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Chapter Text

Ok, so Katsuki was in a mood today - One of those “insatiable itch under the skin” moods - He had woken up late (and cranky), and his mother was all on his ass about internship applications.  Even going to the gym with Shitty hair didn’t fix it.  Punching the punching bag and sparring only seemed to make the itch… itchier.   

He had put Kirishima down at least four times before he managed the courage to say something. They were circling around one another on the mat, arms up and ready and sweat dripping from their brows.

“All I am saying, dude, is that you are on edge,”  Kirishima said. They both braced and circled each other. 

“Shut it,” Katsuki said as he lunged. Kirishima easily dodged him and tried a quick punch that got blocked.

“Are you and Izuku doing ok?”  He barely got the words out of his mouth when he was flipped on his back with a yelp; a strong arm pinned his throat to the ground, forcing the words out of his mouth, “Ah fuck!”

“Stop talking,” Katsuki growled as he stood up and stalked over to his water bottle. Kirishima lay on the ground for a bit before sitting up and fixing his headband.

“So I am going to take that as a “Yes Eijiro, please help me, as you are the relationship god of our class-” Kiri said smoothly as he dodged the wadded up gym towel that was hurled in his direction. Katsuki growled at him as he continued, “I mean, I know I am a hopeless man whore who wouldn't know feelings if they hit me in the face!” 

Katsuki turned around and hurled Kirishima’s water bottle at his face, which he intercepted with a grin and took a big swig.  

Katsuki grumbled to himself as he shoved his stuff into his gym bag, trying to ignore Kirishima coming up behind him and throwing a sweaty arm around his shoulders.

“So, what's going on with you and Izuku?”  Kiri said, his voice suddenly sounding sincere.

“Nothing is going on-” 

Kirishima scoffed and let himself be shoved off of his best friend as they made their way back out into the locker room. 

“All I am saying, dude, is that we are bros! We can talk about shit like this with each other.  Like how Mina is being such a drag.”  

Katsuki fully stopped and turned to look Kirishima in the eyes.  It took him all of two seconds to break, “Ok, so Mina is awesome as always but I am trying to be relatable.”

“Stop doing that,” Katsuki said frankly.

They both walked into the locker room and headed for the showers.  Katsuki sighed and closed his eyes as the hot water washed over his face, cleaning him of the sweat he had worked up.  Kirishima didn’t know what he was talking about.  He and Izuku were fine.  He totally didn't keep thinking about the fact that Izuku couldn't seem to sleep through the night or noticed that he was mumbling to himself much more than usual and took double the prompting to respond. 

No, everything was fine. Izuku kept saying that he was doing fine, so Katsuki stopped asking.

He stepped out of the shower after what felt like hours, wrapping a towel around his waist, wrapping one around his hair, and making his way over to his bag. Kirishima appeared behind him, spikes now limp and pressed against his forehead as water dripped onto the floor.  If Katsuki looked close enough, he could see that his roots were growing in a bit.

“Ok, all I was saying before is that if you need someone to talk to, I am always around,” Kirishima said as he tugged a shirt on and started to dry his hair.

Katsuki hummed and reached around in his bag for deodorant.  He thought carefully while they got dressed. Kiri finished early and was now stirring on the bench scrolling in his phone, When Katsuki finally spoke, 

“Something is going on with him.  He won’t talk to me about it.”

Kiri looked up and cocked his head to the side,  “Is it about Heroing and stuff?” 

Katsuki shrugged but then nodded, “I think so.”

“Figured.  Being at UA is hard enough, but also having to juggle being All Might's successor.  Must be exhausting.”

Katsuki nodded and grabbed his bag.  They had made their way outside and were halfway to where they were parked when Katsuki spoke again.

“How did you get Mina to trust you?”  he clicked his keys and unlocked his bike seat. 

Kiri’s head cocked to the side, “Hm, I don't know.  I guess I was just there when she needed me, and eventually, I was there enough that she trusted I would always be. It's hard to explain, man.”  Kiri sighed and opened his car door as Katsuki put his bag away in his Motorcycle.  

Katsuki straightened up and made eye contact with his friends, who reached out and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“He will tell you when he's ready.  Just keep showing up when he needs you.”

Katsuki nodded, and they parted ways.  Izuku had texted him earlier asking if he wanted to study, so he decided to head over to the Midoriya's.

Working out left him feeling tired as he trekked upstairs.  He walked down the hall and knocked politely at the Midoriya's apartment door.

“Katsuki.”  He said softly as Inko called out to ask who it was. She cheerfully called again and told him to come in.  

He let himself in and politely took his shoes off, switching to his house slippers (He had started to visit so often Inko had gotten him his own pair.)  He looked up and couldn't help but smile softly. Izuku was just so...comforting.

Izuku was seated on the living room floor, legs folded underneath the table.  His headphones were in, and he looked like he was doing homework already as he scratched away on the paper in front of him.  He looked so focused that Katsuki almost felt bad for interrupting him, but then he looked up. Izuku started smiling the second he saw Katsuki, tugging out his headphones. 

For a brief, fleeting second, the itch was gone.

“Kacchan!  Sorry I didn’t hear you come in! I was kinda in the zone,”  Izuku said as he made a move to stand up.  Katsuki gave a soft wave to keep seated and walked over, waving to Inko making dinner in the kitchen. Taking the seat next to him and pulling out his own work, Katsuki got a small kiss on his cheek, “Thanks for coming over.”

“No problem.”

“I have so much more homework than I thought I would have.”  Izuku sighed and leaned his head on Katsuki’s shoulder.  “And I wanna get it all done so no distractions, okay?”

“But-”

“No buts.”  Izuku said as he cued his music up to his laptop and started on his work again, “Either be a good work partner or go home, sweetie.”

Katsuki nodded with a sigh, and the two of them got to work, but honestly, Izuku was the only one focused.  Katsuki couldn't help but keep staring at Izuku's face.  He was looking partially handsome today for some reason or another, but it was highly distracting.

He should feel bad that every time he looks, Izuku catches his eyes and stares him down till he stops but it just keeps happening.  

After a couple of minutes, Katsuki wasn't even trying to look like he was looking at the homework in front of him anymore.  All he was looking at were the freckles on the boy's face, the way his muscles on his arms moved as he wrote, and listening to his soft humming to the soothing music coming from his laptop, the itch felt almost unbearable.  

“You're starring again,”  Izuku said gently, not looking up from his work.

“I-Uh-You're pretty,”  Katsuki said dumbly, caught once again.  He grimaced to himself and looked away in shame. 

“Uh-hu, thank you, but we have work to do.  The staring is quite distracting.” Izuku says candidly. Katsuki groaned and leaned back against the couch.  His skin felt like it was crawling.  

“Who cares about math! It's not due till after break anyway,” Katsuki complained. 

“Well, I am trying to budget my time, we have that week at your family’s, and I have other work I have to get done-”  Izuku sighed loudly, “We are not having this conversation again!”

Katsuki groaned again and flopped over, slotting himself between Izuku’s back and the couch, wrapping his arms around the boy's waist.  It was nice to press his face into Izuku's back, to smell him and feel his warmth.  As he cuddled deeper into the dark of the boy’s back, he heard soft footsteps to his right.  

“Sweetie, apparently one of the girls called in sick, so I am going in a bit early tonight. Dinner is in the fridge.  All you need to do is heat it… is Katsuki ok?”  Inko must be standing next to them but Katsuki made no effort to remove himself from his position.

“Yeah, he’s fine, just tired from his workout today,”  Izuku said sweetly

He and his mom started to chat idly to one another, but Katsuki wasn't really listening.  Izuku was so warm and smelled so good that Katsuki almost felt like he was nodding off.  Maybe if he just took a nap, the itch would finally stop.  

“Have a good night at work, Mama!”  Izuku says sweetly as Katsuki hears the door click closed.  

Suddenly something clicked in Katsukis head.  They were alone.  Like actually alone.  

They hadn’t actually been alone since Izuku’s birthday, which was almost a month ago at this point, and it was starting to drive Katuski crazy.  Every time they tried to have a date night, something came up.  Once there had been an “emergency” with Iida. Another time Haruhi had to call Katsuki for backup.  Another time his dad decided it was the perfect time to come into his room without knocking, catching Katsuki trying to wrestle Izuku out of his shirt, which led to another safe sex conversation.  

Katsuki started placing tiny kisses on Izuku’s back, trying not to make his movements evident to alert the green-haired boy he was cuddling into. 

“Kacchan, I know what you’re doing,” Izuku said as he continued to work.

Katsuki said nothing but kept kissing the boy’s back, trying to ignore the feeling of his shirt on his lips instead of warm skin. Izuku let out another loud sigh.  Soon the darkness of Izuku's body was gone, and he stood up and turned back around like a disappointed mother.

“Kacchan!” Izuku giggled. “I told you I have work to do!” 

Katsuki scoffed and stood up, only to flop back onto the couch and look up at Izuku, standing there with his hands on his hips. 

“I know that we haven’t had alone time, but I really wanna finish this work,” Izuku said as he walked over and slotted himself between Katsuki knees, draping his arms over the blond’s shoulders. 

“We can do that later!” Katsuki said simply, “I could even do it for you if you wanted,” 

“Absolutely not!” Izuku giggled.  

“I just wanna spend some time with you. Preferably naked.” Katsuki said simply as he squeezed Izuku's hips softly. 

Izuku scoffed softly but still smiled down at Katsuki.  “You're so perverted sometimes, you know that?” 

“I try my best,” Katsuki said softly as Izuku leaned down and closed the distances between their mouths. 

The kiss started softly at first, but soon Katsuki took in the reins and quickly started to kiss him harder, letting his hands drift to the boy's plump ass, grabbing handfuls and pulling him closer. Soon they were full-on making out, barely taking breaks to breathe as they smashed their mouths together. Izuku finally pulled away, his lips were pink and shiny. 

“What did I just say?” he says weakly, his voice somehow sounding rough already. 

“You wanna stop?” Katsuki asked frankly, “Cause the way I see it, you can either work on that stupid shitty math that you can always do later, or we can turn the lights off and take our clothes off,” Katsuki stood up and pulled Izuku flush against his body.

“And then what?” Izuku said, feigning disinterest, fiddling with his hands, playing with the short hairs on Katsuki's neck.  Katsuki couldn't help but lean his head back and laugh softly. 

“You know, once I started having sex, I practically became obsessed.  The fact that you care more about math is fucking impressive.” Katsuki couldn't help but muse.  

Izuku sighed and cooked his head to the side, “Guess I have more restraint than you,”

“Oh ho ho!”  Katsuki groaned out as he tugged Izuku forward.  The green-haired boy understood what he wanted without being asked and wordlessly climbed into his lap with a smile, giggling from his earlier taunt. 

“Like actually, how much more work do you have?”  Katsuki softened his tone as he looked up at his boyfriend, trying to count his freckles without breaking eye contact. 

“A page or something,”  Izuku said quietly in return, not wanting to ruin the mood.  

“I just… really wanna see those pretty faces you make again.”

“Yeah?”  Izuku looked at him as his face went pink.  

“Yeah.  You looked hot as fuck.”

“Kacchan,”  Izuku started to say something, but Katsuki was getting personally very familiar with his tone. It was the Self-doubt tone, and quite frankly, he was getting really tired of it.  

Katsuki hummed and squeezed the boy's ass roughly, making sure to dig his nails in too.  Izuku yelped and swatted the back of his head.  

That set off a chain reaction of roughhousing. Katsuki gave him a sharp poke in the ribs and then earned him a shove in the shoulders, his back hitting the couch with a soft thump. Katsuki reached out and tried to grab Izuku's wrist before he did something else, but Izuku didn't make it easy for him, squirming and giggling madly before letting himself be caught.

“Done?”  Katsuki laughed softly. Izuku nodded softly before leaning down and leaving a quick kiss on his lips, cheeks still dusted pink.

“Besides, I was going easy on you last time. ”  Katsuki grinned like the Cheshire cat as Izuku's blush got deeper and deeper by the second. “This time, I am in charge, and I want to see everything.”

Izuku couldn’t help but shudder and close his eyes.  Just as Katsuki felt him go soft in his arms is when Katsuki decided to flip him around, and the next thing Izuku knew, they were both seated on the floor again, but he was still somehow secured in Katsuki lap.  

“Wha-”  He started to argue, but Katsuki beat him to it, leaning right against his ear and whispering, “Do your homework and do it properly, and I will fuck you how I like for as long as you want.”  

Izuku couldn't help but shiver again as he willed his face to cool down because right now, he could almost feel the steam coming from his cheeks.  He sat completely still, trying to process what to do next, slowly reaching for his pencil and getting back to work though he was working like a turtle, taking his time and making sure his numbers were legible as the last thing his brain wanted to do was make him write things neatly. 

Katsuki hummed as Izuku started scratching numbers on the sheet of paper again, planting tiny searing kisses on the boy's neck, relishing in the feeling of Izuku's pulse hammering in his throat.

“Look at you, a little incentive, and you are practically a mathematician.”  Katsuki teases softly as he dragged his nails up and down Izuku's stomach, feeling the muscles twitch under his fingers.

“You are a dick.”  Izuku quips right back.

“And you like it,”  Katsuki whispered hotly into his ear. 

“Said who?”

Katsuki reached down and slid his hand past Izuku's sweatpants’ elastic and rested it on the boys growing hard-on.  It took all his self-control not to laugh at how fast his boyfriend got distracted.

He was putting on a good front, but the way he flexed his muscles and constantly fidgeting his hands and legs and the prominent bulge in his sweatpants.

“Said you, pretty boy.”  He gloated as he nipped at Izuku’s ear.  “We have barely done anything, and you are hard as a rock down there.”

“Shut up,”  Izuku growled out, embarrassed as Katsuki chuckled against his throat.

“And why would I do that?”  He answered as he gave the bulge a gentle squeeze, “You seem very interested in what I have to say.”  

Katsuki tried to contain his laughter because it was almost comical how quickly Izuku had folded.  His hands were almost shaking as he clenched them into fists on the table, and he was doing his damndest not to let that affect his writing.  

“Kacchan…”  he whined involuntarily as he tried to jerk his hips forward into the warmth of his boyfriend’s hand. 

Katsuki used his free hand to hold the boy’s hips still as he tutted, pulling his hand away and placing it on his abs. “Hey, Hey, Hey, I said homework first, bunny, then sex.”

“You are the worst,”  Izuku sighed as he leaned back against Katsuki’s shoulder. “You put hands on my dick and start talking about sex, and you expect me to do math.”

Katsuki finally broke and started to laugh softly to himself and rocked them together till the two of them giggled together. Sitting on his living room floor, both rock hard and panting.  Izuku bit his lip and went back to work, trying to work as fast as he could as Katsuki continued where he left off, slowly massaging Izuku through his boxers.

“You know, calling me a pervert is not very nice.”  Katsuki started softly. “And I am not the only perv in this relationship, you know. I mean, I do like to imagine you naked a lot, I will admit that.”  He placed another small kiss. “But  I mean, look at you.  I bet the reason you didn’t wanna have sex is cause you knew that the minute I touched you, you would cum in your pants.”

Izuku tried not to whine and just confirm what Katsuki was whispering into his ear.  He wasn’t weak to the firm, hot touches or the passionate words whispered into his ear.  

“Awe, come on, baby, all you need to do is ask nicely, and you can get what you want.”

“And what do you think I want?”  Izuku tried to sound cocky, but his voice sounded a bit too weak to be in any way intimidating.

“I know you want a lot of things, probably involving my hand on you” Katsuki nipped his ear lobe, “Smartass.”  

Izuku could feel his smile pressed against his throat, making him chuckle weakly.  “I think you are just making assumptions.”  He countered back, getting distracted again 

“Uh-huh,”  Katsuki said simply.  Before Izuku could counter back again the elastic of his boxers was pulled back, and a warm hand was suddenly wrapped around his cock, the thumb on his head smearing the droplets of precum around.  “You know you seem all high and mighty, but you are practically making a mess in your underwear just from a little sexy talk.  I wonder how messy you’ll get when I fuck you how I want.”

Izuku sat quietly, trying to calm his heartbeat hammering away in his chest. 

“Why is it always about you?” He said weakly and let out a weak sigh as the hand around his dick finally stopped moving.  

“Well, cause last time, it was all about you,”  Katsuki said simply, resting his chin on Izuku’s shoulder. “Not saying that I didn’t like it, cause it was fucking great, don’t get me wrong, But it was a little…sweet for my tastes.”

Izuku chuckled and leaned his head back, smiling before leaning forward again and starting on his homework again.

“So, tonight I wanna do it my way.  I wanna fuck you so hard you lose your voice.” Katsuki whispered hotly before his tone changed slightly. “I wanna hear and see all of you. Simple.’

“Simple as that?”  Izuku said.  While he tried to get as far as he could with the small break, he still took a moment to appreciate how sincere Kacchan sounded.  He had this odd habit of being sweet at the weirdest times.  

“Simple as that.  Now can you please finish your fucking homework so I can make good at my promises to fuck you stupid?”

Izuku nodded and tried to refocus as Katsuki went back to littering his throat and shoulders with kisses.  Right when he thought Izuku might have forgotten the hand around his dick, Katsuki started to slowly move his hand up and down, which earned him a sharp sigh and clenched fist.  Worth it.  

Katsuki kept up the slow pace of his hand, making sure to drag this out as much as he could, spreading the pre-cum around to slick his hand.  He could feel Izuku’s cock twitching in his hand as he slowly moved his hand up and down.  It was kind of challenging to manage as there wasn’t a lot of room in Izuku pants, with Katsukis fist and hard-on stuffed inside and the fact that he kept wiggling his hips and legs. 

He reached his other hand wrapped around his waist, trying to keep Izuku still and focused.  He had kept up the kisses and love bite on his soldiers and neck, tugging his shirt collar down getting it out of his way.  Katsuki took a small breath and looked over to Izuku’s face and honestly had to bite his tongue to keep quiet because, holy shit.

Izuku’s eyebrows were almost knitted together in concentration, sweat droplets beginning to form.  His cheeks were pink all the way up to his ears and all down his neck. He was biting his bottom lip so hard, Katsuki was impressed that he hadn’t bitten straight through. 

Katsuki chuckled and gave the boy's cock a small squeeze that earned him a tiny yelp for the green hair boy.  

“I’m done!” After what felt like ages Izuku finally said, he slammed the pencil down so hard Katsuki was surprised it didn’t just shatter. “I’m done! I’m done!” 

He started to giggle and leaned his head back dramatically and looked up into Katsuki’s eyes, shifting his hips, pushing his now leaking cock back into Katsukis hand with a happy little whine.  

“You sure?”

“Yes, yes I am done,”  Izuku said quickly, managing to remove Katsuki’s hand and turn himself back around and kiss him hard.  Katsuki instinctively reached down to his ass to pull him farther into his lap.  Their kissing was rough and needy and felt so fucking good .  

“Bedroom,” Izuku said simply between their mouths.  “Now.”

Katsuki huffed and nipped at Izuku’s throat. Izuku whined and wiggled and tried to get free to lead him to the bedroom, but Katsukis wrapped his arms tightly around his body. He now seemed to be taking all the time in the world as he slowly kissed his way down.

“Kacchan, Come on.” Izuku whined again and pulled at his shirt, “Please?” 

“Please what?”  Katsuki said suddenly, pulling away, Making Isuku whip out the pouty lip and big begging eyes.  

“Please, can we go to the bedroom?’

Katsuki tutted and dug his fingers deeper into Izuku’s ass and sunk his teeth deep into the muscles of his shoulder. Izuku's hips jerked forward, unintentionally grinding against Katsuki’s own hard-on, which made him dig his teeth deeper. The bitter taste of iron bloomed on his tongue as his teeth broke the skin. Izuku moaned loudly, quickly reaching up to shove his hand over his mouth.   

“What did you want me to say?”  He squeaks out through his hand before dropping it to grab onto the collar of Katsuki’s tee shirt, leaning his head back as Katsuki’s kisses were starting to get more aggressive and multiplying by the second.  

“You know what I want to hear,”  Katsuki said simply and quickly kept back to kissing up and down his neck.

Izuku pulled away forcing Katsuki to stop his kisses and look him in the eye. They blinked at each other for a moment, panting.  Izuku's face was growing redder by the second as he realized what Katsuki actually wanted.

“But, it’s so,”  He scrunched up his whole face, “...Embarrassing.”

“ ‘s’not embarrassing,”  Katuski said, simply looking up at him.  “You talk about this big game nowadays.  You gotta back it up.  Three words are all you need, baby.”

Izuku sighed and wrapped his arms around Katsuki’s shoulder and cuddled into his shoulder. For a second, Katsuki thought he had pushed it too far, and Izuku was going to tell him to stop.  Instead, barely above a whisper, he speaks into the blond’s ear. “Please fuck me.”

Chapter Text

Suddenly the itch was unbearable. Katsuki didn’t even bother to answer him. He simply pressed his lips against Izuku and started kissing him roughly, like he wanted to consume him entirely. Izuku was moaning deeply into his mouth as he suddenly stood them up, taking Izuku with him. He liked carrying him, especially like this. It made Katsuki feel strong because he knew Izuku could carry him easily, but it was nice the other way around.  

They roughly made out as Katsuki walked quickly down the hall and into Izuku's room, Izuku’s hands were all over his toned body, tugging at Katsuki's hair, scratching at his back and neck almost frantically. 

Katsuki turned and pushed his back against the door, throwing it open and closing the door behind them with a kick.  

With little finesse, he threw Izuku down onto the edge of the bed in the dark room, only illuminated by the faint glow of something on his desk, and quickly pulled his sweatpants down to his knees, leaving the boy in his boxers. 

“See, I knew you knew what to say, fucker,” Katsuki stood over him, grinning, “say it again?”

“Please fuck me,” Izuku said softly, reaching his hands out to pull at the hem of Katsuki’s shirt and slotting one of his legs between Katsuki's thighs.  

“Good boy,” Katsuki groaned out as he shoved his hand back down the boy’s pants, making him moan out loudly, jerking his hand up to his mouth but was quickly intercepted and pinned to the bed.

“No, no, none of that,” Katsuki grinned over him, “I wanna hear everything this time.”

“But, Kacchan…”  Izuku whined and tested the grip on his wrists. It wasn’t tight and Katsuki knew that there was very little he could do if Izuku no longer wanted to be in this position, but he still stayed right where he was. “Are you just content with making me embarrass myself tonight?”

“Why do you think it’s embarrassing?” Katsuki said frankly. 

“I don’t- I dunno,” Izuku mumbled, “it just is.”

“Ok, why don’t we make a rule? If I say something is hot when we are together like this, then it isn’t embarrassing,” Katsuki said gruffly.

“But-” Izuku tried to counter back. 

“No buts. I wanna hear the noises you make cause it tells me that you like what I am doing and that’s good for me, yeah?” Katsuki could hear the gears turning in Izuku’s head. 

“Ok, that’s fine, b-” 

“And the reason I like it when you say dirty things is cause it turns me on to know that you know what you want so you’re asking for it. The right way.” Katsuki tacked on the last thing just to frustrate Izuku.

It did, in fact, earn him a huff from underneath him, “Fine, whatever.”

“So it’s not embarrassing,” Katsuki leaned down slowly, pressing their lips together again, silencing any more arguments. Izuku acted annoyed at first but soon went limp and kissed back sweetly.  They kissed and kissed and kissed until Katsuki’s lips felt raw and his lungs were burning. He broke them apart with a pant, Izuku whining underneath him, “Wait no, Kacchan, come back!”

Katsuki chuckled and shifted his thigh till it was pressed against Izuku’s hard-on, neglected in his thankfully plain patterned boxers. (Katsuki tried not to cringe remembering the All Might Boxers incident.)

“Nevermind, please keep doing that,” Izuku sighed and locked his ankles around Katsuki’s knee, pulling him closer and keeping him in place. “More of that.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes,” Izuku let out a drawn out whine again and jerked his hips forward. 

Katsuki chuckled and continued to slowly move his thigh back and forth, earning happy sighs and little moans from Izuku as he tried to push his hips in sync. Katsuki couldn't help but grin widely at the image below him.  

Izuku was lying there, fingers gripping onto Katsuki’s wrists the best they could as Katsuki held him down, legs wrapped tightly around Katsuki’s thigh as he was practically humping it, making the cutest, most needy little noises.

God, he was lucky.

“Kacchan,”  Izuku whimpered, looking up at him and biting his lip.

“Yes?” Katsuki blinked out of his tance

“Please do something.” 

“Ok, needy. Only, cause you asked so nicely,” Katsuki reached down and managed to pull his sweatpants down the rest of the way, letting them drop to the floor as he tucked the tips of his fingers in the elastic boxers still attached to his hips. He grinned at the growing wet spot in the center of Izuku’s, proud of his work. 

“Kacchan, please stop staring already,” Izuku sounded embarrassed… again. Honestly, it was starting to piss him off.

“Why should I?” Katsuki said frankly. “I am enjoying what’s mine. Calm down.”  

Izuku let out a frustrated grunt and wiggled, trying to get Katsuki’s hands to move again. 

“I said calm down.” Katsuki couldn’t help but chuckle at the frustrated look on Izuku's face. “Was just thinking about what I want to do tonight.”

“Well, you can do whatever,” Izuku tried again, still mumbling.

“Speak up, baby.”  

“You can do whatever…I prepped and stuff.”

“Hm?”  Katsuki raised his eyebrow.  It took him a second, but then it suddenly dawned on him. Izuku had prepped for sex before he had brought up the subject. A little thrill ran through his body.  It was the touching himself conversation all over again.  The innocent version of Izuku was started to peel away and reveal someone that Katsuki was really beginning to like if he was being honest. 

It’s not that he didn’t like his boyfriend before or anything (cause if he was being honest, the idea that he was the only one that had ever touched Izuku still did things to him), but once they had started talking about sex, Izuku’s possessive side really started to grow.  

Katsuki couldn’t seem to stop the shit-eating grin that spread across his face. 

“Like I am all clean,” Izuku’s hands were back on his face, “oh my god, can you stop humiliating me?” 

Katsuki couldn’t help but laugh as he leaned down and pulled Izuku's hands away again and pressed their lips together once more.  Katsuki loved kissing Izuku, it never seemed to get old. He could do it for hours, days if his body would let him or if Izuku could help himself.  

The green-haired boy right now seemed very intent on removing Katsuki’s shirt regardless of their two mouths' current locations. Soon his t-shirt was being pulled over his head with haste and tossed aside. “You give me shit, call me a pervert, and put me in the dog house for wanting to have sex but look at you, do you do that every time we hang out?”

“Yes-no! Not every time!” Izuku stammered awkwardly and buried his face deeper into his hands.

“Oh my god. You totally fucking do!” Katsuki couldn’t help but laugh softly as he leaned in and kissed Izuku’s knuckles, “you are not just a perv, you’re a fucking slut!”  

 “Excuse me?!” Izuku gasped and pulled his hands away in surprise.

The boy barely had time to shriek before Katsuki pinned his arms back down and started kissing him roughly, all tongue and teeth clashing together. Izuku couldn't help but moan loudly, captured by the blond’s mouth.  

“God, you’re so fucking hot,” Katsuki whispers against the other boys lips before pressing back down again and kissing him excitedly. Izuku groaned again and pushed his hips up, looking for some sort of relief as well as struggling against Katsuki holding on to his wrists.

Katsuki slowly stopped kissing him, pulling away even though Izuku chased after him with a whine, “Katsuki, please!” 

“Awe, is someone frustrated?” Katsuki chuckled as he looked down at Izuku’s face, which he could see was flushed red in the soft light from the desk.  

“Yes, of course I am!” Izuku’s voice cracked at least three times as he talked loudly, “you have been edging me all night and I feel like I am losing my mind! I get you to want to do it your way but fuck, PLEASE do something!” Izuku was breathing hard through his nose by the end and was practically vibrating.

“Ok, ok, bunny, just take a breath,” Katsuki said softly as he dropped the hold on Izuku’s wrists and stood up straight, and then dropped to his knees. Izuku let out a weak moan as Katsuki kissed along his thighs as he pulled at the elastic of his boxers, slowly starting to pull them down.

He kept pulling until Izuku’s cock sprung free, stiff and twitching. Izuku was mumbling excitedly and reaching down blindly, barely missing poking Katsuki’s eye. Yeah, this wasn’t going to work. 

“Ok,” Katsuki stood up again and hauled Izuku up by the hands so he was sitting up, “there we go.” Katsuki started to litter kisses across Izuku’s body as he moved back downwards. The two held eye contact as Katsuki got back down on his knees and finished tugging the boxers down his thighs, pulling them off completely and tossing them to join his sweats.  

“I could stay like this all day,” Katsuki mused softly to himself after leaving a particularly dark bruise inside Izuku’s plush thigh. Izuku let him have his fun with a couple of kisses before he started to wiggle and flex his fingers in Katsuki's hair. Katsuki kept kissing until he whined loudly and tugged at his head. 

“Ok, I hear you, bunny. I’ll get to it.” He licked a wet strip on his hand and wrapped it firmly around Izuku’s weeping cock. The reaction was instantaneous as he sighed loudly and leaned back.

“Fuck, thank you.”  

“You are very welcome, sweetheart,” Katsuki chuckled softly and started to move his hand up and down slowly. Izuku let out a breath of laughter that quickly turned to a high-pitched moan as his hips jerked up and he threw his head back. 

“I am going, to be honest, Kacchan, I don't think I'm going to last very long,” Izuku sighed contentedly , seemingly so relieved to have some form of relief he didn't want to hide it. “Haven't come in a while.”

Katsuki chuckled and left one last hickey before refocusing on Izuku's poor cock and licked a wide, slow strip up the shaft. That earned him a yelp and a sharp yank of his hair. Katsuki took that as a good sign and repeated his movement trying to move as slow as he could, drool almost dripping from his tongue. 

He could feel Izuku's toned thighs shaking on either side of his head and the boy’s hands gripping his hair almost painfully tight as he reached the tip and swirled his tongue around in tight circles, licking up the droplets of pre-cum.

Izuku was making noise constantly, evidently unsure of what to do now that he could be as loud as he wanted without repercussions. He couldn't seem to decide if he wanted to let out quiet little whimpers or moan loudly as Katsuku sucked gently on his head, taking his time to work his way down his length.

“Kacchan please…faster,” Izuku whined loudly, leaning farther back. Katsuki didn’t increase his speed in the slightest, just letting the boy complain and dig his still-socked feet into Katsuki’s shoulders, desperately trying to spur his boyfriend to quit teasing him. 

Katsuki continued to work his way down until Izuku’s pubic hair was tickling his nose. Izuku’s thighs quickly pressed against his ears, squeezing his head.  

Honestly, Izuku was pretty average-sized (maybe a little on the smaller size if he had to be specified) but Katsuki was more comfortable than with his mouth full. Eventually, his jaw would start to ache but he wasn’t even sure he was gonna sit here long because Izuku sounded like he was losing his mind.

He was panting loudly, his thighs shaking and squeezing around his head. His heels were digging into his back but Katsuki honestly couldn't care less. He looked up at Izuku’s face, straining slightly to get a good look at him. Izuku let out an almost pitiful cry and threw his head back. Worth it.

“Kacchan I can’t- I can’t,” he panted out shakily. Katsuki could tell by the twitching of the cock in his mouth that he probably wasn’t going to last very long. He reached up and tugged at the hem of the boy’s shirt and pushed it up the best he could from his position. Izuku’s brain must have caught up and he quickly tugged it the rest of the way off, giving Katsuki's scalp a much-needed break from his vice-like grip. 

Katsuki stayed put, sucking gently at the boy's cock as Izuku tugged his shirt off momentarily, getting trapped as he tugged it over his head and threw it in a random direction. As he did that Katsuki pulled off of his cock quickly with a wet pop. Izuku let out a choked noise and fell back, a hand flying to his swollen cock, gripping it tightly.  

Katsuki tried not to wince as he was kneed in the head in Izuku’s panic. He barely managed to jerk his hand a couple of times before he was cumming, painting his belly and chest with his cum.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” he said quickly as Katsuki watched him work himself through his orgasm. “Fuck…I couldn’t take it,” he panted as he finally relaxed his body and Katsuki stood up.  

Izuku's whole face was beet red creeping down his neck and almost made it to his pecs and he hadn't even seemed to notice the pools of cum now starting to cool on his skin.

“I am actually surprised how long you lasted,” Katsuki said simply as he tugged his shirt off and leaned down as if to kiss him. Izuku even leaned up weakly to meet him, but at the last second Katsuki leaned down farther and licked a droplet of cum off of his neck. Katsuki worked his way down, licking away the evidence with gusto, much to Izuku's vocal upset.

“Kacchan, that is so gross, what are you doing! Just get a tissue please!”

“Why would I do that,” Katsuki said simply as he licked along with the muscle of the boy's pec, even swiping his tongue over his nipple, making it stiffen, “I am having a great time cleaning you up myself. Besides, I wouldn't want to let this all go to waste.”

Katsuki kept licking up the cum, leaving little kisses and nips all over the boy's chest. He kept making little noises, trying to act upset even if he was pressing up into the attention. 

“Kacchan,” Izuku said with a weak laugh, but Katsuki kept working till the boy's chest and abs were licked clean. 

“That's better,” Katsuki smiled and leaned over him. “I can't say I’m not pissed that you decided to finish yourself off all by yourself.”

Izuku made a small noise of protest, “I’m sorry!  I couldn't take it.” He stuck his lower lip out and wrapped his arms around Katsukis neck. “I don’t like edging, makes me feel like I am going crazy”

“You sounded like it too,” Katsuki teases as Izuku gasped in fake offense and pulled him down so they could smash their lips together. Katsuki kept kissing him as he reached blindly to his left trying to find the desk drawer that housed the lube. 

“For fucks sake! ” he growled as he broke off their kiss so he could look properly Izuku giggling drunkenly as he started trailing kisses all of Katsukis chest. Searching around in the drawer was making him more frustrated by the second.

“Why do you have so much shit in your drawers?”  he growled out as Izuku began leaving little love bites all over his chest. Katsuki pushed away a power bar wrapper and finally grabbed the bottle of lube tucked away in the back corner, “Fucking finally.”

He stood up properly and looked back down at Izuku, meeting his playfully heated gaze. Izuku was smiling and blinking up at him in the dim light of the bedroom.

“Hey there,” he giggled softly, running his nails along Katsuki’s back.

“Hey yourself,” Katsuki smiled softly, dropping the lube onto the bed and placing his hands on top of the boy's head, “So.”

“So,” Izuku answered with a giggle and leaned forward and pressed a small kiss right over his heart. They held eye contact and for once Katsuki didn't feel like pulling him away to kiss rougher. He let the boy litter his pec’s with soft kisses and little nibbles.

“Someone's extra needy,” he chuckled, making sure his voice was as sweet as he could make it.  

“Well, I feel like I haven't gotten to kiss you all night,” Izuku whined, “and your muscles are just so nice.” He batted his eyelashes and stuck out his bottom lip. 

Katsuki chuckled and leaned down slowly, “Well come here then.” 

Just as they were going to kiss again, Izuku winced. His whole face scrunched up as he pulled away, holding the side of his head.

“You okay?” Katsuki asked as the boy shakily exhaled a pained breath as he held his head.

“Yeah… just my head,” Izuku whimpered, massaging the side of his head and scrunching his eyes shut. “There’s a bottle of aspirin in the drawer. Could you get it for me?”

“Yeah, sure.” Katsuki pulled away to grab the pill bottle. He shook out two pills and handed them to Izuku, who took them and swallowed them dry, not waiting for Katsuki to get him water.

“Easy there,” Katsuki said as he watched Izuku’s eyebrows furrow in discomfort. He moved some pillows out of the way so Izuku could lean farther back. “Want me to get you anything?”

“It’s fine,” Izuku said as he finally laid back down with his hand over his eyes. Katsuki watched, feeling a bit helpless just standing there when it dawned on him.

“When was the last time you drank water?” Katsuki asked, keeping his voice low.

“I dunno, I had a drink when I started to study….”

“Six hours ago?” Katsuki sighed and rested a hand on his boyfriend’s knee, trying to be comforting without making his headache worse. The clock read close to 9 pm, and his stomach quietly rumbled. The idea of sex seemed to distract him so much that he completely forgot that Inko had made dinner for the two of them. “I’ll get some water and whatever your mom made. You wanna stay here to eat?”

“Oh yeah, dinner,” Izuku agreed weakly from the bed.

Katsuki patted his thigh and left the bedroom as quietly as he could. He padded down the hallway and made his way to the kitchen, trying to ignore the fact that his dick was still hard, and pulled the two bowls of fried rice out of the fridge and put them in the microwave.

He leaned against the counter (and adjusted his cramped boxers) as he waited for the microwave to beep and thought. The itch was back, and now he thinks he knows why. Izuku was lying to him. Again.

Katsuki didn't think he was lying about having a headache but he was lying about why he was getting them. Katsuki had watched him drink his whole glass of water and Katsuki’s leftover gym bottle while they had done homework. Lying little shit. 

He was so beyond fucking frustrated that Izuku wasn’t talking to him. For a kid who never seems to stop talking it was almost mind-boggling how well he could shut up when he wanted to. And it only seemed to be getting worse.

The day before break started, even All Might had cornered Katsuki in the hall after class and asked him if he “knew what’s been bothering young Midoriya?” He had answered truthfully that he had no fucking clue and just left because what else was he supposed to say?

The microwave beeped, and he took the bowls out to let them cool while he grabbed two water bottles along with two spoons. He slipped the water bottles into his sweatpant pockets and grabbed the bowls, ignoring the heat of the ceramic, and made his way back to Izuku’s room.

Izuku had pulled on a pair of shorts and was still laying on the bed with his hands pressed against his eyes, mumbling to himself. 

Katsuki moved to walk in, but Izuku let out a loud whine and flexed his fingers against his forehead.

“Enough. Stop yelling at me. It feels like you’re splitting my head in half,” he groaned quietly.

Katsuki hesitated at the door, not knowing what to do. Izuku sounded like he was talking to someone.

“You said I could enjoy my free time how I like, and I like to make out with my boyfriend.” Izuku sounded angry, which Katsuki was somewhat surprised at. “You can not be mad at me for something you said I could do!”

He groaned loudly and dug the heels of his hands into his eyes. “Enough… just stop shouting,” he growled before he reached his hands up and slammed them down hard on his face. “Stop shouting at me!”

Katsuki took a step back as the glow from the lighting in his fingertips lit up the dark room. Izuku hit his head a couple of times and raised his voice, “Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!”

For the first time in his whole time knowing Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki felt a prickle of fear crawl up his spine. Izuku sounded enraged. His voice bounced off the walls, almost sounding like it was vibrating, even though he was barely talking over a whisper. Katsuki stared with wide eyes as Izuku’s hands sparked and crackled.

Izuku suddenly grunted and sat up, pulling his hands away to show his eyes glowing in the dark. “I SAID THAT’S ENOUGH.”

Katsuki took a step back from the doorway and tightened his grip on the bowls in his hand. Izuku just yelled at him. Or yelled at someone. Someone who was not there. What the actual fuck is happening?

“Oh.” Izuku blinked away his quirk, just now seeming to register Katsuki standing in the hallway. “Kacchan!”

“What the fuck was that?” Katsuki asked quietly. He was still trying to wrap his head around what he just saw and didn’t trust himself not to start shouting any minute now. Why was Izuku keeping something like this from him?

Izuku opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, his expression settling on something like dread. “I didn’t realize you were there!”

“No shit,” Katsuki said as he finally walked in. and put the bowls on the desk, giving Izuku a wide berth, a small part of him uneasy that One For All would activate again. He turned the light on and didn’t miss how Izuku winced. 

“I wasn’t- I didn’t- I wasn’t yelling at you!” Izuku stuttered, his breaths coming in sharp puffs like he couldn’t figure out what to say quick enough.

“Then who were you yelling at?” Katsuki tried to clarify, surprising himself with how calm he managed to sound.

“I wasn’t yelling at anyone!” Izuku quickly responded, shifting to face him. Katsuki’s frustration tightened its grip on his chest. Clearly, they weren’t going to get anywhere, and for once, it wasn’t for lack of trying on Katsuki’s part.

“You weren’t yelling at anyone? I just watched you freak out and shout at an empty room!”

“I wasn’t-” Izuku took a deep breath and repeated himself, “I wasn’t talking to anyone. I was just talking to myself.”

“I’ve never heard you talk like before,” Katsuki forced a rough exhale and clenched his teeth, trying his best not to scream at the top of his lungs and blow a hole in Izuku’s flustered little face. “So you need to tell me what's going on.”

“Kacchan…” Izuku tried weakly, looking seconds away from crying. Guilt pricked at Katsuki through his frustration.

“I want to know what has been going on with you. Now, ” Katsuki’s throat strained with the effort of keeping his voice calm. 

“I don’t know!” Izuku shouted tears that had been welling up finally beginning to fall. Katsuki blinked at him. Equally strong urge to either soothe or shout fought for space in his chest. “I don’t know what’s going on, and you keep asking me, and I have no clue what to tell you! I feel like I’m going crazy!”

“I don’t know, but anything is better than nothing. Fuck, even something like ‘hey shit sucks’ would’ve worked fine.” Katsuki pressed a warm palm to the side of his head and breathed through his teeth. Why is this so hard?

“Oh really? And that would have worked?” Izuku bit back, chuckling bitterly.

“It would’ve been better than just keeping lying to my face,” Katsuki growled. “And apparently lying to everyone else too!  Everyone is fucking worried about you!”

“Why are you getting so upset? This isn’t even about you!” Izuku blurted like he couldn’t hold it in any longer.

This time when that red beast clawed up his throat, he let it. The last weeks had been so unfamiliar, pressuring, and so so frustrating that he wanted to rip his hair out. Being an actual boyfriend was new territory for him and what made it worse was that he thought that they had gotten past this. Katsuki had felt that he had earned his place. He had gotten too comfortable. He thought Izuku trusted him, his boyfriend even told him as much, but now the truth was clear. Any attempt at redemption he thought he’d managed these last few months had not meant as much to Izuku. The realization was almost embarrassing, which only made him angrier.

“Why am I getting upset? ” He yelled back in disbelief, “how could I not get fucking upset?! I’m your boyfriend, dipshit!”

“That doesn’t make my issues about you!” Izuku snapped back. “I can’t even begin to understand what’s going on, so in my own head, how would you or anyone else be able to help me? It’s my mess! I can handle it myself!”

“So, what? Us peasant folk who don’t have your divine quirk are just supposed to watch you run farther and farther ahead, is that it?” Katsuki said coldly. “Are we just so weak we couldn’t possibly understand what you do?”

“I have never said anything like that!” Even though tears were matting his eyelashes, Izuku wasn't really crying.  

“Oh, shut up! That's exactly what it is! You won’t you talk to All Might? Or sensei or even Uraraka?” Izuku’s eyebrows rose in surprise when Katsuki called Uraraka by name, but it barely registered. The beast wanted to burn the green-haired boy to the ground, to bask in the warmth.  Katsuki wanted it to hurt, “Are they all so dumb to you that they couldn’t even begin to understand? Am I?”

“No! Of course, you’re not!” Izuku tried to backpedal as fast as possible, but it was no use.

“I tried so hard to earn my place with you. I broke all of my rules to earn this relationship with you! I’ve told you things I would never trust anyone else with,” Katsuki was now almost screaming. “But you’re telling me that all this fucking time, it didn’t even matter? Were you ever gonna trust me? Or was I just someone who is fun to have on your arm?”

“When have I ever asked you to change yourself for me?” Izuku tried to counter, raising his voice to match Katsuki’s. “That’s not what this is about!”

“Then what is it about?! Why are we even dating if you don’t think you can talk to me? Is it because you’re scared?” Katsuki took a step forward as he shouted, his hands growing hot and his chest feeling tight. “Are you scared of me, Deku?” He spits it out as Izuku stares up at him definatly. 

“Of course, I’m not!” Izuku shouted back. “When did I ever say that?”

Katsuki growled out and clenched his fist. “Then what? Is it that I am too weak?”

“You are not weak!” Izuku shook his head, wiping away the tears that streaked down his cheeks.

“So then what?” He tried to stay as angry as he was at the start of the conversation. Still, it was becoming more and more difficult as Izuku turned on him with that distressed look in his eyes. “You can’t say you didn’t trust me before. If you don’t feel like you can talk to me about, apparently, the nightmares, the panic attacks, the not talking to anyone but an empty fucking room, why are we together?”

“You don’t mean that,” Izuku said darkly, a sudden sadness mixing with his anger.

“Maybe I do! I don’t fucking know!” Katsuki didn’t want to be here anymore. He needed to leave. “Where’s my fucking shirt?” 

“Why do you need your shirt?” Izuku asked sharply, caught up in his own frustration.

“Cause I wanna fucking leave!” Katsuki argued back, finally finding his shirt in a frumbled little pile and pulling it on roughly.

“What do you mean leave?” Izuku questioned, eyes narrowing as he watched Katsuki angrily slam the two water bottles that had been in his pockets on the desk. He was surprised that they didn’t explode. “You can’t just leave!”

“Why not, huh?” Katsuki turned and looked him in the eye, challenging him to fight back.

“’Cause, it’s 10 at night, dumbass!” Izuku rolled his eyes. “Are you crazy?”

Katsuki laughed at the irony and made his way to the door, hand on the knob.

“Just-” Izuku said quickly, his voice losing its volume but somehow keeping its sharpness.  “Just sleep on the couch.”

“No. I don’t want to sleep on the couch!” Katsuki bite back and knew he sounded like a child, but he couldn’t care less.

“Would my mom let you drive like this?” Izuku asked, Making Katsuki turn to look at him. “She’ll kill you if she finds out you just left in the middle of the night.”

After a moment of hesitation, Katsuki relented, “Fine, whatever.”

He walked out of the room with a huff, slamming the door behind him, vaugley remembering that the Midoriya's lived in an apartment building, but he didn't care who he woke up at this point He stomped down the hallway, still fuming.

Flopping face down onto the couch, he wrapped himself in a throw blanket and tried not to blow up the couch.  He shoved his face deep into the pillow, breathing raggedy into it.

Shitty Izuku and his shitty tears. Making him feel bad and shit. What was he even talking about, in the dark by himself? He always had the habit of talking to himself, but this was on another level. He was yelling at thin air, and he sounded like he was actually angry, which was something that Katsuki didn’t hear often.

Katsuki knew he was being an asshole. Izuku looked fucking terrified when he saw him in the doorway, but what else was he supposed to do? It was one thing to pretend to ignore problems when Izuku hid them, but it had happened right in front of him, goddamn it. And another thing. The fact that Izuku told him he was too weak to even be kept in the know was so fucking stupid. Did he forget that it took him a whole five minutes to blab the biggest secret in the fucking world right to Katsuki’s face?  Just so Katsuki wouldn't feel bad?

It had taken them years to get where they were. And now it seemed that it didn’t matter. Izuku still didn’t trust him. Would Izuku ever trust him completely?

Then the cherry on top of the shit sundae, Izuku had gone and made Katsuki fall in love with him.  Katsuki hated him for that.

Katsuki rolled over on the couch, staring at the reflection of the window on the glass of the TV. Suddenly hot, fat tears were rolling down his cheeks as he tucked himself tighter into the blanket.

He tried to get some sleep but couldn’t seem to settle. Hours passed as he faded in and out of consciousness. He thought about how the night had started with kissing, teasing, and laughter and ended with shouting and tears on both sides. This sucked. Like so so bad.  Katsuki finally gave up around midnight and stood up to steal something from the fridge because he still hadn’t eaten. As he looked for something he didn't need to cook (cause he really didn't want to cook right now) and sniffled softly (cause his nose seemed to refuse to stop running) he finally found one of those shitty sports bars that Izuku liked for some fucking reason. 

Sitting alone in the Midoryia’s kitchen, quietly eating a chalky power bar, was a humbling experience if Katsuki was being honest. 

Suddenly his phone started to buzz loudly in his pocket.  He pulled it out of his pocket, grumbling, and saw that Mina was calling him, the picture of her and Katsuki wearing face masks with their hair tied back that she had creepily taken of them lighting up his screen.  He really needed to change that back.  And never let her have his phone again. He picked up the phone on the off chance she was in trouble and held it up to his ear.

“It’s midnight,” his voice was croaky and came out only a little bit louder than a whisper.

“Oh,” the girl on the other end answered, sounding surprised, “I didn’t expect you to answer.”

“Then why did you call me?” Katsuki asked tiredly.  He did not have time for her energy tonight.

“I was just going to leave you a message to see if we could hang out for a little tomorrow. Sorry, I woke you up,” she spoke softly and quietly sniffled.

“Are you good?” Katsuki asked before she could hang up the phone.

There was a beat of silence before she let out a short laugh, “No. Not really.”

Katsuki sat up a little straighter, “Oh.”

“Today just wasn’t a good day,” she said, “I just wanted someone to talk to, and Eiji is officially on vacation, and Denki said he was going to a party or something.”

“So I was the last option?” Katsuki asked jokingly.

“I mean yes, but no. I was going to ask you out to lunch regardless,” she giggled, “I just wanted to talk to someone.”

“I can do that,” Katsuki said after a moment of consideration. He needed to do something to not think about Izuku.  Mina would work. “What do you wanna talk about?”

“Um, anything really. Literally.” Mina’s voice was uncharacteristically quiet and hoarse. Katsuki didn’t really know what to say.

“You do the math homework?” He asked, kicking himself for how dumb he sounded, but Mina didn’t seem to care.

“No,” she sighed. “Are you telling me you already did?”

“Yep. Finished it the first day home.”

“Literally how? It’s like crazy complicated.” He heard papers shuffle on the other end and couldn’t help but smile a little.

“I can help if you want,” Katsuki offered suddenly, making the paper rustling stop.

“You would?” Mina asked.

“Yeah, why not. Can’t sleep anyway,” Katsuki sighed and walked over to the front entrance to get his work from his bag, packed in case it had been needed.

“What’s keeping you up tonight?” Mina asked as he pressed his phone between his cheek and shoulder to free up his hands so he could riffle through his bag, looking for the assment that Izuku had haphazardly shoved back in after he had used it to check his work.  God, he wasn't supposed to be thinking about Izuku.  

“...Nothing worth worrying about,” Katsuki said, concentrating on pulling the papers free as quietly as he could. Izuku didn't need to know he was awake.  He did it again.

“Really? You know you can tell me, but we don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“Why do you wanna know so bad?” Katsuki asked gruffly as he walked back toward the kitchen.

“’Cause you sound sad.”

“Fuck you. Do you want help or not?” He said sharply.

“Yes, please!” Mina said quickly. “Sorry!”

He scoffed, walked back into the kitchen, and sat back at the table. “So which one was the one that you didn’t understand?”

“All of them,” Mina said sadly.

Katsuki started from the top, going through the problems a second time and talking Mina through each one. Unlike the boys’ studying sessions, Mina was actually listening to him and trying her best to follow along. They worked through it surprisingly fast.  Soon they had finished the whole packet. But the two of them didn’t seem to want to stop talking to each other.

It started with Mina asking about Katsuki’s dad and how he was doing (he was doing fine, and he had gone back to work a couple of weeks ago). Which made Katsuki ask about her dad (Who was also doing well and had just gotten another bike in his shop that he wanted Katsuki to just look at). It just went off from there.  Where Eiji and his moms were going on vacation (to South Korea to spend time with his Ama’s family), Denki’s apparent party (who he had brought Jiro to as his date. Like, asked her out and everything), and Sero’s last update (His sister was home from university, so his sparse texting habits had become non-existent)

“Yeah, I think she is getting her doctorate in education,” Mina said idly. “Which is so cool.”

“Yeah,” Katsuki agreed. “I can’t imagine going to school for what, 6 more years?”

“I think it may be five years,” Mina corrected quietly.

“Same difference. Seems like a ton of work just to hang out with snot-nosed kids all day.”

Mina giggled quietly, “You really don’t like kids do you?”

“No, I don’t not like kids,” Katsuki answered honestly, “I just think they are smaller, slimier, more high pitch versions of adults.”

“So just as annoying?”  

“Yeah.” That made Mina laugh, which made Katsuki chuckle, desperately trying his best to keep his voice down. “I mean, I like certain kids like my cousins. Sometimes. Very rarely.”

That whips up Mina’s giggles again, and soon the two of them are losing it, desperately trying to stay quiet as they keep spurring the other one to keep laughing when the other dies down, the vicious cycle of late-night laughter.  Once Mina finally stops laughing, she says something quietly. 

“What? I missed that,” Katsuki said 

“Do you want kids?” Mina says again after a moment. 

Katsuki wanted to snap at her cause why did she need to know anyway, but she sounded so sad, and for once, he didn’t have the heart.

“Kinda. Haven’t really decided. Depends on what happens,” Katsuki answered genuinely. 

“Have you and Eijro talked about it?” 

“Why?” 

“Whenever I ask him, he always just says it’s up to me. Which isn’t really an answer.” 

Katsuki sighed loudly because, of course, he would say something that was super nice and somehow equally unhelpful. 

“Sounds like him,” Katsuki said, making Mina let out a weak laugh. “We haven’t talked about it in detail, but I think he does. I bet he’s one of those freaks that wants like 12 or something,” he chuckles at his own joke. “But why are you even thinking about stuff like that?”

On the other end of the phone, Mina let out a small sob, making Katsuki sit straight up, “Shit.” 

“Sorry,” Mina said weakly. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean-“

“It's not your fault,” Mina says quietly into the phone. “Just a bad day. I went to the doctor, and they said…well, they said that me having kids is kinda...impossibe.” Mina let out a pitiful sniff as she finished talking 

“Oh,” Katsuki said kinda dumbly, “that’s…fuck, that sucks.” 

“Yeah.  My dad said that it wasn't about Eijiro, but I cant stop thinking about him But it’s not the end of the-” 

“Nah, it’s still fucking sucks.” Katsuki countered quickly, not even letting her finish. 

There was a beat of silence, and Katsuki was sure he was gonna hear sobbing any second. so he panicked.

“Yeah, you're right. It really does,” her voice sounded tight and seconds from tears, but she laughed despite it. “It fucking sucks.”

They sat in silence again, but it didn't feel as heavy as it did before. 

“Okay, I told you my deeply personal issue. Spill, blondie,” Mina chuckled as she sniffled and pulled the phone away to blow her nose.

“Why do I have to?” Katsuki barked instinctively.

“Because I shared, and now you share, and then we talk about it. That's how it works.”

“Uh, we didn't talk about your thing,” Katsuki quietly argued back, suddenly feeling very exposed.

“We just did, and unless you have a medical license that I don't know about, I dont know about, there's not much we can do at midnight on a Wednesday. ”

Katsuki tried not to growl at her over the phone, knowing that she was grinning at the idea of actually getting personal information from him.

“I mean, you don't have to,” she started. “If it's too personal, we can just drop it.”

“No, it's not….” He sighed loudly. “Izuku and I fought. And it was bad.”

“Okay, you and Izuku fight all the time,” Mina said with a sweet voice, walking him through it “What was different?”

“Well,” Katsuki sighed and leaned back. “It ended with me saying that maybe we shouldn't even be dating.”

“Ooo, ouch,” She hissed. “That's no good.”

“Yeah… kind of a shit show,” He said weakly. “...I don't think I am cut out for this.”

“Cut out for what?” She asked gently.

“Being in a relationship,” Katsuki said honestly. “None of mine seem to work out.”

Mina let out a tiny gasp, “Oh my god, have we discovered something that Katsuki Bakugou isn't good at? Do I need to call you an ambulance?”

“Shut up,” Katsuki said, feeling his face go hot at the teasing. “I am being serious.”

“I know,” Mina snapped back playfully. “So am I. It must be difficult for you to have something that you weren't good at the first time you tried it. You are the most perfectionist perfectionist I have ever met.”

Katsuki sat there in festering silence and thought for a moment. Maybe she was right, but she was never going to hear that from him.

“Real relationships are hard,” Mina said finally.

“Yeah, no shit, why do you think I have avoided them.”

“Sometimes it's good to talk things through with a third party. What was the fight about, if you don't mind me asking?” Mina sounded so annoyingly endearing that words seem to start vomiting from Katsukis mouth, and he couldn’t get himself to stop.

He told her everything he could; how all of this started with Izuku sleeping less. How Katsuki asked him what was wrong, and he would just say he was fine over and over. Then he explained the nosebleed in the bathroom incident and the fight that happened after, and how he distracted Izuku instead of talking to him because it seemed like the better option. That, in fact, turned out to be a bad decision since it led to Izuku deciding that lying was better than talking to avoid the silent treatment and Katsukis subsequent bad choices to avoid a fight, which turned into Katsuki just festering in his anger for almost a month before tonight and it just became too much.

All of his feelings, all of the things he hadn't told anyone, it all just came tumbling out all at once.

“He thinks I’m weak or some shit!” He says with a huge sigh.  

“Wow,” she said as Katsuki took a breath, almost panting from talking so quickly. “I don't think I have ever heard you talk this much.” 

Katsuki let out a little grunt as he pressed the phone into his shoulder so he could get water from the fridge.  His throat wasn't really in practice, dry and sore from yelling and talking as he hadn't doing much of either lately. He sat back down, sipping his water as Mina processed all the information she had just heard.  

“Okay, so I am going to try and give you advice. But you can't just get mad at me and hang up, understand? Cause all that is gonna make me do is call you till you answer and no one wants that, yeah?”

Katsuki tsked but didn't disagree with her.

“Have you ever considered that Izuku might not even be worrying about you. Cause the way you talked about him just now you seem like you are the least stressful part of his life.” Katsuki sat quietly, so Mina decided to press on “So I would bet good money that he has been so worried about everything else that he hasn't even thought about you. Which is not ideal but not on purpose,” she paused and took a deep breath, “I honestly don’t think he thinks you’re weak, I think he thinks that he is not strong enough.”

“Oh,”  Katsuki said sorta dumbly, unsure of what else to say now. Mina was right.  

“Wow, that sounded pretty good,” Mina said with a giggle. 

“Yeah, it was very inspirational.”

“I know right? How lucky you are to have me?” She giggled as she preened happily. 

“Very,” he said genuinely, making her stop in her tracks, “I honestly would have just sat here alone and sad all night without you.”

“Well then I am glad I called even though it's almost-” She yelped suddenly, “1:30!”

“Oh fuck really?” Katsuki sighed and looked over at the clock on the oven that clearly displayed 1:28. “Shit.”

“Yeah, and I have to get up early tomorrow too,” She whined loudly 

“That's rough, buddy,” Katsuki said with no pity in his voice.

Mina complained about her dad and his plan for them to seemingly do some crazy activity every week during break for about 10 more minutes before she mentioned that they should go again.

“Hey, Pinky?” Katsuki said gently. 

“Yeah, Bakugou?” Mina answered sweetly.

“You should try and take your own advice,” he answered. 

“What do you mean?” she asked innocently. 

“Kiri is a freak, sure, but he loves you so fucking much. You should talk to him about the shit you are going through.”

“Yeah… I will” she said sleepily. “Thank you Katsuki. Good night.”

“Night, Mina,” he smiled, hanging up the phone and finally relaxing back into the dining chair, letting his head lean over the back of it.  Damn it. He was thinking about Izuku again.

Chapter Text

Katsuki yawned as he leaned back in his chair. Staying up this late was not something he did often and this was why. He felt as he had been hit by a bus. He kinda wished he was. Mildly disgruntled by the thought, he yawned again and sleepily wandered back over to the couch.

He wrapped the slightly too-small throw around him and flopped down face first, bundling his arms under his chest. He breathed out loudly and snuggled into the couch the best he could. Sleeping here was gonna kill his back.

As he closed his eyes and tried catch the sleep he was chasing, all he could think about was what Mina said.“I honestly don’t think he thinks you’re weak, I think he thinks that he isn’t strong enough.”

It really was simple now that he had heard it, but he probably would’ve never gotten there on his own. Not that he would admit that if she asked. And it most certainly didn't mean that he wasn’t still pissed as hell.

Just as he started to fade into the sweet nothingness of sleep, he was jolted wide awake by the sound of ceramic shattering and a solid thump from down the hall. Deku must have woken up and knocked over their abandoned dinner bowls in the dark. Idiot. And soon, he would have to wander out in shame to clean his mess.

Katsuki craned his neck up, waiting for the inevitable appearance of his… shit. Did Deku even think that he was still Katsuki's boyfriend? The fact that he even thought it meant that it had to have some truth. Maybe he shouldn't think about that yet. Sleepily, he repositioned his head on top of the arm of the couch so he could see if anyone came out of the bedroom. Maybe there was a part of him that wanted Deku to feel guilty that Katsuki was forced to sleep on the couch. Not that he was gonna move now, but still. It would feel good to know Deku felt even a little bad about their fight, petty as it might be.

But the hall remained empty as the minutes ticked by, and there weren’t any signs of movement from the room. Deku must have been lazy and decided to clean it up tomorrow. Not that it was any of his business. He settled back down, trying not to be grumpy about not being able to antagonize Izuku some more. Then he heard a sob from the bedroom.

That muffled sob turned to quiet crying that then quickly turned into panicked bawling in a matter of seconds. Even muffled through the door, Katsuki could hear what he could only describe was someone getting murdered. He untangled himself as fast as possible and was at the bedroom door before his brain could catch up.

“Izuku?” He knocked and waited for a response. All he got was the sound of more sobbing. “I'm coming in.”

He cracked the door open, poked his head in, scanned the room tried not to curse…loudly.

The dark may have made it look better than it was because as soon as he flicked on the overhead light, all Katsuki could see was what looked like the aftermath of a bomb going off.

There were large burn marks around the bed, the sides of the desk, and on the walls. The corner of the comforter was burned so severely that Katsuki could swear it was smoldering a little. The entire thing was thrown to the side of the bed haphazardly. One of Izuku's pillows was burned to the point of no return and his sheets didn't look much better. All of the things on Izuku's desk had been scattered across it. Papers and pencils were strewn across its surface and were spilling onto the floor. The lamp was hanging off the edge of the desk, the jagged teeth of its broken light bulb fully visible. The rolling chair looked like it had been thrown across the room, one of the wheels still weakly spinning. The floor was a mess too, covered with things from Izuku's desk and the remains of their dinner mixed with shattered ceramic and glass from the lamp bulb.

When Katsuki finally reached Izuku, the loud curse on the tip of his tongue evaporated.

Izuku was a mess, curled in on himself and seated on the floor next to his bed. His back was against it with his face pressed into his knees. He was desperately trying to calm himself down, breathing wetly through his nose and mouth between sobs. Lifting his head slowly, he looked at Katsuki with his tear-filled eyes. And Katsuki went cold.

He would be the first person to say that Izuku looked pretty when he cried. His eyes looked like emeralds, bright as if a million shades of green were crammed into his head. They would sparkle with tears, and his lashes would clump together and make his big doe eyes look even bigger and doe-ier. His face would blush the most perfect shade of pink, from the apples of his cheeks to the tip of his nose.But this wasn't it. It was a joke that Izuku would cry all the time, which wasn’t true. Lately, he had been a little sensitive, sure. But when he cried, like actually cried, it mattered . It happened when he was at his limit and all of the strength and power he held couldn't fit in his body, so it spilled out in the form of tears.

It looked nothing like this.

Izuku was desperately rubbed his hands over his face as he tried to breathe. All he could seem to do was sob loudly. Finally, he brought his head up and made eye contact with Katsuki. His whole face was a mess of tears and snot and blood. Blood. Dark red, almost black. Everywhere. Jesus, It was everywhere. Katsuki assumed it was from his nose, or at least he hoped. They stared at one another, saying nothing and leaving Katsuki feeling even more lost.

“I’m…” Izuku croaked out after what felt like hours. His eyelids fluttered, fresh tears spilling from his eyes. They carved clean tracks into the mess smeared on his cheeks. “I’m so sorry.”

The words seemed to open the floodgates again. A violent sob ripped its way out of Izukus's chest as he kept trying to apologize over and over again. Katsuki is on the ground next to him in the blink of an eye. He pulled the boy to his chest as he sobbed violently, clinging to Katsuki as he maneuvered Deku into his lap.

“Hey, Hey, Hey.” Katsuki tried to soothe him with what little words he could force out of his mouth, rocking him back and forth. He hoped it would help Deku calm down, but it didn't help.

Katsuki realized with a shiver that he had no idea what to do. In a fight, he could tell what Izuku needed sometimes even before Izuku knew he needed it, but now he was helpless. He had no idea what to do. No idea how to calm him down or soothe him in any way. So he sat there, holding him. Izuku was seemingly unable to stop panicking long enough to get a full breath in his lungs. He continued to hyperventilate, keeping him stuck in that vicious cycle. He eventually tired himself enough that his breathing slowed to pitifully small sniffles as he held onto Katsuki’s shirt for dear life.

“What happened?” Katsuki tried to push his sweaty bangs away, But that only prompted Izuku to start sobbing violently again. Okay, wrong question. What the fuck should he do?

Katsuki tried to take inventory of his injuries. Izuku's nose was where most of the blood on his face was from, which was still bleeding quite steadily. There were a couple of deeper cuts on his face and hands, and some nicks on his arms from the ceramic and glass littering his floor. The thump must have been from him falling off the bed into the mess.

Finally, Izuku’s breathing tapered out again, and he rested his mess of a face against Katsuki's chest, smearing it on his shirt. After his last attempt at comfort, Katsuki decided it was best to focus on Izuku’s physical injuries. There were gashes that needed to be treated, and the emotions and shit could be dealt with later.

“Going up,” he warned as he stood carefully. Izuku seemed to barely register the change in position as he was hoisted into the air starting blankly ahead at nothing.

Katsuki carefully picked his way through the minefield of debris in his bare feet and managed to menuvor them both into the bathroom next door. He gently sat Izuku on the counter, flicked on the lights, and started to collect the necessary medical supplies. He grabbed the brush and a hair tie from Inko’s shelf and placed them in Izuku’s lap.

Next, he grabbed some washcloths. Showering seemed like too much for him to handle right now. Washcloths were an excellent middle ground to make him not gross. He tossed them towards the sink, but they limply hit Izuku’s chest and fell onto his lap instead, only one reaching its intended destination. Izuku barely even registered it, staring blankly off into space. Silent tears were still streaming down his face and dripping onto his boxer shorts. 

Katsuki tried not to look at his eyes. It made him feel like a pussy, but Izuku’s eyes looked so dead . Dull and lifeless. Katsuki didn't want to see that.

He stole a little cup off Inko’s shelf, dumping its collection of safety pins haphazardly onto the shelf and placing it on the counter behind him. Finally, he reached for the first aid kit on the top shelf, a behemoth of a plastic case, and placed it on the remaining sliver of counter space. Izuku jumped and let out a tiny involuntary hiccup in surprise.

“Sorry,” Katsuki mumbled. Izuku slowly blinked at the wall behind him in response.

He cranked the hot water knob all the way. It took what felt like an hour for the hot water to actually get hot in this stupid building. When it reached a good temperature, he ran one of the washcloths under the faucet. He stood in front of Izuku again and began to run his fingers through the boy's sweaty hair to put it up.

Izuku's eyes fluttered closed, and he leaned back, whimpering quietly from the back of his throat. Katsuki worked every knot and snot-crusted strand from the seemingly endless amount of thick hair and smoothed it back. The longer Katsuki petted him, the less he wanted to look at Izuku’s face. Izuku must have dozed off or something because when Katsuki reached for the headband still in his lap, he jerked forward and smacked his head into Katsuki's.

“Easy,” Katsuki said, trying to keep his voice as soft as he could and failing, his voice just as rough as when he was on the phone with Mina. “You’re alright.”

“Sorry,” Izuku croaked. His voice was almost completely gone.

“It's alright.” Katsuki pushed the headband onto his head. “Imma clean your face off, alright?”

Izuku nodded numbly, so Katsuki got to work. The easy work. He could do this. He wrung out the washcloth, which was finally warmed up, and folded it like his dad used to do when he would fuck up his knees. He rubbed it across Izuku's left jaw, in long rounded strokes. From jaw bone to the squishy meat of his cheek, he rubbed until he could see freckles again and then moved on to the next part of his face. There were no cuts on this side of Izuku's face, so his left side was pretty much cleaning a couple of swipes. 

“Well, would you look at that?” Katsuki said softly. He deposited the blood-soaked piece of fabric into the sink with a wet thud. All Katsuki wanted right now was for Izuku to say something.

Izuku slowly looked up and blinked blankly at him.

Katsuki cupped his cheek and gently rubbed his thumb under his eye, trying to wake him up a little, but it seemed useless. He ran his thumb along the shadows under his eyes that were almost black. Waiting for Izuku's eyes to meet him, he finally spoke. “There you are.”

Izuku blinked slowly again before the corner of his lip quivered to the side.

“That all you got? Come on, you can do better than that,” Katsuki egged him on, trying to emulate what he thought Izuku would do. He watched Izuku’s face flicker on again. It was a weak light, but a light nonetheless. He was alive in there. Izuku stared at him for a moment before flaring his lips and showing his teeth. Not what he thought he was gonna get. Katsuki sighed dramatically and turned the tap back on, shoving the washcloth under the stream.

“That's not what I meant.” Katsuki chuckled quietly and refolded the washcloth around his hand. The water turned a dark maroon, which flowed red, then pink as he worked the fabric through the water.

“Then what?” Izuku must have been trying to sound playful but all he sounded like was tired. Just so tired. So Katsuki let it go.

“Okay there are some cuts on this side, just tell me if it hurts too much.”

“Oh yeah, the bowls…” Izuku mumbled absentmindedly.

Katsuki nodded in agreement as he started on Izuku's jaw, using gentler strokes this time. He kept the contact as delicate as he could with the nicks from the ceramics. Once each was cleaned, fresh little red droplets of blood bubbled up from the cuts.

He discovered about a dozen little shallow cuts that started on the side of his chin, crawled up his cheekbone, and wrapped around his eye, making a bloody c-shape on the side of his face. The deepest one had cut right through into the center of his eyebrow and left a thick red trail as soon as Katsuki wiped it with the cloth, the edges already dark red and irritated. Izuku jerked slightly but made no move to pull away, only blinking away the blood that matted in his eyelashes as Katsuki wiped it away with a quiet apology.

Soon Izuku's face was clean and mostly blood-free. Perfect. Katsuki dropped the bloody rag in the sink, enjoying the dull wet slap sound it made. He wouldn’t need it again for a while.He clicked open the first aid kit and got to work opening up the gauze pads and peeling off the seal on the disinfector.

“I’m gonna clean you up some more, and this isn't gonna feel… great,” he said, not really sure what else to say.

I think this is the longest I’ve heard Izuku go without speaking , he thought as he took one of the gauze pads and soaked it in disinfector. He had spoken only moments before, but it had felt so forced. Like it wasn't even Izuku speaking. Still, Katsuki said nothing. He dabbed the gauze against the cuts and softly blew air on it in an attempt to soothe the sting. This was a trick he had learned from Haruhi.

“

Clean, disinfect, then dress.” Haruhi tutted as he splashed water against Katsuki's bloody knuckles. He had dragged him into the bathroom as soon as Katsuki had walked in the door and seen the haphazardly applied band-aids and medical tape, barely even greeting him. 

“See? Infected already.” He pointed to the swollen edges as he sighed loudly.

Thirteen-year-old Katsuki whined loudly. “Uncle! It's fine!”

“What?” Haru asked him.  Katsuki looked up from his hand and made eye contact with his uncle on his seat on the edge of the bathtub. “You want to ruin your hands?”

Katsuki grumbled as his uncle cringed and pulled away the layers of bandages from Katsuki’s disastrous attempt to dress his wounds. 

“Katsuki, your hands, more the most, are your livelihood. Treat them with the respect that they deserve.” Haruhi cringed again, his whole face scrunching up like he ate a lemon. “This can't be comfortable, did you take the train like this?”

Katsuki scoffed and then hisses when Haru dragged an alcohol pad across the inflamed skin.

Now, what did you do?” Haruhi asked quietly after a moment, blowing against the skin as he worked, soothing the burn. “ Hm ?’’

 For the life of him, he couldn't remember how the rest of that day went. It felt like it was important, but the memory slipped away before he could get a hold of it. Katsuki didn't know what made him think of that day, but he did. Even if the situations felt like they were oceans apart, they suddenly were very similar.

Katsuki never understood why his uncle had liked being medi-aid to the kids when they got hurt since he always seemed to hate the activity, but he was starting to see the appeal. He enjoyed the repetition of the process, working his way up in small sections over and over again until it was completely clean. It was the easiest way to care for someone in pain. The more he cleaned, the more Katsuki dreaded when they would start talking because he still hadn't figured out what the fuck he was supposed to do after this. He wished he could call his uncle or his dad and have them tell him what to do. They would know what to do, so would Izuku. Izuku was always annoyingly perfect at making sure everyone was safe, happy, and healthy, most of all Katsuki. 

Katsuki should be more frustrated, but he’d always been that way. Maybe he was just built this way. Perhaps it was that he felt like he had to become the “man of the house” before he was big enough to take the bus by himself. Maybe he thought it made up for the fact that he basically out-quirked everyone in school. Or that he could bench press his boyfriend without even breaking a sweat. (Katsuki knew he could, they proved it).

“Ow,” Izuku murmured. Lost in his thoughts, Katsuki had held the gauze against his skin for too long. Shit. He grimaced but didn't say anything as he pulled the gauze away and blew against the now very irritated eyebrow cut. Once the skin was dried enough, he dug around for the butterfly bandages. For deep cuts in weird places, Haruhi had said.

“Most of the cuts are too little for bandages, but the one on your eyebrow is pretty bad,” Katsuki parroted back what he had been taught when Izuku looked at him. He doesn't say anything in response, just blinks blankly.

He finally finds the box he's looking for, takes out a butterfly bandage, and puts it on, making sure he pressed the skin together. As he was working, a hand came up and wrapped around his wrist. It was sticky, and Katsuki internally groaned. He forgot about his hands. He couldn't think about his hands right now. Right now the first band-aid didn't seem to want to stick properly. He threw it away with a growl, got a second one, and tried again.

Izuku squeezed his arm suddenly, and Katsuki jumped a little in surprise, not having expected for him to move at all.

“My nose,” Izuku croaked. Katsuki looked down and saw that his nose had started to bleed again. Not as bad as before, just two thin red lines that dripped onto his lips and had started down his chin.

“Oh shit.” Katsuki made sure the bandaid was stuck to his skin and grabbed a washcloth to wipe away the red stripes. It smeared across his lips and into his newly cleaned cheek. “Sorry, I was too focused on your forehead.”

Izuku stayed quiet as Katsuki worked until his face was clean again. As gently as he could, he pushed a couple of rolled gauze pads into his nose to stop the bleeding.

“Got in my mouth.” Izuku slowly opened his mouth and showed Katsuki that it was, in fact, coated in blood too.

“Oh.” Katsuki chuckled weakly, and he grabbed the cup he had gotten for this exact purpose, filled it with water, and brought it back to Izuku’s lips.

“Sip, swish, spit,” he instructed. Izuku did so, leaning to the side to spit into the sink.

Izukus hand grasped Katsuki's wrist the entire time, almost as if he was afraid that if he let go, Katsuki would just slip through his fingers.

“That better?” Izuku nodded. He refilled the water, held it to the boy's lips, and spoke firmly. “Drink.”

Izuku nodded again, slowly gulped the water, and silently asked for a second glass, which he received.

“I gotta clean up your hands now. Can I do that?” Katsuki turned the tap back on, throwing another washcloth in just for the hell of it as Izuku tightened the grip on his forearm, clinging to him, so wringing out didn't really seem plausible, so he made sure the dirty one was completely under the water.

“No,” Izuku said forcefully. It was the loudest he had spoken all night, and it almost made Katsuki jump.

“Why? They are all bloody and shit.” Katsuki tried to keep his voice soft like he’s heard Kiri do. God, this was hard.

“Then you’ll be done, and then you leave,” Izuku said weakly. “Please, please don't leave.”  

“Why would I leave?”

“‘Cause you’re not my boyfriend anymore,” Izuku said weakly, “So there’s no reason for you to stay.”

He dropped his hand and scooted back on the counter as a sign of permission for him to leave, too weak to fight with him again. Katsuki felt cold, unable to figure out how to tell him that he was afraid that Izuku would leave him. In any case, the fear that Izuku would cry himself into another panic attack again won out, so he did the first thing he could think of. He kissed him. Izuku made a weak gurgling noise but let himself be kissed, leaning back. Katsuki held him, making sure he didn't slide off the counter. They pulled apart and stared at each other.

“I am your boyfriend,” Katsuki said like it was the simplest thing in the world.

“Sorry,” Izuku rasped weakly.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about.” Katsuki sighed and tilted his head to the side to see Izuku better.

“Okay.” Izuku blinked at him again, his eyes looking less dead than they looked before. They didn't look the same as they usually do, but it was a start.

“Can I clean up your hands now?”

“Yes, please,” Izuku answered. His voice was so little he sounded like a kid. He slowly turned his hands over to reveal his blood-caked palms.“I tried to clean up… but I think I cut myself. A lot. I’m sorry.”

“It's okay.” Katsuki inspected his palms. They were nicked up to all shit, mostly on his fingertips, but he must have tried to brace himself when he fell because his palms had a few deeper scratches.

Once the water in the sink had run clear, he grabbed one of the warm washcloths and wrapped it around Izuku's hand. He repeated the action on the other hand, letting the fabric get the drying blood loose so he could wipe it off. Izuku watched him as he worked, seeming to have woken up a little.

“Did ya fall on a bowl?” Katsuki asked as he pulled the fabric away. Some of the cuts seemed too deep to be from ceramic.

“I think I knocked over the lamp when I fell outta bed,” Izuku said. “I didn't realize how close I was to the edge.”

“Really?” Katsuki asked in shock, further inspecting. Izuku nodded. “‘Cause I think you might need stitches.” The more he cleaned, the deeper the cuts seemed. He was worried wrapping them wouldn’t be enough.

“No, please,” Izuku whined. He tried to pull his hands away, but Katsuki kept his grip firm. “My mom…”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Katsuki said, not wanting to upset him after he had just calmed down. “No stitches tonight.”

Izuku sniffled as Katsuki finally cleaned enough to wipe his hands with the disinfectant as he had done with the rest of the wounds. The action sparked part of a memory. He did remember how that day with his uncle had ended.

“Katsu,” Haruhi said again, his tone softening just a touch. “You can tell me whatever you want to. You won’t be punished.”

Katsuki believed him.  Haruhi was one of the only adults that he generally believed. He was different. He was safe.

“I got angry. Mama said I couldn't blow up things anymore so I...so I punched my wall.”

“Well, that’s not okay,” Haru said gently. “Why did you feel that you needed to punch your wall?”

“I don't know,” Katsuki grumbled.

Haruhi hummed quietly and kept up his work, gently rubbing ointment into the broken skin in tiny circles. He didn't make a sound as he worked, letting Katuki think about what he wanted to say next.

“A girl kissed me.” He felt his palms grow warm.

“A girl kissed you?” Haruhi parroted back. 

“Without even asking! She kissed me!” Katsuki barked. “Then she got all mad at me when I yelled at her and cried to her mom like a big baby! She was the one that fucked up. Why would she do that?”

Haruhi’s eyebrows shot up at the curse, but he said nothing. He let Katsuki get his anger out as he wrapped his knuckles up like fighters do, the way Katsuki loved .

“Then mom yelled at me and said I made her cry! Like it's my fault.” Hot tears burned his cheeks and he felt his chest go tight. “She kissed me. It's not my fault.”

“It's absolutely not your fault.” Haruhi wrapped his small hands in his big ones, holding them like they were something precious. “Katsu, look at me, please.”

He did and saw that his uncle didn’t look angry, he looked sad.

“What that girl did was not okay. It is never okay to do something to someone else's body without permission.”

“What about punching?” He weakly tried to change the subject, but Haruhi was having none of it.  His gaze held Katsuki’s unwaveringly.

“That is different, and we can talk about why that is different later. That girl invaded your personal space and did so without caring about your comfort, and that is not okay . I am sorry that she did that.”

“Mama wants me to go to her house to apologize.” Katsuki sniffled.

“Do you feel like you should?”

“No,” Katsuki snarled, bracing to get in trouble.

“Good,” Haruhi said as he let go of Katsuki's hands to hold his cheeks. “Never apologize for how other people make you feel.”

“But… what do I do? Mama is still gonna make me go to her house.”

“You take the time you need to relax and think about what you want to say to her. She may have made a bad choice, as she is only… human.” Haruhi sighed and shook his head. That made Katsuki laugh weakly. “Just don’t apologize for her bad choices. That’s her job, not yours.”

Katsuki nodded and Haruhi patted his head. 

That night Haruhi made the dinner he wanted and let him pick the movie they watched, much to Dai’s fury, and basically did whatever Katsuki wanted.  They ended up sitting on a curb with ice cream melting between their fingers on that warm summer night, watching Hana and Dai chase each other and try to catch fireflies.

“Katsuki, thank you for talking to me. I know that's very hard for you,” Haruhi said once they were alone.

Katsuki felt his face go hot and scoffed . “ You asked.”

“And you told me.” Haruhi smiled that stupid cheesy smile of his and patted Katsuki's head again.

As Katsuki methodically wrapped Izuku's hands, he tried to process what he wanted to say. It took what felt like hours to wrap the rolled gauze around both of his hands and then go back over with the tape. The more he worked, carefully wrapping each finger down to the wrist so it would be more comfortable, the more he thought he never wanted to speak again.  

Bakugou Katsuki was not designed to be vulnerable. He had made himself that way, and it was blowing up in his face quite spectacularly.

“I'm sorry,” he said finally, feeling like he was going to vomit. “I made you think we broke up. That was a dumb thing to say.”

“Did you mean it?” Izuku asked, head hanging low as he watched Katsuki wrap his hands.

“No. It was just the meanest thing I could think of, and I wanted you to feel worse,” Katsuki said truthfully.

“It did make me feel worse,” Izuku answered with the same honesty.

“I knew it would.” Katuki grimaced but couldn’t help but scoff out a laugh as he spoke. Izuku nodded thoughtfully but didn't make any move to speak. So Katsuki clenched his teeth and forced his mouth open. “I wanted to make you feel… how you made me feel.”

Izuku made eye contact with him, and it seemed like maybe for the first time all night, he was actually awake. Had he really not known?

“You made me feel so fucking shitty. And that's not fair,” Katsuki gritted out, doing everything he could to keep his voice from rising. The fire in his belly was smoldering now, turning into hot tears that welled up in his eyes. The voice he was using sounded foreign on his tongue.   

“I knew you felt like shit too, but the fact that you felt like you lied to me for weeks rather than just tell me… it hurt. It hurts so bad. "It felt like everything I’ve done, all the ways I’ve grown and changed to make up for all for the terrible person I was and try and fix all the pain I’ve caused didn't mean anything because you didn't trust me enough to talk to me.” For once, it felt easier not to yell.

“I know you think that you're not strong enough for this shit, but that doesn't matter. ‘Cause the minute you let me kiss you, we became a team. No, actually, the minute I met you, we became a team. I know I forgot that for a bit and got this stupid idea in my head that I needed to protect you by pushing you away, and then it was just easier to be mean they just talk to you, but…” He sighed and took a breath, trying to stop his own babbling.

Izuku blinked at him. “But what does that have to do…”

“It means you don't have to be strong enough, dipshit! It means that when you don't feel strong enough, I’m right here to catch the slack.” He let go of Izuku’s hands and grabbed his face, squishing his cheeks with his hands. So that he couldn't weasel away and break eye contact. Izuku let go of a breath and closed his eyes as he looked like he was desperately trying not to cry again.

“Look at me. I’m here.” He gave Izuku’s head a little shake to emphasize his words. “I am. Right. Here.”

Izuku looked at him with tears in his eyes, his lower lip quivering. For the first time in what seemed like years, he was actually looking at him, instead of through him. It seemed too much for Izuku to hold. His eyes dropped, but Katsuki didn't get this far for him to crawl away again.

“Do you understand me?” Katsuki asked with another little shake to get him to look at him again. He enunciated his words so that big green met sharp red again. “Do you understand me?”

Izuku nodded quickly, banging his socked feet against the cabinets. “I understand!”

Izuku reached up and pulled Katsuki against him, hugging him tightly, clutching to the back of his shirt. He kept muttering “I understand” into his shoulder, clinging to him. Katsuki wrapped his arms around the boy's shoulder and held him just as tight, breathing in a huge breath of the scent of Izuku's shampoo.

For now, this was enough for Katsuki.

Chapter Text

They stayed wrapped around each other for a long time. Izuku went quiet again, and he snuggled into Katsuki’s neck. They rocked back and forth, Izuku’s feet hitting the cabinet with dull thuds.

After a while, Katsuki pulled away just enough to look Izuku in the eyes. They stared at one another for a moment before he leaned in and kissed him softly. He tasted like salt and iron, but Katsuki didn’t care. They kissed and rocked back and forth, holding each other and breathing, and were truly together for the first time in weeks.

Izuku was the first to pull away, suddenly jerking back and loudly sneezing four times in quick succession. By the last sneeze, one of the nose blocks was loose enough for it to shoot into his hand that he was using to desperately try and cover his face.

Katsuki stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before the two burst out laughing. They giggled violently as Izuku removed the second one and waited for the bleeding to start again. It didn’t, and they both breathed a sigh of relief.

“So,” Katsuki said, running his thumb along Izuku’s cheekbone. He watched him lean into it with his eyes closed happily, like a satisfied cat, “what now?”

Izuku tensed, then sighed, “I dunno, I’m just trying to think of the words-”

“No,” Katsuki interrupted, “I meant, like, with your room and stuff. It’s a train wreck.”

“Oh.” Izuku closed his eyes and leaned his head back. “Forgot about that.”

“Can we eat something? And then we can tackle your room,” Katsuki squeezed his thigh a little, trying to get him to be present again.

“Oh, fucking yes, please,” Izuku groaned, “I’m so hungry.”

“Okay, then we eat, but I gotta clean the bathroom first, so drink.” Once again, he filled the glass with water and placed it in his stiff, clammy hands. Izuku nodded and sipped while Katsuki cleaned. He threw away the garbage, put the first-aid kit back in order and on its shelf, and wrung out the washcloths. Cleaning messes always seemed to go faster than making them.

Izuku sat quietly on the counter and drank two glasses before Katsuki finished. Water and a little bit of reassurance seemed to do him wonders. He contentedly kicked his legs back and forth and watched the blond work.

Once the washcloths were hung up, and the cup was turned over so it could dry, Katsuki turned back to Izuku, his hands on his hips, “What do ya wanna eat?”

“I dunno… I don’t wanna, like, make something, make something,” he said quietly, resting his hands on Katsuki’s wrists.

Katsuki hummed in agreement. He didn’t wanna make something involved because it was just gonna be him cooking, but he held his tongue. Izuku chewed on his bottom lip, signaling a complete lack of ideas.

“What about those fried egg sandwiches I make that you like so much?” Katsuki tried.

“Oh, fried eggs. I want fried egg sandwiches!” Izuku groaned and nodded quickly, making Katsuki laugh. “With all the fixings?” 

“All the fixings?” Katsuki asks, trying to match Izuku’s now excited tone, “you have all the fixings?”

“I don’t know, but can we get them?” Izuku reached forward and pulled at Katsuki’s shirt like a little kid. He struggled a bit with his taped fingers but still had a decent grip.

“Yeah, ‘course, we can,” Katsuki’s smile faltered as he followed Izuku’s eyes. They were staring directly into his chest. No wonder why his shirt was covered in a mess of blood and snot.

“Your shirt…” Izuku said weakly, “I ruined it.”

“It’s just a sleep shirt,” Katsuki responded lightly. It was just a regular gray t-shirt. He hadn’t even registered it was ruined until Izuku pointed it out. “The kind you get in like a six-pack from Seiyu. It’s no big deal, I can just wash it.”

“You sure?” Izuku asked quietly, still looking at his chest.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he chuckled, “Come on.”

He nudged him a little, but Izuku continued to stare intensely, his bottom lip quivering slightly. Katsuki sighed and pulled the shirt off so Izuku wouldn’t start crying again.

“See? I can just borrow one of yours, and we’ll be set,” Katsuki tried to smile a little, but Izuku was still staring at him, now with an increasingly furrowed brow. “What?”

“Your abs are gone,” Katsuki almost choked on his own spit.

“I’m sor— my what?”

“I didn’t notice before when you had your shirt off ’cause it was dark,” he explained. He scrunched his eyebrows together, “but you don’t have abs anymore.” Izuku stared wistfully before he looked up, blinking up at his boyfriend with his best innocent puppy dog eyes. “Where did they go?”

“I’ve been doing some different workouts and trying to bulk up a little—” Katsuki defended himself as he suddenly felt self-conscious, “Sorry, is that a problem?”

Izuku’s bottom lip jutted out as he looked back down wistfully, “I’m going to miss them.”

“They’re still there, dipshit!” Katsuki growled loudly and stared in shock for a moment. “Are you saying that you only date me ’cause I have abs?”

Izuku grumbled a little. “...I mean, have you seen them?”  

Katsuki stared in shock for a moment, still mildly offended, before Izuku started to giggle madly.

“Oh, shut up,” Katsuki bit back, but he couldn’t help but grin. Katsuki sighed dramatically as he helped Izuku hop off the counter, and they both walked into the hall. Izuku padded after him, holding onto his free hand with both of his bandaged ones. Katsuki cracked open the closet door and pulled the string hanging from the ceiling. The tiny bulb on the ceiling blinked on, lighting up the narrow laundry closet the best it could. The washing machine was empty, so he chucked his shirt in.

“Take those off,” Katsuki said, pointing to Izuku’s blood-spotted boxers. Izuku yipped in surprise, and his whole face went red. Katsuki felt his own face go hot, “I— uh… They’re dirty. There are clean ones right here.”

He blindly felt around for the sweatpants he had seen on the top of the dryer and held them up. Just to prove it. 

“Oh,” Izuku said quietly, his voice still weak and scratchy, “Yeah, that makes sense.”

He takes the pants and holds them in his hands awkwardly. Katsuki nodded and gave him a thin-lipped smile, trying to ease the awkwardness. It doesn’t seem to help. Izuku’s whole face was flushed in the dim light of the laundry closet.

“Could you, uh, turn around?” Izuku bit his lip and fidgeted with his feet a little.

“Uh, why?” Katsuki asked, trying not to sound as awkward as he felt, “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”

Izuku scrunched up his face again. They just stared at one another, waiting for the other to break.

“Fucking seriously?” Katsuki said finally, cocking his hip.

“Oh my god, Kacchan, just turn around!” Izuku squeaked, his voice cracking a little.

Katsuki scoffed and turned around, trying not to curse at how stupid this was.

“I’m just trying to keep the….” Izuku sighed loudly. Katsuki heard the fabric rustle behind him. “Mystery.”

“Mystery?” He barked, “I’ve seen you naked half a dozen times.” 

“Oh my god, stop being a baby!”

“Says the loser who makes me turn around so he can put on sweatpants. Oh my god, what is taking so long?” Katsuki couldn’t help but laugh a little at how stupid this felt.

“Like I said, big baby,” the door of the washer clicked shut behind him, but Katsuki stayed put.  

“Make sure to use cold water. And don’t forget the detergent,” Katsuki said. Izuku hummed and slowly clicked the washing machine’s buttons, hissing quietly after every happy little beep.

“You okay?”  

“It hurts to do anything,” Izuku said quietly, his voice still so raw, like rocks rubbing against one another.

Katsuki turned back around to see Izuku wincing as he tried to get the button to work. He sighed and chuckled a little. Little self-sufficient jackass. He stepped over and pressed up against him from behind, reaching over to move his hand enough to click the button.

“You put detergent in?” Katsuki asked gently. Izuku nodded.

“Do you need to wash anything else?” Izuku shook his head a little.

“You sure?” Izuku thought for a second and shrugged, “That’s okay. We’ll do it later.”

Izuku nodded again and pressed back into him, back against Katsuki’s chest.

Katsuki clicked the washer on and stepped back. He stuck his hand out, waiting for Izuku to take it, which he did, using both hands again. They walked across the living room towards the kitchen without so much as a glance towards Izuku’s room. 

“So with the fixings,” Katsuki started, “Imma need eggs, rolls, cheese, lettuce, onions, hot sauce...” he listed off what he needed, mostly to himself. Izuku was not much more than a weight being pulled along as he wandered around the kitchen. There wasn’t much in the pantry, and the fridge was even bleaker.

“We were supposed to go shopping tomorrow morning,” Izuku said quietly behind him as he stared at the open fridge. “Sorry, I thought I mentioned it.”

“Nah, it’s alright,” he stared at the fridge’s contents. It was dismal.

“But I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but we might need to do that tonight,” Katsuki mused, “You don’t even have eggs.”

“What?” Izuku squeaked weakly and poked his head around to look for himself. Katsuki must be kidding. He was, in fact, not. The only things currently in the fridge were a handful of assorted condiments, three containers of leftovers, a slightly wrinkly pepper, an almost-empty jug of milk, and a small assortment of pre-bottled protein meal shakes.

“That’s depressing,” Izuku sighed.

“A little bit, yeah,” Katsuki agreed as he felt muscular arms slowly wrap around his belly and solid warmth press against his back.

“I think I figured out my words,” Izuku said quietly behind his back.

“You don’t…you don’t need to tell me. We’re good,” Katsuki reached down and rubbed the arms wrapped around him, making sure to mind the taped-up parts. He was being such an adult about this. His mother would be so proud of him. “You can if you wanna, but you don’t need to.”

Izuku nuzzled into his back, “I want to. I can’t keep all this to myself. I want to tell you.”

Katsuki nodded and felt his skin prickle at the cool air escaping from the still open fridge. “Then tell me.”

So Izuku started to talk.

“You know how I said that the previous users of my Quirk exist in my head. Well, they don’t just help me out with the Quirk. They can do more than that. They can…” Izuku took a deep breath. “They can talk to me. Kinda like that old king we read about, the one with the round table. It’s kinda like that. Mostly I talk to them in my dreams. But sometimes, they can talk to me when I’m awake.”

“So the people you were shouting at…” Katsuki said quietly when Izuku paused.

“Yeah, it was them. Mostly the third user. He… well, he’s…,” Izuku stuttered a little and turned his head, pressing his ear against his boyfriend’s back. He wasn’t trying to look at anything in particular, but his eyes couldn’t help but catch one of the framed photos above the TV.

The glass reflected the scene in the kitchen. Katsuki was still standing there staring at the fridge, rubbing his hands up and down the arms wrapped tightly around his middle. Izuku had nowhere to look other than into his own eyes. They were red-rimmed and tired, even in the soft light of the moon streaming through the window.

“He doesn’t like you. I mean, he mostly doesn’t like that I have a boyfriend. Or friends, for that matter,” He laughed weakly despite himself, “He says I’m giving All for One too many opportunities to hurt me. He’s right, as much as I don’t want him to be.”

Katsuki clicked his tongue quietly before he could stop himself. Izuku watched him bite his lip, but he said nothing more. He was trying to cover the fact that the second he heard the name of the supervillain, his body had gone stiff as a board, and his heart had stopped before starting to race. Izuku could hear it. It calmed down quickly, only stuttering for a second before relaxing, as Katsuki forced his muscles to do the same.

He was still just as terrifying. Even now. Even locked away in his cage.

“Don’t be rude. Murakami-san – that’s his name, by the way –  might be doing it wrong, but he’s trying his best. He’s trying to help me. They’re all just trying to look out for me.”

“Why is it any of his business anyway?” He grumbled, “He had his life. He shouldn’t be fucking with yours.”

“All for One killed his family,” Izuku answered, voice soft. His throat was still raw from crying, so the fact that he was getting sounds out at all was still a marvel, “Remember how Yoichi-sama was Shigaraki’s little brother? 

“Well, it gets sorta complicated, but Yoichi-sama ran away when All for one started really going off the deep end…Even his own brother couldn’t stand watching him turn into a monster.”

Katsuki felt the way the boy’s chest rattled every time he finished speaking and collected the strength to start again.

“He ran away and fell in love and made a family all his own. They helped him form a group of people who wanted to fight back against All For One and the people who believed the lies he spouted,” Izuku continued to word vomit, speaking slowly and taking deep breaths, willing himself to not cry again. Katsuki couldn’t do more than stand there, frozen, and listen.

“But One for all found out, and he… well he…He didn’t like that. So he found the estate that the third user was in charge of, and he murdered every single person that lived inside. The third user showed me. 89 men, 77 women, and 20 children, and Isao Shigaraki butchered every single one of them. Or at least tried too.”

It was easy to parrot back what the third user had said. Izuku could see Katsuki’s face move in his peripheral vision, but he wasn’t really looking at anything anymore. His eyes had gone unfocused, and the only thing his brain could do was run through the memories over and over again.

“But the third user didn’t really die because of his Quirk. He called it Life support. It doesn’t really heal you. It just kinda…forces you to stay alive,” Izuku laughs weakly, just like the third user had done when he had said it. “That’s why even when I had basically broken all the bones in my body or had what I can only describe as jet fuel running through my veins when I fought Overhaul, I haven’t died. Not yet, at least,” Izuku tries to laugh again, but only a pitiful and weak sound leaves his mouth. 

Katsuki’s breath stuttered in surprise as Izuku spoke. He wasn’t expecting this. When Izuku said that the other users didn’t like him, he expected normal reactions. He was too aggressive. Too competitive. Too much of an asshole! The shit that everyone says about him.

 He was not expecting Izuku to say that All For One had a habit of committing mass murder. Well, he wasn’t surprised to learn that, but still, it was surprising to hear so plainly.

“I shouldn’t have told you all of that,” his whole face scrunched up as he shook his head, “can we just forget I said anything?”

“Uh… Yeah. Forgotten,” Katsuki turned back and gave him a thin-lipped smile. He turned back to the fridge and tried to wrap his mind around what Izuku told him. “If you want sandwiches, we gotta go get the stuff to actually make them.”

“Okay,” Izuku said softly.

“There’s a 24-hour grocery a couple of blocks away, right?” 

Izuku nodded and snuggled his face into the warm, soft skin of Katsuki’s back.

“Okay, why don’t we go there and get what we need?” Katsuki rubbed his arms again as the boy nodded and pulled away.  

“Are you gonna put on a shirt, Kacchan?” Izuku asked with a little giggle as he pulled away, standing next to him and looking down at his chest, making another sad little face when his eyes landed on his boyfriend’s stomach.

“Yeah, I’m gonna put on a shirt, shithead,” Katsuki sighed loudly and reached out to shove his head away, making sure to avoid the new cuts that graced his round cheeks. Izuku giggled loudly as he was pushed away, stumbling a bit before righting himself, “And look who’s fucking talking. You’re shirtless too.”

Soon they were both dressed enough to leave the house. Katsuki ended up using one of the shirts from the clean laundry as Izuku had snatched away the hoodie he had taken out of his gym bag like a little feral animal.

He was still grinning smugly as they walked in the pale yellow light of the street lamps, hand in hand. They didn’t talk much as they walked. 186 people were killed by one man. As if All for One couldn’t get any worse. It made Katsuki’s head hurt. 

Katsuki quietly typed the grocery list into his phone when he felt Izuku wrap his hand around his bicep.

“Are you tired?” he asked quietly, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Yeah, ‘course I am. It’s like 3 am, dumbass,” Katsuki tsked as they rounded the corner of the street.

“Sorry I’ve kept you up so late, Kacchan. I know you like to go to bed early.” Even though the tape limited his movements, Izuku squeezed his hand the best he could. Katsuki asked again. They kept walking, silent once again. They made it a couple more blocks before Izuku spoke again.

“You don’t have to cook me anything if you don’t want to. You can walk home,” Izuku croaked out, “you can pick up your bag tomorrow.”

“I’m fine.”

“Kacchan-” 

Katsuki tsked loudly, which made Izuku’s mouth close with a little snap of his teeth. They were almost to the store, just one more block.

“I am just saying-” Izuku’s voice fully squeaked this time.

“Hey, Izuku.” 

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

Izuku let out a chuff but said nothing more as they walked into the store. Katsuki’s face scrunched at the fluorescent lights as he grabbed the little pushcart and pulled Izuku along to get what they needed. It was always like this when they went shopping together. Izuku liked to browse and loiter in the aisles, while he would much rather get in and out as quickly as possible.

“You are so demanding,” Izuku said with a giggle.

“Yeah, ’cause I’m hungry,” Katsuki scoffed, “You were just complaining ’bout how hungry you were.” They walked briskly through the condiments aisle, stopping only to grab a bottle of hot sauce and throw it in the cart.

“I don’t like that kind,” Izuku said, a little frown on his face.

Katsuki turned to look at him, “Well, it’s the kind I use.”

Izuku let out a small dramatic gasp. “You brought foreign hot sauce into my house? Does my mother know?!”

Katsuki turned back and looked him dead in the eyes. It took only about two seconds for Izuku to start giggling.

“You are not as funny as you think you are.” He growled quietly as he started pushing the cart again, Izuku trailing behind him, trying to catch his breath. 

They continued on, collecting the necessary ingredients as well as a couple other essentials Inko had on her list. Izuku held onto one of his hands the whole time, making them take longer, but Katsuki didn’t mind as much as he should.  

Soon they were wandering over to self-checkout. Katsuki did most of the work, considering Izuku’s hands were a bit useless right now. The poor kid at the night counter blinked at them sleepily and thankfully didn’t comment on Izuku’s face. They didn’t talk much, but they didn’t feel like they needed to. It was nice. Soon they were packed away and making their way back outside.

“You should’ve let me pay. Mom’s gonna be mad you paid for our groceries.”

Katsuki grunted quietly as he walked, bags hanging from his free hand as Izuku’s hand was back in his, two of the bags hanging from his other elbow.

“Why do you refuse to use words that actually mean anything unless you’re angry?” Izuku giggled playfully.

“I dunno. Not very good at talking anyways,” Katsuki answered honestly.

They walked some more, the silence falling again, but this time it felt different. Izuku was biting at his lip and kept looking at him from the corner of his eye. After another couple of blocks, he spoke.

“What did you mean before?” he asked, “When you talked about how you broke your rules for me?”

Katsuki hummed quietly. Izuku copied him as he squinted critically at him.

“That’s not an answer, Kacchan.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said gruffly.

“It does to me.”

Katsuki hummed, annoyed again, “Why?”

“’Cause I love you. I know I’ve been bad at showing it lately, but I do.”

“You’re not bad at it,” Katsuki said, “You’ve been kind of a shithead, though.”

“That’s fair,” Izuku said frankly, recognizing how he’d been icing everyone out lately.

Katsuki turned to look at the other boy. He was looking ahead, acting innocent as if he hadn’t been staring at him every two seconds with big green eyes and a cute little smile. The little shit must know how cute he is. He can’t just be this way by accident.

“When I started sleeping around, I made rules for myself. So I wouldn’t end up with a sex scandal or getting 1984’ed.”

Izuku nodded like that was precisely what he expected him to say, “Right. Of course.”

“And one of those rules was that I… I wouldn’t…” Katsuki breathed deeply and forced the last words out. “…That I would never fuck around with someone I could see myself falling in lo-” 

Izuku turned to look at him, and suddenly Katsuki’s mouth stopped working.

“People, you see yourself doing what with, Kacchan?” Izuku asked with an air of mischief in his voice. He was staring at him intently, and it was almost infuriating.

He snapped his head forward and decided he would much rather stare at the sidewalk ahead of him.

“People I could see myself falling in love with. I want to be the biggest hero in japan, and I can’t go around falling for some random weakling. They need to be clever and fearless and be able to keep up with my ambition. I am not going to hold myself back for some weak little extra that would be so,” he said in one breath and made the mistake of looking over to Izuku again in the corner of his eye, and he suddenly couldn’t look away. 

He was grinning ear to ear, cheeks pink even though the air was so warm Katsuki could feel his palms starting to sweat.

“…stupid,” he finished weakly, cringing at himself. 

“Right. And you’re not stupid, are you, Kacchan?”

“No, I’m not,” he agreed quickly.

Izuku must have liked that answer because he hummed in approval, nodding. Katsuki sighed and relaxed his shoulders. He hadn’t even realized how tight they’d gotten.

“Hey, Kacchan?” Izuku squeaked out about a block from the apartment complex.

“What?” He replied.

“Do you happen to know how long your rules have been broken?”

“You think I have an exact date for that shit?” he snapped, annoyed that the topic hadn’t been dropped.

“Yes. Yes, I absolutely do.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. “A couple months or something. I dunno, like since February or March, I don’t remember. Why the fuck do you need to know anyway?”

“Well, it’s just that you and I have been fucking around for a while now, right? And didn’t we almost kiss in Feb-” Katsuki’s hand was on his mouth before he could finish.

“Shut up, or you’ll get no sandwich.”