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Katsuki was looking out the window of a moving train, his head cradled in his palm, listening to his friends bickering. They were really lucky to have been able to meet like this, three months after graduation, with all of them being sidekicks in big hero agencies or opening their own. Well, almost all of them.
Katsuki caught the reflection of green in the polished window and closed his eyes for a moment. Still, there was no escaping Deku’s excited voice, the idiot nerding out about everyone’s bosses and their sidekicks. From “Wow, the move you and the Suneater pulled the other day was really cool, Kirishima” to “Is Ryukyu treating you differently now that you’re not students anymore?” He knew everything about his friends and wanted to find out everything he missed in the hero news somehow, the spark never leaving his eyes.
It shouldn't be like that, Katsuki thought. He should be in the spotlight with all of them. He deserves it the most. Katsuki would make sure the nerd got his spot back, just as he had promised himself.
The train ride to the beachside was only an hour long, but being trapped in a car with the usual suspects was already making his blood boil. He was stuck next to Dunce Face, with Shitty Hair and Raccoon Eyes kicking his feet from across the table. Across the aisle was even worse, Deku and his nerdy squad squeezed together and talking over each other. The only silver lining was that IcyHot was on another train, coming from his father’s agency. Katsuki just hoped Yaoyorozu's estate was big enough so he wouldn't be forced to share a room with these idiots.
A sudden click interrupted his brooding. Katsuki’s head snapped around, searching for the culprit. The culprit was holding a camera in front of his face, those green eyes wide with nervous energy. “Sorry if I woke you up, Kacchan. The view from your side of the train was beautiful.”
“Tch. Do what you want, I don’t care.”
It was your choice to sit next to Four Eyes. Now suffer the inferior view, see if I care, was what he really wanted to say. He should have just slammed the door shut when his idiot friends came barreling into his apartment to convince him to go to this stupid weekend gathering. The only reason he had even agreed to come was because the nerd finally had a weekend free from his studies in the other city. Not that he would admit that to anyone.
Katsuki had figured they would actually spend some time together today, that Deku missed him too. Apparently not. The grinning, freckled idiot had just said hello to him and Kirishima in the train and immediately went to sit with his own group of friends. Katsuki wasn’t angry, obviously. He was just irritated. This whole thing was a bad idea and he couldn’t wait till it was over so he could go back to his hero work.
Soon, the train started slowing down, and in a few minutes they were out of the train and walking down the street towards the distant beach. Katsuki had always loved the sound of waves. They reminded him of his explosions, loud and unstoppable.
The “beach house” was actually a whole seaside villa, with an open floor plan, a huge kitchen and enough rooms for all of them to pair up. Katsuki left his bag in the room he was sharing with Kirishima and walked out, deciding to stop moping around and try to get the best out of the three days they were spending there.
He spent a good portion of the morning walking around, checking the perimeter and making sure that every spot was covered with security cameras. With so many up-and-coming heroes around, it wouldn’t be a surprise if a villain decided to attack them. It would have to be an idiot of a villain, but he was not taking chances.
When he was done with that, the sun was already high in the sky, so Katsuki and a couple of others decided to take care of lunch. They made a huge batch of stir-fried noodles, with him taking care of all the chopping and dicing.
“Kacchan, this is excellent," Izuku praised when they were all seated at the big table.
“I helped, as well,” complained IcyHot.
“Yes, of course. Well done, Todoroki, Kirishima.” Izuku beamed, grabbing a spoonful of food and scarfing it down. Katsuki was glad to see that he was starting to eat well again. He looked better, too, his cheeks fuller, the freckles not standing out as much, the color of his skin looking healthier. So, really, he wasn’t upset that he was not the only one being praised, if it meant Izuku would eat well.
Of course, as soon as lunch was done and the pile of dishes was clean, the former Class 1-A jumped into the warm water, the collective noise of the group making Katsuki’s hair on his neck stand on end. He glanced around and spotted Izuku swarmed by the girls, his camera in hand as they yelled at him that they weren’t ready. He chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck and promising to take another one when they were ready.
Well, that should be quick, Katsuki thought sarcastically. They wouldn’t let go of him until every single one was satisfied with it. Izuku caught his eyes and smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling. Katsuki waved back and headed to the water, pulling off his shirt and tossing it somewhere on the sand.
He opted to go for a swim further away from the shore, ignoring the panicked shouts of his friends. As if some fish would be able to scare him! True, his quirk would be close to useless in the water, but he was more than his quirk. Any shark wanting a piece of him would have to fight for it. The sea was calmer the further out he went and at some point, he stopped and listened. There was nothing, just the soft hum of endless water and the eternal blue of the sky. Peace. He drifted on the surface, gazing at the cloudless sky, his ears submerged in water. Maybe the trip wasn’t a complete disaster. He couldn’t remember when was the last time he felt that way, weightless and calm.
Eventually, though, he had to go back, swimming slightly south, to a rock formation jutting from the waves. He climbed to the top, careful of the slippery surface and the sharp edges. Once on top he stood tall, enjoying the wind blowing in his face and the sun warming his skin. The air smelled of salt as he finally sat down, small drops of water occasionally wetting his skin.
He glanced at the beach, realizing that it was getting late, most of his friends were out of the water, lounging and laughing on the sand. He found Izuku on the side closer to the rock formation, standing with Pink Cheeks. She was holding his camera and laughing at something, probably at a picture of her. The nerd was blushing, the red of his cheeks in sharp contrast with the dark green of his wet hair. He looked ridiculous, waving his hands in front of his face and glancing frantically around, awkwardness personified.
Katsuki wished they would start dating already. He already knew it was inevitable, so really, if they would just go with it, they would be doing him a fucking favor.
One heartbreak now is one less heartbreak later.
“Hey, man,” Kirishima said loud enough to be heard over the crashing waves. He was standing right behind Katsuki on the rocks, snapping him out of his increasingly depressing thoughts. “Come on down. We need one more for beach volleyball."
“Hell no,” Katsuki shouted back. “I’m not playing that. Last time we played, I couldn’t get sand out of my hair for days.”
“Come on,” his friend whined. “We’re missing one and it’s not like you’re doing anything.”
“Ask Deku. He’s not doing anything either.” Katsuki saw Kirishima glancing to the side where Izuku was still talking with Uraraka and heard him sigh. He shouldn’t have said anything. “Why don’t you just tell him?”
“Yeah, right,” Katsuki chuckled forcefully. “Come on, let's win that game.” He rose and bypassed Kirishima. He could sense his friend wanted to say something else, but chose to ignore it, walking faster down.
“Deku, are you playing?” he shouted when he was close enough, walking towards the gathered group.
“Um, no. I was out in the sun too long. I think I’m going to watch a little and then go lie down for a while.” Izuku was still blushing, the girl beside him hiding her smile behind her hand. Katsuki rolled his eyes.
“Suit yourself. You better be there when I score the winning point to take a picture, nerd.”
“Sure, Kacchan. Good luck!” he cheered.
As if he needed luck. He was Katsuki fucking Bakugo.
His team won, of course. The match was heated until the end, each team fighting for every point, but his team had more stamina. Katsuki was surprised to see that the sun was already going down, the shadows stretching and the light fading. He’d actually had fun, running and jumping with the rest of his team, barking at Kaminari to stop giving Jirou free points and cheering when they managed to score.
As the group started dispersing to shower and get ready for dinner, Katsuki stayed behind. He searched the beach but Izuku was nowhere to be found. That was odd, considering Katsuki was sure he’d just been there a minute ago. He saw Uraraka passing him and stopped her, “Did you see Deku? Did he take a picture of my winning point?”
“Oh, your picture?” she asked, repeating his question. “Yep, he sure did.” She nodded exaggeratedly, grinning like an idiot. Is the sun getting to her, too? Or is Deku’s idiocy contagious?
“Did you see where he went?” he asked, very slowly, grinding his teeth. Why did he have to be friends with this bunch of slowpokes?
“Oh! Yeah, he went to his room to lie down a little and change for dinner.”
“Thank you.”
He ignored her beaming smile and headed towards the room Izuku was sharing with IcyHot. Or at least, he assumed it was his room because he saw his roommate going out of it earlier in the day.
He knocked, but there was no reply. After a few more progressively louder knocks, to which he received the same reply, he turned the knob and slowly cracked the door open. Izuku wouldn’t mind, they were going in and out of each other’s room regularly during their third year of high school.
“Izuku, can I just see the picture of my final point?” he called out to the empty room. There was no one there, Izuku’s bed unmade, recognizable by the notebook on the bedside table. Katsuki turned to leave but stopped, his gaze falling on the camera sitting next to the notebook. He really just wanted to see that picture. He had done a jump smash, the ball sliding between Yaoyorozu and Ojiro, smashing the opposite corner of the field. Surely there was no harm in taking a look at one picture? Right?
He closed the door and picked up the camera. He felt silly, sneaking in like this. In truth, he could have waited for Izuku to come back from wherever he was at the moment. But he was tired and a little pissed. The nerd could have waited for him after the game, could have congratulated him, but he’d left. So, he was going to look for the picture himself.
There were so many pictures in the gallery but he opened the first one and there it was. It was amazing. Not that he doubted the nerd; he could be the best at anything he sets his mind to. But he hadn’t expected him to catch the exact moment Katsuki wanted, the manic grin on his lips as he smashed the ball. He shook his head, a proud smile on his lips as he exited to the main screen. The smile stretched. So many pictures of him. There he was, discussing tactics for their next serve with Kirishima, the sun low behind their backs. The next one had him yelling at someone off-camera and another showed him standing with his knees bent, waiting for the opponent's serve. He looked good. He knew he was photogenic, but it was as if Izuku knew exactly how to capture him in his best moments.
He kept scrolling. The time of the day and the setting changed but, aside from the girls’ photoshoot session and the occasional friend or a nature shot, all the pictures were of him.
He frowned, scrolling back to the start. His stomach dropped, his heart beating loudly in his ears. The picture Izuku took on the train. On it, Katsuki’s face was partly hidden, turned away toward the window. The photo was focused on his right side, eyes closed, the scar stretching along his cheek. The view through the window wasn’t even in the photo.
Katsuki’s mind stuttered and he blinked a couple of times. He had to go back. He scrolled, the fact that he was in someone else’s room completely forgotten now.
A picture of him, walking beside Kirishima to the beach house. Him, standing in the water in his swimming shorts, his back to the camera. And, was that…? Yes, it was taken from afar, but that was clearly him, sitting on the rock, eyes trained on the water.
What the fuck? He couldn’t understand what all of it meant. He thought Izuku didn’t even notice him for most of the day. But, he had pictures of him throughout the day, the whole day. What the actual fuck?!
He had to talk to him. He had to…
The door opened and Katsuki jumped, his heart hammering against his ribs, as if he’d just finished a sprint, and a weird feeling in his chest. Something dangerously close to hope.
“Waachan!” yelled Izuku, walking into the room. “What are you…?” He stopped cold, noticing the camera in Katsuki’s hands. He met Katsuki’s gaze and froze, his eyes going wide. Whatever he read there made him waver, his face going pale.
Oh, no. What have I done? He didn’t have the right to look at the camera. He realized that now.
“Izuku…” he started but the boy standing in front of him wouldn’t let him finish.
“I…I can explain,” he said, stuttering.
Don’t look at me like that, please?
“You don’t have to explain anything. I’m sorry I took your camera without asking first. I just wanted to see if you got that winning shot.”
Izuku relaxed slightly, his shoulders dropping from his ears.
“Um, yeah. I got it. You played so well, Kacchan,” he said.
“I’m good at everything,” Katsuki replied, more of a reflex at this point. “Your pictures are really good, Izuku. I didn’t know you started doing that,” he added, giving Izuku back his camera.
“Well, it’s just something to take my mind off things. It makes me happy,” he said, moving to put it back by the bed.
“Izuku? Did you miss me? In these three months we haven’t seen each other?”
Izuku wasn’t answering, his back to Katsuki, head hung low.
“Because I missed you like crazy.” Katsuki closed his hands into fists to prevent them from shaking. He couldn’t do anything about the tremor in his voice, though. He hated it, sounding vulnerable like this. But this was Izuku. It would be fine. “I kept seeing your hair on the street. Or hearing your voice in a group of people. I was trying to look my best every day, just in case you decided to drop by.”
“But then you came to the train this morning and didn’t even look at me. And yet…” he gestured toward the camera. “There are so many pictures of me in there. Tell me I’m not going crazy. Please. Tell me it’s not just me.”
Izuku was standing still, the camera clutched in his hands, his posture slumped. He wasn’t saying anything. Katsuki felt the rejection in his chest, crushing and chaining him to the spot, the corners of his eyes prickling.
“I couldn’t say anything,” Izuku whispered, his voice small. Katsuki froze, willing his heart to stop racing so he could hear better. “You were sitting with Kirishima and you were so close… I haven’t seen you in so long, and you looked so good, Kacchan, that it made me realize just how much I missed you. I didn’t…” he stopped, huffing a wet laugh. “I never knew how much you meant to me. And then you looked so upset the whole day and kept walking away. I just had to take pictures of you because I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle not seeing you for three more months. I don’t know what to do with this, Kacchan.”
Katsuki was there in an instant, taking his hand and turning him around to hold him against his chest, his other hand cradling Izuku’s head. The scent of salt and sun surrounded him, Izuku’s curls soft under his fingers. He could feel his heartbeat, almost as strong as his own and he smiled, his heart soaring.
“Me neither, Izuku. You know I wouldn’t admit that to anyone, but I was scared shitless that you don’t care about me anymore.”
“Never,” the nerd was quick to reassure. “You know I could never.”
Did Katsuki know that? Yes. Did he also forget that? He sure did. He even forgot he was about to throw some snarky remark back at Deku. The green of Izuku’s eyes was the only thing on his mind, the damp skin under his eyes making his freckles look like hazelnuts. He had the sudden urge to press his teeth into the soft looking skin.
Before he could ruminate on that, Izuku surprised him again. He closed the distance between them and kissed him, his hand gripping Katsuki’s arm. It was over before his brain could register what was happening, the feel of soft lips on his was the only evidence that it happened. That, and the lovely blush on Izuku’s cheek, his lashes fluttering above it.
Katsuki took the camera from Izuku’s hand and placed it on the bed. Then, he stepped into Izuku’s space again, kissing him with all the emotions he was holding onto until then. Izuku matched the passion with his own. The nerd whimpered, holding on to Katsuki’s shoulders, grabbing and pulling, trying to get closer. Katsuki replied in kind, hugging his waist and squeezing him flush to his chest. He felt like he was on fire, every dam suddenly bursting and all the repressed want and need flooding his senses. Nothing was enough, the insatiable thirst making his skin tingle, his heart beating erratically.
“Um, Kacchan…” he heard between the kisses, focused on finding that spot on Izuku's neck that made him squirm in his hands.
“Mm?” he said, not stopping his exploration.
“You’re sparkling.”
Katsuki stopped, glancing around and seeing that - yes, he was indeed sparkling, tiny explosions going off all around him.
“Fuck you, I’m not sparkling,” he retorted to Izuku’s grinning face. Stupid nerd and his stupid freckles. He gave in to the impulse, biting his cheek lightly. Izuku giggled, light and airy. “I’m exploding. There’s a difference.”
IcyHot chose that exact moment to step into the room, and all of them froze in place. Todoroki had the same impassive expression on his face, only the slight widening of his eyes giving away his surprise. He recovered quickly, though, glancing to the side and giving them space.
“I see you have finally talked,” he said, a small smile on his lips. “If neither of you mind, I’m going to check if Kirishima is fine with me moving into his room for the weekend.”
“No, Todoroki, you don’t have to do that. Right, Kacchan?”
“We don’t mind. And I know Shitty Hair won’t either," he replied, not looking at Izuku, who was sputtering, bright red in the face.
“What? Why? Don’t listen to Kacchan, you can stay in your room!”
Todoroki just took his bag and turned towards the door, throwing a cheeky, “Have fun, kids,” over his shoulder before going out.
Izuku wasn’t giving up, protesting that he should apologize and go back to his room, until Katsuki finally managed to shut him up with a kiss.
“Did you think I was going to leave you with him? You’re mine now, hear that?”
“Kacchan, Todoroki is my friend.”
“Kirishima is mine and you had no problem being jealous of him,” he said ignoring Izuku’s weak I wasn’t jealous. “Besides, do you even know how many people had a crush on you during high school? Half of the class, at least.”
Izuku’s laughter was incredulous and bright at the same time. “Yeah, right. I’m not you, Kacchan.”
“What?” he frowned. Was the nerd really that oblivious? Did he really not know how beautiful he was? “Come on, let me show you,” he said, grabbing the camera from the bed. “How do you use this?”
“What?”
“I’m taking a picture of us. Come on,” he said, holding Izuku close.
“No, I’m…I look terrible,” Izuku protested. “I’ve been crying and haven’t even showered from the beach…”
“You don't want to take a picture with your boyfriend?” Katsuki teased. He knew his nerd well. Izuku’s eyes lit up, sparkling without the explosion quirk.
“Yeah, I want that,” he said, dropping a sweet kiss on Katsuki’s lips before flipping the camera around to face them.
Katsuki dropped a kiss on his boyfriend’s cheek as the camera clicked. Izuku took one look at the display and his eyes started tearing up again.
“Kacchan,” he breathed, overwhelmed.
Katsuki didn’t need to look, he already knew what was on it. Izuku’s full lips were pulled into a smile, cheeks flushed and shiny from the sun. The eyes he knew well, eyes of his childhood friend, his rival, his love.
“Stop crying, nerd. You’ll ruin the display,” Katsuki muttered affectionately. “I know. I love you, too.”
That was all he managed to say, before Izuku was drowning him in affection, soft kisses and strong hands trying to show what he wasn’t able to say yet.
They had to separate eventually to go shower and get ready for dinner but Katsuki doubted they would stay away from each other long. He was sure their friends would understand, too, since everyone apparently knew, judging from the girls’ not-so-subtle giggles and the boys giving them knowing taps on the shoulder.
Later, Katsuki listened to his friends talk and laugh, recounting a funny memory, his drink in his hand. Izuku caught his eyes across the space and smiled shyly. Katsuki smirked, a warm feeling making him feel more intoxicated than any alcohol could. Izuku raised his camera and took a picture of him, not looking around, not caring who saw. Katsuki felt a rush running through him, Izuku’s quiet confidence making him warm all over.
Two more days. It wasn’t nearly enough, but Katsuki was sure they would figure out the rest. They always did.