Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Universe Information:

• Thirty percent of people have Soulmates
• Soulmates over 18 are drawn to each other during the Lunar Eclipse
  • This is also known as All Souls Night (not Day of the Dead)
  • Is more of a private affair and solely meant for finding your Soulmate.
  • Ideally, it is meant to be a quiet intimate night for the Soulmates to discover who the other is, and what they are like together
• When they touch during the Eclipse the point of contact releases a Soul-light
• Soul-lights mean you have met your Soulmate and the potential to Soulbond

• After finding your Soulmate it’s not a social requirement to tell people about it. 
  • Most people don’t announce who their Soulmates are until after they have had time to learn about each other and decide if they actually want to be (proper) Soulmates
  • Much less looking at the possibility of Soulbonding
  • Most wait weeks, months, or even years before telling people about their Soulmate
• Soulbonds are not required between Soulmates, some choose not to Bond due to the dangers
  • They’re often treated like getting married in that
  • Meaning you usually need to ask for family permission before talking to each other about Soulbonding
  • Many times there are big parties before the Soulmates Bond to celebrate their families coming together.
• They’re also unique to every Bonded person
  • They can deepen over time
  • Done correctly they create a feedback loop of all the positive feelings
    • This is what powers the Bond
    • Done Incorrectly it can create negative energy and damage one another causing pain
      abusive relationships are like poison with a soulbond
    • It can negatively alter the individuals to the point where using their Quirks causes physical harm to the person using it.
• Effects of the Soulbond:
  • Permanently binds their souls and life forces together
  • Meaning if one dies so does the Bonded
  • Boosts Quirk Power
  • Creates a telepathic link between the Soulmates
• How to make a SoulBond
  • Done by creating a Soulmark, typically done by biting their neck during intercourse
  • Soulbond is opened by the more dominant partner

Chapter Text

Izuku had been doing research on Heroes all his life and quite honestly deserved the title of “nerd” that Kacchan so often threw at him. But lately, he had also been doing a lot of research on Soulmates. He just found them so fascinating. 30% of people had them, and they were very different and unique from person to person so there weren’t a lot of definite facts about them despite how common they were. Once you found your Soulmate you could decide to create a Soulbond, essentially permanently tying your souls together. Soulbonds were also very unique to the individual and manifested in all sorts of different ways. It was really fascinating to read about and Izuku was particularly excited because tonight was All Souls Night. Tonight, if you were 18 years or older during the Lunar Eclipse, you would be drawn towards your Soulmate. If you found and touched them a Soul-light would appear signifying the potential to create a Soulbond with that person.

He was so nervous about whether or not tonight was the night he would find his Soulmate or not. All he could think of was how he wasn’t quite ready for this. He still had a long way to go to become a hero. He wasn’t sure if he was fast enough or strong enough to protect the love of his life. Izuku was known to overthink and overanalyze, and tonight was no exception. He kept thinking what if? What if his Soulmate didn’t like him? Soulmates were never a guarantee, it meant that person could be perfect for you, but like any relationship, both parties had to put in the effort for it to work. A Soulmate meant that if you worked it out that the relationship would be the perfect one for you in every way. But what if they didn’t like Izuku and didn’t want to put in the effort? What if they didn’t like that he was a Hero? What if they didn’t get along with his mom? What if…
Izuku couldn’t stand the noise from the mottled confines of his mind any longer and decided he desperately needed some air. He walked down to a local park next to his apartment and found a bench by the shore of a man-made lake. It is as good a place to sit and wait for the Eclipse as any.

The Eclipse was about to start any minute now, and Izuku listened to the lap of the water on the shore, the birds, and stillness of the park to distract from his pounding heart and rushing thoughts. He focused on the soft white noise of the park, he’s soul found stillness and calm. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and decided that he was ready to accept whatever Fate lay before him tonight. He was ready for the Eclipse.

He looked up at the sky to check and see if the Eclipse was about to start, careful not to look directly at the Moon as it could damage his eyes worse than looking into the Sun if the Eclipse had already started. And it had. It had already started. That couldn’t be right. His eyes had to be playing tricks. Izuku, still not wanting to look directly at the Eclipse, checked his phone to see what time it was since he’d saved the time of the Eclipse on his phone. His phone confirmed that not only had it started, but it also started ten minutes ago.

Shock jolted through Izuku as he looked at his legs. He was supposed to be feeling some sort of pull or push toward someone. His legs were supposed to move as if on their own drawn to his Soulmate. Yet, Izuku felt nothing and was frozen in place. First, Izuku was shattered that this must mean he was not going to find a Soulmate or didn’t have one after all. Then it hit him, it was not that he felt nothing. He felt frozen. He literally couldn’t move.

This was weird. It couldn’t be because he was disappointed and sad that he wasn’t going to find his Soulmate. He literally couldn’t move. It was like he was paralyzed. He had never heard or read anything about this. Everyone had said they felt a pull towards their loved one. Izuku was two breaths away from hyperventilating when he heard a voice calling out his name. He looked up and saw his classmate Shouto Todoroki walking over to him. Relief rolled through his visage as he stood up with a start at the sight of that familiar red and white hair and gray and turquoise eyes looking into his. He was not paralyzed anymore and felt the urge to run toward his classmate, but his legs wouldn’t budge. Instead, Izuku settled for waving at Todoroki and calling back to him.

When Todoroki reached him he said, “I had hoped, but I wasn’t sure,” then he reached out his hand to touch Izuku’s to confirm the Soulmates. Sure enough, a light flashed where their hands met and faded to a bright glow between their palms.

“I’m so happy it’s you Todoroki,” Izuku said in awe, unsure what to do with his joy as he gazed into his Soulmate’s eyes (like an adorable puppy cause how cute is Izuku?), “But I think there’s something wrong. I can’t move my legs. I haven’t read or heard anything about being paralyzed by the Soulmate Bond. Have you?”

Todoroki tilted his head to the side in thought then said, “I think I feel it too. When the Eclipse first started, I felt the pull to come here. But now, I feel like we shouldn’t move, almost as if we are waiting for someth…”

Todoroki’s words were drowned out as a loud explosion resounded throughout the park. Startled, they looked to where the sound had come from. There was a very pissed off Bakugou panting as if he’d run, blasted his way here from far off, and was visibly fatigued. He shook off the dirt and rubble on his shoulders and stood up. When he saw Izuku he appeared surprised and yelled in anger, “DEKU?” But then as he gaze drifted to Shouto and their intertwined hands still with a fading light between their palms, Bakugou’s expression changed to a stern, calm, resolve.

“Kacchan?” Izuku said, still not understanding, “What are you doing here?”

“No,” Shouto said, “This can’t be right.”

Bakugou growled and stormed toward them, grabbing both of their shoulders with a death grip. This time there wasn’t just a light flash, this time an all-consuming light blinded the three of them and made it seem as bright as day. Bakugou released them as if he’d been burned and stepped back with a hooded scowl.

“All three of us are Soulmates.” Shouto breathed the phrase as if he was still trying to wrap his head around the matter. Izuku was pretty sure his brain had short-circuited.

“Don’t think this changes anything, Deku,” Bakugou barked, “I’m still going to be the Number One Hero and I’m still better than you!”

“Didn’t you bully Midoryia when you were kids?” Shouto asked.

“It wasn’t like that!” Izuku defended, “Well, I mean it was, but Kacchan is still my friend.”

“It’s too late to deal with this shit, I’m going home,” Bakugou said. He sort of had a point. It was nearly midnight, but this just seemed too big a thing to just leave.

“Wait,” Todoroki stopped Bakugou, “Just because we are Soulmates doesn’t mean we have to accept the bond. And if we are going to even consider this, I need to know something right now. I’ve seen what abuse looks like. And I refuse to be with anyone who is physically or verbally abusive. I need to know you won’t hurt Izuku.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Bakugou yelled.

“Kacchan!” Izuku pleaded, “I know you don’t like your honor being questioned. But please listen to Todoroki.”

“SHUT UP!” Bakugou fumed and stepped toward Izuku. Todoroki practically jumped in between them as Bakugou continued to shout, “I HATE IT! You’re always butting in like you know best. I can take care of myself stupid Deku!”

“You can’t even talk to him without insulating him, can you?” Todoroki accused. Izuku had never seen him upset or lose his cool before. But, knowing his history with his father, Izuku wasn’t surprised that Todoroki was taking this so seriously. It was technically a strategic move, Todoroki was testing Bakugou to see what he would do if he pushed his buttons. This was a test, and Izuku was not confident his childhood friend would pass. This wasn’t good.

“What do you care, Half n Half?”

“Do you even know my name?”

“I’m not stupid!”

“Hey, guys!” Izuku interrupted desperately to snap them out of a fight, “Maybe we should go inside and talk this over.”

“Stay out of it, Deku!” Bakugou yelled.

“I’m sorry Izuku,” Todoroki said, “But I can’t do this if he’s going to continue to be like this.” he said, then turning to Bakugou, “I refuse to accept a Soulmate who is going to hurt the man I love.”

As soon as those words were uttered, they had an immediate effect on Bakugou. His knees buckled, and he held his gut like he’d been stabbed. It appeared as though he was trying very hard to stay vertical and his face was contorted in pain.

Being rejected by one’s Soulmate is rare and there isn’t a lot of information on the matter. But it was rumored to have a very physical and painfully devastating effect on the person rejected. How long and how damaging the pain depends on the Bond, how strong it is, and the individuals involved. So, Shouto had no way of knowing what an enormous effect his words would have on Bakugou and was stunned to see the strong young man tumble over.

Izuku rushed to his childhood friend’s side instinctively and began to assess how bad Bakugou’s injury was. Outwardly, he appeared completely fine. But Bakugou was in so much pain he wasn’t talking, and he was actually allowing Izuku to support him, which was never a good sign.

“My place isn’t too far from here,” Izuku stated to Todoroki, “I know you’re upset and we can talk about him later. But right now, I need you to help me get Kacchan inside.”
Todoroki had not intended to hurt Bakugou and the angry young man was still his classmate. Todoroki wasn’t about to leave Bakugou in pain if he could help it and agreed to help Izuku. With Izuku on one side of Bakugou and Todoroki on the other, they managed to get him inside Izuku’s apartment. Bakugou was mostly out of it, though it was clear he was coherent enough to at least be attempting to keep his feet under him. But for the most part, they were just dragging him along. The trek to Izuku’s was short but awkwardly quiet.
They laid Bakugou out on Izuku’s bed where Izuku sat next to Bakugou and Todoroki sat on a desk chair across from them. Bakugou was still hunched over in pain and shivering. He seemed so lost in the pain and Izuku knew that he couldn’t heal his friend, but he could plead for him. He took a deep breath and looked at Todoroki and said, “Please let me apologize for Kacchan. I know this is hard for you and I know Kacchan comes across as harsh, mean, narcissistic, and basically like an all-around jerk. And yes, Kacchan did push me around and tease me when we were younger. But he’s also my oldest friend. He’s courageous, strong, and confident. Kacchan always knows who he is and never second-guess himself or regrets anything. I want you to understand that he’s partially the way he is because of how we grew up. I’m not making excuses for him, because I know he can be a real jerk. But Kacchan and I grew up in a small town and ever since we were small we all practically Hero-Worshiped him and followed him around. Because of that, Kacchan can’t bring himself to show weakness. I also think you might understand him a bit better if you met his family. They basically all show affection by screaming insults. So, I know Kacchan says a lot of mean things, but that’s just Kacchan. And I know he is going to be a great Hero one day. And he could add a lot of great things to our relationship. Please, give Kacchan a chance, Todoroki.”

There was a long pause where Todoroki appeared to be in-depth thought considering the speech Izuku had just given. At length, he said calmly, “Midoryia, do you like Bakugou? I know you and I both started earlier that we are happy to be Soulmates. And I’ve had feelings for you since the sports festival. I’m not asking to be rude, but I’ve never considered Bakugou as anything but a classmate. Yet we, all three of us, are Soulmates. So, what are your feelings towards Bakugou?”

“It’s kind of weird talking about this since I’ve never told anyone. But Kacchan was my first crush. We’ve drifted apart since we were kids and I never thought Kacchan would feel the same, so I made myself forget about it. That’s why I was so surprised to see him tonight. I had forced myself to forget for so long that I didn’t even think of him as an option anymore. You were the one I was hoping to see. And I’m so happy we are Soulmates. But, underneath it all, I’ve always cared for Kacchan too.”
Todoroki turned his gaze to Bakugou who was still writhing in pain and said, “I read somewhere, that if your Soulmate feels pain from the bond between souls, one thing that helps is skin contact with your Soulmate.”

Izuku gasped, “You’re going to help him?”

“I didn’t mean to hurt him and I don’t think it’s smart to reject a Soulmate so soon. He’s still my classmate and I don’t want him in pain if I can help it.”

“Thank you Todoroki!”

“I think since we are Soulmates now, we should be on a first-name basis.”

“Thank you Shouto!”

What they ended up deciding is that it would be best to remove everyone’s shirts in order to maximize skin contact while still keeping this as platonic as possible being considerate that one of them was practically unconscious. Izuku was positioned sitting up against the headboard, holding Katsuki in front of him. Izuku’s legs were on either side of Katsuki and were propping him up to a slouched sitting position so that Shouto sat in between Katsuki and Izuku’s legs facing the two boys. It was a bit awkward and Shouto was mostly just patting Katsuki’s sides with his arms and hands.

Gradually, as they did this, Katsuki began to relax and become more coherent. Even though it was an odd situation to find themselves in, Izuku was happy to have his two Soulmates right next to him and cuddled into Kacchan, bending down to nuzzle his Soulmates shoulder. It was kind of magical that Kacchan was letting him have this even though it was only because he was in severe pain. Before he completely recovered enough to push them away or protest, Todoroki started talking in order to explain himself and try to undo some of the damage he’d caused.

Shouto’s hand slid up Katsuki’s chest and rested on his chin, holding his head up so he was looking at Shouto’s face as he said, “You remind me a lot of my father. He was also angry and obsessed with being the Number One Hero. His obsession drove him mad and he forced me to train so I could follow his dream. He abused both me and my mother in his pursuits to perfection. But I know you are not him and I was wrong to judge you so quickly. I know you mean a lot to Izuku, and I’m trying. But I need you to meet me halfway here.”

Katsuki looked Shouto in the eye with clarity and then tilted his head to the side, exposing his neck to Shouto.
With that one movement, Katsuki was signifying that not only did he forgive Shouto and accept him as a Soulmate, but that he was willing to Soulbond and submit to Shouto in every way. Izuku’s head shot up from where it was resting on Katsuki’s shoulder as he made eye contact with Shouto; both were in disbelief at Katsuki’s actions. Izuku would never have imagined that Katsuki would not fight to be on top for once in his life.

While they were nowhere near ready to make a Soulbond, Shouto was not about to reject such an offering and moved to nip at Katsuki’s shoulder. None of them were expecting the magical response that followed. While nipping or sucking at their Soulmate’s neck- where the Mark was typically put- would not create a Soulbond, it did have a huge effect on their souls since and it was like a switch was flipped in the core of their being. For an instant, all three of them were connected. Katsuki was submitting to Shouto and would instinctively follow and obey his lead without resistance. Simultaneously, Shouto was transmitting his acceptance of this role as a leader in their relationship and Izuku was expressing the love and happiness he felt for both of them. Any pain or injury Katsuki had felt from the Bond was erased. Then they felt a wave of heat and it was as if the rest of the world had melted away and the only thing left was their bodies. Izuku had never felt such a strong urgency before in his life. The need to touch now was unbelievable.
Shouto rushed forward so his chest was flush against Katsuki’s and he was no longer kneeling beside him but lying on top. His mouth fully enveloped as much of Katsuki’s neck as he could get at. Izuku moved his arms under Katsuki’s armpits to slide up to Shouto’s back and head pulling him closer to both of them so that Katsuki was firmly smushed.
Shouto’s hand found its way into Izuku’s hair and Katsuki shuddered. Shouto whispered in Katsuki’s ear, “You’re mine,” then looked up to make eye contact with Izuku, “You’re both mine.”

“Yours.” Izuku happily agreed.

“Fuck,” Katsuki groaned with no heat behind it.

Shouto was not happy; this was his response and attacked Katsuki’s neck in response causing him to shudder and moan, deepening the fledgling connection between their souls and stoking the fire in them. Izuku was so hard he began thrusting against Katsuki who was still sitting on him so that his butt was deliciously close to Izuku’s crotch and driving him mad. Shouto growled into Katsuki’s ear, “Admit you’re ours or we won’t let you cum.” Izuku was so turned on he kissed Shouto to show his agreement. Shouto kissed Izuku passionately and sweetly as their mouths collided. Shouto kissed Izuku like he was his whole world and Izuku pulled him closer returning everything Shouto was giving him.

“Fuck off,” Katsuki refused to give in. He’d submitted to Shouto already and Izuku didn’t know how or why Kacchan was fighting now, but he literally couldn’t think about that right now. Shouto kissed him and asked him, “Izuku, mind giving Katsuki a hand?” Izuku moaned and moved his hand that was on Shouto’s back to slide off him to Kacchan and started unbuckling his pants so he could get at Kacchan’s crotch. Shouto tried to move to give Izuku more space but didn’t care for any position that involved backing away from his Soulmates. So he settled for rearranging them. Shouto pushed Katsuki down so he was lying flat on the bed with Shouto hovering over him and Izuku at their side. Shouto began to remove his and Katsuki’s pants.

While Izuku was about to follow and remove his own, he was caught off guard by Kacchan grabbing him by the back of the neck and shoving his face in to meet his. Kacchan’s kiss was so different from Shouto’s. Shouto kissed him like a lover, someone precious that he cherished and wanted to keep forever. Shouto was loving and soft. Kacchan took him with an urgency as if Izuku’s tongue didn’t collide with his right now he’d die. It was harsh, rough, and awkward as if Kacchan wasn’t sure he was doing it right. All Izuku could think was finally! He was upset when Kacchan’s mouth was quickly drawn away from his and he huffed in frustration at his childhood friend.

He didn’t protest however when he saw that the reason their kiss had stopped was that Shouto had pulled Katsuki away. Shouto growled, “Only good boys get to kiss.” Izuku instantly forgot how upset he was about their kiss ending partly because Shouto’s words were hot but mainly because he realized that both Shouto and Katsuki were wonderfully naked and hot damn.

His Soulmates were solid muscle, mouth-wateringly gorgeous, and painfully hard. Izuku needed to get naked now and began stripping. Shouto continued as he pushed Katsuki into the mattress and rolled his hips against his stomach, “Admit you’re ours and we’ll make it so good for you.”

A now bare Izuku began to kiss, touch, and suck at Shouto everywhere he had access in support of Shouto’s new rules. “See how good Izuku is behaving?” Shouto purred as he rolled against Katsuki, “Don’t you want to be good too?” Katsuki moaned and threw his head back but remained stiff and unmoving as his hands desperately clenched the sheets at his sides.

Shouto kissed Izuku, the two began to touch and explore each other’s bodies, setting a good example for Katsuki who would grunt and moan in response, visibly turned on and yearning for his Soulmates. Shouto and Izuku came together as they kissed. Panting they turned to Katsuki who looked absolutely wrecked. He was hard and aching on the bed, clinging to it for dear life and drooling from panting so much. Izuku moved to lick the drool from his face and Katsuki desperately wanted to kiss him but knew better than to disobey Shouto. Shouto began to kiss Katsuki’s body and hummed, “What are we going to do with you? Please, just say you’re ours.”

“I—” Katsuki stuttered as his Soulmates gave him their full attention, “I… I can’t” Katsuki looked truly desperate.

“Please, Kacchan?” Izuku pleaded.

That broke down the last of Katsuki’s walls and he moaned, “Yours.”

Shouto kissed the mark on his neck to show his gratitude and began to rub Katsuki’s cock but said, “Sorry, you waited too long, that’s not going to be good enough anymore. You have to say our names. Who do you belong to?”

“Shouto and Deku.” Katsuki breathed between moans.

“Say his name,” Shouto demanded.

“FUCK!” Katsuki all but screamed, “I belong to Shouto and Izuku. Fucking happy now?”

With that Shouto finally allowed Katsuki to be pushed over the edge. The three of them collapsed on top of each other kissing each other’s bodies as they chased the fading sexual high. When the connection between their souls faded out, it left Izuku exhausted and he passed out with their bodies tangled together.
Izuku was exhausted from the long day and everything that had happened with his Soulmates. He was also so absolutely satisfied to be there with them that he could have slept for ages and been happy. He did, however, move to clean them up and toss a blanket over them. However, after that, he was just done and fell into blissful amazing sleep. Even in his sleep he could feel Shouto and Katsuki there with him still tangled in a weird puzzle of body parts intertwining. He hoped this would last forever.

Unfortunately, hours later, Izuku was jolted from slumber by the all too familiar sound of Katsuki shouting. How he had managed to get out of bed without waking him and Shouto when they were piled together, Izuku would never know. Izuku also could not fathom why and how Katsuki was up and moving when all he wanted to do was hold onto his Soulmates and sleep. But there Katsuki was furiously moving about the room with an energy level that Izuku couldn’t deal with right now.

“Where the fuck did you put my shirt?” Katsuki demanded.

Shouto lifted his top half out of bed just enough to see what Katsuki was doing, decided it wasn’t worth it, flopped back into bed and cuddled against Izuku. As much as Izuku wanted to join Shouto in slumber, he also didn’t feel right ignoring Katsuki and was forced to play the middle man between his two Soulmates.
“I’m sorry Kacchan,” Izuku said, trying to be helpful, “I don’t remember.”

“YOU’RE USELESS!” Katsuki shouted the familiar insult as he stormed over to the bed to shove Izuku’s head back down into his pillow, “Go back to sleep!” Izuku wasn’t about to argue with that and was instantly out.

When he eventually awoke again, it was far more pleasant as Shouto gently kissed him awake. “Good morning, Izuku,” Shouto said softly. Izuku could tell from his tone of voice that Shouto was happy he could say that to Izuku for the first time as they woke in bed together. It was a truly beautiful moment.

“Good morning,” Izuku said back as he kissed Shouto.

“Sorry to wake you,” Shouto said, “But we should probably make sure Katsuki isn’t causing trouble.”

Izuku nodded and rolled out of bed to find a fresh set of clothes and clean their old discarded clothes from last night into the hamper. He offered to let Shouto borrow a pair of clean underwear then stumbled into the living room to see what Katsuki was up to, hoping his Soulmate hadn’t bolted.

What he saw surprised him so much he ended up just staring at Katsuki for a while to make sure he was real. Katsuki was sitting on Izuku’s living room couch reading a book. There was a plate of freshly cooked breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage on the table. And Katsuki had apparently never found his shirt as he was wearing one of Izuku’s.
It was a heartwarming and welcoming sight to see, Katsuki so at home in Izuku’s apartment that it was like coming home for the first time. But several things seemed wrong with that picture to Izuku. First off, Izuku never in his wildest dreams could imagine Katsuki cooking breakfast for him. Izuku didn’t even know Katsuki could cook. Second, while Izuku knew Katsuki was smart, he had never actually seen him read or study, nor did he think Katsuki ever read for leisure. So seeing Katsuki Bakugou reading a book randomly from Izuku’s shelf was weird. And finally, Izuku’s crush was wearing his shirt. This made sense but Izuku was having a bit of a fangirl moment and couldn’t believe that was a thing. Katsuki looked soft wearing one of his bright blue colored shirts which screamed “Izuku’s sense of style” and was completely opposite Kacchan who only really preferred black. It was too early for this, Izuku wasn’t ready.

Luckily, Izuku wasn’t the only one who seemed to have a problem, as Shouto appeared behind him and also froze in place. Katsuki looked up and yelled. At least the yelling hadn’t changed, “About time you lazy idiots woke up! Hurry and eat! We have to go!”

“Where do you think we are going?” Shouto asked before Izuku could, as his brain was still catching up with him.

Katsuki groaned in frustration. Izuku knew that Katsuki hated explaining his plans to people. He was so used to just doing things and people either followed or they didn’t. But Katsuki appeared to be trying as he explained, “Your parents place, then mine, then his!”

Shouto and Izuke froze again digesting this information.

Then, Izuku looked at the very obvious bruise covering Katsuki’s neck and remembered how he had accepted Shouto and, in turn, Izuku last night. And it dawned on him that Katsuki might be suggesting that they Soulbond.

“You can’t be suggesting we Soulbond,” Izuku said.

Katsuki glared angrily at them which suggested he was upset that Izuku wasn’t taking him seriously.

“You can’t be serious,” Shouto said, “You do realize we just found out we were Soulmates last night and my first instinct was to reject you, right? Just because the Soulbond started to activate last night and we were all okay with it doesn’t mean we will be able to maintain a relationship with all three of us indefinitely. We are still young and have our whole lives ahead of us, there is no reason to rush into a Soulbond. Moreover, we don’t even know how we would function as a team. At Yuuei you and I barely worked together and you more than proved to everyone that you and Izuku are not compatible as teammates. And you want to bind our souls together now.”

“You talk too much!” Katsuki yelled.

“Kacchan,” Izuku said, “I agree with Shouto, we really need to talk about this some more before rushing into anything.”

“You clearly haven’t thought this through,” Shouto added.

“I have thought this through! Why does everyone always assume I don’t think?” Katsuki screamed then got up from the couch, stomped towards them, and explained as he went, “All three of us have been targeted by villains since Yuuei. Your bastard father is the most famous Hero in the news right now. If we want to keep this Soulmates thing out of the media and away from the villains, we are going to need your family’s advice for dealing with the media.” Once Katsuki was standing in their face he grabbed Izuku by the back of the neck and pulled him forward with one hand and then knife handed him with the other for effect as he stated, “His mom will totally freak and die of a heart attack if we don’t tell her who her son’s Soulmates are.” After he made his point he let go of Izuku so roughly, Izuku nearly fell backward and had to grab onto Shouto to avoid falling. “My mom,” Katsuki continued, ignoring Izuku and Shouto who were not very pleased with him, “is a monster and will kill me if I don’t tell her. So, stop bitching, shove food in those stupid faces, and let’s go!”

“My family most likely will not advise us on avoiding the media,” Shouto said calmly and plainly. Izuku was so relieved to have Shouto’s calm presence in dealing with Katsuki.

“That’s why you want to Soulbond!” Izuku said in sudden realization.

“What?” Shouto said, stunned.

“He knows even if your family did help us we might not be able to hide from the media that we are Soulmates. This means, the villains will know and they might use that against us. But, if we Soulbond we will become more powerful, plus we could use the telepathic connection to help keep each other safe.”

“I don’t need a stupid Soulbond to defeat anyone! I can take care of myself just fine!” Katsuki screamed, but then said in a much softer voice, “But losing either of you isn’t worth the risk.”

Izuku could kiss him so hard right now, but he refrained in favor of saying to Shouto, “I think Kacchan is right. The Soulbond is our best bet at keeping each other safe and the sooner we Bond, the better.”

Shouto looked at his Soulmates and paused to think about the whole situation. Izuku was so happy they had Shouto. He and Kacchan both tended to leap before they looked. He was also really emotional and tended to overanalyze everything to the point where he would nervously babble. Katsuki only seemed to show anger. So, having Shouto’s peaceful aura was like ice-cold water on a hot day. They needed him.

“I agree that we should talk to our parents and will strongly consider the bond if all goes well today,” Shouto said eventually.
This appeared acceptable to Katsuki who walked back over to the couch and sat down. Shouto sighed in relief then walked over to the breakfast table to set up utensils and things. Izuku was so happy they were potentially agreeing to Soulbond he stayed still for a moment to revel in what had just occurred. He looked over to Katsuki who still seemed so tense and decided that he needed to loosen up a bit.

Izuku walked over to Katsuki and slipped into his lap so that he was straddling his legs, shuffled a hand through the spiky blonde hair, and said in a soft and sweet voice, “Come have breakfast with us.” Katsuki’s eyes went wide with shock and he tensed under Izuku.

“I already ate!” Katsuki barked.

Izuku tugged at his hair and said in a similar voice as he had used last night, “Please, Kacchan.”

Katsuki sat up so abruptly that Izuku tumbled to the ground, but then he offered a hand to Izuku. Izuku was happy to take the offered help up but later regretted it. Katsuki pulled him up so fast it felt like he was trying to rip Izuku’s arm off. Then wrapped an arm around his waist, dragging Izuku to the table. Then he shoved Izuku into a chair so hard Izuku was surprised the chair didn’t break. Finally, he sat down opposite Izuku with his arms crossed and with a scowl on his face. Well, at least he got what he wanted, sort of.

“You need to calm down,” Shouto said as he sat down at the head of the table so he was in between the two men.

“I’m always calm!” Katsuki barked.

“You know you can loosen up around us, right?” Izuku said, “We won’t judge you.”

“Shut up,” Katsuki said.

“Katsuki?” Shouto asked as he started to serve Izuku and himself some of the food Katsuki had prepared, “Last night, you were really stiff and held onto the bed the whole time. I’m sorry that we jumped the gun without talking to you first. So, I was wondering, that Quirk of yours, is it hard for you to control?”

Izuku gasped, he had never thought of that before. But it would explain why Katsuki refused to touch either one of them last night even though they could feel through the Bond that he was enjoying himself. Katsuki looked down, he had his open palms and flexed his fingers as he spoke defensively, “I’ve never unintentionally hurt anyone! But, yeah, it can be hard to control if I’m angry or excited. That’s why I’ve never…”

Katsuki didn’t need to finish that sentence for him and Shouto to understand.

“You’ve never been with anyone.” Izuku finished for him.

Katsuki growled at him, so Shouto interrupted before he could argue, “Thank you for your honesty and restraint. That’s good to know and I’m sure we can work something out in the future. What about you Izuku? What’s your past experience?”

“Oh!” Izuku said, happy that Shouto had passed the spotlight off Katsuki. Katsuki looked tenser than ever and Izuku felt sorry for him. It couldn’t be easy to admit to his Soulmates that he had never been with anyone before because he was afraid of blowing them up. “Well, I’ve been with a girl before, sexually, but I’ve never really had a serious relationship.”

Katsuki looked pissed off now and Izuku was secretly giddy that he was jealous. He was also so happy to be Katsuki’s first and that made the kiss they shared last night all the more special. It helped explain why he had been so stiff and sloppy. That’s when it dawned on him that Katsuki and Shouto hadn’t kissed yet. Shouto and him had kissed, and they had kissed Katsuki’s body all over, but Shouto had avoided the blonde’s mouth entirely. He sighed, they would get there.

“What about you Shouto?” Izuku asked.

“I’ve been with a few guys before, but never a serious relationship. Mostly fooling around with different people to piss off Dad.”

“So,” Izuku said, “You and I have a physical experience, but none of us have ever had a serious relationship before. That’s good to know.” His words sounded choppy coming out of his mouth, and Izuku had to admit this conversation was a bit awkward, but he was happy to be learning about his Soulmates.

“Yes, but that’s only half of it,” Shouto said, “I’m more worried about the emotional aspect of it. Katsuki, both Izuku and I have admitted to having feelings for each other prior to last night. I’ve liked Izuku since the first Sports Festival. I know Izuku is Bi, and you know I’m gay. I don’t mean to put you on the spot, but you’re the only one we don’t actually know anything about.”

“What of it?” Katsuki barked.

“Kacchan,” Izuku said, “Like you probably heard last night, I had a crush on you since we were kids.”

“And even though I’ve never thought of you as more than a classmate,” Shouto stated without any emotion, “I will admit that I do find you physically attractive.”

“You talk too much! Fucking eat already.” Katsuki said.

“Kacchan, it’s kind of important to know.”

“Just because we are Soulmates does not necessarily mean we will all be attracted to one another. I will not make assumptions. You could be Asexual and that would be perfectly acceptable. You’ve already admitted that you’ve never been with anyone physically. I know we should not have had any sort of sex last night without having this conversation first and I apologize for that. But, Katsuki, do you even like us?”

“Shut the fuck up!” Katsuki yelled then turned to Izuku, “I’ve loved you since we were kids.” Turning to Shouto he added, “And you’re so god damn hot I can’t stop thinking of that fucking face when I’m getting off. There! Happy now? FUCK BOTH OF YOU!”

Izuku would have assumed he had already met optimum levels of happiness hours ago, but then Kacchan, his first crush and childhood idol- next to All Might, he can have two- said that he loved him since they were kids. Izuku was grinning so much it hurt which caused Katsuki to yell “SHUT UP!” again and demand that they finish eating.
After breakfast, they all made sure they looked and smelled decent enough to meet the parents, grabbed their shit, and headed to the train station to meet with Rei Todoroki at the hospital. Shouto explained to Katsuki that his mom was in a mental hospital on account of the years of abuse driving her mad and the reason behind the scar on the left side of his face. Katsuki accepted the information calmly but had little to say. They had agreed to see the Todorokis first, as that would take two trips and be the farthest they had to travel. Then it was easier to end the day with the Bakugou and the Midoriya houses, as they were in the same neighborhood. They agreed to go see the Bakugous second because Izuku didn’t think Mitsuki would let them leave that house if they didn’t have the excuses of seeing his mom afterward. She was a fierce lady and if they were going to take Katsuki out of that house at the end of the day, they would need a good excuse before she demanded they all say the night.

Izuku left his apartment with his Soulmates on either side of him excited and hopeful for their future together.

Chapter Text

    The train ride to the hospital was a little awkward. They had all just admitted they either liked each other or were attracted to each other. But everything was still kind of fresh and they were still recovering from Shouto having rejected Katsuki out of fear that he would abuse Izuku; there was still so much static in the air between them. Katsuki made it clear he didn’t give a fuck and had submitted to Shouto and Izuku knew Shouto was considering them bonding, so he couldn’t be furious with Katsuki. Years of abuse didn’t help Shouto’s ability to trust and forgive. Izuku really didn’t know much about Shouto’s relationship with his father, but the fact that Katsuki reminded him of his dad probably needed to be discussed some more.

    On top of that, as much as he was reluctant to admit it, Izuku needed to work through his own feelings. He had never imagined Kacchan would feel anything but rivalry toward him and was shocked to find himself in a relationship with the man. While he was extremely happy to actually be able to kiss Kacchan, he also felt a little odd. They had known each other their whole lives, but they weren’t very close. Kacchan was much closer to Kirishima than he was to Izuku and he didn’t know how he felt right now.

    Then there was Shouto, who Izuku had been more recently in love with and considered a good friend. That was a little easier to navigate, but it was still weird trying to build a romantic relationship with Shouto with Kacchan standing right next to him.

    It didn’t help matters that ever since they left the house, Kacchan was acting funny. He was quiet, hardly said a word even when spoken to, had a standoff attitude, and wouldn’t really let Izuku touch him. Izuku tried holding his hand a few times, but Kacchan always shrugged him off and Izuku didn’t want to talk to him about it while they were on the train and risk having an argument. Shouto was more than happy to hold onto Izuku, wrap his arms around him, or kiss him. It felt weird acting like a couple with Shouto and ignoring Kacchan to Izuku. So he did keep his hand offered to Kacchan, hoping to encourage him to join them, which didn’t work.

    Unfortunately, Katsuki remained distant during the entire trip. So, when Izuku found himself standing in the hallway of the hospital with Katsuki, he felt the chilling discomfort of discombobulated emotions and indecision. Katsuki was his childhood friend and Soulmate. He wanted to talk to him and he should be able to, yet this was neither the time nor the place to have any sort of discussion. Right now he needed to be standing by, waiting to support Shouto. They didn’t want to bombard Rei Todoroki with strangers and figured it best to have Shouto talk with her privately first. Izuku knew that with Shouto’s shattered relationship with his mother, he was going to need all the help and support he and Katsuki could offer. But it was so weird just standing in the hallway with Katsuki off to the side staring at the white hospital walls not saying anything .

    He was so nervous. Not talking to Katsuki meant his brain had time to think and overanalyze. He still wasn’t sure how things were between Shouto and his mom. Having two male Soulmates was not normal, so he wasn’t sure how she was going to feel about them. He started to panic and review every possible scenario of what could go wrong, to the point where he started muttering under his breath and Katsuki had to playfully smack him upside the head to get him to stop.

    “Aren’t you nervous, Kacchan?”

    He didn’t answer stupid questions. Izuku knew that but hoped he’d make an exception for his Soulmate. Izuku had so many questions for Katsuki. Suddenly his brain’s worry drive took a different path and he started to fret about Katsuki. The man had said he loved Izuku since they were kids last night. His whole life, he had never known his Kacchan to lie, but still, Izuku couldn’t quite believe it was true. They had known each other forever and had always not only gone to the same school but been in the same class. Katsuki had never once hinted he cared about Izuku outside of rivalry. And he still wouldn’t really let Izuku touch him.

    Which made him think, maybe Katsuki showed affect in an entirely different way than Izuku. He was very affectionate with the people he cared about. Prone to crying, hugs, you-name-it. He was very talkative and wasn’t afraid to say how he felt to his loved ones. Katsuki was none of those things. So, maybe…

    Shoto interrupted his thoughts by calling them to meet his mother.

    Their visit with Rei Todoroki was actually quite pleasant. She openly accepted them, seemed pleased to see Shouto happy, and asked them many questions in an attempt to get to know them better. Izuku ended up answering questions on behalf of Katsuki who was oddly quiet again and wouldn’t say much. He even disappeared at one point in the visit without explanation. Izuku would have worried about this, had he not come back a few minutes later with pastries from the shop down the street for everyone. Which was nice, but Izuku still couldn’t understand why he wasn’t talking.

    Shouto seemed to be enjoying himself. It was odd for Izuku to see the formal, extremely polite interaction between Shouto and his mother considering that Izuku was so close and affectionate with his own mother. Izuku’s mom was his best friend growing up and they were a tight-knit little family. But Shouto and his mom kept their distance and it seemed as though they were walking on eggshells around each other. Still, Izuku knew they were on the road toward recovery and was hopeful.

    At the end of the visit, as they turned to leave, Katsuki shocked them all by lingering beside Mrs. Todoroki and slamming a piece of paper down at the table she was sitting at.

    “Your phone numbers?” She questioned as she inspected the piece of paper.

    “You’re family now, so you know, call if…. just take it.”

    “Oh!” Izuku said, “That’s a good idea, let me give you mine too.” But when he went to add his number to the paper, he saw Katsuki had already written both their numbers down. “Thank you Kacchan!”

    Katsuki grunted and walked out the door with a determination that showed he wasn’t going to slow down to wait for them.

    They said goodbye to Rei Todoroki once more before chasing after Katsuki. Then they were off to the Todoroki household. Shouto explained that he wasn’t really close to his siblings since his father’s training singled him out. His father had treated Shouto differently than the rest which had created a divide between the siblings. Still, he knew his sister and wanted to introduce them to her. His father was on a business trip as per usual. And his brother was not at home. So, they were basically going to say hi to Fuyumi.

    Their visit with Fuyumi was very similar to that of Rei Todoroki, except slightly less formal. Shouto seemed happy to see his sister, who accepted their relationship and was happy for Shouto. Izuku did the talking for him and Kacchan, and they didn’t stay for long. It was nice.

    Izuku was panicking that the Bakugou family was next on their list. After visiting with the Todoroki’s, Izuku was worried more than ever what Shouto would think of the Bakugous. They were so loud, had no filter, and he didn’t want them to scare Shouto. Or more likely, shock him, or blow him up. Lord, you never knew what to expect when going into that house. Izuku had actually had his first shot of alcohol there oddly enough. It wasn’t even a special occasion, they just happened to have a bottle of tequila and Mitsuki didn’t want to drink alone and had insisted all the boys do one shot with her since her husband didn’t drink.

    On the bus ride over, Izuku was desperately trying to prepare Shouto for what they were about to walk into without offending Katsuki. Shouto assured him everything was going to be fine, and it wasn’t going to be that bad. Katsuki may have whacked him upside the head again to stop him from ranting. Which had upset Shouto, he made it very clear that he wasn’t going to stand by and watch Katsuki lay a finger on Izuku. This made Izuku frantic to keep them from arguing. He was so relieved when the bus finally stopped at their destination, forcing the two to stop talking that Izuku released a full-body sigh in gratitude. Izuku made them promise to put all their differences aside until after making it to the Bakugous and somehow, they managed to arrive at the front gate of the Bakugou household without another argument.

    Unfortunately, the peace and quiet didn’t last for very long. Before they even reached the front door, they heard screaming from inside the house.

    “Katsuki! Is that you?”

    “YEAH!”

    “Hurry up and get in here! I haven’t seen that stupid face in forever.”

    “Should we wait out here for you to introduce us?” Shouto asked.

    “The fuck would you do that for?” Katsuki asked earnestly confused.

    “Katsuki! Don’t make me come get you!”

    “I said I’m coming!” Katsuki shouted as he practically shoved his Soulmates through the front door where they were met with a very exuberant Mitsuki Bakugou at the threshold. 

    She didn’t wait for Izuku to talk off his shoes at the landing to give him a lung-crunching hug as she yelled at her son, “Why didn’t you tell me you were having friends over? Izuku I haven’t seen you since you were a little thing.” They had done shots the last time he saw her, that was not true and Izuku knew it to be an exaggeration as Mitsuki Bakugou never said anything that wasn’t either over the top dramatic or intense. Then she turned to Shouto and said, “Hi, I’m this moron’s mother. I know you from the Sports Festival! Your Shouto Todoroki and you have an amazing Quirk. My idiot son is lucky you let him win.”

    “I told them it wasn’t a damn fair fight! And I don’t have to fucking tell you if I’m bringing home my fucking Soulmates.”

    Izuku and Shouto’s eyes went wide as they were not expecting Katsuki to come out and say it like that.

    “NO FUCKING WAY!” Mitsuki Bakugou yelled and smacked her son upside the head. Izuku was so scared for a split second that she was going to kill them before she added, “Don’t you lie to me Katsuki, there is no way on God’s green earth my horrible excuse for a son deserves to have two Soulmates. Especially not these handsome boys.”

    “What do you know, you, old hag?!”

    Then she looked at Izuku and Shouto and Izuku who were still standing in the doorway and said, “What are you two doing standing around? Come in! Sit down! Make yourselves at home.” She guided them toward the living room where they were greeted by Masaru Bakugou who had heard they were Katsuki’s Soulmates and told them they could call him dad. Before Katsuki could sit down on the couch next to Izuku, Mitsuki said, “Not you Katsuki! Go get tea and lunch for your Soulmates, you look famished. There are sandwiches in the fridge.”

    Katsuki’s jaw slid, but he stormed off toward the kitchen. Leaving Izuku and Shouto alone with his parents.

    “I noticed Katsuki was wearing one of your shirts and a pretty nice hickey. So , you three must have been having fun on the Eclipse.” Mitsuki cut to the chase once Katsuki was out of the room.

    Izuku blushed and started to stammer. He wasn’t prepared for that.

    “The three of us are still learning a lot about each other and we promise to take good care of your son,” Shouto said, though clearing his throat first, trying to sound formal and not talk about sex. Izuku hoped Katsuki would come back soon.

    “That’s so sweet! He really doesn’t deserve you two.”

    “I HEARD THAT! You damn hag!” Katsuki shouted from the kitchen

    “He really is a pain in the ass,” Mitsuki said ignoring her son, “I know he is a complete jerk and rough around the edges. You see, he’s always been able to achieve anything he sets his mind too easily because of the damn Quirk of his. He’s always received praise no matter what he did, which made him prideful and stubborn. I really do appreciate you two boys. Especially you Izuku, I know he wasn’t always the nicest friend to have around. I’m very grateful to you both.”

    “Thank you,” Masaru added quietly.

    “Oh no!” Izuku stammered, “Kacchan is Kacchan and I’m really just grateful he’s letting us be near him. He’s one of my best friends. You really don’t have to be so hard on him.”

    “I don’t know your son very well,” Shouto said, “but I know how much he means to Izuku. Destiny has brought our souls together for a reason and I’m sure we can live up to your expectations.”

    “WOW!” Mitsuki said to Shouto, “You’re a real gentleman.” Then she turned to Katsuki as he came back in the room with a platter of food and a pitcher of tea, “Katsuki, why don’t you act more like Shouto? Maybe then someone good would want to hire you and you could get a real job.” Izuku didn’t really know what to make of that comment. Maybe Kacchan had trouble finding work after graduation? That couldn’t be right. He was too shocked by Mitsuki. She didn’t say anything with any heat behind it. 

    “FUCK OFF!” Katsuki retorted.

    “Don’t you curse at me, young man!” Mitsuki pulled him to sit between the two of them, and pushed his head down to a bowed position.

    “Get off me, ugly woman!”

    “I’m your mother! You talk to your Soulmates this way? I don’t know why they don’t just leave you.”

    “Shut UP!”

    “Please forgive me,” Shouto said, slowly regaining his bearings.Mitsuki and Katsuki stopped shoving each other and froze to look at Shouto as he continued, “But Izuku was so nervous about me coming here and he said I would probably understand Katsuki better once I met you all. Everything makes so much sense now.”

    Izuku looked over at Mitsuki who looked exactly like her son and had her arm smashed into Katsuki’s head. Katsuki, who was a grown man and one of the most powerful students at Yuuei, was forced to sit between his parents, bowing his head down to his mother. Mitsuki and Masaru joined in the conversation, leaving Katsuki dumbfounded and glaring at all of them. It was such an odd and unique family dynamic. 

    Shouto’s statement seemed to break the ice between them a bit and after that. They ended up staying far longer than they had intended too. Mitsuki insisted they eat lunch, then had Katsuki show them around the house so that they knew where everything was for next time. She made him show them around the kitchen too, so they could see where all the snacks were if they should ever want to drop in to grab grub.

    Mitsuki had half a million questions about how they were doing, how Izuku’s mom was doing, how they felt now that they had graduated, and how they felt about being Soulmates and what their plans were moving forward. By the end of it, Izuku’s head was spinning and Shouto looked tired.

    Katsuki had somehow been roped into doing several household chores while they were there. Apparently, Marasu’s back was hurting him and he needed help with certain tasks while Katsuki was there. Mitsuki refused to allow Shouto or Izuku to help as this was their first time in the house as official Soulmates. Izuku just thought she wanted to keep Katsuki occupied so that she could ask Shouto and him all sorts of personal questions that she wouldn’t be able to get out with Katsuki standing there.

    So, even though they had arrived at the Bakugou’s at around one pm, they didn’t end up leaving until around six pm. They had spent five hours at that house and were leaving with an arm full of food for Inko, and the promise that they would be back soon. Izuku wasn’t sure since the whole visit was kind of a blur in his mind, but he also thought at some point he and Shouto had exchanged numbers with Mitsuki and promised that one of them would text her when they made it to Inko’s and when they made it home safe. Katsuki had made the right call not to go to their house last, they would never have left.

    Shouto was so tired by the end of it he fell asleep on Izuku on the short 20-minute ride from Bakugou’s to the Midoryia household. As Izuku sat there on the train positioning himself to be the perfect pillow for the knocked-out-cold Shouto, he reflected on the events that had transpired. Despite how crazy the Bakugou’s was, Izuku couldn’t remember the last time he had seen Shouto smile so much. It felt like they were visiting relatives they had not seen in ages and even though they were not Bonded, Izuku knew that he and Shouto would always have a place at the Bakugou household.

    He really hoped the three of them could build a home of their own and become a family. Maybe they could be like the Bakugous, a lively welcoming bunch that made everyone who entered feel like family. Izuku began to daydream of what might be as he stared out the train window watching the old familiar streets of his childhood neighborhood roll by. He let his mind wander into a world of pleasant possibilities, staying grounded to reality by focusing on the gentle puffs from his Soulmate’s breath releasing warm air on his shoulder and his body heat seeping into Izuku’s side. His thoughts melded into dreams as his body became heavier and his head drifted till it found rest laying against Shouto’s head.

    A firm hand on his shoulder jolted him awake and his eyes shot up to find Katsuki’s ever stern face; they had arrived. How he and Shouto had both managed to fall asleep so quickly, Izuku didn’t know. His body still felt heavy and he had to shake himself, rub his face in order to force his body to wake up. He and Shouto stumbled out of the bus and Izuku’s muscle memory allowed him to find his way home before his brain fully rebooted.

    He had called his mom earlier letting her know that he was coming by with Katsuki and Shouto and considering that it was the night after the Eclipse, his mom had sounded suspicious as to their motives for visiting. But she had not asked Izuku anything outright and Izuku wasn’t sure how he was going to tell her he had two Soulmates. Thankfully, he was still too groggy from his catnap on the bus to worry too much when he arrived at his mom’s doorstep.

    The instant they made it to the doorstep and he heard his mom coming to open the door, however, was a different story. It was like a shot of espresso to his system waking up his nerves which were acting like a person who woke up late on their first day on the job and started running like crazy through Izuku’s system. His mom knew he was Bisexual and while they had never talked about it, Izuku had never really dated anyone serious enough to bring over to meet her. So, bringing home two Soulmates was hard for Izuku to wrap his head around. He had no prior experience with this and nothing to gauge what his mom’s reaction might be off of.

    Normally when he was this nervous he would try to think about what All Might would do, but that wasn’t helping as he really couldn’t picture his childhood hero in this particular situation. Normally, he would try to analyze the situation from all possible angles assessing the facts he did know and branching off from there. Normally, his brain functioned, but all of a sudden he was drawing a blank.

    Maybe he should have done it like Shouto and had a conversation privately with his mother before inviting them in. He knew that wouldn’t work because he wouldn’t have his Soulmates beside him for the news. And he was nowhere near confident or stupid enough to just blurt out the news as Katsuki had. Why was he always so different?

    His nervousness must have shown because they had a slightly awkward and stiff greeting at the front door before settling in and sitting down. They ended up sitting around the dining room table with Todoroki and Izuku on one side and Mom on the other with Katsuki in the kitchen heating up the food Mitsuki had them bring over. When Mom had tried to help him in the kitchen, Kacchan had brushed her off and a low “Got this.”

    Izuku really wanted Katsuki to be sitting down with them when he explained this, but he was too nervous to wait any longer and said to his mom, “Mom, the reason why I brought Shouto and Kacchan over today is that I want you to meet my Soulmates.”

She seemed to be taking the news calmly, she looked over at Katsuki in the kitchen then back at Shouto and said, “Two Soulmates? Isn’t it going to be dangerous to have two Heroes as Soulmates?”

    “That’s why Katsuki believes we should Soulbond,” Shouto explained, “I know it’s not traditional to Bond so soon, but it would give us additional power and resources to defend one another. So Izuku and I are strongly considering it.”

    “But, if you soulbond, if one of you dies we will lose all three of you. Wouldn’t that make you more of a target?” She wasn’t asking accusingly but sounded genuinely worried. Izuku knew how much all this Hero stuff scared his mom and was at a loss as to how he could help her.

    “That is a risk we will have to consider. But the whole point of a Soulbond would be to give us a fighting chance so that never happens.” Shouto said.

    Katsuki returned from the kitchen with food and plates for everyone, breaking up the conversation and giving everyone a chance to think things over.

     They ended up having an overly heated conversation with Inko Midoriya about the Soulbond that Izuku was not prepared for. These past two days seemed to be chock full of things he wasn’t prepared for. But Mom made a lot of really good points. She was worried that they were too young and didn’t know each other well enough as couples to Soulbond. She feared that if they rushed the Bond, they might damage their relationship.

     Shouto pointed out that he and Katsuki still had a lot to work out and that they would really have to consider and think things through before creating the Bond. They promised Izuku’s Mom they wouldn’t make a hasty decision but would talk about the Bond and make sure they knew what they were doing first. The conversation ended up dragging long into the night as Shouto, Izuku, and Mom talked about the pros and cons of Soulbonding in depth.

    It was eleven o’clock at night by the time they finally left Mom’s house. Izuku loved his mom dearly but was honestly very happy to be going home with his Soulmates. She had given them a lot of things to think about, but right now he just wanted to crash on the bed, not think, and rest his tired brain.

    Izuku figured they would all just meet back at his place and crash there for the night. They were Soulmates, so obviously they would stay together, especially this late at night after a very long day. But of course, Katsuki had to complicate things again. Izuku and Shouto were on the same page: Izuku’s home, bed, and they could talk about the rest later. But Katsuki seemed in a hurry to drop them off and then go to his own place. Why was he acting so weird? All-day he’d been weird and Izuku’s brain was too tired to think about it anymore. 

     Thankfully, a well-placed, desperate, “Please Kacchan,” was all it took to convince him otherwise and they all ended up piled on Izuku’s bed. Izuku took a deep breath feeling his Soulmates’ comforting presence, then drifted into a deep dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

    As Izuku gradually shifted into consciousness, his morning began with the warmth of his Soulmates on either side of him. He could feel Shouto on his left with his arms wrapped around Izuku holding him close and on his right, Katsuki was laying on his stomach cuddling the pillow under his own head with his face turned toward Izuku. He dreamily rolled his head to the side to kiss Shouto good morning then roll onto his right to admire Katsuki's form. Shouto hummed at the kiss in his sleep then shifted closer to Izuku as he rolled over to his right so Shouto was practically on top of Izuku like a warm blanket.

    Izuku felt the cloud of sleep still fogging his brain, and basked in the feeling of his loved ones beside him. He was struck by how soft Kacchan looked when he was sleeping. He looked more like the sweet boy Izuku had had a crush on in his childhood and less like the fierce warrior who always yelled out his opinions. He was amazed that Katsuki was letting his guard down and letting them get this close to him. Normally, Katsuki moved and acted like a wild animal, it was bizarre to see him breathing softly, completely relaxed. He looked so small, part of Izuku wanted to just scoop him up and hold him.

    Unable to resist the urge Izuku reached out to touch the bushy blonde hair. He was surprised how soft and smooth it felt as his fingers brushed through the blonde strands til he reached the man's skull which he gently stroked.

    It was apparent that Izuku's small touch woke Katsuki up very quickly as he went instantly stiff, jerked up, instinctively swatting Izuku's hand away before his eyes even opened. He shot up like a lightning bolt, ready to fight and stumbled out of bed into a fighting stance. He was panting hard as if he had just teleported there from some sort of nightmare. His eyes narrowed on Izuku then went wide at the realization that it was his Soulmate and not an enemy that had reached out to him.

   “Fucking hell, Izuku,” he panted. Izuku couldn't tell if it was said in relief or anger, either way, he wasn't sure what to make of the violent awakening.

    Shouto murmured in his sleep and Izuku gently rolled him over to his other side so as not to wake him as he turned to Katsuki who was now pacing the room shouting, “Are you trying to give me a heart attack? I could have fucking killed you!”

    His arms were gesturing wildly in the air as he talked. He stormed out of the bedroom in favor of pacing in the living room away from their sleeping Soulmate.

    It was too late, however, as Shouto was already awakened by the noise. “What’s going on?” he asked.

    “It’s Kacchan,” Izuku explained quickly as he got up to follow his distressed Soulmate. He didn't think to give more explanation because, of course, there was always something with Katsuki.

    Shouto seemed to be waking up enough to get out of bed as Izuku quickly walked into the living room. He found Katsuki pacing down the living room still yelling and gesturing wildly with his hands. Izuku followed him and reached out for Katsuki's shoulder in an attempt to calm him and slow things down. 

    However, as he reached out, the bewildered man was at the end of the living room and spun around forcefully unaware of Izuku's presence in his frustration. As he spun around, his emphatic hand leading the turn, caught Izuku across the face, knocking him off his feet. With Katsuki as caught off guard as Izuku, the blonde couldn’t move before Izuku’s head hit the corner of the coffee table. 

    Izuku’s head spun as he sat upon the floor with a grunt. It was his own fault for approaching Katsuki so suddenly. The whole thing was an ill-timed mistake, but with his head throbbing, he instinctively curled up and placed his hand on his head. His fingers found a damp spot on the back of his head. When he brought them in front of him they were stained red. He’d cracked his head against the sharp corner of the table. Oops.

    Caught up in his own pain, he didn't think to address Katsuki until he heard an agonizing choking sound from above him. He looked up and was shocked by what he saw. Katsuki was dazed and seemed paralyzed in front of him with a painful expression of regret that Izuku had never seen on his face before. Katsuki’s face read panic, shame, regret, and guilt so strong that Izuku's heart sank for him. 

    He was about to comfort Katsuki and tell him it was just an accident.

    Izuku couldn’t before he heard furious shouting from the other side of the room, “What the hell did you do to Izuku?” Shouto’s voice shook the room, Izuku had never heard him so angry before and he jerked his head around to look at Shouto instinctively. His vision spun and his head throbbed at the sudden movement. Forcing Izuku to crumble into a fetal position, protecting his head with a pained groan, which made him look more injured than he actually was. This fuelled Shouto’s anger as he continued to accuse Katsuki, “You hit him, didn’t you? Damn it Bakugou! What the hell makes you think you have the right?”

    Izuku looked up at Katsuki and honestly believed for a split second that the blonde was going to burst into tears before that steely exterior Katsuki put on for show fell back into place as his face hardened into a scowl. Izuku could see the angry scowl for what it was, a defense mechanism and a show of bravado, but he knew Shouto would just see more anger. Katsuki yelled back, “It was his own damn fault for being weak!”

    With that, it was like everything stood still for Izuku as he could see Katsuki fall to pieces in slow motion. He knew that phrase from Mrs. Bakugou by heart, hearing it a thousand times when they were kids. All Might even told him that she had said that about Katsuki getting captured by the villains. Mitsuki Bakugou didn’t know how to show affection, but she sure knew how to tell Katsuki he was weak whenever Katsuki was down. Kacchan was just parroting what he had grown up hearing a thousand times. To Izuku, it showed how vulnerable he was, he’d only say something like that if he was really anxious. He’d have to be in psychological shambles if he was talking like his mother.

    Worst was, he knew, in his heart, what that phrase meant to Shouto whose father abhorred weakness and tried to beat it out of Shouto as a small child. That phrase would completely solidify in Shouto’s mind what an abusive asshole Katsuki was. 

    Everything was falling apart and Izuku didn’t know how he could break past years of psychological and physical abuse to show Shouto that Katauki was innocent. Desperately, he looked up at Shouto wondering what he could possibly say to change his mind, but it was no use. Shouto’s face had a calm darkness cast over it, like a black cloud blotting out the light before the storm.

    “You’re a monster. You shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near Izuku.” Shouto said with a calm detachedness about his voice that made the words cut all the more deeper.

    “It was an accident!” Izuku desperately gasped as he pushed himself shakily off the floor to stand between his shattered Soulmates. Katsuki moved to help him up but Shouto quickly interfered and blasted him with ice, pushing him across the room. Katsuki didn’t even try to defend himself and allowed the blast to knock him off his feet as he hit the back wall and slid to the floor.

    “Get back!” Shouto yelled as he moved from across the room to stand between Izuku and Katsuki, “If you hurt your Soulmates, you are a failure, as well as a monster, and we don’t need you.”

    Katsuki stayed on the floor and looked up at Shouto and said, “You don’t know anything! You didn’t see what happened.”

    “I saw enough to know you hurt Izuku,” Shouto yelled, “And I know enough about my Soulmate to know this isn’t the first time either. I’ve seen you try to tear Izuku apart during training with no remorse. I know you, Katsuki Bakugou. Everyone sees you as a villain, even the criminals. You’re the only one stupid enough to think yourself a Hero. But I will not allow you to lie to yourself when it comes to Izuku.”

    “I’m the monster? You’re the one how used the Soulbond to force me to have sex with you when I clearly was uncomfortable. Who are you to judge?” Katsuki snapped, standing up but his hands were behind his hips and clenched in fists rather than flexed to allow returned Quirk action.

    “What?” Izuku and Shouto said, simultaneously, in shock.

    “The damn Soulbond is like getting high, it's like a damn drug and makes you feel shit. I was out of it and I’ve never… Why the hell did you think I wasn’t touching either of you?”

    “You were trying to fight the Soulbond,” Izuku gasped in sudden revelation and instantly felt nauseous.

    “You’re making stuff up,” Shouto stated flatly, “You said earlier the reason you weren’t touching was because of your damn Quirk would go off. You’re just placing the blame to make yourself look better. If that was true you would have said something earlier.” 

    “I shouldn’t have to say something,” Katsuki shouted.

    “You lied Kacchan,” Izuku said, still in shock. His heart pounding wildly inside his chest, his head still aching as he stood dumbfounded staring at his Soulmates who were both looking at him now curious to see who he sided with. His voice sounded raw as he spoke and repeated, “You lied, Kacchan, when you said you were holding back because of your Quirk. I’ve seen you control it under extreme circumstances and I know how much you’ve trained. You know your Quirk inside and out.  You must not have wanted to look weak or maybe you didn’t want to tell us the real reason. But you shouldn’t have had to lie. Kacchan, I’m so sorry.”

    “So maybe the Soulbond did put us into a heightened state and maybe we took advantage of that. But none of us were in our right minds at the time. We were all strongly affected by the Bond which you offered to activate. And you suggested we make the Bond permanent.” Shouto said.

    “BECAUSE!” Kacchan defended getting away from the wall and standing right in Shouto’s face, “I don’t want to lose Izuku. And because I trust you, you damn Half n Half!” 

    “You know, to accuse us of rape to distract from the fact of your own abusive pattern is low even for you.”

    “You’re a moron if you think that’s what this is! I never said rape.”

    Izuku was too shocked to say anything and checked the back of his head for bleeding instead. It seemed to be slowing down which means but wasn’t deep and he could afford to pay attention to more pressing matters.

    “Then what are you saying?” Shouto scrutinized as he refused to back away from Katsuki he was yelling in his face.

    “Shit happens and not everything is black and white as you might think.”

    “Maybe,” Shouto agreed with venom in his voice, “and maybe the lines were blurred that night. But this?” He pointed to Izuku and his banged-up head, “This is the result of lashing out in anger. You caused Izuku harm. I made it very clear from the start of this that I refuse to tolerate you hurting Izuku. This is as black and white as it gets.”

    “You don’t KNOW ANYTHING!” Katsuki shouted visibly shaking. Izuku could tell he was running out of arguments.

    “Shouto,” Izuku tried to interject but was interrupted as Shouto screamed and pushed Katsuki away from him.

    “I know abuse. I lived it and I’m not going to let it happen ever again.”

    “Kacchan,” Izuku tried again but was cut off.

    “You see what you want to see!” Katsuki shouted.

    “All you’ve ever done is hurt Izuku and push him away. You’ve known your Soulmate your whole life and yet you two are practically strangers. Izuku said he used to have a crush on you, but you killed that too, didn’t you? By pushing him around, calling him names and telling him he’s useless, you destroyed any chance at a relationship. All you do is destroy! Who the hell would want a Soulmate like you?”

    Katsuki stood still in silence, face stoic as ever as he glared at Shouto how returned the look with the coldness of his own. Izuku finally had the opening to speak, but the words couldn’t seem to come from his mouth. They stood there like that in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Both of his Soulmates were so strong and stubborn, but so broken inside and Izuku heartbroken for them.

    Katsuki was the first to move, he stormed toward the front door and left without a word, slamming the door behind him. He didn’t even take the time to put on shoes and left in his sweats and a t-shirt. Neither of them expected that. They stood there after he left, still stunned, not knowing what to do next and unable to release their breath. It was as if they were underwater, drowning.

    “Are,“ Izuku stuttered, “are you okay?”

    “No,” Shouto stated dryly as he stared at the door after Katsuki and then turned to look at Izuku and looked at his head. “Are you?”

    “I’ll be alright,” Izuku said flatly. He felt like he was in shock. Like all the emotion and energy had been drained out of him and there was nothing left. “It was an accident,” Izuku said, but his voice sounded a million miles away to him, “I came up behind him just as he was turning around and he didn’t see me until after I fell. I shouldn’t have come upon him so suddenly when I knew he was in a panic. It really was an accident. It was just…” his voice fell as he replayed everything that had happened over again in his mind. Everything had happened so quickly. Now everything was happening so slowly.

    He didn’t know what to do. They just stood there.

    “I’ll get you something for your head,” Shouto said as he walked robotically to the kitchen.

    It didn’t feel real as Shouto checked his head and applied a bandage to his small cut. It felt like they were going through the motions with no emotion. Like they were bad actors playing a poorly written part. Nothing felt right without Katsuki. Izuku could tell how broken Shouto was inside, how much regret and pain he felt. But there wasn’t much to say as what was done was done. Neither of them could take it back or change what had happened. Worst of all neither of them knew how to move forward.

    “He’ll come back, right?” Shouto asked as they sat on the living room couch after tending to Izuku’s head, “He left without his things. He’ll need his wallet, his shoes, and I think his phone is still here. He can’t have gone far, right?”

    “I don’t know,” Izuku answered, “Kacchan can be really stubborn and he was really upset.”

    “I shouldn’t have,” Shouto began, but faltered and started again, “I was so scared that…” Izuku had never seen him at such a loss for words as he tried for the third time, “was it really an accident?”

     Izuku nodded firmly and said, “He didn’t mean to and he felt really bad, I could see it on his face afterward. Something was wrong though. He shouldn’t have looked that scared. He was really scared he hurt me.”

    They were quiet for a while as Izuku let Shouto work through his emotions and think things over. Eventually, Shouto asked, a bit comelier, “What exactly happened when you were kids? What was he like? Did he really hurt you?”

    “Kacchan and his friends beat me up once when I was seven? I think we were seven. His Quirk arrived right on time, but he had a following by first grade. Everyone told him how awesome he was, including me. We all thought it was so cool he was so young, it went to his head. There was one kid who said Kacchan couldn’t be a Hero because he just blows stuff up. Kacchan and his friends were being mean to him and I told him to stop. I didn’t have a Quirk back then so there really wasn't anything I could do. I think he knew he took it too far at that time. He never did anything like that again. Or maybe it was because we all knew not to say anything to him at that point. We were both little kids at the time, so I really don’t know. But after that Kacchan was kind of just like he is now. Only he’d yell a lot more and sometimes he’d burn my stuff if I said I wanted to be a Hero, but other than that he’d leave me alone. I never really blamed him for how he acted, because we were kids, and no one ever corrected him. Everyone just held him in such high regard no matter what he did and Kacchan never learned. But he wasn’t mean just for the sake of being mean.”

    “I actually had a crush on him after that all happened. I think we were 14 when it started. You see, we all sort of followed Kacchan no matter what. It was a small town so Kacchan was the coolest person any of us had ever met because he was just so confident. Not to mention he loved All Might just as much as I did. Plus he was so smart and so strong. Then I started to see the other side of him. Even though Kacchan comes across as just a hothead, he actually really thinks things through and feels very deeply about things. He’s such a passionate person and it shows in everything he does. I know he has his flaws and he can be a real jerk. But I know he’s also so much more than just a hothead. He loves and takes good care of the few friends he does have. He may have been mean to me, but he was also always there for me.

     “Growing up, sometimes was hard because my dad was never around and my mom had to work really hard. And sometimes, when I was little, I would cry by myself when she had to go to work for a long time, but Kacchan would always find me. He wasn’t really good at comforting people, but he would sit there with me and let me hold him if I needed to for support. When we grew older I got stronger and didn’t need his help like that anymore. We kind of drifted apart, but I still never forgot. Kacchan means the world to me and I really love him.”

     By now Izuku was crying, he couldn’t help it. He hadn’t stopped to reminisce about the old days in a long time. He felt so bad for the way things had happened today. Shouto held onto him and hugged him saying, “I’m so sorry Izuku, I acted out of fear and anger and I shouldn’t have treated Katsuki like that. I’ll apologize and do my best to make it right, I promise.”

     After that, they ended up waiting in the living room for a while waiting for Katsuki to come back. They talked about a lot of things. Shouto about his past and his feelings towards Katsuki and Izuku about his. Izuku helped Shouto to work through a lot of the conflict and fears he was having concerning Katsuki. They talked for hours before realizing Katsuki wasn’t going to come back.

    They talked about how they could fix things and what adjustments they would have to make in their relationship to avoid similar problems arising again. They talked about what they would say to Katsuki and how they would apologize. They talked about work and about the soulbond and about what life would be like if they did bond together. But the more time passed the more worried Izuku was when they didn’t hear from Katsuki.

    They really weren’t sure whether they should call someone to ask if they had seen Katsuki or not and try to get a hold of him that way. The only people who knew they were Soulmates were their parents but explaining they had gotten into a fight might be awkward and betray Katsuki’s confidence.

    Eventually, they decided to call Mr. Bakugou just to see if Katsuki was safe and if he had heard from his son.

    “Izuku!” Mr. Bakugou said happily at the end of the line, “I’m so glad you called. I spoke with Katsuki earlier over the phone and he sounded really upset. He told me he’s at his apartment. Do you have the address?”

    Izuku thanked All Might that the Bakugou family was so direct and to the point. Mr. Bakugou was also really down to earth and totally seemed to understand the situation. He didn’t ask for details and he didn’t give away anything private he and Katsuki had talked about. He just gave them what they needed to know and left them to work their shit out.

    They left for Katsuki’s place right away. Izuku was so glad they were going to make things right. He really needed to see that Kacchan was okay.

Chapter Text

    Maybe rushing over to Katsuki’s with no real plan in mind wasn’t such a good idea. Izuku was frozen stiff due to the static in the air resonating and amplifying between the three of them. So far, nothing noticeably horrid had happened and Katsuki wasn’t revving up to blow something up. He was actually behaving quite civilly all things considered. Sure, he appeared mad as hell with tense fury boiling so close to the surface it made his muscles rigid and his naturally red eyes glow with a burning heat, but he had yet to say or do anything malicious. Those fierce red eyes were all Izuku could see when Katsuki first opened the door to his apartment to greet them. They seemed to sear feelings of hurt and betrayal directly onto Izuku’s soul. Izuku was so shattered and taken by those crimson eyes that he was oblivious to his surroundings and had not taken the time to notice Katsuki’s apartment.

    Upon seeing them, Katsuki merely glared and walked to sit down on a small couch in his living room, the still open front door was their only indication that he had granted them permission to enter. Katsuki’s home was furnished with only the necessities and nothing more and was remarkably organized to the point where it almost appeared as though Katsuki was never home to make a mess. There really wasn’t a place for them to sit other than the couch and given that they were on shaky terms as it was, both Izuku and Shouto opted to stand across from Katsuki as they spoke.

    Izuku couldn’t really keep in his nervousness for a second and immediately started to speak for himself and Shouto, explaining everything they had talked about after Katsuki had left and pleaded that Katsuki gives them a second chance considering how quickly things had escalated. He apologized for the situation, the heated words that had been spoken at the moment, and begged that they all talk things out and move forward.

    As he spoke, Izuku began to shrink inwardly at Katsuki’s burning red gaze never left him for a second and bore heavily on Izuku’s visage. He was all too familiar with that look, but never before had it felt this intense nor had Katsuki ever paid him so close attention. Usually, he would have cut Izuku off by now and challenged him to a competition. Izuku wasn’t used to having Katsuki's full undivided attention and being under such fierce scrutiny. He always wanted Katsuki to look at him not just yell and runoff, but to really look at him, just not like this.

    Under those flaming eyes, Izuku lost himself in the heat and began to rant aimlessly. He was grateful when Shouto placed a comforting hand on his shoulder to silence him.

    “I acted in haste,” Shouto stated calmly. Izuku could breathe again now that Katsuki’s eyes were on Shouto, “I ask your forgiveness.”

    “Fine, I forgive you,” Katsuki said shortly. His voice carried such anger that it took Izuku a few seconds to translate Katsuki’s words as a tone that vehement usually indicated cursing. Izuku’s brain didn’t seem to register that Katsuki was actually forgiving Shouto that easily, it just didn’t seem to add up.

    “It’s understandable that you are upset.” Shouto said, “But I hope that we can move past this.”

    “Fuck you!” Katsuki yelled.

    “Kacchan,” Izuku started to say something, but Katsuki interrupted him.

    He was yelling when he cut him off. “No! Shut up, stupid Deku. He asked for forgiveness and I forgave him. We’re Soulmates so it’s stupid to hold grudges, but no one’s fucking moving past this. I’m not going to pretend and keep playing house while that Half n Half bastard is being a self-righteous dickhead.” Katsuki said every word while glaring at Izuku and acting as if he couldn’t be bothered with Shouto.

    “I’m not denying we have problems we need to work through. Nor am I trying to be ‘self-righteous’ as you say by acting blameless. I know what I did was wrong. I’m saying I’m hopeful we can work through this since we are Soulmates.”

    “Self-righteous and a liar! Unfortunately for you, I’m not stupid,” Katsuki said, “You can fool Deku all you want, but I’m not buy any of your crap!”

    “I’m not lying! I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think we were meant to be Soulmates,” Shouto defended.

    “Kacchan, Shouto and I both think…” Izuku started again but was again cut off.

    “Shut it Deku! This has nothing to do with you!” Katsuki yelled.

    “It has everything to do with him! All three of us are connected,” Shouto said, starting to lose his temper. One thing was clear to Izuku, while an argument might be made that Shouto and Katsuki were not compatible Soulmates, there would never be a person on the planet that can get under Shouto’s skin like Katsuki. For better or for worse, Katsuki brought out strong emotions in the normally stoic hero.

    “Don’t try and change the subject.” Katsuki yelled, “Stop trying to pretend this-” He yelled motioning to the space between Shouto and himself, “-is ever going to work.”

    “You don’t think we can work this out? And you think I’m the one lying? You said yesterday that you wanted the three of us to Soulbond and now you’re saying we fail as Soulmates. I said things in anger and apologized immediately, you're the one that’s inconsistent. I’m at least trying. All you ever do is make a scene.”

    “You’re full of shit!” Katsuki yelled.

     “I’m full of shit? You insisted we visit our families and tell everyone about the Bond and then hardly spoke to anyone including us the whole day. You admitted you were attracted to both of us, then refused to let us touch you, and then accused us of taking advantage of you. I’ve made mistakes, but I’ve constantly tried to keep us together. I was honest about my problems with abuse from the get-go. I’ve been honest and open this whole time.”

    “I don’t need to defend myself to an asshole like you. You have problems and it has nothing to do with dear old dad.”

    “What are you talking about? Insulting me doesn’t excuse your own actions.”

    With that Katsuki stood up to glare at Shouto from eye level. Shouto was taller, so Katsuki had to angle his head upward, which did nothing to diminish the nearly murderous intent behind Katsuki’s eyes. Izuku stepped forward to position himself between the two Soulmates ready to step forward and pull them off each other if a fight should occur. Shouto remained unshaken and stood firm.

    “There’s nothing wrong with my actions, you passive-aggressive piece of shit,” Katsuki said.

    “Now, who’s being self-righteous?” Shouto voiced the words as if he’d won still completely in control.

    “What are we even arguing about?” Izuku intervened, “Can we please all just sit down?” He was desperate to deescalate the situation before Katsuki managed to start a fight.

    “Fuck you!” Katsuki yelled at Shouto, ignoring Izuku completely.

    “You’re behaving like a child.” Shouto accused.

     “Kacchan,” Izuku said, “I don’t understand why you’re so mad at Shouto. We came here to apologize, but I know you wouldn’t be acting like this for no reason.” Izuku reached out to Katsuki to try and force him to divert his anger from Shouto and focus on himself. 

     Touching Katsuki’s shoulder succeeded a little too well as the violent blonde lashed out and shoved Izuku’s hand away as he shouted, “Shut up, Deku!”

     Feeling helpless to stop his Soulmates and failing to reach Katsuki for what felt like the millionth time in their short-lived relationship, Izuku couldn’t keep the hot tears from escaping and running down his face. Then, something miraculous happened. This scenario had played out nearly thousands of times before. Izuku would reach out to Katsuki, then he would strike out in anger and Izuku would cry. This had happened since they were kids so often it felt like a comforting routine by this point in Izuku’s life. But this time, something changed. Maybe Katsuki realized that he might actually lose Izuku as a Soulmate if he continued this pattern. Maybe he had finally grown up. Maybe something Izuku had said finally got through to him. Or maybe he was still feeling guilty for having unwittingly hurt Izuku this morning. For whatever reason, Katsuki’s enraged eyes softened for the first time in Izuku’s life and he appeared to calm down as he looked at Izuku as he pulled away from Shouto.

     “He hates me,” Katsuki explained to Izuku with a surprising amount of calm. As if everything was stripped away and Izuku was finally getting to see the real Kacchan underneath all the anger. “He won’t admit it because he loves you. So he’s acting like this will work and using his past as an excuse to act out. But he’s full of shit. Whether he admits it to himself or not, I don’t know. But he doesn’t want me. He never has. I know coming over here was your idea, Deku. I bet after I left he listened to everything you said and agreed 100%, but walking through the motions is lying. Just because he can pretend doesn’t mean I can. I’m not playing his stupid game.”

    “I don’t hate you,” Shouto said dryly. Izuku was shocked, he needed a second to process everything that had just happened: from Katsuki’s behavior, to his words, then analyze his theory from what Izuku knew to be true.

    “Fucking liar!” Katsuki shouted.

    “You don’t know me. So don’t pretend to know what I’m feeling.” Shouto said.

    “You don’t want me. You never have. You said it yourself, you think all I do is destroy, that I’m an unlovable and useless Soulmate.”

    “I said that out of anger and fear when I was terrified you hurt Izuku. I’m trying to apologize and make up for it, but you won’t give me a chance.”

    “Fuck you! I bet you were more honest in that moment than you ever have been in your goddamn life, always fucking hiding behind that stupid cool face of your never fucking expressing anything. You said it and you meant it. Stop lying.”

    “I didn’t mean it, Katsuki,” Shouto said pleadingly as if begging Katsuki to drop it. Izuku remained very still as if any movement from him could break the spell and stop whatever was developing between the two men from coming into fruition.

    “Fucking liar!” Katsuki screamed almost incoherently as if he had used up all his words and was left with that one heartbreaking phrase.

    “I’m sorry,” Shouto said as if he knew he had set off a landmine and was desperately trying to undo his mistake. Desperation was unbecoming of Shouto, “I didn’t mean to accuse you of being unlovable or a failure as a Soulmate. I just wanted you to stop hurting Izuku.”

    “Stop lying!” Katsuki shouted.

    “I was wrong,” Shouto pleaded.

    “You were right!” Katsuki shouted.

    The room froze over. If Izuku hadn’t been staring at his Soulmates so closely he would have thought Shouto had activated his Quirk. One could have heard a pin drop, they had all become so still. By agreeing with Shouto, Katsuki was admitting that he was destructive, unlovable, and a failure as their Soulmate. The proud, confident, driven Hero who was known for his boasting was admitting to being less, to being a failure, to being worthless. Izuku could see it in his eyes and on his face that Katsuki, the man who succeeded at everything he set his mind to without difficulty, thought so little of himself to think that he could be unlovable and unworthy of a Soulmate.

    Katsuki was the first to move as he backed away and sat back down on the couch. The fire had left his eyes and he looked tired, defeated. Izuku couldn’t believe his eyes. Even when they were little, Katsuki never looked tired, even while asleep he seemed to be beaming with energy as if fighting villains and conquering in his dreams. It didn’t make sense. It was like watching All Might lose a battle. It couldn’t happen. He was Izuku’s Hero since childhood.

    “He’s right Izuku,” Katsuki said, shaking Izuku out of his trance. “Why the hell do you think I never said anything? Why the hell do you think I pushed you away all those years?” Then, he added at the end as a term of endearment as he shook his head in dismay, “Stupid, Deku.”

    “No!” Izuku screamed, “You're wrong!” He was about to throw himself at Katsuki’s feet and profess his undying love for the man when he was startled by Shouto.

    “What are you doing?!?” Shouto yelled at Katsuki snapping Izuku’s eyes to him, his hands balled into fists at his side and was visibly shaking. Izuku had never seen such emotion from the man before, “What are you saying!?! You’re a Hero! Act like it!”

    “Of course I’m a Hero!” Katsuki said seemingly regaining some of his bravado, “I’ll still be Number One and kick both your asses!” Then it died back down as quickly as it came, as Katsuki once more sounded defeated, “But I’ll never be a good Soulmate. I hate you for seeing it, but you’re right. You two should Bond without me. You’ll be better off and safer that way.”

    “Stop it!” Shouto yelled, “Stop acting like this.” It was like Shouto was gripping at sand trying to rebuild Katsuki after he had mistakenly knocked him down, but the sand kept slipping through his fingers the harder he tried.

    “Quit acting like a baby,” Katsuki said, “you were right and you got what you wanted. I’m backing out. You two can have a nice life together. I’m not stupid enough to fuck it up when I know what I’m capable of and what I’m not.”

    “Shut up!” Shouto yelled, “Fine, fine, you were right. I did hate you and I was acting like everything was okay so that we could work this out for Izuku’s sake. You’re everything I was supposed to be; everything my father wanted me to be. You’re good at everything you do and you’re driven to be the Number One Hero. I resented you for always knowing the right thing without having to stop and think about it. I resented you because even though you were a complete asshole our whole class admired you and you made friends who would do anything for you without even trying. I resented you because even though you were nothing but mean to him, Izuku, the man I love, could never keep his eyes off you. You drive me insane, Katsuki. And I hate you for being right. You’re not the one with the problem; I am.” Shouto’s self-revelation hung in the air so none seemed to know what to say next. 

    Abruptly following a long pause, Izuku felt himself saying these words before his brain had time to catch up with his tongue, “Well I think you’re both stupid.”

    Shouto burst out laughing before Izuku’s brain had time to register that he had even uttered those words. 

    Katsuki shouted, responding in return with his normal jovial anger, “It’s not funny. Stop laughing! Deku, calling us stupid isn’t funny.”

    This proved only to make Shouto laugh harder and Izuku found himself joining in. It was as if the ice had melted and they were coming up for air. Even Katsuki couldn’t keep himself from grinning as he yelled at the two for no reason in particular.

    When they finally were able to compose themselves and stop laughing, Izuku found that they were all sitting on the floor in a circle trying to catch their breaths.

    “What do we do now?” Izuku asked.

    “Whatever the fuck we want to,” Katsuki said instinctively. Knowing what to do in any given situation had always been his way even if he hadn’t a clue what they were supposed to do in this particular scenario.  

    “Katsuki,” Shouto said earnestly to get his attention, “You drive me insane and I did resent you for a long time and for that I am truly sorry. I didn’t understand why the three of us were chosen to be Soulmates, then out of fear and resentment I behaved poorly. For that, I’m very sorry. But I think I understand now. While Izuku and I could bond, I would have everything I have ever wanted, and I would be happy, we would never be complete. True, you are destructive, the definition of anger management issues, and an all-round asshole,”

    “Get to the point, asshole!”

    “But you bring out the best in both Izuku and I. You’ve inspired Izuku since you were kids and you see right through me. No one has ever been able to see me and touch my soul like the two of you have. I really mean it this time when I say that we can work this out. Katsuki, I want to get to know you better and be your Soulmate, if you’ll give me the chance.”

    “Just because I get under your skin doesn't mean we are meant to be. I fucking blow things up. You were right when you said I was destructive. This won’t work.”

    “Kacchan,” Izuku said, “I don’t care that you are destructive. I love you. I always have.”

    “No, you don't!” Katsuki yelled looking down at the floor, “It’s my fault. He was right, I pushed you away. There’s no way you can love me not after everything I’ve done. Not after the way, I treated you.”

    “You can’t push me away, Kacchan. I love you.” Izuku said moving closer to Katsuki almost touching him but afraid to. After everything Katsuki had said he wasn’t sure how he would react to physical contact.

    “And I want to love you,” Shouto said, also moving in closer so the three of them were just a hair’s breadth away. “I want to know you. I’ve always been afraid to express myself. I do not really know how you do this, but you bring everything out of me for better or worse. And I want to learn more about you in return. I want to be a better Soulmate for you. I’m sorry I’ve failed up till now.”

    “We both want you and we want to love you,” Izuku said, “Please let us?” Katsuki was crying so silently Izuku would have missed it if he wasn’t so close to Katsuki. Izuku moved his hand to rest on the couch cushion directly beside Katsuki’s head and used that arm as support to lean in close to Katsuki so their forehead almost met. Shouto mirrored this movement allowing his head to brush up against Izuku’s but keeping a small respectful distance from Katsuki giving him space to cry.

    Katsuki brushed the tears from his eyes and still looking at the floor stated, “Fine, ruin both your lives. See if I care. Not like I didn’t warn you.”

    Izuku smiled and said, “Thank you Kacchan. I love you!” Izuku said it one more time willing Katsuki to believe it with every fiber of his being, “I love you so much, Kacchan.”

    “Katsuki,” Shouto said, “can I kiss you?”

    Katsuki froze and looked up at them with an unreadable, blank, expression.

     “I guess, while we’re having it all out I should probably tell you the reason for not… not wanting to touch…” Katsuki tensed visibly before he continued, both Izuku and Shouto remained where they were close beside him and listened as he spoke in broken sentences, “When those damn villains had me. It wasn’t even that damn Creepy-Hands-Bastard’s fault. He’s actually not that bad for a villain. He left me alone to think. He wanted me to choose them. Think about what he said. That damn blood obsessed chick found me and wouldn’t get her damn hands off me. I couldn't do anything. My hands were… I couldn’t even say anything. Shigaraki stopped her before… But I hated it. Hated being saved by a damn villain. Hated that I couldn’t say or do a fucking thing. It made me realize how important fucking consent is. I’m not a faker. I won’t compromise who I am for a second to pretend to be something I’m not. That's why it’s important to me not to do a damn thing, kiss or anything without knowing what the fuck I’m doing. I didn’t want our first kiss to be in a damn feverish, Soulbond haze. I didn’t want to do anything until we were damn sure what we all were to each other. I didn't… I don’t…” Katsuki was shaking now and so Izuku interrupted in a soothing tune.

    “It’s okay,” Izuku breathed softly, “It’s okay, Kacchan.” 

    Katsuki continued to shake and covered his face in his hands, “This is stupid. I’m not...I shouldn’t be like this! I’m not...fuck...I’m not this.”

    “You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met,” Izuku said.

    “It’s okay because it’s just the three of us,” Shouto pleaded, “You’re right you’re not like this. And I’m not the type of person who shouts or loses control either, but it’s different when it’s just the three of us. You can be like this just with us. You can be however you want to. It’s okay.”

    Katsuki lifted his head then dropped it back against the couch looking up at the ceiling and took a deep breath to steady himself. They waited for Katsuki to calm down and stop shaking.

    “Katsuki,” Shouto prompted, pulling him out of the calm void he appeared to be slipping into. Katsuki let his head drift downward-looking eyes with Shouto as he spoke, “If you want to know what we are to each other… I want us to be Soulmates.” Thinking about it, he revised himself and said more firmly, “We are Soulmates, I want us to be Bonded.”

    “I want that too!” Izuku said, “I want all three of us to be Bonded.”

    Katsuki looked at them both silently then paused to think about the permanent impact of what they wanted. Then he locked eyes with Shouto with a fiercely determined look and said, “Fine, then take it, kiss me.”

Chapter Text

    “Katsuki,” Shouto prompted, pulling him out of the calm void he appeared to be slipping into. Katsuki let his head drift downward, locking eyes with Shouto as he spoke, “If you want to know what we are to each other… I want us to be Soulmates.” Thinking about it he revised himself and said more firmly, “We are Soulmates, I want us to be Bonded.” 

    “I want that too!” Izuku said, “I want all three of us to be Bonded.”

    Katsuki looked at them both silently then paused to think about the permanent impact of what they wanted. Then he locked eyes with Shouto with a fiercely determined look and said, “Fine, then take it, kiss me.”

    “Where can I touch you?” Shouto asked before leaning in and sealing the deal.

    “Waist up,” Katsuki said.

    “Me too?” Izuku asked, “I want to touch you while Shouto kisses you. Can I?”

    This seemed to have an effect on Katsuki as what they were about to do seemed to kick in.

    “Okay fine,” Katsuki barked, getting nervous, “God, why do you have to make it sound so weird?” 

    “You said it was important that consent needed to be clear. So we are making it very clear what we want to do to you.” Shouto said, declaring the last part very suggestively.

    “Fucking Half n Half,” Katsuki muttered. Shouto cut him off by leaning in and sealing their lips together. Katsuki let out a needy whimper and went completely slack under Shouto which completely messed with Izuku’s head. Izuku slid a hand under Katsuki’s shirt to make good on his promise but mostly lost himself as he watched longingly as his two Soulmates kissed. Katsuki shuddered under their touch, moved, but nervous still. They kept their movements slow, deliberate, and predictable to help soothe him.

    Izuku clung to his childhood friend as he watched how Shouto softly nipped at the blonde's lips until he opened his mouth and they deepened the kiss. He watched as his hot-headed, standoffish, tough-as-nails Soulmate turned to putty and melted as Shouto pushed forward into the kiss. Both hands held Katsuki’s head and tore him apart with his mouth. 

    Calm washed over Izuku, seeing his Soulmates at ease, able to openly show affection and love after a fight. He loved seeing Katsuki melt, his eyes glazed over and his hands drop slacked to the floor as if his whole body had turned to slush, unsure of what to do with himself. He loved seeing Shouto chase Katsuki’s tongue with his own hunger to get more of him driven by a sense of yearning for the first time truly desiring Katsuki.

    As much as Izuku wanted to join in and kiss them as well, he didn’t want to look away and spoil the magic of the moment. Instead, he soothed Katsuki, stroking his sides and softly slipped one of his hands into Katsuki’s limp one.

    Reluctantly, after a while, Katsuki pulled away from Shouto with a mystified look on his face and gasped, “Shouto I….”

    Suddenly, a loud banging on the front door was heard startling all three of them and causing them to jump. All too quickly they became aware of the world beyond just the three of them as the doorbell started to ring as if someone was repeatedly pressing the button whilst banging on the door.

    “FUCK!” Katsuki yelled as he slammed his free hand into a fist on the floor. He was still out of breath from the kiss and visibly ill composed.  So he turned to Izuku and asked, “Could you get that?”

    Izuku wasn’t sure what was going on but decided if Katsuki needed a moment to compose himself, the least he could do was answer the door. Shouto seemed just as confused as he was and they all stood up, straightening themselves up for whoever was on the other side of the door.

    “Do we have to answer it?” Shouto suggested calmly.

    “Do you hear that? Those fucking idiots will break the damn door down if we don’t.” Katsuki cursed as he tried shaking his head and running his hands through his hair in an attempt to brush off any sign that he just had a  head over heels, out of his mind, a makeout session on the floor a second ago.

    All Izuku had to do was crack open the door slightly and in slipped Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, and Sato and tumbled into the living room as if they had been leaning piled on the door. They were all dressed in work-out clothes and had backpacks.

    “BAKUGOU!!!!” Kirishima yelled as he stepped forward and slung an arm around Katsuki’s shoulder, “I got everyone! The whole gang’s here! Let’s goooooo kill that mountain!”

    Kaminari gave a “Whahoo” As Ashido let out a “Yeah” perspective in response. 

    A second later, just as Katsuki shoved Kirishima off him, Kirishima’s eyes met Izuku’s and the gang became aware of his and Shouto’s apparently unexpected presence.

    “No way!” Kirishima said, giving Izuku a bone-crushing hug, “You didn’t tell me you invited Midoriya and Todoroki! I would have picked them up too! Man! This is going to be awesome!”

    “I didn’t fucking invite them dumbass!” Katsuki yelled.

    “What’s going on?” Shouto asked.

    “It’s the weekend!” Kaminari stated as if that explained everything.

    “It’s good to see you guys!” Ashido said, going over to give Izuku and Shouto a hug, “It’s been ages!!!”

    “Hi!” Sato waved at them.

    “You don’t know?” Kirishima said looking back and forth between Izuku and Shouto, “We all have the weekend off of work. We all work at different Agencies now, but we usually have Sundays off. So, BakuBro decided since all our Quirks put a lot of strain on our bodies that once a week we’d get together to do endurance training up the mountain! It’s a great work out, plus we all get to stay in touch and see each other! Oh! That reminds me,” Kirishima turned to Katsuki and said, “Sero, can’t make it, he’s covering for a coworker.”

    “Slacker!” Katsuki huffed.

    “WOW! That’s really cool, Kacchan!” Izuku said.

    “Sorry,” Shouto said, “I didn’t realize you had company and a prior engagement. But isn’t it weird having plans for right after the Eclipse?”

    “We thought about that,” Kirishima said, “But most people don’t find their Soulmate on Eclipse night anyway, and there’s no guarantee any of us actually has a Soulmate, and we’ve been doing this endurance run every week for so long, we are all super committed and it means a lot to us.”

     “Wait,” Ashido asked, “If you're not here for the hike, then why are two at Kirishima’s?”

    “Kirishima’s?” Izuku and Shouto were both confused by that.

    “We’re roommates,” Katsuki said glaring at his friends as if trying to set them on fire with his eyes and make them all disappear.

    “Oh! You’re here to see Bakugou!” Kaminari stated, “Dude, I didn’t know you still kept in touch with Midoriya and Todoroki! Why didn’t you invite them!?!”

    “Yeah, you guys should both come with us!” Sato chimed in.

    Everyone was so high energy and pumped up, it made Izuku excited, but it was also thoroughly confusing and hard to keep up with. He wasn’t sure what had just happened, but he was a little upset that their personal time together was suddenly interrupted and now Kacchan’s friends seemed to be ready to take him away. It was so strange to see all of them so comfortable at his Soulmate's house, as they seemed far more familiar with being here than himself and Shouto. Izuku felt out of place. Even though Kaminari and Ashido were being nice, it hurt a little bit that they didn’t even consider he would be here to see his childhood friend as their first thought. A slight possessive streak caused him to state, rather loudly, “We’re Soulmates.”

    “Wow!” Kirishima said patting him on the back, “Congratulations!”

    “You and Todoroki are Soulmates!” Ashido said, giving him a hug.

    “No! I mean, Kacchan is our Soulmate,” Izuku explained.

    Katsuki stood with his arms crossed glaring at everyone. Izuku’s last statement seemed to shock everyone as they all stood still for a minute trying to wrap their heads around the concept.

    “… but there’s three of you?” Kaminari stated questioningly as he had a confused expression on his face and held up three fingers. He seemed to be trying to compute the math one plus one plus one equals two Soulmates.

    “Bakugou,” Kirishima said in an exasperated distraught tone of voice, “What about?” he asked as the two made eye contact. Kirishima’s face seemed to finish the rest of his sentence for him as Katsukin gave him a knowing look back as if to say, ‘Not now.’ and Kirishima dropped whatever was on his mind. It was a weird exchange to watch, as the two seemed to be having an off to the side telepathic conversation that excluded everyone else.

    Thankfully, Shouto broke the ice as he explained, “We know having more than one Soulmate is rather rare, but we are trying to make it work. In fact, we were just discussing forgoing the normal waiting time and becoming Bonded to become a stronger force against villains and solidify ourselves as Soulmates.”

    Izuku smiled and stepped closer to Shouto, he was glad he wasn’t the only one who appeared to be slightly territorial and needed to tell everyone his Soulmates were his .

    “WOW!” Ashido said, “That is so cool! It sounds just like you guys to do something like that! Congratulations!” She then proceeded to crush both Izuku and Shouto in a brief hug.

    Sato also proceeded to congratulate them, face grinning from ear to ear, and gave them an amicable and hearty pat on the back.

    “Wait,” Kaminari said, “I mean congratulations and all that, but I’m still confused. You're his Soulmate.” He pointed from Izuku to Shouto and they nodded. “ And you're his Soulmate.” He said pointing from Shouto to Katsuki, Shouto nodded again and Katsuki puffed “tch.” Kaminari went on, “But does that mean you are not his Soulmate?” He said, pointing from Izuku to Katsuki.

    Izuku almost laughed. He completely understood where Kaminari was coming from and actually was happy he was curious and confident enough in their friendship to ask. Normally, Soulmates were taught to the general public, in school, to be like a Red String tying two people together. Each couple had one string. So in Kaminari’s mind, he was trying to figure out if Izuku and Shouto had a String (one couple) and Shouto and Katsuki had a String (one couple) how all three of them were combined because Izuku couldn’t have another tie.

    “It’s like this, Dead-Brain!” Katsuki yelled and grabbed a hold of Izuku’s hand so all three of them were linked together.

    “Oh!” Kaminari exclaimed, “So you, and Shouto aren’t Soulmates!” He said pointing to Katsuki and then looked confused again, “How do you even deal with that?”

    Katsuki facepalmed and groaned. Ashido laughed at Katsuki, while Sato appeared to be on the same page as Kaminari; lost in the sauce. Kirishima offered no help as he stood beside his best friend grinning.

    “Actually, Kacchan, I think it's more like this,” Izuku said letting go of both their hands to hold out one hand between the three of them and then gesturing at Shouto and Katsuki to do the same. When all their hands were piled up one on top of the other, Izuku looked up at the confused lightening hero and said, “See?”

    “OH!” Kaminari exclaimed, “So, it's like one bond ties all three of you together?”

    After that everyone seemed to be on the same page and they all excitedly wished the three of them well. Kirishima went so far as to say that the thought that Bonding now was an amazing idea to put that much trust in each other. He told them he understood that they might get a lot of backlash from Bonding so soon from others, but that they could count on him for his full support no matter what. Everyone else agreed and seemed to wholeheartedly be happy and excited for the three of them.

    After a few minutes of this Shouto politely asked if everyone wouldn’t mind giving the three of them a minute alone and Katsuki ushered Izuku and Shouto into his room while Kirishima pulled his group over to the kitchen to fill up water bottles and the like for the hike.

    Katsuki’s room was small, big enough for a bed, a small desk, a shelf of books, and a closed closet door. Everything was perfectly in place and the room hardly spoke of his personality. Honestly, it was so clean and neat that it was hard to believe that the man spent any time at all in his room. The only thing of interest in his room was the back wall, which had black, gray, and red paint splatters across it and sticky notes of scrambled notes, most of which were motivational, or scribbled out, or illegible. One note stood out amongst the others, was in Karishma’s handwriting and it said, ‘ Love you, bro! ’ with a toothy smiley face scribbled on it.

    Izuku sat down on the desk chair and Shouto sat down on the bed while Katsuki stood with his arms crossed still very upset at the interruption they had just experienced.

    “That was unexpected,” Shouto said, “I’m assuming you want to go on the hike, then?”

    “Doesn’t matter,” Katsuki muttered, “Kirishima will take them even if I don’t go.”

    “Doesn’t matter?” Izuku said, confused about why Katsuki would brush aside something that obviously meant a lot to his friends as nothing, “But Kirishima said…”

    A very furious look from Kacchan shut Izuku’s mouth. “Oh,” he mouthed, Katsuki’s look reminded Izuku that his Soulmate was merely trying to imply that they were more important than his friends, only he wasn’t good at verbal affirmation of affection.

    “I think you should go,” Shouto said.

    “The fuck?” Katsuki cursed, turning on Shouto as if ready for a fight.

    “I have to go help Father at the Office anyway. Besides, you told them you would go before this all happened, and you should follow through. The three of us can meet up after I’m done with work and you’re done with the hike.”

    “You’re working with that asshat?” Katsuki said.

    “I didn’t know you were working with Endeavor!” Izuku said, “I also didn’t know Kacchan was living with Kirishima. Oh man, there’s just so much we don’t know about each other yet. This whole day has been….” He continued like that until Katsuki yelled, “Can it nerd!”

    “Oh!” Izuku said, “Sorry, this whole day has just been really crazy.”

    “One of my father’s CEO’s recently quit after an extended Maternity Leave. So, I’ve just been helping out while he finds someone to replace her. It’s been chaotic at his Agency, especially since he had to leave on a business trip. I’m basically holding down the fort single handedly while he’s away.” Shouto explained with a heavy sigh.

    “The fuck would you do that for?” Katsuki said.

    “Kacchan!” Izuku said, “You really should word that nicer.”

    “It’s actually been really nice,” Shouto continued, “Aside from the mountain of work, it’s been good to set the past aside with father and try to move forward with a professional adult relationship.”

    “Well, call me if I need to bash his head in,” Katsuki said.

    Shouto smiled at Izuku and said, “I guess that’s his way of saying he cares?”

    Izuku smiled at the flustered blonde and chimed in the affirmative, “Yup!”

    They both smiled at Katsuki who became even more flustered and blushed yelling, “Shut up!”

    Shouto stood up so that he was a breadth away from Katsuki’s face and said in a flat and calm voice, “I liked kissing you, Katsuki.” The normally emotionally detached Katsuki visibly shuddered, he appeared tongue tied and about ready to jump out of his skin.

    “Can I kiss you again? Do I have to ask permission every time or can I just?” Shouto ran his fingers through Katsuki’s hair and motioned for their heads to collide.

    “Not for… kissing… just for more or other stuff or… fuck.” Katsuki tried to answer Shouto’s question without shying away but ended up leaning forward and sealing their lips together instead. Katsuki’s hands fisted Shouto’s shirt, both keeping space between them and holding him from moving away. When they broke apart Katsuki’s softened and his unfocused eyes landed on Izuku as he breathed out his name.

    “It’s okay Kacchan,” Izuku said, trying to assure his Soulmate that he was not feeling left out, “We’ll figure it out. I’m just really glad to see you two doing better together.”

     Katsuki seemed to want to say something, while Shouto seemed to be content to take advantage of the rare moment of Katsuki allowing closeness between them to run his fingers through the blonde’s soft hair affectionately. Unfortunately, noise from their “guests” broke whatever spell Katsuki seemed to be under as he suddenly became aware of his hand clinging to Shouto’s shirt and promptly released him returning his hand to his side. Shouto followed suit and let go of Katsuki’s head, taking a small step back so that they were in a circle and not crowding Katsuki.

    “I don’t work today,” Izuku said, “I could join you for the hike, if you don’t mind, and we can all meet back up at my place after?”

    “Sounds good,” Shouto said and then added to Katsuki, “We can talk later.” 

    Katsuki hummed in response not looking at either of them as he fists opened and closed habitually. Izuku wasn’t sure what that meant, but it looked like he was thinking about something.

    “Should we join the others?” Izuku asked, “or is there something else you wanted to say?’ He meant it for both of them but was looking toward Katsuki when he said it.

    Kacchan simply turned to open his bedroom door and walked out expecting them to follow. 

    Shouto gave Izuku a questioning look but dropped it when Izuku shrugged in response. Even though they had known each other since infancy, Katsuki was never easy to read and it certainly didn’t help that they hadn’t kept in touch much since graduating. 

    As they walked out Katsuki mentioned to Izuku that he could borrow whatever work out clothes or other items he needed for the hike. 

    After that, everything went smoothly. The others were more than excited to have Izuku join them, Shouto said goodbye to everyone and gave Izuku and Katsuki a slightly awkward kiss goodbye as they weren’t used to that level of familiarity in front of others and Katsuki’s friends were not polite enough not to gawk at them playfully. Katsuki helped Izuku gather supplies for the hike and then they all piled into Kirishima’s old van, which he inherited from his parents.

    It was slightly awkward joining them as Katsuki’s Soulmate after not having seen his former classmates in so long, but it also felt good like old times training at Yuuei. He could imagine that Aizawa would be proud to see them all working hard training together.

Chapter Text

    The car ride over to the hiking trails was a blur in Izuku’s mind. Nostalgia for being back in a team with his old Yuuei classmates filled his chest with warmth like a hot cup of tea. Being crammed in the back of Kirishima’s old van smashed between Katsuki and Kaminari, with Mina sitting behind them and Sato in front of them just felt right. He often felt out of place at his Hero Agency; as many of his colleagues were more experienced than him, older than him, and had been established at the Agency long before Izuku had started training as a Hero. Many of his colleagues had spouses and children at home; their lives were just so different from his, he had a hard time relating to them.

    But here? In the van, with loud mouthed Young Heroes who he had trained alongside for years, Izuku felt whole again. He didn’t even realize how much he missed this until they were all piled in the van together. While he kept in touch with many of his old classmates such as Uraraka, Iida, Hatsume, Shinsou, Mirio, and to name a few, he never worked out with any of them. Many of them had moved away when they graduated, so most of his correspondence with his former classmates was via text or video calls. While he, Iida, Shouto, and Uraraka, made a point to meet up in-person every so often, he hadn’t really been in a group with his classmates in a long time.

    With all this craziness with his Soulmates and uncertainty about whether or not they should Soulbond, he needed the familiarity of being with his friends again. They all treated him like it was just yesterday that they had all been together and were so quick to laugh with him and accept him despite not having had any real contact with him in ages.

    For the most part, the twenty-minute drive was spent fighting over the radio. Mina wanted to listen to Rap, whereas Kacchan instead on Metal, and Kirishima would switch it to a catchy Pop Song just to mess with both of them. Sato tried to get them to listen to Folk-Punk which Izuku wasn’t familiar with. However, whenever Sato would mention it, everyone else in the van would groan as if they had been down that road before and had no interest in revisiting Sato’s playlist.

    Izuku was actually really surprised at how good Mina was at rapping. She could drop a beat and keep up with every song with ease and style. Unfortunately, whenever she would really get going or whenever a sick guitar solo would start on one of Katsuki’s songs, Kirishima would switch the song just to mess with them and blast Taylor Swift. He, Kaminari, and Sato would belt “We are never ever ever! Getting back together!”

    Every time they did this, Izuku would lose it with laughter. Mina and Kacchan would scream or groan in annoyance, which would spur on the belting as the three would sing their hearts out grinning ear to ear and acting out the lyrics.

    “I swear, Kirishima! If you skip over Metallica one more time, I’m going to blast a hole in the roof. You musically deaf moron!” Katsuki yelled in a way that gave Izuku the assumption that this wasn’t the first time he had made this threat.

    “What’s wrong with my boy Wakstki?” Mina interjected.

    “My van, my radio!” Kirishma grinned.

    “Eijirou!” Katsuki screamed vehemently, “Bring Me the Horizon is one thing, but you don’t fucking touch Metallica or Pink Floyd, damn it!”

    “G-Eazy? Anyone?” Mina added, completely unphased by the argument and loud pop music.

    Eventually, they all settled on Queen as even Katsuki couldn’t say anything bad about “We Will Rock You.” Mina would sing the verses adding her own flair to the song and everyone would belt the chorus. Katsuki refused to sing, but instead seemed perfectly content to stomp and tap out a sick drum beat alongside the others. When the guitar solo hit, Mina started to freestyle rap at the end and everyone (except Kirishima) stomped and clapped along.

    “Bo-rap?” Kirishima suggested after the music faded.

    “No!” Katsuki yelled, “Not again! We’re not doing that one again!”

    “YES!” Sato cheered, “That was so much fun! Bo-rap!”

    “Bo-rap?” Izuku asked Kacchan.

    “Bohemian Rhapsody, Deku!” he yelled in response as if Izuku should already be familiar with the nickname for the infamous Queen song.

    “Oh gosh, I don’t know if I’m ready for this,” Mina said then added to Izuku, “We played it once before and everyone sort of fell into doing the different parts. It was epic, but damn those vocals. You can’t halfheartedly sing that. It’s all or nothing.”

    “Bo-rap?” Kirishima asked again.

    “Bo-Rap!” Kaminari agreed with a nod as if getting ready to sing Queen in character and spirit of the band.

    “Bo-RAP!” Sato said loudly as if willing them to play it with his enthusiasm.

    “Fuck it,” Mina said with a sigh, “Bo-rap.”

    “NO!” Katasuki yelled, “I don’t need Kaminiari’s falsetto ever again! No!”

    “Izuku?” Kirhishima asked, “Bo-rap?”

    “Oh!” Izuku muttered distracted by their banter. He wasn’t prepared to be asked his opinion and was simply having fun watching them all interact, “Um sure! I mean… umm Bo-rap.”

    Katsuki literally growled at him and Izuku couldn’t help but jump out of his seat a little bit. He really wasn’t expecting that. The two of them locked eyes for a moment. Izuku was ready to apologize if he overstepped his bounds somehow. Katsuki’s angry red eyes narrowed as he considered Izuku for half a second before making his decision.

    “Fine,” Katsuki said, “Bo-rap. Bring it bitch!”

    Kirishima turned on the song which instantly began with vocals and everyone began singing along. Izuku was a little surprised to hear Katsuki singing along with the rest of the group. He had never really heard him sing before. Even when they played Rock songs, Katsuki would drum along or simply listen quietly. He never sang. Even when they were kids he refused unless required to by the school and even at the age of four, Katsuki would sing begrudgingly if forced to.

    Izuku was in awe hearing his Soulmate sing voluntarily and with soul. Everyone in the van seemed to have their parts already assigned to them. They all sang the group bits together. Katsuki had most of Freddy Mercury’s parts and Izuku couldn’t be happier to hear his crush and love of his life singing the lead vocals. He had a rough gravelly voice that melted Izuku. He was upset he hadn’t heard him sing before now and wondered if he could get Katsuki to do a repeat performance in front of Shouto. But cause damn, their boy could sing.

    Kaminari’s falsetto broke the spell of Izuku’s wonderment however. He was also not expecting to hear that Kaminari could actually hit those notes. Mina gave him the part of singing “Bishmilla” and other short back and forth parts so that he felt included and had short bits on his own without feeling the pressure of a solo. Overall, he couldn’t remember the last time he had had this much fun.

    Katsuki ended the song singing, “Nothing really matters, anyone can see. Nothing really matters to me.”

    Izuku couldn’t help but stare at him as he sang the ending softly and sweetly. Izuku hadn’t been aware that such sounds were able to come out of his mouth. It was beautiful and graceful. Two words that Izuku never thought he would use to describe Katsuki’s voice. He had had a crush on Kacchan for years and had fallen for his passion, commitment, strength, and his unshakable moral standing. He had known Katsuki Bakugou longer than he could remember. And yet, he never ceases to amaze and surprise him. Izuku felt as though he was falling for the angry blonde all over again. All of a sudden he was in middle school again staring up at Kacchan in awe by his skill and so in love he didn’t know what to do with himself. Only this time things were different. They weren’t enemies or rivals. They were Soulmates and Izuku could finally speak his mind without fear of rejection.

    “Kacchan!” Izuku said as the song ended, “That was amazing! Why haven’t I heard you sing before?”

    Katsuki blushed and Izuku’s heart did a cartwheel.

    “Awe! Is Bakugou being shy? You guys are so cute!” Mina teased.

    “Shut up!” Katsuki said, looking out the window to hide his red face.

    “But Kacchan! You’re really good! You should sing more.” Izuku said hoping Mina’s teasing wouldn’t put Katsuki into his default mood of threatening people.

    “We’re here!” Kirishima called out as he parked the van. Katsuki all but fell out of the car seemingly anxious to dodge Izuku’s praise. Izuku wasn’t exactly happy for the interruption, but he was content to drop the topic for now and climbed out of the van to stand next to Katsuki as they waited for everyone else to stumble out of the vehicle.

    “It’s about damn time!” Katsuki yelled at the others. He seemed tense next to Izuku who couldn’t help but wonder if it was due to Katsuki being new at the whole ‘Soulmates/dating’ thing. He wasn’t backing away, so it was a start.

    Still pumped up from listening to music, the six of them started the arduous hike uphill. Katsuki stayed in the rear for the most part to push the group to move faster and would shout, “Move it losers!” whenever anyone would start to slow down.  Kirishima took the lead as he was the only one in the group to have a map and knew the trails the best.

    Izuku had a camelbak that Katsuki had insisted he barrow and was content to soak up the scenery. They had picked an amazing place for the hike. They were walking through rolling grassy hills that dipped and sloped upward as the trail slowly wound through the hills, around, and gradually took them up higher. The grassy fields made it easy to see a long stretch out across the horizon and the higher they got, the more beautiful views they were rewarded with. The trail was a nice mix of flat ground and steep uphill climbs proving to be both challenging and relaxing. Izuku could see why the group made this a regular thing.

    The final stretch was a long steep uphill climb to the top of a tall hill. They took a water break at the base of the hill as they prepared for the more rigorous part of the trail. The break gave Izuku a chance to think over the day’s events as everyone was finally quite as they were catching their breath.

    It had been a whirlwind. This whole day, from waking up next to his Soulmates, to the awful argument, to making up, to watching his Soulmates make out, then the sudden interruption from Katsuki’s friends. He wished he had time to sit down with Shouto and Katsuki to make sense of it all. Izuku sighed as he took another drink of water from his pack and stared at Katsuki who was standing apart from the group looking out over the horizon with an unreadable expression on his face.

    Izuku’s breath was taken away by just how handsome and strong he looked drenched in sweat but standing tall and calmly looking out at the view. The backdrop of the rolling hills and bright blue sky added to the stunning picture. Izuku couldn’t help but stare at Katsuki’s strong muscular arms and back down to the curve of his hips and rock-solid thighs. The light workout clothes drenched in sweat clung to Katsuki’s form outlining him beautifully. Izuku was about to walk over to his Soulmate when Kirishima beat him to it. Izuku watched the two roommates curiously as Kirishima drew in Katsuki’s attention.

    He couldn’t hear what the two were talking about, but Katsuki grinned at Kirishima as they talked. Izuku was struck by how comfortable the two were with each other. He still couldn’t imagine Katsuki with a roommate. He was so independent in nature and while as children, Katsuki had always had crowds around him following him, he never had a close best friend. Izuku always figured Katsuki liked the attention he got from the kids that followed him around but was never really close with any of them. He also liked to think of himself as a bit of an expert on Katsuki as he had been studying him for years and he and Katsuki had been through hell and back together. So, it was weird seeing Kirishima as he seemed to break through all of Katsuki’s walls so easily. Thinking back to the conversation they had had at their apartment, Izuku remembered how the two seemed to be able to have a conversation without using words and wondered again about what Kirishima had been trying to ask Katsuki when he first discovered they were Soulmates.

    Kirishima startled Izuku from his thoughts as he turned to the group and said, “Hey! You guys want to play leapfrog?”

    “NO!” Mina said, “Last time we played that, I couldn’t feel my legs for weeks!”

    “Hey!” Sato said, “Midoryia hasn’t played yet. We could show him how it’s done!”

    “Leapfrog?” Izuku asked. He was certain that it was a child’s game that involved leaping over your teammates backs and was confused as to why they were talking about it.

    “Ooooo!” Kaminari said, “It would just be like old time with Bakubro and Midoriya both playing! That would be so cool!”

    “Oh no,” Mina whined, “it’s going to be so much worse than last time!”

    “What?” Izuku was still very confused.

    “Leapfrog is a game Bakugou and I made up.” Kirishima explained, “Basically, we split up into two teams. Each team takes turns running up the hill as fast as you can for 30 seconds. The idea is that when it’s your team's turn, you go farther than the team before you and ‘leap’ ahead of them. It’s a fun way to exercise.”

    “The problem is,” Mina said, “That you end up running faster than you want to in order to catch up to the other team.”

    “It sounds like a lot of fun,” Izuku said, trying to put himself in a good mood and shake off how he was a little jealous that Kirishima and Katsuki had gone so far as to make up new ways to exercise together. He really didn’t want to be jealous. They were Soulmates after all.

    They ended up splitting into two teams. Kaminari thought it would be fun to have Izuku and Katsuki both be team leaders since it would be reminiscent of how they were rivals back in Yuuei inspiring the group to work harder. So, Izuku, Kirishima, and Mina ended up on one team with Katsuki, Sato, and Kaminari on the other. 

    The rules were that you had to run in a group and sprint for 30 seconds. You could go as fast or slow as you wanted, but your whole team had to stay together, and no one was allowed to use Quirks. Izuku wasn’t exactly excited about racing with Katsuki at first. At first, he thought he was tired of always fighting against his Soulmate and that it would be nice for a change to be on the same team for once. Yet, all it took was one taunt from Katsuki daring him to be the best and daring him to try and beat him and Izuku was spurred on. The old fire ignited inside of him.

    Suddenly, it wasn’t about trying to beat Katsuki or race, it was about performing to the best of his abilities and encouraging one another to be better and to go farther than they ever thought they could. It was different from before because it wasn’t Katsuki and him going head to head, they each had two teammates they couldn’t leave behind. Katsuki couldn’t try to sprint the entirety of the long tall hill in 30 seconds ( not possible but it sounded like something Kacchan would do ), to beat Izuku. He had Sato and Kaminari on either side of him and they had to work together. The old Katsuki might have tried to leave his classmates in the dust, but these were his friends and he proudly spurred them on as they charged ahead.

    Each time Katsuki’s team charged forward, Izuku encouraged his team to charge just a little bit farther. Halfway up the hill, still neck-and-neck, the two teams were panted alongside each other, their legs on fire and their lungs screaming in pain. Still they forced themselves to ignore the pain, every muscle burning in protest as they ran further still. That last minute or so both teams broke the rules. They were breathing too hard and in too much pain to realize who’s turn it was anymore as they both charged forward united and screaming. The shouting was purposeless but functioned to give them renewed strength as they ran the rest of the way up the hill. As they reached the top they screamed in relief and joy. It truly felt like they were on top of the world as they were finally able to see the view. They were at the highest point and could see rolling hills as well as the city they had come from. 

    At the very end, Izuku wasn’t certain they would make it to the top, almost certain his lungs would give out and he’d worked hard enough to blackout before reaching the top. But they made it! Katsuki slugged an exhausted arm around Izuku sloppily swinging him to his side. Izuku nearly fell over, legs nearly giving out, as his side collided with Katsuki’s chest, both were grinning like fools. Katsuki’s arm fell away quickly as if the muscles in his arm had given out and he no longer had the strength to hold it up. Izuku pulled at his hair teasingly before his arm collapsed the same way. He was so happy.

    “Never” Mina huffed, “Again. No. More.”

    “Ahhhh,” Kaminari panted, “I can’t. Feel. Ma…ha..ha…legs.”

    Kirishima seemed to be trying to laugh but didn’t have the breath to accomplish this as he was panting so hard.

    “Do we,” Sato panted, “Really have. To go. Back down?”

    “I’m done!” Mina breathed, “Just leave me here.”

     They were all grinning from ear to ear as they complied.

    “Let’s play leapfrog,” Kaminari taunted quoting Kirishima from before, “Fuck you Kiri!”

     Mina laughed, but then instantly regretted it as she said, “No, don’t make me laugh. Can’t breathe.”

    Izuku hadn’t really heard Kaminari curse before, but it seemed fitting considering how much pain his entire body was in from the movement. That, and Kaminari said it with such heart that Izuku knew he meant it in a brotherly way.

    They were all quiet for a while as their bodies returned to them and they regained feeling other than pain. Izuku could feel he was going to be so incredibly sore tomorrow. He was not looking forward to waking up and feeling the damage he had done to his legs. But at least Kacchan would be feeling the same pain beside him and Shouto would make it all better. He loved his life so much right now. He could do anything and everything with the two of them by his side. He missed Shouto so badly all of a sudden and wished he was there with them to see the view.

    When his breathing evened out, he called out to Mina, “Hey, could you take a picture of Kacchan and I?” He held out his phone. If Shouto wasn’t going to be here, Izuku could at least send him a photo.

    “Sure!’ She said smiling but still slightly out of breath as she took the phone in hand.

    Katsuki looked confused as Izuku pulled him over to stand where they would have the best shot of the view.

    “I want to send him a picture, Kacchan,” Izuku explained. While Izuku still considered himself to be an expert when it comes to understanding Katsuki, he still wasn’t sure what to make of the stoic stares. Though he had to admit, this was probably the first time in their lives that Izuku had asked to take a picture with Katsuki. He was probably just overthinking things. Either way, he didn’t protest and stood next to Izuku for the photo.

    It was a little bit awkward, but Izuku didn’t care. They stood side by side, Izuku smiled, Katsuki didn’t look angry, and Mina took the shot. When she was done, Izuku turned to his Soulmate and said, “Thanks Kacchan!” and gave him a grateful peak on the lips.

    “YES!” Mina shouted, quickly jarring Izuku’s attention away from his love as he jumped and looked over at Mina who was staring at Izuku’s phone.

    “I got a picture of them kissing! I’m sending this to my phone right now!” Mina said and typed in a furry before Katsuki could snatch the phone away. He angrily dove for the phone but Mina had already clicked send and gave it up without a fight.

    “No way!” Kaminari said, “You now have proof that Katsuki has a heart!”

    Kirishima grinned and gave Izuku a thumb up which Izuku didn’t know how to take.

    “Fuck you guys!” Katsuki said tossing Izuku back his phone before walking off, “Rest times over. We’re hiking back down now.”

    “Awe, come on!” Sato complained as they all grumbled and gathered themselves up for the long haul back.

    Izuku was the last one to follow as he paused to look at his phone. Mina had really taken a nice photo and Izuku was breath taken by Katsuki’s expression in the photo. He seemed to melt into Izuku completely relaxed, eyes closed as he leaned into Izuku. It had been so quick since Izuku wasn’t sure how Katsuki felt about PDA, he didn’t want to upset him in front of his friends. Izuku hadn’t had time to really gauge Katsuki’s reaction. So, seeing the photo was amazing. He quickly sent the photo to Shouto with the caption: ‘miss you’ and jogged down the hill to meet up with the group.

Chapter Text

    Izuku’s head felt like an anvil and the only thing keeping him grounded was the sore pain in his legs as he struggled to stay awake on the couch while he waited for Katsuki to finish showering. He had not realized how exhausted he was until after Kirishima dropped them off at his apartment. The thrill of the hike and the exuberant energy from his friends were like a shot of espresso through his system keeping him pumped. The instant his back hit the couch cushion, however, his system began to shut down from exhaustion. It was as though his friends had formed a wall holding back the flood gates and now that the wall was removed all the waters started pouring in and Izuku was helpless to stop it. He really hated being this tired since he works out enough that one hike should not wipe him out like this. He must admit, emotionally, these past few days have been a lot which added to the fatigue. He found himself wondering how Katsuki was managing with the exhaustion and if his legs did not just turn to jelly and give out on him in the shower.  Kacchan in the shower. His mind drifts. He’s too tired for it to go anywhere unfortunately as his thoughts wander from Katsuki to slumber.

    The plan had been to let Katsuki shower first to be nice and make him feel at home in the apartment, take a shower himself afterwards so they would both be fresh when Shouto came back, and then help Katsuki prepare dinner. Unfortunately, his body had other plans and Izuku found himself waking up two hours later, still in sweaty stinky clothes, but oddly feeling a million times better. He needed that nap more than he realized.

    It took him less than a second to find Katsuki as the amazing smells from the kitchen as well as the loud rock music was a dead giveaway. Luckily, the back of the couch faced the open kitchen, So Izuku didn’t have to get up to see and communicate. Zero effort communication after a long nap was always the best. He sat up and hung his arm over the back of the couch, leaning over to get a good view of Katsuki at work and was about to ask if Shouto had come home yet or messaged them when he stopped. Katsuki was being far too interesting to interrupt him now.

    Katsuki was cutting up vegetables for a salad and taking breaks in between slices to bang on the counter using his fingers as drum sticks to band along to his music. He was playing the song “Pot” by Tool and singing the lines,

    “Soapbox house of cards and glass, so don’t go tossin’ your stones around

    You must have been high”

    Izuku couldn’t help but be captivated by watching Katsuki. He was always running off, blowing up things, and yelling something or other. He always pushed Izuku to be better and try harder. He was someone Izuku had always followed after and could never quite reach. Moreover, he had always kept Izuku at a distance, never letting him see Katsuki at- what he perceived to be- his weakest. Which meant hiding himself from everyone whenever he wasn’t training or fighting. It was as though he had been so caught up in presenting the persona of a Hero that he couldn’t allow anyone to see him doing anything else as if being caught doing everyday life things would break the spell of a perfect Hero. So, seeing Katsuki ‘in his natural habitat’ so to speak, going about his everyday life was really intriguing to Izuku.

    He couldn’t help but feel as though this was what he had always wanted and been missing his whole life. To have Katsuki like this, calm, relaxing in his house, and staying still for once. He couldn’t help but think that he finally had Katsuki right where he wanted him. It was surreal.

    Moreover, Katsuki’s deep gravelly voice was hypnotizing. The song continued,

    “Who are you to wave your finger?

    So full of it

    Eyeballs deep in muddy waters

    Fuckin' hypocrite

    Liar, lawyer, mirror, show me. What's the difference?

    Kangaroo done hung the guilty with the innocent”

    He put so much power, emphasis, and emotion in the song as he juggled between drumming and preparing food. He was so caught up in the song, he had failed to notice Izuku’s intent gaze. When he eventually looked up from his task and noticed Izuku, it startled him, and he jumped with a curse.

    “Fuck, Deku, how long have you been awake? Make some fucking noise next time nerd.”

    “Kaaaaaachan,” Izuku was way too relaxed and happy to be speaking like an adult.

    “What?” Katsuki yelled, turning his back to Izuku to face the kitchen counter and angrily fix dinner. Izuku had no idea where he got all the ingredients from and assumed Katsuki must have walked down to the grocer to pick up what they needed. If so, Kacchan was an angel and definitely deserved a rest after all this was over.

    “You heard from Shouto?” Izuku asked as he pushed off the couch and staggered over to wrap his arms around Katsuki’s waist from the back. If Katsuki wasn’t going to face him, he’d work with it.

    “Get off! You stink. Go take a shower,” Katsuki grumbled.

     “Why isn’t Shouto here yet?” Izuku asked, putting his arms down but nuzzling Katsuki’s back with his head instead. He was maybe a little addicted to touching Katsuki now that he knew he could without fear of being blown to bits. Plus, Katsuki was adorable and hot as hell.

    “Got caught up at work, should be here soon. So, hurry up! You smell like roadkill had a baby.”

    “Kaaaaaachan,” Izuku whined. He really wanted to sneak a hand under Katsuki’s shirt but refrained due to how adamant Katsuki had been about consent and warning him about stuff. They really needed to sit down and talk about what that meant and what the rules were. Maybe grabbing Katsuki from behind a second ago had violated that rule? But Kaccahn seemed fine with it, so maybe not?

    “What!?!” Katsuki yelled spinning around so they were face to face.

    “I want a kiss first.” Sure, he was acting a bit childish and playing coy, but he figured being more forward might scare Katsuki, so he was really hoping the childishness might lighten the mood a bit and loosen Kacchan up.

    “I told you and the fucking ice princess, you don’t have to ask every damn time,” Katsuki tried to yell but it came out more nervous than angry.

    Izuku hummed in response and tugged at either side of Katsuki’s shirt playfully pulling fabric away and then back down as he eyed those tempting lips before asking, “What about when I grabbed you from behind?”

    Katsuki growled and leaned backwards so he was pressed against the kitchen counter and as far away from Izuku as he could be before responding with an ebbing brave font, “It’s fine. Just not… just ask before doing anything… sexual like taking clothes off or um directly below the belt.”

    He was so cute copping out of saying crotch or something more lewd by using a wrestling term like that and turning a little red. There was something oddly empowering about the role reversal they were experiencing. All of a sudden Izuku was the confident and sure one while Katsuki was stumbling for words trying to keep up. Izuku wanted to eat him alive both now and then again when Shouto showed up. He had had a crush on Katsuki for the longest time, so now that he knew he could have this instead of suppressing the urges, it was like the flood gates were open. He was not normally this horny, but with the hot fiery tempered blonde? Damn. He settled for leaning forward and capturing his lips.

    Katsuki melted into the kiss awkwardly moving tentative arms up to grab Izuku’s waist as their bodies came closer and collided into each other. Izuku stopped himself from deepening the kiss and pulled away. While he could kiss those lips forever, Kacchan was right, he really did need a shower before Shouto came back. However, he lingered to stare into Katsuki’s eyes and soak in his visage. He reached up and ran fingers though his lover’s hair longingly.

    “Shower!” Katsuki growled.

    Izuku let out a frustrated noise before walking off to the shower. It dawned on him once he was alone and Katsuki’s distracting body was out of sight that all three of them were about to be together again. Only this time it wouldn’t just be “lover’s united” hooplah, they actually had to talk about serious relationship logistics, resolve the conversation that was interrupted before, and make plans for moving forward.

    All that cocky confidence he displayed a second ago with Katsuki faded away and he returned to his normal overly analytical self, the role reversal had ended. Why had they even gone and talked to their parents first to begin with? Why hadn’t they had more conversations and figured out what they were doing first? What the hell were they doing? Whatever they were doing, all of Kacchan’s friends knew about it now. His friends didn’t know about it though. Oh, Dear All Might! He hadn’t told any of his friends he had two Soulmates!

    Iida and Uraraka were going to kill him if they ever found out that the Bakusquad learned about the Soulmates thing before they did. What was he even going to tell them when he told them? Was he going to tell them that the three of them were planning on becoming bonded soon? We’re they still planning on being Bonded? That wasn’t happening tonight was it!??! No, no they definitely were not there yet. And if they did Bond, that opens up a whole new can of worms.

    First off, they would be crazy to bond right now. Izuku wasn’t even sure how bonding with three people would work. Does that mean they would have to make two marks? Each person receiving one mark from each Soulmate? How much does the order matter there?  He had no real way of knowing.

    Second of all, the next few days after the Bond is formed can be tricky and takes getting used to. They might have to take a day or two off of work for that. And they’d have to move in together. Staying at Izuku’s made sense for right now because his apartment was the most conveniently located and without roommates, like Kirishima. On the other hand, Shouto’s apartment was nicer. Maybe they should move in there even though the commute to work would be longer for him and Kacchan?

     Where does Kacchan even work? They really shouldn’t be Bonding if they didn’t even know the most basic things about each other. Izuku was also certain Katsuki and Shouto had never been alone together outside of their High School Field-Assignments and that was ages ago. Come to think of it, Izuku had not the faintest idea what Katsuki and Shouto being alone together would even look like. The two of them really should be comfortable being alone together prior to fusing their Souls together. This whole Soulmate thing was a mess.

    Izuku walked out of the shower a mangled bundle of nerves having pulled more cats out of the bag than he knew what to do with. He was extremely grateful that he didn’t have to figure any of this out by himself and would have the two most amazing men he had ever known helping him. This whole Soulmate thing might be a mess, but he was blessed to have such a curse thrust upon him. He was confident everything would work itself out because he loved them both equally. Katsuki, his dream crush and Shouto, by loving him Izuku found out what it really means to love someone.

    Speaking of his Soulmates, Izuku could hear shouting coming from the kitchen and the music was off so that could only mean that Shouto was home. He walked into the living room praying that Katsuki wasn’t truly angry again.

Chapter Text

    Izuku walked into the living room where he saw Shouto standing in the front entryway of the apartment still carrying a briefcase from work. He had taken off his shoes and jacket already, but had clearly just walked inside the room and was visibly fatigued. His shoulders sagged and he was pinching his nose as if to still a raging migraine. 

    Katsuki was yelling at him from the dinning room where he stood by the table having already set steaming-hot plates of food for the three of them. Katsuki visage screamed that he was ready for a fight, shoulders tense, legs in a centered fight stance, and his arms in fists slightly bent at his sides as if tensing up to throw a punch. “I don't care if you’re tired!” he yelled, but before he finished whatever angry speech he was revved up for, his eyes found Izuku and he visibly relaxed, switched tracks and demanded of Izuku, “Tell him he’s eating with us.”

     Izuku sighed in relief that they were just arguing about food and not something serious. He walked over to greet Shouto with a hug, which Shouto melted into as if he was ready for Izuku to just take all his weight off him for at least a few seconds.

    “Welcome home!” Izuku said, “What’s going on?”

    “I was trying to apologize.” Shouto said, “I’m tired, I don’t have much of an appetite, and all I really want is to sit down and rest for a little bit.”

    “He has to eat something!” Katsuki said, “Your a Hero, you have an obligation to take care of yourself and eat some goddamn food, or else you’re useless and can’t save anyone cause you’ll fucking pass out on the job.”

    “Do not insinuate that I am ignorant about how to be a good Hero,” Shouto said.

    Izuku could see this was going nowhere fast. This was the problem of having two very intelligent, highly stubborn, strong minded, Soulmates. He loved them to death, but not everything needed to be a battle and they really needed to work on casual communication. Maybe he could convince them to practice small talk, something simple that didn’t escalate to conflicts, or on how to uphold our moral duty as Heroes in everyday life?

    “Well,” Izuku interrupted looking at Shouto and slightly shielding him from Katsuki’s line of sight with his body, “You can at least sit down at the table with us and if you feel up to it, take a few bits. Here, let me take your bag.”

    Izuku quickly and gently snatched the briefcase from him before Shoto could protest and ushered him to sit down. Shouto, though initially reluctant and eyed Katsuki scrupulously, practically collapsed in the dining room chair. The two of them arguing wasn’t the worst sign. At least they were not pretending to like each other anymore and were being very open about negative emotions. Izuku kissed Shouto’s head and, before he left the room, gave Katsuki a look to see if he was going to fight or let it be. Katsuki grunted and huffed, but sat down at the head of the table, in the chair directly to Shouto’s left with his arms crossed.

    Izuku hopped off to carefully set Shouto’s case down in his bedroom real quick. He paused in his room for a moment before heading back to take a deep breath. He told himself this was going to be okay, they probably weren’t going to talk about their relationship and hash out all the details right this instant, but they could still have a nice meal together. He really hoped they didn’t argue again. There had been so much arguing already, a lot of it had been productive, but Izuku really did not want to play referee for his Soulmates all night. He would do it if he had to, but maybe they could just sit down and happily eat the food Katsuki made for them.

    “So,” Izuku said when he re-entered the room, as he sat down across from Shouto at the table, “How was work?” he was convinced that starting light with a little bit of small take would be really good for them.

    Katsuki, who had waited for Izuku to come back, started eating. It was weird spending so much time with Katsuki as an adult and realizing that he has two main states of being he alters between: stoically quiet and insanely argumentatively angry. But at least this meant he was going to not rehash an argument with Shouto.

    “It was a mess,” Shoto answered, “My father was only supposed to be gone for a few days helping out another district to capture a problematic Villain. But he needs jurisdiction to work in that area and they are claiming they never received the paperwork we sent in to obtain the authority to do Hero Work there. So, he’s been gone several days, unable to do anything but try and work out the legal mess. I’ve been basically acting as the head of the Agency since his normal CEO quit on us suddenly. Even though I’m acting as the head of the company in my father’s absence, I am not technically anyone’s boss and do not have an official title at the company. So there is a lot of chaos between the different departments over who is going to take over as CEO. There are a lot of complicated interpersonal problems going on and none of the issues are going to get worked out overnight.”

    “Wait,” Izuku said, “What do you mean you don’t have an official title at the company? Aren’t you a Hero for The Endeavor Agency?” He was genuinely curious as he just figured Shouto was working at his father’s agency out on patrol doing Hero Work. But this sounded more like insanely complicated office stuff.

    “Not officially,” Shouto said, “After we graduated, I had some qualms about joining my father’s agency on a permanent basis. So, initially, I started on as a Contract-work Hero. Meaning I’m not officially employed there and work alongside the agency as an independent contractor. Which allowed me to work for several different agencies if I wanted to while considering my final decision of permanent employment. But lately, my father has needed a lot of help on the more corporate office side of things. I haven’t been doing much Hero Work in favor of helping the company.”

    “That sounds really difficult!” Izuku said, “And we really weren’t trained or prepared in school for that sort of work. So a lot of your day is most liking learning on the job as you work. And working with so many different Heroes, as well as the office and legal side of things must be super complicated. You’d have to juggle between a lot of different things in order to accomplish anything.”

    Izuku was shocked out of his train of thought when Katsuki kicked him slightly under the table.

    “He’s tired,” Katsuki growled, “Quit mumbling.” then he added to Shouto, “It won’t fucking kill you to try it.”

    Shouto paused to stare down at his untouched food. Izuku muttered an apology for rambling while Shouto picked up a small bite. Shouto’s eyes closed as he took a bite and he immediately went back for more stating, “This is really good.”

    “Oh!” Izuku said, “That’s right. Thank you for cooking us food, Kacchan! It’s really good.”

    “Well, someone had to do it,” Katsuki brushed off the compliment like it was no big deal. Kacchan never really took compliments, he just sort of absorbed them, as he was used to being praised since they were kids. They never really did much of anything for him since even the highest of praise never met up to Katsuki’s impossible standard for himself. Izuku still didn’t understand how compliments could puff up his pride so much while doing absolutely nothing for his ego and self-esteem. Oh well, Izuku was just going to learn how to express his gratitude in other ways if words of affirmation had no effect on Katsuki.

    Dinner was a bit awkward after that. Shouto was too tired to be much of a conversationalist, Katsuki never said anything unless he had something highly valuable to say, so Izuku was stuck in his own head for the most part. Freaking out over how complicated this whole soulmate situation was. There were so many things he didn’t know right now, including where to start. They were Soulmates that was clear, but other than that what were they? Were they dating? Were they boyfriends? They really needed to work on their communication, that was clear, but what else were they doing?

    Shouto managed to eat everything on the plate, courtesy of how delicious Katsuki’s cooking was, but they remained mostly quiet until after dinner when it dawned on Izuku to ask, “Wait, what are we doing tomorrow? It’s a work day right? Do you both have work?”

    “I’m basically working in the office everyday this week until either this mess gets sorted out or father comes home,” Shouto said.

    “I guess this is a good time to mention this,” Katsuki said, “I’m currently unemployed.”

    “What!?!” Shouto and Izuku both said simultaneously in shock. Katsuki had graduated valedictorian at their school and was one of the more promising Heroes with an insane work ethic. There was no way for ‘unemployment’ to compute in Izuku’s head.

    Katsuki groaned and moved to start clearing the table. It looked like he needed something to do with his hands while he explained this, “So, I was working at Best Jeanist’s Hero Agency. They had assigned me to work as a Team with this total idiot and a few other Pros. When I ‘idiot’ I mean it, the moron they choose to lead and no idea how to prioritize recovery of victims from a disaster zone. He was putting lives at risk and I wasn’t about to follow orders when I can save people. Downside was he’d been at the Agency for ages and started spreading rumors about me. Everyone believed that I was basically a reprobate and impossible to work with. It got so bad Best Jeanist couldn’t do anything about it to calm down the rumors and had to suspend me on a semi-permanent basis.”

    “That’s insane! You can’t get fired because of another Hero’s poor leadership skills. It doesn’t sound like you did anything, ” Izuku said, shocked.

    “Did you talk to your Squad Leader about the rumors and his leadership?” Shouto asked.

    “Of course I talked to him! When he wouldn’t listen, I even turned in a report showing why I couldn’t follow orders given the situation. I did everything we were taught to do, but the bastard was set on protecting his own reputation by ruining mine.”

    “I thought you had a really good relationship with Best Jeanist from our internship back when we were in school. He couldn’t help you work out a solution?” Shouto suggested.

    “That’s awful, Kacchan! A Pro Hero and a Squad Leader shouldn’t behave like that.” Izuku was stunned.

    “He did what he could. That’s why on paper I’m ‘temporarily suspended’ instead of fired since it looks better on a resume. But he can’t have a scandal at the Agency with everything that’s going on in society right now so he advised me to lie low and not work as a Hero for a bit while things die down.”

    It was true, in the aftermath of the League of Villains, there were a lot of questions up in the air about what society thinks of Heroes. There had even been talks that they shouldn’t use the word “Hero” as it over-glorified the job position and created a pedestal that Heroes can abuse. People have been saying that Pro Heroes shouldn’t have costumes, but uniforms like firefighters and Police Officers. That they shouldn’t be celebrities and that the whole Popularity Poll of the Top Heroes versus what it means to be the Number One Hero became convoluted over-glorification. They said it praises people with certain desirable Quirks and has inadvertently caused problems where, if you have a less than desirable Quirk or were Quirkless, you are persecuted in society. They say the “Glorification of Heroes” has created a society where you are judged and valued solely by the strength of your Quirk. People are now coming forward with studies that have shown that people who are quirkless or have odd Quirks that are viewed as “Villain Quirks” or simply have a weak Quirk are more likely to experience bullying, violence, have difficulties finding employment, and so on.

    Essentially, Heroes are a heated topic of debate currently and there are complex social norms that are being challenged right now. But nothing was currently being done about it and Izuku, being viewed as the possible next Symbol of Peace had not faced any of the workplace hardships himself. So, he was a bit shocked to hear that his Soulmate was experiencing them. But it was true, with society in its current state, it was difficult for someone like Katsuki who was viewed as a hot-headed Hero to find work as most agencies couldn't afford a scandal. Any small rumor was too likely to get blown up in the media.

    “I’m really sorry to hear that, Katsuki,” Shouto said, getting up from the table to stand by Katsuki in the kitchen who was now furiously washing dishes as a distraction from the conversation. 

    Izuku moved to the kitchen to join them and hopped up on the kitchen counter beside Shouto. He would have helped Katsuki, but he had done such a good job keeping the kitchen cleaned as he had worked, that there were not really anything to clean other than the plates and forks they had just used. So, he sat on the counter in favor of letting Katsuki do his thing and asked, “What do you do now?”

    Katsuki shrugged as he started to dry and put away dishes, “Mina’s parent’s own a restaurant so I help out there just to pay rent. I do a lot of volunteer work.”

    “But it’s now Hero Work,” Izuku said sadly, volunteer work was nice to help ‘save’ the community, but it wasn’t the same thing, “Do your parents know?” He couldn’t imagine how furious Mitsuki would be if she knew all the bullshit that lost her son his dream job.

    “Of course they fucking know,” Katsuki said, suddenly tense which led Izuku to believe that conversation with his mother had gone over just as well as he had imagined it would. 

    Then it dawned on him. “Oh!” Izuku said with a start, “That’s what your mom meant when she said that thing about your personality and getting ‘a real job’.”

    “Ouch,” Shouto said, recalling the conversation from before. It had seemed odd at the time, but now Izuku recognized it for the low blow it actually was, a little shocked, as always, at how heartlessly blunt Mitsuki can be.

     At this point Katsuki had finished doing the dishes and they were all in a circle talking with Izuku still perched on the counter, Katsuki leaning on the wall opposite him, and Shouto standing directly beside them.

     “She’s not exactly happy I don’t have a job right now, but it’s fine. What about you? What do you do now?” Katsuki asked most likely out of the urge to change the subject rather than actual curiosity.

     “Um,” Izuku said, tempted to bring up Katsuki’s odd family dynamic, but deciding better of it, “I work three twelve-hour dead-shifts Tuesday through Friday and am off the rest of the week.” Dead-shifts meant he worked from 7pm until 7am. It was a brutal four days, but it meant he was off for three days and the most exciting Hero Work happened late at night. He wanted to work more, but legally, he was only allowed to work a certain number of hours without going overtime and agencies don’t like Heroes working overtime because it led to burnout really quickly.

     “Are you working at the restaurant tomorrow?”

     Katsuki nodded, “From 2pm till 11pm. I basically fill-in when they need a chef, so my shift changes from week to week. I don’t have a set schedule.” Then he looked at Shoto who was the last to give out a schedule.

      “I will probably head into the office around 9am and be there until 7 or 8? Sometimes later depending on how bad it is.”

     “All our schedules are so different, we probably need to get a board to put on the wall with all this information on, especially if Kacchan's schedule is going to change so much. Oh! What am I saying? Um, that is if you guys want to do that. We haven’t really talked about what we are doing and I just assumed that we’d want to know what everyone's schedules are because if we are going to be Soulbound it might be helpful to know when we can actually spend time together, but I didn’t mean to assume anything and we haven’t really talked about whether or not we are going to Soulbond and when and what we are now other than soulmates and I don’t know if we are dating or boyfriends or what and I know it’s too soon to be asking to move in together but I figured that would be convenient since we…”

     “We can get a board with our schedules on it,” Shouto said, interrupting Izuku’s outward brainstorming.

     “I don’t mind moving out of Kirishima’s” Katsuki said, “Idiot snores stupid loud anyway.”

     As a complete change of tracks from the heartwarming moment that was starting to happen between them Shouto said, “Are you two dating?”

     “Uh?” Katsuki said with a vacant expression on his face as if he had no idea what Shouto was talking about.

     “Were you and Kirishima dating? Because you live together, you are very close, Kirishima seemed a bit odd when we announced we were Soulmates, and he left a note in your room saying he loves you. It’s not a problem, I’m just curious.”

    “The fuck?” Katsuki said, clearly still confused and looked to Izuku for some sanity.

     “I was actually wondering the same thing,” Izuku confessed his own concerns. He might not have agreed with Shouto’s timing, but he couldn’t admit he wasn’t curious now that it was out there.

     “You think i’d have anything to do with the two of you if I was dating someone else?!?!” Katsuki was getting aggravated at this point and Izuku knew if they didn’t choose their words wisely this might turn into another fight.

     “Well, we don’t mean dating as in boyfriends or anything, but you two are really close, so we’re just curious if there was ever anything more there at all at any point in all the time you’ve known each other.” Izuku explained.

    Shouto nodded, “For all we know, something was leaning towards that with you two which wouldn’t have been your fault since you didn’t know we were your soulmates until a few days ago.”

     “No!” Katsuki said, shocked, “No way! Fuck no! Kirishima is a friend. That’s it.”

    “Okay, I believe you, Kacchan. You don’t have to be defensive. It’s okay,” Izuku said, slipping off the counter to tug at Katsuki’s shirt playfully.

    Katsuki looked at him and then at Shouto, saw whatever he needed from their facial expressions, calmed down and said, “We done here?”

    Shouto sighed and said, “I think we would probably move to the living room and talk about a few things. Izuku brought up a few good points and it doesn’t sound like we will have time tomorrow to talk about anything.”

Chapter Text

     Moving to sit down in the living room was slightly more awkward than Izuku anticipated as the small couch he owned only comfortably fit two people. He and Shouto ended up on the couch and Katsuki sat cross legged on the floor in front of them, adamant that he preferred to look at people’s faces when conversing. 

     Izuku hardly could understand this as Katsuki did not seem to ever pay much attention to facial expressions or have any kind of talent for reading faces. That made Izuku wonder if Katsuki simply preferred to glare at people and stare them down by intense eye contact which seemed entirely inappropriate for this conversation. But, neither he nor Shouto felt up to challenging Katsuki on the matter, or trying to puzzle piece work all three of them on the small couch, so they went with it.

     Izuku angled himself sideways on the couch with one knee tucked into the back cushions so that he was facing Shouto slightly forming a circle. Angling himself facing forward meant it felt slightly less like they were cuddled on the couch together while Katsuki was on the sidelines and more like they were all conversing. Shouto, did not, however, follow suit and sat properly upright on the couch with his hands relaxed on his knees.

      “So,” Katsuki started them off, always one to break the ice, “The fuck to we need to talk about?”

    “Well,” Izuku did not waste a beat to open up his slew of questions and said in a single breath, “I mean I know what we are Soulmates, but what are we? Are we dating? Are we boyfriends? Are we official as in telling our friends? Are we going to Soulbond? If so, when? Also, are we moving in together and if so, who’s place and when is that going to happen? And”

    “Okay!” Katsuki interrupted, “I get the point already.”

    “I think the biggest question is what we are to each other and the Soulbond.” Shouto said.

     “Boyfriends is a stupid word, we’re Soulmates, and you should keep your damn trap shut about it until after we are Bonded except for our parents and the idiots that already know.” Katsuki stated.

     “That’s probably the best course of action.” Shouto agreed and then turned to Izuku for confirmation he was on the same page.

     Izuku was super excited that Katsuki and Shouto came to agreement so quickly on something without his having to intervene, but he was still rather lost. While prioritizing their conversation was helpful, there were still so many unknown variables and so much uncertainty with their so-called “destiny” as partners.

    So, Izuku nodded in agreement, silently lamenting not being able to tell his close friends such as Iida, Uraraka, and Mei until after the three of them were officially as good as married by the Bond. They were going to kill him for not telling them sooner, but it really couldn’t be helped. While he was jealous that Katsuki’s friends knew, he could not come up with a good argument for spreading the word any more than it had already been spread. Then added, “But when are we going to Bond?”

    “Now,” Katasuki stated.

    “No!!!” Izuku said while Shouto simultaneously muttered, “Absolutely not! Katsuki, you and I both have work tomorrow!”

     “So?” Katsuki said nonchalantly with a stiff shrug.

     “What do you actually know about Soulbonding?” Shouto asked. Izuku could tell he was trying hard not to sound condescending even though it came across that way. It was just startling that Katsuki would suggest Soulbonding now. Izuku’s face was a little be red at the thought of them just having sex right this moment.

    “What’s there to know? You mark each other, you get a power boost, your Souls are bonded together forever and all that happily ever bullshit.”

    “But you do know how we make the Mark, right?” Izuku asked, trying to emphasize certain words and slur certain parts of that statement to sound as suggestive as possible without freaking out his virgin Soulmate. He was confused as to why Katsuki didn’t seem to know anything about Soulmates or have an interest in knowing. While Izuku wasn’t exactly an expert on Soulmates, he had been extremely fascinated by the topic and had done his best to learn the basics.

    “Isn’t it?” Katsuki started to say, but then suddenly realized he did not even have a plausible response to that question. He huffed then glared at them for the answer. He looked frustrated as he never cared much for not knowing something.

    “We have to bite each other during intercourse.” Shouto put it so much more bluntly than Izuku was ready to explain.

    “The fuck? Seriously?” Katsuk said and when neither of them retracted the statement as a joke added with waning confidence, “Okay, but it’s…I don’t see what the big deal is.”

     “You do realize that Soulbonding doesn’t just bind our Souls together right? There is much more to it than that.”

    “Yeah Kacchan,” Izuku said, “It will literally change everything. I think I read that it can change how your Quirk works, even give you a new application to your Quirk so that it matches your Soulmate better. A Soulbond can manifest in all sorts of different ways like you can end up with the ability to telepathically communicate with your Soulmates.”

    “What?” Katsuki looked confused.

    “It’s true.” Shouto said, “Essentially, binding your Soul with another person links your beings together to the point where many people feel as though they share one being and are no longer separate individuals. This process can be overwhelming at first. Creating a Soulmark is far more complicated than just biting each other, there has to be an order to it. The first one to create the Mark will have the most control over the Bond. Moreover, once the Bond has been made, it is common to feel sensory overload as your being is being combined with that of another’s. Most people report feeling euphoric high, feeling sick, and being unable to function for days afterwards as the body adjusts.”

    Talking about Soulbonding was starting to make Izuku a little bit nervous, so he took to pulling and tugging at the bottom hem of Shouto’s shirt as he talked. Fidgeting was a bad habit Izuku had while thinking deeply about something and fidgeting with something of his Soulmates was just comforting.

    “Okay,” Katsuki said, seeming to be stuck contemplating all the information he had just received, starting to stare at Izuku’s hands as they played with the fabric of Shouto’s shirt. He had a very confused look on his face which Izuku did not know whether to contribute to his actions or the conversation.

    “Wait,” Izuku said stilling his movements, “How is creating a Bond going to work with three people though? I know with two people it’s easy, they just have sex and one person makes the bite and the other seals the Bond with a bite of their own. But with three people how does that work? Does the order even matter?”

    “Order definitely matters. And we’d have to be very careful on how we go about it. If two of us both make marks and seal the Bond it will create a two-way Bond and those two will be so caught up in the changes that occur with their beings being united that they won’t even remember the third person.”

    “Really!?!” Izuku said, He hadn’t even thought about that. The Bond can be disorienting; he did know that, but he couldn’t imagine being so high off his rocker that he forgot about this other Soulmate.

    “The fuck!?” Katsuki said but didn’t rant any further, still stuck on taking in all this information.

    “Yes,” Shouto said, “We’ll have to create three open Bonds and then seal them in the correct order. How do I explain this? Well, the first person to make a Mark will be the one with the most control over the Bond. The first person Marked must be the one with the second most powerful influence over the Bond. Then the first person will have to bite the third Soulmate. This will make two open Bonds between the first person, with the most control, and the two others. This way three open Bonds are made and we establish someone with a lot of control so that once a Bond is sealed that one person has enough power to keep the others focused. Then we’d have to have the second person open a Bond with the third. Then we’d have to be pretty fast about sealing the Bonds.”

    “The fuck,” Katsuki hissed, “are you on about?” His eyes had narrowed in concentration throughout the speech as if trying to follow, but soon had become disoriented and widened as he gave up on trying to understand. Izuku had gotten the gist of what Shouto was saying, but also could not quite fully interpret it. Essentially, he was less lost than Katsuki.

    “It’s confusing with three people, sorry I don’t have a good way of explaining it.” Shouto said.

    “Wait so we’d have to establish a line of control over the Bond?” Izuku said.

    “Yes essentially.”

    “I vote Shouto be the one with the most control and me with the least cause I don’t fucking understand any of this shit.”

    “Do you know what being the one with the least control implies Katsuki?” Shouto asked.

    “No, what difference does it make?”

    “It’s permanently putting yourself with the least amount of control and influence over the relationship.”

     “You saying I’d be the bitch or something, Half-n Half Freak?”

    “Not exactly,” Shouto said.

    “The fuck!” Katsuki shot up, “the hell with this, ‘not exactly crap.’ I definitely would be, wouldn’t I!?!?”

    “It’s not like that Kacchan!” Izuku said. He honestly didn’t know for the life of him what it would be like and how to explain any of these, but he really didn’t want Kacchan freaking out.

     “Essentially, the person with the most control is viewed as the most dominant one in the relationship. ‘Bitch’ isn’t a nice term, but if you have the least control over the Bond, you would not be a dominant person regarding how our relationship plays out.”

    “The fuck does that mean?”

    “I don’t know. There really isn’t a way to definitively say what it would imply for our relationship.” Shouto said.

    “This shit is weird.” Katsuki grumbled as he sat back down crossing both his legs and arms in a fixated scowl.

    He was quiet for a while, thinking things over. This gave Izuku a chance to breathe for a second and pool his own thoughts together. He sighed and put his head back to rest on the back of the couch, this really was complicated and strange. It was so much easier with two people. Juggling between three people was hard.

    “Maybe it’s a good thing there is one person with more control,” Izuku muttered more to himself than the others as he looked up at the ceiling, “A relationship with the three of us is complicated without adding a Soulbond. With a Soulbond, we probably will need someone with control adding order to all this.”

    “That’s really the idea behind it anyway. To create order.” Shouto said and Izuku dropped his head from the couch to look at his face.

    “So, it’s not some weird freaky sex thing?” Katsuki asked.

    “Well, not unless you consider threesome a "weird sex thing",” Shouto said.

    “That’s true,” Izuku said. None of this is in the realm of normal relationships. Izuku kind of felt like he was drifting out to Sea and unsure of his surroundings. Relationships were tricky enough when they weren’t thrusted upon you by destiny and involving three people.

    “My point still stands. Shouto should have the most since he gets this shit. I’ll be the fucking bitch since I hate this fucking relationship shit anyways.” Katsuki said.

    Izuku was shocked. He’d never once in his entire life not seen Katsuki fight for dominance on something. He’d once seen Katsuki bite another kid over a dried-up glue stick because he wanted to be the one to throw it away. Granted they had been four years old and Izuku only remembers it because he had bitten down hard enough to draw blood which to a four-year-old was pretty scary, but still.

    “Wait, you’re serious about this?” Shouto asked.

    “Of course, I’m fucking serious!” Katsuki said.

    “Somehow I do not think you understand the gravity of the situation. This would be life altering, permanent, and it is not something you just rush into and decide on suddenly.” Shouto remarked.

    Katsuki was about to retort back but Izuku quickly intercepted by raising his hand between the two of them. 

    “Oh! Um I should explain.” He then turned his full body to Shouto and said, “Or I guess translate? Kacchan comes across as irrational and impulsive, but actually he always thinks everything through. You know how I have to analyze everything and mull over every possible variable in a situation? Kacchan does that too, only he doesn’t mull it over like I do, he assesses them and then quickly comes to a decisive conclusion. Oh, and he doesn’t ever second guess that conclusion. So, when he says, ‘we should Soulbond,’ it’s not impulsive, it’s something he’s thought through and confidently decided on the best course of actions.”

    “The fuck is you translating for?” Katsuki said, “I said what I meant, and I said it clearly, Nerd.”

    “I know, Kacchan!” Izuku said, turning to face both of them, “It’s just sometimes you are super intense and come off the wrong way.”

    “So, you really think we should Soulbond? Why are you so confident in that decision?”

    “We’re better and stronger together. I don’t have to be a fucking genius to know that. I’m not stupid. I know what I want. And any downsides to bonding we can work out later.”

    “And you want us? And your certain that this is a permanent kind of want?” Shouto pried.

    Katsuki looked Shouto dead in the eyes and said with absolute certainty and a firmness in his eyes, “Yes.” They held that look for a moment before Shouto turned to Izuku and asked him the same question. Izuku didn’t skip a beat and answered before Shouto even finished the question in the affirmative. Shouto sighed and leaned sideways so that he was resting on Izuku’s chest. Izuky was still facing sideways on the couch, leaned backwards with his back to the arm rest so he could more comfortably support their weight and wrapped his arms around Shouto’s waist.

     “My father should be back in a few days,” Shouto said, “I can ask for several days off work when he comes back. It won’t look weird since I’ve earned it at this point. So, I won’t have to explain anything to anyone. If you both can get time off too, we can do this. In the meantime, I suggest, if no one complains, we all move into my place. It’s slightly nicer, plus I won’t really have time to move between now and then and it makes things easier.”

    “Deal,” Katsuki said, “I’ll tell Mina’s folks not to schedule me for a while after tomorrow.”

    “I can start packing all my things tomorrow since I don’t have work. And then I can ask for a few days off or just trade shifts with people.” Izuku said as he racked one of his hands through Shouto’s hair.

    They were quiet for a while. The pause in conversation was nice so anyone could think up any questions they had or concerns. But none came up. After a while Izuku said, “Wow. We’re really doing this. This is happening.”

    Katsuki face lite in a devilish grin as he said, “Fuck yeah it is! Like I’m letting either of you fucktards going anywhere. You’re my Soulmates!”

    Shouto grinned back at him and said, “I’m still worried about a few things and if we are making the right decision, but I like the sound of that.” He reached a hand out to Katsuki, silently asking for him to help pull Shouto off the couch. Katsuki stood up and firmly grasped his arm, smoothly pulled him off the couch and away from Izuku’s arms. Izuku groaned because he had been so comfortable just then and now he has to get up too.

    “Hey!” Katsuki said as he was still griping Shouto’s arm once they were both standing, “I might be the ‘bitch’ in the relationship but we all know who really gets shit done! For the record, this is all my idea!”

    Shouto chuckled under his breath and peaked the side of Katsuki’s mouth affectionately before turning to leave the living room stating, “Let’s go to bed” with a tired huff.

    “Sure thing, control freak!” Katsuki called after him following him out the living room, he paused on his way out to turn to Izuku still on the couch and said, “Let’s go, nerd.”

    Izuku reluctantly rolled off the couch and followed his Soulmates to the bedroom. It felt nice to be doing something as mundane as a nighttime routine of brushing teeth and the works alongside the men he had just planned a date to Bond Souls with. Even fighting over counter space in the bathroom was amazing, knowing that they were going to be doing this same song and dance as a married couple soon.

    It was the simple things like this that really touched Izuku’s heart. Like Katsuki’s arrogance and how it was steeped into everything he did and seeing how that played along with Shouto’s calming nature.

    For example, Katsuki had teased Shouto, stating and nagging about how the man “always wants to kiss” even though they had literally just started dating and that was hardly true. But Katsuki arrogantly stated it as a fact and teased Shouto by asking if he still wanted a kiss while Katsuki was brushing his teeth and practically foaming at the mouth with toothpaste. Seeing Shouto unravel and break his normal stoic façade to literally smack Katsuki’s ass and demand he go back in the bathroom to finish brushing was just amazing.

    The house was filled with noise and Izuku loved being surrounded by them. He loved the awkward shuffle crawling into bed as they all tried to fit in the too-small bed. He loved that his Kacchan was comfortable with them enough to allow them to cuddle a little bit once they were settled in. He loved breathing and hearing them breathe beside him. He loved being wrapped in their warmth. He loved that Shouto insisted on giving them all a good night kiss despite the shit Katsuki gave him earlier. He loved his Soulmates.

Chapter Text

When he moved in with his Soulmates this really was not what he had pictured, and something needed to change soon or Izuku was going to go insane. While somethings were nice; such as Katsuki cooking every meal for them every day, being there to comfort Shouto at the end of a long day with a cup of tea and a hug, going to sleep with them by his side, and the rare moments that they were all together. The problem was those moments were just that, rare. None of their schedules matched at all. It felt as though he was trying to juggle three lives, while riding a horse, and balls were moving in three opposing directions constantly, and also on fire.

Shouto left for work most days around 7am, came home at 7pm… which was around the time that Izuku left for the dead shift from 8pm to 8am. Luckily, he only worked three days a week, but then there was Katsuki. Katsuki was the oddest of all three of them. Even though he did his best to update the two of them on his schedule, Izuku was still very confused by how irregular his week was and wondered how in the world Katsuki kept track of it all and still found time to cook their meals.

Katuski picked up random shifts at Mina’s parent’s restaurant and worked sporadically whenever needed. He also helped his father renovate their home, as they were trying to create a back patio out of wood… or something Izuku didn’t quite understand. Then he also helped train other Pro Heroes in pushing their work-out routine to the limit or if they needed sparing practice. Then he sometimes volunteered to help at several events and sometimes he practiced for Jirou’s band which she had formed with her co-works from her Hero Agency.

Yet, while doing all that, he still found time to cook all their meals and label them with clear instructions on how to heat them up and when they were intended to be eaten for the times when he wasn’t there to serve them, or they had to eat on the run. Izuku’s coworkers had noticed the change since he was now bringing amazing home-cooked meals every day to work.

It was frustrating that he couldn’t tell his co-workers where the meals came from. Katsuki and Shouto were both adamant that already way too many people knew that they were Soulmates and that they couldn’t talk about it. Izuku wasn’t really good at keeping secrets and it was driving him insane that he couldn’t at least tell his closest friends why he had moved out of his place and that he had moved into Shouto’s. It didn’t matter how hard he tried to keep certain aspects of his life a secret, Iida, Uraraka, and Mei could already tell he was keeping something major from them. Izuku was just glad Mei was abroad helping her girlfriend, Melissa Shield, with some new invention or other that they had collaborated on and were now presenting at some major convention. Mei talked too fast for Izuku to fully understand what they were doing and she was the most nosey of all his friends with zero understanding of boundaries. She was already threatening to hunt down Izuku’s new location and make an appearance the instant she flew back home. It was a bit unsettling and Izuku really didn’t know what to do about it.

Thankfully, Uraraka and Iida were both understanding about the situation and were allowing him time and space to come to tell them when he was ready. He was so grateful for them in his life, especially after all they had been through together and it hurt not being able to tell them.
Shouto did not quite understand his pain. As the man was already fairly secretive, quiet, and had a reputation for keeping everything close to the chest in general. So, no one in Shouto’s life expected him to blab all about his new relationship, and he had not had a change of address to explain either. Katsuki’s friends already knew and Izuku’s explosive Soulmate had never been one for sympathy, he did not really do emotions.

That was another thing Izuku would like to change in their new arrangement as Soulmates. While he understood that Katsuki was never going to change and loved him for being how he was, Katsuki needed to learn to compromise a little bit. Izuku and Katsuki had always had a complicated relationship, so it wasn’t until they were living together that he realized how quiet Katsuki was. Katsuki was so loud all the time when he did speak that Izuku never realized that he doesn’t really talk much at all at home. He only spoke if he had something notable and important to say. He did not do small talk or conversations that he thought were meaningless and wouldn’t “waste his time” on anything as “menial” as “how was your day?”

While he expected this quiet, difficult-to-get-to-know vibe from Shouto, he was not prepared for Katsuki to be the same way. Shouto was aware that he needed to learn to branch out more and was working on it, Katsuki was just a bit oblivious. Which made initiating anything slightly sexual a bit awkward. Shouto was a bit shy and a complete gentleman whenever they would initiate intimacy, which Izuku frankly found extremely hot. Katsuki seemed interested. He was a bit awkward and would side skirt anything physical and then not talk about it. It was kind of cute how out of his comfort zone his virgin Soulmate was, but it was also frustrating and Izuku didn’t know what to do about it especially since they were always busy and rarely had time together.

That was how Izuku’s life was going when his alarm clock went off at 6am. While he didn’t have to be up for another several hours since this was his day off and he had picked up a half shift for a co-worker from 8am till noon, waking up early meant he could spend a small portion of his day with Shouto before he went to work. Izuku groaned as he slammed the alarm clock off. Working the dead shift meant his body was used to going to bed right about now. He really only picked up this shift so he could trade with a co-worker in hopes of spending a little more time at home with his Soulmates.

“Morning,” Shouto breathed lazily beside him as he rolled over to put his arm around Izuku and give him a kiss before getting out of bed.

Katsuki was already up and moving about the house. The damn spiky hair idiot always woke up at 5am naturally without an alarm and went for a morning run. By the time Izuku got up and moving, Katsuki had already gone for a short run, showered, and was starting breakfast for the three of them.

This both reminded Izuku why he looked up to Katsuki for being a Symbol of Victory as a child, and why it infuriated him. Izuku was essentially a broken zombie in the morning and Katsuki was so full of life and energy that Izuku wanted to Detroit Smash his brains in.

On the upside to having a chipper early morning Soulmate meant that there was already a steaming hot cup of coffee on the table for both him and Shouto when they stumbled into the dinning room. Izuku slunked into the dining table chair and melted into the hot cup of liquid fuel.

“What? Too good to say a fucking thank you?” Katsuki sulked from the kitchen as he flipped a pancake.

“In a minute,” Izuku muttered without removing his lips from the lip of the mug.

Shouto had him covered, being slightly more of a morning person than Izuku. He grabbed his own mug and walked over to the kitchen and put his arm around Katsuki’s waist before placing a gentle kiss on his cheek.

“Thank you,” Shouto murmured quietly before walking back to join Izuku at the table.

Katsuki made his normal “tch” sound in response, trying to sound tough, but even a half asleep Izuku could see the grin on his face. Katsuki put down a plate of pancakes in front of both him and Shouto before saying, “If you want protein with that your gonna have to heat up leftovers, I have to get ready for work.”

That woke Izuku up, “What? But Kacchan, I thought we would have the morning together? You didn’t tell me you were working this morning.”

Katsuki groaned and explained, “That prick at the restraint didn’t show up for work this morning so Mina’s dad is alone and needs help opening the restaurant.”

“Why can’t someone else help out?” Izuku pouted. He was really looking forward to spending a couple of hours with Katsuki even if he hated mornings
.
“They tried calling in four other people, I’m the only one available or they have to close the restaurant. Stupid prick should be fired for pulling this shit.” Katsuki said.

“Awwwwe!” Izuku complained as he pouted into his cup of coffee.

“They are lucky they have you,” Shouto remarked as he ate.

“Damn right!” Katsuki said, “I’ll be here when you get off work, nerd. Just going to help them open until someone else can fill in.”

Izuku relaxed and hung his head over the back of the chair as he huffed, “Fine!” The coffee streaming through his system must be working because Izuku’s brain finally connected the dots, “Is that why you made pancakes?!?” He exclaimed as he sat up right to look at Katsuki. Izuku loved pancakes, but Katsuki hated making breakfast that wasn’t healthy.

Katsuki’s face went a little red as he said, “No! I made pancakes because they are fast and easy and I’m in a hurry.”

“That’s really sweet of you, Katsuki,” Shouto said, “But you don’t have to make it up to us. We get that work comes first. Go ahead, get ready.”

Katsuki huffed as he walked back to the bedroom to get ready for work.

“Love you too Kacchan!” Izuku teasingly yelled after him.

After that it was a bit of a mad dash as both Katsuki and Shouto danced around each other as they both got ready for work. Izuku tried to help them out as best he could but mostly ended up sitting on the bed watching them scramble to get ready. They both kissed him goodbye as they ran out the door and then all too soon, Izuku was all alone in their apartment.

He missed them already. It was crazy how even though their situation was far from perfect he missed them so much whenever they were apart. They were the best part of his day. So much so that he found himself not wanting to go to work at all. He loved his work so much and had literally fought with everything he had to get to his position as a Pro Hero. He never thought he’d be in this position where he was laying on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, and dreading going to work just because it meant he probably wouldn’t be here when his Katsuki came home.

Work that day was uneventful. He spent most of the time at the office On-call, ready to assist anyone if a problem was called in. But it was a quiet morning, so Izuku had time to catch up on filing reports and other paperwork that came with the legal side of being a Hero. He felt really lazy and the On-call staff room was relatively empty and quiet. It was a bit warm in the vacant room so Izuku would have drifted off to sleep if it wasn’t so vitally important that he be alert in case a call came in. Still, he felt sluggish from sitting around in the room for too long. Meaning, he was shocked when Katsuki appeared suddenly at his agency looking tense like an omen of death ready for a fight.
“Kacchan?” Izuku stood up from his desk.

“Code Summer Camp. We’re leaving. now,” was all Katsuki said before turning to leave. Izuku ran after him as a shot of adrenaline suddenly ran through his system and his face went a bit pale. They had never sat down and worked out codes or anything, but Izuku knew Katsuki well enough to know what that meant. He was referring to their first summer camp as freshmen in high school when their teachers had taken them to a secure and secluded place to train. But the League of Villains had found them anyway. That was the camp that Katsuki had been captured at. Izuku’s mind immediately went to Shouto.

“Where is he?” Izuku asked, panicked.

“Not here,” Katsuki said as they practically ran out of the Agency. That meant he couldn’t talk until they were in a private space, which wasn’t a good sign.

Izuku quickly told the receptionist at the agency that he was leaving, it was an emergency, and to sign out for him. It was the end of his shift anyway, so there was really no need for anyone to replace him. He would probably be signing out of work in the next few minutes anyway if Katsuki hadn’t shown up.

“Phone,” Katsuki said the instant they were outside as he held out his hand for Izuku to give him his phone. Izuku didn’t bother asking questions and handed him his phone.
BOOM!

Katsuki fried the electronics with no explanation then walked off to his car. Izuku swallowed a lump in his throat and got in the car’s passenger seat. If Katsuki was paranoid enough that they would be tracked through phones, this really was not a good situation.

“Where are we going?” Izuku asked as they pulled out of the parking lot. Katsuki was already driving way too fast.

“To get Shouto,” He said, his shoulder’s tense. He looked like he was ready to blow up the traffic signs, the street, and the rest of the world. Izuku really hoped the hot head was overreacting.

“Where is he?” Izuku asked again.

“The agency,” Katsuki was never one for many words, “Endeavor’s back and the media is blowing up with us as Soulmates.”

“What!?! How?”

“Some villain wanna be with a Soulmate Quirk made a public announcement threatening us as vulnerable Unbonded Soulmates and the video went viral. The media confirmed that we are Soulmates somehow. Endeavor his having it out with Shouto right now. He’s not allowing him to leave the building.”

“You think someone is going to come after us?” Izuku said, “Why is Endeavor keeping Shouto from leaving? What are they even talking about? What are we going to do next? If villains are coming after us maybe we could use the help of the Agency. How long can we stay under Hero protection for if the whole world knows we are Unbonded Soulmates?! No one is going to want us to Bond since we are already too powerful as it is and that power boost we would get from Bonding might be considered too much for anyone to handle.”

“Izuku!” Kastuki yelled as he sped up through a yellow light, “I am going to murder Endeavor.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, Kacchan!” Izuku said, startled from his train of thought. He felt like he was four years old all of a sudden, trying to keep Kacchan from punching another kid. Only they were adults now and Katsuki might very well murder someone.

“We are going to go in there, get Shouto, and get to a secure location.” Katsuki said, “You are going to keep me from blowing him and that damn Agency up and you’re going to come up with our next plan and location while I focus on getting us there in one piece.”

Izuku nodded. This was good. They could do this. Izuku was always the strategist when they worked together at school and Katsuki was relying on him to come up with their next plane. Katsuki was good at yelling orders which helped keep Izuku’s train of thought from wandering off and gave him a drive and sense of direction. Once they had Shouto he’d help add that much needed calm and support to their relationship.

They were both quiet for the rest of the trip while Izuku planned and Katsuki tried to keep calm. When they pulled into the parking lot, Katsuki said, “Izuku… I need… If you just…”
It was clear his love was having a hard time with this as he never asked for a thing in his life. Eventually, with a groan, Katsuki yelled, “I need you to hold my hand when we get in there, so I don’t blow the roof off!”

Izuku nodded. Katsuki’s control over his Quirk, while amazing, was still very much tied to his emotions. Therefore, physically holding his hand would both serve as a much-needed reminder and a deterrent.

With that in mind, they entered the Endeavor agency. It was clear that word had gotten around the instant they walked into the building as everyone there seemed to freeze and the room became static as the receptionist leaped to her feet with wide eyes.

Izuku moved to greet her and ask where Shouto was, but Katsuki kept walking forward seeming to already know where he was going. He was moving so fast Izuku had to run to keep up and only had time to quickly nod at the poor startled receptionist. He gave her a knowing smile as he waltzes passed. She fidgeted and sat back down. It must have been clear that there was no stopping them even if they weren’t following Protocol.

Katsuki was already turning down a winding path of hallways and Izuku ended up having to full-on sprint to catch up. When he caught up he could see the fire in those red eyes and knew Katsuki was ready to blow. Quickly, Izuku grabbed Katsuki’s right hand with both of his and pulled him back bringing them to a halt. He needed to slow things down and calm Kacchan or this wouldn’t end well.

That’s when they heard the shouting from inside Endeavor’s office.

Chapter Text

“Be reasonable, son!” Endeavor’s deep booming voice was clear through the door, “No one has two Soulmates. You will not B ond with both of them. Hero Deku is the logical choice as he is on the rise with a promising career. Ground Zero is seen as nothing more than a noisy mutt and he comes from a family of unruly commoners!”

Both Izuku and Katsuki froze stiff at his words. A cold chill ran down Izuku’s spine as the implications of Endeavor’s words sunk into his brain. 

Katsuki immediately pushed forward ready to barge in and start a fight, but Izuku quickly pulled him back not wanting to make a scene by blasting the doors open. 

He shook his head at Katsuki as he held onto his arm pulling him backward and pleading with his eyes to let him handle this situation. 

Katsuki’s face hardened for a fight then softened as he nodded his head.

“Izuku’s family is normal too!” Shouto’s voice sounded desperate as though they had been over this conversation far too many times and for far too long. It did not sound like now was the right time to interrupt. Izuku stood there stunned thinking about how to handle this.

“Yes, but his celebrity status, his professional demeanor, and how well he speaks for himself make up for his poor upbringing. A union with him would do well for your career. Ground Zero’s savage behavior is already destroying his own career. You will not let it tarnish yours.”

“Yes father,” Shouto barked back bitterly, “Because a reputable union turned out so well for you and mother.” 

“Do not disrespect me and change the topic! You know very well Katsuki Bakugou will never be anything more than a villain in the eyes of the public and that you cannot hope to have a union with him if you wish to continue working as a hero. Or are you planning on throwing all that away just to spite me?”

“This isn’t about you!”

The panic in Shouto’s voice is what finally broke Katsuki’s resolve as he surged forward ready to break down the doors and defend. Izuku, still holding on to Katsuki’s hand with both of his quickly tugged backward and shook his head. He needed to enter the room first or Katsuki might blow something up and he wouldn’t be able to stop a fight or contain the situation. They needed to stay calm. Shouto needed their support, not their anger. But Heroes Above was Izuku angry. He was practically shaking with it as he pushed the door open and walked into the room in f r ont of Katsuki, hands still joined.

Both the fiery H eroes stopped yelling when they entered the room. It appeared to be a large office room, Endeavor’s, there was a grand desk cluttered with papers, a fancy computer, and other office supplies. Endeavor was standing in front of the desk in regular civilian clothes with a suitcase at his side on the floor as a sign that he had literally just flown into town. To say he looked angry was an understatement. He loomed over Shouto who was standing across from him with his back to the door and had to turn to see the two of them.

However, he was in some sort of fight mode where he was locked in battle with his father. Even though it was clear that Shouto had glanced behind him and seen his Soulmates, he didn’t turn to greet them, instead, he stayed tense and facing his father. Everything about Shouto screamed that something was deathly wrong. His entire aura was jagged, rough, and deadly. He was so angry that he looked like an entirely different person. His hate had completely consumed him, Izuku was afraid he wouldn’t be able to reach him, and he knew Katsuki wasn’t going to help at all since he practically fed on rage.

It felt like walking into a blizzard fighting 50km/hr winds walking into that room. Izuku cleared his throat loudly to get their attention in an attempt to break the staring contest. When he got Shouto’s minimal attention he motioned for him to hold Katsuki’s other hand. This confused Shouto, who, luckily for Izuku, followed suit. Restraining Katsuki was first on his agenda as it was the easiest way to keep things from escalating and entering the room conjoined would send a clear message to everyone in the room. To Endeavor, it would look as though they were taking a stand united. This was probably why Shouto was eager to follow suit … sticking it to his father , b ut either way it took a load of Izuku’s mind. Katsuki didn’t seem happy about it but kept his mouth shut, true to his word to let Izuku handle this.

“We came here to pick up Shouto,” Izuku stated firmly.

“You plan to solidify the B ond then?” Endeavor asked.

“That is none of your concern!” Shouto bit back.

“We’ll have to discuss that privately,” Izuku said as calmly as he could trying to instill a sense of peace in his words and stand between a fighting father and son.

“Of course, it is of my concern! You are still my son and this is a life - altering decision!” Endeavor ignored Izuku completely , turning his attention fully to Shouto.

“It is my life and my decision to make!” Shouto yelled back.

“Listen,” Izuku tried to intervene but was cut off by Endeavor shouting back.

“I am trying to guide you in making a decision and keep you from ruining your life!”

“Can’t we …” Izuku tried again but was again overpowered by Shouto yelling vehemently.

“I’m not ruining it , I’m changing it for the better!”

“You are delusional if you think...” He glanced over at Izuku and decided to censure himself in the present company and said instead, “Do not be childish, Shouto.”

“I will not be you! I will not create a union based on how it will boost my career. I am going to make my own decisions whether right or wrong.” 

Shouto was visibly shaken so when Endeavor stepped forward, desperate to get through to his son, reached out his hand to his son and said, “If you would simply listen to -” 

He was cut off by Katsuki , who couldn’t help but growl in warning that he would fight if Endeavor came close to touching Shouto even if it was simply to put a hand on his shoulder. Katsuki would blast that hand off.

“This is exactly what I was talking about,” Endeavor said, “He even sounds like a feral dog.”

Izuku was about to make his third attempt at intervening and Shouto was about to take an offensive stance when Katsuki spoke up, “Shut up!” His voice was so fierce and clear it rang through the entire room drawing everyone’s attention, “You are missing the damn point! You must think very little of your son if you think one ‘feral dog’ can drag him down.  You can’t know him very well if you think he’d do anything to jeopardize his career since being a H ero is everything . You and everyone else are morons if you can’t see that, not only does he have one of the most powerful and versatile Q uirks on the planet, but he is everything a H ero should be! Stop being so damn worried about what he will do or won’t do. You should be worried about yourself and whether or not you’re a father fucking worthy of having him for a son.” He was panting at the end of the speech , having not stopped between sentences to breath e and Izuku was visibly holding him back from fighting. When Endeavor didn’t immediately apologize, Katsuki shouted, “I’m gonna kill you!” and moved to punch him in the face. Holding his hand wasn’t enough any more , as Katsuki was so angry he would literally chuck Izuku at Endeavor if that was what it took to land a blow. 

So , Izuku moved between the two of them and placed h is other hand on Katsuki’s chest to hold him back while still restraining his hand. 

Shouto made a knowing “Oh,” as he finally realized why they were holding Katsuki’s hands and tightened his grip. 

“He’s a dead man!” Katsuki shouted.

“Shouto,” Izuku said as he continued to push Katsuki further back, “I think we better go now.”

“We’re leaving,” Shouto said with all the hate in his bones to his father. 

“Not so fast!” Endeavor put a hand on Shouto’s shoulder and Katsuki completely lost it and started striking curses together as he pushed back against Izuku. Izuku had to elbow him in the gut to keep him from knocking them both over.

“Look I know Kacchan isn’t behaving very well right now,” Izuku said as he continued to wrestle with Katsuki trying to keep him back, “But he did have a good point.” Katsuki continued to curse and yell so Izuku had to speak up louder as he said, “I know you both admire and respect each other a lot. I believe you can both work together to have a better stronger relationship and build each other up as both heroes and father and son.  I’ve never really known my father, so I won’t judge or pretend to know what that’s like. But now is not the time! We have to leave, or we will be barricaded in with paparazzi when the media finds out where we are!” 

Endeavor shocked both Izuku and Shouto when he said, “You can take one of the company cars. We have some for undercover work that no one will trace.”

“Get off me!” Katsuki shouted and pushed Izuku off him, ripping himself from both Shouto and Izuku’s grip and crossing both his arms to show he wasn’t going to fight anymore. He huffed and glared at everyone and everything, but apparently, if Endeavor was going to cooperate, Katsuki was going to make an effort. This was good, no one was happy, but Izuku could work with this.

“Where’s the car?” Izuku asked , trying to rush this along.

“This way , ” Endeavor said as he led the way out of the office and down a series of hallways to the company garage.

“We don’t need his help,” Shouto seethed between his teeth to Izuku as they followed Endeavor.

“We don’t have time to come up with another solution. This is the best and fastest way out of here and we have to leave.” Izuku said , then looked over to see if Katsuki was going to blow anything up.

He was still angry and followed furthest behind Endeavor allowing his Soulmates to block him from potentially getting into a fight. His hands were in tight fists at his side. This was also a good sign. Most people made fists when they were angry, but because of his Q uirk Kacchan always held his hands out spreading his fingers apart when he was angry. Closed palms meant he was attempting to restrain himself. Granted his fists were lo c ked so tight that his fingernails might be digging into and breaking the skin, but it was still progressing. Shouto didn’t appear to be much better. While he wasn’t physically marring his skin, he was definitely in fight mode as his Q uirk seemed to be slightly activated. Izuku could tell since half his face was flush and the other half pale from cold. They really needed to leave.

Izuku took it upon himself to deal with Endeavor. He got the keys to the car and thanked him for his assistance. He let the H ero know that Katsuki had destroyed their phones, but they would find a way to keep in touch with all their parents as soon as possible. 

Endeavor did mention that destroying phones was a good idea since, apparently, there was a known V illain in the area who had a Q uirk called Hoover which had some strange ability concerning cell phones . The analyst in him really wanted to go into further detail exploring that Q uirk and its implications, while the strategist in him knew they needed to run like hell. 

He thanked Endeavor and rushed his Soulmates into the vehicle. Placing himself in the driver’s seat. Shouto filed in the front passenger and Katsuki pouted in the back.

They did their best to hide their faces, grateful for the black tinted windows as they drove off. It wasn’t until they were a few blocks away from the agency that everyone was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Where are we going?” Shouto was the first to speak. Normally, he was so polite, but he was still so tense and angry it sounded more like a demand than a question.

“A Safe House I had set up a long time ago. It’ll have food and clothing and everything we need to hide away for a few days or a few weeks if we have too.” Izuku explained, “but it’s a 7hr drive away. No one will find us there. It’s not even under my name. It’s safe.”

“Oh great,” Katsuki muttered in the back, “Nerd, has a ‘safe’ Safe House.” Izuku k new he was commenting on how he had used the word “safe” to describe the security level of his Safe House and did not appreciate the sarcasm.

“You really think of everything, don’t you?” Shouto said a little lighter-hearted, but Izuku wasn’t sure as his phrasing did almost sound sarcastic as well. He was starting to relax, but Izuku could still see he was tense, angry, and had waves of hate coming off him.

“We need to talk about this?” Izuku suggested.

“I am fine!” Shouto instead. He looked tense and a bit terrifying.

Izuku sighed as he thought about the seven hours in the car they had ahead of them. They needed to talk about this now before someone barred their emotions too deep down to find anymore. Better to get this over with while they were trapped in a metal car for hours on end. Besides, seven hours of this tense hatred coming off them in waves was going to make Izuku sick. So, he figured he’d ease Shouto into it by slightly changing the focus.

“That was a really cool speech you gave back there, Kacchan,” Izuku said as he glanced in the rearview mirror Katsuki who was slouched in the middle seat of the car, leaning back on the headrest with his arms crossed.

“No one disrespects anyone I give a damn about in front of me!” Katsuki yelled. 

Heroes Past, Izuku was going to need all the help he could get if both of them were still mad as hell. Why was becoming the Symbol of Peace his goal in life? Why couldn’t be aspiring to be the S ymbol of H ope or S trength? No, it had to be Peace and he had to be Soulmates with the blonde G od of R age and the P rince of H atred here.

“That conversation was between my father and me , do not get in the way again,” Shouto said bitterly. That was the one thing that slightly scared Izuku about Shouto. Normally, he was this amazing pillar of strength and calm. W hen it came to his father? It just ignited something dark and evil inside of him and Shouto would all of a sudden say vicious things with ease and without remorse.

“Like Hell!” Katsuki sat forward so he was closer to them in the front placing his arms on the back of their car seats to leverage himself forward. “Next time I’m going to blow his brains out if he so much as looks at you funny.”

“I’m not a civilian for you to save! Your help is not needed, nor do I care what my father does,” Shouto said.

“Okay time out!” Izuku said.

“Fuck Endeavor and fuck you!” Katsuki yelled , ignoring Izuku completely and continued to yell at Shouto.

“You are going to attack me now? Not very H eroic, Katsuki.” Shouto said.

“That’s too far,” Izuku said. Knowing the Katsuki being suspended from Hero Work was still a sore spot.

“The fuck you trying to say?” Katsuki yelled back.

“I am stating that your foul attitude makes everything worse!” Shouto retaliated.

“Guys come on!”  

“It sounds like you are agreeing with what that fire devil was saying back there,” Katsuki said.

“You dare accuse me of being like my father? That’s a low blow even for you!” Shouto said.

“The fuck did you just say? ! ” Katsuki yelled.

“That’s it!” Izuku yelled there was only so much patience even a S ymbol of P eace could have, “Kacchan, I’m calling in a R ooftop now.”

That was something they had talked about way back in H igh S chool long before all this had happened, but Izuku had never played that card before. So, he was shocked to see how well it worked. 

Immediately, it had an odd sobering effect on Katsuki. The moment Izuku said “rooftop” his face dropped and looked remorseful, his whole visage calmed, and he leaned back against his car seat and said, “What do you want?”

“I need you to stay calm and help me talk this through with Shouto,” Izuku said.

Katsuki nodded. Katsuki’s sudden change in aura and mood was so obvious that even an enraged Shouto noticed it . 

“ Rooftop?” Shouto asked. Curious was far better than angry, but Izuku wasn’t quite ready to go into that one. Besides, going into Izuku’s past would distract from Shoutos’ present situations which they very much needed to talk about.

“It’s nothing,” Izuku brushed it off.

“I told him to jump off the rooftop when we were in middle school,” Katsuki very bluntly explained.

Katsuki’s words were like ice and for a moment it felt like Shouto’s Q uirk had frozen the car and the world around them. Izuku felt a chill go down his spine as he recalled the finality of Kacchan’s words which caused him to relieve the emotions he had gone through in middle school. He shivered and fought back tears and tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

Shouto’s eyes went wide and he turned his entire body around to gap and Katsuki. He thought he must have heard wrong as he asked, the horror evident in his voice, “You did what?”

Chapter Text

Izuku pulled over on the side of the road, fists gripping the steering wheel so tightly that it felt as though he might break the wheel and his fingers , without activating his Q uirk. Tears were streaming down his face so steadily that he knew it was unsafe to drive as his vision was compromised. He hung his head, shoulders shaking, as a multitude of foul emotions stormed through his system. The fear and terror he felt throughout M iddle S chool, the feeling that was almost guilt due to being condemned to a self-destructive crush on his bully, the pride of how far they had come in building and repairing their relationship, the utter devastation and crippling guilt of having jeopardized their relationship , and bring them back to square one all over again by dredging up the wrongs of their past.

“You did what?” Shout gasped accusingly torn between defensive instincts for Izuku and utter disbelief. T he entire vehicle seemed frozen in stunned silence as the gravity of Katsuki’s words had an instant effect plunging everyone into the cold waters of remorse and regret. It was as if time stood still inside that car briefly in reverence of the gravity of the situation.

“It was stupid and I should never have said it! There’s no forgiving that shit I put him through, so I told ‘ i m, he can use it against me whenever he wants , how often he wants because I owe him .” Katsuki explained plainly with serious intent. Katsuki usually called him random nicknames like ‘nerd’ and rarely used his name casually. But Izuku could tell by the seriousness in his voice how important calling in that code was to him and that Katsuki was probably going to stop using nicknames for a while now. All of a sudden Izuku felt immensely guilty.

“I’m sorry Kacchan!” Izuku said, he was crying now, “You’re wrong! I do forgive you.” He wanted them to move past this so badly. He wanted them to forget he had ever brought it up.

“You forgiving me doesn’t make what I did any better and I told you that you could use it against me.”

“I cannot believe you would actually say something that terrible with serious intent. Why?” Shouto asked , still aghast with disbelief.

Izuku could not seem to stop crying. He did not want Katsuki to have to answer that question or to have anyone question his virtue. Katsuki meant the world to him and was his image of victory , tied to his ideals of what it means to be a H ero. It felt so wrong to take one of his love’s greatest mistakes, throw it back in his face, and use it against him. He wished he could take it back because he never meant to so much as hint that Izuku had not forgiven him. He never meant for Katsuki to relive the guilt or to trudge back his own negative emotions. It felt like they were in M iddle S chool all over again in those oddly bleak all-black uniforms. Izuku wanted to defend Katsuki to their Soulmate, but he couldn’t seem to put into words that dark time held for both of them and how different things are now. No words seemed powerful enough to explain the lifetime they had spent growing up together.

“I had a lot of problems in M iddle S chool.” Katsuki explained as Izuku choked on his tears , lost for words. “My parents were fighting a lot. I would get bad anxiety attacks. Not to mention that I hated myself because I found out I was gay and no Hero near the T op 20 is remotely anything but straight. I took a lot of my problems out on Izuku. It was easy because he was Q ui - eer and I had a crush on him, so it was easy to blame my problems on him. Plus, h e’s so fucking perfect I kind of hated him for being everything I wanted to be.” Katsuki explained. 

This was the most open Izuku had ever seen him. It was weird, and he couldn’t help but wonder where his Kacchan had gone. He also noted when Katsuki had changed from saying ‘Quirkless’ to ‘queer’ and marveled at how smooth that transition was as he made a mental not e to explain that to Shouto later.

“I’m so sorry Kacchan. You have to know that I love you and I do forgive you because …” 

Izuku started to rant before Katsuki interrupted him with a loud, “What the hell are you apologizing for? !” Katsuki yelled at him , it felt a little more like his old self , which helped to alleviate Izuku’s fears. “I was the asshole not you.” Katsuki went on, “But none that matters right now. Point is this is all your fucking fault.” He said looking at Shouto who wasn’t prepared for being called out so suddenly nor the sudden change of tracks from Katsuki’s emotional honesty back to angry cursing. While Shouto stumbled for words Katsuki continued, “Izuku would never have called me out and brought that shit up if he wasn’t desperate enough. It’s your fault he’s freaking out. So, you are going to own up to it, stop taking it out on me, and you’re going to talk to him about whatever the hell he wants you to talk about starting right the fuck now.”

“I did not realize I was taking it out on you, that was never my intuition. I apologize.” Shouto said. He seemed much calmer and more himself. Somehow Katsuki’s outburst had knocked the wind out of whatever was fueling his anger.

“Not going to be the last time, that’s not important,” Katsuki angrily brushed off Shout’s apology. Izuku took this moment of peace to compose himself and try to dry his tears.

“I’m sorry,” Izuku said, “I should never have brought up the past like that. But I couldn’t just sit here and listen to you two tear each other apart like that. I know we can get th r ough this, but I need both of you to be honest and talk to me.” 

“Yeah, so open up, Halfie. What the hell is wrong with you anyway?” Katsuki said and kicked the back of Shouto’s chair.

“Fine,” Shouto said, “But first I need you to acknowledge my apology and that my taking my issues with my father out on you was not okay.”

Katsuki made his typical “tch” noise and slumped in the back seat with his arms crossed and muttered, “I told you that doesn’t matter!”

“Kacchan,” Izuku huffed .

“I hate idiots who can’t get to the point. Don’t waste my time apologizing. You were angry, and I stepped in the line of fire. So, what? I don’t gain anything until you hurry up and explain what the deal is.”

“You have a very one-track mind,” Shouto remarked, “And yet it’s oddly difficult to keep up with.”

Izuku sighed, “Tell me about it.” While the guilt was still there, Katsuki’s fast recovery was helpful. Katsuki earnestly did not seem to mind, which meant they were not being dragged back to square one. On the contrary, bringing up the past seemed to help refocus Katsuki. He still felt offal and as though he needed to reconvene with Katsuki later, but for right now, Izuku got his composure and started the car again. They couldn’t afford to stop.

“Why the hell are we still talking about me!?!” Katsuki yelled.

“You are very distracting ,” Shouto said, “If you must know, my history with my father is rather difficult. For years he tried to control my life and dictate who I was supposed to become. I thought we were getting past that. But then he tried to dictate how I should treat my Soulmates and I lost control. I no longer have any amount of patience with regards to my father as it dredged up a lot of past injuries . I was also deeply hurt by how easily he insulted you. You do not deserve that, Katsuki.”

“Are you okay?” Izuku asked .

Shouto sighed and laid his head backward on the headrest as he said with the weight of the world on his shoulders, “My father and I still have a lot to work through and I was very upset. But I’m alright now. The important thing is that we are together.”

Everyone was quiet for a few moments after that for which Izuku was grateful for , as it allowed him to focus on the road. He needed the quiet to remember where he was going and to gather his thoughts. He needed the quiet to settle his S oul.

“You scared me back there.” Izuku said, “You were so angry. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I lost control.” Shouto said, “I should not have behaved so badly , b ut I am alright now. I think I am going to need more practice to learn control around my father. It is almost like a family curse when it comes to los ing control of our tempers . Maybe it has something to do with the F ire Q uirk?” 

“You’re overcomplicating it.” Katsuki remarked.

“That may not necessarily be true, Kacchan,” Izuku theorized, “Actually, Q uirks do tend to sometimes influence personality especially with more E mitter Q uirks which require conscious effort to activate versus M utation Q uirks which are more body like adaptations. Because if you really think about it the whole act of consciously thinking about your Q uirk in order to activate it means that you are...”

“Stop overthinking it!” Katsuki yelled sparks flying from his palms further adding to Izuku’s theory. 

“Regardless, it is a problem I need to learn to control better.” Shouto said, “And now that I have explained myself. I hope you can acknowledge my apology for taking out some of my anger on you. I will try to do better in the future.”

“Like hell, you will.” Katsuki said, “You’re going to get angry sometimes. You are human. It happens. And when it happens I will set you off. We are Soulmates. It is not like you yelled at some rando off the street. It comes with the territory.”

“Perhaps, but in a perfect world, I would be the perfect Soulmate to you and not ever unleash anger towards you. I would like to strive to be a perfect Soulmate to you despite that being improbable.”

Katsuki practically growled for reasons that Izuku could not fathom, but reluctantly stated, “Fine. I accept your apology or whatever. Not like it changes anything.”

“Actually, I think it changes things a little.” Izuku said, “Now, there is an acknowledgment between you two that Shouto is going to try harder to do right by you. I think that’s an important step to improvement.”

Izuku watched Katsuki’s reaction from the rearview mirror as the blond e grunted angrily and stared out the window. Izuku knew from experience that this gesture could mean one of two things. Either Katsuki was acknowledging an opinion different from his and considering it deeply , or he was frustrated and fed up that everyone did not automatically see things his way and had given up trying explaining his worldview to them. It was impossible to tell which, as giving up on them and taking them seriously was the exact same body language. But, either way, it meant Katsuki was more or less at peace.

After that, the car ride calmed down significantly. Katsuki stayed mostly silent, but Izuku and Shouto began to have more pleasant conversations. There were still many things to be discussed. Such as what they were going to do when they made it to the S afe H ouse, how they were going to address the possible pursuit of V illains, how they were going to continue their perspective jobs without causing a ruckus or an unnecessary villain uproar, how they were going to contact their family and friends who were probably worried about them, how they were going to address this issue of everyone one the planet knowing they were Soulmates, and so on. However, they were all stressed, and it had been a long day prior to this whole crisis. Moreover, the car was not the best place to sit down and have an important face to face meeting about all their life problems.

Mostly, Izuku wanted to address having called a C ode ‘rooftop’ on Katsuki and the aftermath of having done so. There was still so much he wanted to say and talk about. But again, the car wasn’t the best place for that conversation. Mostly, he just wanted to hold Katsuki after that event and feel that everything was going to be alright in that embrace.

Not being able to talk about or do anything that he really wanted to do made the car ride kind of itchy. Driving was like having a cast on and not being able to scratch at that one spot that is driving you insane. He knew what he wanted to say and do, yet this was neither the time nor the place, so he couldn’t quite get at it. This became increasingly more annoying as the drive lingered on. Therefore, Izuku was immensely grateful for the idle chatter from Shouto keeping him alert by talking about whatever thought floated by. Between bouts of blissful conversation and songs on the radio, the drive and time drifted onward at a fair and steady pace.

It was a relief to finally arrive at the S afe H ouse after several hours spent in the car. By the time they arrived, it was somewhere around three in the morning and they were all exhausted except for Katsuki who had slept most of the time in the car and was now annoyingly alert. Katsuki had two volumes, extremely quiet and extremely loud. Therefore, he would get so quiet they forgot he was there and then would yell at them jarring them to alertness and lighting their senses on fire with a startled panic. 

Once they pulled into the driveway, and into the garage. Izuku had never actually been to his own S afe H ouse as it was set up for him through the A gency and assigned to him at random so that it remained a secret even within the H ero A gency itself. While he always kept a key to the house on his person for emergency purposes he had no idea what to expect once they stumbled inside. 

So, there was this odd shuffle of exhaustion when they entered the house and fumbled around in the dark not knowing where they were going. 

“Watch out for the stairs,” Izuku commented, just barely seeing the outline of the railing out of the corner of his eye.

None of them could seem to find a light switch for whatever reason, so they tripped and fumbled through the house until Katsuki managed to find a bedroom and shoved them into it.

“Shouldn’t we stay up and discuss our next plan of action?” Shouto questioned as Katsuki pushed him toward the bed. 

“Why? So you two can fall asleep in the middle of planning? No way! I’m not putting up with that shit. You two sleep now.” Katsuki demanded.

“Kaaaaachan, you’re not joining us?” Izuku grumbled as he hopped on one foot taking off his shoes without bothering to untie them . Y es, he had completely forgotten to take them off at the door, and no, he did not feel bad about it as he was too tired for remorse.

“G o nna bring in stuff from the car, check the perimeter of the house, and make sure everything is locked up.” Katsuki

“Our H ero,” Shouto said sarcastically. 

Izuku had discovered that when tired, Shouto became rather aggressively sarcastic for no reason. He was not sure why this happened, but whenever Shouto was tired it was almost as though he spoke strictly in sarcasm and was incapable of speaking straight. Most of the time this meant that h is sentences did not make much sense as he would respond sarcastically to the most mundane and factual events.

Katsuki huffed at Shouto and stomped off. Izuku , having managed to take of f one shoe with a loud pop , had not been expecting him to take off so suddenly and immediately regretted not having protested his leaving harder.

“Wait, Kacchan!” Izuku said as he ho p ped after Katsuki on one shoe. He made it as far as the bedroom door before Katsuki suddenly appeared, grabbed a hold of Izuku’s face with one hand , and shoved him backward .

“Bed, Izuku,” Katsuki muttered, “I’ll be back in a second.”

Tired and already off - balance, Izuku fell backward and watched Katsuki disappear from the doorway into the darkness of the house.

“Right, because it’s so easy to maneuver in a dark house,” Shouto remarked after Katsuki from where he was undressing sitting on the side of the bed. 

Izuku looked at him from the floor , puzzled as to what that was supposed to mean or w h ere Shouto was going with that. Izuku’s best guess is that Shouto was just as annoyed that Katsuki was leaving them and it came out in a weird jumbled sarcastic comment concerning Katsuki’s ability to complete tasks quickly.

Izuku kicked off his remaining shoe and flopped his pants off before plopping next to Shouto in the bed. “I do not even have a toothbrush,” Shouto complained as they lay in the dark on top of the covers listening to Katsuki move around. 

Izuku wasn’t sure if Katsuki came back quickly, or if he had been gone a long time and Izuku had simply fallen asleep and not noticed. Either way, he found Katsuki was helping him up off the bed and guiding him to a bathroom where toiletries magically appeared and Katsuki helped them freshen up a bit before bed. Izuku found out later that Katsuki had actually packed a bag for them prior to picking up Izuku at his A gency and that the undercover car they were borrowing from Endeavor actually came with a few supplies in the trunk as well. Between the two sets of luggage, they were set on all the basic necessities they would need for at least a week or so.

Then he found himself being ushered back into bed and a cozy comforter being placed on top of him, then the world went black as exhaustion took over. All the fatigue from Work, the emotional stress, and the hours of driving took over and Izuku succumbed to slumber fast and hard. It was easy to give in and turn off the Hero part of his brain that needed to be the protector since Katsuki was there taking care of everything, and the sarcastic Shouto was there, also content to sleep. It was easy to shed off the fears and worries of the day with the men he loved beside him.

Somewhere in the back of his brain, he vaguely remembered wanting to say something important to Katsuki. Too tired to remember what it was, he settled for curling around his body, holding him close and mumbling, “Love you, Kacchan.” Before completely blacking out. 

The last thing he heard was a soft hum in agreement from Shouto on his right and the last thing he saw was a soft smile from Katsuki on his left.

Chapter Text

There really are no words to describe the joy of waking up from a deep sleep and realizing that you do not have to rush to work that day, that you can be lazy in bed, and you can do absolutely nothing all day long if you please. That blissful thought was what was steaming through Izuku’s consciousness as he drifted back to reality from slumber. As he came back into himself from dreaming, he was first aware of how wonderfully warm he felt sandwiched between his Soulmates and covered with a fluffy soft comforter. Katsuki was sprawled out on his back, soft eyes closed and facing towards Izuku. His fluffy hair had been matted down on one side, giving him a funny bedhead. Izuku was on his side, half on top of Katsuki, clutching his chest, legs tangled together. Finally, Shouto was holding Izuku from behind.

Izuku sighed, perfectly content, and snuggled in closer to Katsuki, basking in the peace of the moment. This was his favorite. This moment of having them both with him and at peace. No arguing or fighting, no running off to work, no time limits, no obligations, no weight of the world on their shoulders. Just the three of them, quiet, still, and soaking in each other’s company.  He only wished they could have more time together and hoped that they wouldn’t have to be asleep to have moments like this.

Izuku knew Shouto was awake when he started to untangle himself from Izuku and sat up. He looked half asleep and slightly disoriented as he looked over at Izuku and surveyed the room as if unsure of his surroundings.

“Shhhh,” Izuku cautioned Shoto to be still as he motioned over to their sleeping lover. “Kacchan.”

He lifted his head from where it was nuzzled up against Katsuki’s chest to make eye contact with Shouto, who nodded sleepily. Katsuki was usually first to rise and almost always made a lot of noise doing so. Rare were the moments where either of them actually saw him asleep.

“What are we,” Shouto whispered , rubbing his eyes, cutting himself off with a silent yawn, “what are we doing today?”

Izuku shrugged slightly in response. He hadn’t the slightest idea what their plans were from here on out. At the moment, he really couldn’t care less. Not with Katsuki looking so cute in his sleep.

“He looks so… soft,” Shouto remarked as he tiptoed to the other side of the bed to hover over Katsuki. Soft heterochromic eyes peered deep into the sleeping form as if trying to memorize every detail down to the way the light cast on Katsuki’s cheek.

“Mhm,” Izuku murmured as he nuzzled into Katsuki’s chest.

Shouto leaned over them to run his hand through Katsuki’s hair.

“How is his hair so fluffy?” Shouto whispered.

Izuku took advantage of Shouto’s closeness to lift his head and kiss him causing Shouto to grin and offer a warm, hearted, “Good morning,” in return; his eyes filled with gentle delight.

“Do you think you could maneuver out of bed without waking him?” Shouto asked.

“No,” Izuku whined curling back into Katsuki, “I don’t want to get out of bed. Just a little longer.”

Shouto huffed affectionately and carded a gentle hand through Izuku’s hair, soothing him. For a moment they were both quiet and still. Izuku closed his eyes and focused on the feeling of Katsuki’s warm firm chest beneath his cheek and Shouto’s gentle hand on his scalp.

Shouto broke the spell by saying, “I’m going to see if I can’t find us some breakfast before when he wakes up.”

Izuku pouted and shot up out of bed to stop Shouto by grabbing the hem of his shirt. The small adjustment in weight to the mattress was enough to startle Katsuki into alertness. 

He jumped forward as if the smoke alarms were going off and grunted, “What!?!?” He looked back and forth bewildered before realizing with wide eyes where he was and slammed his body back into the bed with a groan and smacking his hands over his eyes. His shoulders were taut, his elbows stood out like bony daggers; a sharp contrast to the fluffy ball of slumber he was seconds ago. “Dam m it!” Katsuki shouted , still covering his eyes.

“Kacchan?” Izuku questioned unsure what had come over his childhood friend. He hated that the blond e was still so impossible to read. His explosion could mean anything between ‘I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and am cranky for no reason,’ to ‘I hate you and am angry you're not dead yet.’ 

“You okay, Katsuki?” Shouto sounded equally confused.

“Okay?!” Katsuki shot upright and glared at Shouto, “We are trapped in this damn Safe House. Those villains need to pay for outting us, but I can’t do anything! I can’t even go for a damn run. Fuck! I hate lying low. I’m going to blow their faces OFF!!!!” By the end of this outburst, Katsuki was pacing the room with small explosions going off in his palms.

“It’s too early for this,” Shouto sighed and walked off saying, “I need coffee. When you’re done throwing a tantrum, join me in the kitchen.”

Izuku was shocked at Shouto’s nonchalance. He had become fairly used to Katsuki’s outbursts and utterly refused to play into them, which oddly enough, worked fairly well in defusing the situation. 

Izuku, his entire life, had always fought against Katsuki’s anger, stood up to it, and tried his best to change Katsuki’s mind so that his best friend could be proud of him. This never ended up working and typically ended in Izuku confused or crying or both.

Shouto , on the other hand , dismissed Katsuki’s anger , and the fumes burnt out on their own which were always great. Izuku had always known that part of the reason why Katsuki was so volatile was due to everyone around him for years encouraging his explosive personality. Yet, it was still surprising to see how different Katsuki is when Shouto removed that one aspect. He was still very much the same Katsuki as always, but more even-toned. Like the difference between his small palm explosions, which were a staple part of his personality and Q uirk, and the large building - destroying explosions. Shouto, whether he realized it or not, had that calming effect on Katsuki. 

As Shouto walked off , Katsuki collapsed back on the bed with a groan. Izuku decided to follow Shouto’s lead of not feeding into it and remained quiet and still as he watched his image of victory mumble curses into the bedsheets. At length . Then h e stilled and reached out to Izuku who was sitting beside him in bed.

“Izuku,” Katsuki muttered. Izuku was sitting upright resting against the headboard of the bed facing the door to the room. Katsuki was sprawled out halfway on the bed laying on his stomach lengthw ise across the bed. Face partially turned toward Izuku and his head brushed up against his thigh. Katsuki pouted, “I hate this.”

Izuku hummed in response and shifted them so Katsuki’s head was fully on his lap. Katsuki did not take well to being manhandled and readjusted his position so that his arms were around Izuku’s waist and his h e ad was buried firmly in Izuku’s crisscrossed legs. Looking down at his love, Izuku was shocked that he would be comfortable in this position as it puts his head right nuzzled in Izuku’s crotch. This move sent shivers down his spine but was more or less comfortable when Katsuki stilled completely. Izuku carded his hands through the fluff ball in his lap down till they met with tense shoulders, messaging the stiff muscles before returning to the fluff ball in a circular soothing motion.

This action proved soothing to Katsuki while giving Izuku time to think. Over years of bickering, it was habitual gut instinct to fight Kacchan, to heroically stand up against his tendency to blow things up and ask questions later. 

Right now, however, he knew he needed to adjust and be calmer upon approach like Shouto. So he formulated his words wisely, speaking softly to his powder keg lover, “I really love these quiet moments with the three of us. We are going to figure this out. And when you really think about it there are already negative consequences for the villain’s actions. But the three of us are going to be okay. So, really, we don’t have to worry about anything. All we have to do right now is stay safe and enjoy this time together. Because if we do that then it's as though the V illains’ actions actually gave us a vacation. I know you want to blow them up, but wouldn’t good coming out of their actions be the best way to defeat them? Because that way instead of hurting us they help us. And...”

Katsuki sat up stopping Izuku mid-rant by drawing his face so close they were practically rubbing noses. Piercing red daggers met wide green eyes. 

There was silence. 

Then the odd staring contest ended as strangely as it had begun with Katsuki pulling away to stand up muttering, “Fine.” Stunned, Izuku sat still as he watched Katsuki, finally calm and relaxed as he shuffled towards the door. Katsuki seemed to have felt that he was not being followed instinctually , and paused at the doorway, “Izuku, you coming?”

“Yes, Kacchan,” Izuku chirped and stumbled after him. That was the second time this morning Katsuki had called him ‘Izuku’ instead of the normal ‘nerd’ or ‘Deku.’ 

H is coffee - deprived, sleep-addled brain was not able to process the information outside from this being abnormal as he staggered through the foyer, past the basement stairs, and to the bar on the edge of the kitchen and the great room to see Shouto hovering over a pot of coffee he was fixing for them. Sweet relief ran through his system as the smell of brewing coffee that filled the room. 

Katsuki actually made the corner Izuku missed going for another tight turn to get to the pantry, having the habit of fixing breakfast for them but groaned and huffed when all he found was rations of canned foods and the like that would keep for long periods of time. He started the task of making oatmeal while Shouto poured himself and Izuku coffee. Katsuki always refused coffee as it had a tendency to make him sleepy. Izuku mentioned once that was an indicator that he might have ADHD and Katsuki nearly killed him for ‘being so stupid’ so they just let it go after that.

They spent the morning moving around each other in the surprisingly spacious kitchen trying to scrounge up a decent breakfast from the rations they had at the house. For the most part, they had come to know each other well enough to work together seamlessly without words. Izuku felt a sense of pride in his Soulmates at how well they were as a cohesive unit even while sleepy and stressed. 

With the open concept to the house- which had no walls between the Great Room, the Dining Room, and the Kitchen- and the large number of windows, the need for artificial light- though they did find the light switches- the three of them operating almost completely by sunlight as it was turning out to be quite a bright and sunny morning for them. 

Then Katsuki mindlessly murmured, “Izuku, hand me those,” pointing to the bowls in the cabinet.

Such a menial thing to say, yet with half a cup of coffee in his system, he was finally able to register that ‘Izuku’ as being the third one of th e morning coming from Katsuki and the significance of that name. Katsuki never called him ‘Izuku’ except on rare occasions of gravity. 

Suddenly, he re membered why Katsuki had reverted to being formal for once. He remembered calling the Rooftop . He remembered invoking the worst memories of their past. He realized that by doing so, he had forced Katsuki into reliving the remorse and guilt. All of a sudden, his heart ached for the loving way Katsuki would call him anything other than ‘Izuku ’.  

He froze.

“Izuku!” Katsuki said more firmly, this time concerned at the stillness and shocked expression on that normally bright face.

“Kacchan?” Izuku muttered.

“What?!?” Katsuki said, quickly turning to confused anger.

“You never call me Izuku.” 

There was a moment of silence as the two looked each other in the eye both trying to read other's minds. Both unsure how to proceed to make the situation better. 

Shouto stood on the sidelines watching, ready to intervene if necessary, but understanding that this was a moment the two of them needed to work out together. 

“So?” Katsuki tried to brush it off knowing deep down that there was no shrugging off this awkward moment. Nonchalance was not going to kill Izuku’s anxiety. 

“Are you mad at me?” Izuku asked.

“Why would you think that ?” Katsuki baffled, “It’s your name! Why on E arth would I be mad?”

“That’s not fair Kacchan! You’d think the same thing if I called you Katsuki!” Izuku pouted.

Katsuki flinched slightly at the use of his full name. The name had sounded rough like sandpaper on Izuku’s tongue as he spat it out. Even Shouto seemed a bit taken aback. Izuku was fairly certain he had , never once in his entire life , said his full name before and it felt wrong somehow on so many different levels as if the core of his being was rejecting hearing those sounds in his own voice. 

“It’s better than Midoryia or….” Katsuki stated failing to use the harsh childhood nickname of ‘Deku’ so close to having been reminded of all those years he bullied the other. 

“I don’t want to be a stranger! I don’t want to be just another person like Kirishima or your other friends. Please don’t push me aside, Kacchan,” Izuku felt ridiculous as he started to cry. Katsuki rushed forward and embraced his blubbering love.

“Fuck, okay , ” Katsuki said as he rubbed up and down Izuku’s sides holding him close trying to stop the tears with comfort, “How bout just ‘Uzu’ , hu h ? I used to call you that when we were really little cause I couldn’t say your whole name. Remember? Yeah?”

“Okay, I just don’t want to go backwards. I don’t ever want to go back.”

“That’s never going to happen,” Katsuki stated , then added when Izuku clung to Katsuki’s chest and buried his head, “Hey, look at me. That’s never going to happen.”

“Okay, Kacchan,” Izuku said looking up at those rough red eyes.

“I love you, okay?”

“I love you too.”

“You two okay?” Shouto asked.

“Yeah, we’re good. Right, Uzu?”

Izuku’s face lit up at how sweet and uniquely them that sounded. “Yes, Kacchan!” he chirped cheerily.

Shouto eyed them both surreptitiously looking for any sign that either of them were putting up a fake front for return to homeostasis. When they both appeared fine he eyed Katsuki curiously and asked, “Uzu?”

“Shut it!” Katsuki shot him down.

“Well,” Izuku stepped up to explain, “we were really little and Kacchan had a hard time pronouncing ‘z’ sound too. So, it sounded more like ‘oo-koo ’ .”

Shouto’s shoulders started shaking from suppressing vigorous laughter as he tried not to embarrass Katsuki as the blond glared at him viciously. However, the image of a small fluff ball running around saying “oo-koo” was too adorably cute to resist and the more Shouto tried to suppress the laughter the funnier and louder the little toddler Katsuki in his head became until he burst out laughing. Izuku smiled and kissed Katsuki on the cheek to help soothe his injured pride. 

“Dam m it!” Katsuki shouted,  “Let’s just hurry up and eat already so we can figure out how the hell we are going to get out of this mess.”

Katsuki moved to get the bowls for breakfast and serve oatmeal at the dining table. While he busied himself, Shouto moved to put a hand on Izuku’s back and asked quietly in his ear, “You sure you’re okay? Do you need us to talk about the past you two have together?”

Izuku shook his head, “I think we are going to be okay. There is a lot of history between us, but I think we’ll work through it day by day and that’s enough for now.”

“Okay, just let me know if you change your mind. We can always talk through this together.” Shouto offered , nuzzling his head into Izuku’s soft curls and giving him a slight hug before heading over to the dining table for breakfast. 

After that, the rest of the morning was fairly mundane. They ate food, helped each other with dishes, Shouto put on another pot of coffee, and they surveyed the resources they had between Katsuki’s get-away-bag , the provisions in house , and the Endeavor A gency vehicle. When all that was done they settled in the Great R oom , Shouto and Katsuki taking up one couch each while Izuku took one of the armchairs . 

“Now what?” Izuku asked , looking between his two Soulmates with ease since he was facing the TV and their couches faced teacher other . Though Katsuki was on the far end of his couch, against the arm, while Shouto had one his elbows over the closest arm of his couch to Izuku and was half facing him and half Katsuki.

“I say we find the basterds that outed us and give ‘em hell! Blow the roof off this Safe House .”

“And then what would we do? Say we capture the villain responsible for our current predicament. Then what? Villains who know of our B ond will come after us since they know it is not complete and an area of vulnerability.” Shouto reasoned.

“So? We fight them off too!” Katsuki said.

“That’s not a good idea Kacchan. We can’t just run and fight forever.” Izuku said.

“As long as they know we are vulnerable, they won’t stop until they take us down. Think about it, the next symbol of peace has an Achilles H eel but only temporarily? We’ll have every V illain on the planet coming after us.”

“So, what’s your bright idea then?” Katsuki said.

“I think we need to remove the weak spot as quickly as possible,” Shouto stated.

“No way in hell am I breaking the Bond! Fuck off!” Katsuki said , sitting upright .

“If we broke the B ond, we’d all be weak from the loss for weeks. It would be like shooting one of our arms off. That’s not what I am saying.”

“Then what? We…?” Katsuki asked , looking from Shouto’s stern face to Izuku’s hopeful one.

“I believe we need to complete the B ond,” Shouto said.

Katsuki looked again between their faces completely witless. Both of them stayed fixated on Katsuki waiting for his response. Izuku could swear he could hear a clock ticking from somewhere in the house as Katsuki’s eyes jilted the small amount of left and right between the two of them while ensuring he was properly looking at each of them each time he did it .

“What? Now?” Katsuki asked.

“It is not ideal, but I believe it is our best course of action. Once we B ond, we will become more powerful and essentially an unstoppable force that V illains will know better than to mess with.”

“I am not Bonding with you two because of weakness!” Katsuki shouted.

“It’s not just because of the V illains, Kacchan,” Izuku said, “I have been thinking that it would be great if we B onded for a while now. I don’t need a reason to want to be with the two of you for the rest of my life. The only reason we were waiting was so that we could get to know each other better as partners. But I really don’t think we need to do that. Because throughout our entire life you’ve always known what you wanted and never regretted it. Shouto and I are the same way. Or at least I think Shouto is the same.”

“So, we just what? Get in the bedroom and have sex?!?! That’s your grand solution for beating the bad guys? We bang it out??!”

“That’s not what we are saying at all,” Shouto said , unsure how to take that outburst.

“I mean, the B ond does require that we do that, but that’s not what we are saying at all. I think we should stop putting off B onding and then face the problems as B onded Soulmates.”

“I know this is something we really have to talk about since you have never done this before and I had hoped we could ease into this more naturally, but I can assure you that Izuku and I will do our best to make this good for you.”

“The fuck? You think I’m worried about that?”

“What are you worried about?” Shouto asked.

“Nothing! I’m not afraid of anything.” Katsuki was visibly nervous rubbing his hands on the seams of his jeans to try to remove his explosive sweat on his palms.

“My H ero,” Shouto said with a blank expression and a cold delivery so that every fiber of his being was dripping with sarcasm.

“So you agree we should B ond?” Izuku asked , leaning forward toward Katsuki expectantly.

“The fuck? How are you two so suddenly on the same goddamn page all the fucking time? What, did you have a conversation about this without me?”

“No! like I said, I’ve been wanting to do this with you two for a long time. It just that with the situation at hand it kind of makes sense that we should. So, I’ve been thinking about this since the car ride that maybe we should complete the B ond at the Safe House . Cause we are safe now and we might not be if the V illains find us and I don’t want to die or get into another fight without being B onded to you two. Because I love you both and I really don’t want to run into danger without knowing that our S ouls are permanently combined.”

“Honestly, I’m surprised you haven’t thought about it,” Shouto said.

“You making fun of me?”

 “No, I’m flirting with you and trying to get you to have a threesome with me.”

“Fine! Fuck you both! Let’s do this.” Katsuki huffed indignantly crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the arm of the couch again as he glared at them.

“We still need to talk about how we want to do this, like I said it’s kind of complicated with three people.”

“The damn hierarchy thing?” Katsuki said, “It’s not hard. You get the most control of the B ond because you actually get this weird shit. Izuku get’s the second most cause he’s a fucking cry baby. And I get the least because I don’t understand any of this weird B onding -e motions crap.”

“You’re sure about that?” Shouto said.

“Yeah, I’m sure what’s your problem?” Katsuki snapped. 

“I’m okay with that too, but I really think you should think about this a little bit more, Kacchan.” Izuku said as placatingly as he could.

“Why? The fuck does it matter?” Katsuki questioned.

“The order we do things matters as it establishes a permanent hierarchy of control over the Bond.” Shouto said as sternly as he could manage.

“Huh?”

“And I’ve never really had a three... you know something before. And Kacchan has never… ever… before and so we should probably talk about what we are comfortable with and how we want to do this. Cause I don’t want anyone to feel left out but also, I don’t know how it really works with three people.”

“I agree with Izuku, we should also talk over... choreography, for lack of a better word.”

“Huh?” Katsuki continued to look between the two of them like they were speaking a completely different language. While Izuku had always looked up to the other for his intelligence, Katsuki could also be a complete moron sometimes. Thankfully, Shouto seemed to be on the same page which made Izuku slightly more at ease about the whole situation.  

“Basically, Kacchan,” Izuku calmly explained looking back and forth between him and Shouto for confirmation that he was explaining things well, “before we do this, we really need to talk about who we want to have the most control of the B ond, who has the least control and also how we are going to create the B ond and also how we are going to do the sex part. So that’s three things, the H ierarchy part, the B ond part, and then the S ex part.”

Shouto nodded, giving nonverbal confirmation that they were on the same page. Katsuki shook his head and ruffled his hands through this hair roughly with a loud frustrated groan and stated, “Okay, so let’s do this.”

Chapter Text

They had talked it over. Izuku did not quite understand all of it, but Shouto did which is why the plan was to let Shouto lead. The best Izuku was able to understand was that to create a B ond between two people, one person initiates the process with a Bite Mark during intimacy. This stage wa s essentially called “the connection” in which the recipient of the M ark’s S oul would bleed into the S oul of the person who creat ed the M ark. The recipient, during this step, would feel an overwhelming euphoric connection to the other person while the creator of the M ark would gain control of the B ond. 

However, this step is very unstable. Supposedly, if the M ark wa s not reciprocated, the recipient's S oul w ould continue to bleed into the C reator's until they we re completely drained of their essence. The connection ha d to be returned in a short amount of time. To do that, the recipient must make a second M ark and return the B ite. This creates a loop where both S ouls are bleeding into each other in an endless cycle until they completely merge into one entity . T his stage is called “the B inding” where the S ouls are blending like two merging streams leading into a large river. 

The problem, simply put, was that once the B inding is completed, the S ouls are considered complete. Typically, that was never a problem with traditional monogamous B onds. W ith three of them, however, it meant that once a S oul was B ound it was irreversibl e and complete. The B inding was all - encompassing and could not be repeated with another individual for the rest of the life of the S oul ; they could not just insert a third person. So, Shouto had broken it down for them into three basic steps. 

1. Shouto would open a Connecting Bond with Izuku and Katsuki thus creating two open Connecting Bonds with Shouto as the Creator so that both of their Souls will flow into him. 
2. Izuku would then open a Connecting Bond with Katsuki, so there were three open Bonds. Two open with Shouto as the Creator and one with Izuku as the Creator. This is the most dangerous step as Katsuki’s Soul will be flowing into both Shouto and Izuku putting him at risk for being completely drained of his Soul and potentially dying. 
3. Creating “the Binding” would require Katsuki to close the Bond between himself and Izuku. Izuku would then close the Bond between himself and Shouto. Finally, Katsuki had to close the Bond between himself and Shouto.

That last step still tripped Izuku up as he wasn’t sure what order any of that needed to happen or if it mattered. Shouto seemed to think that even though time would be an important factor for Katsuki that they needed to close the bonds in the order that they opened them. They had argued about that a bit. Ultimately, they had collectively decided that since S oulmate B onds were complicated and dangerous things, it was going to be important to form a hierarchy of control over the B ond. That way they didn’t accidentally play tug of war on their collective S ouls after the B ond was formed and unintentionally rip their S ouls apart. For the hierarchy to work, they decided that if Shouto was the first person to create the C onnecting B onds he should be the last person to receive the B inding B ond s . Likewise, if Katsuki was going to be the last person to receive the C onnecting B ond s , he should be the last person to create a B inding B ond. 

Or at least Izuku and Shouto had decided that. Katsuki was ambivalent about the whole thing. His attitude about the whole thing had been, “fuck it!” and was insisted that they just do the thing. Ever the man of action. Izuku and Shouto were both annoyed by the attitude and tried to encourage Katsuki that it was vitally important that he planned this with them. But Katsuki stubbornly refused to plan any of it. Izuku had forgotten how much Katsuki was not a planner. While he was brilliant, he could really be a stubborn jackass sometimes.  

While Izuku wanted Katsuki to join them, he also knew it was no use arguing once Katsuki had made up his mind. He was grateful, however, that then they started actually talking about sex and what they were comfortable with that Katsuki was vocal with them. Izuku could tell he wasn’t comfortable talking about something he felt should have been learned by doing the action. Katsuki was under the impression that you teach kids to swim by throwing them into the water and that sex was the same way. He did not want to talk , he just wanted to dive in. 

Shouto and Izuku both agreed that since none of them had ever even attempted a threesome that they should spend at least a little bit of time talking about it. So, Katsuki compromised for once without protest and talked to them. 

It was nice, and Izuku thought th ings were looking up and he was getting extremely excited and turned on at the thought of finally having both of his S oulmates and life long crushes in bed with him. 

That was , until he found himself in the bedroom, sitting on the bed nervously watching as Katsuki was standing with his arms crossed, body tense, staring daggers at Shouto in some weird staring contest. He wasn’t even sure how it started or what the hell was going on. 

Katsuki was just standing, two steps inside the room still in front of the doorway , and Shouto was standing in between Katsuki and Izuku fairly close to the bed. Katsuki’s whole visage screamed tense and guarded while Shouto stood open and calm. Shouto returned the gaze, but not the hostility , and waited patiently for Katsuki to make the next move. 

“Guys?” Izuku questioned, “What? What? I mean … Are you okay? What’s … guys?”

Despite Izuku’s efforts, Katsuki didn’t budge. 

After a minute of this Izuku started to get worried and rant about everything that he thought might have caused things to go wrong. 

Maybe it was something one of them said? Maybe Katsuki had figured out something neither of them had thought about concerning the Villains that were after us? Maybe he was just trying to work out their next move of escape? Maybe they needed to run? Maybe Katsuki was worried about something? Maybe they weren’t ready for this? Maybe it really was too soon for them to be Bonding as Soulmates? Attaching your Soul to another person’s was not something to be done lightly? Kacchan was so smart, a perfectionist, maybe he was realizing how insane it was for them to do this?

“Izuku,” Shouto said as he continued to stare at Katsuki, “it’s fine. Just be patient.” Then he paused and said to Katsuki , “Whenever your ready, you can tell us what's bothering you. Take your time.”

That shocked Izuku. There was no way Shouto had read something in Katsuki that he had not. Izuku knew Kacchan better than anyone, he knew him like the back of his hand and he still found Katsuki a conundrum. The man continued to make no sense half the time. How had Izuku missed something? Taking a deep breath he finally just looked at the perpetually angry blond e . Truly looked at him. He didn’t think about their lives growing up or all the insane details about the situation they were in. He just looked at Katsuki and it dawned on him. Shouto hadn’t read anything or picked up on something Izuku had missed. He had simply read the tense body posture Katsuki was displaying and was reacting to that. 

After a while, Katsuki let go of his stare and sent an icy gaze to Izuku. He’d seen this look before. It was the same demanding gaze that he gave Izuku when they were in combat and Katsuki realized he needed a plan of action instead of just “destroy”. He’d just shoot Izuku, the analyst, a glare and then follow whatever Izuku deemed as their next move. Unless, of course, Izuku took too long to come up with an answer, then Katsuki would just revert to brute force and blow things up. Izuku quickly held out his hand for Katsuki to join him on the bed. Katsuki huffed and walked past Shouto without looking at him, brushed past Izuku, stepped on the bed, and plopped into it sitting crossed legged in the middle with his arms crossed. 

“We fucking fucking or what?”

“It’s okay to be tense, Katsuki,” Shouto soothed as he reached for his phone to put on some music. He put on some instrumental music with a good rhythm, to set the tone, just a little something to fill the room with. 

“I am not tense!”

“Kacchan,” Izuku stated as he turned his body to look at his curled up S oulmate, placing his hands on the bed, but waiting for a clear sign that he was okay before crawling over to him.

“Lying doesn’t become you,” Shouto said , walking over to the side of the bed and placing a knee on the bed so he was sett l ing in near them. 

“Fuck you!” 

“We’re getting to that yeah,” Shouto joked , “Sex really isn’t that complicated if you are worried about it.”

“I know! I just never done it before,” Katsuki said, 

“What’s wrong?” Izuku asked, “You getting nervous?”

“I don’t know! ” Katsuki yelled. 

“It is normal not to know how you feel before doing something new … particularly with three people for your first time. Just remember we are here for you,” Shouto continued to soothe. 

“Fuck this!” Katsuki said, “Can’t we just - ?” he said nervously and started to take off his shirt. He didn’t seem to want to be making this awkward or talking about this any more than they had to. He was ready to just wing it. 

Izuku crawled forward a bit and stopped him mid shirt removal and said, “We can go slow you know?”

“You’re not going easy on me. I’m a virgin, not a moron.” 

Shouto hummed, getting closer and ran his hand through Katsuki’s hair saying, “But a bit of foreplay is always nice. Going slow doesn’t always mean going easy. It c an help build tension.”

“Yeah?” Katsuki said , staring into Shouto’s eyes. Izuku couldn’t help but be a bit distracted himself at the moment. Shouto was very sexy when he wanted to be and Izuku was a fanboy. 

“Yeah,” Shouto breathed cupping the back of Katsuki’s head and drawing their faces close, eyeing him confidently like he was thinking of the best point to start devouring him. “It can be great going slow,” Shouto dr e w them in closer as if going in for a kiss before turning his head another direction almost circulating around Katsuki without ever making contact, “Knowing what is going to happen, but it doesn’t.” Shout o pulled back and Katsuki growled, fists tightening in the sheets. Shouto grinned and whispered in his ear, “Let yourself fall into it slowly,” he held Katsuki’s hand and pulled back to make eye contact before adding seductively, “I dare you to try.”

Katsuki glanced at Izuku before huffing and laying backward in bed stretching himself out for them. To Izuku, he was like this beautiful blond e offering laid out just for him. He’d imagined having sex with Kacchan numerous times, but even in his mind, he could not picture Kacchan being so unbelievably soft and approachable as this. Izuku crawled over to his left side, slunk down into his body and kissed him slowly like he was drinking him up. 

Shouto hummed as he watched Katsuki let himself be drunk and hovered over Katsuki’s right side and purred, “Good boy.” 

“Quiet strutting your dominance bullshit and get over here,” Katsuki said. 

As Izuku kissed Katsuki, Shouto leaned in placing his arm and Katsuki’s chest to stabilize himself as he lay down and placed his left hand in Izuk u ’s hair brushing it aside to re ve al his ear. Shouto bit and kissed at Izuku’s ear and the side of his face. 

“I love you both,” Shouto said, “this B onding thing, I don’t care nearly as much about it as I do you two. Going slow, going fast, not doing this at all. I don’t care. I just really want the two of you. Okay?” 

“Fine, you can pull your dominance crap if you're going to go all sappy on me and shit,” Katsuki teased. 

Izuku laughed a little then asked earnestly, “You sure you ’ r e okay, Kacchan?”

“Yeah, Uzu, I’ve just never not known what I’m doing like this before. Show me how?”

Izuku smiled, kissed him , and said, “You know, I’ve always sort of wanted to teach you something, Kacchan.” 

“I’m really lucky to have both of you,” Shouto said as he watched the exchange between his lovers. 

Their lips passed from one to the other in a slow makeout session, their bodies melted into the bed slowly falling into one another. Their hands gradually reached out for each other. Before they knew it , hands were everywhere all at once. They developed a pattern fluttering focus from one S oulmate to the other . W orking together to drive the decided-on Soulmate mad with lust. 

One moment, Izuku would have his full attention on Katsuki alongside Shouto, their mouths would be everywhere on him, his lips, his chest, their hands would stroke up and down encompassing his entire body. 

Then they would shift and Izuku would find himself being torn apart piece by piece by his S oulmate s . Just when he was on the brink of needing more and driven mad with want, they would shift again with all hands on Shouto. It was maddening and gradually they lost track and simply lost to a blur of hands and mouths, bodies rolling against one another. 

Head in a haze, Izuku watched as Shouto backed off to remove his shirt signaling to the others to do the same. Izuku couldn’t take the tension building any longer and quickly removed everything all at once before diving down in bed to help Katsuki relieve himself of his pants. 

“I got it, U z u,” Katsuki said as Izuku was pulling his pants off for him, never one to accept help. 

Izuku had them pulled down to his knees and stopped to lick Katsuki’s cock.

“Fuck,” Katsuki moaned. 

Izuku kissed his thigh and said, “Sure you don’t want help, Kacchan?” 

“Little tease,” Katsuki said, kicking off his pants and sitting up, knocking off Izuku as he did so. Katsuki pulled up one knee to his chest, laid against the backboard of the bed, draped an arm across his knee, and smirked down at Izuku. His naked form looked so confident. Izuku wanted to tear off the smirk and rip him apart till he was a drooling mess on the bed. 

“You’re one to talk, virgin boy,” Shouto said coming up beside Katsuki.

“Dude,” Katsuki smiled at Shouto, “are your fucking pubs white and red too?” Izuku laughed at Katsuki.

“It’s natural, wanna feel?” Shouto said , drawing closer to Katsuki and licking his neck. Katsuki shivered and let his legs fall open so Shouto could get closer. It was fun watching his two very different S oulmates. Shouto was seductive as all hell, while Katsuki was far too brash for pillow talk and simply said whatever came into his head whether it set the mood or not. 

Shouto was a sight to behold for sure. His skin was so fair and smooth it was enticing as Izuku’s eyes wandered down his tight chest and hard abs. His body was so sleek. When fully revealed, the bright red mark on his face became more contrasting to the rest of him. Then there was the partly red hair near his groin that drew the eye to his package. Izuku couldn’t look away and felt lured in as he maneuvered over to Shouto , touching him as he, in turn, touched Katsuki. 

Having all three of them naked turned Izuku on more than thought possible and he went into autopilot allowing himself to touch and feel as his desire led him without thinking about it. For once his brain shut down and his body completely took over. They all started to breathe more heavily, their bodies moved faster against one another .

Katsuki breathed, “Izuku” as they locked eyes. Izuku could tell at that moment he wasn't the only one losing himself to sensation, now he just had to reduce Katsuki to that drooling mess. He was so close. 

Izuku moaned as he felt Shouto’s hands on his ass. Shouto pushed Izuku further into the bed and positioned himself on top of him. Izuku could feel that he was preparing to take things to the next level to form the B ond. Izuku moaned with anticipation. “You prep me and I do Katsuki?” He checked . 

Shouto nodded and kissed him deeply. 

“Kacchan,” Izuku said as he rolled on top of his stomach and propped himself up on his hands and knees, “come here.” 

“H mm ?” Katsuki hummed as he went to Izuku’s side. Izuku helped maneuver him so he was sitting up against the head board of the bed again with his legs spread wide and his ass til t ed up. Izuku settled comfortably in between his legs and started to lick and suck at everything he had access to as his fingers began to w a nder gradually to Katsuki’s hole. As he did so, Shouto began to finger Izuku, kissing up and down his back as he explored further inside him.

“Fuck!” Katsuki moaned panting hard as he began to squirm under Izuku’s touch.

“Slow down,” Shouto said, “This is new to him, re member?” Just then his finger found Izuku’s prostate and Izuku moaned and panted against Katsuki .  

“But I’ve wanted this for so long. Kacchan, want you. Wanna … mmm … mess you up so bad … ah.”

“Fuck, Uzu, what are you doing?” Katsuki moaned. Just then Izuku slipped a finger slightly past his rim. Katsuki tensed and grabbed the sheets of the bed and looked up at Shouto. 

“Relax,” Shouto said leaning over Izuku to kiss him gently, “Let us take care of you, hu h ?”

“Fuck , feels weird,” Katsuki winced slightly as Izuku slipped his finger in further. 

Izuku moaned , licked Katsuki’s cock , and fucked his finger into him firmly. 

“Fuck, stop, the hell?” Katsuki panted as Izuku his prostate in full force. 

Izuku removed his hand and cuddled into Katsuki’s chest, “Sorry Kacchan, wanna maybe watch a bit? Can’t really … feel so good. It’s hard to go slow. Love you.”

Katsuki relaxed and wrapped his arms around Izuku, looking up to Shouto who was worshiping Izuku’s ass driving him mad. 

“Too much for our little virgin?” Shouto teased as he kissed Katsuki once more. Izuku moaned. Shouto turned into a bit of a sadistic bastard during sex and it drove Izuku crazy. 

“It doesn’t feel weird?” Katsuki asked Izuku watching in wonderment as Shouto fingered him. 

Izuku moaned and panted, “mmmm so good.” That was about as clear of speech as Izuku could manage at the moment. He pulled away from Ka cchan ’s arms slightly to have more room to kiss and suck at his abs , needing to share the lust and love with his partner. 

“Wanna try again? You don’t have to, we haven’t started the B ond yet, we still don’t have to, we can always wait,” Shouto said , not skipping a beat while talking. Izuku was blown away at how well he was able to pay full attention to both of them. 

“Shouto, slow down,” Izuku said, “too good … ah … can’t think.”

Shouto smiled down at him and kissed his back, slowing down but still paying close attention to his prostate and rubbing his nipples now and then. “Better?” Shouto asked.

Izuku moaned and nodded. Looking up at Katsuki who was watching them curiously and calmed down. “Can I, Kacchan?” 

Katsuki nodded.

Shouto , however, spoke up in warning. “Nice and easy.” 

Izuku went back to opening up Kacchan returning every tantalizing stroke Shouto was giving him to Kacchan . He loved that Kacchan was letting him do this and went slow and easy. He’d dreamt of doing this for so long, but having Shouto behind him loving him as he loved Kacchan was beyond wonderful. He dove into his task of driving Kacchan to a lust y haze slowly with attention to every breath hitch and moan. 

By the time he finally got Kacchan to the point where he was instinctually rocking into Izuku’s movements Shouto kissed him from behind and said, “Ready love?”

Izuku felt a rush of heat at the anticipation of B onding. It was happening. The y were finally going to start the B ond. He was going to be united with Shouto and allow him to take his S oul into his being. “Yes! I’m ready.” w as all he could manage to say. He couldn’t seem to put into words how much this meant to him, how much he was looking forward to the B ond , and figured his actions would have to speak for him as his brain and tongue were failing him. 

“Katsuki,” Shouto said, “We don’t have to now, but once we start, we have to complete these. Are you sure?”

“I - oh fuck,” Katsuki panted. Izuku had gotten into a rhythm of fucking into his Kacchan and had forgotten to share. Now that he realized he really should pause so Katsuki could talk, he was reluctant to stop. He wanted to keep distracting the hell out of him, maybe just one more twist of the wrist here and one more tiny thrust there. 

“Izuku,” Shouto breathed softly , wrapping his arms around his love, “Easy.” He kissed Izuku on the shoulder and placed a hand on Izuku’s arms , stealing his movement softly. Izuku pouted and Shouto soothed, “We have our whole lives, love.” 

Katsuki sat up a little as he gathered himself, “Fuck, U z u,” He panted , resting his head against the backboard, “Figures you’d be fucking obsessive and competitive even in bed.” 

“Doing okay there, love?” Shouto teased Katsuki as he kissed Izuku , keeping eye contact with his more flustered partner. 

“Yeah,” Katsuki breathed , “I’m ready for this. And fuck you! Of course, I’m fine!” 

For once, Izuku wasn’t into talking. He crawled up to Kacchan ’s face and kissed him deeply. Shouto followed close behind him, covering Izuku with his body and kissing them both. Izuku rolled onto his back using Kacchan for support and positioned himself so Shouto could have easy access. When Shouto finally entered him, it was sheer bliss. Kacchan held him from behind and Shouto’s fierce gaze was on him. Heterochromatic eyes convey ed all the love in the world in calming gray and the hunger and passion vibrant blue , both overwhelmed Izuku. 

“Izuku, I love you so much, you are the light of my life,” Shouto said as he thrust into him. 

“Love you,” Izku moaned, “harder.” he moved one hand to grip onto Shouto’s shoulder and the other on Katsuki’s for support as he held himself up to better roll with Shouto’s movements making sure to brush up against Katsuki in all the right ways as he did so. As Shouto moved faster, Katsuki’s grip became more firm , offering needed support and heightening Izuku’s experience. He was between two hard hot bodies panting and losing himself to the heat. 

“Come for me, my love,” Shouto said and Izuku’s body obeyed before his brain registered the words. As he came Shouto said, “Always.” And bit him. 

Instantly the world faded away. Izuku entered a void where nothing existed. He couldn’t feel or see, touch, hear, smell everything faded. Even his thoughts and self-identity faded away. 

For a moment Izuku was nothing , felt nothing , and thought nothing. There was a moment of utter calm. 

Then there was a bright light and suddenly, Izuku was flooded with Shouto. He could feel the breath coming out of his lungs, the sweat running down his back, his muscles tightening around Izuku’s body, and he could feel his thoughts and emotions. 

Shouto was everything, he was all Izuku could think about, feel, or see. He was all that existed, he was existence itself. Bright red and white consumed his visage. Then followed the need. 

Izuku surged forward and grabbed Shouto. He needed more of Shouto. Something deep within his soul needed to have Shouto. He needed that S oul more than he needed to breath e . Izuku’s mouth found Shouto’s shoulder and he was about to seal the B ond when Shouto pushed him backward. 

Confusion. 

Despair. 

Shouto was everything. 

Izuku needed him. 

Why wouldn’t his everything let him have his S oul? 

Izuku grabbed him and tried wrapping himself around Shouto. 

“No, my love,” Shouto pried him off gently, “Not yet.” He peppered him with kisses and all Izuku could feel was love. Love and utter confusion. 

His Shouto loved him more than life, Izuku could feel it in waves like a tsunami, but he wouldn’t let him have his S oul? 

“Help me hold Katsuki,” Shouto kissed him and pulled him closer to another body. Izuku’s world had narrowed to only Shouto. Izuku could feel Shouto’s skin but was entirely unaware of the bed, the room, the music playing in the distance, or even his childhood love behind him. He was confused but was desperate to make Shouto happy. He’d fly if Shouto asked him to right now. So he roughly and quickly obeyed the command , grabbing the body behind him and holding him to Shouto. 

“Just like that, love, hold him for me as he did for you. Help me fuck him and make him feel good okay?” 

“Fuck is wrong with the nerd?” A gruff voice vibrated, but Izuku didn’t register it. 

He only heard Shouto, only felt Shouto’s joy that he was listening and obeying. Izuku held the body up and positioned it for his love. He was going to make this body feel amazing if that’s what Shouto wanted. He licked and sucked at the body in front of him, in his arms , and spread him wide for Shouto. 

“It’s just a side effect, we need to B ond quickly. You ready?” Shouto said. 

“Yeah! Oh fuck, Uzu, slow down. Shouto, just get it on with damn it … fuck … ah - ” The gruff voice rolled the words in a haze. 

Izuku moaned . Shouto was so pleased. He could feel his hunger at watching the body fall to pieces. He could feel how badly Shouto wanted to see him fall apart farther. This spurred Izuku onward and his hands were all over the body. 

“Easy, Izuku,” Shouto said, “Slow, my love.” t his also confused Izuku. 

Shouto wanted more, Izuku could feel it, but the command was to back off? Izuku obeyed all the same. 

Izuku felt Shouto’s lips brush up against Katsuki’s as if it were his own. “Katsuki, you have to know how much this means to me. Katsuki , please.”

“Fucking show me already then,” t he gruff voice challenged. 

Izuku felt Shouto’s entire being light on fire at the words. He couldn’t hear Katsuki’s voice, but he could feel the effect they had on Shouto. He could feel how much they turned him on and consumed him. He could feel Shouto as he breached Katsuki’s wet hole and met resistance. The body was tense , which wouldn’t do. Izuku reached down and spread him wide pushing him further so Shouto entered him.

“Fuck! Shouto!” Katsuki yelled and grabbed onto Izuku who was overwhelmed by Shouto’s feeling of amazement and flashes of possessiveness.  

“You’re mine. I get to be the first to have you like this.” Shouto said as he thrust in deep and rolled into the hot wet hole. Katsuki panted and moaned as Shouto began to move in and out of him. 

“So strong. You're always so strong. Look at you under me. A mess. God, I don’t deserve this.” Shouto ranted between thrusts and kisses as he began to fuck into Katsuki and gain a rhythm. 

Izuku was lost to the sensation of Shouto totally in love and grabbed Katsuki holding him firmly in the perfect position for Shouto to hammer away as he pleased. Spreading his hands over his thighs, opening them wider, holding him still, anything he could to position him better. He felt Katsuki’s arms wrap around Shouto’s shoulders so he could hold on. He felt the way Katsuki’s body trembled against Shouto. 

“Such a - ah sap,” Katsuki teased, “Fuck feels … ah … fuck … Shouto … need … more … ah something.”

Shouto smirked and rolled his hips, “God, what you do to me, Katsuki. I’ll give you more if you say you’re mine.”

“Yours,” Katsuki panted, “now fuck me, bitch.”

“Hmm, Not sure I like that attitude, pretty sure your my bitch right now. Say it like you mean it.” Shouto stilled. His movements and Izuku moaned in frustration. 

He could feel how hot Shouto was, why was he playing around? 

All of Izuku’s being begged to bite Shouto and obtain his S oul, but somehow his love appeared to be taking pleasure in torturing himself and this body they were holding. 

“Fuck, don’t stop. Fuck fine. Fine! You know I’m yours. Would never let you have me otherwise. Would never let you near me if I wasn’t yours. Would never let you have me if I wasn’t sure you were the most amazing goddam n man on the fucking planet next to Uzu. I’m yours. Seal the deal.”

Izuku’s being was once again flooded with fire and passion and obsession coming from Shouto as he felt him renew his thrusts with more vigor. 

“Katsuki, you are the fire in my life,” Shouto said as he surged forward and bit Katsuki causing Izuku’s world to broaden. He could feel Katsuki through Shouto. It was odd and distant, but he could feel this rush of power as Shouto began to obtain Katsuki’s S oul. 

Suddenly, Izuku was aware of Katsuki as the boy he had grown up with all his life, admired and loved. 

“Kacchan,” Izuku breathed in awe as he softened his touch and looked his love in the eye. 

Katsuki was lost to sensation and came as soon as Izuku called his name. Shouto followed behind him, pulled out and collapsed beside Katsuki. Izuku moved out from behind Katsuki helping him to collapse in bed beside Shouto. 

Izuku kissed them both. His whole world was flooded with Shouto’s thoughts and being still, but now Katsuki was an extension of that as was Shouto’s love for him.

“Last B ond, Izuku, your turn love,” Shouto said. Katsuki surged forward and reached out for Shouto much as Izuku had before. Izuku recognized that his love was lost in the B ond. Shouto pushed Katsuki aside, “Not yet love, be good for Izuku.”

Katsuki w h ined and Izuku placed a comforting hand on his back and chest remembering how confused he was, still is with all the sensations coming at him in waves. 

“You can be a good boy, right, Katsuki, my love?” Shouto said soothingly. He was still a bit fucked up from his orgasm, but smiled softly and ran loving hands through Katsuki’s hair. Katsuki settled back down and Shouto hummed in approval. 

Izuku crawled over him and kissed him. Katsuki responded like it was an automatic reflex to please Shouto. As if Katsuki was unable to feel Izuku at all and was simply allowing his lips to be moved passively. 

Izuku growled a noise he had never really made before. Even flooded by Shouto, Izuku still knew he did not care for Kacchan ignoring him. But he knew how to fix this. He grabbed Katsuki and thrust into him in one swift movement, the instant he was inside Katsuki he wasted no time in grabbing his hand and biting him right where it would be obvious to anyone right where his source of power was. 

Katsuki gasped and moaned, “Deku.” Izuku kissed him deeply and held him close. He had never wanted to hear that name so badly before in his life.

“Kacchan,” Izuku said, “I love you so much. You’re my H ero.” Izuku lost himself in Katsuki. He had wanted this for so long, dreamt of being able to have sex with Katsuki, what it would feel like to have the most intimate part of him. To hold him, and make him scream his name till he was incoherent. Izuku looked down at this love, he was so messed up, hair disheveled, drooling mess on the bed with eyes glazed over with bliss just as Izuku hoped he’d be. But something was wrong, that ever-present fire in Katsuki’s eyes was out. 

Izuku looked over to Shouto, he was still lost to the Bond himself, literally inside Katsuki, he could still feel Shouto all around him and instinctively knew that he had been getting off to watching them. But the surge of strength he was getting from Katsuki’s soul flooding into his own, helped ground him and give him clarity enough to verbalize to Shouto, “Shouto help. Kacchan.”

“His S oul is bleeding into both of ours. He’ll bleed out. You have to help him complete a B ond. Give him stability.” Shouto said then added, “How are you two so hot?”

“Kacchan,” Izuku said and rolled into him drawing his attention slightly. Izuku kept fucking into him but bent down so his shoulder was directly by Katsuki’s mouth. Cupping his face, cradling it so his mouth made contact with Izuku’s skin, he said, “Show me you love me too.”

Katsuki snapped out of his haze long enough to bite down hard. Izuku felt like he rose to the challenge too hardcore and was trying to bite off a chunk of Izuku’s shoulder. Izuku moaned and repaid his fierce lover by fucking into him with full force. 

His B ond with Katsuki was complete. He felt them snap into place. Now he was permanently part of Katsuki and Katsuki was a part of him. Their S ouls were mixing and flowing directly into Shouto. 

He felt every ounce of their being pouring into Shouto with every second he spent focused on Katsuki. He knew they could not stay like that forever, but it wasn’t frightening. It was like free falling into an abyss. He knew what would await him on the landing, but the fall was just so glorious. 

“Izuku, Izuku, love you have to come back to me,” Shouto’s voice brought Izuku back to reality. He found himself kneeling over Katsuki with his legs pulled nearly up to Izuku’s shoulders, Izuku’s arms were holding him up for support as he thrust into Katsuki and kissed him all at a maddening pace. He was fucking him like it was the last thing he would do and loving every second of it. 

“Shouto,” Izuku said, “this feels so amazing. Never want to end. Take all of us.”

“No, my love, no,” Shouto said and placed his arm in front of Izuku’s mouth and begged, “come on, do it for me.”

Izuku bit Shouto and felt them fall into place. Their S ouls were mixing. If free falling into Shouto was heaven this was next level amazing. Izuku nearly cried. The feeling of their S ouls blending, of Shouto giving himself to Izuku, was so overwhelming, he came and collapsed on top of Katsuki. 

Shouto kissed him and then turned to Katsuki, “Your turn love. Last one.” But Katsuki was out of it, a heated mess under Izuku. Shouto put a concerned hand on Izuku’s shoulder alerting him to danger. “He’s losing too much of himself. We need him to do this fast.” 

Izuku quickly sat him up and helped him push Katsuki up to a sitting position. They pried his mouth open with no resistance and Shouto placed his arm inside. “Come on love, just close your mouth for me, baby.”

“Kacchan, please,” Izuku begged. 

With a little encouragement and patience from both of them, Katsuki grunted and bit gently down on Shouto. It was like placing the final piece in a puzzle. Izuku felt so complete for the first time in his life. 

He had never thought he was lonely before, but now he realized he had been lonely for his entire existence and had finally come home. He was overwhelmed with sensations coming from both Shouto and Katsuki, they were his whole world. 

Later, he would be grateful for Shouto getting them to clean up, but for now, he just wanted to lazily lie cuddled close to his lovers and get some much-earned post-orgasm sleep. Katsuki was impossible to move, so exhausted from almost entirely losing his S oul, and Izuku wasn’t much help. But Shouto managed to get them comfy and clean before curling up with them. This time Katsuki was in the dead center and they tangled their bodies together as tightly and entwined as they could be. Once Izuku was sure he had maximized as much skin-to-skin contact with his S oulmates as possible, he allowed himself to let go and fall into a deep sleep. 

Chapter Text

While they slept the B ond continued to form. Their newly united S oul churning and mixing, flowing from one body to the next. It would continue to swirl and churn for the next several days before reaching normality. 

The S oul is a complicated little source of power and individuality. It is what makes an individual who they are and what connects them to their corporeal form. With the connection of the S oul came a connection of the body, of the senses, and the mind. While their now combined S oul fluttered in pieces from one body to the next the connection between corporeal forms was blurred and chaotic. 

Izuku felt awakeness pull at his mind in several different directions as if it was unsure if Shouto, Katsuki , or himself was the source. But it pulled him forward into the waking world regardless and he found himself coming into consciousness.  As he sat up, he felt Shouto’s hands pulling up the covers and the softness of the comforter on his cheek, he felt Katsuki roll over and the grumble of vibrating vocal cords as he groaned. He felt them all as if it were happening to himself and stared at his own hands for confirmation that he was himself. He could feel their presence within himself as strong as his own. He stared at his own hands trying to convince his brain that they were his and separate the feeling of his own body from the others in his mind. 

He closed his eyes and reached out. He could feel the B ond swirling moving inside of them. Just as he was gaining some control, Katsuki lept from the bed and slid into the bathroom floor, flipped the toilet seat open , and vomited. 

“Izuku!” He groaned into the toilet in between retching his guts up. 

Shouto, having slightly more control of the B ond th a n Izuku, found his legs first and was beside Katsuki’s collapsed form , rubbing his back as he slunk on the floor clinging to the toilet. Izuku followed behind, stepping slowly as if his legs were made of lead since his brain still did not recognize his body as his. When he entered the doorway, his whole body froze. 

If you have ever been to a funhouse mirror, goofed around, and found, for a split second, your brain was confused and you were not sure which of those many images of yourself as you, which way you were going and had a brief, odd, and dizzying out of body experience, then you might be familiar with the odd sense that overcame Izuku as he saw his S oulmates. He clung to the doorway as he swayed , and understood what had made Katsuki so sick. 

As Izuku thought to himself, I don’t feel so good , Katsuki hurled again. Izuku realized that if he wanted any hope of helping his S oulmate, he would first have to steady himself. Sending confusing signals across the B ond would not be good for his already nauseated lover. 

Izuku could hear Shouto saying soothing words into Katsuki’s ear , he could feel Shouto’s vocal cords make the noise, and he could hear the sound reaching Katsuki’s right ear as Shouto’s breath warm and soothing was right near it . Hearing from Katsuki’s ears as well as his own was dizzying. 

“Uzu,” Katsuki groaned into the porcelain bowl.

“Right here Kacchan,” Izuku said, “always by your side, love.”

“Fucking always behind me,” Katsuki said meaning to sound annoyed at how far away Izuku was. Two - steps away was too far. “Why’s it hurt so bad? I feel awful. Shouto, make it stop.”

“I’m trying,” Shouto said, “It’ll settle down eventually. You're doing great, love.”

“Fuck this,” Katsuki said, “I change my mind. I want to be the one in control of the B ond. Gimme.” Then he threw up again. 

Shouto chuckled, a soft rumbling sound deep in his throat like a delighted cat’s purr. He smiled over Katsuki and said, “Afraid it doesn’t work that way, love.”

“U z u, Shouto’s being mean. Hit him.” Katsuki said. 

Izuku smiled. That time his speech was slurred and he pronounced the nickname “oo-shu” a bit more like he had when he was four. Katsuki had always been a bit of a clingy brat on the extremely rare times he had been sick as a child. Izuku loved that he was one of a small handful of people on the planet who got to see the more vulnerable real side of Katsuki. 

That feeling of love rippled across the B ond and gave them energy and strength. The feeling was like seeing a glimpse of light from a lighthouse drift through a dense fog. It led the way to solid ground. 

With this renewed stability, they were able to help Katsuki up to the sink to rinse his mouth out. 

“The fuck is wrong with my legs? It feels like I'm standing but the fuckers keep giving out on me?!?” Katsuki complained as they lifted him, Shouto on his right and Izuku on his left. It was confusing as hell for Izuku to figure out the difference between his body and the others, but for Katsuki who had even less control, it was even harder. For him, it was like being battered around in a whirlwind with no ground under his feet. 

“You still look hot though,” Shouto encouraged as they carried most of his weight and turned on the tap. 

“Fuck looks. I want strength damn it!” Katsuki yelled. 

“Just rinse your mouth out,” Shouto said and handed him a paper cup filled with water. 

Izuku struggled to find his voice and settled for concentrating on holding himself and Katsuki up. Once Katsuki was freshened up, they dragged him back to bed. All along the way, Katsuki became slightly more incoherent. The waves of emotion coming of Izuku Shouto and himself were filling him up and clouding his mind. Izuku’s thousand-mile - a - minute brain was flooding him with thoughts and Katsuki couldn’t seem to keep up. But, being a stubborn brute, Katsuki refused to settle down and allow the B ond to control him. 

“Feels weird,” Katsuki muttered as he sat up in bed right after his S oulmates had placed him laying down. 

“Hush,” Shouto soothed, “I know it feels weird, you need rest, love.”

“Mmm,” Katsuki hummed and moved his head like a ton of rocks, “Run.”

“No, love,” Shouto placed a hand on his chest and gently guided him to lay back down, “No running today. You need to rest.”

“Kacchan, I’m tired,” Izuku said, “Sleep with me?” It was a childish trick, but it worked nonetheless. Katsuki settled into bed and grabbed Izuku. 

Shouto hummed as he looked over his two lovers cuddled in bed, he brushed Katsuki’s hair and said, “Good boy.” 

“Fucker,” Katsuki muttered as he closed his eyes. 

“Always making things interesting,” Shouto smiled as he settled in and wrapped his arms around Katsuki’s waist spooning him as Katsuki haphazardly flopped on top of Izuku.  

Katsuki was restless , tossing and turning in bed, but eventually, they all settled down. Once one of them fell asleep it dragged the rest of them into unconsciousness. Something about their beings rearranging themselves into one cohesive piece was exhausting. Sleep was the best way to pass the time at the beginning of the B ond. They ended up sleeping for the rest of the day that way , only waking up occasionally here and there to take care of physical needs. 

The next several days were spent like this. Shouto would make them food now and then , as needed as he was the most functional of the three. However, he was also the worst cook of the three , and all they had were S afe H ouse rations. Katsuki did not mind as he could hardly keep anything down other than crackers. 

The second day was a little bit better. Izuku was getting the hang of their separate bodies and grabbing hold of the B ond. Katsuki was throwing up less and less. Yet, all three of them were still completely exhausted. However, they saw it as a wonderful excuse to be lazy. Izuku was very grateful for the chance to be an utterly lazy bag of bones for once in his life. They had taken to watching rando m DVD s that happened to be left behind at the S afe H ouse. Their options were Shanghai Noon , Where the Red Fern Grows , and Beastly . 

Izuku was curled up on the far couch with pillows, blankets , and his S oulmates watching a weird teenage romance about a cursed, blond e , rich kid. Beastly wasn’t his first option or his third, but two days and no cable left him with no choice. Katsuki was passed out drooling on his shoulder and Shouto was holding his hand making sarcastic comments making fun of the movie while Izuku was finding himself enjoying it. He would never admit it with Katsuki around, but the shitty movie was pretty entertaining. Plus, having Shouto curled into him and Katsuki peacefully blitzed out was nice. 

Izuku was perfectly at peace when he heard a loud boom at the front door. 

He sat up immediately, nerves on edge, hair raised . 

They had an intruder at the S afe H ouse. He knew instantly that V illains had found them. Shouto rushed to wards the door to see what was happening , while Katsuki jolted awake screaming, “I'll kill ‘em!”

Izuku’s blood ran cold, fighting was his whole life, it was his career, it is what he had trained for, but he was nowhere near ready for this one. 

Katsuki had just found his legs enough to get around without running into things or his legs giving out and Izuku still got waves of dizziness occasionally . 

Shouto was not un affected by the B ond either. Since he had the most control, he spen t most of his time concentrating on controlling the B ond to support everyone. 

They were all exhausted and had not eaten a real meal in days.  

The unsettled B ond made them vulnerable and their opponents knew it.  

Chapter Text

Shouto and Izuku were curled up on the couch together both enjoying a mixed drink, one of Katsuki’s newest concoctions while listening to Kirishima prattle on about some adventure he had had or other as a hero and how his coworkers never ceased to inspire him. Katsuki was in the kitchen where he had been slaving away at dinner and had completely kicked all of them out to do so having insisted on having everything his own way and refusing to allow any of them in the kitchen to upset his routine. Izuku figured that was a ridiculous load of hoopla and Katsuki really just wanted them to relax as Izuku was sure he secretly desperately wanted his soulmates to get along with his best friend and this was the first time the four of them were all hanging out together since he had revealed their status as soulmates. 

Kirishima was easy to get along with, Izuku had always liked him when they were in school together. Kirishima had always been part of Katsuki’s click, however, and Izuku had never spent too much time with him outside of class activities. It was interesting getting to know someone for the first time who was so familiar. They had lived together in the dorms, yet this was the first time Izuku felt like he was really connecting with Kirishima. 

Still, there was this nagging sense of jealously at the back of Izuku’s mind which was very distracting with the forefront of Kirishima’s bewilderingly bright and open smile. While Izuku had known Katsuki longer than anyone and he and Shouto were soulmates with the fiery blond, Kirishima was just so much closer. Katsuki and him and lived together since graduating high school and were thicker than thieves whereas Izuku had been estranged from his love since highschool having fallen out of friendship long before then and Shouto was just getting to know Katsuki. It was frustrating to see his lover so close to someone else and so comfortable. 

Even more frustrating was the fact that he couldn’t seem to actually be mad at Kirishma who was such a wonderful loving and loyal person. His heart was always and forever on his sleeve and he cared very deeply for Katsuki, others around him, honor, and his hero work. He was just an upright and optimistic person that even a green-eyed monster couldn’t eye him with envy. Which of course was frustrating and infuriating as all hell. 

Thankfully, Izuku’s reliably upfront soulmate never shied from asking the blunt and to the point questions for him. Shouto suddenly sat upright in the middle of one of Kirshimas’s more animated stories and asked our of the blue, “Where you and Katsuki ever an item?”

Kirishima laughed at the question and Katsuki burst in from the kitchen with a crash stuttering, “WHAT THE FUCK?”

Poor Katsuki appeared quite off guared from the question, but Kirishima just laughed and shook his head, “Me and Bakubro? No never.”

“The fuck would you get a stupid idea like that from?” Katsuki said still holding a mixing bowl in his hands from the kitchen. 

“Well it’s just that, you two are so close Kacchan, and when Kirishima, when you found out about us being soulmates you two had this weird look and you seemed not...maybe there was... I don’t know...we were just curious and thought maybe?” Izuku scrambled for an explanation. 

Katsuki looked bewildered and disgusted by the thought. But Kirishima seemed to find the idea hilarious and could not stop laughing. 

“No! Nothing like that! Never! Well, I mean we did make out that one time on New Years, but I don’t really count that.” Kirishima confessed flippantly. 

“WHAT?” All three soulmates said at once. Katsuki added, “When the fuck did we? We never? The FUCK?”

“What! Bro, you don’t remember? WE were both sober too. New Year’s Eve a few years back.”

Katsuki looked confused and too be in deep thought. Izuku was in a state of shock, while he had felt jealous, he never logically thought he had anything to be worried about. This new confession was throwing him off combined with Katsuki’s poor memory was confounding. 

“Yeah, we decided that when the ball dropped that year no mattered what we were going to both have a chick to kiss just like in the movies and everything. We wanted to have that classic kiss at the start of the New Year. I don’t really know why, I mean you guy, but we were both single and it was just for fun really. So we set out on this mission for Ney Years.”

“OOOOOH” Katsuki verbalized involuntarily as sudden recall hit him. He set his bowl down and plopped next to Izuku and Shouto on the couch as they all listened to Kirishima’s story. 

“YEAH!” Kirishima said, “You remember! So, we set out, mission, all that. We found these girls who were the perfect target for casual no strings attached midnight kiss. Then one of them got wasted before the ball drop and had to carry the other one home. 10min till midnight and we are there without a target all of a sudden. The girls didn’t bother to tell us they were headed out so we go scrambling to find them. 2min till midnight we find out they already left. Then I don’t even remember why, but we end up running down this fire escape outside. Then we hear the strick of midnight ring out and everyone shouts and Bakubro never one to fail a mission, he just grabs me and like GOES for it. Dude, I don’t even know why we were like making out, but bro never does anything half-hearted. So there we are on the fire escape at midnight. Dude, that was such a crazy year! But that was the only time swear on my honor.”

“Oh shit, I completely forgot about that,” Katsuki said. 

“How do you forget about something like that?” Shout asked flatly. His voice was calm in front of Kirishima, but Izuku could hear the slight bit in the undertone of his voice that meant he was very much irritated by this response. 

Katsuki rolled his eyes and made a ‘tch,’ noise indicating that he truly did not have a decent response to that accusation. 

“I mean, it was a pretty spur of the moment decision a while back ago. Really never came up again until now.” Kirishima said. 

“Then, um,” Izuku said, “If you don’t mind me being blunt. Not that I’m questioning your honor, you’ve always been the most loyal person I know. But what was that hesitation on your end when you heard we were soulmates anyway? It’s been kind of bothering me.”

“Oh! Sorry, bro! But that’s um...Well, Bakugou, I promised I wouldn’t say anything.”

“It’s fine, hair for brains,” Katsuki said. 

“Well, with the eclipse coming up we did talk about it. Soulmates. And Katsuki said that he didn’t want a soulmate because he did not like the idea of destiny guiding who he loves. He said he’d rather find his soulmate on his own rather than have a magical eclipse do his work of him. So, I when I heard that you were soulmates, I was afraid for my bro. But I’m glad that it all worked out in the end.” 

“It’s fine, Fuck Destiny, we are still going to make our own destiny stupid eclipse be damned,” Katsuki stated firmly. 

Shouto smiled and kissed Katsuki gently on the lips. Izuku grinned and joined in by placing a gentle peck on Katsuki’s neck. They both loved the idea of building their own destiny. The eclipse may have been what brought them all together, But they were by no means a normal pair of soulmates and their future was entirely their own to carve out. 

The New Year was looking right already. 

Chapter Text

The door was in shattered pieces punch down from the outside. A large chunk of the door was smashed into the living room coffee table which had crumpled in half under the pressure. Shattered splints of wood were everywhere. A villain so large he had to duck to enter the house and walked in sideways. With a  dense visage, he took up the entire entryway and appeared to be made of white brown plasma; the large villain had a vacant expression on his face. His globbering legs were as big as tree trunks and he stomped into the house with a thundering gaze. Behind the beast of a creature appeared a small impish man with vines growing all over his body. His hair consisted of a bush of water hemlock flowers and he had an evil grin on his face. His eyes were black with green glowing slits in the center like snake eyes, his irises were almost almond in shape like small seeds, but gave him a wicked and impish appearance. As he eyed the three heroes his lips curled and he yelled in a shrill voice, “Found ‘em, boss!” 

“What are you waiting for,” resounded a sultry female voice whose form was blocked by the wall-like plasma man in the doorway, “Fill ‘em up, Hemlock.”

Shouto made a dash for the kitchen counter where there was a panic button hidden underneath the lip of the bar top counter, but the plasma villain shot out a lumbering arm and blocked him. The villain's arm smashed into Shouto’s chest and he countered with an ice punch. 

The impish plant villain, Hemlock started sprouting out spores in a fine gas from his hands that began filling the room. Izuku’s eyes went wide with the sudden realization that that gas would be very much not good for any of them. Favoring a long-distance attack in this instance, he grabbed for the lamp in the living room and changed it at the villain putting as much of One for All in the throw as he could without shattering the lamp in his hands. The plasma villain tries to block the lamp from hitting Hemlock but was too distracted with Shouto to properly react. The lamp smashed into Hemlock's chest violently enough that he falls backward. Stunned the poisonous gas, ceases to leak from his hands. 

“Damn it, Corg. Some bodyguard you is, ya dumb lug.”

“Wha?” Corg the plasma villain gave a hurt expression as he punched at Shouto. 

Izuku instantly felt sick despite still being a safe distance from the gas. Up until now, the bond between them had only carried feelings of love and connection. Alarm, concern, and panic was flooding his senses, put every hair in his body on end. He could feel his feelings of worry alongside Shouto’s frustration and Katsuki’s anger, they were coming at him all at once in various mediums. He could feel his stomach tied in knots at this “secure” location being breached alongside the guilt of having placed his lovers here. He could feel Katsuki’s face flush with anger, his vision going red, and his hands burning to blow the villains head off. He could feel Shouto’s hands twitch ready for action to protect the men he cared for he could feel the fire and anger and the cooling ice battling creating a constant battling duality within him. It was confusing. For a brief moment, he was so caught up with everything he was feeling that he had tunnel vision was unaware of the villains. He could not imagine how it must be affecting Katsuki who had far less control over the bond than himself. But his brave love was putting up a good front as he heard the blond shout, “DIE FUCKING ASHOLES!”

Shouto freezes Corg’s plasma arm immobilizing him just enough to slip past and hit the panic button. Corg breaks free of his confinement just as three more villains appear from behind him and charge forward lashing at Izuku and Shouto, while Katsuki ran forward and began attacking wildly at the villains. 

Izuku found himself fast with two villains, one of whom was dressed all in black with her face covered like a ninja. Her quirk seemed to allow her to duplicate her arms or legs at will in addition to having an expert fighting skill made for an annoying appointment. She was working along with a villain called Dreamsnatcher who seemed able to produce small visual and auditory hallucinations confusing Izuku’s already frazzled scenes. Normally, he’d be able to think and strategize, utilize his super-speed agility, outmaneuver and takedown opponents such as these easily, but the unsettled soulbond tied his hands and slowed his brain and turned his legs to jelly. 

Meanwhile, Shouto had his hands full fighting off Corg whose quirk allowed him to change phases between the phases of matter liquid, solid, gas, or plasma at will. While he fought in plasma form, the fiend was able to adapt to Shouto’s heat and ice at will and change phases making all of his attacks inept just as fast as he was able to land them. The beast of a man was enormous so facing him with an unsettled soulbond was like fighting a grizzly bear while intoxicated. 

Then there was Katsuki,  he was fighting off two villains himself. He was using small blasts to dissipate and blow aware Hemlock's gas before it got much farther than his hands while utilizing his martial arts skills with hand to hand combat on the villain leader who was a short stout female with the ability to change her arms into any weapon of her choosing. 

Despite barely being able to find of the fiends, Izuku wasn’t concerned in the slightest. They had already hit the panic button which meant that it would be a matter of minutes before reinforcement came. They were minutes away from salvation. Izuku believed in his lovers' ability to hold their own. While all three of them were losing focus fast, he did not doubt that they would overcome. 

2 minutes past. 

The ninja villain sprouted one more extra arms than Izuku was expecting and managed to land a solid jab right to Izuku’s solar plex knocking the wind out of him momentarily. That painful nonfunctioning non-voluntary gasp Izuku let out had a multitude of effects. Instantly his pain rang threw the bond like a cacophony of alarm bells ringing in an echo chamber. They all felt it. 

Shouto fell off balance and the plasma villain landed a hard punch to his jaw adding to the resounding clanger wreaking havoc on their minds and bodies. Katsuki instantly felt sick, grabbed hold of the villain leader and vomited all over her. 

4 minutes past. 

“THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU HERO?!?!” The woman yelled as she kicked Katsuki off her, he fell to the ground and with a moan. She turned her foot into a meat tenderizer and kicked Katsuki while he was still on the floor. 

“Lick it up, baby. LICK. IT. UP.” Katsuki taunted while trying to crawl back up to a fighting stance. His false bravado earned him another metal kick.

The vine villain, Hemlock laughed and yelled in his shrill, “Yo, Dreamsnatch! Check out Knives, the big bad ‘hero’ totally up-checked on her!”

“SHUT UP!” The Knives yelled as she turned her arms into actual knives and moved to slice Katsuki’s throat. Katsuki rolled away and dodged. 

Izuku was shocked that Katsuki wasn’t blasting Hemlocks face off like he normally would. Which is when it dawned on him...Katsuki’s quirk relied on igniting is sweat...and he’d been throwing up for almost two days now...dehydration led to a decrease in sweat. Plus, if Katsuki blew off too much sweat while dehydrated he could go into heatstroke. All of a sudden, Katsuki’s restraint and reliance on his martial art skills wasn't just a smart tactic while indoors, but a handicap mandated by survival needs. On one hand, they were going to be in a lot of trouble if the villains found out that Katsuki could not afford the full use of his quirk and on the other, they would be dead if Katsuki passed out from heatstroke. This was not looking good for them.

6 minutes passed. 

As much as Izuku earned to help Katsuki his hands were full flighting two villains. Thankfully, while Dreamsnatcher was distracted watching Knives torn between desperately trying to clean herself up and immediately murdering Katsuki, Izuku was able to slide in close and land a strong uppercut to the illusion master’s jaw, knocking him out. Leaving him with the villain with multiple arms and martial art skills like nothing Izuku had ever seen before. The villain was fascinating to fight. If Izuku wasn’t so distracted by the bond and so worried about Katsuki, he’d love to study the ninja’s fighting style more closely. The masked rogue seemed to be able to adapt and change fighting styles depending on the number and type of limbs she was duplicating at any given time. Which made her a dizzying opponent to face. 

Izuku’s new tactic to facing her was to use One for All in his legs and bounce around the room at super speed allowing him to land kicks and punches on both the multiple limb villain and Katsuki’s adversaries at the same time. However, his level of coordination had plummeted making his control and accuracy weak. 

Meanwhile, Shouto had found his way into the kitchen and had reverted to simply chucking appliances at Corge from a distance. He was dashing around the island in the kitchen to avoid direct contact with the plasma villain's monstrous arms. Every once in awhile, Shouto would shoot out flames or ice across the living room and aim for Hemlock or Knives trying to give Katsuki a hand. 

Katsuki was doing a fairly good job of staying upright, but his fighting skills were reduced to hurtling verbal blows instead of physical ones while dodging. Knives was angry to the point of blind rage attacking the sick blood. 

“Oh! so gross,” Katsuki said to her from behind the couch as he used it to stabilize himself and duck behind knife attacks, “Back the fuck off, ganna make me puke.” 

“AH!!!” She screamed and tackled Katsuki to the ground. 

10min past

Izuku managed to kick her off Katsuki before she sliced his throat open, but no one was watching Hemlock who started to fill the room with gas again. 

“FORGET HIM, CORG!” Knives shouted, “Get over here and help me kill this one. We only need to kill one of them.” With their bond still settling, it was true, they were so interconnected right now that killing one of them probably would result in the others dying too. Katsuki was by far the weakest link. 

“KACCHAN,” Izuku screamed as Corg ran past Shouto breaking through a block of ice by turning into a gaseous state, “RUN!” 

A large adrenaline rush at the mention of all the villains converging to kill him fluid enough strength into Katsuki to blast a widespread flash bomb at the villains and make a dash for the backyard. Shouto and Izuku immediately ran to the back door to cut the murder squad off. 

Katsuki was in so much pain, yet Izuku couldn’t tell if he was sensing one of Knives blows to Katsuki or one of his injuries or SHoutos. Pain, panic, worry, anger, fear, and a million other sensations coming from all three of them bombarded Izuku as he tried to gather his bearings enough to make a stand. They just needed to hold them off long enough for help to arrive. They just needed to give their fellow hero’s enough time to respond to the panic button. They could do this because they had no choice. They were NOT going to die to low level scumbags. 

Izuku put all his focus into one hard kick to Corg who turned to a liquid state. Izuku fell through him and Corg tackled Izuku still in a liquid state. Fear shot through Izuku as he realized that if he couldn’t get the villain off him, he would drown. 

Knives, Hemlock, and the ninja villain all stormed Shouto all at once. Shouto froze as if he was the one drowning for a second before snapping into action. A second was all Knives needed to push past him and shatter the sliding back door leading to the backyard. 

Izuku fought against Corg trying shack off the watery form that flowed to follow his every move. Izuku could feel himself losing consciousness, he could see a black tunnel start to cloud his vision when suddenly bird-like talons gripped his shoulders and he was lifted out of the water and tossed lightly onto the couch. 

Bewildered, he looked up taking a deep breath. His vision cleared to see Suneater’s familiar forlorn face. “Sorry we are so late,” the brooding pro hero muttered. Izuku rolled off the couch coughing up water. His head was a blur of emotions and sensations. He was fairly certain that Katsuki had lost consciousness by the sickening black hole void he felt inside his mind tempting him into darkness after his lover. Shouto was injured, but how badly, Izuku could not judge any more than he could judge his own injuries. Everything hurt from his body to his soul. 

“Help them,” Izuku begged as he coughed and struggled to focus. 

Amajiki’s hand was on his shoulder helping him upright. Meeting friendly eyes was a relief, but Izuku needed to see his soulmates more than anything, “It’s safe now. They retreated.”

“Midoriya!” Mirio Togata’s bright and cheery voice was music to his ears, but not what he needed to hear. “Don’t worry now, my friend, we’ve got you. We’re taking you to headquarters. All three of you will be safe now.”

“Are they okay!?!” Izuku said desperately clinging to Togata’s hero cape. 

“See for yourself,” Togata helped Izuku to a standing position so he could see Nejere Hado helping Shouto vacate the house and move toward the door. No villains were in sight, but the room looked as though a tornado and a circus had been through the place. Shoe marks on the walls and ceilings, holes in the walls, appliances, and furniture upturned and shattered everywhere, light structures on the ceiling smashed to bits, burn marks everywhere as well as ice. Hado was helping to hold up Shouto and guide him through the wreckage, but she paused to wave and smile at Izuku. But Izuku held his breath until he saw Kirishima appear through the shattered backyard door carrying a very passed out Katsuki. 

Breathing a sigh of relief, Izuku let himself relax for an instant was sucked into the black hole of unconsciousness where Kacchan was. They were safe.

Chapter Text

The first thing Izuku felt when he started raising to the conscious world was Shouto’s hands being carted through Katsuki’s hair which was oddly more soothing than if he had felt Shouto’s hands on his head. It was immensely comforting to wake up feeling that the two men who mattered most to him were together and alright and to feel them breathing. He could feel the rise and fall of their chests as they took in air and wondered why they didn’t bond sooner. 

When he sat up, he found himself on the floor in a strange office conference room. There were no windows, just a boring brown conference table, a sink at the far end for coffee complete with microwave and snack assortments, and a small couch. The three of them were arranged on the floor in a heap of sleeping bags, pillows, and blankets. Whatever wounds they had seemed to already be attended, Izuku and Shouto only had minor scrapes and bruises, but Katsuki, having been the primary target had slightly more severe injuries the worst of which included bruised ribs. He had a couple of ice packs wrapped around his abdomen lightly with gauze and was laying on his back in Shouto’s lap who was cradling him and petting his hair. When Izuku sat up Shouto greeted him with a smile and a kiss.

“Where are we?” Izuku asked.

“At the Big Three’s hero agency. They figured if the safe house was compromised, the next best secure location would be in a hero agency under protection. Just until we heal and the bond fully settles.”

“Mmm Uzu awake?” Katsuki muttered in an almost dream-like haze. His voice sounded weird and hazy and he slurred the name so it sounded more like ‘oo-shoe’ like when he was a kid. He appeared mostly asleep cradled in Shouto’s arms.

“They gave him something for the pain, he’s been a little out of it,” Shouto said with a snicker looking down at the mellowed out blond in his arms. 

Izuku smiled as he scouted closer to them resting his head on Shouto’s shoulder so he was also looking down at Katsuki. “This should be fun. Kacchan’s kind of a lightweight and a fun drunk.”

“Oh?” Shouto said raising an eyebrow curiously. 

“You’ve never seen Kacchan drunk? Like never?” Izuku said sitting back to look at Shouto’s face astounded. They had gone through high school together and they had been to many of the same hero junctions throughout their early years. And while he knew that Katsuki did not often get to the point of inebriation while in public, he knew for a fact that Katsuking, being such a lightweight, had slipped up more than once. When Shouto shook his head Izuku went into full-on rant mode describing all the little glimpses he’d seen of shit-faced Kacchan. 

While they had had a very strained relationship previously, Izuku had run into Katsuki at more than a few parties over the years and always made a point to keep an eye on his childhood friend when the occasion allowed. He had discovered that alcohol while lowering inhibitions is also very much a sedative and tends to mellow Katsuki out while allowing him to be more expressive. In other words, he was a very happy, mellow, clingy and talkative drunk. The last time he’d seen the blond that wasted, he was all over Kirishima ranting on about how they were “best friends” and just won’t let him go because they were “bros” and something about “trust.” He had remembered seeing Kirishima struggling to get Katsuki to drink water because while wasted he was dead set one trying to get Kirishima to understand something profound about them being “brothers” but was doing such a poor job of wording it that Kirishima couldn’t figure out how to appease the alcohol marinated brain. 

Shouto laughed and said, “And we are sure they only made out that one time?”

Izuku began to laugh with him and stated, “Kirishima would have told us.” But something in his heart still aches despite feeling safe and joking around with Shouto. Looking down at his battered and drugged up lover helped to put things back into sobering perspective rather quickly. His laughter died down so suddenly that Shouto’s face fell and looked seriously into Izuku’s eyes with a questioning and patient gaze. 

“The villains who attacked us?” Izuku asked. Before he was able to fully put into words what he wanted to ask Shouto answered, “They got ‘em. We won’t have to worry about them. They will receive justice for what they did.”

Izuku sighed a breath of relief. But Katsuki had apparently heard the word ‘villain’ through the euphoric haze of the drugs and perked up suddenly shooting up out of Shouto’s arms and started looking around for danger. Shouto quickly grabbed him and gently tried to bring him back down to a horizontal position. The more he moved the more it aggravated his chest, bruised ribs constricting his breathing, cause him these offal noises as he battled through the pain to take in oxygen.

“Hey, hey,” Shouto soothed, “It’s over. It’s all over. You’re safe. You’re with us see?”

It took some coaxing, but Katsuki eventually laid back down in Shouto’s arms. Shouto readjusted the ice packs and helped soothe Katsuki into taking small shallow breaths. It dawned on Izuku then that was probably why they were in that particular poise, to begin with, so Shouto could quickly and easily pull Katsuki back down if he needed to without aggravating his injuries. With the injuries, on his back was probably the only comfortable position to be in and with him in between Shouto’s legs, he could easily just smoosh Katsuki with his thighs or legs to keep the restless hero still. 

“He’s been on and off like this since they gave him some pretty intense pain meds,” Shouto explained.

“How long have we been here?” Izuku asked.

“Few hours?” Shouto estimated, “Someone was here not too long ago explaining everything to me while you two were asleep. They should leave us alone for now, but there’s a landline here in the conference room if we need anything. This is just a temporary set up they throw together for us.”

“Are we stuck here?” Izuku said suddenly feeling a little claustrophobic without being able to see outside. 

“With him like this?” Shouto said carting a hand through Katsuki’s hair and watching him mutter in response, “Pretty much. I suppose you could wander around if you feel like it. But I don’t think it's safe to leave him alone like this. He’s pretty out of it. The bruising on his ribs is pretty  bad, he really could hurt himself from moving around too much.”

Katsuki muttered and tried to turn in his sleep, Shout quickly adjusted them so he stayed on his back and didn’t crush his ribs on his side. Shouto sighed, “Even asleep you still a handful.” 

Izuku smiled, “Asleep he’s still a stubborn fighter.”

Shouto hummed thoughtfully. He seemed tired as his eyes looked over Katsuki’s form almost dreamily like he wasn’t quite there. When he spoke, it almost did not sound as though he was addressing Izuku, but more like his thoughts had slipped out, “He looks kind of cute like this. I wonder if he’ll let me call him by a nickname like you do? ‘Katsuki’ is a little too serious, I think, for right now.”  He tugged gently at Katsuki’s hair to get his attention. When he finally grunted in response and opened his eyes Shouto asked, “Let me call you Kacchan, ‘kay?”

Katsuki muttered in his sleep trying to answer the question, but he was so far gone what came out jumbled, “Tuesday’s on fire.” He grunted angrily and then shot upright so he was in a sitting position. He looked like his head weighed a million pounds and his brain was clouded. “Ganna kill that bitch.” He sputtered as he appeared to be looking for the villains. 

“Shhhh,” Shouto soothed, “Love, we won. They're gone, we won.”

“Damn right,” Katsuki said as he let Shouto pull him back down. The instant his back hit Shouto’s chest he shouted upright again yelling, “Nerd?!?” 

“Right here, Kacchan!” Izuku said placing a hand on his chest and helping to ease him back down. 

When he was settled Shouto said, “I wonder if he’s still fighting for us in his sleep.”

“I hope not,” Izuku said, “I hope he can have nicer dreams. Do we know how they found us? Everything happened so fast.”

Shouto shocked his head sadly, “We don’t know anything for sure yet as far as I am aware. Last I heard they think it might have something to do with Hemlocks’ quirk. That he might be able to talk to plants. But nothing definite yet. We’re lucky it was just a handful of younger villains trying to make a name for themselves.” 

Izuku nodded. They talked for a bit more before Izuku decided to try and get a bit more sleep. It seemed like the coziest option as there wasn’t much to do in the conference room. He still felt tingly all over. Maybe it was the rush of adrenaline still humming its way through his system keeping him on edge. Maybe it was the feeling of his security having been devastatingly violated and smashed combined with the fear that he could have come very close to losing Katsuki forever. Whatever it was, Izuku was feeling restless and claustrophobic in the windowless conference room. He had a need to go out and explore, to survey the area. While, logically, they were as safe as they could be in the hero agency, Izuku’s heart needed to see it for himself to feel truly safe. 

But he could not bring himself to wander around and leaving Shouto to look out for Katsuki alone. Moreover, He couldn’t really part himself from Katsuki knowing that if the big three had not shown up when they did, the battle could have gone much differently. The whole concept made him want to curl around Katsuki, hold him close and never let go. 

So, he did his best to cuddle up with his soulmates and sleep. But a restlessness in his bones kept him from settling down. He could not quiet his mind and keep it from wondering if this was not over yet. The ‘what if’s plagued his mind considering if villains were still after them, if they were putting other heroes in danger by remaining in the agency, what would occur if they ended up in another battle with Katsuki banged up? And then there were even bigger questions. If this was all over, what next? Anything could happen, but nothing would be the same now that the world knew they were bonded. 

After fighting for sleep for an hour or so, Izuku finally called it quite and got up to the sink where there was a coffee machine and made himself a coffee and Shouto some tea. They sat and talked. It would have been peaceful had Izuku’s nerves not been so frayed. It was odd and unnerving seeing Katsuki in recovery mode as the fierce hero was never down for long.  Eventually, someone came to check on them to see if they needed anything and bring them food. 

It was so bizarre interacting with another human being. He had become so used to being around his soul bonded lovers that interacting with someone else was now weird to him. It was like the other human was muffled and in shades of grey whereas Shouto and Katsuki were in vivid color. He was so aware of their breathing, emotions, thoughts, feelings, everything that encompasses them. Then there was this odd blank slate in front of him. He was having a hard time paying attention to anything about the other person, couldn’t catch their name, couldn’t concentrate on what they were saying too distracted by the loud presence of the soulbond. He was very grateful when they left and hoped he had not come across as rude as he felt. 

Eventually, Katsuki woke up fully. He'd been sleeping fairly fitfully, but eventually, he sat upright and refused to settle back down. He rubbed his eyes and tried to clear his head enough for them to explain what was happening. Shouto was surprisingly patient and coddling thought it all. Rubbing Katsikis back and speaking in gentle soothing tones all with deep concern in his eyes. 

Fortunately, consciousness and clarity of mind only made Katsuki slightly more difficult to care for. He was convinced he needed to get up and do something, while Izuku and Shouto were adamant that he shouldn’t strain himself with very bruised ribs. His entire abdomen was black and blue blob to the point where it was clear that even the rise and fall of the chest to breath was painful. Yet, Katsuki was convinced bruises weren’t as bad as a break or fracture so he was healthy and needed to get up and move around. He was so active regularly, up before the sun for a run, always busy, always moving. So, the idea of just laying curled up in a sleeping bag was not something he was able to keep his mind wrapped around. 

Unfortunately, even working together as a team, they could not sway the stubborn hero from trying to get up once he had set his mind to it. Even halfway getting to a standing position created a lovely little hellish dichotomy of needing to gasp and guzzle in more air while juxtaposed between the agony resulting from his lungs crushing in on his injured ribs. The cascade effect across the bond had all three of them doubled over in pain. Izuku could feel Katsuki’s approach being to muscle through the pain, “fuck pain, I’m going to breathe damn it.” And knew instantly they were all screwed if he didn’t calm down. It took them about half an hour to get him to take shallow small breaths and even longer for the pain to subside to a tolerable level. 

Katsuki lay there in their arms half delirious from the next round of pain meds, half restless from not being able to get up and move when Izuku got the idea. He shifted his head so he could look down on that spikey blond hair and murmured, “Hey Kacchan, why don’t you sing for us?” At that moment, it felt like the perfect idea since it would give Katsuki something soothing to do and fulfill Izuku’s goal to himself to get Katsuki to sing for Shouto. Oddly enough, they had been so busy when they had been living together, that Izuku had completely forgotten to coax Katsuki into sharing that little hidden talent with Shouto. 

“Hu?” Katsuki murmured in a haze. 

“You sing?” Shouto said lovingly as he brushed Katsuki’s hair softly. 

“Yeah.” Katsuki said slightly more alert as he looked up at them then added glaring at Izuku, “but I’ve never sung for anyone”

“But you’ll sing of us,” Shouto said not firm enough to be a statement, not questioningly enough to be asking, but somewhere in between in a calm why that only he could pull off. 

“Smug motherfucker,” Katsuki muttered. It was odd how little heat was behind it. When they were in middle school, every single insult dug into Izuku’s skin like daggers, then in high school, they bit like a cold wind, now it was oddly soothing. It was like watching an old movie you’ve seen a million times and hearing those lines when you knew they were coming and could almost mouth along to the actors. 

“Just focus on your breathing. Slow and shallow,” Izuku reminded him. When none of them said anything and got real still, Katsuki started to sing in a low rumbling slow and smooth voice…

“Nature, nurture, heaven, and home
Sum of all, and by them, driven
To conquer every mountain shown
But I've never crossed the river
Braved the forests, braved the stone
Braved the icy winds and fire
Braved and beat them on my own
Yet I'm helpless by the river”
 
Izuku was astounded. The lyrics were so poetic and felt very much like Katsuki himself, strong and ambitious. The song had a solid driving rhythm behind it, steady with a feeling of beginning. It felt like his voice was carrying them on a journey. When he sang, “Icy winds and fire” he waved his hands characteristically on either side of Shouto’s face for effect. Shouto huffed a laugh but remained still and utterly focused on Katsuki as he continued the song. 
 
“Angel, angel, what have I done?
I've faced the quakes, the wind, the fire
I've conquered country, crown, and throne
Why can't I cross this river?”
 
It was so odd hearing Katsuki sing about asking for help especially to that of a higher power of sorts. But Izuku found himself fully entranced and needed to know the answer, needed to know what happened next. In his mind, he could see Katsuki being the person in the song, trying against all odds to beat an impossible goal. It was as if the river was obtaining the spot as #1 hero, defeating the worst villains the world has ever seen, or any of the other insane goals he and Katsuki had ever set for themselves. He found having set so much of his dreams and Katsuki into the song that he needed to hear how the song resolved. 
 
“Pay no mind to the battles you've won
It'll take a lot more than rage and muscle
Open your heart and hands, my son
Or you'll never make it over the river”
 
Vibrations in Katsuki’s chest reverberated through him to Izuku’s heart making him feel as though they were facing an enormous uncrossable river not dissimilar to the bond and their status as heroes. They were so oddly vulnerable, normally they would have defeated those low-grade villains single-handedly without a scratch. Katsuki was all about “rage and muscle” and all three of them were very much defined by their strength yet, just as in the song, this problem required something else. 
 
“It'll take a lot more than words and guns
A whole lot more than riches and muscle
The hands of the many must join as one
And together we'll cross the river
 
Nature, nurture, heaven, and home
Sum of all, and by them, driven
To conquer every mountain shown
And together we'll cross the river
Braved the forests, braved the stone
Braved the icy winds and fire
Braved and beat them on my own
And together we'll cross the river
And together we'll cross the river
And together we'll cross the river”
 
As the song ended a feeling of unity and determination overcame Izuku. They could do anything together, a fact he had always thought but now believed deeply. He couldn’t keep himself from grinning ear to ear the unstoppable feeling in his chest was so strong and certain. They could do anything. 
 
“You’re amazing,” Shouto breathed as he carted gently through Katsuki’s hair with one hand and cradled his head with the other. He gently lifted and lowered Katsuki so he was lying fully on Izuku and shifted so that he was above Katsuki’s body before lowering down to kiss him gently. 
 
“Don’t get used to it, I don’t sing for people,” Katsuki muttered. 
 
“Thank you, my love,” Shouto said. He was on all fours above Katsuki being certain not to put any pressure on his chest as he slowly lowered to press their lips together, “That was really beautiful. You have the voice of an angel.”

Izuku smiled as he watched them half-heartedly bicker back and forth, Shouto trying to give Katsuki to accept a compliment all the while Katsuki muttering off half-hearted negativism as a pride shield. Shouto would cover his negative comments with kisses and try again playfully. Each time he tried complimenting him again the professions grew more and more complicated until he was practically reciting Shakespearian poetry at the cursing blond. Shouto was laughing at the end of it and Katsuki’s lips were red from kissing. 

Izuku felt for the first time that it wouldn’t be so bad to stay here for a few days and recuperate. As long as the three of them were together they’d make it over the river. 

Chapter Text

Turns out, being stuck in a conference room for a week with an injured soulmate was not nearly as delightful as it sounds. While being at a hero agency had unburdened them from the anxiety of being targeted and lightened from the responsibility of having to fight and fend for themselves, sitting in a room while others do the hero work wasn’t their forte. Just the thought of the other heroes having to defend their location for them while waiting for the activity to die down was appalling to Izuku.
The conference room was not ideal. Izuku was struggling between the cabin fever and monitoring Katsuki who was starting to drive Izuku crazy. The stubborn hero had spent the first several days delirious and kept fighting to get up. He was too out of it for them to be able to reason with him or explain their situation. So, their only option had been to keep him mostly sedated for his own safety.

Katsuki would wake up delirious and insistent on getting up. Izuku and Shouto would do their best to hold him and soothe him into relaxing. Eventually, they’d have to sedate him or tug at the Bond to knock him to sleep. Shouto had come up with the clever idea of using his own quirk to entertain Katsuki. He held the blond in his arms and put each of his hands underneath the explosive hands then he would wave his hand over Katsuki’s to coat his hands in a thin layer of ice. Katsuki’s lethargic mind was mystified by this. Shouto would then return his hand underneath Katsuki’s holding them in place, palm up before lifting his hand, and melting the ice. Back and forth, cold to hot, he waved his hands over Katsuki’s hypnotic and slow until he fell asleep. It was a smart move to get Katsuki to hold his hands up as if he were going to activate his quirk, but then change this scenario to something calming and passive instead. Moreover, it was adorable to see Katsuki in awe of Shouto’s quirk and so captivated in his arms.
Izuku’s way of calming Katsuki was different. He’d curl up with them and just rant about stories of when they were young. It was nice to reminisce and Shouto was enjoying the chance to learn more about their childhood. Izuku talked about the forest outside their neighborhoods where they used to go exploring, the little creek that ran through it, and the little fallen log they all used to run across as a bridge over the babbling water. As an added bonus to the ramblings of Izuku’s reminiscing, Shouto loved hearing about their childhood. It was a quiet bonding experience for all three of them.

Unfortunately, spending so much of his energy worrying about Katsuki and keeping him calm was exhausting. Moreover, it was driving Izuku crazy knowing he must be all over the news right now, but not having access to his cell phone to contact his friends. Katsuki had blown up his cell phone when they had first gone into hiding. The hero agency had provided them with a burner to contact their families, but Izuku did not have access to all of his friend’s phone numbers and while they had access to a computer, they were encouraged to remain off social media while in hiding. They were essentially cut off from the outside world.

Izuku knew he owed his friends and explanation as to why he had kept his soulmates a secret. They probably had a million different questions, and Izuku had been dying to talk about it for weeks. The inner turmoil of having to keep quiet and stay removed from his social network was starting to drive him insane. He felt like he was going to burst at the seams exasperated by their near claustrophobic confinement.

After about a week, the Bond had solidified fully and the three of them were more relaxed. The telepathic bond buzzing through their system and confusing their minds had dissipated and left them with a solid feeling of finality. While it had been nice to feel them and their inner thoughts so intimately, the strong feeling of completion was so much better. There was this feeling of instinctive closeness. That nothing could tear them apart, not distance or villains or their own stupidity in miss communicating with each other. No matter what came their way, they knew they would face it together.

He also had a feeling that somehow the bond had shifted or changed or enhanced his quirk in some way. He wasn’t sure, but he was definitely not about to test and play with their quirks in an enclosed space.

Izuku was nearly in tears when he was finally told they were clear to leave and go back home to their little apartment. By this time, Katsuki was also medically clear to walk small distances and alert enough to know not to try and run off and do something his body wasn’t ready for. The only conditions the agency gave them upon leaving was to call at the first sign of danger and to have stationed heroes in the area nearby for the next couple of days just in case. Izuku couldn’t care less as long as he was going home and could finally catch a breath and grab a phone.

That was when the real chaos started with the phone. Izuku ended up spending an entire day on the phone talking to various friends, catching up on everything that had happened, their plains for the future, how much a threat the villain's after they posed, why they had to keep things a secret, what it was like having two soulmates, and of course, fanboying all over how awesome his soulmates were. There were a lot of apologies thrown in there for not having updated anyone sooner and offering emotional support to friends who had been worried sick when they heard Izuku, Shouto, and Katsuki had been attacked in the safehouse.
Izuku was frustrated. It was like being stuck in the conference room all over again. He couldn’t work, he couldn’t leave the apartment without getting swarmed by the media. He still had not had a chance to see any of his friends or his mother since the whole ordeal. His soulmates were trying to be supportive, but Katsuki was having his own difficulties with his recovery.

Izuku was restless. Even when the threats to their safety dwindled down. They still were not cleared to go back to work. Being up and coming superheroes who were Soulbonded had made them all anyone could talk about. They were instantly such big celebrities that it wasn’t possible for them to simply wander around and go on patrols. Instead, Izuku and Shouto were on-call duty in case their agencies needed back-up for a major villain attack or disaster. So far they hadn’t been called in for anything.

Shouto managed to stay busy by helping his father’s agency from home through conference calls and working on his computer. But Izuku and Katsuki were going insane with restlessness. Izuku felt a bit guilty complaining of boredom around Katsuki because he could at least work out in the apartment whereas Katsuki had not been cleaned yet for anything strenuous and was supposed to be resting his ribs as much as possible. The heaviness of guilt and inability to allow himself to vent about being cooped up made confinement all the more unbearable.

Izuku was trying to stay sane by video chatting with his friends, however, he was often interrupted by Shouto and Katsuki yelling. Even now that they had become very comfortable with each other, they still fought like cats and dogs. The only difference now was that they both seemed to be enjoying argumentation.
Currently, Izuku was sitting crosslegged on the living room floor video chatting Uraraka trying to listen to her explain all about this new book she was reading and how obsessed she was about the dashing main character. But Katsuki and Shouto were making it difficult to concentrate by shouting in the kitchen.

“I’m making dinner goddamnit!” Katsuki yelled.

“You need to ask either Izuku or me for help. You cannot be stretching your torso reaching items up high. We have to get them for you. And stop twisting so much, you’re supposed to be resting.” Shouto commanded.

“Fuck off, I’m fine. This damn bossy kink of yours is getting old, hothead.”

“I am being serious.”

“You get off on telling me what to do and you know it.”

“Of course I like it! I’m one of the only people on the planet you get to boss you around. It’s an honor. Now stop being such an insufferable ass and sit still.”

Izuku choked from the living room. While he could hear them yelling, he was far enough away that he was fairly certain Uraraka couldn’t. Still, if they got any louder or any more sexual, he was contemplating going outside to the backyard despite the cold weather today. He told himself as soon as she finished her story, he’d move or make an excuse to hang up.

“STOP MOVING!” The fight continued in the kitchen with a vehement Shouto yelling, “I swear, if you don’t stop moving I will use this Bond to stop you.”

“Fucking sadist,” Katsuki pouted.

“Stop making this about sex, I’m being serious. If you can’t make dinner safely without injuring yourself, I’m not going to let you do it at all. The bond doesn’t have to be sexual and you know it.”

Katsuki muttered something Izuku didn’t quite pick up on and then he heard Shouto yelling at its loudest volume yet, “Ohmygod! I give up!” Then, walking towards the living room he shouted down the hallway, “Izuku I’m going to fuck Katsuki till he can’t move, you okay with that?”

Izuku went red, there was no way Uraraka hadn’t heard that. “Guys! I’m on the phone!”

Uraraka was laughing so hard stating, “Sounds like you all are having fun being Soulmates.”

“Hello, Uraraka,” Shouto said, composing himself very quickly unlike Izuku who was still red as a beet. He settled down on the couch so that he was positioned behind Izuku in direct view of the camera so Uraraka could see him.

“I’m so sorry Uraraka!” Izuku said as Katsuki walked into the living room to see what was going on, “You really didn’t need to hear that. It’s just that we are getting so used to it just being the three of us here without anyone else being around. They didn’t mean to be so rude..or crude...or I guess they did, but they wouldn’t have if they knew I was on the phone with you!”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize, I think it’s cute!” Uraraka said encouragingly.

“That pink cheeks?” Katsuki said as he entered the living room. He moved so that he was sitting down directly behind Izuku on the floor with his chin snug on Izuku’s shoulder and then bracketed Izuku’s legs with his own. He had become slightly more tactile since the Bond. Izuku figured this was probably due in part to their want for closeness having been transferred to Katsuki and partially due to the Bond itself instilling a new desire to be near them. However, his hands remained firmly planted on the ground palm up and there was enough distance between their legs that they weren't touching. Really the only physical connection was where Katsukis chin met Izuku's shoulder. Izuku wished he’d make himself more comfortable and just wrap his arms around him, but he would take what he could get for now.

“Bakugou! I can’t believe you still call me that nickname!” Uraraka laughed then added, “Oh? Are you still Bakugou or did you guys decide to have the same last name?”

“We haven’t really talked about that,” Izuku chimed in. He had completely forgotten that Bonded couples typically adopt one last name like a normal married couple.

“Well, you can’t hyphenate three last names and if you do all go by the same one, I’m going to have to find a way to differentiate you three.”

“I would want to take on Izuku’s last name,” Shouto said calmly, still standing behind them. He wasn’t a big fan of sitting on the floor.

“I’m cool with that,” Katsuki said letting his head drift all the way back so his neck was hyperextended and he could make eye contact with Shouto.

“Wait really?” Izuku said flabbergasted, “I’m honored, but I also wouldn’t mind taking on either of your last names at all. I think it would be cool.”

“Well,” Shouto said, “We can always discuss it more. But to be frank, I do not get along with my family enough to want to keep my last name. Besides, my brother can always carry on Father’s name. We could always take Katsuki’s name, but… then we’d all have the same last name as Mitsuki Bakugou.”

“What’s wrong with my mom, Half-n-half?” Katsuki barked. Shouto gave him a, ‘you know exactly what’s wrong with her’ look and Katsuki conceded by breaking eye contact and plopping his head back down on Izuku’s shoulder with a pout.

“You three are still kind of in your own little world from the Bond huh?” Uraraka said.

“Sorry!” Izuku apologized.

“No, don't worry! I’m just glad you three seem so happy!”

Shouto sat forward so he could reach out and run his hands through Katsuki’s hair.

“Awe! So sweet! I know it sucks being stuck inside but at least you have each other.” Uraraka said. The sound of a screenshot on her end made Katsuki feel self-conscious enough to lean backward and flop his head back so it was hyperextended enough for him to glare backward at Shouto. This movement promptly moved his head of hair out of petting reach.

Izuku huffed. They were almost cuddly. With Katsuki almost with his arms around him and Shouto petting Katsuki’s head. It was almost domestic and soft, but like usual Katsuki tended to cut off from the rest of them.

“Doesn’t that hurt your ribs to be extended like that?” Shouto questioned. Folding his hands to drape lazily across his knees still close to Katsuki’s head.

Katsuki hummed in response and muttered, “Took a pain pill.”

Shouto grabbed a fist full of Katsuki’s hair in response and said, “Tell me you didn’t take a pain pill just so you wouldn’t feel it when you fucked up your ribs making dinner.”
“Kacchan!” Izuku gasped and turned around to look at his Soulmates. Then he turned to his friend on the phone and quickly said goodbye. He could tell by the level of concern in Shouto’s voice that this situation did not need an audience.

Shouto then proceeds to give Katsuki a long-winded lecture about taking care of his body and the possible consequences of overdoing it. He continued with a speech about how worried he and Izuku were about his well being, how scared they had been after the battle, and how lucky they were that his injuries weren’t worse. Katsuki rolled his eyes and huffed, but surprisingly did not mouth back. He simply sat there and listened to everything Shouto had to say and begrudgingly allowed himself to be ushered into the bedroom where Shouto insisted he get some rest.

“I’m not even tired!” Katsuki protested once he was lying prone on the bed.

“Then just rest your ribs for our sake so we don’t have to worry about you for five damn minutes,” Shouto insisted in an exhausted voice. He was at his wit's end with worry.

Katsuki cursed into a pillow but otherwise made no move to get off the bed. Shouto closed the bedroom door and huffed in frustration. Turning to Izuku he said, “What are we going to do with him? I’m not being too hard on him am I?”

Izuku shook his head, “No, Kacchan’s really stubborn. I think it was okay.”

Shouto sighed in relief and gently kissed Izuku on the lips. Running his hand through Izuku’s hair he looked at his face as if searching for something and said, “You know he’s really worried about you?”

“Me?!?” Izuku said, “Why would Kacchan be worried about me? How do you know that? Are you sure?”

Shouto smirked and tugged at the Bond just enough to draw attention to it as if to show Izuku exactly how he knew what Katsuki was feeling. Then he stated once he saw realization cross Izuku’s face, “I think cooking is his way of showing affection? I don’t know. I think he is worried about you and wanted to make us food or something to help.”
“But why would Kacchan be worried about me?” Izuku asked.

Shouto sighed and said, “You have to admit you have been rather tense and raw nerves lately. I know it has been hard for you not to see your friends. You’re more social than both of us put together.”

“I-i guess that’s true,” Izuku stuttered. “But I don’t want you two to have to worry about me.”

Shouto sighed and said, “I’ll make us dinner.”

Izuku followed Shouto towards the kitchen. Along the way, Shouto motioned for Izuku to relax on the couch. He plopped on the cushions with an exasperated ‘fump’ as he landed, sinking into the fluffy soft couch. He leaned back, collapsing his body into the backboard, and sighed. He needed a moment to think. Had he truly been that tense lately? Izuku had never known Katsuki to worry about anything or anyone before. As much as he did not want to be a cause for concern, he truly felt warmed by the idea of Katsuki fussing and worrying over him.

He decided to use this time while Shouto was cooking and Katsuki was napping to just sit still for a moment. Suddenly it occurred to Izuku that he could not remember the last time he sat still without a purpose other than to relax. He also had not had many moments alone. Typically, when his soulmates were busy he’d find himself on the phone or doing chores or both. He never made time to just sit, feel his breath move throughout his body, and listen to the quiet sounds of the home. The stillness was nice. Izuku hated it.
After a few minutes, he found himself itching to do something ANYTHING. Then he felt horrible and started to wonder if there was something wrong with him if he couldn’t sit still for five minutes. So, he tried to force himself to stay still just to prove he could but ended up just focused on the ticking clock as if every second that passed was a goal he had achieved. He could not stand it and felt like clawing at his own skin.

Immense gratitude washed over him as Katsuki emerged from the bedroom, staggered over to the couch, and lay stomach down so that his face was smashed into Izuku’s lap. He watched as the blond slowly moved his arms loosely around his waist and muttered into his stomach.

“Trouble sleeping, Kacchan,” Izuku said as he ruffled the fluffy hair in his lap.

“Mmmm,” Katsuki muttered, “Not used to sleeping without you fuckers anymore.”

Izuku smiled and continued to pet Katsuki’s hair until he fell back asleep. This was a new kind of quiet he could enjoy. He could feel Katsuki’s heartbeat gently and steadily. Though he was sitting still doing nothing, he could never be bored while looking at Katsuki’s face. He studied the soft blond eyebrows and long eyelashes as well as the gentle features of his face that made him so attractive. While ‘gentle’ was not a word one would normally associate with Katsuki, it was exceptionally appropriate to describe his sleeping soulmate. When sleep stripped away the deadly smirk, tough postures, and dangerous, glaring, red eyes, what was left was soft blond hair, gentle study jawline, a cute nose, and long doey eyelashes. He looked positively friendly, boyish, and downright squishy in his sleep.

Izuku enjoyed watching him sleep. It was funny to remember that he’d been studying that face all his life. He’d spent a lifetime trying to catch up to Katsuki, and now the deadly blond was his to keep forever. Katsuki had always been utterly unattainable. He was impossible to be friends with, he could never run as fast as him, he had a hard time beating him at hand to hand combat, and even once they respected each other as rivals in high school, Katsuki had not been the easiest person to sit down and have a conversation with. And now he could just squish his squishy sleeping face and survive with no more than an angry glare or huff from the lethal Ground Zero.

The rest of the evening was blissfully uneventful. Izuku sat and cuddled with Katsuki on the couch until Shouto quietly walked over to let him know dinner was ready. He waited patiently beside them on the couch until Izuku reluctantly woke Katsuki from his peaceful slumber. Dinner was quiet and afterward, they all agreed to do Izuku’s favorite thing on the planet. Which was to get all three of them cuddled on the bed, with a bottle of alcohol, and smash together over a laptop and watch an old superhero movie.
Izuku was in the middle with Shouto on his right and Katsuki on his left. Shouto loved to cuddle and was a still and firm force on his right side. Shouto sat up on the backboard of the bed so that Izuku could lean on him with his back to Shouto's chest. Cuddling with him felt like coming home, he felt safe, supported, like the warmth of the sun on your face on a cold winter's day.

Katsuki, on the other hand, was not particularly tactile and was fidgety with the proximity. He would allow himself to lean into them, then pull away to mindlessly check his phone when he grew bored just to have something to do. However, Katsuki's reluctance and utter indifference to cuddling were one of Izuku's favorite things about him because all that went out the door the moment Katsuki became invested in the movie. While the unruly blond might bitch and moan about the movie being lame, old, or stupid, his entire visage would become increasingly enthralled with the film. He'd start off fidgety and would shift constantly by Izuku's side. But as he'd become more interested in the plot he'd gradually put his arm around Izuku's waist and rest his head on his shoulder drawing himself closer to both Izuku and the laptop screen. If he was frustrated with something happening on the screen whether it was a romantic scene or an embarrassing scene, he'd bury his face in Izuku's shirt and huff angrily. If he felt the tension and suspense or became particularly excited with an action scene, he would sneak his hand behind Izuku's back and clutch his fist tightly at Shouto's shirt.
Sometimes Shouto would smirk or huff at how childish Katsuki was behaving. Sometimes he'd hold himself back from cooing over him or laughing at him. But more often than not, whenever Katsuki would cling to him Shouto would move his hand instinctively to Katsuki's head and pet him soothingly without tearing his eyes away from the screen they were all captured by.

By the end of the movie, they would all be tightly entangled together in a comfy puzzle. This was Izuku's favorite way to end the day. Nothing could top the three of them together.