards the elevator, dialing Momo’s number and waiting for the call to connect.

“Kats?” Momo asked as soon as she answered, a nervous edge to her voice that Katsuki easily picked up.

“Wine and whine tonight?”

“Sounds perfect.”

The edge of Katsuki’s mouth ticked up when he heard Momo blow a kiss into the receiver, relief washing over him with every floor he moved down. He signed out of the building when he got to reception, greeting Pro Hero Kamui Woods who seemed to be entering the building as he exited and slowly made his way towards his car, mentally preparing himself for the headache he knew he was going to wake up with tomorrow. He had interviews to look through, final edits for some of his designs and a few international commissions to send through to Hatsume and his main team.

His head already hurt just thinking about it. Don’t get him wrong, Katsuki loved that the Hero Couture interview had opened his brand to the world, making his dream to become a global brand come true, but with that came an unprecedented amount of commissions from heroes he’s never ever heard of before… and even more surprising- heroes he’d adored ever since he was a kid. Katsuki dropped his phone when he saw that All Might’s agency- and by extension Deku’s new agency had requested a simple jacket in his Silver Age colors- Katsuki never ran to dig out new notebooks that quickly before.

On his drive back to his house, Katsuki thought about what ingredients he had in his fridge, wondering if he had enough for a hotpot or if he was going to have to stop at the family-owned supermarket on the way to his apartment when the mention of a very specific green haired hero caught his attention. He fiddled with the volume button on his steering wheel, increasing the volume as the sound of muffled screams and sirens filled his car.

“Villain Sabertooth has just taken a hostage! Are you seeing this?! He just ripped out one of his teeth and is holding it against the poor girl’s throat! Pros Deku, Uravity and Shoto are on the scene with Ingenium and Can’t Stop Twinkling controlling the crowds- Hero Deku has just made contact with the villain, no one knows how he got there but he’s got the girl safely in his arms-”

Katsuki’s hands tightened on his steering wheel, his heartbeat thrumming violently beneath his fingers.

“Shoto has just created a wall around them, it seems as though Uravity is wielding some sort of long meta- is that a lightpost?! Homerun! Uravity has just knocked out Sabertooth. Paramedics are quickly moving to the scene, Hero Deku is still holding the little girl protectively against his chest, hands covering her ash-blonde hair, wait! He’s bleeding. It looks as though Sabertooth’s tooth is stuck in his side-”

Katsuki let out a deep breath of relief. Of course that idiot would go and get himself stabbed. Of course that idiot would literally run into the hands of danger. Of course Deku won.

“The little girl has been returned to her parents. Sabertooth is cuffed up and is being led to a police van by Ingenium and Uravity. Shoto is defrosting his ice-wall and Deku looks like he’s trying to convince the paramedics that he’s okay- they’re having none of it and are pushing him into their ambulance to get patched up.”

He muted the radio, glad to have listened to this new reporter who- yeah she’s a bit dramatic and doesn’t hide her shock- but she’s also honest and genuine in her reports. He taps his fingers against the steering wheel, counting to ten before he considered doing something stupid- like showing up outside of Deku’s apartment- instead he tells himself that he’s fine, he’s seen his fights before and he’s walked away from much worse. Faced off against much worse.

He’s the Symbol of Hope for crying out loud- Katsuki’s suddenly very glad that he just dropped off the food his family had spent the last few hours preparing.

It was two hours later when the overhead lights began flashing purple, signalling that Momo’s car had just pulled into his driveway- Lord, he could kiss the engineer who designed the whole system for him. He rinsed his hands under the tap, drying them with the Red Riot themed cloth he folded over the oven’s handle and walked towards his front door, punching in the entry code and welcoming his friend into his house.

Momo toed off her running shoes, slipping into her fluffy FatGum slippers. She held up the bag of wine she bought and lined them up on the coffee table while Katsuki made his way to his room to put on his hearing devices. “Needed a break?” she asked gently when Katsuki returned.

Katsuki nodded, moving back into the kitchen to take out a few wooden placemats, some bowls, spoons and chopsticks. “Heard the Sabertooth shit go down on the radio. Just needed some quiet time while I read through some interviews.”

Momo hummed while she busied herself with moving around the floor pillows and coffee table, moving it a bit further away from Katsuki’s pristine white couch. After she was satisfied, she collected the cutlery from the kitchen, laying it out on the table and making space for Katsuki to put down the still steaming pot. “Looks great,” Momo said with a huge smile, bumping her shoulder against Katsuki’s and passing him her bowl, watching with starved eyes as he ladelled in the spicy goodness.

They sat like that for a while, slurping and occasionally grabbing a tissue for their runny noses before Momo put her bowl down and took a sip of water from her glass.

“How was lunch with your parents today?”

“They sabotaged me. Deku and his parents were there today. Deku’s dad gave me this business card to call if I ever wanted new hearing devices, his mom gushed over me and then during lunch he rushed out! That led to our mothers worrying about his disastrous cooking skills and then I got roped into making him freezer dumplings,” Katsuki let out in a quick breath.

Momo laughed, nudging him with her elbow, “how domestic of you!” she giggled.

“Shut the fuck up,” he grunted.

Katsuki took another sip from his bowl before he continued with his story. “Then, I got dragged into dropping it off at his place. Did you know Kamui Wood is one of his neighbors?! I passed him when I exited the building. Oh and don’t even get me started on when he walked around my childhood kitchen with my parents on his shoulders, all because my hag needed a dish from one of the top cupboards.”

“Seriously? Both of them?!” Momo whistled, dodging Katsuki’s poor attempt to push her away from him.

“He hasn't even been here a full week and he’s already everywhere,” Katsuki grumbled, sulking against his couch. “I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I saw that! I was this close-” he pinched his fingers together in front of Momo’s eyes, “to calling Ben and telling him something was wrong with my heart again.”

“Katsuki, it’s your long-winded, deeply denied, super-duper repressed crush. Not a heart-attack.”

“Fuck. Off. I’m Katsuki DynaMight Bakugou, I don’t do crushes.”

Momo hummed thoughtfully, gracefully stretching out her legs before standing up to pick up everything off the table and dump it into the dishwasher. She moved quickly through the kitchen, bringing over a pair of stupidly expensive rose shaped wine glasses that she had ordered one night a year ago when they had been sipping straight from their last bottle of Koshu Wine, deciding that if “wine and whine” was about to become a thing, they needed special glasses to signify that. She placed them gently on the table, making a corkscrew between her fingers to open the bottle before releasing the cork and dissolving the object back into her hand. “What about Shindo? You guys were cute for a while, his hair really was crazily unruly. Oh and there was Hikaru, his freckles were quite cute. Hmm… if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you have a ty-”

“Shut it, ponytail.”

Momo laughed, happy that she succeeded in getting her point across. “Have you heard any updates after the Sabertooth thing to see if he was okay?”

Katsuki scoffed, "I once watched a news report where some villain threw a building at him and he just walked it off, using blackwhip to detain the guy while his head bled and soaked into my suit. It was this light green back then, an awful design flaw on his side- the designers messed up the web in-lay and it made the usual dark green of his suit look too light. A little impaling is nothing.”

“Well don’t you sound proud, Mister I-don’t-really-care-about-my-childhood-friend-”

Before Momo could continue the overhead lights turned a light-blue and a few seconds later it began flickering in sets of threes. Katsuki stood up, pressing a button on the light’s remotes and made his way towards the monitor with his camera feed. His eyebrows scrunched together when he looked at the delivery man outside, eyes tired with sleep and yawning behind a large parcel in his hands.

“I didn’t order anything, did you?” Momo asked from behind him, peering at the delivery man in the camera.

Katsuki shook his head, walking towards the door and slipping on his shoes with Momo right behind him. They quickly made their way towards the entrance of his building, using the back door instead of opening up his workshop. “Can I help you?” He asked the man when he stepped beneath the building’s light, squinting his eyes as the man moved closer.

“Order for Mister Bakugou?” The man asked, moving the parcel to rest against his hip as he dug out a small notepad from his back pocket, squeezing it tightly between his fingers and then opening it to reveal a much larger notebook. He held it out towards Katsuki, “sign here, please.”

“But I didn’t order anything?” Katsuki replied, taking the notebook from the man, reading over the delivery details and frowning when he noticed his mother’s name under the “sender’s” details. “Thanks,” he said, handing it back.

The man smiled back politely, gently placing the package into Katsuki’s hands before he squeezed his notebook again, turning it smaller and returned to his van.

“Maybe your mom felt bad for not sending you back with any food?” Momo asked as she led Katsuki back into the house, holding doors open for him and pulling it closed so it could lock automatically. Before they could reach the final staircase to Katsuki’s part of the building, Momo leaned against the wall while he set up the lower floors alarm.

“It’s heavy,” Katsuki muttered while walking up the stairs, once again punching in his door lock code and then locking the door behind him when Momo walked in.

They cleared the middle of the coffee table, pushing the fancy wine glasses to the side and set the package in the middle. Katsuki stared at it for a bit while Momo guessed what could be inside and what was so urgent about it that Mitsuki had to send it today and couldn't wait until the next time he visited.

“New jacket design?”

Katsuki pulled the box towards him, finally noticing the little note stuck to the side of it. He played with the edges before pulling it off, neatly unfolding it against the top of the box, “Izu left this at home for you, he wanted to give it to you after dessert but you know how that went,” he read.

“Midoriya?!” Momo squealed, hopping a little as she walked behind Katsuki and peered over his shoulder to read the letter. “Open it! Open it! Come on, Kats.”

“Oh, fuck off. It’s probably just a jacket or something,” Katsuki growled, taking the knife emerging from Momo’s palms and gently scoring through the tape along the middle of the top of the box. He breathed in deeply, handing the knife back and opened the box with a bated breath.

And oh.

Katsuki felt the corner of his eye prickle with a tear he refused to shed. At the very top of the box, sealed as though it had just been made in a factory, lay the Limited Edition, original, one-in-a-hundred All Might trading card that Katsuki had lost one day when they were playing near a river. Katsuki remembered sulking for weeks, accusing all of their neighborhood friends of stealing his card when he wasn't looking.

He vividly remembered how Izuku had cried when he found out, and how through his snot and tears had tried to give Katsuki his, to which he vehemently refused. Katsuki never told anyone this, but the reason he started working in his parents and their friends factories during Highschool was so that he could finally buy himself another All Might trading card, but unfortunately when he was finally able to afford to buy it from some sketchy online auction, someone else had already bought it. He tentatively reached out, breath still caught in his throat as he brushed his finger gently along the edge of the sealed card.

Momo peered over Katsuki again, puzzled at her friend’s reaction she laid a hand over his shoulder, “What is it?” she asked.

“All Might trading card. They only printed a hundred of them. Lost mine when we were kids,” he whispered, finally moving to carefully pick up the card. He held it with trembling hands, passing his fingers over the plastic wrapping and turning it around in his hands- it was exactly like he remembered it. It might have been the most thoughtful gift he had ever received. He looked down into the box and noticed a small envelope, hesitantly, he put the card back into the box and opened the letter, eyes widening when he read over its contents.

“What is it?” Momo asked, carefully taking the card from Katsuki when he handed it to her. “I was in a vintage All Might store a few years back and I came across this card in one of the All Might collection shelves. At first I couldn’t believe it, so after my shift I marched right in there, suit and all and asked the collector if he would be willing to sell it to me. Let’s just say that it was one of my most tedious battles, but I still came out victorious in the end. Anyway, Kacchan. I hope you like it. Congratulations on Hero Couture’s Interview, I really do hope it was everything and more,” Momo read. She gasped, looking between Katsuki still holding the card and the letter in her hands. She wondered briefly what it would take for her best friend to realise that the Symbol of Hope was utterly and desperately besotted with him.

“Yeah,” Katsuki breathed. He moved dazedly towards his design room and returned a few minutes later with a frame still bubble wrapped and packed in a box with pink packing peanuts.

Momo watched in fascination as Katsuki ripped open the frame, wiping it with the edge of his shirt and carefully laid it in the middle of his carpet. She had never watched him do anything with such painstaking precision before- the sight alone was enough to sober her wine-drunk mind and it seemed the same for Katsuki who lost all the previous bubbly feelings from earlier.

After Katsuki was satisfied with how clean the frame looked, he walked back to his bathroom and scrubbed his hands with disinfectant and returned wearing a pair of latex gloves, “I don’t want any nitroglycerin on this,” he explained when Momo looked at him with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. Katsuki shuffled on the floor, sitting on his knees with his heart beating violently against his ribs- when was the last time he had ever felt this nervous and excited before?

With the precision of a neurosurgeon in theatre, Katsuki gently pulled the card out of the sealed bag and carefully placed it in the middle of the frame, hands moving shakily to perfectly centre the card before he screwed in the back side of the frame. Katsuki turned over the framed card in his hands, holding it to his chest when his eyes met All Might’s printed version and Katsuki swore something in his heart snapped taut- finally pulling the two pieces of his heart back together in a way he never thought possible.

Katsuki's world tilted a few degrees off axis.

Momo lifted a tissue to Katsuki’s eyes, dabbing at the tears that slipped down his cheeks. “I’ll head to bed first,” she said softly, laying a scarred hand on his shoulder and giving it a slight squeeze. Katsuki knew that it was Momo talk for: ‘I’ll give you the space you’re too stubborn to ask for.’

Katsuki merely nodded, unable to move his eyes from the simple cardboard box in front of him that seemed to have torn his heart into pieces and then put it together- not perfectly but maybe in a way that was a little kinder. A little gentler. A little less haphazard and a lot more intentional. He could feel every pulse of his heart from the tips of his fingers to the tips of his toes. Katsuki wasn’t sure how long he stood there in the middle of his dining room, marble tiles cold against his bare feet.

He eventually made his way towards the little trophy shelf his mother and Momo had set up in the corner of the dining room, adorned with Katsuki’s favourite accomplishments and prizes. A small framed photo stared up at him, it was the one his mother had snuck onto his shelf a few weeks ago when they came to visit- it was a picture she had taken of Katsuki and Izuku the moment they opened their trading card packs and they noticed All Might looking back up at them. He could remember the day like it was yesterday. It seemed only fitting to now have that very same trading card- albeit not the same one in the picture- in the spot right next to the framed photograph.

The nostalgia was almost too much. Here he was being absolutely shattered by the most thoughtful gift of his life while the person who had gifted it to him was probably in his apartment all bandaged up and eating cold dumplings. He briefly thought of sending Izuku a text but quickly disregarded the idea when he realised that there was nothing he could say to fully encapsulate how he was feeling, especially since he didn’t really know what to feel himself.

Taking a deep breath and holding it in until it hurt, Katsuki breathed out quickly and walked towards the box waiting for him on the coffee table. Wiping his sweaty hands against his thighs he reached in for the next box and note and nearly exploded it when he unwrapped the red wrapping paper- it was a vintage comic set of a pre-quirk superhero that he and Izuku had read about online and in random garage sales when they were younger. He pulled the box into his lap, fingers tracing over the intricate Spider-Man print.

Katsuki was about to combust.

With every item he pulled out of the box there was a letter attached to it, briefly explaining where Izuku had found the ancient relic and that he hoped Katsuki liked it. By the time he had completely emptied out the box, Katsuki was surrounded by things that were so fundamentally him it felt as though Izuku had studied him inside-out and had perfectly associated each gift with some part of him. Never before had Katsuki felt so seen.

He allowed his eyes to trail over the many comic books, some vintage band t-shirts, a file filled with American heroes and stores proudly wearing Katsuki’s merch, some more limited edition Mirko merch. There was just one item that didn’t come with a letter- a soft deep red hoodie that looked well-worn and well-loved, he could tell that much just by looking at the new stitching around the cuffs and the bottom hem.

That night Katsuki went to bed with his heart content and his mind racing. All this time they spent apart and Izuku was still… he was still the person who knew Katsuki better than anyone else in the world and the gift he had just opened just proved all of that. All this time he had convinced himself that Izuku was going to go to America and completely forget about him, move on, but there Izuku was, buying him gifts that he knew the angry blonde would like. He had no doubt the hero was keeping tabs on him through his mother and design team, but Katsuki couldn’t find it in himself to be mad about it.

A sudden thought struck Katsuki about how well he knew Izuku and when nothing came up except his suit designs, his hero ranking and the general public opinion of America’s Sweetheart, he barely stopped himself from singeing his pillow. While Katsuki was trying to ignore Izuku’s existence, Izuku was doing everything he could to always keep his friend’s memory alive and palpable.

Sleep didn’t come easy to him that night, but when he finally fell asleep, his dreams were plagued with empty notebooks and floating question marks.

⊹₊⟡⋆

If anyone asked Katsuki the next day why he left Lucy and Rize in charge and took the day off he would simply say it’s because he never got to properly spend time with his Auntie Inko after she had gotten married and moved all those years ago, and it definitely wasn’t because he wanted to hear more about her time in America while they were away. Katsuki pulled into the familiar street, noting with a smile that Yagi really had meant to move them as close to home as he could, his own house was just a few houses away.

He drove slowly down the street, looking for the face-brick double story his mom had sent him a picture of when he called her earlier to tell her his plans. When he found the house he pulled into the driveway and parked his car, walking around to the boot to take out the shopping bag filled with Inko’s favourite pastries from the small family-owned bakery an hour's drive away. Before he could even lift his hand to press the button on the doorbell, Inko threw open the door and pulled Katsuki in for a fierce hug, her short arms squeezing tightly around his back.

“Thank you for taking the dumplings for Izu yesterday. I don’t know how I would've slept if he didn't have anything to eat after his fight with Sabertooth,” Inko said with her signature teary eyes and watery smile.

Katsuki could do nothing but wrap his arms around her, pastry bag lay forgotten at his feet as he allowed the woman who had known him since the day he was born to cry into his chest. A few minutes passed by before Inko pulled away, eyes a little red but a smile as bright as her son’s when she took Katsuki by the hand and tugged him into her house.

An hour later Katsuki found himself laughing louder and freer than he usually did with adults older than him. Inko had made them both a hot cup of tea and they settled into the comfy grey couches in the Yagi lounge, photo albums and boxes of souvenirs strewn on the couches and tables around them.

“No, are you serious? Did he really say, ‘oh that’s such a cute promposal! Who’s the lucky guy? Do you want me to help you carry all of these things to his house?’ when a girl tried to ask him to be her prom date? And then he actually helped her take it to the house of the guy he knew was in love with her? Auntie Inko, no!” Katsuki said between laughs, clutching his ribs with his shaky hands. He had to take his watch off to stop the incessant beeping he was getting after every fit of laughter he had with Inko.

“Toshi was horrified, he had no idea what to do when the girl started crying and Izu thought it was because she was so glad he was going to help her,” Inko replied with a laugh. She flipped through a few pages of her album and pushed it into Katsuki’s waiting hands. “We eventually just told him to go with Rody. If he wasn’t going to go with a date he may as well have gone with one of his friends.”

Katsuki openly stared, his eyes trailing over Izuku’s suited body. It wasn't like he hadn't seen Izuku in a suit before, he was there to help with the entire suit journey building up to Inko’s and Toshinori’s wedding, but he’d never seen Izuku fill out a suit the way he did during his last school dance.

Izuku’s arms seemed to bulge in his dark navy blue suit, his cufflinks strangely reminiscent of explosions. His slacks seemed almost painted on to his thighs if not for the way it flared out into a straight cut below his knees- Katsuki briefly thanked the highest deities that Izuku didn’t opt for skinny slacks to wear with his suit. But what really caught his eyes was the perfectly tied tie against his snow-white button up.

“We called Mitsuki a few months before his prom and asked her for a new suit. Izu didn’t really have any preferences as long as his tie was this deep ruby-red, he sent your mom the exact hex code and everything- that was his only request. He nearly ripped the seams of his shirt when he moved his arm around, it seemed like all of the training he’d been doing with Toshi, Cathy and her boys were really bulking him up. Izuku was ecstatic when Cathy’s higher ups allowed them to train him, he probably spent his entire internship flying around with them while Toshi and I spent some time on I-Island.” Inko looked fondly at the picture, tracing her finger over Izuku’s smile.

“Cathy? As in Cathleen Bate? America’s number 1 hero, Stars and Stripes?” Katsuki asked excitedly, turning to fully face Inko. He knew from news reports that Izuku and Stars worked closely together, and that he was her sidekick for a few years before he went independent but he had no idea that he had been working with the heroine since they were in high school.

“Of course, darling. Cathy was one of Toshi’s mentees when he was still in America. She’s family and you’ll probably meet her soon when the Commission settles on a date for this year's hero gala. Toshi and I invited her to stay the week with us, and she’s so confident that Izu will place somewhere in the ranks this year that she just has to be here to see him receive his new ranking.”

Katsuki nodded, that made sense but also didn’t in a way, just who was Toshinori Yagi? He shook his head, instead focusing on the scarred hand resting against Rody’s waist, ignoring how Rody’s tanned hand laid against Izuku’s too. His gut squeezed for some reason as he looked down at the picture, he wanted to ask. Wanted to know but had no idea how to say it without coming off… jealous?

Luckily, Inko was an extremely perceptive woman.“Rody was more than happy to go with Izuku, telling him that he finally got to meet his fancy prissy classmates he’d been reading about, he almost flew a jet into one of them when they were loitering around his base- oh he’s a pilot now. So proud of that boy,” she explained, turning towards the back of the album to show Katsuki a family picture she had taken during Rody’s engagement party.

When Katsuki saw the picture he physically relaxed for reasons he couldn't explain, reasons he didn’t even want to think about when he looked down at the picture.

The rest of the morning passed by with the two laughing over Izuku’s obliviousness, cringing over his fashion choices and talking with teary eyes over his villain fights. By the time Katsuki drove home that afternoon he felt as though a heavy weight was lifted from his shoulders. While Izuku may look completely different from the boy who left Japan all those years ago, the only thing that really changed was his body- from the stories he heard from Inko about Izuku over the years he was content knowing that his Deku was still the same dorky, nervous, muttering mess he’d always been.

And if Katsuki’s watch yelled at him when Inko was explaining how Izuku almost sat through all of their plane rides back to Japan with Katsuki’s box on his lap, childishly complaining that he didn't trust the moving company with his box and that it would take them too long to get everything back to his apartment, well that was no one’s business (well maybe his cardiologist who left him a very concerned voicemail deserved to know a little, if only to calm the old man’s own heart).

And maybe, just maybe Izuku Midoriya was mending a heart he never knew was broken.

⊹₊⟡⋆

Katsuki was a brave man. He was the proud owner of a flourishing global brand, he had a quirk that could melt the skin off someone’s face, he kept his body fit and attended regular karate tournaments to keep his skills sharp and even without all of that he had a brilliant right hook- but for some reason he couldn’t explain, Katsuki could not bring himself to see his childhood friend after the whole ‘gift of the millennium’ incident.

He had avoided the last month’s family dinners giving his mother and Inko excuses of international orders and warehouse repairs- only which half of it was true. He was in the midst of expanding his warehouse where the majority of his employees worked- but that was a project he’d been working on for the past year. He did technically have international orders to fuss about, but he had gotten most of the most pressing things done as soon as the orders had come in- it was already a part of his ordering after all.

Honestly, Katsuki was just at a constant loss for words and emotions whenever he had the unfortunate chance to run into Izuku. It was mostly on Tuesday and Thursday mornings when Izuku’s shift started a little later and he’d drop by with Katsuki’s favourite Americano and breakfast special, leaving it with his secretary before he floated off.

It was driving Katsuki insane, so insane in fact that after the second week of it happening he had started ordering takeout and having it delivered to the nerd’s house every Friday and then after every major villain attack that made it on the news. It was his way of showing Izuku up, at least that was what he told himself, it definitely wasn’t because he was worried the damn nerd wasn’t eating.

Katsuki wanted to pull his hair out. He had no idea what he was doing and even less of a clue about what he was feeling. It was normal to send your childhood friend food after long days wasn’t it? And it was normal that they gifted you with something that altered the state of your world, too, right?

The month that passed had been one of the most exhausting periods of his life, even his cochlear implant rehab wasn’t as draining as that.

His heart would spike at random times whenever he heard someone mention ‘Hero Deku,’ it would then drop whenever he watched his fights on the news. His cheeks would flush when he scrolled through his phone and looked at all of the candid civilian pictures Izuku’s fans would take of him on his rare days off- always clad in Bakugou or DynaMight wear.

Some days Katsuki would wake up terribly sweaty with teary eyes when he had nightmares about Izuku not walking away with a smile after a fight, and on the opposite occasion he’d wake up sweaty and embarrassed after some dream that was everything but friendly- those days in particular would turn him into a prickly, snappy mess.

“What am I going to do?” Katsuki whined, rose-wine glass held loosely in one hand while the other scrolled through news channels on his tv.

“Talking to him might put you out of your misery,” Momo suggested exasperatedly. She sighed this bone-deep sigh in a way that only someone who had been saying the same thing for years could. “I really don’t know what you’re so worried about. Midoriya is absolutely smitten by you. In fact, I’m surprised it's taken you this long to realise that you felt something other than pure annoyance for him.”

Katsuki pushed his foot into Momo’s side, slipping it just beneath her ribs. “Shove it,” he said petulantly, “you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

And so the next month passed in much the same way. With Katsuki denying his feelings, his friends trying to make him accept them, and with Izuku keeping his distance while still trying to show Katsuki that he was still there. It was clear that the green-haired man had been dying for an opportunity to speak to the blonde, it had been nearly three months since he was back in Japan and the most they had spoken was the day he showed up after Katsuki’s interview and saved him from a falling building.

⊹₊⟡⋆

“If you say no, we’re telling Aunt Mitsuki that you’re a dirty liar and that you weren’t actually with us for some hero thing for the last two weekends and that you were really just too shy to see Midoriya,” Kirishima threatened, his hardening form blocking the entrance of Katsuki’s design floor, “come onnn, please, Bakubro. It’s a whole reunion. It wouldn’t be the same without you!” he whined, trying his best to pull a pleading puppy-dog look that didn’t quite translate all that well in his hardened form.

“I wasn’t even in your class you dipshit. Shove off. I need to get inside,” Katsuki sneered, poking the tip of his keys into Kirishima’s hardened Adams apple. Just then a pair of pink arms wrapped around his waist and even pinker hair tickled his nose. Great. This was a team effort.

“You technically were dude, you made most of our suits when we were just starting out. I still remember you yelling in the corridors at Momo’s designer. Cementos had to drag you away,” Kaminari said with a laugh. “Besides, everyone wants you there.”

Mina smiled up at Katsuki, the silver tooth gem on one of her canine teeth sparkling under the white light of Katsuki’s building. “Loosen up, babe. We haven’t done anything together in forever,” she said with a smile, shoving her face further into Katsuki’s exposed neck. “Also, it’s a Friday night. Don’t be lame.”

Jirou laid a hand on Katsuki’s head gently ruffling his hair, careful not to accidentally disconnect the blond’s hearing device. “Todoroki and Momo rented out a bar. It’ll just be our merry band of class A idiots and the occasional boyfriend or girlfriend. Nothing different from the usual gatherings.”

“It’s a ten minute walk from here, let’s get going,” Sero added helpfully, slinging a piece of tape around Katsuki’s waist and dragging him along. The rest of the squad hooked their arms under Katsuki’s or trailed behind his back, effectively creating a human wall around him to stop him from escaping- not that he would, no matter how much he may have grumbled about it. The minutes passed by quickly, each of them sharing something about their week with every step they took.

“Momo! Look at who we got!” Mina yelled as soon as they shuffled into the dimly lit bar, her arms finally leaving Katsuki’s as she bounded over to Momo to pull her over. “Minimal fussing too!”

“My, my, you must be really worn down if they got you here this quickly,” Momo said with a laugh, taking Katsuki by the hand and dragging him towards the edge of the bar, where a small round booth was already set up for them. She pushed him into the seat, sliding in beside him while the rest of their friends caught up with the rest of their class. “Don’t freak out, but apparently Ida and Uraraka-”

Momo never got to finish the rest of her sentence because Uraraka and Ida had just entered the bar with America’s Number Two Hero trailing behind them like a lost puppy, and of-fucking-course the nerd was wearing an All Might t-shirt to a bar- why did that not surprise him. The entire bar went silent for a second before it erupted in shouts and laughs.

Yup. Katsuki was really, really regretting letting his idiots drag him out.

“Fuck my life,” he sighed into the glass of some fruity drink Momo had ordered for their table, “was one peaceful night too much to ask for?”

Momo tried to shoot him a reassuring and apologetic smile, “there’s so many people here, he probably won’t even notice you right away.”

And wasn’t that an odd thing to say. Before Momo couldn’t even utter the last syllable of her last word, Izuku Midoriya’s emerald-green eyes found Katsuki’s ruby-red ones immediately. He lifted his hand and gave a small wave, face flushed and freckles nearly glowing under the dim lighting of the bar. All Katsuki could do was stare.

“Well, guess not then,” Momo said defeatedly next to Katsuki, reaching out for a drink of her own and knocking it back in three large gulps.

Katsuki briefly considered escaping through the bathroom window when he remembered that he was a grown ass man and not some teenager who snuck into a bar and was about to be handed over to police for underage drinking.

For the rest of the night Katsuki didn’t even pretend not to watch Izuku’s every move. He counted each of the shots the freckled man had- he was going on 6 now. Katsuki shoved his watch into his pocket, not willing to deal with the incessant vibrating he knew he would get every time Izuku turned around to look at Katsuki with his half lidded eyes, smile just as bright as his parents’.

Momo had tried to speak to him to keep him from getting bored, but Katsuki was perfectly satisfied with just sitting in his little corner of the bar, occasionally making small talk with some of his old classmates whenever they had stumbled by. He was still nursing the first fruity cocktail Momo had brought him hours ago, the ice had melted a long time ago and only added to the contents of his glass.

“Momo! Let’s dance,” Jirou called out, wriggling through the crowds of Pro hero bodies to pull Momo out of her seat beside Katsuki and into the middle of the dance floor, where Katsuki watched them with a small smile on his face.

It was nearing the early parts of the morning when the group of rowdy pros remembered that they were actually heroes and had a job to get to in the next few hours when the crowd finally began to thin out. Katsuki remained glued to his seat, his legs aching from the lack of movement and his head buzzing from the loud music he’d been subjected to the entire night.

“Midoriya- come on, that’s not a puppy, it’s a pot plant,” Ida groaned, pulling Izuku upright and plopping him onto the nearest couch, which seemed to make the entire puppy thing a lot worse when he cuddled a throw pillow into his chest and began patting down its side.

Uraraka giggled between hiccups as she settled next to Izuku, eyes soft and smile warm as she looked over him, before she could do anything else, a sharp-eyed blonde strode into the bar, greeted Ida with a too-sharp smile and wrapped her arms around her. Uraraka beamed. “My love,” she screamed, wrapping her own arms around her girlfriend and laughing all the way to the door before stopping and yelling at Izuku that ‘blondes do it best,’ to which he replied with a dopey thumbs up.

Well, that was definitely something, Katsuki thought as he continued to watch the rest of the crowd fizzle out. He should leave. He really should. He should pull on his jacket, check his friends' locations and walk home. After that he should soak in a hot bath, charge all of his devices and probably stretch a little before bed. Yes, that sounded like a perfect plan, except… except he couldn’t leave knowing that a certain hero was now moping on the bar’s couch.

“Tenya, I want to go home,” he whined. “Take me home.”

Ida could do nothing but sigh and smile fondly down at his friend, “I would, dear friend, however you’ve failed to tell any of us where you live now.” He reached out a hand and laid it on Izuku’s soft, frizzy curls, “you’ll just have to come home with me tonight.”

Before Katsuki could stop himself, he marched all the way to the couch and pulled Izuku into his side, using one hand to support the arm Izuku wrapped around his neck while the other settled around the drunk man’s waist. “I’ve got it,” he said, looking up at Ida and daring him to argue. What was he doing?

Ida brightened, his smile wide and relieved as he looked over the tight grip Katsuki had on his childhood friend. “Perfect! He’s been wanting to talk to you the entire night, Bakugou. Alright, I’ll leave him in your capable hands!”

Katsuki grunted in response, trudging towards the door supporting the weight of a man who definitely should not have felt that heavy. When he felt the weight lessen he quickly looked down and noticed that Izuku’s feet were no longer on the ground. This damn nerd, he thought while shrugging off his jacket and shoving the sleeve of one of the arms into Izuku’s belt loop and then tied the two sleeves around his own. This was fucking ridiculous.

Just as Katsuki was leaving the bar, Ida fired off a text, smiling at his handiwork when Uraraka replied with an obscene amount of winky faces. And people thought that he had no tact! Take that, Class A.

Katsuki could barely believe what he was doing. He blamed part of it on his guilt for ignoring the nerd for over a month, he blamed the rest of it on his stupid heart.

Izuku turned his head to fully face Katsuki instead of the roads ahead of him, his smile foolish and small. “Kacchan, you look so pretty in the moonlight,” he slurred.

Katsuki nearly dropped Izuku in surprise. He stopped, turning his head so quickly he was amazed nothing cracked and immediately regretted it when the full force of Izuku’s smile focused on him- its brightness rivalled the moon’s. He could do nothing but stare, forcing his heart back down his throat just as the flickering of the traffic lights reminded him of his mission- getting his nerd home and then getting as far away as possible from him.

“Kacchan. Kacchan’s new designs are so cool. Did Kacchan know that all my American friends are huuuugge fans of yours? They bother me about Kacchan’s new releases allll the time. I actually had to take different patrol routes so they could stop bothering me. Hey Kacchan, was the last line Kacchan made based on Mirko? I saw she posted the jacket Kacchan made her a few weeks ago. That was amazing, Kacchan.”

It seemed as though Izuku could not get enough of calling Katsuki by his childhood nickname, rambling on and on about things that had absolutely no correlation.

Katsuki learnt two new things that night. One- Izuku was a lightweight and could not hold his liquor, they had to stop several times for Izuku to puke before they could continue. And two- Izuku’s quirks malfunctioned while he was drunk. He had had to pull the nerd down by his makeshift jacket-rope several times and had to fend off Blackwhip from wrapping around his waist even more than that.

“Kacchan. The night sky is so beautiful today. I’m so glad I have tomorrow off. Hey Kacchan, Kacchan?!”

Katsuki pointedly ignored him the entire way to Izuku’s apartment. Izuku didn’t seem to mind though as he happily rambled on and on.

Only once they settled into the elevator and Katsuki’s jacket was removed from his jeans, did Izuku finally realise that he hadn’t heard Katsuki’s voice the entire night. “Oh my God. Kacchan! Does Kacchan not have his ears on? Is that why Kacchan hasn’t been able to answer me? Oh, Kacchan. Kacchan I’m so sorry. Kacchan!” He scrambled to stand up straight, leaning heavily against the mirrored side of the elevator and began haphazardly signing everything he had been saying since the moment they stepped through the bar doors.

Katsuki was so bewildered he let out an incredulous laugh.

Izuku stopped. His pupils dilated at the sound. Katsuki’s laugh made Izuku all the more determined to sign.

When the elevator finally dinged at Izuku’s floor, Katsuki shoved him out through the doors and led him towards his apartment. It seemed as though Izuku’s short moment of sobriety was over and he was back to being a hopeless, malfunctioning drunk hero. Katsuki had to hold onto Izuku’s big, scarred hands to stop him from floating away. And wasn’t that a mistake, because not a second later Blackwhip’s dark tendrils snaked around Katsuki’s waist and biceps, pulling the blonde even closer to Izuku’s open arms.

“Best dream ever,” Izuku said sleepily, holding his arms out and wrapping himself around Katsuki’s back, his ankles crossed against Katsuki’s stomach while his hands rested on the blonde's chest.

Pro Hero Deku just wrapped himself around Katsuki DynaMight Bakugou like a koala hugging a tree.

Katsuki would’ve exploded if not for the knowledge of there being families who lived in the same building. He somehow managed to get his hand into Izuku’s jeans pocket, fumbling for the keys and hastily pushing the door open when he finally unlocked it.

Izuku took Katsuki’s silence as an invitation to nuzzle his face further into Katsuki’s neck, tightening his arms and legs around him while Katsuki turned to lock the door and wander deeper into the apartment.

“Dear All Might,” Katsuki sighed as he looked around, moving boxes strewn around haphazardly in what he guessed should've been the dining room. “How do you actually live like this?”

“This is a nice dream. Real Kacchan would never let me hold him like this,” Izuku hummed, blissfully unaware of his childhood friend’s disappointed glare. “Kacchann,” he slurred, lifting a reverent trembling finger to the hair around Katsuki’s hearing device, giggling happily when the green light shone dimly in his face.

“Kacchan, I'm so sorry I left,” he hiccuped. “I wanted to stay, I wanted to bring you with me. I just wanted you near, Kacchan. But I couldn't. I had to leave so I could work on my quirk, I had to leave and become a hero so far away from you so I could… so I could be strong enough to take care of you.” He continued to sniffle and mumble apologies into Katsuki’s shoulder- it seemed as though a drunk Izuku was an even more emotional Izuku than usual.

Katsuki briefly wondered if Kaminari had followed them when he felt a rush of electricity shoot down his spine. He turned his head and gazed into Izuku’s teary eyes. He swallowed hard, he wanted to tell him to stop apologizing and that it was okay- that he was the one who should’ve actually been sorry, but his words were stuck in his throat, a heavy weight lodged just beneath his vocal cords.

“Kacchan, why didn’t you return any of my calls? All I wanted was to hear you laugh again. I wanted to talk to Kacchan about all of the comic book stores I found and how I met Stars and Stripes. I wanted Kacchan to meet her too, oh! And Doctor Shield, he said you were brilliant.”

With every word Katsuki’s heart sank lower and lower into his stomach, his gut churning with the guilt that had been brewing ever since Izuku had told him he was leaving. He gripped tightly onto Izuku’s hands and walked down the eggshell-white hallway towards the swung open door.

“Kacchan, ‘msorry for hurting you when I left. I know that wasn't our plan. Kacchan’s my best friend. My best friend. And all I wanted was to be near Kacchan,” Izuku rambled on, pulling at Katsuki’s heart again and again as they made it down the hall. Katsuki eventually set Izuku down, pulling off his shoes and discarding his socks while he draped a blanket over his legs and middle. “Kacchan, say something,” he pleaded, big green eyes red with unshed tears.

Katsuki choked, standing to leave but stopping dead in his tracks when Izuku’s hand wrapped firmly around his wrist. He looked down, breathing heavily at the way Izuku looked up at him with pleading, desperate eyes.

“Stay, Kacchan. I missed you so much. I missed Kacchan more than anything else in the world,” Izuku nearly sobbed, using all of his strength to tug Katsuki to sit at the edge of his bed. When he was satisfied that Katsuki hadn’t yet moved to leave, Izuku turned onto his side and wrapped both of his arms around Katsuki’s waist, breathing in his sweet scent and sighing happily.

“What the fuck,” Katsuki whispered into his hands, groaning when Izuku tightened his arms around him. How was he supposed to get out of this? His heart thudded in his chest and his watch flashed bright red on his wrist- yup, he was so going to hear about this tomorrow.

“Kacchan.”

Katsuki removed his hands from his face and looked down, his expression impossibly soft when Izuku looked up at him with that same dopey grin he always gave him whenever they were kids and Katsuki agreed to let Izuku choose which All Might movie they watched, or which All Might cereal they were going to have for breakfast- it was the dopey grin he always flashed him when Izuku knew he was getting his way.

“Kacchan is so pretty. Kacchan’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen,” Izuku mumbled, voice honest and sure as he gazed up at Katsuki. He shuffled in closer, nudging up the bottom of Katsuki’s shirt. He breathed him in again, nuzzling his nose against the warm skin of the blonde’s back before placing the softest, chastest kiss on the small of his back.

Katsuki’s heart stopped. No. No. No. Izuku Midoriya was doing terrible things to his heart. He could’ve passed off all of the other things as his childhood friend just being his embarrassing, overly emotional self- but this? This was not something Katsuki could have played off as platonic, and least of all- casual. Not at all. Not ever.

If Izuku’s gift tilted Katsuki’s world six degrees to the left, then Izuku’s kiss completely rearranged his universe.

Katsuki felt his world drop out from beneath his feet, his hands hurting from how hard he was clenching his fists. No. This could not be happening- there was no way this was happening.

“Oh, Kacchan. Kacchan’s so warm,” Izuku breathed against him, moving even closer into Katsuki’s side. “This is my most favourite dream ever.”

Katsuki refused to look at Izuku, his gaze finally moving around his room. His heart was still racing in his chest and his hands still hurt from clenching it so tightly. His entire body was sweating and he could feel the droplets rolling down his back, but there was nothing he could do to stop his body from reacting so viscerally, no matter how hard he willed it to. He wondered then when all of this had started, he tried to think back to when they were kids. It felt like playing a game of, ‘spot the differences,’ but really the only thing that seemed to change was their bodies.

Katsuki’s heart still raced back then whenever Izuku was near, he used to blame it on irritation but was now realising that maybe that wasn't it. He vaguely remembered how his mother used to drag Katsuki away from Izuku after their playdates were over, and Izuku would cry until Mitsuki and Inko promised that they could see each other the next day. He wondered then when everything changed. He wondered when he stopped thinking that Izuku’s desire to always follow him around was no longer something he wanted but instead something he despised.

It was probably some time before middle school, a long time before Katsuki’s hearing went to shit. They would walk back together after school, Katsuki’s palms sparking with little explosions to make Izuku laugh. They would then change into some old clothes and rush into his garden, setting up plastic bottles and empty metal cans for Katsuki’s target practice. Izuku would gush and fawn over him every time he hit the target, and even when he didn’t, he’d tell Katsuki that he knew he was going to be a great hero. The praise only stoked Katsuki’s ego, feeling not that differently from a proud peacock when someone complimented their beautiful feathers.

And then Katsuki got his diagnosis and shut everyone out, and nothing had been the same since.

He knew Izuku didn’t think of him any differently after his surgery, nothing in his gaze changed when Izuku would unabashedly admire Katsuki. He remembered one of the last family dinners they had had before the Midorya’s/ Yagi’s had moved away. He was helping his father empty out the dishwasher when his mother walked in with a stack of clean plates and told him that Izuku looked at him as though he had hung the stars in the sky- Katsuki had scoffed and stalked off towards his room, leaving his laughing father to pack the rest of the dishes away.

It was nearly an hour later when Katsuki could wriggle out of Izuku’s grasp, he spent the entire time thinking about what he was going to do and what exactly it was that he was feeling. He pulled the All Might themed blanket over Izuku and tucked him in. He wandered down the hallway in search of a bathroom to wash his face before leaving and instead stumbled into what he thought was Izuku’s study.

And oh.

Katsuki wasn’t sure his heart would ever be the same after that.

He walked further into the room, his gaze settling on the floor to ceiling corner shelf that caught his eye and made his heart stop the moment he saw it.

It was a shelf filled with him.

Only him.

He looked around again and noticed a box in the opposite corner that seemed to hold all of Izuku’s trophies and medals- seemingly forgotten in the mostly barren room. He stopped in front of the shelf, his breath stuttering in his chest as he fully took it all in.

Each shelf was filled with something about Katsuki. There were framed cut outs of every magazine article ever written about him. Blogs and the occasional gathering pictures that the tabloids always managed to get their hands on. In a little box on the edge of one of the shelves he found the explosion shaped cufflinks Izuku had worn for his prom and beside that was the red tie Mitsuki had made for it and the tie Katsuki had slipped into his bag before he left.

There were other frames too, mostly of pictures of when they were kids, one of Katsuki at his UA graduation, another of him standing in front of his warehouse when he had officially launched his brand, some candids he remembered his mother taking while he was working with some Pro about upgrades for their suits. And right there in the middle of it all was Izuku’s prized trading card- the same one he had hunted down to gift to Katsuki, and the scene wouldn’t have been complete without the framed picture of the two of them as brats smiling giddily at their All Might cards.

What a sap, he thought.

All this time Katsuki was worried that Izuku had moved to America and forgotten all about him. All this time he had thought that Izuku looked down on him for not wanting to be a hero anymore, for being the only one between them to give up and change his dreams. But there he was. All that time. Collecting everything about him and making a shrine of all of his accomplishments. He could feel the nerd’s adoration and pride seeping out from every frame and item on the shelf.

Dear All Might.

Katsuki stood there in disbelief, confusion oozing from his pores. It seemed as though he was looking directly at Izuku’s heart and he was suddenly overwhelmed with this feeling of wrongness at trespassing. He slowly backed out of the room, closing the door behind him with a soft click.

He peeked through Izuku’s door to see if he was still asleep and upon seeing the peaceful expression on his sleepy face Katsuki ran out of the apartment. He ran down flights of stairs and into the lobby, barely avoiding crashing into Kamui Woods on his way out. He ran and ran, eventually moving his hands over his hearing devices to stop it from falling off his head. He ran and his lungs hurt from the overexertion. He ran and his mind swirled with all of the things he didn't know how to say and didn't know how to feel.

Katsuki eventually made it to his building, his hands popping from the excess sweat he built up during his run. This was not good. He unlocked his doors, set up his alarms and put his hearing devices, phone and watch to charge before he filled up his bathtub and dumped in bottles of what he hoped were stress relieving essential oils. “Holy shit,” he hissed when he finally sank into the steaming tub, the hot water seeping deep into his muscles and giving him some semblance of comfort. “Think, Katsuki. Think,” he told himself, sinking further into the tub.

He was pretty fucking smart, he could figure this out. Of course he could- he’s Katsuki Bakugou, owner of DynaMight’s clothing brand and Hero suit company, son of The Bakugou clothing brand- two of the most prominent fashion brands in Japan. A little something like ‘feelings’ should be no problem at all.

It was in fact- a problem.

An hour later Katsuki eventually forced his pruny body out of the tub and into his favourite pair of comfort clothes- an unreleased Deku #1 hero hoodie in the same shade as the nerd’s eyes and a black sweatpants with green tendrils reminiscent of ‘Blackwhip’ down the calves. He towelled his hair dry and laid back against his mattress, the overhead lights a warm orange in his room. He glanced at his phone on his bedside table and finally decided to look at all the notifications he’d been pointedly ignoring since he left the bar- and when he saw what his idiotic friends were saying he really wished he didn’t.

Bakubro and Momo’s merry band of idiots

Shitty hair
23:57
bro??? everyone’s zaying that u took Mido gome ?!!!

Raccoon alien
23:59
Oh! Please tell me that you’re finally getting laid! And by America’s sweetheart no less. Way to go babe ;)

Momo
00:01
Just spoke to Ida, he said Kats told him that he knows where Midoriya lives- that’s why he took him home.

Shitty hair
00:06
no dair?? I wanted to jelp. Mido is so manly

Raccoon alien
00:07
babe, you can’t even type properly, you were not going to be of help to anyone, let alone a big shot Pro

Spark plug
00:10
hehe. Big. He absolutely is. Saw his arms today and briefly thought about what it feels like to be held in them.

Momo
00:11
careful, everyone, your crushes are showing.

Katsuki refused to read anymore then whatever the hell that was. Crushes? What was that even about- for his own sanity, he decided to push that far, far away. In need of some inspiration, he rolled out of bed and wandered over to his shelves, his heart stuttering in a way that was becoming stupidly familiar every time anything remotely Izuku-related happened. He reached out a tentative hand, gently tracing his finger over the simple All Might trading card that flipped his world on its axis.

How could someone be this thoughtful? He asked himself as he looked around at the other prized items he had put up from Izuku’s gift box.

He replayed the conversation he just had with Izuku in his head, dissecting and theorising. Trying to figure out emotions for Katsuki, particularly romantic ones, was like having a box full of puzzle pieces and being expected to complete the puzzle without even knowing what the puzzle was supposed to look like. It was frustrating and nearly impossible, the only thing he could know for sure was what the four edge pieces were- and that too, he still had no idea which piece was for which corner.

To put it simply, it was maddening.

Katsuki had a few options. He could force the pieces to fit together, cutting and sticking away until the final piece resembled… something. Or he could go the long and tedious way and discover what the final product was supposed to look like. Throwing the pieces into a box and blasting it to the Pacific Ocean seemed like a viable option too.

Gazing fondly at the trading card in his hand and ignoring the anxiety of not knowing and the guilt for wrongly assuming, Katsuki quickly realised that whatever this was- he needed to figure it out soon, before it spiralled into something out of his control.

He slowly placed the frame back into its place and dug around for one of his All Might collectible coins- the same one he used whenever he needed to make a decision between two things he really wanted or two things he equally hated. He breathed in, slipping the coin between his thumb and forefinger, and breathed out. “Heads- I figure out whatever the fuck that nerd said today meant. Tails- I take a step back and pretend today never happened, I try really fucking hard to convince myself that whatever that was, was purely platonic and casual.”

He flipped the coin, watched the small metal piece hang in the air for a second before it dropped down and Katsuki caught it, slapping it against the back of his hand. He could hardly believe that he was getting this worked up over a coin-toss, and all because some nerd thought it was a great idea to drunkenly confess that he missed him and kissed his back. A second later, Katsuki removed the hand that was currently hiding the thing that had the possibility to alter the course of his life. He looked down at the coin.

Heads.

Of-fucking-course it was.

⊹₊⟡⋆

The first phase of Katsuki’s plan started on Tuesday morning. After spending the rest of his weekend after feelings-Friday Katsuki finally had some semblance of a plan to figure out whatever the fuck he was feeling for Izuku- unfortunately, he still didn’t know what he was going to do with said feelings once he figured it out, but he figured that that was a future-Katsuki problem.

Instead of heading to his private office in the mornings like he usually did, Katsuki decided to wait out in the main hall, directly in sight of the main entrance doors that Izuku usually entered through to drop his breakfast off at his secretary's desk.

He forced himself not to fidget with the little Mirko keychain attached to his jeans and instead occupied himself by scrolling through his phone- it helped for a while until he happened across a post of some mother and her kids posing with Izuku doing All Might’s signature pose. He couldn’t help the fond smile that tugged at his lips. Just as he was about to give up and stalk back into his office, the main hall suddenly erupted in hushed whispers and excited squeals- honestly, it was a wonder that Katsuki never noticed it before.

Izuku Midoriya had just walked in, dressed head-to-toe in his DynaMight Pro Hero suit. He had his signature smile on his face, a white to-go bag held loosely in one hand while the other held a large Americano.

Katsuki drank in the sight, heart racing in that fast, warm way he had begun to associate with his childhood friend. It wasn’t that he’d never seen the suit before, he designed it after all- but it was a completely different experience actually seeing Izuku in it- with his wild green curls freshly windswept and his mouthguard hanging lazily around his neck- walking confidently towards Rize’s office- that was until he spotted Katsuki standing directly in front of his secretary’s office.

Izuku’s steps faltered, his eyes widening in shock before melting into something impossibly soft. His smile- though already as bright as the sun- suddenly became brighter the closer he walked towards Katsuki. “Kacchan,” he greeted happily, stopping just a foot in front of Katsuki. “I brought you breakfast from the little store that you really like!”

Katsuki scoffed, extending his hands and taking the white paper bag from Izuku, “I know nerd, just like you do every Tuesday and Thursday,” he replied in lieu of a simple, ‘thanks.’

Izuku grinned at his response, smiling wider when he realised that Katsuki wasn’t leaving- which made sense seeing that this was the blonde’s building. He stared, entranced at the way Katsuki seemed to take up the entire room.

“-ku, Deku? Earth to Deku?”

The rest of the room suddenly came into focus when he heard Katsuki’s voice. He flushed, embarrassed at his blatant staring and spacing out- but could you blame him? It’d been years since he’d seen Kacchan and after Ida had told him that Kacchan was the one who took him home after he drank himself silly on Friday night, he had been nervously awaiting the next time he saw him. “Kacchan,” he said, voice cracking near the end.

Katsuki looked at him, unimpressed, with his signature scowl in place. He lifted his hand and flicked his forehead, only letting his finger linger near his skin for a second longer than necessary. “Don’t you pros have some saving or whatever to do?”

Izuku ignored that, instead placing the Americano directly into Katsuki’s hands. “I just wanted to say thank you in person, Kacchan. For Friday I mean. I guess I underestimated Japanese Sake,” he said with a laugh, moving his hand to rub at the back of his neck.

“Yeah, yeah. Well I couldn’t just leave your drunk-ass in that bar, auntie would not have been impressed if she found out her son spent the night passed out on some sticky couch.” Katsuki replied with a scoff, already turning around and making his way to his office, “just make sure it doesn’t happen again. You were a pain in the ass to deal with once you started floating.” He turned his head, looking at Izuku’s guilty expression over his shoulder, “see ya Thursday, nerd.”

Before Izuku could say anything else, Katsuki disappeared into his office. He smiled, pulling his mouthguard over his face and floating happily out of the building- Thursday could not be any further away.

Katsuki leaned against his office door, clutching at his heart. He peered into white paper bag and rolled his eyes when he noticed that there was a lot more than just a chocolate croissant and breakfast bagel- Izuku had filled it up with other breakfast foods that he thought he would like. Before he could decide on what to eat first, a knock at his door drew his attention. Placing his bag and coffee on his small coffee table, Katsuki walked towards his door and pulled it open, “what now?” he asked grumpily.

Rize merely smirked, immune to Katsuki’s curt attitude and tapped at her notepad with her pencil. “Oh, nothing. Just wanted to ask if I should continue waiting for Mister Deku’s breakfast appointments or leave it up to you?”

Katsuki shut the door in Rize’s face.

Before Katsuki knew it, a month had passed by. Izuku dropped in every Tuesday and Thursday morning- if he had an urgent patrol he’d leave as soon as Katsuki held his preferred breakfast foods in his hands, and if he had a little more time, the two would spend nearly half an hour in the middle of the hall just talking. Katsuki never remembered what they spoke about when he entered his office, just that he had to log in that he had just seen Izuku in his watch to account for the sudden change in heart rate after he left.

Katsuki was satisfied with the way his plan was going- it was slow and tedious at times, but as the days passed by Katsuki found himself genuinely enjoying Izuku’s company when his heart stopped feeling like it was about to burst out of his chest.

It was the Thursday morning after Izuku had been in the middle of a hostage situation that Katsuki realised that maybe a quieter place would do the hero some good. Katsuki could tell by the dark circles under his eyes and the stiffness in his shoulders that Izuku hadn’t fully calmed down from the fight yet- it was just downright cruel the way those villains had held an old woman up by her stringy white hair and threatened to kill her if the heroes didn’t comply with their demands.

It was safe to say that attending hero Deku was not about to let that pass. He stealthily released Blackwhip and a light smoke screen and when the villains were distracted he pulled the woman from their grasp and thickened the smoke screen. Once the woman was safely outside, Izuku landed two powerful kicks against the villains legs- rendering them immobile.

“I have a pretty nice balcony y’know,” Katsuki said with a shrug when Izuku handed him his coffee. He looked at him with upturned eyebrows, silently offering the nerd an invitation he was hoping he’d accept.

And of course he did. Izuku smiled, his first genuine smile of the day and happily followed Katsuki outside. He was only slightly confused when he noticed that there were no stairs outside and only when Katsuki sighed and looked up did he realise that this was Katsuki’s way of telling him to float them up there.

“My hands are occupied. Come on, my coffee’s getting cold, idiot.” Was that an extremely odd way to get Izuku to float them to his balcony? Yes. Did he have any regrets? No. After Kaminari’s comments about Izuku’s arms and Kirishima gushing about how strong Izuku was, Katsuki was suddenly overwhelmed with the simple need to feel it.

Izuku gently wrapped his arms around Katsuki’s waist, mindful of the coffees and pastries in the blonde’s hands and slowly floated them onto Katsuki’s balcony. Not wanting to accidentally make Katsuki feel uncomfortable, he immediately removed his arms and picked his coffee out of Katsuki’s hands, looking around the balcony in bewilderment. “Nice,” was not the word he’d use to describe that balcony.

In front of the glass doors that opened into Katsuki’s place there was a large round wooden table surrounded by comfortable looking couches, a few potted plants lining the edges of the space and some lamps scattered around, but what really caught his attention were the lights installed into the wooden flooring, the ground flashing this vibrant red that seemed to get brighter the closer he walked towards the door.

Katsuki needed a second to regain his composure after feeling Izuku’s thick, warm arms around his waist. He was pretty sure that his heart stopped again but it quickly made its thundering presence known the second Izuku let go of him. He was quickly pulled out of his shock when his floorboards flashed red and his phone and watch vibrated incessantly. “Oh, fine,” he sighed, walking towards Izuku and pulling him closer to his couches. Once they were both comfortably settled into the soft cushions, coffees and pastries laid out on the table in front of them, Katsuki finally pulled out his phone.

“What are you doing, Kacchan?” Izuku asked, leaning closer to peer at Katsuki’s phone.

Katsuki gestured vaguely to the floorboards with his foot in response.

“Woah,” Izuku said breathlessly when he noticed Katsuki filling in his details, everything from his height to the color of his hair and the size of his shoes. He decided not to ask Katsuki anything yet, instead buzzing in his seat with the urge to shout out all of the questions he had about his friend’s clearly amazing security system.

Five minutes later, Katsuki threw his phone onto the table and the flashing lights stopped, relieving Izuku of the oncoming headache he could feel starting just behind his eyes. Katsuki looked over at him, noticing the telltale signs of the start of Izuku’s question-tsunami and brought his fingers to pinch the bridge of his nose. This was going to be a long morning. “Ask away, nerd.”

And ask away he did.

Izuku was positively vibrating with astonishment. Kacchan’s security system was just so cool and so unique- he could tell from the way the system was designed that he really put in a lot of effort to ensure that he could still take care of himself even when he felt like foregoing one of his senses. “I’m sure your pro hero friends love visiting you, Kacchan. It must feel so relieving for them to be in a place where they can fully relax. And you said that this is all fully automated? What happens if there is an intruder on your roof?”

Katsuki picked up his phone, logging into his security app and he showed Izuku the list of his pro hero friends and some policeman who would get his alert if someone tried to force themselves in. “Just added your dumbass into the system- it wouldn’t look good if America’s sweetheart was arrested for attempting a break-in.”

Izuku beamed at him, letting the knowledge that he was one of the very few people that Katsuki’s state-of-the-art system recognised wash over him like a warm ray of sunlight, it filled him with this deep sense of satisfaction and a newly found confidence in their ever-evolving friendship. He leaned in closer, pointing at the different icons on Katsuki’s screen, eagerly listening to each of the features his system had in place as well as the color system that he knew Katsuki was extremely proud of. “So, what color am I, Kacchan?” He asked with his best attempt at puppy-dog eyes.

“I just explained the absolute clusterfuck of wiring and coding that went into this building and the only thing you’re concerned about is my color system?” Katsuki pushed him off him and clicked his tongue. “Green,” he eventually answered.

⊹₊⟡⋆

When Katsuki added Izuku’s biometrics and logged his details into his security system, he really didn't think that it was going to be put to use any time soon.

Katsuki was in the middle of a lazy Friday night- the ones he blocked off on his calendar every month to allow his body to fully reset before the next month. He closed up early, wished his employees a good weekend and switched on his system the moment he got to his floor. He could feel the stress rolling off his shoulders with every device he removed from his person and placed it on its respective charging dock.

Next order of business was a hot soak in the tub and changing into his comfort clothes, a quick blow dry so he could put his devices back on and then a Michelin-star bowl of ramen he enjoyed while watching old All Might reruns. As part of his routine, he switched to the news channel and that was when his lazy Friday-night took a turn.

On his screen the news reporter was standing in front of a dilapidated building, plumes of dust and smoke permeating the air around her. Katsuki leaned off the edge of his couch, his eyes trained on the defeated-looking Izuku just a few feet away from the reporter, his gaze far-off and unfocused.

“Unfortunately, despite the valiant effort of the pros on scene, a little girl was crushed beneath a falling wall. The building’s construction crew is theorising that the sudden collapse may have been due to a fight in the area back during Endeavor’s hero years-”

Katsuki was already pulling on his shoes and shoving his phone and wallet into his pocket before the news anchor could even finish her sentence.

Deku needed his help. Katsuki couldn’t explain it but he just knew that the nerd was blaming himself for the little girl’s death. He could tell from the news that Izuku was taking it badly, it was all there in the subtle tensing of his back and the empty look in his eyes. Just as he was about to turn the handle of his door, his overhead lights flashed emerald green- Katsuki sprinted to his balcony door and pulled it open before he could even kick off his shoes.

Izuku Midoriya stood battered and broken on Katsuki’s pristine balcony. Dust and dried blood falling off him and settling onto the wooden boards. He looked defeated, his usual bright green eyes were dull and empty and his signature Hero Deku smile was nowhere in sight.

Katsuki approached him in much the same way you would a skittish cat, slowly and carefully with your hand outstretched and small soothing sounds leaving your lips without you even realising. When Izuku didn’t move away, he wrapped him in a tight hug, holding the back of Izuku’s head firmly with his hand. He tried to push as much comfort as he could into that signal act, hoping that it would comfort Izuku in any way.

“I didn’t know where else to go,” Izuku whispered, collapsing into Katsuki’s arms, his body shaking with sobs wrecking his already worn-out body.

And Katsuki stood there silently through it all- there weren’t any words in any language out there that would be enough to comfort Izuku right now. He held Izuku even tighter to his chest until the soul-shattering sobs turned into soft sniffles. “Let’s get you inside, okay?” he whispered, using all of his strength to help Izuku into the warmth of his house. The balcony door slid closed with a soft thud and Katsuki helped Izuku into the Fatgum memory-foam beanbag he had stashed away in the corner, he then threw his favourite weighted blanket over Izuku- hoping the deep pressure would help him calm down.

It seemed to work when Izuku’s green eyes lit up in recognition, the faintest glimmer returning. Katsuki leaned down, shaking off his usual apprehension to touch Izuku- not because he didn’t want to, but because he was scared he’d never be able to stop once he started- and threaded his soft hands through Izuku’s flat, clumpy curls. All anxiety he felt over Izuku not wanting his touch immediately drained out of him when the nerd leaned into his touch, seemingly melting under the warmth of his skin. Katsuki’s knees nearly buckled at the sight.

“Thank you,” Izuku said, voice hoarse and his eyes swollen from his crying. He looked up, smiling warmly at Katsuki while still leaning his head into the blonde’s hands.

Katsuki moved the hair away from Izuku’s forehead and tucked it behind his ear. He could hardly believe that this- whatever it was- was happening, and if it were all somehow a dream he was going to be sure to live it to the fullest. “I’m going to draw you a bath, ‘Kay? I have a small first aid kit to patch your ass up after but you need to be clean first.” He had to force his hand away from Izuku’s face, shoving it into his hoodie pocket to stop it from reaching out again. When Izuku nodded he finally left and made his way towards his room.

If there was one thing Katsuki was the most proud of except for his security system, it was his bathroom. He found it extremely functional and over the last half a year it had brought him a great deal of comfort. He looked around the room, setting the temperature of his shower to just below scalding and readjusted the two shower heads- one that sprayed water from the top and the other was a hand shower that attached to just below the water knobs.

He was sure Izuku was cognizant enough to start off in the shower, wash off all the grime and then sink into the bathtub, so he hung the towels over the small rack near his marble white tub. Popping the rubber stopper in, Katsuki poured out some of his favourite essential oils into the steaming water and moved the little orange duck Kaminari had gifted him as a joke closer, just in case Izuku was in need of a little company.

Once Katsuki was satisfied with the ‘make sure Izuku takes a bath before he breaks down again,’ mission, he walked into his closet and pulled out some clothes that he knew Izuku would fit into. Being your childhood best friend's personal almost-stylist had some perks, he thought as he stared down at the vintage All Might hoodie he bought a few years ago and his baggiest pair of checkered pajama pants.

Shoving Izuku into the bathroom took a little longer than he thought it would, it seemed as though the freckled man’s knees refused to hold him up long enough for him to take a proper step. Katsuki had half a mind to blindfold himself and scrub the nerd down himself, if only to calm his worries about Izuku accidentally slipping and giving himself a concussion. Those thoughts quickly vanished when Izuku brought both of his hands to his face and slapped his cheeks, effectively waking him out of his stupor.

While Izuku cleaned himself off in the bathroom, Katsuki took to busying himself in the kitchen. Pulling out bowls, plates, chopsticks and bottled waters while he waited for their fast-food delivery. Thank God for 24/7 open food-chains. Just as Katsuki was plating up their katsudon, Izuku emerged from his room, face flushed red from the hot soak. Katsuki nearly dropped the ceramic bowl he was holding when Izuku flashed him a dazzling smile, his hair damp and curling around his nape and forehead.

Katsuki’s hoodie stretched enticingly over Izuku’s back and shoulders, highlighting the defined muscles the nerd clearly worked hard for, the baggy pajama pants not as baggy as Katsuki thought it was as his eyes trailed over the soft material stretching over Izuku’s thighs. There was something oddly domestic and soft about sharing clothes with someone after a long day.

Katsuki wanted to see Izuku wearing his clothes for the rest of his life.

He wanted to see their clothes dumped together into the same clothing hamper for the rest of his life.

Izuku looked so beautiful and carefree in that moment that Katsuki wished he had a camera installed in his house just so he could rewatch Izuku walking out of his room over and over again.

Izuku beamed when he noticed the katsudon on the table, floating over the couch and settling into the floor-pillow Katsuki laid out for him in front of the coffee table. “My favourite!” he exclaimed happily, eyes just a little less red than earlier.

Katsuki merely nodded in return, finally putting down the bowl he was holding and settling on his pillow next to Izuku. Their knees brushed every time one of them leaned over the table to grab their drink or pick out something from the side dishes- and Katsuki found that he rather liked the steady weight of Izuku Midoriya a lot more than his weighted blankets.

They ate in silence, the only noise present in the house was Katsuki’s air purifier in the kitchen. When they couldn’t stuff their faces anymore, Katsuki cleared out the coffee table, kicking Izuku and slapping his hands away when he tried to help him. Instead, Izuku busied himself by walking around the room, stopping when he reached Katsuki’s shelves.

It was then that Katsuki realised that he never really thanked Izuku for his gifts and now seemed as good a time as any. He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked towards Izuku, stopping just a foot away when he noticed Izuku’s soft smile as he gazed at the framed trading card (a.k.a. One of his most prized possessions) and the picture of them as kids. Steeling his nerves, Katsuki walked closer and bumped his shoulder into Izuku’s, desperately forcing himself to hold eye contact instead of looking away. “I just…,” he let out the breath he was holding and clenched his fists, “wanted to say thank you.”

Izuku returned the gesture and bumped his shoulder into Katsuki’s too, his smile brighter than a thousand suns with eyes to match. “Of course, Kacchan. You’re welcome.”

Katsuki could hardly believe how softly Izuku was looking at him, it was the softest Katsuki had ever seen him in his entire life. His emerald green gaze seemed to stare deeply into his soul, as though Katsuki was the answer to every question he had ever had. It unraveled him, pulling at the threads of his insecurities and stubbornness that made up the armour of his heart. They stood there for what seemed like hours, until Izuku sneezed and the rest of the world fell back into place.

“So, Kacchan, when were you going to tell me I had a merch line?” Izuku teased, his earlier defeated expression nowhere to be found. Despite the confidence in his voice, he was flushed pink till the tips of his ears and vibrating with a sort of energy that could only be described as beyond ecstatic.

Katsuki groaned, finally realizing just what he was wearing. Of-fucking-course he would be the type of person to be caught wearing unreleased- basically fan-made merch of one on his favourite heroes, and of-fucking-course said hero would see him in it. All he could manage was a weak, “fuck off,” and an empty threat to never release a merch line for him.

Izuku laughed, the sound loud and raspy. It seemed to reverberate through the room, the sweet melody bouncing off the walls and straight into Katsuki’s heart. He fiddled with the strings of his hoodie, shuffling on his feet. Katsuki could tell that he wanted to say something, could probably already guess what it was, but on the off chance he was wrong he decided to keep his mouth shut- he’d rather not have his heart on display. He stalked off towards his kitchen, flicking his kettle on and leaned against the counter, his gaze settling on Izuku’s nervous expression.

“Would it- can I-”

And there it was. The confirmation Katsuki was looking for. “Want something hot to drink? I’ve got teas, few different flavored coffees.” Say what you want about Mitsuki Bakugou’s parenting methods, but if there’s one thing she taught Katsuki, it was stellar manners- where it counted, at least. He turned around and rummaged through his mug cupboard, pulling out a plain black one for himself and an obnoxiously red, white and blue themed All Might one for Izuku.

At Katsuki’s offer, any hesitance or nerves Izuku had felt immediately disappeared. His Izuku-smile was back on his face, shining with a brightness Katsuki didn't think he’d see after he had watched the news and saw his old friend’s crestfallen face. He floated over to Katsuki’s side, hovering over his shoulder as he watched the blonde make them the most complicated cup of hot chocolate he had ever seen. There was a lot of chocolate grating, milk frothing, hot cocoa powder measuring and other things that Izuku found entirely fascinating.

“Kacchan! This is the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had! Kacchan’s amazing,” Izuku yelled happily, eagerly sipping from his mug as he settled against the back of Katsuki’s couch. “Oh my god,” he moaned, licking at the whipped cream covering his lips.

That small sound went straight to Katsuki’s gut, settling deep in his belly and causing a flush to erupt across his cheeks and ears. God dammit. He tightened his hands around his mug and sat a respectable two seat cushions away from Izuku, crossing his legs at the ankles and throwing the remote at Izuku. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Put something on, there’s a new All Might documentary that just-”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Izuku was already scrolling through channels and finding the exact documentary Katsuki was talking about. Honestly, he shouldn’t have been surprised when the nerd confessed that he watched the first half of it from the top of a building while he was on patrol and just never got to watch the rest of it.

They spent the rest of the night like that, watching an All Might documentary, sipping on their hot chocolate and making each other laugh with their commentary. It felt warm. It felt soft. But more importantly, it felt right. Katsuki never realised how much he had missed simply spending time with Izuku before. The constant mumbling, the genuine laughs, the easy smiles, the nerding out about All Might, the impromptu history lessons, and on and on they went, until well after the ending credits had rolled out.

It might’ve been one of the most memorable nights of Katsuki’s life, and that was saying a lot considering he’d been at every big-shot event since his last year at UA. Hero galas? He was there, walking around with his UA friends who were slowly, but surely climbing up the ranks. Fashion shows? He had a front row seat or he was stashed somewhere in the back making sure that his models were comfortable and confident. Award ceremonies? He was there with his parents, because more often than not, one of the Bakugou’s had designed one of the presenters' suits or dresses, and the list went on.

He’d had his fair share of high society gatherings, being best friends with Momo Yaoyorozu made sure of that, but there was just something about quiet evenings like this where all he had to do was be himself. Not Katsuki the designer, Katsuki the son, Katsuki the good friend of great pros, just Katsuki- the Katsuki who still loves All Might documentaries, who still sleeps with socks every night, who still reads old comic books and occasionally collects trading cards. He finally felt like the Katsuki he had shoved deep down and hidden away all those years ago, and it was a feeling he couldn’t seem to get enough of.

When he woke up the next morning, it felt like his heart was halfway to Mexico. Izuku Midoriya- Pro Hero Deku and the world’s Symbol of Hope was currently fast asleep on his chest, his hands were wrapped tightly around his waist beneath his shirt and his legs were slotted between his own.

Katsuki couldn’t breathe. He looked around, noticing his hearing devices neatly placed in the middle of the table. He couldn’t remember how they had gotten into that position. The last thing he remembered was laughing at something Izuku had said about some American Pro who went by Liberty. When did that turn into- into- he didn't even know what to call it.

In an attempt to not freak out and jump out from underneath Izuku in fear of him waking up and then having to deal with the awkwardness of what that would stir up, he forced himself to relax, settling surprisingly peacefully into his soft couch. Izuku Midoriya’s body weight felt infinitely better than any weighted blanket he had ever had. He looked over Izuku’s peaceful frame, his broad back rising and lowering steadily with every breath. He lifted an adoring hand to frizzy curls, his fingers threading through the curly locks.

Katsuki wanted to wake up like this every morning.

It seemed as though his plan had finally borne some results. There was no mistaking the flush on his cheeks, the trembling in his heart or the sappy grin on his face- he was falling for Izuku Midoriya- and hard.

Eventually he dozed off, hands still buried in Izuku’s curls.

A few hours later, Izuku woke up with the need to pee and he nearly let out a smokescreen in his shock. It was only thanks to his many years of hero-work that Izuku managed to keep his body impossibly still. He was laying- no, scratch that- he was cuddling his biggest heartache. His head was on Katsuki’s chest, his steady heartbeat thumping beneath his ears, there was a hand in his hair and another on the back of his neck. He felt like stars had just combusted inside him. Was he dreaming? Did he die and this was Heaven? If so, thank you, God.

A quick pinch to his hand had him realising that, no, he wasn’t dreaming nor was he dead, he was actually laying on top of Katsuki Bakugou- and oh my god, his arms were under his shirt. He already knew that his childhood friend would not appreciate waking up like that, so he carefully, oh-so-gently, removed himself from Katsuki’s grasp and rushed into the nearest bathroom, splashing water on his face and breathing heavily into his hands.

What. The. Fuck. Happened last night?

With a little quick thinking, Izuku rinsed his mouth out with water and minty mouthwash while he looked for an extra toothbrush in the cabinet above the sink and then made his way to the kitchen, remembering that he saw Katsuki’s ‘ears’ on the coffee table so there was no way that his banging around would wake him up. He rummaged through the fridge, pulled open some cupboards and drawers and sniffed a lot of spices. He was not a great cook by any means but he could make a mean omelette.

Half an hour later, the two men were seated across each other sporting varying shades of red blushes, but the interaction itself wasn’t exactly what Katsuki would call awkward, it was more… charged. Like a storm had come down in his house and every small move zapped him and sent tingles down his spine. Thankfully, conversation flowed easily- Katsuki spoke about the new heroes he’d been working on suits for and Izuku fanboyed over every one of them. The topic of their sleeping arrangements went completely untouched.

⊹₊⟡⋆

“You’re telling me that you had arguably the sweetest, sexiest, most awkwardly charming hero in our generation laying on top of you, in your living room and you didn’t even kiss him? No- you didn’t even talk to him about it? Kats. What. The. Fuck?!” Mina yelled, pulling at her pink curls before she sat up from her spot beside Kirishima and started shaking Katsuki by his shoulders.

Yeah. Telling his idiot-squad about his impromptu sleepover from a month ago probably wasn’t the best idea, but they had been bugging him about why Izuku was over at his place so often and he had felt only a tiny bit bad when he kept on blowing off their invitations to dinner and whatever else because he was already spending time with Izuku.

When he told Momo the minute Izuku had jumped off his balcony, her shriek was so high pitched he was convinced that she cracked all of the glass surrounding her. That then led to her speeding over on her stupidly expensive motorbike and squeezing every single detail of his night out of him. By the time they were done, Katsuki was as red as his eyes and Momo was positively glowing, happily sing-songing about wedding cake flavours and gardens they could rent out.

“Wait, let me get this straight,” Kaminari said seriously from his spot on the couch, holding his hands in front of him and wiggling his fingers. “His hero name is the mean nickname you gave him back when you were kids,” Kaminari put a finger down. “You’ve literally made every single hero suit he’s ever worn.” Another finger down. “Your website is literally linked to his hero account. He brings you breakfast almost every morning and you’ve been cooking dinner for the two of you almost every Friday night- which by the way, used to be our nights. He mentions you every time his suit is brought up. He probably spent a fortune on that card you have framed- no. I can’t. This is making my head spin.” He looked down at his clenched fist, realising that he had run out of fingers to put down and groaned. “What the fuck is wrong with you two? Get together already!”

A chorus of hums and agreements resounded throughout the room and never before had he wanted to kick his friends out of his house so badly.

“Fuck off. Leave me alone,” he replied. Itching to take off his devices just so that he didn't have to hear his friends tear into him about the obvious crush and adoration Deku somehow had for him. As if.

“No, Kats. Seriously, what are you waiting for?” Kirishima asked, genuine curiosity laced in his voice.

Momo nudges her shoulder into his, looking at him with something he can’t quite explain. Was it encouragement? A tad of ‘I told you so’ and something akin to understanding? He wasn’t sure.

“There’s nothing wrong. You’re all seeing something that’s not there. You’re making something out of absolutely nothing,” he said, the words unconvincing even to his own ears. As much as he’d like to tell his friends off, and tell them that they’re all imagining things and just pissing him off, he can’t. Because deep down he knows that it’s all true and he hates that. He hates it so much it leaves him wide awake at night, guilt and shame gnawing at him with every breath he takes.

Jirou scrolls through her phone and throws it at Katsuki, her screen lit up by a picture Uraraka had posted on her private account of Izuku clad head to toe in DynaMight branded clothing, the caption reading, ‘not even his casual clothes are DynaMight free.’ She sighs, the sound discontented and discouraged, “really, Blasty. I don’t see what the problem is here. There’s not a doubt in anyone’s mind that Midoriya isn’t head-over-combat boots in love with you. The signs are all clearly there.”

“I literally watched him nearly break his neck last week when the class got together for drinks again because he heard you laughing. Bro, I swear there were actual hearts floating around his head when he looked at you and we couldn’t even blame it on the alcohol. He had one drink the entire night,” Kirishima added.

Despite the warm feeling that passed over Katsuki from his redheaded friend’s words, he refused to think of it as anything more than… than friendly adoration. Yeah, that was it. “Yeah, because I told him that next time I’m telling his mother.”

Mina rested her head against Kirishima’s shoulders and looked up from her spot on the floor. “What are you so afraid of?”

Katsuki bristled, then glared at his friend. “I’m not afraid of anything,” he said through gritted teeth.

Kaminari hummed thoughtfully, moving his head from side to side. “I dunno, man. Clearly there’s something holding you back- it must be fear, I can't think of anything else.”

“Fuck off, that’s because you possess little to no meta cognitive skills,” Katsuki bit out.

“Okay, rude,” Jirou said with a laugh, reaching over to pat Kaminari’s now frowning face.

And that seemed like the catalyst that set off his friends, each of them shouting out more and more absurd reasons that made Katsuki’s head spin. It suddenly became too much for him and he caved, clutching at the front of his shirt and looking down at his lap.

“Shut up! I’m not good for him okay? I don’t do relationships. Never have. I barely do casual. I’m stubborn and rash and loud and impatient. I hate being around people for too long and I need alone time stupidly often so I don't crash. I’m impulsive and I’m rude and I still don’t know why you guys even put up with me,” he admitted, clenching his fists and avoiding his friends' gazes. “He’s literally the world's wonder boy, how is someone like that supposed to put up with someone like me? Why would someone like that even be interested in someone like me in the first place? It makes no goddamn sense. So drop it okay. Just… drop it.”

Katsuki’s words stilled the room, the heartbreaking syllables consumed by the air. A sudden weight of guilt and sadness washed over his friends, each of them looking at each other and then back at the blonde.

“Because we love you, Kats. That’s why,” Jirou replied earnestly, reaching over and placing a hand on Katsuki’s knee, the others moving in close beside her to do the same.

“And what does all that ‘someone like me’ bullshit even mean?! Kats! You’re beyond brilliant. You’re arguably the best hero suit designer this side of Japan. People literally flock towards you like bees to flowers. There’s a reason why every huge gathering has you on their invite list! Come on. For the smartest guy I know you’re being really dumb right now!” Kirishima wailed, anguish and worry clear in his voice. Thanks to the sweet liquid courage they had just downed Kirishima was brave enough to tell his best bud what he was honestly thinking.

Momo released a long sigh and turned to look at Katsuki, her dark eyes stern as it settled on his. “And, Kats, for what it’s worth, I don’t think a man who can walk around with an entire building on his shoulders will have much trouble with your temper tantrums.”

Katsuki was so shocked he could hardly breathe. That small revelation seemed to knock the air straight out of him.

Jirou hummed thoughtfully, “in fact, I think he’s the only man alive able to put up with your sour moods and grumpy personality.”

”Wait, didn’t he save you from a falling building the first day he was back? Man, Midoriya was just made to put up with you, dude,” Sero added.

“Seriously. The other day I was on patrol in the area and he casually just lifted a car because some sweet ol’ lady dropped her change. It was life changing,” Kaminari said with barely restrained awe. “Honest to God, if I had ovaries I think they would’ve squirmed or something.”

“As someone who has ovaries, I can in fact say that they did indeed squirm,” Mina said with a giggle.

“You have to tell him!” his friends chanted.

Katsuki spent the rest of the night on the receiving end of his friends openly thirsting over his childhood friend turned kinda-crush. At some point it had become so overwhelming he discreetly slipped off his ear pieces and tucked them in his pocket, groaning at the perfect times in order to convince his dumbasses that he was still listening. Momo noticed of course, she always did, but graciously pretended not to.

Despite all the shit he gives them, he was exceptionally glad that they had barreled into his life. Even though they had said some rather… interesting things about Deku, he couldn’t say that they didn’t make some valid points. It really opened his eyes up to all the things they had been doing lately and it just made it clear that the majority of it was far from platonic.

Maybe there was a chance.

Maybe he would do something about it.

⊹₊⟡⋆

As the next month passed by, Katsuki's crush became more and more apparent and so did Izuku’s open admiration. Gone were the fleeting touches, the barely there staring, the respectable or expected distance between two friends.

It was a week before the year's annual hero gala and Katsuki was cutting Operation: Figure-out-my-feelings-and-what-to-do-with-it really close. He thankfully hadn’t had to think about it that much since he was swamped with heroes commissioning him to design their dresses for the evening, and true to Inko’s word, he had spent an entire day around the city with Inko, Toshinori and surprise-surprise, Stars and Stripes.

He had already sent in his RSVP and he knew from Deku’s team along with his little sneak peek at the night's itinerary that he was definitely going to be there too. The only thing left to do was- well, ask his childhood friend if he’d like to go with him, but before that he had to yell at him about not commissioning a suit to wear for the evening.

He paced around his kitchen, packing and unpacking various drawers in an attempt to calm himself down before his best friend arrived. Izuku had been spending so much time at his house lately that it felt wrong and empty and devoid of anything bright whenever Izuku wasn’t around. Just as he was about to unpack his spoon drawer his overhead lights lit up green to signal that the object of his affections had just landed on his balcony.

Slowly making his way over to the balcony door, Katsuki took in his friend’s deliciously disheveled form. He vaguely remembered a time when he wasn’t attracted to the clearly buff hero type- he found all that fanfare and confidence extremely off-putting, but for some reason Izuku Midoriya pulled it off without looking like a douche. But that was probably because he had a heart purer than puppies, kittens and babies combined.

Sliding open the door he immediately noticed that his nerd was hiding something behind his back, he was also chewing on his bottom lip- a telltale sign that he was nervous. Leaning against the open doorway Katsuki crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Izuku, giving the freckled man time to get over whatever nerves he had.

“So… Kacchan,” Izuku started nervously, switching between standing on his feet and floating just above the floorboards, his hands nowhere to be seen behind his back.

“Yes?” Katsuki couldn’t explain it but he was suddenly nervous too. Whatever it was that made Izuku so nervous was somehow seeping into him too.

“So, you know that this weekend is the annual hero gala and Cathy, mom, dad and well my entire team have been bugging me about it. Did you know that Eraserhead and Present Mic are going to be there? Did you know that they’re married? Of course you did, you went to UA. Oh and I think Mount Lady and Kamui Woods are going to show up together, I saw her sneaking out of my building the other day- it was extremely concerning, especially because she nearly turned giant in the middle of the lobby when Kamui called out after her to tell her she forgot her mask-”

“I’m fully aware, I was asked to make a lowkey vine pattern at the bottom of Lady’s dress,” Katsuki cut him off with a sigh, stopping himself from continuing when he noticed a stray red petal fall and land just beside Izuku’s black boot. He raised an eyebrow at Izuku, urging him to continue with his rant.

Izuku smiled, “well, isn’t that just sweet,” he looked at Katsuki, the same gaze he usually had before villain fights. “Well, I just… this weekend… since so many people are going together- no, not because so many others are going together but because… would you want to go with me?” Izuku stepped forward and pulled out the mixed bouquet of flowers and held it towards Katsuki, a nervous-hopeful smile on his face.

Katsuki was rooted to the floor, he could barely breathe let alone speak.

Izuku Midoriya was asking him to be his date to the most anticipated ceremony of the year.

Izuku Midoriya got him flowers.

He looked down at the bouquet and breathed in the flowery scent. There were the classic red roses, some beautiful pink peonies, orange lillies, a single bold sunflower with many others he couldn’t name, and his favourite- white tulips. He was momentarily shocked to see tulips as part of the bouquet as they were notoriously winter flowers and not all that common there in Japan.

Noticing his friend’s bewilderment he let out a stuttered breath, “I was thrown into a nursery a few months ago and there was this lovely lady who grew all types of flowers, her quirk’s called ‘bloom’ and basically she can grow any flower as long as she has the seeds for it regardless if it's in season or not.”

Katsuki reached out and took the flowers from Izuku’s shaking hands and cradled it close to his chest. Ever since his surgery Katsuki’s sense of smell was heightened, meaning that all scents- good and bad- were all the more powerful. “You got me flowers,” he said with a smile.

Izuku’s heart galloped at the smile on Katsuki’s face. It was the most genuine, most beautiful smile he had ever seen on the blonde’s face in all the years of them knowing each other. “Of course I did, Kacchan. I’ll buy you flowers every day for the rest of my life if it makes you this happy.”

Katsuki laughed. Only Izuku would say something like that.

“So… is that a yes? Maybe?” Izuku probed after a while of them just staring at each other.

“You really want to go with me?” Katsuki asked sheepishly, the sudden weight of the request settling on his shoulders. Despite working up the courage to ask Izuku to be his date for weeks, now that it was a possibility that they could go together he realised the implications of it and wondered if he was ready to have the conversation he’d been dreading.

“There’s no one else I’d rather go with.” Izuku’s reply was sure and confident, leaving no room for anyone to question his conviction.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Katsuki was pretty sure his heart just jumped out of his chest and landed straight into Izuku’s big, scarred hands.

Careful hands. Strong hands.

“Although, Kacchan… we have one teeny-tiny problem. I don’t have a suit,” he admitted with a sigh.

Katsuki laughed. “Yes, you do. It’s downstairs,” he said, shuffling his flowers into one arm while he reached for his phone with the other and showed Izuku the suit he made for him.

Izuku grinned, leaning closer to look at his suit, “Kacchan’s the best.”

“Yeah, yeah. Get here early Saturday morning so we can sort out your hair, oh and on Friday- yes, I know it’s your day off, I need you to deliver Cathy’s and your mom’s dresses.”

“Yes, Kacchan,” he replied with a smile, “I’ll see you on Friday. I have a bunch of hours to make up for and a lot of paper work to fill out.” He slowly moved closer, hoping to All Might that he’d been reading this entire thing correctly and it wasn’t just his own feelings that were overshadowing their interactions. He leaned down, pressed a chaste kiss to Katsuki’s temple and stepped back, waving before he floated away and landed on a nearby building.

Katsuki swallowed hard.

Yup. Katsuki was down bad.

⊹₊⟡⋆

It was nearly 3pm when Izuku finally arrived at Katsuki’s house and the blonde was not at all pleased. The gala started in less than 3 hours and Izuku was covered in dirt, half of his hair was singed off and he was sporting a new scar just below his right eye that was caked with dried blood.

“You’re joking? You’ve got to be kidding me. One day. That’s all we asked for. You know, when your mom told me to go easy on you because she knew you were going to be late, I didn't expect you to be this late. Seriously, you really are a Deku!” Katsuki yelled angrily, forcefully pushing Izuku into his bathroom and towards the shower.

“I’m sorry, Kacchan. I promise, I was on the way and then-”

“No. Just no. You’re going to stand there and listen to me and not say another word until we’re ready to go,” Katsuki said sternly, itching to run a hand through his neatly gelled hair. “You’re going to shower and wash all of that dirt off you- unbelievable, honestly. Then we’re going to get that new scar of yours patched up and lather your face in some soothing aloe cream. After that you’re going to change into your pants, socks and shoes, it’s all hanging in the corner of my room. There’s no missing it. Then we’re going to figure out what the fuck we’re going to do with your hair, half of the side is missing, Deku, how did that even happen- ah, no, I don’t want to know.”

“Yes, Kacchan,” Izuku replied obediently, already pulling off his burnt t-shirt and heading towards the shower.

Katsuki was grateful he was already halfway done, all he had to do was pull on his jacket and set up his alarms and he was good to go. The car Toshinori hired for them was set to pick them up around 5:45 which meant that he only had two more hours to get Izuku ready before they had to leave. If it weren’t for his years of working in the fashion industry and becoming pretty much immune to late models he was sure he would’ve had some sort of breakdown.

An hour later Katsuki was contemplating buzzing Izuku’s curls clean off. Don’t get him wrong, Katsuki absolutely adored Izuku’s curls and he was all about embracing your natural hair type, it was something he told his models and fellow designers often. What he regretted to mention was that curls smelt fear. They always knew when it was an important day and you were expecting and really hoping that they behaved and curled the way you knew it could, especially on days when you had nowhere to go and nobody to see. He sighed, frustrated that Izuku’s curls decided that today was the day they wanted to misbehave.

“I don’t really care what my hair looks like, Kacchan,” Izuku said in the hopes of calming his friend- wait- date, down. “Everyone knows that my hair’s usually a frizzy mess, I’m sure tonight won’t be out of the ordinary if I show up like this.” He looked up at Katsuki, his eyes warm and sure.

Katsuki had been trying his hardest to ignore their dangerously intimate position, but when he looked down at Izuku and rested his dry wrists on his shoulders it was impossible to ignore.

Izuku and Katsuki were in the middle of his lounge. A small chair was propped up on his carpet beside his coffee table that was holding way too many different types of hair products. Everything from leave-in conditioners, curl creams, mousses, foams, gels. There were about six different types of hair brushes too.

Izuku sat on the cushioned chair, hands folded neatly on his lap, knees apart and head bent backward. Katsuki stood between Izuku’s open legs, the outer parts of his thighs brushed up against the inner parts of Izuku’s. Whenever Izuku leaned into his touch, Katsuki worried that he would hear the frantic beating of his heart or smell the caramel scent of his sweat. At some point Izuku’s hands moved from his lap to behind Katsuki’s knees, tracing small circles into the sensitive skin.

“Nope. We’re starting over. Hop up and lean over the tub, I’m washing your hair and then we’re going to do the easiest curly hair routine in history. Little bit of leave-in, little bit of gel and then we’re going to rake it through your hair and let it air dry on the way to the ceremony. No diffuser bullshit because we don’t have the time for that.”

“Yes, Kacchan.”

That seemed to do the trick because nearly an hour later Katsuki and Izuku were nearly done.

“You clean up nice. Of course, I did all the work and we can give the rest of the credit to your mom,” Katsuki said as he took in Izuku’s suit-clad body. It fitted him perfectly, the black material stretched deliciously over his back, chest and arms, revealing all that hard-earned muscle. His hair dried in messy ringlets around his head and he was sure that by the time he got his new ranking his hair would’ve fluffed up a bit. Black and green really were Izuku’s colors.

Izuku smiled. “Kacchan looks… beautiful,” he said earnestly, walking over slowly to help Katsuki clasp on his watch. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something he’d probably regret his phone buzzed in his back pocket. Slipping it out and checking the text he said that their car was parked in front of Katsuki’s building. “That’s our cue to leave, ready, Kacchan?”

“Duh. I’ve been going to these since I was in UA. I should be asking you if you’re ready. This is your first Hero gala in Japan, right?” Katsuki asked while setting up the alarm on his phone and then walking towards the balcony with Izuku trailing behind him, Izuku’s warm hand resting warmly on the small of his back.

“Yup. I watched the last few years with mom and dad and damn if the competition isn’t brutal. I heard Hawk’s took over this year, I wonder if that’ll change anything,” Izuku replied thoughtfully, watching carefully as Katsuki locked the balcony door and then slipped his phone into his pocket. “May I?” He asked, moving his hand to Katsuki's waist.

“Sure.”

“What’s Hawks like anyway? I never had the pleasure to meet him when I transferred over because dad sorted it all out but I’ve heard he’s… charismatic.”

Katsuki snorted, straightening his jacket when Izuku gently let him down. “He’s a pain in the ass.” He was damn proud of their suits and he was going to make sure they gave it the respect it deserved. The insides of their suits were lined with soft green and red material respectively, lightning and explosion patterns carefully and skillfully embroidered into the material, they decided to leave their ties on the couch arguing that it probably wasn’t going to be that formal of an event. Katsuki wasn’t a fan of cufflinks but he inwardly preened when he noticed that Izuku had put on his explosion cufflinks with the help of Blackwhip. The entire outfit yelled, “DynaMight classic.”

Izuku moved towards the limos door, opening it wide and bowing dramatically in front of it. “After you,” he said in his most prissy voice.

Katsuki shuffled inside, flicking Izuku on the forehead when he sat beside him. “Oh fuck off, none of that when we’re out, okay?”

“Yes, Kacchan.”

The half an hour drive to the awards ceremony was spent with Katsuki giving Izuku shit about his “white girl playlist” and Izuku insisting that the songs were actually really good and Katsuki wouldn’t know because all he listens to is classical music that literally almost sounds exactly the same. He also filled Katsuki in on how his playlist was made by some girl he rescued from a club in New York. By the time they stepped out of the limo they were both a lot more relaxed than they were that morning and Katsuki had long forgotten how angry he was when Izuku showed up late.

“Ready to be part of Japan’s ranks, America’s number two?” Katsuki asked, bumping his shoulder into Izuku’s and intertwining their hands together to lead them towards the security guards at the entrance of the hall. He hated to admit it, but he was impressed. Hawks really did go all out with the decorations. Polished hardwood floors, round tables, comfortable looking chairs, dim lights, a huge stage in the back, drapes and tiny little glowing stars. The entire hall looked straight out of a movie.

“Kacchan, I just officially registered as one of Japan’s heroes a few months ago. There’s no way I’m eligible to be part of the ranks this year,” Izuku said with a laugh, cheeks flushed bright red at Katsuki’s certainty.

There was absolutely no way to ignore all the gasps and giggles they heard around them as they walked in hand and in hand through the hall. From the corners of their eyes they could make out the white flashes of cameras and they already dreaded the interviews and articles they knew they’d see the next morning.

Katsuki waved at Momo when he saw her, rolling his eyes fondly when she giggled, pointing animatedly at his hands. She then leaned over and rested her head on Ida’s shoulder. Ida looked up when he felt Momo nudge him with her elbow and he gave Katsuki a proud nod when he noticed them too, throwing up a thumbs up. As he looked around he noticed that a lot of his friends and coworkers were cheering him on, smiling happily at them as he walked by. He even noticed some people exchanging money with exasperated faces and defeated sighs. Just how many people were betting on them?

“Nah, you’ve done great work since you’ve been back,” Katsuki replied, pulling Izuku towards their designated seats. When he realized who they were sitting with he wondered again just who exactly Toshinori Yagi was and how it was possible someone who supposedly just worked for All Might’s agency had this much pull.

“Was the ride here alright, my boys?” Toshinori asked when Izuku and Katsuki took their respective seats around the round table. “I’m sure you’ve all met before but just in case, this is Cathy, AKA Stars and Stripes,” Toshinori introduced, pointing at Cathleen who sat beside him. He then gestured to the others around the table, “these are my oldest and dearest friends, David Shield, Mirai Sasaki, Kaina Tsutsumi and Sorahiko Torino.”

Holy shit. Holy shit. Katsuki was sitting with The Doctor shield, Nighteye, Lady Nagant and Gran Torino. Holy shit. He shook himself out of his awe and reached out to shake each one of their hands before settling back down in his seat. He wiped his sweaty palms on the back of his pants and just hoped he didn’t smell too much like caramel.

“And I'm sure you all already know about Katsuki, our dear Izuku never stops talking about him,” Inko said with a laugh before telling the rest of the table about Katsuki’s accomplishments where Izuku frequently butted in to add something else.

By the time the two Midoriya’s were done describing all of Katsuki’s achievements he was redder than Endeavor’s hair and felt just as hot.

“Why, I had no idea that Izuku’s boyfriend was this accomplished. If I knew this before then maybe I wouldn't have teased him so much, Toshinori,” Gran Torino said with a smirk, swirling his champagne in his glass.

Before Katsuki could tell Gran Torino off, the main lights in the room switched off and the stage lit up, a flamboyant Hawks flew onto the stage and tapped on his mic. “Good evening, everyone. Thank you all so much for being here, and an even bigger thanks to all the retired heroes and policemen who volunteered their time to stand in for all the heroes here today. We really wouldn't have been able to do this without you. I could stand here all night and give you a long speech about the history of quirks and heroes and how the HPSC came to be, but you all already know that. What we’re all really here for today is this year’s top twenty-five. Pro Heroes Uravity and Tentacole are going to open this year's ceremony by filling us in on their outreach programmes. Feel free to mingle and ask them a whole lot of questions after the ceremony. Seriously, they’re doing great work and we could all learn a thing or five from them. They really embody what it means to be a hero to the people.”

“Nervous?” Katsuki whispered to Izuku as they watched Uraraka and Shoji take their places on stage, a mic given to each of them by Hawks before he flew off and settled next to Nedzu.

“Kacchan, we’re just here as guests. Not for the ranking,” Izuku replied exasperatedly.

Uravity and Tentacole tapped their mics, waving at their respective tables before they launched into the purpose of their programs. Halfway through their speeches Katsuki was already planning on making a huge donation towards their causes and wondered if he’d be able to catch them after the ceremony. When Uraraka mentioned that her programme was inspired by her childhood sweetheart Katsuki’s heart did a little flip and when Shoji spoke about the abuse he experienced growing up and how he couldn’t let anyone else go through that again his heart ached. It was safe to say that by the time their speeches were done the two had garnered more than a few fans.

After they had left the stage Hawks took his place behind the podium, “give it up for Uravity and Tentacole everybody,” he cheered and the room erupted in applause. “Now, let’s get onto the main event of the night.”

Katsuki really shouldn’t have whooped as loud as he did when Izuku’s name was called out at #15. It was a huge feat for newly registered heroes to be ranked in the top 100, let alone in the top 25 and to say that he was beyond proud of his nerd would be putting it lightly. Hell, his entire table whooped so loudly you’d think Izuku was given the number 1 spot. Stars and Stripes nearly knocked the table over when she stood up and cheered, it was only thanks to Gran Torino and Toshinori’s quick reflexes that the table didn’t tilt over. Izuku was too stunned to move, it was only when Katsuki got up and pulled him out of his seat and led him towards the stage that Izuku shook out of his daze. Katsuki barely remembered the walk back to his seat.

Eventually Hawks announced the top 3 and really it was no surprise that Lemillion, Shoto and Mirko were up there. Those 3 had been alternating positions for the past four years. As soon as medals were handed out and the heroes could return to their seats, servers rushed into the room and placed large dishes of food into the middle of their tables. God, Katsuki missed Lunch Rush’s food.

After the main courses were cleared out and the desserts were brought in Hawks took his place on the stage again and tapped the mic, holding out his champagne glass to the crowd. “After dessert all tables and chairs will be cleared out to make room for mingling and dancing, any heroes or families ready to leave may do so but please don’t forget your little goodie bags. That’ll be all from me, thank you all for coming again and I hope you enjoy the rest of the night.”

When the last bits of dessert were cleared out the tables and chairs suddenly disappeared which resulted in many gasps and shouts of amazement.

“I bet someone made the tables and chairs with their quirks and it all probably disappears when they release it!” Izuku gushed.

Katsuki sighed fondly, Izuku Midoriya- ever the hero nerd.

Soft classical music played from speakers Katsuki couldn’t see. He looked around, one of his hands over his devices as he tried to localise where the sound was coming from.

“Katsuki darling, we’re going to take off. These old bones aren’t meant for dancing anymore,” Inko said with a smile, giving Katsuki a quick hug and her son a kiss on his cheek before Toshinori pulled all three of them into a hug.

Gran Torino, Nighteye and Doctor Shied left with them and Katsuki and Izuku waved them off.

Izuku and Katsuki were on their way towards Shoji and Uraraka when Izuku was stopped by some Pros Katsuki couldn’t remember the names of. Just as they were about to drag him away, Izuku spun around and gently held onto Katsuki’s wrist, his warm hands searing into Katsuki’s skin, “save me a dance?” he asked, "I'll be back in a few.”

Katsuki barely took another step towards Uraraka and Shoji when he was stopped by Hawks, his large, red wings flapping gently behind him. “Lookin’ sharp, Bakugou,” Hawks greeted, setting his empty champagne glass on one of the server trays that passed by.

“Right back at you, bird brain,” Katsuki replied, shaking Hawks’ extended hand.

“Now, now, Blasty. There’s no need for mean nicknames,” Hawks said with a laugh.

Katsuki smirked, “yeah, yeah. What do you want, Keigo? I was on my way to Round Cheeks.” For all the shit he gave Hawks, he really was a big help when he just started out and for that he would always be grateful.

Hawks sighed good naturedly, running a hand through his mussed up hair before shoving his hands into his pockets. “I just wanted to ask you if your boy decided on taking the South American post yet or not. America’s HPSC has been on my ass about it ever since their sweetheart got to Japan and he seems to be blowing them off,” he said with a shrug.

Katsuki’s heart stopped beating. South American post? America’s HPSC? Deku was moving? Again? Deku wasn't going to tell him until the last moment again? What were they even doing over the last few months if he was just going to leave again? His head was spinning, the room was suddenly too loud and he wanted to pull his devices off his head.

“-gou, Bakugou? Ya hear me?” Hawks asked, waving his hand in front of Katsuki’s face.

“When’s the deadline?” Katsuki asked, regaining his composure just enough to ask a question. He couldn’t stay there. He had to leave. Fuck Izuku and fuck him for not telling him. Again. Fuck Izuku for leaving and fuck him for leading him on. How could he have been so stupid? Why would Pro Hero Deku, America’s sweetheart and number two hero now Japan’s number fifteen, stay for him when a whole continent was begging to have him as their hero? Un-fucking-believable. How could he have been so stupid?

“A few weeks from now,” Hawks replied slowly, as though he was just realising that that was the first time he was hearing of South America wanting Izuku. Well fuck. What did he just do?

“Right,” Katsuki replied with barely restrained anger, his hands clenched at his sides to stop him from trembling. “Thanks for inviting me, I'll be taking my leave,” he said before turning on his heel and walking towards the exit.

“You’re not going to stay for the dance?” Hawks called out after him, silently cursing himself for not keeping his mouth shut.

“Not a dancer,” Katsuki called back. Five minutes later he was in the backseat of a speeding cab. His entire body shook with anger and resentment and he just felt so remarkably pathetic that his face burned with mortification.

He was going to tell Izuku how he felt tonight. He had it all planned out. They would leave the party as soon as they were blessedly buzzed, just a little tipsy but not drunk. They would drive back in their limo, change into a pair of comfy clothes and lounge on his couch eating take-out and talking about all of the heroes they ran into and how cool they were.

Then in a moment of bravery Katsuki would tell Izuku how he felt about him, probably lean in to kiss the fuck out of him when he accepted and reciprocated his feelings and if he didn’t he’d blame it on the alcohol and pretend it never happened or he’d take a deep-dive into the dark-web and hire someone with some sort of amnesia quirk to wipe that specific night from Izuku’s memory and all would be well with the world. And if Katsuki still couldn't get over the ooey-gooey feelings he had for Izuku, he’d dive back into the dark-web and find someone to erase his feelings. But if the nerd did feel the same way then he’d wake up every morning in his arms hopefully for the rest of his life. Easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy.

He stewed on his feelings all the way back home and when he stumbled out of the cab and into his house he couldn't push down the hurt that bubbled out of his chest or calm the ache that settled deep in his heart. Everything hurt. He just wanted to curl up into a ball and disappear.

God it hurt so much. Why did it hurt so much? He didn't even know what he was feeling until a month ago so why was this feeling consuming his entire being. He couldn’t even close his eyes without seeing Izuku’s smiling face. Fuck. Ripping off his suit and crunching the gel out of his hair, Katsuki changed into his comfort clothes- the red hoodie Deku had gifted him and a soft pair of black sweats. When he realised what he was wearing he swore so loudly he was sure his neighbors could hear him but he was just too drained to even change out of it.

His eyes burned with unshed tears and there was a cracking feeling in his chest that was making it hard to breathe. He had to stop this feeling. Whatever it was, it had to stop. Alcohol numbed feelings didn’t it? Well, he was about to find out. Throwing open one of his bottom cupboards, Katsuki grabbed his oldest bottle of whiskey and a glass. If he was going to get drunk he may as well do it properly. Sliding open his balcony door he settled onto the soft cushions and set up his little drinking table. It was going to be a long night.

Two glasses in and Izuku dropped in front of Katsuki, eyes wild and frantic with his curls impossibly windswept. “Kacchan? Kacchan, what’s wrong? Why are you drinking whiskey right out of the bottle?” he sank to his knees in front of Katsuki and looked up at him.

“Fuck. Off. I really don’t have the energy to deal with your bullshit right now, you inconsiderate fucker,” Katsuki bit out. He turned his head away from Izuku, pointedly looking everywhere but his face.

“Kacchan, don’t be like that. C’mon, look at me? Can we talk about this? I know what Hawks told you but its not what you-”

Katsuki slammed his bottle on the table, springing off the couch and poking his finger into Izuku’s chest.“Fuck you, Deku. You’re right, fucking birdbrain did tell me. It took him all of five seconds to tell me. You’ve known for months and yet you couldn’t even spare a minute? That’s fucking ridiculous and you know it!”

Izuku stood there, bewildered. He was wrong for not telling Katsuki and he knew that but Katsuki wasn’t even giving him the chance to explain himself.

“So what, nothing to say? Were you just going to wait until the week before and then drop it on me? Again? Do you look down on me so much that you couldn’t even think to show me the barest decency and at least tell me when you have more than a week left before you leave? Do I mean that little to you?”

“What? No-”

Katsuki was absolutely fuming. His words were tumbling out of his mouth faster than he could stop them and he hated how hurt he sounded. He hated that he was showing Izuku just how small and worthless this whole thing was making him feel. But as the realisation dawned on him that Izuku was going to be gone either way he may as well say whatever the fuck he wanted to.

“All of those days and nights we spent together, did it even mean anything? All this time I thought we were getting closer, I thought it meant something to you- I thought I meant something to you! But clearly I was wrong. Did you even mean it when you told me that you missed me when I took you home? You mentioning me in all those interviews, those nights we spent watching All Might movies together and then woke up tangled in each other, you asking me to be your date for this stupid gala, your fucking shelves about me in your study. Everything. All of it. Did it ever mean anything to you? Or was I just deluding myself into thinking it did because it meant something to me. God fucking dammit it meant something to me and at first I hated it. I hated it so fucking much.

“For months it felt like my heart was trying to beat out of my chest and fall into your hands. It felt like my heart was taunting me, begging me, urging me to give it to you. My fucking cardiologist had to put in a stupid feature on my watch so I could log all the abnormal heart rates when I was around you just so that it didnt mess up my nitroglycerin readings. Do you have any idea how fucking embarrasing that was?” Katsuki's chest heaved, he was shouting and he was out of breath and he knew it but he just couldn’t stop himself.

“I had this entire thing planned for tonight. We were going to order Katsudon and talk about how fucking cool it was to be at the same table as Lady Nagant and Sir Nighteye and Doctor Shield. Then we were going to laugh about how starstruck some of the servers were and how Aizawa looked so mad when he realised that Hawks and Nedzu hired his students to be some of the servers. Then when the mood was right I was going to tell you that I missed you too, and that I've had more fun with you in the last few months than I did in years. You were going to laugh and tell me you felt the same, then praise me a little more about how amazing I am. Then I was going to kiss you and everything was going to fall into place.

“We’d stop tiptoeing around each other, we’d stop playing things off as casual and finally put a label on us. You’d try really hard to get me out of my avoidant-attachment style and I’d try really hard to let you. Fuck. It was all planned out. I thought… I thought we had something. Well, clearly I was wrong. So, fuck you and fuck whatever this was because I am done. Goodbye. Good riddance. I hope we don’t run into each other ever again.” Katsuki jammed his finger into Izuku’s chest again.

”Actually. I wish you never saved me on your first day back in Japan, in fact, I wish that building fell on me. I’m sure some other hero would've gotten there in time, and if not I could've just used my explosions to get myself and that old hag out of there.” Katsuki's throat hurt from how long he’d been screaming. He was parched and his throat was dry. His eyes stung and his chest felt like there was a giant cavern in it.

With every word Katsuki uttered, Izuku’s heart shattered. This was not at all how he was meant to confess to his best friend or how his best friend was supposed to confess to him. He hurt him. He hurt Katsuki so badly and he hated himself for that. The last thing he wanted was to make his best friend feel so unimportant. All this time he thought that Katsuki knew that he was the most important person in the world to him, all this time he thought that he made it clear just how much Katsuki meant to him and all this time all it felt like was he leading his best friend on. Fucking hell. Just where did he go wrong?

“Kacchan,” Izuku said softly, tentatively reaching out his hands and holding Katsuki by his shoulders, “Kacchan, please look at me. Please,” he begged.

Katsuki bit back his tears, the softness and cracks in Izuku’s voice forcing him to lock his eyes onto Izuku’s. If this was the last time they were going to speak, they may as well do it face to face.

“Kacchan, I am so so sorry. I’m so sorry, my love. I never ever meant to hurt you, I never meant for all of this to feel like I was leading you on. I never told you about South America’s offer because I wasn't going to take it, not unless you said that you’d come with and I could never ever do that to you. Your entire life is here, I'd never ask you to uproot that all for me. Kacchan, I came back because I missed you. I meant everything I ever said and did with you. Everything. It all meant something to me- it meant everything to me.

”The days we spent eating on your couch and watching All Might movies were the best days I've had in years. I was so lonely without you in America, that’s why I collected all of your things, that’s why I sent you birthday and new years gifts every year, that’s why I always mentioned you in my interviews. I wanted you to know that I was still thinking of you. I’m always thinking of you. Waking up with you in my arms was the best way to start my day and I missed every second of it. I would walk around with the world on my shoulders for you, Kacchan.”

Katsuki blinked away the tears in his eyes, Izuku’s words had soothed all the aches and pains in his heart. He had crushed all his insecurities with a few simple words and damn if the sorrow and tears in his nerd’s eyes didn’t convince him of his conviction then he wasn't sure what would. “You really weren’t going to leave?” he croaked out, opting for the safest route instead of the accepted-requited feelings route.

“Kacchan, tell me to stay and I will.”

Katsuki wasted no time in throwing his arms around Izuku’s neck and kissing him. Hard. Their lips were chapped and salty from all the tears they shed, they both shook with emotion and their hearts were still hurt and fragile. Tilting his head, Katsuki slotted their lips together. It was a short kiss. All lips and sharp teeth. When Katsuki pulled away he noticed that they were now several feet above his balcony, “take us down idiot before you float us into the stratosphere.”

Izuku immediately complied, tightly wrapping his arms around Katsuki’s waist as he slowly lowered them onto the hardwood floors. He looked down at Katsuki’s red rimmed eyes. He wanted to kick himself for being the reason Katsuki had looked so shattered.

Calming down from his adrenaline high and alcohol riddled brain, Katsuki slumped forward into Izuku’s chest, bringing his hands to tangle in Izuku's messy green curls. He stayed there for a bit, breathing in Izuku’s natural scent. When he was sure that he wasn’t about to fall over, he extracted himself from the hero's arms and looked up at him, locking their gazes together in a way that seemed to make everything else disappear. Izuku leaned, swiped a devout finger over Katsuki’s Cochlear Implant scars and placed a feather-light kiss on it, pulling back to fully look at Katsuki again, the soft act causing his heart to summersault behind his ribs.

“Stay.”

Izuku tilted his head forward and kissed Katsuki with all the love and adoration he had been keeping close to his heart. Every single feeling he had shoved away and packed into a big box in his heart seemed to burst out. All those years they spent apart pining after each other hung between them and they realised that they had a lot of catching up to do and a lot of lost time to make up for.

⊹₊⟡⋆

”Izuku Midoriya, are you telling me that your step-father, your mother’s husband… my father-in-law is All Might and you-you’re only telling me this now?!” Katsuki yelled, palms popping as he leapt over the kitchen island and knocked Izuku onto the tiled floors with a loud thud.

”Kacchan- babe, please. We can talk about this!” Izuku yelped, bringing his hands to cover his face as Katsuki pulled on his flat green curls.

”You let me make a fool out of myself in front of All Might! He used to watch me walk around in self-made All Might merch! I’m going to blow you up.”