The Art of Listening

Izuku

He was dying. He was most certainly dying. It was all so sudden, too soon. He never thought this day would come so young. He was only twenty years old, and all of the bones in his body were going to be reduced to powder. The air was being squeezed out of his lungs. He was dying. All because Midoriya Inko insisted on surrounding him in a deathgrip of a hug. The small woman’s arms were circled around him as tightly as she could.

On top of the bruising force of her hug, she was sobbing. Again. It was probably the fourth or fifth time that day she’d broken down into tears. What was worse, each time she started, he followed suit. He could already feel a fresh wave of tears prickling at the corners of his very red, very sore eyes.

“Mom,” Izuku wheezed as he patted her back reassuringly.

He really needed her to stop crying. He would never be able to leave if she didn’t. He’d cave and stay home for the rest of his life to take care of her if she kept this up. It sounded great, but he knew she’d never forgive herself in the long run for holding him back. 

“It’s going to be okay. You don’t need to worry.”

“I-I k-know,” she wailed. Once again, her face was buried into his chest. “I’m just n-not ready for my baby to move on. T-To go to college! You’re growing up so fast!”

Izuku couldn’t help but roll his eyes. It wasn’t as if this was his first year of college. He’d spent two years in community college getting all of his general education credits out of the way. It was cheaper that way. He’d gotten the same education at the community college level as he would at a four year University. So, he’d gotten those first two years out of the way. She’d been okay with that. She just wasn’t okay with where he’d decided to go for his junior and senior year.

“I’ll be okay. I promise,” he assured her.

But even he was worried. He’d never been that far away from her ever. Musutafu was a two hour drive from his and his mother’s apartment back home. By train, it would easily take him four if they didn’t encounter any unforeseen issues. He’d checked the train schedules just last week and done the calculations. He couldn’t just go back home if he wanted to. And that in itself was terrifying. He could do this. He could make it work. He’d been preparing for this for ages. He didn’t need to rely on his Mom anymore. But maybe she needed him? Maybe he should just drop out now. Find a University closer to her. Yes. He should do that.

But when he fixed his green eyes on his mother and opened his mouth to speak, she already had him fixed with a knowing smile.

He had been muttering again, hadn’t he?

She chuckled.

He was still muttering, wasn’t he? His mom chuckled, confirming his suspicions. He really needed to work on the muttering... Half the time, he didn’t even realize he was doing it.

Midoriya Inko pushed herself away from Izuku and fixed him with a watery smile. “I’m not worried about me, baby,” she said gently. She lifted her hand to reach his cheek. “I’m worried about the other students. What if you get a roommate that you don’t like? What if the other kids are mean to you?”

Izuku scratched the back of his head sheepishly, her hands resting on his shoulders. His mom was filling her head with the same worries she’d had back when he was in middle school.

“I think it’ll be fine. It’s not like I’m in middle school anymore,” he said with a little bit of a laugh. His eyes shifted over to his dorm building. “Besides, Yueii is really good about putting people with similar majors together. They told us that during orientation last week. Don’t you remember?”

When she didn’t seem satisfied, he tacked on, “Plus, Ocha, Shouto, and Tenya are all at Yueii, too, Mom. I’ve got the best support network I could ask for.”

Inko sniffled a little bit, nodding resolutely. “I’m proud of you, Izu,” she said. “You finally made it. You finally got to Yueii. And on scholarship, no less.”

He beamed down at her before letting his eyes wander around the campus. They were in the dorm parking lot specifically, but all around them were the buildings that made up Yueii University. Izuku had dreamed of going there since he was a little kid. The University had such a small acceptance rate for high school students at .2%. The acceptance rate for transfer students was even smaller. He’d had to take all sorts of crazy tests on top of his perfect GPA in order to land a spot in the school’s fine arts program. He’d worked his butt off to get in. He’d studied as hard as he could. He took all of his classes seriously. He’d earned a full ride to the University with his grades and the scholarships the school provided. But that was all the easy part. 

The road wasn’t paved well for him. He’d faced so many trials along the way. The biggest bump in the road to Izuku’s dreams was a bump that he’d never get rid of. He’d been born lacking one of the five major senses that the human body was known for. He was born without the ability to hear.

Izuku was deaf.

Being deaf had made everything harder throughout school. He and his mom weren’t the most well off during his childhood. Izuku hadn’t actually gotten his first pair of hearing aids until he was ten years old. They were a commodity they just couldn’t afford on his mother’s nursing job at the local hospital. He’d told her on more than one occasion that he didn’t care about it, either. She’d taught herself Japanese Sign Language in order to communicate with him. He’d never once heard his mother’s or his own voice until a decade into his life. Before then, he’d been in all deaf classes. He’d relied on school JSL-trained teachers to give him his education.

When he’d gotten his first pair of hearing aids, that had all changed. He’d finally been integrated into general education class (with a signer there, of course). But his voice wasn’t as strong as the other students. His pronunciation was flawed. His articulation was muddled. His words often came out garbled and hard to understand. The bullying had sparked in middle school. At first, he didn’t understand why they were so mean to him. Why they made fun of him when he was trying his best. But he eventually learned the art of ignoring them. He eventually learned that these people may want to drag him down and make him hurt, but he would rise above it and smile like All Might, his childhood idol, to get through the day. He’d smile and show them that he was worthy of his dreams.

When high school came around, he’d met his best friends Uraraka Ochako, Todoroki Shouto, and Iida Tenya. They’d defended him, helped him rise above his tormentors, helped him realize his self worth. They helped him when he struggled to speak, helped him practice his articulation. They made him feel normal in every sense of the word. His owed so much to those three.

Being deaf had always been a challenge for Izuku.

But in the second decade of his life, he saw it as a part of himself. Being deaf didn’t limit him. It had come to define who he was. It made him into the person that he was today. He took everything in stride with a smile on his face. Sure, as a child and even in his adult life he may have been the biggest cry baby, but he knew he was strong, too. He didn’t put up with the derogatory comments of others, especially when it came to his limitations.

And his mom, Inko, had been his biggest supporter.

“I’m finally here, Mom,” he said gently.

God, the tears were coming again. He could feel them coming down his cheeks as another wave of emotion swallowed him whole. They hugged again for way longer than necessary. And when they’d both finally managed to get a hold on their emotions and their tears, they started moving his boxings up to his dorm.

Izuku’s dorm was on the third floor of his building. It only took a few trips to get his belongings into the dorm, which his roommate’s belongings already occupied, although the man himself was nowhere to be seen. He’d probably already been at the dorm for a few days, considering Izuku was a part of the second wave of students to move in - Yueii had split it up to avoid a rush of students trying to move in all at once. His roommate’s side of the room was simple and plain. His bedspread was a burnt orange color, but that’s about as much personality as it got. There weren’t any posters. He didn’t have any pictures of family or friends on his desk. His laptop was on the desk, but unlike Izuku’s, which was covered in sticked and vinyl decals, it was pristine. He had no idea what to expect of his roommate based on his half of the dorm.

As one last teary round of hugs, good lucks, and goodbyes, Izuku was left alone to deal with the feat of unpacking. His first order of business was taking out his hearing aids. As much as he loved being able to hear everything that happened around him, there was nothing quite like a bit of silence.

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By the time evening hit, he was nearly done unpacking. The worst of it had come to pass. His clothes were all hung up in his closet. His desk was set up with his laptop, notebooks, sketchbooks, and various art supplies. He’d made his bed, set up his bookshelf with more miscellaneous art reference books, textbook, and filled sketchbooks. He’d even scrawled his name on the whiteboard on their door so that people would know he lived there. All that was left was a bit of decoration. Namely All Might memorabilia.

Izuku stared at the wall where he’d hung his favorite poster of All Might above his bed. It was a framed, limited edition that was signed by Yagi Toshinori himself. He was trying to decide whether or not he should put fairy lights around it or around the frame of his bed when he’d felt something large and soft hit him in the back.

A squeak slipped past Izuku’s lips, but without his hearing aids, he wasn’t sure if it sounded human or not. His heart shot to his throat. He quickly spun to face the direction where the object had come from, only to see another person there.

The first descriptor that came to mind was handsome . Whoever this was - his roommate, mostly likely - was handsome. Izuku had seen many handsome men in his life, but this guy easily was the icing on the cake of his short, gay life. He couldn’t help but stare. He was tall, taller than Izuku at least with a muscular build. Specifically muscles in his arms and upper body. The tight, black muscle tank he wore left little to the imagination. He had spiky hair that was styled in an undercut. It was a light blond that seemed almost impossibly light, but too real to be dyed. His eyes had to be the most striking thing of all. They were a deep, crimson color that almost felt like it was burning into him.

That was probably because this guy was absolutely pissed . Now that Izuku was focusing on his facial features, he could see the anger that was radiating off of him. His facial features were contorted into a deep scowl. His brows were furrowed, and his mouth - with that lovely cupid’s bow of his - was very clearly shouting things that Izuku couldn’t hear.

Right. He couldn’t hear.

The greenette quickly snatched his hearing aids off of the charger on his desk before jamming them into his ears. He turned them up as high as they could go, which he immediately determined to be a mistake. His roommate was yelling . And his yells were absolutely piercing. Izuku had to rip his hearing aids from his ears and turn them down halfway before he could return them to their homes.

By now, his roommate had stopped his belligerent yelling in favor of fixing Izuku with a terrifying scowl. He couldn’t believe he’d already gotten off on the wrong foot, and he’d only knowingly been in the guy’s presence for a few minutes at best. It didn’t help that he spent the first thirty seconds ogling him. His roommate probably thought he was the biggest creep!

Izuku scratched the back of his head. He didn’t know what to say, but he figured an apology was probably his best bet.

“Ah. Sorry about that,” he said, picking up the pillow that he must have thrown at Izuku to get his attention and sheepishly holding it out to the angry blond. “I didn’t realize you’d come in. I’m-”

“Rude as fucking shit, asshole,” his roommate snapped. His voice was a low baritone that still had very clear traces of anger and irritation in it. “Your fucking roommate comes in, and all you do if completely ignore them for the first fucking five minutes. How fucking nice.”

Izuku’s viridian eyes widened in shock. He knew his roommate was angry that he’d ignored him, but did he really need to use such violent language? It wasn’t as if Izuku had intentionally tried to ignore him.

“I-I’m sorry!” Izuku stammered, waving his hands in front of him in a placating manner. He could already tell that with his quickened pace of speaking that his words were going to become garbled. He always had such a hard time annunciating when he was nervous. “I promise, this is all just a bit of a misunderstanding.”

“Fuckin’ better be,” the blond snapped, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I-I - ah - I was unpacking and I had to let them charge and I didn’t hear you come in! This place must be so sturdy if I didn’t feel the vibrations in the floor, too, now that you think about it. Honestly, I was probably just so absorbed in putting up my All Might poster to even notice anything. And I’m sorry. I must seem so rude right now! Oh, gosh, I’m rambling. I always ramble when I get nervous. It’s so em-”

“Jesus fuck! Cut the fuckin’ word vomit,” his roommate snapped. His irritation only seemed to grow worse. Oh, crap, Izuku was making things worse. “I can’t even understand half of whatever the fuck you’re sayin’. Try that the fuck again, and slow the fuck down.”

Izuku sucked in a deep breath and counted to ten in his head before he spoke again. “I’m sorry for being rude. My name is Midoriya Izuku,” he said, bowing to his roommate. “I didn’t intend to ignore you. It’s just that - ah - I-I’m deaf, and I had taken my hearing aids out to - ah - charge. I promise, I didn’t mean to be rude!”

His roommate only stared at him with that same scowling, pissed-off expression. God, he was off to such a great start. He was making such an amazing first impression. Way to go, Izuku.

The blond snorted and turned away from him, busying himself with putting some bottled drinks in their shared minifridge. He continued to grumble what Izuku assumed were explicatives under his breath, but with him turned away, he couldn’t be sure. It was always so much harder to hear when people faced away from him. Not only could he not see the speaker’s lips, but when someone was turned away from him while they spoke, it made it infinitely harder for the soundwaves to actually reach him. The perks of being deaf.

The blond was hitting all of his weak points right now.

Speaking of the blond...

“Uh, actually,” he said, scratching the back of his head. “What’s your name? You didn’t introduce yourself.”

The blond grumbled something from his side of the room, but Izuku didn’t hear it because his roommate had refused to face him. He thought it was honestly a little rude. And he had called Izuku rude. He couldn’t help but feel a little miffed.

“I’m sorry,” Izuku said. “I didn’t catch that. I can’t exactly hear very well if you’re - uh - not facing me.”

He heard the blond snort and repeat his name. Again, he wasn’t facing Izuku, so he barely caught it. Ka-something. On a whim, Izuku decided that if this guy was going to be rude, then he’d decide a nickname for him himself.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Kacchan,” Izuku said, attempting to hide the smug tone in his voice at his creative choice.

The blond - Kacchan - whirled around from where he stood stocking the fridge to face Izuku. He had a plastic bottle of tea in his hand, which he pointed at Izuku and brandished like a weapon.

“Hah?!” he shouted. “What the fuck did you call me, shitty nerd?”

Izuku gave a little snort of a giggle at his roommate’s reaction. So hot headed. “I called you ‘Kacchan’,” he said with a shrug. “I couldn’t listen to your name because you wouldn’t turn to face me while you talked. So, I came up with something of my own.”

Kacchan snarled again, his face getting even more pissed off. “Fuck that shit, shitty nerd! Don’t fuckin’ call me that stupid nickname.”

Izuku sent him a beaming smile. “Well, I could always give you something different,” he said. He tapped his chin for a moment before a mischievous glint came to his verdant eyes. “I could call you Grumpy Blond Gremlin.”

If looks could murder, Kacchan’s would have certainly obliterated him on the spot. The vein on his temple twitched. His face grew red with Izuku assumed to be anger and embarrassment. He didn’t know which emotion was stronger. He figured it was probably the anger based on how tightly he clenched his jaw and bared his teeth. Usually, Izuku wasn’t so forward, either. Usually murderous looks turned him into a stammering, terrified mess. But there was something about Kacchan that made it so easy.

“My name is fuckin’ Bakugou Katsuki,” the blond gremlin snapped. “Call me fuckin’ Bakugou and nothin’ else, nerd.”

“I think I like Kacchan better,” Izuku said. His grin only grew wider.

“I said fuckin’ no,” Kacchan snapped. “That’s not a fuckin’ option.”

“You curse a lot , Kacchan,” the greenette said

Kacchan threw his hands up in the air in defeat. “What the fuck ever, shitty nerd. Do whatever the fuck you want. Not like I give a fuck.”

Izuku abandoned his project of putting up his fairy lights, deciding he could always do it another time. Instead, he opened the door to their door and scrawled ‘Kacchan’ on the white board beside his own name in Kanji. When the aforementioned blond noticed what he was doing, he peered over his shoulder.

The expected outburst followed just as Izuku thought it would.

“What the fuck, fuckin’ freckles?” he roared. “Don’t go puttin’ that there for people to see! It’s not my fuckin’ name!”

“I think it’s a nice nickname!” Izuku protested.

But Kacchan had snatched the marker from Izuku’s hand. He erased where Izuku had scrawled ‘Kacchan’ and replaced it with ‘Bakugou’ in neat Kanji. He then peered at Izuku’s own name.

“Tch! You can’t even make your own name look right with your shitty fuckin’ handwriting,” he snapped. Before Izuku knew what he was doing, Kacchan was erasing ‘Midoriya’ and a small portion of his first name. Now, the board read ‘Bakugou’ and ‘Deku’.

“Deku?” Izuku wondered aloud.

“Yeah. You’re a fuckin’ deku, nerd,” he growled. “For your useless fuckin’ handwriting and your shit nickname you gave me. You’re a fuckin’ Deku.”

Izuku blinked a few times. He wasn’t sure how well he’d take to being called Deku . It did mean useless, but he could see how Kacchan got it... His name was actually quite similar with the Kanji characters. So maybe... But being called useless? That would suck. Maybe he would just have to make the nickname work. If it got the blond gremlin to actually speak to him without calling him a shitty nerd, it had to be better, right? Where did he even get the idea to call him a shitty nerd? He didn’t do anything particularly nerdy, did he? He didn’t say anything to make him seem that way? He did have a lot of All Might memorabilia in the box on his bed, though. Including his signed, limited edition poster. And his bedspread was in the pattern of All Might’s Silver Age costume... Yes-

“What the fuck is that muttering for? Jesus fuck. Do you ever stop fuckin’ talking?” Kacchan asked as he collapsed onto his bed. He stared up at the ceiling, very clearly avoiding looking at the shorter boy.

Izuku blinked once, twice, three times before realization dawned on him. Oh. Muttering. Right. He’d been doing it again.

“Ah - sorry, Kacchan,” he said sheepishly. “I don’t actually realize when I do it.”

“What the fuck do you mean? You can’t hear yourself muttering a mile a minute?” he asked. Izuku could have sworn he heard a shitty Deku follow after that, but he couldn’t be sure.

“Yeah. No. Actually, I can’t,” he said matter-of-factly. “You know, the whole deaf thing really makes it hard to - you know - hear. Especially the sound of my own voice.”

“Well you’re fuckin’ lucky, aren’t you?” Kacchan asked.

Izuku’s brows furrowed. “How does any of that make me lucky?”

“You don’t have to heard the sound of your own annoying fuckin’ voice,” he snapped, his head turning so that red met green.

“Kacchan! That’s mean!” Izuku all but whined.

“I don’t give a damn,” he snapped. “I need to go to fuckin’ bed. So you can either shut the fuck up or leave. Take your fuckin’ pick.”

Izuku looked down at his watch. It was only 8:30. He didn’t understand why Kacchan was going to bed so early. But then again, Izuku was tired. The drive to Musutafu had been long. He’d been unpacking all day. Sleeping early couldn’t hurt too much. He went about some semblance of an evening routine. Brushing his teeth, washing his face, changing into pajamas. After turning out the lights, he even very clearly announced to Kacchan that he was taking out his hearing aids so the man wouldn’t attempt to talk to him after he’d effectively rendered himself deaf to all sounds and earned himself a repeat of earlier that evening.

“Like I give a damn, shitty Deku,” the blond had grumbled. “Shut the fuck up.”

After his hearing aids were set to charge and Izuku was laying in bed with his green curls splayed against his pillow, he said a gentle ‘goodnight’ to Kacchan in the darkness. He knew he’d articulated the words. The motions of his mouth and tongue were correct. He’d even felt his vocal cords rumble to produce the sound. But he couldn’t hear if Kacchan replied. With his rough exterior, it was probably safe to assume that he hadn’t, but part of Izuku wanted to imagine that he had.

Izuku

It didn’t take very long for Izuku to realize just how hard it would be to live with Bakugou Katsuki. But there was just something about the man that wore down the artist’s particularly strong patience. They’d only been living together for two weeks, and Izuku was ready to pull out his curling green hair from his scalp. He was at his wit’s end. He had tried so hard - so very hard - not to crack under the intensity that was Bakugou Katsuki, but he couldn’t help it. The arguments over petty things just kept coming!

This time, it was because Izuku hadn’t done laundry in a little over a week. His basket was overflowing, but with classes in full swing and a portfolio of art pieces to create, he’d hardly had the time to make his way to the dorm building’s basement to do his laundry. He’d brought enough clothes with him to college for a reason. He easily had enough graphic t-shirts to get him through a full month if worse came to worse because he knew laundry would never be a priority in his life when it came to school. 

But apparently it was to Bakugou Katsuki.

It was a Saturday morning, and Izuku was in the middle of sketching out his latest piece for his portfolio theme when Kacchan had absolutely just gone off.

The door to their dorm slammed open, startling Izuku where he sat. The sudden motion dragged a very stark, dark line across his sketch. Sure, it was fine because it was just a sketch, but it still didn’t make him feel great. Especially since he had to turn this in come Monday. No. he’d have to redraw it, which would be a drag. He’d been in the zone. That is, until Kacchan had decided to interrupt him with his grand entrance.

“What the fuck, shitty Deku?” Kacchan yelled. The blond was shucked off his running shoes at the door, leaving them on the mat before he entered the room. His skin was slick with a sheen of sweat. He’d probably been on his morning run.

“What? What did I do this time?” Izuku asked as he leaned his elbows on his desk and cradled his head in his hands.

In Kacchan’s eyes, he always did something wrong.

“What you did wrong? It’s what you didn’t fuckin’ do!” he hollered. “I can literally smell your dirty clothes through the door of the dorm. It’s fuckin’ disgusting!”

Izuku groaned audibly. “I haven’t had time. I’ve been busy.”

“Tch! You’ve had time,” Kacchan accused as he slammed the door of their dorm shut. “You just spend all of your time watching fuckin’ reruns of the All Might TV show.”

The greenette was going to open his mouth to protest, but he couldn’t. Kacchan was right. He did spend a lot of his freetime watching reruns of his favorite show, but he also spent a lot of time working on homework and projects for his various art classes. Oil painting and life drawing were taking the life out of him. He really just wanted to draw digitally, but he hadn’t gotten the opportunity to take any digital painting classes that semester. So, he’d determined he needed the stress relief. In the form of mindless television to ease his fried brain.

“Go. Do. Your. Fuckin’. Laundry!” Kacchan yelled.

Izuku really didn’t want to listen to this. He’d finally pulled himself out of his lack-of-inspiration rut that he’d been in the first two weeks of classes. He’d finally found something to draw. But Kacchan had gone and pulled him out of his artist’s headspace, effectively souring his mood.

“I really need to get this sketch done,” Izuku implored. “This and four others that are due Monday.”

“Maybe if someone had their priorities straight, they’d be on top of their school work,” Katsuki snapped as he made his way around the room, gathering his shower stuff.

Izuku’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t tell me about priorities when it comes to art,” he said. “It’s a heckuva lot harder than it looks. I can’t just pull inspiration out of thin air.”

“Must not be a very good artist, then,” Kacchan said.

Oh, hell no. He was not dealing with this. Katsuki hadn’t even looked at any of his art. He couldn’t judge him for lacking inspiration. He couldn’t judge him at all! He’d never seen a single piece Izuku had created.

“I’m not talking about this with you, Bakugou,” Izuku seethed, his mood immediately shifting.

“Bakugou? You go two weeks callin’ me fuckin’ Kacchan , and all of a sudden you’re actually callin’ me by fuckin’ name. What the fuck, Deku? Make up your fuckin’ mind!”

“You’ve been demoted.”

“Demoted?”

“Everyone's apparently a critic! And, evidently, you’re so good that you don’t even have to look at the art to criticize it!” Izuku shouted at Katsuki. “So, yes, you’ve been demoted, oh great critic.”

He slammed his sketchbook closed and gathered up his pencils and a few other materials, including both his personal sketchbook and class sketchbook. He tossed them all carelessly into his rucksack. He then snatched up his travel case for his hearing aids before he made his way to the door of the dorm.

“Oi! Deku! Where the fuck are you going?” Kastuki snapped. “Do your fuckin-”

Before Katsuki could finish his sentence, Izuku very deliberately looked him in the eyes and pulled his hearing aids from his ears. He thumbed the switch to turn them off before pointedly sticking them inside of their travel case and into his rucksack. He saw the other’s lips moving, but he couldn’t hear a word he was saying. After a moment or two of yelling, Katsuki realized just exactly what Izuku had done. His mouth dropped open.

Izuku gave a smug smile before he toed on his worn, red sneakers and stormed out of the dorm. A little bit of quiet seriously went a long way.

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“-And he gets up at the crack of dawn to go running! Like, I’m all for running, but I’m not going to get up before the sun is up just to get a run in, Ocha,” Izuku exclaimed in frustration as he sat at his best friend’s desk. “He yelled at me about my laundry today.”

“When was the last time you did laundry, Izu?” Ochako asked, his brown raised high.

“Uh. Ah - yeah. It’s been a little over a week and a half,” Izuku said quickly. “But that’s beside the point!”

“You could probably stand to put a dent in the pile,” Shouto chimed in from his perch on the end of Ochako’s bed.

Izuku groaned. He’d come here to have his friends side with him on all of this. Not for them to get on his case about doing laundry, too. He hadn’t even bothered to text Ochako before he’d stormed over there. He was too pissed off. Katsuki really had a way of grinding at nerves no one else seemed to hit. Well, maybe except that short, pervy kid, Mineta, in his life drawing class that said he was in the class solely for the purpose of seeing ‘naked ladies’ , as he’d put it. But still. He only saw Mineta once a week for class. Katsuki had managed to wear away at his patience more times than he was proud to admit in one week.

Lucky for him, Ochako had been in the middle of working on an essay for her introduction to secondary education course. Great procrastinators thought alike. She’d very easily put aside the essay in favor of listening to Izuku’s latest tea. She’d even texted Shouto to come over to her dorm to listen in. So, with two out of his three best friends at his side - Tenya had track practice, so he hadn’t declined their invite - he told all of his latest Bakugou Katsuki drama.

“Honestly, sometimes, he isn’t all that bad, but there are just these certain things,” Izuku explained. “These certain grating qualities that he has.”

“Like what?” Shouto asked.

“He’s got the most foul mouth! He’s a neat freak. I can’t even leave a sock on the floor unless I want to hear about it for the rest of the day,” he provided, his anger from earlier still feuling him. “And if, God forbid, I’m not out of bed by eleven a.m. - which is the break in his schedule for the day - he’ll wake me up by chucking pillows at me!”

Ochako and Shouto gave him an amused look at this.

“I’m an art student,” he lamented. “We have afternoon classes for a reason. We stay up late to paint and draw, sleep in late, and survive off of TV reruns and stale coffee. Artists are moody and emotional for a reason!”

“Yeah, that isn’t exactly healthy, Izu,” Ochako said.

“We’re not here to question my habits, Ochako,” Izuku whined. “We’re here to discuss my evil, blond gremlin of a roommate. I don’t know what to do!”

“Switch dorms?” Shouto suggested.

“And give up those snazzy dorms of his? I doubt he’d do that,” Ochako interrupted with a vehement shake of her head. “He’s staying in the nicest dorm building at Yueii. There’s no way he’ll move anywhere else.”

“She’s right,” Izuku conceded. “They’re way too nice to give up. Ochako’s place is a dump compared to the new building. Ah-ha. No offense Ochako.”

“Maybe talk to him?” Shouto suggested, although it seemed more like a question than a solution. “I’m sure you can come to a compromise.”

Ochako snorted. “Based on what you’ve told us, I somehow think that won’t exactly work,” she said.

“Why not? Talking usually works,” Shouto said.

“From what it sounds like, this guy has two settings irritated and pissed off.”

It was now Izuku’s turn to snort. “Sounds exactly like Kacchan.”

“Kacchan?” Ochako interrupted. “You go on and on about how much this guy pushes your buttons, Izu, yet you give him a cute nickname?”

Izuku’s face flushed at the sudden use of the nickname he’d given his roommate. At first, it was just supposed to be playful. He had genuinely misheard his name. But his continually growing physical attraction for his roommate had solidified in his mind that the nickname should stick. Barring today, of course, seeing as Kacchan had been temporarily demoted from the pedestal Izuku held him on in his head.

 “I-I had a hard time hearing his name, alright? B-Besides, I think Kacchan makes him seem so much friendlier,” Izuku said quickly, attempting to hide his raging embarrassment.

His attempts may have gotten past Shouto, but they most certainly did not fool Ochako. She had her ‘there has to be more to this story’ face on.

“He’s hot, isn’t he?” she asked.

“N-No!” Izuku stammered out immediately. A pause, a knowing look from Ochako, and then, “Okay. Yes. He’s... Cute. Attractive. He’s really hot.”

Ochako sent him an excited smile. She did a little clap. He could practically hear her brain working. Izuku hadn’t had any form of relationship since his third year.

“But that doesn’t make up for his terrible personality!” he said before he buried his face in his hands.

“No. Rather, I think it makes him seem all that much more unfavorable,” Shouto said in his monotone.

A groan erupted from Ochako. “He sounds almost like Yaorashi! Loud, brash, and rude.”

Izuku groaned. They were getting too, too deep with this conversation. He was going to die. He thought he was dying on move-in day. Nope. Ochako and Shouto were going to kill him now by feeding him to Kacchan, the evil, blond gremlin.

“I can already tell that they’re much different,” Shouto said. “Inasa is unintentionally rude, but he’s also incredibly sweet-”

“Yeah! To you! You’ve been dating for how long?”

“Two years, but that’s beside the point,” Shouto said, waving her off. “From what Izuku says about him, this guy is intentionally rude.”

“That’s an understatement,” Izuku said.

“Do you need me to threaten him?” Ochako asked.

Izuku’s head shot up, and he fixed his viridian eyes on Ochako. An inhuman sounded in his chest. “Ochako! First you wanted to set me up with him, and now you want to threaten him?”

“Do you want me to set you up with him?” she asked.

“N-No!” he stammered, his face flaring that same brilliant crimson color. He could feel his entire body getting warm with embarrassment. Why did his friends have to do this to him? “I don’t even know if he’s gay or bi or whatever! He could be a raging homophobe!”

“So threaten him it is,” Shouto said simply.

Izuku groaned. This was not how visiting his friends was supposed to play out. He had come over to vent. Maybe get them to vent with him. He should have known by now, though, that anytime his friends felt that he was threatened, they were up in arms to protect him. It was never just a simple venting session.

“Guys, that’s really not necessary. I promise,” he said. “I think I have a way to deal with him, anyhow.”

“You do?” Ochako asked.

And at the same time from Shouto, “You could have led with that. You would have saved Ochako the breath.”

Izuku looked at them both while twiddling his thumbs in his lap. “It was actually pretty funny. I’m proud of myself for thinking of it,” he said, smiling at the thought of his grand exit earlier that morning. “He was yelling at me, like always. And I just took out my hearing aids.”

“You just took them out? That seems a little lackluster, Izu. I don’t see how that would bother him,” Ochako pointed out.

Izuku snorted. “I might have made a show of taking them out and putting them away.”

A pause. Then a roar of laughter came from Ochako.

“O-Oh my God!” she exclaimed through her laughter.

Her hands were wrapped around her waist to grip her sides. She hadn’t even been laughing that long, but he could already see the tears in the corners of her eyes. Not only that - her laughter was also contagious. It only took a few moments before Izuku’s laughter was mirroring her own. They even got a few hearty chuckles out of Shouto. It took a while for them to settle down. The girls in the room next door had to pound on the wall dividing the two dorms to get them to bring their obnoxious laughter down to gentle peals.

“God, I love sassy Izu,” Ocha said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “I would pay to see the look on his face.”

“It looked a lot like this,” Izuku said before he made his facial expression match that of Kacchan’s from that morning. 

His mouth hung open. His eyes were wide. His brows were furrowed. He couldn’t see himself, but by way of Ochako’s reaction, he figured he looked hilarious. It took another fifteen minutes and some more wall pounding for them to get over their next fit of laughter. By then, Ochako was too sore to talk, and Shouto had a permanent smirk fixed on his lips.

“He was more stunned that I wasn’t listening to him than anything, I think,” Izuku supplied when the conversation fell quiet. He leaned back in the Ochako’s desk chair. His legs were curled up beneath him in a comfortable sort of way. “Hopefully I didn’t upset him too much. I just didn’t want to listen to him yelling at me anymore.”

“Well, you know we’re always here for you, Izuku,” Shouto said.

“Yeah, if you ever need us to threaten him-” Ochako chimed in.

“Or have Tenya write a strongly-worded letter-”

“Hey! Be nice!” Ochako said in defense of her boyfriend.

“Regardless, we’ll always be here to back you up if your roommate - what did you call him again?”

“His name is Bakugou Katuski, but I call him Kacchan,” Izuku said, that same bright blush from before rising to his cheeks. 

“Or the evil, blond gremlin,” Ochako reminded.

“We’ll be here if Bakugou gives you any problems, Izuku. You won’t ever have to worry about that.

Izuku felt tears springing to his eyes already. He was such a crybaby, but how couldn’t he be when he had such amazing friends? He loved them so, so much, more than words could describe. He’d do anything for them, and he was sure by their words right now that they’d do the same for him. He couldn’t have found anyone else more supportive to be in his life - aside from his mom, that is.

“Thanks, guys,” Izuku said, sniffling a little bit. He wiped at his tears with the backs of his hands. “Honestly, it means the world to me.”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Izuku made it back to his dorm around eleven a.m., and by then, Katsuki was just laying down for his midday nap. Apparently, the nap helped him with his creative process as a culinary student. But Izuku couldn’t have his own creative process, which involved staying up and sleeping late. That was another thing about the guy. He could come in and sleep in the middle of the day, but Izuku wasn’t allowed to sleep past eleven himself. It had only taken Izuku oversleeping and waking the gremlin from his nap one time and suddenly, it was a taboo for him to sleep during Katsuki’s daily nap. And that didn’t even change when Izuku had class!

He was finding it increasingly difficult to wrap his head around the enigma that was Bakugou Katsuki.

Izuku was careful not to wake him as he gathered up his basket of laundry and made his way down to the basement. It was pretty full down there, considering it was a Saturday. So he was only able to snag one washing machine. After setting a timer on his phone, he made his way back to his dorm.

Kacchan was still asleep, and as Izuku came into the room, he couldn’t help but stare at the blond. Somehow, while he was sleeping, he looked a little less scary. A little less angry. His features were soft and gentle and relaxed while he let sleep overtake him. His shocks of blond spikes sat limp against his forehead because there wasn’t any product in it yet. His brow wasn’t furrowed over his eyes. His lips were set naturally rather than pursed. In this position, he could see the full cupid’s bow that made up Katsuki’s pink lips. He was stunning.

Izuku could feel the itch in his fingers to reach out and touch Kacchan, to brush his hair away from his eyes, but he resisted. Kacchan wasn’t awake. He couldn’t invade his personal space like that, not without him being away. That wasn’t right. So, Izuku put his itching fingers to better use. He dug his personal sketchbook and pencils out of his rucksack, settled himself onto his bed, and began to draw. The tip of his pencil found the paper and began to work out the outlines of Kacchan’s sleeping form.

Izuku could easily keep this to himself. He wouldn’t turn this sketch in for class. He could keep this one for himself where no one else would see. What the blond didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him, right?

Katsuki

“Oh! Do you remember that time when Baku lost that bet against Denki?” Pinky exclaimed, an unladylike wheeze escaping her as she fought down another fit of giggles. “And he had to kiss the first person that walked into the room?”

“Shut the fuck up, Pinky!”

“I was honestly surprised he lost. Baku never loses,” Pikachu replied thoughtfully. Too fucking thoughtfully. Katsuki was going to sock him straight in the nose even though he wasn’t the one to bring the story up. It didn’t help the other blond’s case as he was the closest one to Katsuki.

“Breathe another word, and I’ll fuckin’ murder all of you fuckin’ extras!” Katsuki snarled.

“I’m honestly surprised he went through with it, considering who walked through the door!” Shitty Hair replied. “Sero was scarred for life, poor guy!”

The group roared with laughter. 

And Katsuki...

Katsuki could literally feel the vein in his temple pulsing. All because of the fuckin’ extras that had decided it was a great fuckin’ idea to come hang out at his dorm. He’d just finished his first major competition of the year, and all he wanted to do was go out, party, and drink. These fuckin’ extras had other plans, which consisted of piling onto his bed, drinking cheap beer, and telling each other the horror stories of the semester thus far. They could have been out at one of the many parties being thrown, but no. Fuckin’ Pikachu wanted to drink safe because he hadn’t been paid and couldn’t afford an Uber home. Fuckin’ tool.

He wasn’t buying into this garbage. Because that’s what it fuckin’ was. It was garbage. He could have been out having the time of his goddamn life after a grueling week of midterms. But no. He was here. In his bed. With a bunch of loud fuckin’ extras. If they hadn’t brought the cheap beer, he would have kicked them out as soon as they showed up to his door. In hindsight, he probably should have just taken the beer and told them to get lost. He wished he had because the main topic of their conversations had shifted from their own horror stories to all of his most embarrassing moments in high school.

Particularly, his kiss with Soy-Sauce Face their junior year. 

“Shut the fuck up, Shitty Hair!” Katsuki roared at Kirishima. If Pinky and Pikachu weren’t between them, he would be tearing that shitty red hair straight from his head. “I don’t fuckin’ back down when I lose a bet!”

“It was so manly!” Kirishima said, wonderstruck. “But Sero didn’t deserve that injustice.”

“ Shitty Hair- ” Katsuki growled.

“Honestly, we’re lucky it was him. Anyone else, and Baku probably would have gotten the shit smacked out of him,” Pinky said flippantly.

“What do you mean? ” Pikachu asked. “He smacked the shit out of poor Sero!”

“Mother fucker shouldn’t have walked through the goddamn door-”

“Oh, shut up Bakubabe,” Pinky said with a wave of her hand.

“Can’t be worse than-” Pikachu started

Katsuki felt his teeth grinding in his jaw as he made his best effort to shut these mother fuckers out. God, he was going to personally slaughter all of these extra and hide the bodies. They were just asking for it, especially as they launched into yet another one of his less than favorable incidents from high school.

They needed to have some goddamn respect. They were in his dorm. Spewing bullshit that he didn’t need any of the rest of the extras at this fucking school know, especially his shitty nerd of a roommate.

“Finish that sentence, Pikachu, and I’ll-”

“He lost that other bet and had to dye his pubes pink?”

Katsuki launched himself at Pikachu, tearing his hands into that hideous bottle-blond hair of his.

“I’m going to fuckin’ murder you, mother fucker!”

A shrill scream echoed from Pikachu, but before Katsuki could get to the actual murder part, the door to the dorm swung open quickly.

And in walked fuckin’ Deku.

“K-Kacchan? What are you doing?” the nerd’s small, shocked voice asked.

Those big, green eyes looked from Katsuki’s face to where his hands were buried in Pikachu’s hair and back again. He immediately released the bottle-blond, crossing his arms over his chest in a huff.

“Kacchan? Who the heck is Kacchan ?” Pinky asked.

Katsuki narrowed his gaze and looked over to the girl. “Shut the fu-”

“Oh!” Deku said, drawing Katsuki’s eyes back to him. The nerd better fucking not. 

“Deku...”

Katsuki could literally see the mischievous glint in his doeish, green eyes. “It’s what I call Bakugou.” 

“What?!” Kirishima asked. “He gets to give you a nickname, and we still are on a last-name basis? Bro, that’s so unmanly! We’ve been friends since high school.”

Even though he knew Shitty Hair was joking and had no real qualms about calling him by his last name, he shot him a withering glare.

“I didn’t tell him he could, so don’t think you’re able to, either,” he snapped, sending a glare toward the red head. “It was a fuckin’ misunderstanding. Don’t get any ideas.”

“It’s actually a funny story-”

“No. It’s not a fuckin’ funny story at all, shitty nerd,” the blond groused. “Don’t tell it.”

“If you’re in it, Bakubabe, I’m sure it’s great,” Pinky said with a flippant wave of her hand.

“Don’t encour-”

But apparently, fuckin’ Deku didn’t need anymore encouraging than than. The greenette shut the door of their dorm behind him and toed off his shitty red sneakers on the mat by the door before sitting down in his desk chair. He turned to face the group and quickly delved into the explanation of how they met, of how Katsuki had chucked a pillow at him over a misunderstanding about Deku’s hearing aids - which, he had to admit, he felt a tiny bit bad about after the fact. But if Deku was going to tell all of these shitty extras, he wasn’t going to worry about feeling bad for that .

But as the nerd kept getting deeper and deeper into the story, Katsuki felt himself sinking deeper and deeper into the mattress, with an equally deep and sour scowl to match. Fuck this. He wanted all of these fuckers out of his dorm, including Deku. Kicking them all the fuck out and sitting alone with a can of shitty beer would be far more entertaining than having all of his embarrassing fuck-ups put on blast. The nerd already knew about some of the less favorable consequences of those bets left to chance. With how well he was getting along with these extra already, he was sure more of those stories would come up. He really needed to stop taking bets that didn’t have a for sure outcome...

“Oi! Deku!” Katsuki interrupted before the story could get any more involved than it already had, including the nerd’s favorite way of ignoring him. “Quit rambling on about that bullshit and introduce your fucking self. Rude as shit...”

Deku jumped to his feet at the sudden realization of just how fuckin’ rude he’d been. Fuckin’ good. He then turned to the group and gave a slight bow.

“You’re right! I’m sorry! I - a-ah. I wasn’t expecting company when I came back or else I would have brought some snacks!” he said apologetically. “But still. I-It’s a pleasure to meet all of you! My name is Midoriya Izuku.”

While his shitty extras introduced themselves to his roommate - “You’re Bakubro’s roommate? He wouldn’t tell us anything about you!” Kirishima excitedly exclaimed. “Dude, your legs are buff as hell! You a runner?” - Katsuki tuned them all out. He turned his eyes away from the greenette, forcing himself to look at anything but him. Fuckin’ Deku. He was the last person he wanted these extras to meet. Their lips were too loose. They always spilled too much information. Like the time he dyed his fuckin’ pubes pink because he lost a bet. (He really had to stop losing bets, especially the ones that were left up to chance. He always fuckin’ lost and gave these shitty extras more amunition to use when they told these horror stories.) Deku didn’t need to hear all of the shit that they had to say. Yeah, sure the guy was deaf and it was unlikely that he’d heard what they’d been talking about through the door, but still. He couldn’t be more cautious because...

Well, the greenette was infuriating in his own right. He was messy. He was a slob. He stayed up too late and made huge messes with his art. He ate shitty, unhealthy food, which was insulting to Katsuki as a culinary arts major. And he really knew how to piss Katsuki off just by taking those damn fuckin’ hearing aids out of his head. Most infuriating of all, he was too fuckin’ cute for his own good.

God, as much as he hated to admit it, Deku was adorable. The first thing he’d noticed about the freckled man when he’d walked into the dorm in the beginning of the semester was his ass. The guy may have been clad in jeans and a shitty graphic tee, but those jeans... They’d left little to the imagination. He had thighs for days. He was literal sex on legs. With a lower-half like that, it was impossible to believe that Deku skipped a leg day.

There were other things that made Deku adorable. Like the freckles that kept getting more and more prevalent on his cheeks as summer drew closer. Or that fuckin’ laugh of his that rang through the room so loudly. The way he apologized after laughing that loud because the deafness made it harder for him to tell just how loud he was being. The way he blushed when Katsuki made him embarrassed or awkward.

He could easily devour it all. But then again, with how irritating and oblivious the shitty nerd was, he couldn’t. Yeah, everything about him screamed Katsuki’s type, but he was strictly off limits. This was his roommate. If shit went south - which it usually did when it came to him and relationships, let’s face it - he did not want to deal with the aftermath. Hell, he didn’t even know if the guy was gay or, at the very least, bi. He couldn’t make a move without knowing that crucial information. He wasn’t going to be the one to ask, either-

“So, uh, I don’t mean to pry, but, uh, why did I uh, hear you guys talkingaboutKacchandyinghispubespink?” Deku asked, the last half of the sentence coming out in a single, rushed breath. The nerd’s freckled face was already turning bright pink from embarrassment.

Immediately, the extras burst out into roars of laughter, and while they cried their shitty fuckin’ hysterical tears, Katsuki attempted some form of damage control.

“Hah?! What the actual fuck, Deku, you deaf fuck?” Katsuki asked. Right. Such great fucking damage control. “You can hear that of all things, but you can’t fuckin’ hear me when I’m talking to you from across the room?”

The shitty nerd sheepishly scratched at the back of his head like he had the tendency to do when he was nervous. “I, uh.”

“Spit it out, Deku,” Katsuki growled.

“I thought I heard people in here, so I turned up my hearing aids and that was the only part of the conversation I managed to catch. And then there was screaming and I wasn’t sure who was in here!” he quickly stammered, falling into one of those rambling fits he was so fucking good at. His face was quickly growing redder and redder by the minute, even more red than when he’d brought up the conversation initially. “I promise I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop! I was just coming home from class, and I wasn’t expecting anyone. Kacchan didn’t say that there would be anyone over-”

“Jesus, Bakubro! Don’t give the poor guy a heart attack,” Shitty Hair said as he leapt up from the bed. He crossed the room over to Deku and placed his hands on his shoulders. “Don’t worry about him, Midoriya. He’s just got a stick so far up his ass that he can’t take a joke.”

“I can, too, Shitty Hair!”

“Yes, worry about him! He’s going to give me an early receding hairline with how much he pulls my hair,” Pikachu lamented.

Deku’s hands quickly flew to the mop of green curls on the top of his head, a worried expression flitting onto his freckled features. It elicited a dramatic eye roll from Katsuki. Sure, he’d thought about pulling his hair before, but not in the same way he’d pulled Pikachu’s. Deku’s hair looked softer, smoother, and a hell of a lot more interesting to tangle his fingers into compared to Kaminari’s. Hell, the bottle-blond’s had felt dry yet greasy. It’d left a nasty feeling on his hands.

“Pikachu! No one gives a damn about your hair,” he snapped. “But you could do us all a favor and wash it from time to time. Shits a fuckin’ oil-slick.”

“I’m on an every three days regiment! Today isn’t hair washing day-” Pikachu lamented.

But Shitty Hair shouted over him in an attempt to turn the conversation away from Katsuki and his insults.

“So, Midoriya,” he said, flashing the greenette a bright grin. Shitty Hair grabbed another beer and settled himself back on the bed between Pinky and Pikachu. “Tell us about yourself. Bakugou hasn’t mentioned you at all.”

Deku scratched the back of his head in that same nervous manner as before. Fucker didn’t have any problems talking about Katsuki, but as soon as it came to talking about himself, he got fuckin’ flustered.

“I-I mean, what do you want to know?” he asked. “I’m not exactly that interesting.”

Katsuki would beg to differ, but he didn’t say anything, instead looking off to the window above their desks. It was dark outside, and he couldn’t see anything, but it was better than looking at Deku’s shitty freckled face.

“Your major. Where you’re from. Fun facts,” Pinky said. And as an afterthought, she added, “Juicy gossip.”

Deku sputtered. “I-I don’t really have any gossip. Uh. Hah. Yeah. Unless,” he stammered out. “I guess, if you consider being deaf gossip?”

Katsuki rolled his eyes. “That’s as far from gossip as gossip could possibly get,” he groused. “Not that I give a damn about your gossip.”

“Baku’s right. That’s not gossip, bro,” Shitty Hair said. “It’s just who you are. Not something that should define who you are.”

The blond glanced at Deku, who had a wonderstruck look on his face. It was as if whatever Shitty Hair was saying was laced with honey and gold. Deku was eating it right the fuck up. Katsuki shouldn’t have been surprised that Deku started crying. He’d walked in on the nerd with his crap television shows bawling his eyes out at least five times this semester already. But the blond found himself stunned when tears crowded his bright eyes now. Stunned and captivated by it.

“I’m honestly glad you said that,” Deku said, dashing away the tears in his eyes with the back of his hand. “Not a lot of people get that. I don’t want to be the deaf guy in the room. I want to be the guy in the room that just happens to be deaf. I’m a person before anything else.”

Blond brows furrowed down over red eyes. He knew on more than one occasion he’d called Deku a ‘deaf mother fucker’, thereby putting his limitations before him as a person. He made a mental note of that to avoid the nuance in language that seemed to mean a hell of a lot more to the greenette than he’d originally anticipated.

“Do you know any sign language?” Pinky asked. “I’m taking a six week course, and I could really use the tutor.”

A blinding smile crossed onto Deku’s features as his hands - which were covered in paint from whatever class he’d come from - flew up in front of him. He started making motions that Katsuki assumed were Japanese sign language. He hadn’t seen Deku use it before. Hadn’t even cared to consider the man using anything other than spoken language. But apparently, he was fluent. His hands moved quickly through the air. He was so animated and happy.

“Woah! Slow down!” Pinky said, her stupid raccoon eyes wide. “I’m not that good. I’m just a beginner.”

Deku laughed sheepishly. “Oh, right. Sorry, Ashido,” he said, flashing her a bright smile. It was a different kind of smile from the sheepish, nervous ones he usually got. Deku never smiled like that for him... Shitty nerd. “I just get so excited to use it. Sure, there are the other students on campus who know it, but none of them are in my major. And sure, there’s my signer who comes with me to classes, but that doesn’t leave much room for casual conversation.”

Pinky laughed. “No worries, Midoriya,” she said. “The class is fun at least. It’s nice to know I can practice with someone. Eiji said he’d take the six week course for the second half of the semester-”

That grabbed Katsuki’s attention. They were holding a six week course for the latter half of the semester? That was something he could consider. Deku was cute. And maybe he could get closer to the nerd if he picked up the class. He’d have to ask Shitty Hair about it - after swearing him to secrecy, of course. Deku was cute. He was a bright ball of sunshine, and his friends had latched onto him already. He made anyone in the room feel fuckin’ good, and Katsuki couldn’t help but be drawn to it, too. Not that he was going to tell the fuckin’ nerd that.

“Do you want a beer, Midoriya?” Pikachu asked, holding up one of the room temperature cans.

The greenette shook his head and his hands at the same time. “No, I’m okay!”

“You sure?” Pikachu persisted.

“Yeah, really,” the shorter of the two said with a wild blush. “I hate to admit it, but I’m really a terrible light weight. A few beers really sends me over the edge, and I don’t need to make a fool of myself.”

“Tch! You already are, shitty Deku,” Kastuki said.

“Kacchan! Don’t be mean!” the nerd said. “It can’t be as bad as your pink pubes.”

“I’ll fuckin’ kill you, shitty nerd!”

“So what’s your major? You’re covered in paint, so I’m assuming something art related,” Kirishima asked.

Simultaneously, both Katsuki and Deku’s eyes zeroed in on his clothes. He was covered in paint. He was wearing the clothes he usually wore on Friday afternoons to his classes, which Katsuki assumed were painting related. Everything was covered in smears of paint that no amount of washing would get out. A black t-shirt. Too tight blue jeans that Katsuki had shameless stared out too many times since the start of the semester. A grey cardigan that looked incredibly comfortable.

Deku again perked up, offering that bright smile to his friends and not to Katsuki. Fuckin’ rude.

“I’m majoring in art with a minor in writing,” he said, a certain glitter in his eyes.

“So, what do you want to do with that?” Pinky asked. “There’s a lot you can do with that, isn’t there?”

“Yeah, there is,” he said. “I’m thinking about illustrating my own books. Maybe children’s books. I really like Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. They do a lot of stuff together, like the Edge Chronicles, and it would be really awesome to have that kind of stuff, but all on my own.”

“So, what kind of classes do you have to take with that? ‘Cause I never saw you in any of the general studies classes, and it seems like you’re already well into your major,” Kirishima noted.

“Oh. Yeah. I’m a transfer student,” he said brightly. “I transferred from one of the community colleges back home. I actually took all of those classes, so they don’t exactly know where to put me. I’m just taking extra art classes in the meantime.”

“Tch. Shitty Deku. You weren’t good enough to get into Yueii the first time?” Katsuki interjected. He knew immediately it was the wrong thing to say by Deku’s reaction.

His eyes narrowed at him. Yeah. He wasn’t getting a smile from the guy anytime soon.

“I did, actually, I just declined. And unlike most schools, it’s actually harder to get into Yueii as a transfer student,” he said, his tone icy. “Community college was just the cheaper alternative.”

A groan ensued from Kirishima. “You’re telling me, man. That’s why Mina and I have an apartment together off campus,” he said. “Room, board, and a meal plan was way more expensive than just staying a few blocks away in an apartment.”

“Yeah, but your apartment is shit,” Katsuki pointed out.

And it was. He would barely call the building habitable. Sure, Kirishima and Ashido had deep cleaned their apartment and made it their own, but the place was a fuckin’ dump.

“It’s got character ,” Pinky said.

“If you consider roaches in the other apartments character, then I guess,” Pikachu said.

“Aaanyway,” Kirishima cut in. “I’m sure you’re a great artist, Midoriya, especially if you got in as a transfer student.”

The nerd blushed. “Oh. A-Ah. Not really. I mean, I’m okay, but I’m not amazing,” he assured.

Katsuki snorted at that. Okay was an understatement. It was rare that Deku actually brought his pieces home, but when he did, they were far better than just okay . Katuski wasn’t an artist, but he knew that the guy could draw. He always had pieces with such interesting lighting. Not that he’d ever said anything to him.

“What about that one you brought in here last week?” Katsuki suggested. He didn’t give any opinion on it. Didn’t say whether or not he thought it was good despite fully knowing what he’d worked on that night was amazing.

“Oh, right, uh. It’s not here anymore. I turned it in, but I have my sketches if you want to see,” Deku said.

That flush on his cheeks only was growing darker and darker as he reached into his rucksack and produced a few different sketchbooks. He had one for each of his classes, it seemed, and one personal sketchbook. There were a total of four.

“Uh. So. This one is for my oil painting class. That one is for life-drawing, and this one is for contemporary art. This last one is my personal one, stuff I’m working on outside of class, but it’s not got anything great in it,” he said as he handed the sketchbooks to the four of them.

Just as Deku was about to hand Katsuki his personal sketchbook, he thought better and instead handed it to Kirishima. What the fuck? Was he not good enough to look at the nerd’s personal sketchbook? Instead, he got handed the contemporary art sketchbook, which upon opening, he realized was full of weird, abstract shit.

There were a few interested gasps and exclamations from the extras, but Katsuki was more interested when Kirishima said his name.

“Is this Bakugou?” he asked, his voice pitched in question.

Deku squeaked in surprise, and he could have sworn he heard the guy mutter a curse.

“Is what me?” he snapped.

His gaze flicked from Deku, who looked horrified, to Shitty Hair, and back to Deku. Kirishima turned the sketchbook to face them all. At a first glance, the drawing could have been anyone. It was just a person sleeping. But after taking in the details, he knew. It was, in fact, Katsuki. There were the tell-tale signs of him in the simple sketch. The scar in his left eyebrow from where he’d cut it open as a kid. The sharpness of his jaw. The shape of his brows. Without a doubt, it was him. It was dated for a few weeks prior. When the fuck had Deku had the time to draw him? He couldn’t have done it at night; it was too dark to get anything drawn, and he never let the nerd keep his desk lamp on. It had to been during one of his daily naps.

“That’s so good! Look at you, Bakubabe!” Pinky exclaimed, snatching up the sketchbook. “You look so cute and innocent when you sleep!”

Katsuki turned his head away from the extras. He could feel heat rising to his face for the tell-tale beginnings of a blush. Fuck . He didn’t need this. Didn’t need this feeling of fucking flattery and embarrassment that was spreading over him. He combatted it the only way he knew how. Anger.

“What the fuck, Deku?” he shouted. He knew the yelling would make his face red to mask his embarrassment. “You just go around drawing people without asking?

Deku was immediately reduced to a stammering, blubbering mess of apologies. “O-Oh my gosh, Kacchan, I’m sorry! Y-You were just so relaxed, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. And I didn’t want to wake you up to ask you. And if I had asked you, you would have said no. I honestly forgot I even drew that considering it was so long ago! O-Otherwise, I wouldn’t have shown Kirishima the sketchbook! I’m sorry!”

“Don’t sweat it, bro,” Kirishima said. “Bakugou just has a stick stuck pretty far up his ass. It’s a great sketch, man. Showing your soft side is so manly, ya know?”

“Yeah, don’t let him bother you,” Pikachu said. “But don’t let him get a hold of your hair, either cause he’ll rip it out.”

“Shut the fuck up , Pikachu!”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

It was well after midnight by the time the rest of his shitty crew left. Well, Katsuki literally had to force them out the door to stop them from embarrassing him further. They’d already told Deku enough stories about his payouts for bets. They were just about to start on his first shitty high school boyfriend when he’d finally had enough.

Speaking of the nerd, he was relaxed on his bed. His Silver Age All Might comforter was draped over him as he stared at the ceiling, a perplexed expression on his features. Katsuki sent an occasional glance his way as he made his way around their dorm, cleaning up the mess the extras had left behind. He’d seen him go from sleepy to withdrawn panic in all of ten minutes. As he picked up another can from his desk and tossed it into the garbage bag, he heaved out a sigh.

“Alright, nerd, I can hear you thinking over there,” he said, fixing Deku with a glare.

“Was I muttering again?” he asked, sitting up in bed. “I’m sorry. I don’t know if I’ve told you before. I probably have, but just to be on the safe side. I can’t actually hear myself talk very well, so it’s always really hard to tell when I’m muttering. I promise, I don’t mean to do it, so if I do, just tell me to shut up. I promise I won’t be offended if you do. I know I can be annoy-”

“Jesus Christ, Deku, now you’re muttering,” Katsuki said, dragging a hand down his face in exasperation. “I was just gonna ask what was on your mind. You look fuckin’ constipated.”

Deku visibly relaxed and let out a small laugh. “Oh. Right. Sorry-”

“Quit apologizing. You have nothing to be sorry for,” the blond groused. 

He swept up the last few cans before tying off the bag and setting it by the door. He’d take it down in the morning. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to facing off and murdering any raccoons that decided to jump out at him from the dumpster.

“Sorry, Kacchan,” and then a pause when Deku realized that he’d only managed to apologize yet again. “Uh. Yeah.”

“Shut up, nerd,” he said. “Just tell me what’s on your fuckin’ mind before I regret asking and tell you to fuckin’ forget it.”

There was a bit of silence where Deku made some shit attempts at gathering his thoughts before he spoke. That was a first. The nerd usually spewed whatever bullshit came to his head first. In the meantime, Katsuki got himself ready for bed. He dressed in his flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt. He then pulled back his blankets before throwing himself down on his shitty mattress. He was tired. He needed rest. He never stayed up this late. A mixture of exhaustion and sleep threatened to pull him under.

Hell, he forgot he asked Deku to speak his mind until he spoke.

“I guess I’m just curious, ya know?”

“‘Bout what?”

“You.”

That woke him up a little bit. He turned his face to look at the nerd, but the nerd wasn’t making eye contact with him.

“Me? What the fuck are you curious about me for?”

“I don’t know. I’ve lived with you for a while now, and this is the first time I’m seeing this side of you,” he said.

“What do you mean? I’m not any fuckin’ different than I normally am.”

Deku shrugged as he leaned against the wall by his bed. He picked at the edge of his All Might blanket absently. “I guess, you’re just a little different around your friends.”

“You mean the extras?”

“Kacchan! Be nice!” Deku admonished. “They seem like good people. And I guess you’re different with them. You act like you hate them, but I can tell you enjoy being around them, too.”

“You can’t tell shit.”

“You smile more around them,” he pointed out, completely ignoring Katsuki’s jabs. “It might look more like a smirk, but I guess you drop your guard around them more. Relax a little.”

He snorted. “I really fuckin’ shouldn’t with the shit that they spew,” he groused.

“I don’t think they mean any harm by it. They just want to laugh with you.”

“Ain’t fun laughing at my fuckin’ self.”

“I liked the stories they told. They made you sound more reachable, more human,” Deku said softly. Something in his voice made him sound almost... fond?

“Embarrassing as shit.”

Deku giggled and flashed that same smile he’d been sending Kirishima, Ashido, and Kaminari that entire night. His stomach flipped, his heart stuttered, and he had to fight back his own smile that threatened to spill onto his lips.

“What’s with you and losing bets?” Deku asked.

The smile that fought to spill over was quickly replaced by a scowl. “I only lost the ones that are set to chance, like which one of the extras would win something or drawing straws. I stopped doing that after-”

“After they made you dye your pubes pink?” Deku asked, his giggles only getting wilder.

Once again, Katsuki’s stomach flipped and his heart stuttered. There was just something so... Exhilarating about his laughter and smiles. Finally, they were being directed at him and only him. He didn’t care that Deku was technically making fun of him, not if he could hear that laughter.

“Yeah. Shut up,” he said with no real heat behind it. He hoped that from across the room, Deku couldn’t see the blush that spread onto his features. “Turn off the lights and go the fuck to bed, nerd.”

“Okay, Kacchan,” he said. A pause. “How long did it last?”

“Deku, ” he growled.

“I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” the nerd said, even though he definitely knew he wasn’t fucking joking.

Deku got up, and the lights were turned off. He heard the greenette shuffle back to bed, and after a few moments, his gentle voice rang through the night.

“I’m taking out my hearing aids,” he announced softly as he did most nights. There was a pause, and then, “Goodnight, Kacchan.”

And for the first time they started rooming together, Katsuki responded to the nerd.

“...‘Night, Deku.”

Katsuki

The sharp jab of a finger into his sternum was his first introduction to one of Deku’s apparent best friends, Round Cheeks. Her actual name started with a U, he thought. Deku had mentioned it to him when he’d pointed her out across the room not an hour before, but he’d already forgotten it. He was shit with names. So, when she’d approached, he’d settled on calling her Round Cheeks when she approached him.

It had apparently rubbed her the wrong way quite immediately.

He stared down at the brunette, his eyes narrowed with irritation. “What the fuck?”

“I should be saying the same thing to you, you know,” she said with a huff. It only made her already chipmunk-like features more pronounced.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“If you don’t know a person’s name, typically you ask them before giving them a rude nickname,” she hissed.

Katsuki rolled his eyes.

He didn’t know how he always got roped into this shit, but considering his extras, it never failed. But this time, it was fuckin’ worse. Somehow, he’d gotten dragged by Deku over to Kirishima’s for a Friday night game night. Not only were his shitty extras there, but so were Deku’s shitty extras. With Round Cheeks included, there were four total additional extras. One he’d dubbed Four-Eyes for the glasses he was constantly pushing up his nose, and another other he’d dubbed Half and Half for his bi-colored hair. The last one was a tall, burly guy he’d dubbed baldie because of his close cropped hair. So far, he’d been left alone by pretty much everyone.

“I know your name. The shitty nerd told me your name earlier,” he said. “I just fuckin’ forgot it.”

She snorted. “You must not have been listening, then.”

“I just fuckin’ told you, I know your name. You’re the one who’s not fuckin’ listening.”

“There’s a difference between hearing something and listening, Bakugou ,” she said.

The way she used his name so pointedly rubbed him wrong, but he didn’t say anything, instead favoring a sip of his beer. She took his silence as permission to continue.

“And another thing. Stop calling him Deku ,” she said, jabbing her finger into his sternum once more. “What kind of person calls someone else useless ? His name is Izuku .”

Katsuki batted away Round Cheeks’ hand with his own, a sneer coming to his lips. “If he didn’t like it, he would have told me already, Round Cheeks,” he said, his tone coming up short. “Mother fucker has enough sass in him to last a lifetime. I’m sure he’s fine.”

“Stop calling me that! My name is Ochako,” she said. She took in a deep breath in some attempt to assuage her oncoming anger. “Okay. Look. I want to like you, I really do. For Izu’s sake because as much as you irritate him, he genuinely enjoys your company.”

Katsuki had to school his features in a mask of disinterest to hide his surprise. Deku enjoyed his company? He figured freckles tolerated him at best. He didn’t think he’d actually enjoy being around him. The thought made his skin heat up, but with the dim lights in the apartment, he hoped that Round Cheeks - er - Ochako didn’t notice.

“This is my formal threat, Bakugou. You hurt Izu, and I’ll hurt you,” she said, her voice unwavering and serious. “Got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he said, shooing her away. “I won’t hurt fuckin’ freckles. Leave me alone, would ya?”

“Fine, but I’m watching you,” she said. And as she walked away, she did that cliché ‘I’m watching you’ hand motion. Fucking crazy chick.

Katsuki got maybe all of ten minutes to himself. He managed to snag a spot on Kirishima’s couch to enjoy his beer. He was just about to kick up his feet and enjoy watching Kaminari lose at Mario Kart for the umpteenth time that night when Deku’s loud voice rang through the room.

“Oooh! I love this game!” he shouted, excitement filling his words.

Katsuki looked over at Deku, his eyes zeroing in on the object in his hands. He was holding a wooden box with the words The Game of Things printed across it. Immediately, a groan fell from his lips. Not that game. Shitty hair had bought it the year before and had immediately tried to make them all play. Katsuki had only played once or twice, deciding he really didn’t like it at all. The extras always picked the stupidest shit for him to read because it was apparently funny . He didn’t find anything funny about reading the raunchy shit they wrote. He’d sworn high and low that he’d never play that mother fucking game again.

But low and fucking below, he was seated on the floor around the coffee table along with the rest of the shitty extras. And of course they wanted him to read first. It only took Deku batting his pretty fucking green eyes at him to get him to grumble in surrender.

“What the fuck ever, extras. Listen up cause I’m not repeating this more than once,” he said before he cleared his throat to read the card aloud. “ Things you would like to add to the Ten Commandments. ”

Everyone at the table took a few minutes to scribble their responses on their provided slips of paper, including Katsuki. He’d written something simple and misleading. Something that wouldn’t give him away because this was a game. And he had to win at everything.

He wrote thou shalt not disgrace All Might in his messy scrawl.

Soon enough, the extras handed over their slips of paper, and each one Katsuki read to himself, he cringed. These fuckin’ extras... After he’d gotten about half, he’d completely stopped reading, opting to suffer through their answers only once when he read them. Once he had them all, he listed out all ten to the group while mixing his own commentary in, too.

Thou shalt party all day, everyday. -Kirishima

(“You extra better not drag me into that shit. I have priorities.”)

Thou shalt not disgrace All Might. -Katsuki

(“Fuckin’ nerdy ass shit.”)

Thou shalt not add any new commandments to the Ten Commandments. -Iida

(“Fuckin’ lame as shit.”)

Thou shalt not wear jorts. -Jirou

(“Who the fuck would wanna wear those fuckin’ ugly things anyway?”)

Thou shalt not call Bakugou anything other than Bakugou. -

(“Damn straight, fuckin’ extras.”)

Thou shalt learn to twerk. -Mina

(“You extra can stay the fuck away from me with that one.”)

Thou shalt punch Mineta Minoru each time he acts like a womanizer. -Todoroki

Which achieved several shouts of approval from the ladies in the group.

Thou shalt never skip a leg day.

(“Fuck leg day.”)

Thou shalt make the electric slide the National song for every country in the world -Kaminari

(“I’m not dancing, mother fuckers.”)

Everything was actually fine. It was all pretty damn tame compared to the shit the extras usually gave him. That is. Until he got to the last one. He read it once to himself, and immediately his face went red. His eyes flew up to the table, looking at all of the extras around him. Those mother fuckers. He didn’t know any of their handwriting, so he didn’t know who the fuck wrote it. But they were literally going to be the ones to murder him, and he didn’t want any of them fuckin’ showing up at his funeral.

Katsuki swallowed before he read, “ Thou shalt not have a better ass than Midoriya. ”

A loud squeak came from the greenette at the table. “Guys!”

“I didn’t write it, man, but can I say. Goddamn. It’s for sure the truth,” Kirishima said. “Midoriya has an ass and legs for days.”

“ Hell yeah!” Ashido said. “Can’t miss a leg day if you have an ass like that.”

“Okay, Pinky, what the fuck? That’s disgusting,” Katsuki roared. “No one wants to hear about Deku’s fucking ass!”

“No, but you wanna tap it,” Kaminari muttered under his breath. But not quite far enough under his breath for the entire group not to hear.

Silence rang through before a few tentative cracks of laughter erupted. And then it overwhelmed everyone except a very mortified Deku and an absolutely livid Katsuki.

Before he could stop himself, he was launching himself at Kaminari, grabbing a fistful of his hair. The idiot shrieked, but it was a mix of laughter.

“DON’T SAY FUCKIN’ SHIT THAT’S NOT TRUE, MOTHER FUCKER!” Katsuki roared. He really hoped the anger on his face masked the raging blush that had started.

“It hurts so much but it was worth it!” Kaminari shouted as he grabbed onto Katsuki’s wrists in some half-assed attempt to pull the enraged blond off of him. “Eiji! Mina! Save me! Shit! Kat let go of my hair! You’re gonna hurt it! ”

It took Shitty Hair, Baldie, and Four eyes to wrestle him away from Kaminari, but by then, the damage had been done. Deku wouldn’t even look him in the eye. His freckled face was red like a tomato, and he’d completely shut down.

Why the fuck did they think that it was okay to say shit about Deku’s ass in front of everyone. And why the fuck did they have to drag him into it and put his business on blast? That shit wasn’t any of their business. Of course, he agreed that Deku’s ass was literal sin, but he wasn’t going to announce that out loud for the nerd to hear . And he certainly didn’t need Kaminari spewing bullshit that he wasn’t sure was true - even though it totally was. But he couldn’t let any of these fuckin’ extras know that. Hell, he didn’t want anyone else commenting on that ass, either. He couldn’t help but feel the need to protect both Deku and his assets from these fuckin’ vultures.

Four Eyes managed to get the group back on track after admonishing them like a bunch of fuckin’ kindergarteners. It was awkward at first, but the group finally got to deciding who wrote what. Everyone immediately guessed that Deku had written the All Might commandment, which was exactly what he’d wanted. 

“The All Might one has to be Izu,” Ochako said.

“Nope!” Deku replied.

Next up was Kaminari. “Are you sure the All Might one isn’t yours, Midoriya? Dude’s literally obsessed with the guy.”

And for some reason, everyone assumed that the commandment about Deku’s ass was his doing. Where the fuck did they get that idea from? Half of these fuckin’ extra didn’t know that he was gay. They didn’t know he’d had a particular hard-on for Deku’s ass most of the semester. Did they just assume it was his because they were roommates. Fuckin’ shitty, useless extras.

It ended up being Round Cheeks’ answer. When she was finally guessed, she sent a devilish look at both him and Deku. The greenette only buried his head in his arms on the table.

What a fuckin’ hellspawn of a woman.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Izuku

Izuku had always been intrigued by sleep. Not necessarily the idea that most living things needed to sleep. That was just a fact of life. A nuance in nature. He was more intrigued by how sleep crept up on people. He never knew when it was coming. Izuku had come to the realization that it took you whenever it wanted. It pulled you under in the gentlest ways. It snuck up on you without warning, even if you wanted it or not. And it always seemed to happen to him when he was lost in his thoughts at the end of a long day.

This time, he hadn’t been trying to sleep. He’d actually been trying to stay awake to finish a sketch that had been particularly difficult for him. And wham! It happened. Sleep assaulted all of his senses, rendering them useless.

He’d expected to wake up with a stiff neck and back with his sketchbook crumpled beneath him and his ears sore from wearing his hearing aids for so long.

But he hadn’t.

Actually, the exact opposite had happened.

He opened his eyes, only to be assaulted by the bright lights of the dorm room. He’d never gotten the chance to get up and shut them off. He shut his eyes again immediately and instead stretched his limbs just a little bit. He was surprised that he didn’t feel the mess of pencils around him or even his sketchbook. Instead, he found his blanket draped over his frame and his head laying on his pillow. He was laying down.

He also couldn’t hear his music that was playing in his dorm. On second thought, he couldn’t hear anything at all. He thought at first they might have died, but then again, he didn’t feel their familiar weight in his ears. When he reached his fingers to touch them, he found that they weren’t there at all.

A slight hum fell from his lips. He was so comfortable... He didn’t even care about the strangeness of it all.

He slitted his eyes open again, letting them wander around the room. He actually saw Kacchan walking across, picking up the things that Izuku had dropped. His pencils. His sketchbook. And finally, the blond turned off the lights and climbed into his own bed.

“Mmm.. Goodnight, Kacchan,” he hummed almost inaudibly.

If Katsuki heard him or even responded Izuku wouldn’t have known. Sleep had pulled him back under, making the whole ordeal feel like some sort of lucid dream.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

A steady burn had worked its way into Izuku’s lungs. His legs, which were built for this, were on fire. A steady stream of sweat poured down his body. Crap. He was really out of shape. He couldn’t believe he’d let himself get this out of shape. Before the semester started, he ran every afternoon. These days, he was lucky if the idea of exercise crossed his mind. He was just so swamped with projects that he couldn’t spare it the time.

Apparently the stress pheromones he’s been exuding had been too toxic for Kacchan, though, because as soon as he’d woken up for his own run that Saturday morning to see Izuku slumped over his sketchbook at his desk, he’d ordered him to get dressed in something suitable for running.

“And put something on that is sturdier than those shitty red sneakers you always wear, nerd!” Katsuki has ordered.

They were only halfway done with Kacchan’s mile and a half loop, and Izuku wanted to keel over and die. Everything about this run was radiating pain and misery and pain. Did he mention pain?

“K-Kacchan!” Izuku wheezed. He found himself doubled over, his hands on his knees as he tried to get air into his lungs without the added burn. “I need a break!”

The blond halted his run and turned to face Izuku. The guy had hardly broken a sweat compared to the buckets Izuku was sweating. God, he was out of shape. On top of that, Katsuki had gotten a good twenty feet ahead of him just ten minutes into the run, and had stayed that way through most of it. Now, he stared back at Izuku with a look filled with both irritation and exasperation. From the corner of his eye, the greenette saw the blond make his way back.

When he was within Izuku’s range of hearing, he said, “What the fuck, Deku? Can’t even keep up?”

He looked up at the blond gremlin, a pout forming on his lips. “Don’t be mean, Kacchan!” he whined. His voice wasn’t very strong, especially considering how much fire radiated in his lung. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a good run!”

“Fuck, it seems like it’s been a while since you’ve worked out period and, that’s cause you sit on your fuckin’ ass all goddamn day watching cartoons,” he snapped. “You’re fuckin’ lazy.”

Izuku rolled his eyes. “No, I just have different priorities,” he said. “Which might include watching cartoons and eating junk food.”

“Yeah, and you wonder why you’re gaining fuckin’ weight, Deku,” Katsuki stated.

“I am not!” he argued.

“Uh huh, and I’m not a fuckin’ bomb ass mother fuckin’ cook,” he said.

Izuku couldn’t argue with that one. On more than one occasion, Katsuki had brought home the various foods he’d made from his classes. On the rare occasion that his roommate was feeling particularly generous, he allowed Izuku to sample the food. And holy crap, it was amazing. A heckuva lot better that the microwavable ramen that he’d survived most of the semester off of. But instead of acknowledging that fact, Izuku avoided it completely.

“You know, I’ve never met someone who can incorporate ‘fuck’ into a sentence more than you can,” Izuku said.

He managed to stand up straight as his breaths became less labored. He used his forearm to brush his sweaty curls from his face and swipe the sweat from his brow.

“That’s cause you’ve never met anyone so fuckin’ badass and awesome as me,” the blond said.

“Uh huh. Sure, Kacchan,” he replied. “I don’t know how you do this everyday. I’m spent .”

“Like I said, shitty nerd, you’re gaining weight and you’re lazy,” Katsuki said.

Like the gremlin he was, Katsuki leaned in and flicked Izuku smack in the middle of his forehead, earning a glare from the shorter man. He rubbed the spot morosely, his lower lip jutting out. He earned a smirk from the blond.

“I’m not! I used to run track and cross country in community college,” he protested.

“Key words, Deku. Used to . You get to Yueii and you get lazy,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Can’t be helped. You’re just gonna get fat in your life as an artist.”

“I will not! ” Izuku whined. “My stamina has just taken a hit. I could still beat you in a sprint if I really wanted to.”

Katsuki gave him a sarcastic nod of his head. “Uh huh. Sure, Deku,” he said, using Izuku’s own words from before against him.

Izuku snorted. He doubted he could get Katsuki to go along with him unless he... A mischievous smile curled onto the greenette’s lips, which he quickly masked with happiness and straight ass-kissing.

“Well, Kacchan, I know you’re obviously the best at what you do, whether it comes cooking or athletics,” Izuku said, which earned him a proud and cocksure smirk from Katsuki. “But why don’t you humor me with a bet?”

A brief look of surprise crossed the blond’s features. His brows shot up past the fringe of his bangs, which hung loose against his forehead from sweat.

“What kinda bet, nerd?” he asked skeptically.

Kacchan was probably smart to be cautious. He knew that Izuku knew about his less than favorable track records with bets. Granted, those losses had been due to something out of his control - chance - but Izuku wasn’t going to pass up the chance to take advantage of it. He knew he was out of shape, but he’d give it his all. As it was in the Yueii University motto, he’d go Plus Ultra .

And if Izuku could win this bet, then maybe he could get Katsuki to play truth or dare with him. He had plenty of questions that he was just itching to ask. Like. What his sexual preference was. If he had any crushes on people. His honest opinion of Izuku. Okay, maybe he was pining really hard. He’d grown to like Kacchan a lot over the course of the semester. He had this really abrasive side, but Izuku had quickly learned that he didn’t always mean what he said. He was just bad at getting his feelings across. So, maybe if he won, he could get to the heart of some of those things that Katsuki kept all to himself.

“I’m going to run to that tree,” he said pointing to a tree that was halfway across the park that their running loop bordered. “You’re going to give me a three second headstart. I want you to try and catch me. If I can make it to the tree, I win. If you catch me, you win. Sound easy enough?”

Katsuki glared at him for a moment or two, obviously contemplating whether or not he should accept. The pros were seemingly outweighing the cons.

“What does the winner get?” he asked.

Izuku shrugged. “Whatever they want, obviously barring anything illegal, sexual, or would otherwise get us expelled from the University.”

Katsuki averted his eyes away at the word sexual , and Izuku would have missed it completely if the blond’s exerted face didn’t turn an even deeper shade of red than it already was from their exercise. Kacchan very obviously got flustered by sexual talk. That much was obviously from the game night just last week.

“Can it be cashed in at any time?” he finally settled on.

“Yeah! Of course,” Izuku replied. He held out his hand. “Do we have a bet?”

“We have a bet,” Katsuki conceded, taking Izuku’s hand in his own to shake on the terms and conditions.

“Alright. I get a three seconds head start,” Izuku said as he shook out his limbs.

“Time to go rabbit hunting,” he heard the blond said, stretching out his own appendages.

Heat pooled across Izuku’s face. Now was not the time to get flustered! But he couldn’t help it when Katsuki called him a bunny. Not that he’d said it in any way that was endearing. He was actually being a little dark about it.

Izuku shook his head and immediately bolted. His lungs weren’t protesting as hard this time as he took off into a full sprint toward the tree he’d pointed out earlier, but the dull ache was still there and steadily building. He only had to make it to the tree. He could do this. He could get away from Katsuki.

But one glance behind him really drove home the fact that he needed to get back in shape. He’d been at least fifteen feet ahead of Katsuki when his three seconds dwindled down, but the blond was quickly gaining. The quick glanced back showed his features schooled into a mask of both determination and competitiveness.

And before he knew what was happening, Izuku was being tackled to the ground. His back collided with the grass, knocking all of the air from his lungs. He wheezed where he lay, his eyes staring up at the sky. The branches of the very tree he was supposed to touch swayed in the gentle breeze of the warm day, mocking him. He’d been so damn close, but Katsuki had managed to catch him. Speaking of the blond. He was on top of Izuku, straddling his hips with his knees. His hands were on either side of Izuku’s head. Katsuki’s chest heaved up and down from the exertion of the sprint. His breaths were coming out fast and staggered.

And the press of Kacchan’s hips. God . That little bit of pressure sent a wave of heat toward his abdomen. Crap . That was the last thing that he needed - for Kacchan to realize the chub he’d suddenly begun to sport. The blond did nothing to make matters better, either. Not that he would want to. Izuku swore that Katsuki made it his mission to make his life a helluva lot harder.

Kacchan flashed him a devilish grin that made the greenette’s heart stutter in his chest and his head feel woozy.

Katsuki leaned in close to Izuku. He could feel his warm breath grazing the outer shell of his ear. He could almost feel his lips against his skin, but he was just a hair's breadth away.

“Looks like I’ve caught the bunny,” he said softly. Softer than he’d ever heard Kacchan speak, and, god, did it make his head spin.

And then he was gone, pushing away from the ground. He left Izuku feeling a torrent of emotions. Confusion. Attraction. Irritation. Desire. God, what was Katsuki doing to him? He was generally bad at keeping his emotions in check, off of his features where they could so easily be read. But the blond gremlin that was stretching out his limbs in front of him had taken all of the practice he’d done with schooling his emotions over the years and stomped it straight into the dirt. He forced Izuku to wear them proudly on his sleeve despite not wanting them there.

And worst of all, he couldn’t be sure if the flush on his cheeks or the pounding of his heart was from the run or from the compromising position Katsuki had pinned him in. If it was the former, he had plans to get back on a normal workout routine as soon as possible. If it was the latter... Well, he’d just have to hope it would happen again.

Izuku

Izuku was late to the game when it came to college parties. Seeing how he’d spent the first two years of his higher education at a community college, there weren’t as many opportunities to go out. And considering how tame his friend group was - barring Ochako when she had a few drinks in her - there were few parties they had the desire to go to. Well. That, and it wasn’t often that Izuku actually got invited out.

They’d just finished midterms, too. He needed to unwind after cramming to get all of his portfolio pieces in because as always, he’d procrastinated on getting them done until the last minute.So, when Katsuki begrudgingly told him that there was a house party in the neighborhood that he’d been invited to, Izuku had begged him to go.

“Not dressed like that, shitty nerd,” Katsuki said, giving Izuku a quick once over.

He looked down at his own clothes. He was in sweats and a graphic tee. He didn’t think he looked that bad, but apparently Katsuki thought differently.

“What’s wrong with this? It’s comfortable,” he asked.

“You look like you’re about to work out. How the fuck does that say you’re going to a party, fuckin’ Deku?”

The greenette could only shrug. He preferred comfort over fashion. “Uh? I’ll be comfortable dancing?” he supplied.

Katsuki rolled his eyes before he pushed past Izuku. He watched as his roommate threw open his closet and started digging through. Izuku grabbed the few articles of clothing that Kacchan threw his way, looking at them with intrigue. Sure, these were all his clothes, but these were articles he never usually wore. Things that Ochako had gotten him for his birthday the year before and had tried on once  to simply appease her.

“Are all the shoes you own red sneakers?” Katsuki groused as he looked over the four pairs that Izuku had brought to Yueii with him.

“Uh. No. I have snow boots, but they’re back home. I didn’t need them since it was summer,” he said.

“We’re the same size. You’re lucky I run small. You can borrow something of mine so long as you don’t fuck it up.”

“That’s so nice!” Izuku said excitedly. “Thank you Kacchan!”

Katsuki scowled in response. “Go change. No fuckin’ arguments.”

After placing the shoes by the door of the dorm, Izuku nodded and padded out of the room. Just as he walked out, he caught a glimpse of Katsuki digging through his own closet. He changed in the bathroom. Kacchan had given him a pair of ripped dark blue jeans that Ochako had bought for him because they were ‘sinfully tight’ . God, did she mean it. He could hardly get them up his ass and buttoned. He felt like a sausage, but when he looked in the bathroom mirror, he had to admit they did make his ass look nice.

Maybe nice enough for Kacchan to want , he thought before giving himself a horrified look. He couldn’t think like that, especially if there was going to be alcohol around. He still was having issues with forcing the thoughts of Kacchan’s bunny hunt from his head. He didn’t need anything else traitorous to invade his mind.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, he pulled off his graphic tee and tugged the plain, white v-neck over his head. That, too, was tight on him. It pulled against his chest, accentuating the muscles of his upper body. Finally, he pulled the thin, medium-length, forest green cardigan over his arms. It was cozy enough for the night time while not being too warm for the late spring weather. He gave a quick glance in the mirror. Hmm. He had to admit, he looked pretty decent. It was better than his paint covered artist clothes or his graphic t-shirts. Something about his current appearance screamed starving artist , but he didn’t mind. He figured he’d have a lot of those days in his future anyhow. He still looked good and in these jeans, maybe even borderline attractive.

Had Kacchan picked this because... NOPE! He was not going there. Not tonight. Not when they were going to a party together. He couldn’t afford to sport a chub all night, god forbid a straight hard on.

After he was fully dressed and he’d forced all unwanted thoughts from his mind, he made some attempt to tame his curls. He could probably use a haircut. They were getting so thick and full. Maybe an undercut? Ochako had suggested it to him before. It would look good, wouldn’t it? It might help him with the frizz monster on the top of his head. It would make it all so much easier to tame... He really just needed to find the time to get off campus to go get it done. If he cut out his All Might: the Animated Series binge the next Monday afternoon, he could squeeze it in. Or. If he got up early enough, that could help do. Maybe Kacchan would like it if it was less of a mess, too. He always complained that his hair got everywhere, especially in the shower drain. It would help with the whole dying process, too. Come to think of it, he was due-

“Why am I not fucking surprised?” Katsuki asked, his voice bouncing around him because of the acoustics of the bathroom. 

The greenette jumped, his eyes landing on the reflection of Katsuki in the mirror.

“You’ve been in here for a solid ten fuckin’ minutes. I was wondering how long it takes for one shitty need to change,” he said. “But instead, I come to find you muttering to yourself again.”

Izuku gave a bashful smile. “Sorry, Kacchan. You know how it goes.”

“Whatever,” he said. “I thought I told you to stop apologizing all the fuckin’ time.”

“Right.”

Jump scares aside, Izuku took a moment to fully take in Katsuki’s appearance. He seemed a lot more relaxed than Izuku felt. He wore ripped black jeans and a simple grey v-neck. He also wore a black and grey flannel with the sleeves rolled to his elbows. On his head, he had a black beanie. He was so casual, but he was still so mouthwateringly attractive.

“You look-” Izuku paused. All of the compliments he wanted to give Katsuki rested on the tip of his tongue. He could easily just spill them right then and there. But risking whatever semblance of a relationship he’d built with the guy thus far wasn’t worth it. So, instead, he settled with, “You look great, Kacchan.”

It still earned him one of those rare and attractive blushes that the blond desperately tried to hide. He never seemed to take compliments well, but it only made Izuku want to give him more. If it meant that he could see the little blush and the smile he tried to force out of sight, then he’d do it a thousand times over.

“Whatever, shitty nerd,” he said. And then a pause. “I guess you look passable.”

Izuku beamed, the corners of his eyes crinkling with his smile. “Thanks, Kacchan!”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Izuku lost Kacchan in the sea of people only forty-five minutes into the party. One second he was there, and the next, he was gone. It didn’t exactly help that Izuku couldn’t hear a thing. Parties were not his forte. The music was loud. Too loud. Loud enough to where his hearing aids still picked it up even on their lowest volume setting. He still found that the pounding bass and lyrics gave him a headache. He ended up ripping them out of his ears completely in frustration and stuffing them into his front pocket. In hindsight, that was probably his first mistake of the evening.

Izuku weaved his way through the sea of sweaty bodies, his hand clenched around a red cup with a mixed drink sloshing around inside. This was his second drink, something Kacchan had given him earlier. He wasn’t exactly sure what it was. He thought the blond had said something along the lines cranberry juice and vodka? It definitely had that cranberry flavor. Well, whatever it was, it was sweet enough for him without being too overpowering.

The greenette didn’t drink much. He knew from his twentieth birthday with his friends that he was a lightweight. He’d gotten through all of four bottles of beer before he’d been too drunk to stand upright. Ochako, the next morning, had said he’d puked in the bathroom and then passed out in the tub. Definitely not one of his proudest moments. Usually, he didn’t drink much at all simply because of that one occasion, but the party had his nerves running high. The drinking did so much to assuage those nerves.

He was close to the bottom of this second drink, and he was definitely feeling it. His chest felt light. He didn’t have the clench of anxiety in his stomach. He was smiling as he danced with random students throughout the room. Some of them tried talking to him, but he’d gestured to his ears and signed something simple to let them know. They didn’t seem to mind. They just kept dancing.

Now, Izuku was by no means a good dancer. He had no sense of rhythm. He could sway his hips to a beat, but beyond that, he was awful. After he’d met Ashido, she’d made some attempts to teach him to dance, but they’d all failed miserably. And by dancing, he meant she tried to teach him to twerk. Still, what she’d taught him wasn’t completely useless. She’s helped him to feel the beat as opposed to listening to it. Even though he was completely devoid of all sound right now, he could still feel the bass thrumming through the air. He could feel the energy coming off of everyone around him, and it helped him develop his own song in his head to dance to. The combination of it all kept his mood and spirits high.

That. And every time he was sure his cup was empty, he found that it was full again. It was likely that new ones had just kept getting shoved into his hand without him really noticing. It was always the same drink, though, so he didn’t mind.

Izuku lost track of the number of people he’d danced with. His body had been pressed close against so many others. Each person brought with them another way to dance. Another beat to fall into. He was having the time of his life. Laughing. Dancing to the beat of his own drum.

After what was probably his third or fourth drink, though, Izuku was starting to feel it. His happy buzz had turned into pure drunkenness. His urge to pee had become unreal. He stumbled away from the mass of swaying bodies, steadying himself with the edge of the drink table. He set down his half empty cup, a giggle escaping his lips. It would probably be smart if he found a bathroom.

But he had no idea where to start. He looked around, completely lost. It was dark in the house, which didn’t help. He couldn’t see past the sea of bodies. He had to look just as lost as he felt because a hand fell on his shoulder, warm and heavy. He turned to face the owner, hoping it was Kacchan. The smile that was on his features fell as soon as he saw that it wasn’t.

The man that had caught his attention was at least a head taller than him. He had dark, curling black hair and grey eyes. His new nickname was Grey Eyes until otherwise noted. He offered Izuku a smile before he started talking. And it all fell on deaf ears, pun intended. It was too dark. He couldn’t read his lips, especially with how fast he spoke. So, instead, he stayed quiet and still, like a deer caught in headlights. Izuku knew Grey Eyes was confused by the way he furrowed his brows and tilted his head when Izuku didn’t acknowledge anything of what he said. It took him a moment to kick into action. Right. Strangers never knew he couldn’t hear them.

The greenette blinked his big, doeish once, twice, three times before signing very slowly, “ I’m deaf. ”

That only seemed to confuse Grey Eyes even more. Izuku rolled his head and stood on the tips of his toes. He grabbed the back of the guy’s neck, bringing his lips close enough to the other’s ear to where he was sure he’d be able to hear him. He could feel his vocal cords move as he spoke very slowly in order to articulate what he needed to say properly.

“I’m deaf. I can’t hear a word you’re saying,” he said to the guy.

When he stepped back, realization dawned on his features. He nodded. He fished his phone out of his pocket and quickly typed out a message for the greenette. Once complete, he turned the device to face Izuku.

It read, You look lost.

Izuku nodded to him, and once again brought himself closer to Grey Eyes.

“I’m drunk, and I have no idea where the bathroom is,” he replied sheepishly.

The other male’s eyes lit up, and he gestured for Izuku to follow him. Izuku only made it one step before he was nearly falling. Yeah. He didn’t feel so good. He was probably going to hurl if he didn’t sit down soon. Grey Eyes looked back at him and made a quick move to wrap an arm around Izuku’s waist to help steady him. He shot the taller man a grateful smile which was reciprocated with a reassuring one by the other man. Yeah. He was going to need the help. He shouldn’t have drank so much, but it tasted so good. Grey Eyes led him to a flight of stairs that led up. He couldn’t even attempt them. He gripped the railing tightly, swaying where he stood. Black spots had begun to appear at the corners of his vision.

“I-I’m not gonna make it up,” he said to Grey Eyes. “I think I’m gonna-”

The world was spinning around him, and before he knew it, he was falling. Before he hit the ground, however, sturdy arms caught him. Grey Eyes looked down at him, and he saw his lips move, but he couldn’t make out what he was saying. He just nodded along. Grey Eyes slid one arm beneath his knees and the other around his upper body. He carried him up the stairs and down a hall. Izuku wasn’t familiar with the house, so he had no idea where they were going. He hoped it was a bathroom. Maybe if he puked, the world would stop spinning.

Grey Eyes brought him into a dark room and shut the door behind them. Before he knew it, Izuku was being laid down on a soft surface. He let his hands roam across the surface. It definitely wasn’t a bath mat. It felt softer, larger. More like a bed? Izuku lifted his head from the mattress and stared at Grey Eyes. The smile that was reassuring before had changed.

Into something predatory and dangerous.

Something icy washed over Izuku. The sudden urge to flee. He needed to get out now.

“I think I’m just gonna go find a bathroom,” he said despite not being able to hear whatever was being said back to him.

As soon as he moved to get up, the dizziness returned. The world spun all around him, and his vision was blurry. His head hurt. Everything hurt. And before Izuku knew it, blackness blanketed him like an old friend.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Katsuki

“Oi! Mother fucker! Have you seen a nerd with curly green hair and freckles literally all over the fucking place?”

An irritated plain-faced girl that he didn’t give a fuck about finding the name of gave him a shake of her head before flipping him off. Katsuki returned the gesture before pushing deeper into the throng of people that filled the house. None of them, as far as he could tell, were Deku. He had no idea where the stupid fuckin’ nerd went. Katsuki had told him to wait on the couch so he could go get him a bottle of water because that second drink was gonna get him way more drunk than he needed the nerd to be. When he’d returned to the couch, the nerd was nowhere to be found. No outside. Not in any of the bathrooms. The dance floor was his only option, but it was so crowded with people that he hadn’t made it very far into his search before he had to go back outside to catch a breath of fresh air. The smell of sweat and shitty booze had been too much for him.

Katsuki gave a groan of frustration as he stomped back outside. Maybe Deku had gone out there finally. Not that the blond hadn’t checked there four times already. Maybe, just maybe. It didn’t help that the nerd had taken his hearing aids out as soon as they got there. He was entirely deaf. He wouldn’t be able to hear Katsuki’s shouts. Fuck. He couldn’t even hear the music. Fat fuckin’ chance he’d hear anything he-

Another, louder groan burst from within him. Deku had taken out his shitty fuckin’ hearing aids as soon as they’d gotten to the party. He probably didn’t even hear him when he’d announced that he was going to get them drinks. He let his head fall into his hands. Yeah. He’d fucked that up pretty damn good. The nerd probably thought he’d ditched him and walked his happy ass home.

This is why Katsuki usually didn’t go to parties without the extras. Believe it or not, he did care about those dumbasses, and having the additional eyes on the floor made it easier in case one of them got separated from the group. But he didn’t want to bring the extras with them. He’d just wanted it to be him and Deku. Well, that fuckin’ backfired.

Katsuki reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He quickly scrolled through his contacts until he found Shitty Hair and in parentheses, Kirishima . He picked up after two rings.

“Hey Bakubro. What’s up?”

“Shitty Hair. I’m at a party and-”

“What?! No invite?” Kirishima lamented. “That’s not manly at all, bro!”

“Shut the fuck up and let me finish,” Katsuki snapped.

“Sorry man.”

“I’m at a party with Deku, and I lost him. I can’t fuckin’ find him anywhere,” he admitted. “And the nerd took out his hearing aids, so not only is he drunk but he’s also one hundred percent deaf.”

“Isn’t he always deaf?” Kirishima asked.

“That’s not the point , Shitty Hair. Focus,” he growled. “I lost Deku, and I haven’t been able to find him for the last forty-five minutes. And by now, he’s probably way past drunk.”

“Kat, are you worried? ”

“ Kirishima! ” Katsuki all about shouted into the microphone.

“Alright! Alright! I get it. It’s serious. Text me the address. I’ll bring Mina and we’ll find him. Don’t worry.”

“I’m already fuckin’ worrying,” he admitted. “What if the dumb fuck decided to walk home?”

“He’s probably just dancing. Keep looking. We’ll be there soon.”

“Fine. Bye.”

Before Kirishima could respond, Katsuki ended the call. He shot him a quick text with the address before ducking back into the house.

It smelled just the same as the last time he was in there. Boozy and sweaty. Fuckin’ nasty. He stood on his toes to see if he could catch sight of Deku, but the shit lighting and the sea of bodies around him made that impossible.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and glanced at it long enough to see Kirishima stating they’d be there in seven minutes. Considering how far the party was from his and Pinky’s apartment, the pair of them were probably sprinting.

Katsuki was worried. The feeling sat in the pit of his stomach, roiling and making him feel nauseous. And the alcohol wasn’t even a factor. He wasn’t some lightweight like Deku. He could handle his liquor. He’d only had one drink. He was fine. This feeling in his gut was solely because Deku still hadn’t made an appearance after all this time. He had to keep his thoughts positive, but that was so fucking hard. He was worried that Deku was walking home. Or getting into trouble. Or fucking dead. And if anything happened, Katsuki would never forgive himself. It would be his fault if anything happened to the nerd. He was the one who told him about the party. He was the one who told him he could come. He was the one who made sure he was dressed like he was ready to be devoured. Fuck. He needed to find him.

He continued asking people in the crowd, his voice raw with desperation. He normally wouldn’t let himself show such vulnerabilities, but this was Deku. This was more important than his pride.

A hand touched his shoulder and he wheeled around to face the owner. He couldn’t ignore the way his stomach dropped when it wasn’t Deku. Instead, it was the plain looking girl from before.

“You were looking for the green-haired kid, right?”

“Yeah. You seen him?” he asked. He didn’t want to get hopeful, but-

“He just went upstairs-”

Katsuki felt a weight come off of his shoulders.

“With some guy-”

And the weight was dropped straight on his heart. Had Deku gone off to get laid with some random fuck he’d met at a party? He couldn’t help but feel crushed. Angry. Distraught. He was a whole mixture of emotions that he couldn’t exactly explain. Anger triumphed over everything. Fuck Deku. Fuck him for going off to make a stupid, drunk decision like that. Fuck him for-

Plain Girl interrupted his inner ragings. “I don’t know what he looked like when you last saw him, but the guy looked pretty out of it. And the guy he was with, Shindou Yo. Yeah. He’s an asshole. I’d check on your friend if I were you.”

Katsuki’s heard skipped a beat. He picked out the words that mattered from what she’d said. Out of it. Shindou Yo. Asshole. Check on.

Fuck . He needed to get to Deku now .

He could only get out a single, monosyllabic word. “Where?”

Plain girl pointed to the stairs that led to the second floor. He had no idea when he hadn’t checked there before. God, he was so fuckin’ stupid. He made a beeline for the stairs, shoving his way through the sweaty, dancing bodies. He got a couple of shouts from the people, but he’d just roared at them to fuck off before he started up the stairs. He took them two at a time. His heart was pounding. He needed to find him. He was halfway up when he heard his name.

“ Bakugou! ”

Katsuki turned, only to see Kirishima and Ashido standing in the doorway of the house. He fixed them with a horrified look before he darted to the top. He only hoped that they would follow. As Katsuki made his way down the hall, throwing open doors as he went. For the most part, they were empty aside from a few kissing couples. None of them were Deku. There was only one door left, but when Katsuki tried to turn the handle, he found that it was locked.

His blood ran cold. Deku had to be behind that door. He had no doubt about it. Giving not a single fuck about the homeowner or property damage, Katsuki put as much force as he could into kicking the door open. After two heavy, adrenaline fueled hits, it splintered open. And there in the darkness stood a man with dark, curly hair with his pants halfway down his thighs. On the bed in front of him, with his jeans and shoes gone and milky thighs showing brightly in the darkness, was Deku. From what he could tell, he was completely out cold.

Katsuki saw red. Within a matter of seconds, he had this Shindou guy by the collar of his shirt. Katsuki drew back his fist and socked the guy straight in the nose. The guy crumpled to the ground, groaning and clutching his now gushing nose. He refused to pay him any more attention. He’d deal with the fuckin’ scumbag later. His priority was the greenette passed out on the bed.

The blond crossed over to him and gave him a quick once over. A breath of relief flowed out of him when he saw that the nerd’s boxers were completely untouched. They hugged his hips innocently, just as if he were sleeping in the dorm. Katsuki slid his arms beneath the smaller male, lifting him into a princess carry. Just as he lifted him, the lights in the room flipped on. The sudden brightness assaulted his senses, but familiar voices followed soon after. He turned to face his current favorite two extras.

“What the actual fuck?” Ashido asked.

He followed her line of vision to Shindou, who was struggling to get his pants back up with that bloody fuckin’ face of his. Ashido quickly approached the douchebag, pushing him against the wall.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” she hissed.

“Baku. Get him out of here.” Kirishima said. He had Deku’s jeans in his outstretched hand. “We’ll take care of him.

Katsuki took them and swept from the room with Deku in his arms. He was so limp in his arms. Pale and complete, utterly out of it. He just wanted him to open those stupid green eyes of his already.

“C’mon, Izuku,” Kastuki muttered, even though he knew he couldn’t hear him. “Wake up. I need you to wake up.”

He pushed through the crowd with Deku until he’d made it through the front door and into the cool, spring air. He laid him down on the small outdoor couch on the patio. He then tore off his flannel, draping it over the smaller man’s legs to provide him some coverage. After he was certain he’d covered him enough, Katsuki dug through the pockets of his jeans. He found Deku’s hearing aids and what he was really looking for, Deku’s phone.

He guessed the nerd’s password easily. It was the date All Might: the Animated Series first aired. He scrolled through the nerd’s contacts until he found Half-and-Half - er - Todoroki’s number. He hit call. Half-and-Half picked up almost immediately.

“Hello?”

Katuski froze. He hadn’t really decided what he’d do when he made it this far. He just knew that Deku needed a ride, and Todoroki was the only one who had one.

“Izuku?”

He opted for the truth.

“Hey. Todoroki. It’s Bakugou,” he said.

“Bakugou? Where’s Izuku?”

“Something happened to Izuku. I-It’s my fault,” he said, his voice cracking slightly. “I need you to come get us. I’ll explain more when you get here, but please .”

Half-and-Half was quiet for a moment. The silence nearly killed Katsuki. He just needed Deku out of here, somewhere safe, away from prying eyes. 

“I promise I’ll personally plan your death if you hurt him, Bakugou,” Todoroki said. Katsuki nodded to himself more than anything. “Send me the address.”

The call dropped, and Katsuki sighed heavily. And now to wait.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

The car was silent all the way back to Kirishima and Ashido’s apartment. They’d decided it was probably best to head there as opposed to the dorms. It would be a little bit more private. They didn’t need to carry a half-naked, passed out Deku into the dorm building. Half-and-Half hadn’t asked any questions. Hadn’t said a word to any of them as they all piled into the car. Katsuki and Ashido sat in the backseat with Deku laying across their laps.

Katsuki absently threaded his fingers through Deku’s soft curls in a soothing manner. He knew the greenette would probably be dead to the world for another few hours, but he wanted to do whatever he could to make him feel safe. He didn’t care if he was showing his affectionate side to the rest of the extras. He was more worried about Deku.

While he sat there, all of the what-ifs floated through his head. What if he’d never brought Deku to the party? What if he’d kept a better eye on him? What if he’d not found him in time? What if Shindou had actually gone through with it? But what was done was done, and Katsuki couldn’t live in the past or the what-could-have-beens. He needed to focus on the now. On the attempted rape of Deku.

There was no point in getting the cops involved. They wouldn’t do shit to help them. The rape laws in the country were so fucking skewed as it was. It made it damn near impossible for victims to get adequate help. The fact that Deku was male didn’t help matters, either. There was that natural stigma in life that men couldn’t be rape. Fucking load of shit that was. He’d just witnessed an attempt with his own eyes.

No. The cops would only make shit more convoluted and painful for Deku in the long run. So, Katuski would have to help Deku on his own. He’d have to get his friends together and surround the nerd with as much happiness and love and support to get him over this traumatic shit. He’d do his fucking best. Katsuki never half-assed anything in life, and he definitely wouldn’t start with Deku.

When they’d finally made it upstairs, they’d laid Deku down in Kirishima and Ashido’s spare bedroom. Ashido opted to stay with him, assuring that matters would only be worse if the greenette woke up alone. Kirishima worked on making some food. Katsuki and Todoroki sat on the couch in the living room.

It wasn’t until they were finally alone that Todoroki spoke. “What happened?”

Katsuki snorted. Dude didn’t beat around the bush...

“Deku and I went to that party. He took out his hearing aids cause I guess the music fucked with them, so he didn’t hear me when I told him I was gonna get us more drinks,” he said. “When I came back he was gone. It took me damn near an hour to find him.”

“What happened to his pants?”

Katsuki’s mouth went dry. It was easy with Kirishima and Ashido. They’d been there. They knew what had happened. He didn’t need to put it into words for them. But Todoroki didn’t have that information. He came late to the party, both literally and figuratively.

“Some scumbag tried to...” he said. But he couldn’t get the words out.

Todoroki seemed to understand, though. His mismatched eyebrows shot high and his eyes filled with concern. But thankfully, he didn’t ask Katsuki to elaborate. He just stayed quiet.

“I got there just in time to stop the fucker,” he said. He looked down at his knuckles, which were bruised and bloody. “And break the fuckers nose. But it’s my fault any of this happened. I-If I’d just kept my eyes on him...”

Todoroki snorted. “Look, Bakugou, I’m not happy about what happened either, but you can’t blame yourself,” the monotone bastard said. “You were there to protect him when it mattered most, and for that, I’m grateful. I’m sure Ochako, Iida, and Izuku would say the same.”

Katsuki nodded, but that pit of guilt and blame still settled in his stomach.

“Bakubabe!” Ashido called as she came down the hall. “He’s up. He wants to talk to you. I don’t know what he remembers, so don’t drop any bombs on-”

Before she could finish the thought, Katsuki was up, breezing past her to the little bedroom down the hall. He slipped in after knocking twice on the door.

Deku sat in the middle of the bed, the blankets covering his legs. He’d shed his cardigan and replaced his hearing aids in his ears. When he saw Katsuki, he gave the blond a weak smile.

“Hey Kacchan,” he said.

“Hey Deku,” he replied.

“Why are we at Kirishima and Ashido’s?” he asked gently. “What happened to the party? Did I get too drunk? Oh, I probably did. I don’t remember anything. I’m sorry-”

Before Deku could get too deep into his word vomit, Katsuki pressed his hand against his mouth. He didn’t need the nerd thinking too hard.

“Don’t worry about it tonight, Deku,” he said. It was best that they told him when he was surrounded by people he loved. “We can talk tomorrow.”

Katsuki sat down on the foot of the bed, but he couldn’t bring his eyes to meet Deku’s. He felt too guilty to. He deserved better than Katsuki, someone who almost allowed something so terrible to happen.

“Kacchan? What happened to your hand?” Deku asked suddenly, snatching up his battered right hand. The one he’d give a killer right hook to Shindou with.

“Oh. This? I punched something.” More like someone.

“Kacchan!”

“Don’t worry about it. Bruises and cuts heal, Deku,” he said. “They’re just party tattoos. Their colorfulness is just colorful regrets.”

Before knew it, Deku had lifted his battered hand to his lips, pecking a soft, gentle kiss on it. His face turned a bright shade of red that only Deku could make him produce. He snatched his hand back.

“Don’t do shit like that, fuckin’ nerd!” he snapped.

“You know, you’re really cute when you’re bashful, Kacchan,” Deku said.

Katsuki’s brain short circuited. What the fuck. He wasn’t even going to focus on what had made Deku call him what he had. Nope. He was going to focus on the four letter word that had just fallen from Deku’s too pink lips. Cute. He’d called him cute . Now, he would have greatly preferred sexy-gorgeous-awesome-hot, but he’d suffice with cute, especially if it was Deku - no, Izuku - calling him that.

“You’re still plastered, aren’t you?” he asked.

And considering it had only been forty-five minutes since they’d left the party, that was really likely.

“ Nooooo ,” Izuku said. But the pitch in his voice gave him away. That and the smell of stale alcohol that poured from his mouth. All of that weak bashfulness was gone now that the nerd was so outwardly flirting with him.

“Uh-huh. You’re still drunk. Kirishima is making food. I want you to eat and go back to bed, shitty nerd,” Katsuki groused.

“Aweee. Kacchan! You’re being so nice!” Deku exclaimed.

Yep. Still way too fucking drunk. And much to his utter horror, Deku slipped out from under the blankets and made his way toward him. He sat down right next to Katsuki.

“What do you want, nerd?” he asked, turning his face away from Deku to hide that same blush on his cheeks that the greenette always seemed to cause.

“I need to tell you something, Kac-chaaan .” He said Katsuki’s nickname in a sing-song voice that made him absolutely melt.

“What?”

The nerd leaned in close to him so that his warm breath ghosted over Katsuki’s ear. “I like you. I like you a lot .”

Yep. Clearly drunk. There were too many levels of nope going on here. Katsuki stood up quickly, the blush on his cheeks spreading to his ears, neck, every ounce of skin, really. He wanted to die. Not only because Izuku said he liked him, but also because the nerd was drunk and this shit couldn’t be true.

“Alright drunk ass. Get up. Go eat something,” he admonished.

He didn’t miss how Deku’s face fell just a little bit as he got up and left the room as fast as his legs would fucking carry him.

Izuku

Waking up was a mistake. Drinking was a mistake. Getting so drunk that he hardly remembered the night before was a mistake . Izuku had never been so full of regret. The second he opened his eyes, waves of nausea and pain radiated throughout his entire skull. His mouth felt as if it were stuffed with disgusting tasting cotton. His limbs felt leaden. He’d never been hungover before, but he assumed that this was what this was.

A quick look around his surroundings showed that he was not in his dorm. Faintly, he recalled waking up here the night before, amongst other memories. Kirishima had done his best to make them food, and despite Katsuki’s grumblings about it being on the bland side, he knew he appreciated what the redhead had done. It was late by the time they’d finally finished eating. Kirishima had insisted that he and Kacchan spend the night. Izuku had taken the bed, and Kacchan, despite Izuku’s insistence that it wasn’t weird for two friends to share a bed when spending the night at a friends house, had set up a futon on the floor.

Izuku glanced over the edge of the bed to look at Katsuki. The blond was still asleep, having gone to be just as late as Izuku. Normally, he was an early rest and early riser. He glanced at the clock on the side table. It was already after ten in the morning. Yeah. Katsuki was sleeping late.

The greenette actually noticed a glance of water and two loose pills on top of a note on the table. Gingerly, he picked up the note, his eyes scanning it quick.

Deku,

Take this shit. It’s for the headache. Trust me. You’ll fuckin’ need it.

Bakugou

Izuku smiled faintly at the note before quickly taking the pills and washing them down with water. Kacchan was so sweet taking care of him and ensuring that his handover wasn’t too terrible. It made his heart do little flips. Laying back against the pillows again, Izuku looked up at the ceiling of the unfamiliar bedroom in Kirishima’s apartment. He had so many gaps in his memories, so many things that he didn’t remember. The last thing he remembered was dancing at the party, and then the next thing he knew, he was waking up here with Ashido sitting beside him. Everything in between was just missing . Kacchan had told him not to ask the night before but had said they would talk today.

He must have done something stupid or embarrassing if Kacchan didn’t want to talk about it the night before. Based on the way he’d all about spilled all of his deep, inner feelings to Katsuki after he’d woken up at Kirishima’s, he could only imagine what he’d done at the party . Knowing him, he’d probably made a complete fool of himself.

He’d told Kacchan that he liked him. And the blond had just gotten up and moved away. Had Izuku read him wrong? Probably. He was too drunk to make adequate decisions. He doubted someone as handsome and confident as Katsuki was bisexual or gay. He’d jumped the gun and ruined everything by admitting that.

Maybe he could fix this. He’d only said he liked Katsuki. He hadn’t specified what kind of like. It could have been a friendship like as opposed to a romantic like. Even though it was cleary a romantic type of like. Maybe he could convince the blond of that fact. He only hoped so.

Otherwise, he had no idea how he was supposed to face Kacchan now.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

They were back at his dorm. Shouto had come to pick them up, bringing with him a pair of Izuku’s sweatpants and his favorite red sneakers. Because somehow, he’d lost those fancy chukka boots Kacchan had lent him the night before. He’d gone on and on apologizing that morning as soon as he’d realized. He really couldn’t have been that drunk that he lost shoes, could he?

But they wouldn’t tell him anything, and that left something unsettling in the pit of Izuku’s stomach. He could understand if they didn’t want to talk about it while he was drunk, but he was fine now, albeit a little more than hungover. He didn’t understand why they wouldn’t just tell him.

His internal, screaming dread only got worse when Katsuki said that Ochako and Tenya were going to be there within a half an hour. He said he was sure Izuku would want them there after their talk. But why would he want them there? How badly did he screw up the night before? It couldn’t be that bad to where he’d need emotional support, could it?

He stared at Ashido and Kirishima, his brows furrowed over his eyes. They wouldn’t look at him. Their features read something along the lines of... Guilt? And Shouto. He had that same passive expression of his, but having known him as long as he had, Izuku knew that there was something hiding behind the quiet exterior. Shouto was nervous. Izuku’s stomach was turning now, and not because he was hungry or anything; Kacchan had made everyone breakfast that morning. He felt a clammy sweat build up on the palms of his hands. His teeth gnawed at his lower lip to the point that he could taste metallic blood on his tongue.

“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” he finally pleaded. “The energy you guys are giving off is making me worried.”

The four of them shifted uncomfortably in front of Izuku. Shouto was the first one to talk.

“Something happened last night, Izuku,” his bi-colored haired friend started.

Izuku rolled his eyes, trying to feign nonchalance. Maybe if he looked like he wasn’t worried or internally screaming or ready to pass out from the nerves, then maybe they’d just tell him already.

“I gathered that much from the way you guys are avoiding looking at me,” he said, a hint of sass in his voice. “Seriously. I’m not fragile. Just tell me.”

“Are you sure...?” Kirishima said. He seemed hesitant, which wasn’t a good sign. The guy was one of the most forward people he knew. Ashido clenched his hand in hers, her lips pursed into a thin line.

“Might as well rip off the bandaid,” Shouto said.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea, man,” Kirishima said. “You weren’t there-”

“Guys. If you don’t tell me-”

“Someone tried to rape you last night, Izuku,” Kacchan’s voice rang out.

It was quiet. Resolute. Completely and utterly sincere. But at the same time, dark, angry. Full of malice and hatred. Izuku couldn’t even marvel at Kacchan’s use of his first name. He was shocked. His jaw dropped.

“What..?” he asked softly.

A cold, intense dread settled over him as a few of his memories from the night before brought themselves to the forefront of his mind. Grey eyes. A saccharine smile that turned predatory. Grey Eyes standing over him. The need to run, but the inability to do so. It all came back in flashes, flashes he didn’t want to remember.

“I lost you last night,” Katsuki said, without looking at him. Instead, he looked at his cut and bruised knuckles. “And when I found you... Needless to say, I had a good reason to break that fucker’s nose.”

Izuku sat there, stunned. He didn’t know how to process the information that had gotten shoved his way.

“What we need to know is if you want to pursue a case against the guy,” Shouto said. “We have three eyewitnesses, so it’s doable-”

The rest of Shouto’s ears fell on deaf ears. Izuku pulled his hearing aids from his ears, effectively silencing everyone. He needed silence. He couldn’t listen to it. He didn’t want to feel their eyes on him, not when he felt so ashamed. He had gotten so drunk that he’d landed himself in such a vulnerable position. He should have been more careful. He shouldn’t have wandered into the party. He shouldn’t have gone at all.

Izuku pulled his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. He buried his face in his knees. Sobs quickly overtook him, tears burning his eyes. He felt so stupid, so ashamed. He felt tainted and disgusting, used and worthless. So many emotions assaulted him all at once, but the worst of them all was loneliness.

He could tell that none of them knew what to do. They danced around him, not daring to say anything for fear of saying the wrong thing. He couldn’t blame them. He was sure if he were put in their shoes, he wouldn’t know what to do either. That only made the loneliness amplify tenfold.

The anxiety from his childhood began to rear its ugly head. He felt his chest constricting. His breaths became more labored. His heart rate sped up. The walls started to close in around him. He couldn’t hear himself sob, but he was sure he sounded absolutely pathetic. He wouldn’t dare to look up at the others in the room for fear of seeing pity in their eyes.

Suddenly, arms wrapped around him, surrounding him in a warmth that attempted to chase away the panic. He lifted his head and with watery eyes, looked at the owner of the arms. Ashido. She hugged him from the side, her fluffy, pink head resting on his shoulder. His eyes shifted from her to the others in the room.

Shouto offered him a small smile, and signed, “I’ll tell the others so you don’t have to.”

He nodded shakily, and after, Shouto left the room, presumably to do as he’d said. He was glad for his friend. Appreciative. He didn’t have the nerve to tell the others. Not yet. He hadn’t yet processed the information himself. There was no way he’d be able to tell anyone. God. What would he tell his mom? Could he even face her? She’d been so worried when he’d decided to come to Yueii. Her worries weren’t unfounded. Already in his first semester, he’d had the unthinkable happen.

Attempted rape.

She’d never let him stay here.

Izuku fought away the thoughts and looked next to Kirishima. The guy seemed at a loss for words. He seemed stuck, but after a few moments of eye contact, his resolve seemed to solidify.

With shaky, amateur gestures, he signed, “We’re all here for you. You’re not alone.”

Izuku nodded, a wave of sobs crashing over him again. They weren’t for himself, for self pity or self loathing. This time they were for them. These were so s that were for the support these people were willing to give him. They were willing to help him through this, to make sure he didn’t crumble.

Last, but not least, Izuku looked over at Kacchan. The blond leaned stiffly against his desk. He wouldn’t look at Izuku. His expression was conflicted as he stared at his hands. He couldn’t understand why Kacchan wouldn’t look at him. He’d been avoiding him since the night before. If Kacchan was the one who’d come to his rescue, then why wouldn’t he look at him? What had he done wrong? What if... What if everything that had happened made Katsuki disgusted with him. When Izuku had approached him, he quickly fled. Now, when Izuku was most vulnerable, he wouldn’t look at him. That had to be it. He was disgusted with Izuku for getting himself into that situation. His anger earlier had been at Izuku for being so stupidly drunk that he’d turned himself into a victim.

All over again, he felt the panic wash over him. He buried his head in his knees again as Ashido squeezed him tight. He felt so numb. Numb and lonely and disgusted with himself. So, he cried. He cried for himself, for the nightmares that he’d surely live through in the aftermath of it all. He cried for his friends because without them, he knew he’d never be able to get past this. And he cried for his friendship with Katsuki which had surely ended before it began.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

It has been over a week since Izuku had had a real conversation with Katsuki. It had been two since he’d told Katsuki he liked him. Or should he start calling him Bakugou, because obviously with the way things were going, they weren’t going to be on a first name basis anymore. Aside from short, gruff responses from the blond, Izuku hadn’t heard anything. It was just the necessary discourse that was required between roommates.

And it was driving him absolutely insane. Izuku was a social person by nature. He was the kind of guy who wanted to be friends with everybody, given that they weren’t absolute pervs who joined the art department for the sake of looking at ‘naked ladies’ . When he got home to his dorm at the end of the day, he didn’t want to sit there in silence. And that’s exactly what Kacc- er Bakugou - wanted to do. His roommate wouldn’t even look at him. He kept his eyes anywhere except on Izuku. And whenever the situation didn’t demand his undivided attention, he had headphones jammed in his ears. He didn’t even want to talk to Izuku. So, he sat in that uncomfortable silence, working on his own school work. He’d done that for all of two days before he decided to spend all of his time with any of his other friends. Anything to get out of the dorm where the silence threatened to eat him alive. As soon as he walked in the door, he changed and left again. It had become almost like clockwork. He hadn’t slept in his own bed in at least three days, opting to sleep on Inasa and Shouto’s spare bed. Seeing how the couple slept in the same bed anyhow, they didn’t mind putting Izuku up if it meant that they could keep an eye on him.

He wouldn’t go back to his quiet dorm. He couldn’t live in silence, as ironic as that was. He’d done it for most of his life, and he didn’t want to do it anymore. No when he had the golden ability to hear because of modern science and medicine. Why would he want to? Sure it had its perks. He could effectively silence any noises he didn’t want to hear with the tips of his fingers. But there were certain sounds he desperately wanted to hear, ones of those sounds being Katsuki’s voice.

As gruff and coarse as it could be, Izuku knew it was filled with raw passion. Katsuki had told him once that he didn’t half-ass anything. So, when he spoke, that carried over. Yeah, sure, sometimes he wasn’t the best at words, but at least when he said anything, he had the strength behind it to back him up. It didn’t matter if he was telling you to ‘get bent, bitch’ or ‘fuck off, shitty nerd’. Katsuki - no, Bakugou - said everything as if he was putting his entire heart and strength into it. But sometimes, he didn’t mean it even with that passion in his voice. Sometimes, he just got too caught up in his passion and said things he didn’t intend to. Izuku understood that, and he was okay with it because he knew Kac- Bakugou wouldn’t do anything to intentionally hurt him. It was one of those nuances of the blond’s behavior that Izuku had picked up just by being around his roommate so often.

But something had changed after that stupid party. The passion in Bakugou’s voice wasn’t there now. It had disappeared. At least it had when he spoke to Izuku. He sounded flat and toneless, and it was driving Izuku insane. And when his voice wasn’t there, and he wasn’t with his friends, that was when he thoughts assaulted him.

He was doing his best to cope with what had happened. He was trying so damn hard, but the whole ordeal had made him so skittish. He was a well-built guy. He was muscular and could definitely handle his own, especially since he was going back to the gym regularly. But he couldn’t help but flinch when someone new got too close to him or touched him without his permission. It just made going about his daily life even harder. To know that he could be rendered that vulnerable... Izuku never wanted to feel that way again.

Sure, he didn’t remember a lot of what happened at that party - which was probably for the best, anyway - but his subconscious mind had provided him with a lot of alternative scenarios that didn’t happen. That was part of the trauma. At least, that’s what his therapist had said. Izuku had been in and out of therapy for most of his teenage years because of the relentless bullying he’d faced in middle school. The woman had certainly come in handy now. She was cities away, but she’d done her best with Izuku and had set up video calls so he could keep his appointments with her. He didn’t know what he’d do without her right now.

He’d talked to her yesterday. They’d talked about the incident . She asked how he was coping. What made him feel so apprehensive. What sort of support network he’d surrounded himself with. She was simply covering all of the bases. He couldn’t remember how they’d gotten onto the topic of Bakugou. But once they got started, it was like a floodgate had opened. He’d told her about the things that had apparently changed. And she’d asked him if he’d tried talking to his roommate. Izuku hadn’t. Bakugou wasn’t the talking type. It just didn’t work like that between them.

But his therapist had insisted that he at least consider it. She didn’t push too much for fear that he wasn’t ready. But she’d told him to consider. That, and she’d told him he should probably talk to his mother.

He still hadn’t told her. It had been a week, and he still hadn’t told Midoriya Inko that her only child had been stupid enough to get sexually assaulted. He was too ashamed to tell her. Too scared to see her reaction, to see her disappointment. Because of course, she’d be disappointed in him. She’d be disappointed that he’d gone so overboard. And worst of all, she’d want him to leave Yueii. She’d want him to drop out so no one could hurt him again, and he couldn’t just do that. He loved his school. He loved the people he met. But the incident - No. The assault - because yes, that’s what it was, and he couldn’t sugar coat it if he wanted to move past this. The assault had marred the golden glow of his university experience. But he figured he should tell her. He couldn’t call her about it, either. That would destroy her. He was going to go back home...

Izuku sighed as he jammed his key into the lock of his dorm door. It was late. Friday evening. He couldn’t put off going back to the dorm any longer. He had a pile of laundry to do. It was probably best that he slept in his own bed and not in Shouto’s room. He opened the door, and was surprised to actually see his roommate sitting in his bed, his head leaning against the wall.

Upon seeing him, Izuku couldn’t help but be filled with anger. Here he was, sitting so nonchalantly. He didn’t have a care in the damn world, and that was probably because he didn’t need to deal with Izuku and his bullshit anymore. He had completely shut the greenette out, which was fine by him. He didn’t need Bakugou anyhow. He didn’t need him to be his friend, even though they were getting onto such good terms before that stupid party. And maybe they should talk, as his therapist had suggested. But Bakugou was so crap at communicating, and rather than tell Izuku to his face that he didn’t want to be friends because he was disgusted by him, he did something worse. He fricken ghosted him!

Izuku slammed the door shut, which startled Bakugou from whatever reverie that he was in. Crimson eyes met viridian, and they stayed connected for several tense seconds before-

“Look who finally fuckin’ decided to come back to the dorm,” Bakugou said with a scowl. “The fuck have you been?”

The greenette looked away from his, his features twisted into a mask of irritation. “I was by Shouto’s dorm,” he said. “Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Tch! Whatever, shitty nerd,” he retorted, climbing to his feet. He leaned against his desk, his knitted and his arms crossed over his chest. “God forbid I act concerned .”

Izuku laughed a dry, humorless laugh. Color him shocked because the great Bakugou Katsuki was concerned . “You have such a great way of showing it, don’t you. Scowl and curse at me as soon as I walk in the door, real concerned.”

“Well I’m sor-ry that I don’t live up to your golden expectations.”

Izuku groaned in frustration. This was not how he imagined talking would go. This wasn’t talking. This was pitting at each other and pouring gasoline on a fire so that it would combust. He wasn’t even ready to talk. Arguing wouldn’t do him any better.

“It’s not that you don’t live up to my expectation, Bakugou ,” he said, the name falling from his lips icily. That seemed to shock the blond into next week. “I just don’t see how you can think you have the right to be concerned about me, considering you’ve ignored me the last two weeks.”

“ I’ve ignored you ?” Katsuki asked incredulously. “ You’re the one who hasn’t been in the dorm all week! I haven’t seen or heard from you in three days!”

“You think I want to be in the dorm if it’s going to be silent the entire time? I can’t remember the last real conversation that we had!” Izuku snapped. “And if you’re so concerned. Text me. You have my stupid number.”

“I’ve been trying to give you space!” Katsuki said, throwing his hands up in frustration. “That’s what you’re supposed to fuckin’ do with trauma, isn’t it? Give people fuckin’ space?”

Izuku snorted. “Real smooth. Blame it on that . If that's your way of telling me you don’t want me around. I get it, Kacchan, I’m used, dirty goods-”

“I never said that you were used, dirty goods, Izuku,” Kacchan said, his tone soft but serious. It had that passion behind it that was missing these last few weeks. And “And I never said that I didn’t want you around. So don’t fuckin’ say that.”

Izuku couldn’t help it. His lower lip trembled. His emotions were getting tangled into that web of panic and frustration and utter desperation that he was so known for. Tears stung at his eyes, but he tried to force them back.

“T-Then w-why?” he stammered, his face contorting. “W-Why won’t you talk to me, K-Kacchan? W-Why won’t you l-look at me? I-I don’t w-want space! Being alone terrifies me!”

The blond’s eyes, which hadn’t found Izuku’s since he’d first walked into the dorm, looked up. They were full of emotions that Izuku couldn’t begin to list. But at the forefront of them all was pain and sorrow and remorse .

“I’m bad at talking. I know that, but I can’t help it ,” he said, running his fingers through ash-blond hair. “I’ve been trying. Honestly, I have. But I don’t know what to say to you.”

“Why?” Izuku pleaded.

“Because I blame myself for what happened to you, okay?” Kacchan said, his red eyes burning into Izuku’s own. “I let you out of my sight for fuckin’ forty-five minutes, and then that fuckin’ perv got to you. Each time I think about it, I ask myself, what if I had been ten minutes late?”

Izuku blinked one, twice, three times. Kacchan blamed... himself? He couldn’t understand why. None of it was his fault. He didn’t have any reason to blame himself. It was all Izuku’s fault. He was the one who got stupidly drunk. He’s the one who didn’t know how to cut himself. He was the one who kept accepting drinks from strangers. He was the one who took out his hearing aids and got himself into that situation. It was all his fault. How could Kacchan blame himself for any of this?

“You’re the victim, Izuku,” Katsuki suddenly said, anger marring his features once more. “You can’t blame yourself for what happened. You probably shouldn’t have kept drinking, but that doesn’t excuse the actions of others. Intoxication is not consent. When I found you, you were out cold. There’s no way you could have given consent. So don’t fuckin’ blame yourself!”

His lower lip trembled even more and his onslaught of tears only continued. Of course, Katsuki had heard all of that. Because he’d been mumbling again. He was muttering , and letting Katsuki know all of the things that had been haunting him these last two weeks. He really needed to work on that...

“Y-You’re not to blame, either, Kacchan,” Izuku said through his tears. “But if you don’t blame me, then why?”

“Why what, nerd?”

Izuku wiped at his eyes. “Why won’t you look at me? Why didn’t you say anything when I told you I liked you? Just- why?”

“You were fuckin’ drunk,” Katsuki groused, his eyes averting again. His cheeks were flushed pink. “I couldn’t tell if you were serious or not, and when you didn’t bring it the fuck back up-”

“I didn’t bring it back up because you had a hard time holding a conversation with me for more than five minutes, let alone you couldn’t look at me.”

“Okay, okay we get it. I’m terrible at fuckin’ communication. Story of my life,” Katsuki grumbled, the blush only spreading. “What did you expect? You did your shitty flirty thing, and I just couldn’t get with the fuckin’ idea that someone like you could like someone who allowed you to get hurt.”

“We already said that it wasn’t your fault, Kacc-”

“That doesn’t make me feel like it’s any less of my fault, shitty nerd,” he snapped. Katsuki groaned, running his hands through his hair. “Look. We obviously have shit that needs to be cleared out now.”

“Yeah. We do,” Izuku said, drying his face and eyes with the sleeves of his shirt. He took a deep, shuddering breath. “Can you start?”

Katsuki nodded. “Let’s get some things straight, shitty fuckin’ Deku,” he said. Then there was a pause. The blush that was just fading away from the blond’s cheeks came back full force. “I’m not.”

Instantly, a weight that Izuku hadn’t realized that had been sitting on his shoulders lifted. He sighed in relief. If what he was interpreting was correct, Katsuki wasn’t straight, which meant that he was either bisexual or straight up gay. That meant Izuku had a chance .

“What the fuck is that response, shitty nerd? I put my soul on a platter, and all you can do is sigh? What the fuck gives?”

Izuku’s eyes widened and he crossed over to Katsuki. He looked up at the blond. “I mean, neither am I,” he said, a hint of sass in his voice.

Well, that hadn’t come out the way he’d wanted it to. He wanted to be a bit more delicate about it, but his nerves were so bad, okay? He couldn’t help it.

Katsuki smirked. “You don’t fuckin’ say. I figured that much from how hard you were coming onto me, albeit with the worst flirting in the world.”

It was Izuku’s turn to blush. He really had started flirting with Katsuki drunker than he’d ever been before. And that was just a miserable way to tell a person you liked them. God, it made him look like an idiot .

“I’m sorry for flirting with you when I was drunk,” he said, burying his face in his hands as he stood before his roommate. “Gosh, I didn’t even know your sexual orientation. I just assumed . I’m awful!”

Katsuki’s hands grabbed hold of Izuku’s wrists, pulling his hands away from his face gently. “I told you to stop apologizing for everything, nerd,” he reprimanded, but there was no malice or anger in his voice.

Izuku shrugged sheepishly, his hands falling to his sides. “I probably won’t ever stop apologizing.”

The blond gremlin before him snorted. “If you can’t do that, then humor me.”

“With what?”

“Tell me how you could like someone like me?” he said. 

And right there. There . That was the most vulnerable Izuku had ever seen Katsuki present himself. His posture was loose. His words were soft. His walls weren’t up. Right now, at this very moment, Izuku could see straight through to everything that was Katsuki.

Izuku sighed just a little bit. “For someone so smart, you really don’t listen.”

“What do you mean, Deku? I can hear you just fine. You’re the deaf one.”

“Hearing isn’t listening, Kacchan,” he said gently. “If you’d really been listening , you’d have known for a long time how I felt about you.”

“What the fuck do you me-”

But Izuku cut Katsuki off by wrapping his arms around his neck and pressing his lips to the blond’s. Sparks flew around him. His heart soared in his chest. He was kissing Katsuki. He was kissing Katsuki! He had pined for this for way too long, since he’d seen the grumpy, handsome man that first day in their dorm. Granted, he hadn’t realized who Katsuki was as a person yet... But still, the kiss didn’t disappoint.

Katsuki’s lips were soft and tender. They moved gently against his own, spreading their warmth through Izuku. It only lasted a few seconds, but those seconds felt as if they were a lifetime. Katsuki’s hands reached up, one resting against Izuku’s cheek and the other tangling into his thick forest of curls. His touch was just as gentle as his kiss. It wasn’t coarse like Izuku would have imagined based on his rough exterior. No. This was the deeper part of Bakugou Katsuki, one that Izuku was finally getting the chance to see.

When the kiss broke, they stared at each other. The silence between them wasn’t tense. It wasn’t hard for Izuku to sit through the silence used to be. It was kind and filled with unspoken emotions. But Izuku felt as though it wasn’t enough to

“Kacchan... There’s two sides to every gremlin.” 

Well, that hadn’t come out very good either. Great thing to say after you just had your heart kissed out, Izuku, he thought mournfully. 

The blond gave him an irritated look, and Izuku had to wave his hands in a placating manner. “Hear me out! When I feed you after midnight, I know you can be grouchy and crabby and irritable.”

“Just keep diggin’ yourself a hole, Deku,” Katsuki grumbled, but Izuku knew he didn’t mean it. His face was too pink and his brows weren’t pinched toward the center of his head like they’d normally be if he were angry. “I’ll put you right in it.”

“BUT-” he said. “I can see past all of those things because of your fluffy gremlin side. You’re passionate and you work hard. You have all of these aspirations for life.”

Izuku took hold of Katsuki’s hand which still rested against his cheek. He leaned into his touch. The blond didn’t shake him off, so the greenette took that as a good sign.

“And even though you say a lot of things that you don’t mean, it’s what’s beneath all of that that makes me smile. It makes me want to carefully unwrap all of the complex layers that are you so I can see all of you. That’s why I like you.”

“I like you, too, Izuku,” Katsuki said softly.

Izuku smiled. “Well, good, considering I just kissed you. That would make things incredibly awkward otherwise.”

“No shit.”

“Will you tell me why?”

“Why what?”

“What you like me.”

“Not yet. I’m not ready.”

Izuku’s heart sank a little bit. He would have loved to know Katsuki’s reasoning for liking him, but he understood that the grumpy blond needed time. It seemed as if he wasn’t used to opening up, no like Izuku. The greenette wore his emotions on his sleeve for the world to see, but Katsuki... He was so reserved and closed off with all of the layers he blanketed himself in.

“Oh, shut the fuck up nerd,” Katsuki said, his thumb grazing over Izuku’s cheekbone. He reveled in his soft touch. “I’ll tell you soon. 

The blond suddenly took hold of his cheek, drawing Izuku in gently. Their lips were pressed together once more. The sparks were still there. They exploded around him, made his heart soar. Katsuki tasted sweet. Like cinnamon and sugar and spices. He wanted more of him, all of him, but he couldn’t push too far. It was too soon. He wasn’t even sure that Katsuki wanted him in that way. He wasn’t sure if they were even going to make it to the dating stage yet. It was way too soon for Izuku to think about sex .

“Hey, Izuku,” Katsuki said, interrupting his stream of consciousness.

The shorter man breathed out a contented sigh. “I like it when you say my name.”

Kacchan rolled his eyes. “Don’t get used to it.”

“Kaaaa-cchaaaan!” he whined

“I want to cash in on that bet,” he said.

That made Izuku’s interests peak. He looked up at Katsuki curiously. “What do you want?”

“I want a date,” he said.

A smile spread onto Izuku’s features. “Gladly.”

Izuku

The tension that had been building all week in Izuku’s muscles relaxed despite the wild beating of his heart. A slick sheen of sweat coated his heaving chest. His mind was blank, numb, and the only way he could think to describe the sensations he was feeling was white . Pure white, blindingly so, like light so bright that made it impossible to see.

Katsuki was in class. Izuku was alone in his dorm with the door locked and his hearing aids up as high as possible without hurting him. It was early, and he had a golden opportunity to take some time to himself to work out a few issues .

Ever since that day when Katsuki had tackled him in the park, he couldn’t stop thinking about the other. The way his hips straddled Izuku as he pinned him. The tight hold of his eyes on Izuku. God, he wanted it all. He wanted every tantalizing feature that made up Katsuki. But seeing as how their date wasn’t for another three days... And while this was a first date and nothing was set in stone, Izuku’s brain had decided to literally screw him over. He’d had a wet dream in the early hours of the morning featuring no one other than Katsuki.

Dream Kacchan pinned him against the wall, his hands raised above his head. The blond’s lips were pressed to the juncture between Izuku’s neck and collarbone. He whispered sweet nothings to Izuku, calling him Bunny while his other hand dipped dangerously lower and lower until...

Izuku’s alarm went off, the strong vibrations of the deaf/hard of hearing device signalling him to get up for his daily run. He’d woken with a start, his hand frantically searching for the off switch. And once the device was shut off, he groaned and bemoaned the end of his dream. He had wished it was all true, but he was always met with the cold reality that it was, in fact, not. He was alone in his bed.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

That wet dream wasn’t the first he’d had. He lamented their loss every time he woke up, but he was sure that it wasn’t going to be the last. It was, however, the first one Izuku had actually given in to.

He was now sprawled out on his bed, a towel beneath him and his legs spread wide. One hand palmed his erection slowly while the other, slicked with lube, teased his entrance with slow, circular motions. Tentatively, he slipped one finger in. With gentle ministrations, he worked himself open. Soft keening noises emanated from him, and soon enough, he was able to get a second finger in, down to his knuckles. His fingertips brushed his prostate in an almost teasing manner, sending tingles of anticipation down his spin. A soft moan escaped Izuku’s lips as he worked on scissoring himself open. He made quick work of it, his body aching to get to his main goal.

When he removed his fingers with a pronounced whimper, he felt jarringly empty. He was turned on and needy, his nerves around his body alive with arousal. He released his dick from his grasp. On the bed beside him, was a medium-sized, silicone dildo. Izuku slicked it with lube before he placed the tip at his entrance. Slowly, he pressed in, his body tensing around it. The stretch burned, but it wasn’t anything he wasn’t used to. On the contrary, he did this more than the average person, probably. At least once or twice a day. But the sensations never got old. On the contrary, it got better coming straight into it from the half-baked arousal from a wet dream. The only way he could think to make anything better was to have Katsuki involved. But he didn’t want to rush things.

Once the dildo was seated firmly in his ass, Izuku relaxed once more. He took his length into his palm again, stroking it as he slowly slid the dildo in and out. It only took him a moment to find his prostate with the tip of the toy, and after that, he made sure to hit it with each languid shift of his hand. With each plunge of the toy and each stroke of his hand, loud, lewd moans filled the dorm.

Izuku’s thumb tip ran along the head of his dick, spreading the warm precum that beaded there across his skin. Just that small touch sent a shudder of sensitivity coursing through his spine. God. It felt so amazing. All of it combined. It made that overwhelmingly white feeling rear its glorious head. The only way he could feel more alive than this was if Katsuki was here, making him feel all of these explosive feelings.

And when the sensations tipped him toward the edge, Izuku stuttered out, “Y-Yes! K-Kacchan. Kacchan. Kacchan.”

The name rolled off his tongue repeatedly in some sort of praising chant. Yes. He needed this. He needed this so bad. He needed Kacchan. Needed him to- to-

The white feeling exploded, surging through his body and stiffening his muscles. His eyes sat at half mast and his lip parted to release a sigh. Spurts of white covered Izuku’s freckled chest, and he moaned and stroked his way through his orgasm. It was intense, hot, enveloping, but most of all, white . That bright light that threatened to mask another one of his senses.

The greenette’s chest heaved as came down from his high. His eyes fluttered a little bit as he forced them to stay open. He pulled the dildo from its seat and set it on the towel beside him. He was spent despite having only just woken up.

He cleaned himself and the toy up as best as he could without taking it to the bathroom. After turning on the wax warmer on his bookshelf to mask the scent of sex, Izuku laid back down in his bed to catch another half an hour of sleep.

Who needed a daily run, anyhow?

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Katsuki

The blond tapped his foot impatiently as he stood outside of the small mop and pop shop cafe that he’d decided upon for his date with Deku. Katsuki was early. He had this thing where he usually was, chronically so. It was good to a point, but with his nerves already so high at the thought of a date with his roommate turned daily irritation turned silent pining crush, it was literal murder.

It would have made more sense for them to leave together. They lived together for fuck’s sake, but the shitty nerd had decided to have Round Cheeks help him get ready. He at least hoped that that meant she’d get him to wear something more than a pair of basketball shorts and a hoodie. The nerd just kept getting lazier and lazier as the semester wore on. He milked that whole starving artist thing.

Katsuki glanced down at his watch for what had to be the tenth time since he arrived outside of the cafe. There were five minutes until the time they had decided upon for their dinner date. Five agonizing minutes which gave Katsuki a second to check his appearance in the glass window of the establishment.

He had to admit, he’d done pretty well at getting himself together. He wore black ripped jeans, a black t-shirt, a faded black jean jacket, and his combat boots. It was a lot of black on black on black, but it worked on him and the aesthetic he usually carried. It was also comfortable enough for the late spring weather while also making him look desirable enough. At least he hoped.

Ever since he’d asked Deku on this date, allowed himself to act the fact that he liked the stupid nerd, he’d been relentlessly checking him out. He knew he shouldn’t. He knew it was a bad idea because he was still getting over the long-lasting effects of an almost sexual assault, but he couldn’t help but lust after him. The guy was built like a fuckin’ tank. He had sculpted muscle that, when Katsuki caught small, shameful glimpses of when the greenette changed, he couldn’t help but become aroused. He would have never guessed that beneath all of those sweatpants and baggy shirts that Deku actually had an ass. Not to mention thighs made by the fuckin’ gods. He’d realized it at the party when the nerd had worn those sinfully tight pants. Of course, he didn’t exactly get a lot of time to admire the view seeing as how he lost the nerd... He just hoped that Round Cheeks could come through for him.

More than anything, he was nervous for the date. Katsuki had hung out with Deku on more than one occasion. They’d even gone out for post-studying bowls of ramen, but none of those occasions had been considered an actual date. Adding that four-lettered label made his nerves skyrocket like he was some high school freshman. It wasn’t as if he’d never had a goddamn date before. Hell, he’d always been considered a suave kind of guy back in high school. It had to be because this was Deku . This was someone that he was more than interested in. If all this worked out, he hoped to get Deku on a second date and maybe even call him his boyfriend.

Speaking of the devil, the nerd was walking down the street. And what Katsuki found to be the least surprising was his facial expression. The nerd chewed his lower lip, looking around nervously. It was as if the nerd felt out of place, which he probably did. The cafe may have been a mom and pop shop, but it was on the nicer side. It was a place Katsuki had found a couple months back, and despite being a little on the expensive side, he’d kept going because the food was just too damn good.

When his nerd - no the nerd - found him, his eyes lit up and he smiled at Katsuki with that smile he reserved for his friends. It made his heart stuttered and flip annoyingly. But he didn’t care. Hell, he doubted he’d care if his heart stuttered like that looking at Deku ever again. Katsuki’s eyes raked over him, taking in his short, muscular form. He looked good. Really good. Round cheeks didn’t hold back.

He wore light colored ripped jeans that hugged his assets favorably - and by that, he meant that it made Deku look like sex on legs. His shirt was a slightly oversized black and white striped shirt, which he had french-tucked into his jeans. And to top it all off, he wore his nicest pair of red sneakers - a pair of vans that looked like they’d been hardly worn. But that wasn’t even the best part. Ochako must have worked some fucking magic on freckles’ hair, because his forest-green curls, were wild and volumunous and frizz-free. They looked soft and glossy, especially with the way they caught the afternoon sunlight. And from the looks of it, she even put a tiny bit of makeup on the guy to give his features just that little extra something. He had to admit, Deku looked fuckin’ good.

“Hey, Kacchan!” Deku called, waving as he approached.

Katsuki smirked in response. “Bout time, nerd,” he said.

“How long were you waiting?”

“Not too long,” he said with a shrug.

He opened the door and held it for Deku. The greenette flashed him yet another one of those blinding smiles that made his heart do tricks.

“Thanks Kacchan!”

They were seated in the small cafe next to one of the large windows that overlooked the park across the road. For a while, Katsuki talked about random shit. Things that had happened during the day in class. Like the one guy, Sato, who made this amazing sweet and savory balsamic chicken that literally melted in your mouth. Or the French transfer student, Aoyama, who couldn’t master any simple Japanese recipe to save his life. The conversations seemed to interest Deku, but when it was his turn in the discourse of conversation, he fell flat. He fidgeted in his spot, his eyes averted away.

After about halfway through their meal, Katsuki finally said something.

“What? Am I really that bad to be on a date with?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. The spaced between his brows was pinched in irritation and a hint of worry.

Deku’s eyes widened at that, and he waved his hands in that concilitating fashion he always seemed to do when he felt as though he pissed Katsuki off.

“No! Honestly, you’re not,” he said sincerely. “I - ah - I’m just nervous, I guess.”

“Fuckin why? This shit is hardly any different than we normally hang out.”

“Because this is a date .”

Ah. Right. That four-lettered label that had made his own stomach turn not that long ago. Yeah. Figures Deku would overthink that shit.

“That’s just a fancy fuckin’ label,” he said. “You have no reason to be nervous. It’s just me .”

“That’s exactly the reason I have to be worried,” Deku moaned distraughtly.

“What’s that supposed to fuckin’ mean?”

“You’re you . You’re funny and too handsome for your own good. And, I really , really like you, but every time I open my mouth, I feel like I’m just going to word vomit all over the place, just like I’m-”

Katsuki placed a hand over Deku’s mouth with a roll of his red eyes. “You’re fine , Deku. You’re psyching yourself out, idi-” 

But the words that the greenette had said just hit him. Deku thought he was handsome? Katsuki ran his tongue over his lips to wet them as he turned his head away. Fuck. The nerd really wanted to make him want him all over again. Katsuki was trying so damn hard to respect Deku’s space. So damn fucking hard, but then he goes and says shit like that . He knew his skin was alight with a full-force blush.

“You’re not gonna make me fuckin’ run, Izuku,” he groused, his eyes shifting back to the nerd. “I like you, too, you know.” More than you probably realize. “I asked you to be here.”

The glow that came off of the greenette was blinding. Something, whatever Katsuki had said, made him beam like he was the happiest person in the world. His lips were parted ever-so-slightly as he looked at Katsuki.

“The fuck are you staring at?” the blond eventually asked. “Did I say something wrong?”

“I like it when you say my name,” he said softly. His eyes sparkled when he spoke.

Katsuki rolled his eyes. Sure, he could count the number of times he’d said Deku’s name on one hand. He’d figured since the nerd didn’t fight the nickname he’d given him, he didn’t mind it. Hell, he probably didn’t mind it, but he hadn’t realized how much saying his actual name would please the nerd. But seeing as this wasn’t the first time Deku had told him this... He filed that information away for a later date.

“You tell me that almost every time I fuckin’ say it,” he said.

The shorter man shrugged as a giggle sounded through the air. Katsuki was floored by it; the sound rivaled the songs of angels.

“It makes it feel a lot more real, ya know? That this is more than just us going to grab a bite to eat. You saying my name - it just makes this feel like a date ,” Deku said. His hand tentatively reached across the table to grab hold of Katsuki’s. He squeezed the blond’s hand lightly.

“I’m happy, Katsuki.”

Katsuki could feel heat blooming across his entire body at the greenette’s words. His heart did somersaults in his chest for the umpteenth time that evening. So, he did the only thing that made sense. He squeezed Deku’s hand back. 

“I’m happy, too, Izuku.”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

The rest of their date went by without any issues - well, aside from when Deku caught sight of the bill and insisted to help pay. Katsuki, of course, denied him, rationalizing that he was the one who’d ask him on a date, not the other way around. He might have threatened to carry him all the way back to the dorm in a fireman's carry if he didn’t stop asking to help. When push came to shove, only then did the nerd relent.

They were on their way back to the dorm now, their steps falling across the pavement in a comfortable quiet conversation that made Katsuki’s heart do a gymnastics routine in his chest.

“I’m sooo full,” Deku whined.

Katsuki rolled his eyes. “That’s because you ate enough katsudon for two people.”

“I didn’t realize a large was so large .”

“You’re a fuckin’ dork,” he said.

“But I’m your dork,” Deku said. And then, as if he realized what he’d said, “Well, if you want me to be that is. I didn’t mean to say anything like that or step on toes. I don’t even know if that’s what you want. Or if this date was a one time thing Like. I’m not even sure if I’m boyfriend material. You can just tell me to shut up if you-”

“Shut up, nerd,” Katsuki said, taking hold of Deku’s hand in his own. He heard his breath hitch a little bit. “Your word vomit gets pretty fuckin’ intense sometimes.”

“Sorry, Kacchan.”

He didn’t even bother to correct the nerd on his apology. He figured he’d never get him to stop that . “Yes, I want a second date. And yes, I want that.”

“You mean-”

“Yeah, I want you to be my boyfriend. Er, if that’s what you want,” Katsuki said quietly. He wasn’t good at this. Baring his soul. Being honest. Showing his feelings. He had never been good at any of it. But for him, he wanted to try. Only for him.

When he didn’t hear a response from the shorter male, he turned his gaze toward him. He couldn’t help but be surprised at the tears that streaked his round, cinnamon-speckled cheeks.

“Izuku?” Katsuki asked softly, his brown pulled inward. “What’s wrong? Did I say somethin’-”

“No!” he said, squeezing his hand around Katsuki’s. “I’m just happy, is all. I want that, too, Kacchan. I want you to be my boyfriend. Gosh, I feel like a teenager saying that!”

Deku laughed a wet, teary laugh, but he could hear the happiness behind it. Katsuki smiled back, something he rarely offered to the shorter male. And suddenly, as they were passing an alley, Deku tugged him into the shadows, his giggles echoing off of the brick walls around them. Katsuki followed willingly, and before he knew it, Deku had his arms around his neck. His lips were pressed to Katsuki’s in a teary, wet kiss.

He could count on one hand the handful of times he’d kissed the nerd with constellations on his cheeks, but each time he did, Katsuki could feel his heart reach for those same stars. Everything stopped around him. Life around him ceased to exist. It was only him and Deku in this perfect little bubble. Katsuki’s lips melded around the greenette who tasted of rainwater and pine trees, the forest and everything earthy inbetween. And Katsuki loved it all. The blond’s hands fell to Deku’s hips tugging him closer to him. It elicited a delicious moan from the shorter, which Katsuki drank in.

He broke the kiss. His hands slid down from Deku’s hips. Very cautiously, he approached that ass that he’d dreamt of destroying, but he didn’t stay there long. He didn’t even cop a feel. Instead, he slid his hands straight past until they found the backs of Deku’s thighs. He lifted the nerd from his feet and brought his legs up so he could wrap them around Katsuki’s waist. This managed to steal a startled gasp of joy - and arousal, based on the firmness against his abdomen - from Deku.

Katsuki pressed the nerd’s back against the brick, his lips eagerly searching for the taste of Deku’s again. Once he found them, he pressed against them again. He was being cautious. He didn’t want to overwhelm the greenette in his arms, but Katsuki was also trying to quell the ravenous feeling inside him that wanted to drown himself in Izuku. His tongue traced against the shorter man’s plump lower lip, begging for entrance. There was no hesitance on Deku’s part. His lips parted, granted Katsuki access. And he was overwhelmed with the taste of Izuku. God. He couldn’t get enough.

They stayed like that for a long time, until Katsuki’s lips were swollen and his arms ached from holding the surprisingly dense man. It only broke when they needed to come up for air.

“Looks like I’ve caught myself another bunny,” Katsuki said, crimson eyes boring into viridian ones. They darkened considerably with arousal at the word bunny. Katsuki smirked. One point for him in the kink department. “Do you know I want from you, Bunny ?”

“What is that?” said bunny asked, his lids hooded over his eyes.

His voice was too alluring, too arousing, too fucking sultry. Katsuki silently prayed for one of the few times in his life that Deku couldn’t feel the boner that was surely pressed against his clothed ass.

“I want a second date,” he said, pressing his lips to Deku’s jawline. “With my hot as fuck boyfriend .”

He looked up at the greenette through his pale, blond lashes. He seemed amused as he looked down at Katsuki.

“Now that, I can do,” he said, a small smile playing on his magnificently swollen lips. “Do you know what I want?”

“What is that?”

Deku, still pressed against the brick in Katsuki’s grasp, rolled his hips against the blond. Crimson eyes widened a fraction. Oh. That. That roll of his hips. That press of his hard-on. It was all he needed to know.

That sassy, horny mother fucker.

“Fuck.”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

The door of their shared dorm slammed closed behind them as they hastily toed off their shoes. Clothes were flying off faster than Katsuki could keep track of. Everything was a mess of hasty kisses and hands roaming, roaming to places that made Katsuki’s skin heat up and his arousal shoot southward. It was all so frantic, so rushed, but Katsuki couldn’t think of anything else but the fucking Aodonis of a man beneath his hands. He wanted him so fucking badly. His arousal pressed against the tautness of his jeans. His skin was alive with heat and fire and nerves. He wanted Izuku. He needed him.

Shirts were tossed aside. Pants were clumsily pulled off. Socks were discarded until the pair of them were in Deku’s bed. Katsuki straddled the smaller male. Their mouths were latched together as their bodies acted of their own accord. His hands roamed the greenette’s body. The latter had his hands tangled in spiky, ash-blond hair. Clothed erections pressed against each other, itching for skin on skin contact.

But it all suddenly stopped. Too soon. Much too soon. Katsuki craved more, but he forced himself to focus. Hands insistently were pressing against his shoulders, Deku’s hands.

“ Wait , Kacchan,” the nerd quickly interrupted.

Katsuki stopped immediately, searching the nerd’s face for any sign of what he wanted. All he saw was worry and apprehension, which wasn’t exactly a good fucking sign.

“What’s wrong? We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,” he said.

And then it hit him. Of course Deku wouldn’t want to do this. He was being so fucking rude and inconsiderate. The guy was fresh out of trauma. He was still attempting to get over being assaulted, and here Katsuki was trying to get in his pants. He’d overstepped so many boundaries by just assuming this. He should have asked for consent. He should have clarified that this wasn’t just some hormone driven thing, that Deku actually wanted this.

“Shit. Izuku. I’m sorry. I wasn’t thinki-”

“ No! ” Izuku said forcefully, placing a hand over Katsuki’s mouth. Viridian eyes were frantic as plump lips stumbled over words that just didn’t want to come out right. “I - ah, ugh - Fuck. Look . I’m out of practice. I haven’t done this in like two years, and I actually haven’t had sex before but- 

“You’re a virgin? ” he asked, his mind going blank. He didn’t expect Deku to be a virgin.

“Yeah, I am. I’ve got toys. That’s all I’ve needed - until now at least,” Deku said, averting his eyes out of embarrassment. “I’ve given head and stuff, but that’s not the point. I want this. I do. I just have to know something first.”

Katsuki looked at him imploringly, but didn’t say anything.

“Who’s going to be the top, and who’s going to be the bottom?”

He couldn’t help it. Beneath the firm press of Deku’s hand on his mouth, Katsuki snorted out a laugh. He couldn’t be serious right now. Wait . Could he? That’s what he wanted to know? But the look in the nerd’s eyes told him that he was, in fact, serious. Katsuki rolled his eyes and shoved Deku’s hand away from his mouth. Really? That was what he was worried about.

“Well, what do you want? Cause I don’t really have a preference,” he decided upon. 

Well, yeah, he did. He preferred to top, naturally. But he wasn’t going to tell the nerd that in case his preferences were the same as his own. He wasn’t going to ruin their first time because of that . Fuck, he’d adjust if he had to if it just meant that he could have the ray of fucking sunshine that his legs were currently straddling.

“Well, I think I’d prefer to - ah - you know, be the bottom,” Deku said, a delectable blush spreading across his constellation-smattered cheeks. “If you don’t mind.”

“Well then, nerd,” he said. “I can make that happen. But-”

“But?”

“I need your verbal consent.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” Katsuki said, all of the seriousness that he felt ebbing into his words. “I need your verbal consent. I’m not doing this without it. Not after the shit you’ve been through.”

“I want to do this, Kacchan,” he said, his voice dropping into that sultry tone that he went fucking mad for. “I want you to fuck me. No - I need you to fuck me.”

The words drove Katsuki over the edge. He sat back on his haunches to look at Deku. Really look at him. Crimson eyes devoured his appearance. Izuku’s eyes were blown wide with lust and arousal. His tongue darted out to wet plump, slightly parted, pink lips. He was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling rapidly. His freckled skin was flushed. Fuck , there were so many freckles. Anywhere the sun could kiss his skin, he was covered in those light, cinnamon colored dots. Katsuki could probably spend a lifetime counting them never to find an exact count.

And here he was, the object of his fascinations. He was laid out, ready for Katsuki to take as his own. He wanted him. He needed him.

“I want to make you feel so good, Bunny,” he said softly as he dipped his head in the crook of the greenette’s neck. A gasp and a moan from the smaller sounded. “You deserve to feel good. I need to take care of my Bunny, make you feel amazing.”

“Yes, Kacchan,” Deku’s breathy whisper came out. “ Please .”

Katsuki’s lips pressed against Deku’s jawline and started tracing south. He placed tender kisses against porcelain and cinnamon painted skin, tracing his way down the younger man’s body. Every few kisses, his teeth grazed that muscled body, finding purchase with small nips. With each kiss and nip that he placed, Deku shuddered in pleasure. He made soft noises that filled the heaviness in the air and made Katsuki even more ravenous - which he didn’t think was humanly possible.

Soon enough, his lips found the dark happy trail just below the dip of Deku’s navel. His fingers glossed over his skin, reaching for the waistband of Deku’s bright red boxers. He looked up as his nerd, eyes asking for silent permission. The bright, sparkling green eyes and slightly parted lips that murmured quiet affirmations told him everything he needed to know. Katsuki hooked his fingers underneath the waistband of the greenette’s boxers, dragging them down his freckled legs until he could discard them with a quick toss to the side.

Once again, he was drinking in the sight of the man beneath him. Deku’s legs were spread, revealing himself to Katsuki. His erection stood at attention. Pre was beaded against his tip, reading to spill over. Katsuki’s eyes were pooling with lust. God, he needed him, needed this just as much as the nerd did.

Katsuki brought his lips down to Izuku’s length. His tongue lapped up the small amount of precum at the slit, which elicited another keen of pleasure from those petal pink lips. He then dragged his tongue up from the base of his dick all the way up to his tip. He did that a few times until his dick was thoroughly lubed up with Katsuki’s saliva. He opened his mouth wider now, taking more of the greenette’s length into his mouth. He sank all the way down to his base, dark pubes brushing against the tip of his nose. He allowed his throat to adjust for a second, and then he started sliding up and down Deku’s length.

“ Aaaah ! K-Kacchan!” Deku moaned as soon as Katsuki had found a steady rhythm.

Those hands that could easily make something so beautiful appear on canvas or the page of his sketchbook tangled into ash blond hair. They gave a slight pull that Katsuki hummed in response to. Another one of those delectable sounds echoed from his boyfriend, sounds that he wanted to hear again and again and again and again.

He placed one hand to the freckled man’s hip, moving it from where it originally rested on the bed, supporting him. That contact made Izuku buck his hips slightly in surprise, but Katsuki took it like a champ, smirking around his girth. The nerd must have been trying not to fuck into his mouth, but the touch of the blond’s hand must have sent all of that restraint right out the fucking window.

He took in his full length and swirled his tongue around Deku’s cock with each rise and fall of his mouth. That seemed to send the shorter over the edge.

“K-Kacchan! I’m going to -- haaah! ”

Deku tensed beneath him, finding his release. He came into Katsuki’s mouth, and rather than pull off, he pulled the nerd closer. His fingers dug into his hip, leaving crescent-shaped marks on his milky skin. His boyfriend’s hips shuddered through his orgasm, soft explicatives rolling off his tongue.

“ Aaaah -- Fuck . That was amazing, Kacchan. Kacchan, shit, Kacchan . -- aaah -- Fuuck. ”

Katsuki swallowed down Izuku’s load, and with a soft pop, pulled away from his dick. The blond smirked in triumph, licking his lips seductively to lap up the rest of his load.

“Tch. What a mouth on you, Bunny ,” he said, his brown arched ever so slightly.

“What are you going to do about it?” Deku challenged.

That sassy mother fucker. Katsuki’s smirk widened just a bit. His hand that was holding onto the greenette’s hip snaked further below him. He gave his ass a rough squeeze, which sent flushes all over Deku’s skin.

“I’m going to make this ass mine,” he said.

“ Please ,” Deku moaned out. One glance down at his dick showed Katsuki that he was already getting hard again.

“ Shit , Deku, you’re a fuckin’ minx,” he said. “Already getting hard for me again, huh?”

“ Yes , Kacchan,” Deku breathed. “Only for you Kacchan.”

Katsuki leaned in and pressed his lips to the other’s once again, relishing in the little connection it gave him. God, he was painfully hard. He’d left his own cock neglected in favor of making sure Deku was taken care of. If this was his first time having sex, he was going to make it good. And that meant undergoing a bit of neglect on his part.

“How do you want to take it, Bunny?” he asked, shifting his lips over to the shorter’s ear.

There was a pause where Deku’s breathing hitched. And then, “From behind.”

A growl of excitement left his lips as he leaned back and placed both hands on Deku’s hips. He flipped the freckled man onto his stomach. Once again, he drank in the sight of him. His freckles were spread all over him, their constellation-like patterns charting course across his skin. If he didn’t have priorities at the moment, he would gladly spend his time tracing over them, discovering the patterns hidden within.

Katsuki placed one hand in between the greenette’s shoulder blades and the other on the back of his thigh to get him into position. The shorter easily followed his directions, presenting his ass to the blond. Fuck , he was delicious. Katsuki was craving him. He shucked off his boxers and tossed them to the floor. But he paused. He wasn’t ready. He couldn’t go in dry, and he was sure as hell that Deku wouldn’t exactly want him making a creampie of his ass the first time they had sex. That made cleanup such a fuckin’ bitch.

As if he was reading his thoughts, Deku suddenly spoke up. “Lube and condoms are in the second drawer of my desk,” he said, looking back over his shoulder at Katsuki.

“Tch. Came prepared, huh, nerd?” he asked with a snort.

He leaned over Deku’s frame and opened the drawer and was mildly surprised to find, along with the condoms and lube, a decent sized dildo. Had Deku been...? Katsuki didn’t think it was possible for him to become more aroused, but this nerd had a habit of proving him fuckin’ wrong.

“Well fuckin’ shit, Bunny,” Katsuki said, a smirk on his lips. He held up the dildo by the base for the greenette to see. “You’ve been preparing, huh?”

A viscous blush burned across his cheeks. “Maybe,” he said.

He chuckled at the nerd and replaced the dildo. The blond would have to bring that back into play on another date. He took the lube and condom, tossing the foil packet to the bed.

“How long have you wanted me to fuck you, Bunny?” he asked, his empty hand falling to Deku’s freckled asscheek. He rubbed the soft skin before raising his hand and bringing it back down with a resounding smack. Deku moaned, his lithe back arching even more. And when the nerd remained quiet. He brought his hand down on the other cheek. “Tell me, Bunny.”

“ A-Aaah! ” he moaned. “A-A while, Kacchan.”

“Just a while?” he asked, bringing his hand back down on the original cheek. That elicited another delicious moan from the smaller.

“I-I have w-wet dreams about you, Kacchan,” Deku stammered out through his heavy, aroused breaths.

Fuck . That admission had Katsuki’s head reeling. He couldn’t wait anymore. His dick was throbbing.

“Spread yourself for me, Bunny,” Katsuki growled. “I wanna take this ass, make it mine.”

Izuku obliged, taking both of his hands and spreading his ass for Katsuki. Fuck , he needed to get a move on. The sight of the greenette was too fuckin’ much.

Katsuki opened the lube and squirted a generous amount into his hand. He didn’t bother to wait for it to warm up at all. He tossed the bottle aside and spread the cool substance against Deku’s hole generously, teasing the tight muscle with the tip of his finger. This earned a gasp of surprise and pleasure from the former. Without any warning, he plunged one finger in. Izuku clenched around him due to the sudden obstruction before relaxing once more.

“ Yes ,” Deku moaned out, his knuckles turning white as he held himself open. “ Please , Kacchan, I need more.”

Katsuki obliged and dove another finger in alongside the first. Another keen of pleasure sounded from Deku, and it floored Katsuki. He curled his fingers up, searching for the younger’s prostate. Upon finding it, he made sure to hit it relentlessly with each thrust of his fingers. Obscene noises spilled from the greenette, much to Katsuki’s pleasure. He didn’t give a damn about their next-door neighbors. They could get bent if they fuckin’ complained. He’d been waiting too damn long to tap this ass.

Izuku’s hand disappeared from where it was holding his right asscheek, slipping in front of him to where the blond assumed he was stroking his own shaft.

“Uh-uh, Bunny,” Katsuki ordered. “Keep that hand on your ass where I can see it. No touching yourself.”

“B-But Kacchan! ” Deku whined. “ Please , I-I need it.”

“You can wait,” he said in response.

Once the greenette’s hand returned to his asscheek, Katsuki worked on scissoring him open. He couldn’t wait anymore. He needed this just as much as Deku did. He slid his fingers from their warm confines, much to freckles’ apparent chagrin. He whined in protest, but Katsuki ignored him in favor of picking up the foil packet from the bed. He tore it open with his teeth and quickly rolled the condom over his own, throbbing length. He lubed himself up before positioning his head against the hole between the greenette’s cheeks.

“Are you ready, Bunny?”

“ Please ,” he said.

“Beg me for it, baby,” he said, his voice low and sultry.

That seemed to flip a switch in the nerd. “Please, Katsuki,” he begged, his voice full of arousal and want. “I want you to fuck. I need you to fuck me. Rough and hard and fucking shit. Just please .”

Katsuki smirked before slowly pressing his head past the tight ring of muscle. He felt Izuku tense beneath him. The blond gently rubbed his hands over the greenette’s thighs to try and relax him. He was going slow. Sure, he’d fucked himself with a dildo, but that dildo was much smaller than Katsuki was.

“Relax baby,” he said softly - tenderly even - and loud enough for Izuku to hear. “Tell me if it’s too much, okay?”

“M’okay,” Deku groaned out. “Feels good. Keep going.”

Katsuki nodded even though the greenette couldn't see him. His eyes were closed now as the blond slowly drove himself in. Soon enough, he was seated all the way in, right to his base. Fuck. Deku felt fucking amazing around him. Warm and tight, and fuck . Slowly, he started to move his hips out of fear that he would hurt the freckled man beneath him, but apparently, that wasn’t good enough for him. Porcelain hips came back to meet his, making the movements harsher.

“I told you I wanted you to fuck me roughly, Kacchan,” he said. “I’m not made of glass.”

Fucking. Sassy. Mother. Fucker.

He snorted and picked up his pace, thrusting into the nerd with much more force than before. A cry of pleasure told him that he’d quickly managed to find his prostate, and once he’d found it, he didn’t let up. Sweat was building on his brow as he rammed his boyfriend beneath him. His cock ached for release that was quickly building. This was all just as good as he’d imagined, as he’d dreamed it would fuckin’ be.

“ Fuck , Bunny, you feel so fuckin’ good,” he hissed, his hands holding onto those hips and pulling them closer with he pound of his own hips.

“ Aaahh -- please, Kacchan, I need you to -- haaah -- touch me, please ,” Izuku begged.

He couldn’t deny such beautiful begging. He snaked his hand around Deku’s front and palmed his cock with his hand. He made quick work of jerking off the mewling mess of a greenette for a second time. His body stiffened beneath him as he reached his second climax. Cum spurted all over his bed, stomach, and Katsuki’s. The momentum in the blond’s hips stuttered as he chased his own orgasm. And when it came, it rocked his entire body, making his vision flicker and everything feel impossibly surreal.

When he finally found himself again, his chest was pressed against the greenette’s back. His lungs heaved for air as did the smaller man’s beneath him. Soft utterances of praise fell from his lips into Izuku’s ears.

“You did so good, baby. So, so good,” he whispered.

A small smile formed on those plump lips. “Only for you, Kacchan.”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Katsuki pulled Izuku close to him, snuggling into the greenette underneath the covers of his own bed. They’d abandoned the younger’s in favor of his because of the sheer amount of mess that was left behind after their sexscapade. It hadn’t taken much convincing to get Deku to lay down with him. On the contrary, he seemed absolutely floored. Mother fucker probably had this secret desire to be the little spoon.

Not that Katsuki was complaining.

Deku’s hearing aids were already out, charging on their dock on the nerd’s desk. He’d made his usual nightly announcement before he’d crawled into bed with Katsuki.

And now, with their bodies pressed together and their scents mingling, the blond felt absolutely, entirely relaxed. He was already dozing, his nose pressed into those forest green curls and his lips resting against his neck, when soft words shook him awake.

“Goodnight, Kacchan,” he said, his hands tightening around Katsuki’s which were snaked around his strong, muscular waist.

Katsuki smiled against Deku’s neck, inhaling that intoxicating scent. “Goodnight, Izuku.”

He could have sworn he heard his bunny hum contently as the vibration of Katsuki’s lips and voice against his neck, but he couldn’t be sure because sleep had pulled him under.

Izuku

“Let’s go over this again to make sure that I’m not messing anything up,” Izuku said, sending the blond beside him a worried look. “Your parents are fashion designers. Your dad has always been designing, and your mom used to model. She’s since switched over to designing.”

“Uh huh,” Katsuki said in a bored tone.

“And you used to model for them when you were a kid,” Izuku mused. “I wonder if there’s any pictures? Should I ask them? I think that that would be a good thing to bond with them over. I’m sure you’d be really cute-”

“Absolutely fucking not.”

“But Kacchan! ” he said, taking hold of the blond’s hand and intertwining their fingers together.

The pair had just stepped off of the train into the warm, afternoon sun. The summer breeze blew through their hair, messing with the styles that Kacchan had spent too long on that morning. It was an amicable walk through a small, cozy town, one that Izuku could honestly see himself living in in the future. But the end destination had his stomach in knots.

Nervous was the simple way to explain his current feelings. A twisted, convoluted web of anxiety and fear was the complex way. How was he supposed to feel when meeting his boyfriend's parents? They were the people who had raised him. The people who had shaped him into the person that he had become in his adult years. They were the people who, ultimately, would approve or disapprove of him. It didn’t matter if Katsuki liked him. It mattered if he gave a good impression on them. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t.

“They’re just my parents, Deku,” Katsuki groused. But he didn’t shake away Izuku’s hand, which made the shorter of the two smile. “I don’t know what you’re getting worked up about. They’re nothin’ special.”

“They’re not ‘just your parents’ . They’re important, and I have no idea how to impress them or even make them like me,” he bemoaned. It only earned a sly smirk and a few chuckles from his boyfriend. “Why are you laughing at my pain and suffering, Kacchan?”

“Sorry not sorry, Freckles. It’s fuckin’ funny. The old man and the hag aren’t anything to get this bent out of shape over,” Katsuki said.

Izuku pouted slightly. It was something to get bent out of shape over. He’d been dating Katsuki since mid-May. It was now the end of June, and they had just decided to meet each other’s parents. Seeing as his parents lived a heckuva lot farther away from the school than Katsuki’s parents, they decided to visit Izuku’s parents over his birthday weekend. It would kill multiple birds with one stone, visiting for his birthday and introducing his boyfriend, among other things. Of course, Kacchan had fought him on the date a little bit, but he’d eventually conceded. They’d decided to have dinner with the Bakugous first. That meeting was tonight. That meeting was about to be absolutely terrifying.

Izuku couldn’t exactly assume it would go well based on the result of the phone conversation his boyfriend had had with his mother. He’d called just last week to try and get the plans in motion. From the sound of it, it didn’t go well. There seemed to be a lot of yelling, and seeing as his hearing aids wouldn’t pick up the small sounds coming from the blond’s phone, he’d only heard the one half of the conversation. But. Katuski had yelled. A lot. At his mother. Many choice words had been said, and that didn’t lead Izuku to believe that this would go just fine , as the other had insisted it would. He was nervous and worried and a boatload of other emotions despite Katsuki’s assurances that absolutely nothing would go wrong.

Katsuki breathed out a sigh beside him, and his fingers tightened around Izuku’s. “They’re not going to hate you, Izuku,” his boyfriend said. “I think they’re really going to fuckin’ like you, actually.”

“Ugh. I just can’t help but be worried,” he mumbled. “I think it’s just my nerves getting to me. It has to be the nerves.”

“Well, you best get those damn fuckin’ nerves in check soon, nerd, ‘cause we’re just around the corner.”

Izuku’s heart rate spiked. His nerves only managed to increase. They’d very clearly moved from the middle-class area of the town to the more affluent portion. The houses went from modest to large and elegant. Izuku could feel his hands sweating already, his heart rate picking up. He was a nervous wreck.

He glanced at the small bouquet of wildflowers he’d picked up at the market back in Musutafu and suddenly, they looked shrimpy in comparison.

“Kacchan, do you think the flowers are enough? Should I have brought them something else?” he asked, his voice small.

“No. They’re fine. The old hag will love them,” he said. “Stop worrying. It’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“No, but I’m not worried for your sake. I’m worried for my own.”

“Why?”

Katsuki snorted. “You’ll see when you meet them.”

They walked up to a nice-looking house with stone fences and hedges surrounding it. The walls themselves were a light tan brick. It was large with curved, green roofs and big windows right out front. It wasn’t anything too crazy, but Izuku still felt intimidated by it for some reason. This was his boyfriend’s childhood home. This is where he’d grown up. It was far better the circumstances he and his mother had had when he was growing up.

“Don’t overthink it, nerd,” he said. “I’m sure the hag is gonna love you, but insist on making my life a living hell.”

Katsuki led him up the path to the house. Izuku’s grip tightened around the blonds, and in return, his boyfriend tightened his reassuringly. They were in this together. They could do this. This was going to be okay. Izuku held up the flower in front of his chest as Katsuki knocked on the wooden door roughly. If his parents weren’t anywhere nearby, he was sure that they’d still hear it from across the house.

Sure enough, Izuku heard footsteps from behind. The door swung open to reveal two people. The first that caught his eye was a taller, stockier man with brown hair, glasses, and a thin mustache on his upper lip. He seemed very homely with a soft smile on his lips. He assumed this was Bakugou Masaru, Katsuki’s father. The second person reminded him of the person whose fingers were interlaced with his own. She was shorter than her husband with shoulder-length, spiky blond hair just like her sons. That wasn’t where the resemblance ended, either. Her eyes were the same shade of crimson as her sons and the same ambitious grin. This was Katsuki’s mother, Bakugou Mitsuki.

“Ah, Katsuki. You’re early,” Masaru-san said, his tone of voice matching his soft appearance.

“It’s about time he showed up to something on time,” Bakugou Mitsuki-san said.

She had the same hints of sarcasm in her voice that were similar to her sons. She then turned to Izuku with a kind smile that Izuku found intense rather than relaxing. He had no idea how to act around her. Usually, he just gave back whatever sarcasm Kacchan dealt, but he couldn’t do that with his mother .

“You must be Katsuki’s boyfriend.”

The greenette bowed to both elders in front of him. “Y-Yes, ma’am. My name is Midoriya Izuku,” he said sincerely, hoping the shake in his voice wouldn’t translate through. “It’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Izuku,” Masaru-san said, taking on the use of his first name. It made things familiar, comfortable, relaxed. The older man must have sensed all of Izuku’s bleeding apprehensions and worries, because he gave him an easy smile and gestured for both young adults to enter the house. “Well, let’s not stand outside all afternoon. I’ve got tea on, and your mother made mochi.”

“Tryin’ to poison us, huh?” the younger blond grumbled.

The greenette shot his boyfriend a glare that said ‘be nice’. “I’m sure she’s not going to poison us, Kacchan. Don’t be mean.”

When Katsuki only snorted in response, a breath of relief rushed past Izuku’s lips. He did not want any more confrontation so early on into the visit. They all went inside. Once their shoes were taken off and replaced with slippers, they all made their way to a spacious living room that was full of natural light from the windows.

“Oh, Bakugou-san,” Izuku said, looking at Mitsuki-san. “I brought these for you.”

He held out the flowers to the woman, a happy smile gracing his freckled features. She blinked at him one, twice, three times before her features morphed into a look of pleasant surprise. She took them from him and looked over them fondly.

“Thank you, Izuku. These are lovely.” A pause, and then. “You know, you never give me flowers, Katsuki,” she quipped. “Your boyfriend is a gentleman, unlike you, brat.”

“Get bent, old hag!” Katsuki snapped.

His mother immediately cuffed him over the head for the remark. A challenging grin spread across her lips, and it all suddenly clicked in Izuku’s head. So that’s what he’d meant. From the look of it, Katsuki and his mother butted heads. Everything was a competition between the two, which would explain Katsuki’s love for winning. Mitsuki-san would That much was apparent from the first four minutes of their meeting. 

Rather than feed into the competition that was surely brewing between the mother and son duo, Izuku instead interrupted it.

“Is there anything I can help you with, Bakugou-san?” he asked, looking at Masaru.

The brunette offered him an exasperated smile in response to his family members and nodded. “I’m sure I could find something. Let’s go into the kitchen.”

“You’re leaving me with her?” Katsuki roared, as he flopped down on the couch.

“You haven’t visited us in how long, and now you don’t even want to be around me?” Mitsuki-san said with a huff as she sat down on the couch opposite her son. “What gives?”

Before he could get any deeper involved, Izuku slipped out of the room with Masaru-san into the kitchen so they could prepare the afternoon tea.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Right off the bat, Izuku found that he liked Katsuki’s father, Masaru-san. He was a quiet man, for the most part, but he was also witty. The little things that he said had Izuku smiling and giggling. They had a wholesome conversation about Katsuki’s childhood while they were in the kitchen, preparing tea.

“So, did you know he’d always become a chef?” Izuku asked as he carefully moved the steaming teapot to the tray they were taking to the living room. It was already full of cups, sugar, and the mochi Mitsuki-san had made.

“Oh, yeah,” Masaru-san said. There was a wistful smile on his features. “Care to hear a story?”

“Of course! Anything to find out more about Kacchan,” Izuku said, a hint of red showing up behind his freckles. “He doesn’t like to tell me anything remotely embarrassing, and his entire childhood apparently falls under that category.”

“Sounds like him,” the brunette said. “Where to begin...”

Masaru-san scratched his chin lightly as he leaned against the countertop. He was silent for a moment or two before a look of inspiration spread across his features, as if to say ‘aha’ .

“He used to set up all of his stuffed animals at the dining table,” Masaru said fondly. “With his plastic playfood. He’d make these extravagant three-course meals for them, and tell them that if they didn’t tell him he was, and I quote, ‘the best god-damn chef that ever lived, he’d throttle them.' ”

A full, boisterous laugh built itself up in Izuku’s belly before it released itself into the kitchen. He could imagine a four-year-old Katsuki traipsing around the house, making orders of his stuffed animals. Pretending that he was amazing even then. Surely, he hadn’t known he’d become just that. The most amazing person to walk into a room... Izuku thought the world of him.

“Well, obviously, they couldn’t respond to him, so they usually ended up getting chuckled at our dining room walls or hanging from the chandelier,” Masaru-san concluded, a small smile playing on his lips.

Izuku gasped in mock surprise. “Those poor stuffed animals!”

“We’re proud of him, though,” Masaru-san said. “He’s done so much, anything he’s put his mind to so far, and he’s proven himself very capable. On top of that, he brought you home, and from what I can tell, you’re pretty outstanding yourself.”

The greenette’s eyes grew wide from shock. Masaru-san was basically saying that he approved of him, and that left him astounded. He hadn’t expected to earn any seals of approval or any forms of acknowledgement on his first visit, but Katsuki’s father seemed willing to give it. He could already feel the irrationally emotional tears forming in the corners of his viridian eyes. He wiped at them quickly, before fixing Masaru-san with a fierce, confident smile.

“Thank you, sir,” he said kindly. “I really appreciate it.”

“I think that you’ll make Katsuki happy,” Masaru-san continued. “He needs a little bit of carefree happiness in his life, and you seem to be just that. Just don’t let his attitude drive you away. He’s sweet underneath all of those layers he’s got, if you can get past them.”

Izuku smiled to himself. He wanted to do everything in his power to make his boyfriend happy, and he wasn’t going to go anywhere because he had a bit of a rough exterior, not when everything deep down was so golden .

“I’m not going anywhere, Bakugou-san,” Izuku said confidently. “I’m here for the long haul, no matter what he throws at me. Literally.”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Izuku returned to the living shortly after his heart to heart with Katsuki’s father, carrying the try of tea. He set it down on the coffee table between the sofas and then sat down beside his boyfriend. The blond sighed heavily in what seemed to be relief.

“Save me from the crone, Deku,” Katsuki grumbled.

The gremlin snatched up his hand and interlaced their fingers together as soon as Izuku was beside him. Seeing as they were so rare, the small display of affection from him made Izuku’s heart soar to what he thought were unattainable heights.

“What the fuck, brat? You can’t even call your own fucking boyfriend by his name? Hah? Where did you get that from? I didn’t raise you that way!”

Considering the pair's affinity for nicknames, Izuku couldn’t help but find the fallacy in her statement. Of course, he said nothing, opting to be the pacifist instead.

“Stuff it, old hag! Nobody asked you!”

“Kacchan, you really shouldn’t call her an old hag! That’s rude!” he admonished. “Besides, she’s really pretty. She looks nothing like an old hag.”

“Looks like an old hag to me.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then that solidifies my point that you’re a gremlin, considering you two look alike,” he said coyly.

Across from him, Mitsuki snorted out a laugh. Katsuki began grumbling irritated responses under his breath that Izuku couldn’t quite make out.

“Where did you find him, brat? I like him already.”

“Why don’t you ask him?”

“He’s my roommate,” Izuku said happily, ignoring Katsuki’s jab.

“Katsuki didn’t tell us that,” Masaru-san said amicably.

“He didn’t tell us anything about you,” Mitsuki-san said.

“Well, what the fuck is the point of meeting him if I tell you everything about him beforehand?” Katsuki grumbled.

“He’s got a point, Mitsuki,” Masaru-san said. “So why don’t you tell us about yourself, Izuku. We need to get to know the man that our son is dating.”

Izuku mulled over his words for a moment. He honestly had no idea where to begin. There was a lot to tell about himself, but he figured he’d stick with the basics, lest he start rambling and muttering. It was easy to get himself into that rabbit hole if he wasn’t careful. Instead of responding right away, he busied himself with serving everyone tea. Once he’d managed to stall long enough to gather his thoughts, he took a sip of his tea for good measure.

“I’m majoring in art, specifically illustrations, and minoring in writing,” he said. “I want to write children’s books and illustrate them myself. At least that’s the goal.”

Masaru-san clapped his hands, pleased. “Well, the creativity is definitely appreciated in this household,” he said. “My wife and I are fashion designers.”

“Kacchan told me! I think that’s amazing!” he exclaimed animatedly. “I’m sure that’s where Kacchan gets his sense of fashion. I’m not the best with it. He usually has to help pick out what I wear for dates.”

“We’re actually looking for models for a few of our upcoming shoots,” Mistuki-san said. “And you’re actually the perfect candidate. So, if you’re looking for a part-time job, our studio is always open to you. We’d pay you, of course. And, you can keep any of the things that you model.”

Izuku nodded eagerly. “I’d love to! It would definitely help put my face out into the world for when I want to start publishing.”

Beside him, his boyfriend mumbled something, and Izuku couldn’t help but shoot him a look with an added eye-roll. “You know it’s hard to hear you when you mumble, Kacchan.”

“Fuckin’ deaf ass,” the blond groused. “I said ‘that, and your sense of fashion needs all the help it can fuckin’-’”

“Katsuki, don’t be rude.”

“What do you mean, old man?”

Izuku furrowed his brows in question as he looked at Katsuki’s father. Kacchan hadn’t said anything that was out of the ordinary for his usual behavior, so he was surprised that his father was actually correcting him. From what he could tell, that was typically his mother’s job. The older man twisted his hands together as he struggled to find the words he was looking for. Finally, he seemed to settle on the honest truth.

“Katsuki told us one thing about you,” Masaru-san admitted. “He asked us not to mention it because...”

“Because I know that you don’t like when people refer to you as the deaf guy rather than just as yourself,” he said with a shrug. “You’re not deaf before you’re a person. You’re Izuku, the guy who happens to be deaf. Not anything else.”

Izuku blinked at him a few times before a watery smile formed on his lips. Tears collected in the corners of his eyes again. He joined his hand with his boyfriends once again, and gave it a tight squeeze as if to say ’thank you’ .

“Which is why I’m curious about you calling him a ‘deaf ass’ , considering everything you just said, that is,” Mitsuki-san snapped. “You know better than to say something like that.”

“Because I’m not gonna let him slide for not paying attention,” he said. “Nerd has to learn to pay attention. He’s got a big brain, he can use it.”

“Speaking of things you both can use...” Mitsuki-san said just as Izuku took a sip of his tea. “Let’s talk about condoms.”

And suddenly, all of the tea he’d just been prepared to swallow down took a wrong turn and went straight for his lungs. Izuku set the cup down as he hacked out a lung into his elbow. He was not expecting that to come out of his boyfriend’s mother’s mouth. They hadn’t told her anything about their sex life, so she couldn’t possibly know. She had to be assuming things.

A watery-eyed glance over at Masaru-san showed that he hadn’t been expecting the conversation, either. He was just as teary eyed and red-faced as Izuku was sure he was. Mitsuki-san had thrown them all for a loop.

As soon as both the greenette and the brunette had gotten over their coughing fits - with the painful aid of Katsuki’s fist on his back - they were able to resume the... Awkward conversation.

“Are you sure we should be having this conversation with them, dear?” Masaru-san asked, almost pleading with his wife to simply change the conversation. “They are adults.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t tell my kid and his boyfriend to practice safe sex,” Mitsuki-san said with a flippant shrug of her shoulders.

Izuku was mortified. Katsuki was pissed.

“ Mom! ” Katsuki roared. “We are not having this conversation.”

“We might as well! I just want you to be safe ,” she said. “You already dorm together. You’re bound to get to the birds and the bees, if you haven’t already!”

“I do not need gay sex advice from my very heterosexual mother!”

“Hey, kid, I’ve been around-”

“ Mom! ”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Thankfully, the rest of the evening passed by without an issue. Dinner was a normal affair - well, as normal as one could get in the Bakugou household where spicy food reigned supreme and mother and son bickered across the table. He exchanged his number with both of Katsuki’s parents so they could contact him with job opportunities down the line. They even said that they might be doing a clothing line for people with disabilities in the near future, if he was interested.

He helped Mitsuki-san clean up the post dinner dishes while Katsuki talked with his father. She washed, and he dried, all in a comfortable silence until...

“I promise, he’s a good kid,” Mitsuki-san said softly, the softest Izuku had heard her the entire evening. “He’s rough around the edges, but that’s because of what he’s gone through to achieve his dreams.”

Izuku smiled fondly to himself as he dried the plate in his hands. “I know. Honestly, I think anyone else would have been scared off by now, Bakugou-san,” he said. “But he’s just got this something that brings me closer, you know?”

She nodded beside him. “I know,” she said. “I hope I’m not jumping the gun or anything, but... I never thought he’d actually do it.”

“What do you mean? He’s a great cook! Of course he can become a chef,” the greenette said.

“No, not that, Izuku,” she responded. “I never thought he’d bring someone home. You must be really special to him if he thought you were worth bringing home to meet us.”

“Either that, or he wanted to scare me away,” Izuku said with a lighthearted laugh.

“Did he?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so. You seem to be a pretty sturdy kid,” she said. “You know, I’ve never seen him look at someone the way he looks at you.”

“How does he look at me?”

“Like you are his entire world, I suppose.”

Izuku’s breath hitched. Had that observation come from anyone else, the greenette wouldn’t have thought twice of it. But having it come from Mitsuki-san, his boyfriend's mother, it meant more. She’d watched him grow up. She knew his personality deeper than anyone else he knew. She had that motherly insight that he lacked. A window to his soul that he’d been barred to before.

He tucked that information away in his mind, happy to keep it just between the pair of them. For now, at least.

“Oh, and Izuku?”

“Yes?”

“Call us okaasan and otoosan, okay?” she said.

Izuku nodded sheepishly. It was nice that they’d both taken to him so well. They were kind to him, and made him feel welcome. Especially since he and Katsuki were gay. Sure, it was a lot more common these days, but still. It wasn’t uncommon. He’d dated a guy in high school whose parents were raging homophobes. He and Katsuki were so fortunate to be surrounded by such loving and accepting people.

“Thank you,” he said, a grateful expression spreading on his freckled features. “I will.”

It was after sunset by the time he and Katsuki started their walk back to the train station, hands linked together.

“I hope my fuckin’ extra ass parents didn’t scare you away,” Katsuki grumbled. Even though it was dark, Izuku knew there was a wild blush of embarrassment smattered across his cheeks.

“No,” Izuku hummed. “I like them.”

“You do? How the fuck-?”

The greenette stopped on the sidewalk and turned to face Katsuki, a brilliant smile spreading across his features. He stood up on his tippy toes and gave the blond a light peck on the lips.

“They made you, didn’t they, Kacchan?” he asked. “What’s not to like?”

Katsuki

He was such a fucking sucker. He didn’t know how the fuckin’ nerd did it. How the fuck did he always manage to get Katsuki to do exactly what he wanted? He didn’t even need anyone else to answer that fucking question. He already knew. He was fucking whipped . Somehow, instead of taking his boyfriend on a romantic date for his twenty-first birthday, he’d been convinced to meet his parents.

And somehow, Izuku had left out a few bits of key information in the ‘introduction to my parents’ package, which would have really prepared him for the visit as a whole. That whole list Katsuki gave him that warned Deku for his crazy mother and pretty laid back pops. Yeah. No. He didn’t get that. He was told that his mother was ‘sweet’ and his step-dad was pretty cool, but he referred to him as ‘dad’. To Izuku, that was who he was, he had said. Other than that, there was no introduction to the way he lived growing up or how bad his folks would accost him. Nothing. Zip. Nada.

He quickly realized what a fucking crock of shit that was. For starters, Izuku’s home wasn’t what he’d said it was.

And he blamed that all on his boyfriend’s nerves. He’d decided he was going to tell his parents what happened at that fucking party. Ever since then, anytime they mentioned his parent’s house or his birthday, he became this pensive fucking mess. But he wasn’t gonna let the small fry get off the hook this time.

“Deku, this isn’t an apartment . This is a condo , you idiot,” he hissed as they went into the elevator that led to the upper floors of the building.

This place was fuckin’ nice. Of course, his parents' home was considered the better option of the two because of the privacy and the space but, the highrise that they were walking into in the middle of Tokyo was definitely not what he’d expected when Deku had said apartment . On the contrary, he’d expected something nice and homely, just as Izuku presented himself to be. This was fuckin’ grand. He was not mentally prepared for this. He expected Deku’s parents to be just like him. Soft and quiet and rays of fuckin’ sunshine. Not this. He didn’t know what to expect of them now? And maybe he was jumping to conclusions, but the greenette had literally given him nothing to go off of .

“They’re not the same?” the idiot asked.

“No!” he said with a huff. “Condos are typically fuckin’ nicer and more expensive, espeically when they’re in the middle of fuckin’ Tokyo. You own them. You don’t rent them.”

“Oh. Right. Yeah. Forgot to mention some things about my family,” he said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. “If you want, I can give a run down.”

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at the greenette. “The fuck do you mean, short shit? You haven’t told me jack shit. We’re in the elevator going up. Now isn’t the time to tell your family’s life story.”

“Well, you see-”

Just as the doors of the elevator were closing, an arm shot through to stop it. A man stepped onto the elevator, and Katsuki was about to bite out a retort, when he realized just who that person was. Someone he never imagined he’d meet in the flesh. The actor that played his and Izuku’s favorite superhero, All Might, growing up. Yagi Toshinori. He was gobsmacked. How the hell did Deku live in the same building as fucking Yagi Toshinori? Was this building really that high end? He glanced at the greenette beside him who had just taken into account who the fuck had just walked onto the elevator with them.

Deku let out an ear-piercing squeal of delight. Green and greyish-blond blurred together beside him as his boyfriend wrapped his arms around the tall, muscular frame of the actor.

“Deku, what the-”

“Izu! I thought I was going to beat you home!” Yagi said with a laugh, his voice booming throughout the small space.

To his utter fucking surprise, he was hugging Deku back. Yagi fucking Toshinori was hugging his boyfriend as if it were an everyday fucking occurence.

“She’s going to kill me. She had me run and grab a bottle of sake for tonight, and told me to hurry back, but you know how it is when I leave the house. I can’t walk down the street without being recognized by at least one person...”

Suddenly, the actor paused, finally taking into account Katsuki, standing surprised beside the hugging pair. He cleared his throat and lowered his arms from around Izuku. It took his space cadet of a boyfriend a solid three seconds to let go himself.

“Kacchan! I was just about to tell you, but I guess now’s as good of a time as any,” he said, scratching the back of his head once more. His cheeks were flushed in embarrassment. “This is my dad, Yagi Toshinori.”

Katsuki’s jaw hit the floor. His dad? Why the fuck hadn’t Izuku told him this before when they’d been bingeing the classic TV series or even when he commented on the poster on his wall. That would have been some pretty good fucking information. He wouldn’t have been blindsided upon meeting the guy, staring at him like a deer caught in headlights. Right. Fuck. Upon realizing that he was still staring, Katsuki quickly snapped his jaw shut. He really needed to make a good impression, so he bowed. He never fuckin’ bowed, but seeing as how all of his mental preparation went right out the fuckin’ window...

“It’s nice to meet you,” he said in his most respectful tone that he usually reserved for his grandparents and only his grandparents. “I’m Bakugou Katsuki, Izuku’s boyfriend. It’s nice to meet you, Sir.”

Beside him, Izuku looked at him as if he’d grown a third eye or something. What? He could be respectful if he so pleased... Just because he didn’t take shit from his own parents didn’t mean that he was going to be rude to Izuku’s. He did need to make a good impression on them, and cursing out his legend of a step-dad was a really bad idea. It’d win him a one-way ticket to the shit lit, he assumed.

“It’s nice to meet you, young Bakugou,” the older man said, and internally, Katsuki screamed. That was something that his character, All Might, always did in the show. He tacked on the young in front of surnames. It was actually really common, but it was an All Might staple. And Yagi had called him that. So, commence the internal fanboy screaming that he was swearing high and low to himself that Deku would never see.

“The pleasure is mine,” Katsuki said politely.

That quickly seemed to put Deku at his limits because - “Who are you, and what have you done with my abrasive, grumpy gremlin of a boyfriend?”

Katsuki shot him a glare. “I can be nice when I need to be.”

A large hand belonging to Yagi fell down on top of Deku’s head, flattening those green curls just a little bit. “Don’t worry, Izuku. I’m sure he just wants to make a good impression.”

“Yeah, but a weird one,” Deku mumbled.

Katsuki snorted before he flicked the greenette on the tip of his nose. That earned a surprised look from the latter. “Shut it, nerd. I’ll go back to 

The elevator dinged, signalling that they’d arrived on the floor of Deku’s home. The three men stepped out, with Yagi leading the way to the Yagi-Midoriya residence. Once there, Yagi unlocked the door, and gestured for the pair to enter.

“Toshinori? Is that you?” a feminine voice called from another room in the condo.

“Yes, dear,” he called back. “I found Izu and his boyfriend, Katsuki, on the way up, though.”

An excited hum filtered over to them.

“Izu, help young Bakugou feel at home,” he said. “I’ve got to give this to your mother.”

As the tall, graying blond slipped into another part of the condo, Katsuki released a heavy sigh of relief. God, that man was intimidating, and he didn’t have to even try. Beside him, the nerd giggled.

“I thought meeting parents was nothing to get bent out of shape over,” he said playfully.

“What do you fucking mean, nerd?” he hissed back, careful not to let his voice carry. “Your dad is Yagi fuckin’ Toshinori!”

I“To me, he’s just my dad. He’s been with my mom since I was eleven,” Deku said with a shrug. “He’s actually the reason we were able to get me hearing aids and all of the other commodities to make my speech understandable, like therapy. Otherwise, I never would have been able to hear your grumpy gremlin voice.”

Katsuki snorted, which made the nerd laugh. “Well, this grumpy fuckin’ gremlin thinks you’re a damn nerd,” he groused. “You have a signed poster of your dad on your wall. Holy shit. We had-”

“Sex on the bed with the colors of the superhero my dad played on it. Holy-”

“Get in the door, you two!” Yagi called.

“We’ll talk about that later, Kacchan,” Deku said, scratching the back of his head.

Katsuki nodded in response as they removed their shoes. They made their way out of the front hall into the rest of the condo. Just one look at it had the blond impressed. It was large with an open-concept layout. From where they stood as they entered, Katsuki could see the kitchen, dining room, and living room. A woman, who Katsuki assumed to be Deku’s mother, stood by the stove. She was a plump, kindly looking woman with the same shade of green hair as Izuku.

Huh. After all this time, he’d been under the impression that his boyfriend dyed it. He didn’t realize that it was some weird genetic anomaly that he and his mother had to share. The pair not only had the same colored hair, but also the same round cheeks. His mother’s, however, were lacking the freckles that Izuku so characteristically wore.

The woman put down her cooking utensils and turned to the pair. “Izuku! It’s so good to see you!” said with a smile that had just as much sunshine within it as Deku’s. “And you must be Katsuki. It’s good to meet you. I’m Midoriya Inko, but you can just call me Auntie.”

He nodded and followed Izuku into the kitchen so they could be closer to his mother. The two embraced in a tight hug, Deku’s short frame actually dwarfing the woman. He never thought he’d see the day when he found someone shorter than his boyfriend.

“Happy birthday, baby,” Auntie cooed to the greenette in her arms. “It’s so good to have you both over here...”

“So, Bakugou, my boy! Come sit, and tell me about yourself!” Toshinori said as he walked into the room.

Katsuki gratefully turned to Yagi. He was single handedly saving him from an awkward moment of watching his boyfriend hug his mother while bursting into tears. He didn’t need to encroach on that shit. That was their own time.

Both blonds sat down in the living room, Yagi taking an armchair and Katsuki sitting down on one of the two sofas that the couple had there. For such a small family, it really was spacious...

“So, ah, what do you want to know?” Katsuki asked, blinking a couple of times. He felt like a fucking deer caught in headlights. He had no fucking clue what to do with himself, with his hands. He felt awkward and out of place, which he fucking hated.

“Let’s start simple, I suppose,” Yagi said with a resounding clap of his hands. “What are you majoring in?”

“Culinary arts,” he said simply.

“Oh! So you want to be a chef?”

“That’s the plan. I eventually want to open up my own restaurant down the line,” he said. “Nothing huge. Just a small place, a mom and pop shop, that everyone loves because it has kick-ass food.”

Yagi chuckled. “Kick-ass food is always good.”

Katsuki blinked at Yagi’s use of his phrase, and then he realized. He’d already failed at the ‘I’m not gonna curse while I’m here’ shtick. He pursed his lips for a moment. “Shit, sorry,” he said. “Uh, ah. Yeah. I swear a lot.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that,” Yagi said. “Language is all dependent on how you use it. If you don’t use it to curse at my wife, then I think you and I will be perfectly fine.”

His eyes grew wide. “I, uh, I never intended on that, Sir,” he stammered. God. He felt so fucking intimidated.

But all of that intimidation was shattered as soon as Yagi released another one of his booming laughs. Amidst it, Katsuki let out a breath of relief. It was a joke. Just a fucking joke. One that Katsuki had taken way too seriously. He really needed to relax. How did he tell Deku this was fucking easy ? He took back every word of it. Meeting fucking parents was intimidating, and he fucking hated it. He wanted to get past this part and get to the point where they loved him already.

“Tell me more about yourself. Izuku was vague when called,” Yagi eventually said once his laughter died down. “Which is unusual, because that boy can surely talk your ear off.”

Katsuki could agree with that wholeheartedly, but he wasn’t going to open that can of worms. Deku could do that when he was ready.

“Uh. Well, obviously, I’m Izuku’s roommate,” he said. “I like sports and running. I run just about everyday if I can.”

“I did my fair share of that in college, too,” Yagi said. “I still do these days, but early in the morning. It’s easier to get around that way.”

“Yeah, the life of a celebrity is no fuckin’ joke,” he said. “Honestly, I’m surprised he never said anything. We’ve binge watched the original TV series together already.”

Yagi’s lips curled into a wistful smile. “He’s modest to a fault, his mother always said. Never liked to brag about anything because he understood how it was to come from nothing.”

Katsuki furrowed his brows at this. That would honestly... Make a lot of sense. The greenette never bragged about his prowess with art. He didn’t flaunt how strong he was. He never said a word about his family. He was very reserved about everything unless they were competing... And even then-

He was pulled from his thoughts as said greenette walked into the room with his mother on his arm.

“I don’t see why this can’t wait until I finish cooking, Izu,” she said without any real strength behind her confused words.

The blond looked at his boyfriend, but the dark expression on his features said everything. They were having that conversation, weren’t they? He had said he’d wanted to get it done early, but they’d hardly been in the door for five minutes... All things considered, though, Katsuki couldn’t blame him. He’d been withholding this information from his parents for two and a half months. Sure, he was there whenever the nerd needed him, but he could only do so much. And based on the nerd’s relationship with his folks, he could never replace what good talking to his parents would do. He couldn’t imagine the weight on his shoulders right now.

“I want to get this done so that things can go back to being happy,” Deku said, his hands twisting together.

He sat down beside Katsuki in a defeated sort of huff, and the blond immediately reached for his hand. He couldn’t have the fuckin’ nerd giving up already. He’d told him he’d be here to make sure he saw this through, and he fuckin’ meant it. If holding his hand did anything, he knew it made Izuku happy.

“Aren’t they already happy? Izuku, baby, what’s going on?” his mother asked, her tone filled with worry. “Is everything okay at school? You didn’t get into trouble, did you?”

Katsuki watched his boyfriend shake his head, a distant look on his face. He squeezed the hand in his. Viridian eyes connected with crimson. The faintest, more sincere smile appeared on his own lips just for Izuku’s sake. It was there as if to say ‘you can do this’ or ‘I believe in you’ . Izuku returned that tiny smile.

“I don’t know where to start. It’s a lot. There’s a lot going on in my head. I don’t know what I should tell you right away. How I should start. It’s a mess. I’m a mess. And I don’t want to disappoint them or have them pull me out of school. I just want it to go away, even though I know it really never will. It just sucks and like. Ugh. Where do I even begin to tell them about this...?”

“Izuku, son, we can hear you thinking over there,” Yagi interrupted with that loud voice of his.

Deku’s eyes grew as wide as saucers as they landed on his parents, who now sat together on the couch across from the younger couple. “I wasn’t muttering again, was I?”

Katsuki shook his head. “Welcome back to Earth Space Cadet,” he joked with a slight roll of his eyes and a light, calming tone. “Breathe for me, ‘kay? It’ll help. Psyching yourself out won’t help.”

Deku nodded beside him, took a deep breath, and leveled his gaze on his parents. Katsuki squeezed his hand one last time for emotional support and reassurance.

“Kacchan and I went to a party back in May,” he started. It was probably the best way to start. Just set the scene. You can do this, Deku . “And we got separated. I was really drunk, and...”

He could already see the tears forming in Deku’s eyes. They crowded there as if they were desperate to spill over. Katsuki was sure that they were. God. He hated hearing this story again. He hated it so fucking much, and he hoped that this would be one of the last times that Izuku had to tell it. The nerd had already gone through too fuckin’ much. He didn’t need to continue to add this to his plate. As he’d said. He wanted to get over this. He wanted it to go away.

“I didn’t have my hearing aids in because it was too loud with the music. And...” 

The greenette stopped, the tears rolling down his cheeks full force now. His words were cut off. Katsuki could see his chest constricting as he tried to force himself to be calm. Once again, he squeezed the freckled hand in his grasp. With all of these memories so fresh, he was surprised that Deku had gotten this far. It was the farthest he’d gotten when talking about it thus far. He was proud of him, proud that he could face this head on.

When he continued, he didn’t speak. Instead, he dropped Katsuki’s hand, raised both of his own, and began to sign. Which Katsuki understood. At least, bits and pieces of it, and the rest he could fill in the blanks. He’d been taking that six week course Kirishima and Ashido had told him about. He’d only done it for Deku, so he could continue to communicate with him even if he couldn’t hear. He always wanted to be able to listen to the dork.

“Some guy said he was going to help me. He carried me upstairs because I was too much of a mess to walk. He brought me to where I thought there would be a bathroom. Instead, he brought me to a bedroom,” Deku signed. 

And Katsuki refused to take his eyes off of him, despite the horrified gasp from Auntie. She had to of put together the pieces already. She had to know where this was going.

“When I tried to get up to leave, I passed out from the dizziness. I can’t remember anything else, but Katsuki,” Deku signed, looking at him now with his tear-streaked face.

Katsuki’s heart shattered at the purely broken look of him. He never wanted him to feel that way again. Trapped. Powerless. Used. Broken. He didn’t want that for his ray of sunshine.

“Katsuki stopped him before he could do anything. The guy only got my pants off. He tried to rape me, mom.”

The last few signs seemed hesitant, as if the greenette was embarrassed to admit the extent to which he was nearly raped. He didn’t want that for him. He didn’t want him to feel like he was to blame. Katsuki had been trying to get that through that thick, useless skull of his, and apparently it was all to no avail. So instead of bashing the idea over his head again in front of his parents, Katsuki did the next best thing. He pulled the nerd into a hug. As soon as the nerd was pulled against his chest, he erupted into sobs that continued to chip away at Katsuki’s broken heart.

“Oh, I-Izuku,” Auntie said, her voice cracking. He allowed his eyes to shift over to her now. She was just as tear-streaked as the man who was sobbing in his arms, the arms of her husband circling her.

When it was made certain that the petite woman wouldn’t say anything more, Yagi stepped in. “Did either of you contact the police?” he asked.

Katsuki shook his head, taking over the logistical portions from here. Izuku was too much of a wreck. “The laws here are so convoluted. It makes it insane to get victims any sort of help,” he said softly as he rubbed his boyfriend’s back in a circular motion which he’d never normally show to anyone. Only for Izuku did he drop these walls... “Yeah, sure, we had witnesses and all that, but it would have been fuckin’ difficult either way. It would be too much pain for him. So, ultimately, he decided not to.”

The information seemed to press hard on both of Deku’s parents. Yagi sat pensively, with a distraught look on his face and his fingers steepled beneath his chin. Auntie, on the other hand, ripped herself off of the couch and threw her arms around both of them. Katsuki was stunned. He didn’t know why he was being grouped into this. He felt way out of fuckin’ place as Auntie Inko whispered assurances into the crown of his head. It wasn’t until she turned to him with her watery gaze that he understood.

“Thank you for saving him.”

It took another fifteen minutes for Izuku and Auntie to calm themselves down enough to speak again. And when he’d finally gotten ahold of himself after a multitude of hugs, Izuku excused himself to go to the bathroom. That left Katsuki alone with both of his boyfriend’s parents. His shoulder slumped as soon as he heard the bathroom door shut.

“I need to apologize to you both,” he said. “I shouldn’t have let him out of my sight, and as soon as I fuckin’ did, he got hurt. I can understand if either of you think less of me.”

He chanced a glance at the two elders across from him. Neither of their gazes held any form of malice.

“We don’t blame you, young Bakugou,” Yagi said after a moment. “Rather, I think we both appreciate what you did for him.”

“I can’t imagine if...” Inko started, but she didn’t finish. Katsuki didn’t want her to.

“As long as I’m around, I’m not letting shit happen to him,” he said, his voice unwavering. “I’ll do my goddamn best to protect him. I promise.”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

“Ohmygoshyoumadekatsudon!” Deku said in a singular, high pitched breath that made all of the hearing people in the room cringe.

“Breathe between your words, nerd,” Katsuki said as he worked on setting the table.

Auntie was working on plating their food while Izuku brought the completed bowls to the table. Yagi was already seated, waiting for the rest of them.

“But I’m so excited,” he said dreamily as he sashayed across the kitchen to the dining room table.. “You don’t understand how much I love katsudon. Especially my mom’s katsudon. You can’t even make better katsudon than she does.”

He couldn’t help the twitch in his eye at the comment. He was a damn good cook! He’d been cooking since he was a kid. Everything be damned if he couldn’t cook some fucking katsudon. He could do it. He’d probably blow Auntie’s out of the water, too.

“I’ve never had better katsudon than Inko’s either, young Bakugou, and I’ve had cuisine from all over the country,” the older man said sagely. “It’s a fact of life. You won’t beat Inko’s katsudon.”

He couldn’t help but jut out his lower lip ever so slightly at the statement. Fuckin’ shitty Deku and All Might doubting his skills... He’d show them one of these days. He’d make the best god damn katsudon that Izuku ever tasted.

He had to admit after one bite, though, that he had some pretty tough competition. He made sure to ask Auntie for pointers while the pair of them cleaned up the dinner dishes that evening.

“I can’t give you my recipe,” she said coyly. “I don’t need Izu having a favorite other than my own. But I can definitely send you in the right direction so that yours can be a close second.”

He snorted slightly. “I’ll blow your katsudon out of the goddamn water.”

“Sure you will,” Auntie Inko quipped back.

They continued to wash dishes in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Inko washed, and Katsuki dried. When they were nearly done, he decided then was as good of a time as any to get a few things off of his chest.

“Auntie?”

“Hmm?”

“I know I’m pretty rough around the edges, but I care a lot about Izuku,” he said. “I don’t mean anything bad when I call him Deku. And when I curse, I’m not using it to hurt him.”

“I know, Katsuki,” she said, a smile playing on her lips.

“I’m learning sign language for him,” he said quietly, even though he knew the nerd wouldn’t be able to hear him from halfway across the condo. “I haven’t told him yet because I want to get better before I do, but... I thought I’d make the effort for him.”

“Not many people try to make the effort for him,” she said softly. “This world wasn’t made for people like him, people who aren’t always considered to be whole. Most people expect him to live up to their expectations, and it’s not often someone tries to live up to his. So. Thank you. Really.”

Katsuki allowed himself to smile at her words. It was small and hardly there, but it was a smile nonetheless. “No, thank you, Auntie, for letting me be around him. I don’t know what I’d do without him. He makes me whole.”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

He and Deku ended up missing the last train back to the University. They had been too immersed in playing shitty board games that pissed Katsuki off to pay attention to the time. So rather than call a cab, Auntie insisted that they stay.

“I won’t have you two taking a cab back this late at night,” she had insisted. “You can either both stay in Izuku’s room. Or, if you’re uncomfortable, Katsuki, you can always take the guest bedroom.”

He hadn’t been sure if it was a trick question. He didn’t want to come off as too forward by staying with Deku, but his mother had offered... Thankfully, the greenette came to his rescue.

“I think I’d rather have him close by,” Izuku said softly. “I get nightmares still, and having him close helps a lot.”

They hadn’t argued the fact. And now, he and Deku were laid in bed beside one another, their backs pressed up against each other. Despite having already taken out his hearing aids and said his ‘goodnights’ , Katsuki knew Izuku was still awake. The way he clutched tightly to Katsuki with his erratic heartbeat told him that the Space Cadet was far away from Earth right now, lost in his thoughts.

Instead of letting the greenette suffer alone in his thoughts, he shifted in bed, turning to face the freckled man that had become the object of his affections. Words wouldn’t help him in this situation, so he decided to use actions. He big-spooned the shorter man, his arm draped over his waist and his nose in the crook of his neck. He pulled the other closer to him, feeling him relax in his grasp.

This was all he needed to make himself whole.

Inko

21 Years Earlier...

She should have been happy, but her entire world was falling apart. It was in shambles all around her, and she could do nothing to pick up the pieces. Midoriya Inko should have been spending this day with happy tears in her eyes, but she wasn’t. The tears that fell were bitter and sad and broken. Broken... Not because she was alone in a cold, sterile hospital room without her family, even though being alone with her pain, both physical and mental, was terrifying. Not because her husband left her to go celebratory drinking despite her hatred of his alcoholism. Not because she wished she had someone’s hand to hold through all of the news the doctors were delivering to her; she was tough and could handle words if their meaning was detached from them.

No. She cried because her perfect, little baby would suffer because somehow, she had already failed as a mother. There weren’t too many questions to be asked about what had happened. There was a simple answer. Inko had been a smoker, a heavy one at that, but she’d quit as soon as she’d realized she was pregnant. She was already two months into that first trimester by the time she’d found out.

The damage had already been done.

She already failed as a mother. She’d hurt her child before he was even able to defend himself, and it had all been because of her own foolish actions. The weight of it all crashed down on her shoulder.

“No one could have anticipated this, Midoriya,” the doctor said as he laid his hand heavily on her shoulder, making some attempt at comfort. It felt cold and distant. “You did what you could by quitting your habits when you did... But young Midoriya is deaf. There’s nothing you could have done.”

Yes there was. She could have never picked up that dumb cigarette when Hisashi offered it to her in high school. She could have been healthy. She could have been cautious, thinking of her future and her children’s futures. She’d been selfish. Instead, she’d left him a broken child with a disability. Broken...

No . She couldn’t call him that. She couldn’t label him. No. It would only do him more harm. He wasn’t broken. He wasn’t disable. He was her son. He was perfect. He wasn’t broken, and she would never allow herself to call him that. She’d never allow anyone else to call him that. Never .

But instead of voicing any of that, she nodded numbly. “Do you know how bad?”

The doctor shook his head. His lips were pressed into this grave little line that made Inko’s heart sink deeper into her chest. “We won’t know until we do further testing. You have options. Depending on the severity of his hearing loss, there are several different hearing support devices that you-”

The rest of the doctor’s words were lost on her as she stared at the quiet baby that slept in her arms. He had dark green hair just like her own and her husband’s lovely curls. He was still beautiful even though he couldn’t hear her voice. It was then that her mind had decided its resolve. She’d make sure that despite the silence that surrounded him, despite the words he couldn’t hear, he’d know he was loved. She’d do whatever it took to get him to know that.

Because hearing didn’t mean that you couldn’t listen.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

2 Years Later...

Inko did everything that hse could to help Izuku. From the moment she learned he was deaf, she vowed to herself that she’d protect him at all costs. And in order to do that, she needed to arm him with the things that would help him along the way. He needed to have a life that was rich with language. She did her best to provide her son with those experiences so that he’d have the best quality of life that was possible for a child who was deaf.

It was safe to say that, after all of the appropriate testing, her son had sensorineural hearing loss. Hearing loss to components of his inner ear. This type of hearing loss could be helped with the use of hearing support devices, as the doctors had initially suggested to her when Izuku was born. But the expenses were high, and her income was meager at best. Insurance didn’t cover the cost of hearing aides, either. So, instead of taking the easy route, the one that would have made his life easier, she’d spent all of her extra time learning just for him. She’d learned Japanese sign language. She used pronounced facial expressions. She maintained eye contact when she spoke to him. She took him to all of the appropriate specialists because more than anything, she wanted him to be able to communicate. She wanted him to be able to sign and read and write.

Each day, Inko communicated with her little Izu. She god to see his smiles, hear his laughter, and watch him grow into a happy toddler. But while she did this, Hisashi sat there and did nothing.

Inko had just put Izuku to bed and was preparing to leave for her night shift at the hospital. Hisashi sat on the couch with a bottle of sake in his hand, like always. All he did these days was sit in front of that TV and drink his life away. Not once had he tried to find a job since he’d lost his. He never tried to do anything except get drunk. It was getting old really fast.

Inko found a flame of anger burning higher and higher in the pit of her stomach. It was one that had been there once she realized how wrong it was for her husband to have left her there, alone, in the hospital. And it was seeping out of her now. She slammed her work bag down on the counter, which startled the drunk from whatever stupor that he was in.

“What the fuck, Inko?” he slurred.

“When are you going to do something?”

“Do what?” he asked before knocking back the last of his sake. “What are you on about, woman?”

“Oh, I don’t know, anything!” she stated, her voice rising quickly to a shout. She didn’t have to worry about yelling. Izu wouldn’t wake up. Her sweet baby would never know the arguments his parents had in the dead of night whilst he slept soundly. “You haven’t done anything since you got laid off from your job, Hisashi.”

He snorted, looking away from her and back at the TV screen. “I took out the trash yesterday.”

“That was Tuesday! It’s Saturday!”

“Who’s keeping track?”

“I am.”

“Why?”

She stared at him baffled. Why. Why? What the hell did he mean ‘ why’ ? The flames that were building inside of her erupted into a fiery hellscape of emotions and anger.

“ Why? Because you hardly do anything around here!” she roared. “I need you to do something .”

“Like fucking what?”

“Do the dishes. Throw away your beer cans. Find a job. Or, I don’t know, interact with our son!”

“How can I do that when the kid can’t hear me?”

Inko threw up her hands in frustration and signed, “Like this.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“Because you never try! You could have gone to the classes with me,” she raved. “Your mother paid for them and was watching Izuku for us just so we could! But you were too busy getting drunk like you always do, Hisashi!”

“I’m not changing my life around for some broken kid.”

There was that word again. Broken. The one she’d said so many times to herself that night in the hospital... The one she’d sworn she’d never allow to be used to describe her child. Here it was again, his very own father using it to belittle him. Inko wasn’t having any of it.

“Don’t you dare call him that!”

“Why not? He’s broken,” he said, taking a swig of his sake only to find the bottle empty. He stared at it as if it had personally offended him, and Inko snorted. Pathetic.

“Because he’s your son!”

“And you broke him!”

Inko’s body chilled over at his words. She knew he was right. Deep down, even though he was a drunk and an alcoholic and utterly useless, he was right.

“That’s not my f-fault. T-The doctors said that I couldn’t have k-known-” she stammered.

And she couldn’t have. She was a part of that small percentage of women who still got their period when they were pregnant. She hadn’t known until the morning sickness had kicked in, but by then...

“Why not? You go on and on about my drinking,” Hisashi yelled, slamming his empty sake bottle down on the coffee table. “Yet your vice is what caused all of these fucking problems!”

“I-I quit!”

“Too little, too late, Inko,” he said. “The damage is done. He’s broken.”

“He’s not! ”

“And apparently, you’re delusional,” he snapped. “Because you can’t clearly see what’s right in front of your face, Inko. Fuck. You know what? I can’t do this anymore. I can’t. It’s too much. You’re too much. He’s too much. I’m leaving.”

“W-What?” she stammered.

“I want a divorce.”

Inko’s legs felt wobbly beneath her. Everything froze. Her blood ran even colder than it had been before.

“Hisashi, no...” she said softly. “W-We can figure this out.”

But he was shoving his feet in his shoes, grabbing the car keys, and stomping out the door before she could stop him. She sank to the ground and cried more tears of sadness and pain. For her marriage that was in shambles. For herself and her stress. For her son who didn’t deserve to be called broken.

But Inko had to be strong for her child because now, she was the only one there for him, and she promised she’d protect him no matter the cost.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

2 Years Later...

Hisashi came back and left again another two times before Inko followed through with following the paperwork for their divorce. Each time he came back, he promised it wouldn’t happen again. But his promises were always empty. They never helped any real value, and it took her two more years from that initial night to realize it and get out. After that, she’d sold her house before the debt could become too much, found an apartment, and moved on with her life without Hisashi. Well, if one didn’t count his monthly child support checks, of course.

And now, Izuku was starting preschool. Her baby was going to school where, for once, he could interact with other children his age that were also deaf or hard of hearing. Inko had enrolled him in the best school for the education of students who were deaf that she could find near her. Letting him leave into the building that morning had been terrifying. She didn’t know what would happen behind those walls, but she had to trust someone else to protect her baby for that time.

But when she’d picked him up that afternoon, he’d run out of the school full of smiles and laughter.

“Momma!” he signed with imperfect, slow motions and chubby fingers. “I made friends!”

“That’s good, baby! I’m so proud of you,” she replied

Inko felt tears gathering in her eyes before she could stop them. Not tears of fear or worry. But tears of-

“Momma, why are you crying?” Izuku asked.

“Because I’m happy, baby,” she said.

“But you’re crying?”

“Sometimes, people cry when they’re happy, Izu.”

She pulled her son tightly into her arms. A good day in a good school was a minor success in the life of a parent, but to Inko, it felt monumental.

It wasn’t until his third year, when Izuku had been integrated into a general education classroom and the bullying began, that Inko had realized just how naïve she actually was.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Izuku

6 Years Later...

Izuku hated school. He hated it. He hated going onto to sit in class without being able to truly, sincerely interact with anyone around him. Sure, he had an interpreter who was great. She  was an older woman with close-cropped, grey, curling hair. Her name was Kobayashi-san, and he really liked her. She was amazing. It was just...The way the others interacted with him. His teacher was sweet. His only concern with her was the way she looked at him with pity. He always caught her eyes staring at his hands as he signed even though he knew she didn’t understand what he was signing. His classmates, however, were probably the worst part. He hated interacting with people who really weren’t interested in him as a person and only in the game of “who could make the loudest sound that maybe Izuku could hear”.

He hated it. He hated it all.

But he couldn’t bring himself to tell his mom about the bullying again. The last time he had was in his third year. She cried. A lot, and that made Izuku feel more guilty than anything. He didn’t want her to cry anymore over things she couldn’t control and things that weren’t her fault.

Izuku knew his mother blamed herself for everything that Izuku went through. For him being deaf. For him struggling to read in his first year. For him getting bullied in his third year. He knew for a fact. And even though she blamed herself, though, he didn’t blame her. He never could. She’d done everything that she could for him. That didn’t stop the thoughts she had, of course. He knew that much. It took a lot more to change his mom’s mind. She was stubborn like that. She’d told him once, when he was old enough to understand exactly what her words meant, how exactly the doctors believed his deafness was caused. She’d told him and she’d cried. He hated it when she cried from sadness or pain or hurt, and he never wanted to be the cause for that if he could help it.

So, telling her what was going on now, how the other students sent him mean notes and pushed him around when the teacher wasn’t looking... He couldn’t tell her. It would crush her.

It was the end of the school day. Izuku left the classroom with his backpack on his shoulders and a small sketchbook in his hands. He loved this sketchbook. It had been a gift from his mother for his tenth birthday. That was just before summer break began, and now that fall was on its way, he had already filled it halfway.

He’d grown up loving comics. When his parents separated, one of the things his father had left behind was his collection of comic books. It was how he’d discovered All Might, the hero of all heroes. He’d found them one night two years prior when he and his mom were cleaning out the front hall closet of their apartment. His mom was fully prepared to donate them, but the moment Izuku saw the bright reds, blues, and yellows and shining smile that decorated the cover, he had been sucked in. It was the first thing he’d truly loved to read once he’d learned. It had developed into his love for reading that he had now. It made him understand why it was so amazing to dive into the world of the make-believe. These days, he could sit and read All Might all day and night, if his mother would let him.

Comic books had inspired him to learn to draw and write, too. That sketchbook of his was filled with his own comic books. And even though they were amateur at best, he was proud of them. He had made himself the superhero of his own story that saved people with a smile on his face, just like All Might. He brought that sketchbook with him everywhere.

As he walked, he kept his head up and his eyes focused on his surroundings. Being deaf meant that he had to be hyper aware of his surroundings. He had to be much more attentive visually than anyone else. Usually, he was very good about it. He didn’t bump into people that often, and he stayed out of everyone else’s way. He only wished he’d been gifted with an additional pair of eyes in the back of his head.

A pair of hands found themselves wedged between his shoulder blades. Izuku was shoved forward and sent sprawling. His sketchbook flew from his hand and skittered across the tiles. He looked up at the perpetrator, his viridian eyes wide. It was a boy in his class and the usual person who bullied him and made his life miserable. Ito Kenji.  Izuku looked  at him and offered him a watery smile. Ito-kun’s lips moved to say something, but they moved too fast for Izuku to actually read them. The words were followed with a laugh. This was how it usually went. The laugh came and then pain. So he squeezed his eyes shut so he wouldn’t see it coming.

A foot connected with his ribs, knocking all of the air from his lungs. It was a swift and brutal blow and it wasn’t followed by anything else. It never was. The faster it was over, the easier it was to get away with it...

Izuku curled in on himself, and he coughed through his burning attempts to get air into his lungs. His eyes stung as he tried to hold back the tears that would only cause worse bullying in the future.

Ito-kun walked away from him and continued his way down the hall, stopping only to pick up Izuku’s sketchbook. The greenette’s heart dropped as a malicious smile spread onto the other boy’s lips. He held up the sketchbook so Izuku could see it, gave it a little wave, and shoved it under his arm as he walked away.

Izuku stared as he walked away. Part of him wanted to chase after him and demand to have his sketchbook back, but the other part of him knew what a dumb idea that was. There was no way that he could physically take on Ito-kun. He was taller and stronger than Izuku. And he didn’t have the voice to say anything, either. He was pathetic and weak. So, he didn’t go after him. He simply forced himself to his feet and walked home with sad hunched shoulders and a searing pain in his ribs that made it hard to breathe.

At least he’d have the new episode of All Might: The Animated Series to watch that evening after dinner.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Izuku walked into his and his mom’s apartment and toed off his shoes. When he bent over to put them into their place on the shoe rack, he felt the soreness from Ito-kun’s kick. He wasn’t going to tell him mom, of course. If she asked, he’d just tell her that the sit-ups in PE did him in or something.

The greenette made his way through the apartment, looking for his mother. It was an easier task than normal. He just had to follow his nose. The smells that were coming from the kitchen were heavenly. When he entered the room, he knocked on the doorframe to announce his presence to his mother. They’d both learned that when he was younger he was too quiet for his own good when he entered a room. He’d nearly given her a heart attack on several occasions before they’d come up with their knocking method.

His mother turned from where she stood at the stove, giving him a big, excited smile that he mirrored.

“Izu!” she signed. “How was your day?”

He gave her another smile. “It was good,” he lied.

It was times like these that he was glad he didn’t speak. He’d be a terrible liar, and he knew it. Signing allowed him to get away with so much more.

“Good, honey,” she replied.

“What are you making? It smells good.”

“Your favorite.”

“Katsudon?” he asked, his face glowing. There was nothing better than ending a bad day with his favorite meal and TV show.

His mom nodded.

“What’s the occasion? You never make it unless there’s a good reason.”

“You know me too well. I’m going to have to start shaking it up a little bit,” she said. “I actually invited someone over dinner tonight.”

Izuku’s brows shot up. That was new. His mom never invited anyone over for dinner. It was just too awkward and difficult, what with Izuku only able to understand parts of the conversation that were signed to him.

“Who is it? Someone from work? Is it Ms. Lu from the hospital? I really like her.”

She tilted her head from side to side as if contemplating her answer.

“No. It’s not someone from work, but I met him because of work. I met him through one of those dating websites my coworkers signed me up for.”

His brows shot up even higher, hiding behind his curling bangs. Him? That was a surprise. He remembered his mom only having dated one person after she and his dad split. Izuku hadn’t liked him very much. He was very rude and tried to get Izuku to speak even though he was very clearly uncomfortable with it. His mother broke up with him not much longer after that initial meeting.

If she was bringing someone else around, that had to mean that she really liked him.

“You have a new boyfriend?” he asked.

She nodded hesitantly. “I think he’s good. You’ll like him. He’s not like the last guy,” she said. “He’s down to earth and very funny. You’ll like him.”

He nodded eagerly. “Does he like All Might?” he asked.

His mother smiled mysteriously. “You’ll have to ask him when he gets here, now won’t you.”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

The arrival of their guest was marked with a knock on the door that Izuku couldn’t hear. But his mom specifically informed him of her boyfriend’s arrival and asked him if he could get the door as she was still getting ready. Of course, he obliged.

Izuku opened the door and was about to sign his usual greetings when he realized just who was standing in the doorway of his apartment. It was a tall, well-built man. He had sharp, blue eyes and bright blond hair. It was spiky with some longer bits in the front that acted as bangs. Izuku recognized him immediately.

Yagi Freaking Toshinori.

From the way his vocal cords rumbled and the wince that appeared on Yagi-san’s face, the sound that was emitted from Izuku’s body was loud and shrill. He could actually feel the thundering footsteps of his mother as she likely ran across the apartment to get to him to make sure that he was okay.

Izuku jumped up and down in front of Yagi-san, his face lit up with excitement. He looked up at his mother, whose features were morphing quickly from concern to amusement. She said something to Yagi-san, which he assumed was an apology. 

“Izuku, calm down,” she signed, a smile plastered onto her lips.

He did the best he could, but he couldn’t wipe the grin from his face each time he looked at the man in the doorway. Which he realized he was being incredibly rude to by making him stand in the hallway. He stepped aside and gestured for him to enter.

Once the man was situated and sitting at the table, Izuku took the time to introduce himself.

“I’m Izuku. I’m a huge fan of yours. I love the original TV series from the 90s, and I know you voice All Might in All Might: The Animated Series,” he said, his hands moving rapidly. “I’m sure you did amazing in that, too, even though I can’t really tell since I can’t hear it. But. Oh. My. Gosh. I’m such a big fan!”

His mom looked over at him nervously. “Izu, slow down,” she signed. “He can’t read.”

But Yagi-san was speaking to his mom, a smile on his lips, the same kind that he used in the All Might live action series. And then, something he didn’t expect happened. Yagi-san started signing.

“I appreciate you liking my work so much, Young Midoriya,” he said.

Izuku nearly died on the spot. ‘Young Midoriya’ .

“You know sign language?” he asked.

Yagi-san nodded. “A friend of mine growing up was deaf. I’ll admit, I’m rusty, but I caught most of what you said.”

The rest of dinner went really well. Amazing even. Never in his wildest dreams had Izuku thought his mom would start dating the Yagi Toshinori, who insisted to be called Toshinori. They even watched the new episode of All Might: The Animated series together. Izuku was over the moon.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Izuku’s sketchbook sat innocently o his desk the next morning, but what was inside wasn’t innocent. When he opened the cover, he was horrified. All of his comics, his art, his ideas... They were all written over with dark read and black markers and pens, like what happened to Max’s dream journal in that old movie, Shark Boy and Lava Girl. He sat down in his seat, defeated. His hands were clenched into fists. Ito-kun sat in front of him. Izuku could see his shoulders shaking with laughter. He wanted so badly to chuck his soiled sketchbook at the back of his head, but Izuku refrained.

It’s not what All Might would have done. It’s not what a hero would do. He had to figure out a way to overcome this... His mom always told him to kill it with kindness. Maybe he could do that... If they didn’t break his spirit first, of course. He sighed gently. No. He wouldn’t let them break him. His mom always told him not to let anyone call him broken. He couldn’t call himself that either, because then what would be the reason she’d fought so hard to defend him all of those years. They wouldn’t break him.

His resolve hardened, and he came up with some semblance of a plan.

The next day of school, Izuku came prepared with a single panel of a neatly drawn comic. It featured Ito-kun as a hero with a really awesome ability he called Ice Breath. Everyone in their class thought it was cool, and it developed some level of respect with Ito-kun after that. Of course, they still teased him and said mean things behind his back, but at least they refrained from physically harming again. He could live with their words that he couldn’t hear so long as they stopped hurting him. He’d settle for that much.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

1 Year Later...

Izuku wiped his sweaty hands on his pants legs for the third time. He was nervous. Extremely nervous. He, his mother, and Toshinori were at the audiologist for an appointment that would change Izuku’s life.

Finally, at eleven years old, he was going to get his first pair of hearing aids. Was he excited? Yes. Was he nervous? Double yes. Was he terrified that sound wouldn’t be what he thought it would be? Absolutely. Izuku had wanted hearing aids for most of his life, at least the parts when he realized how helpful sound would be. And finally, he was getting them. The only reason this was possible was because of Toshinori.

Toshinori and his mother had been together for about a year and a half now and had gotten engaged the month before. Toshinori had actually taken Izuku out for ramen before it happened. In between eating and conversations about comic books and All Might, Toshinori had wiggled in a rather big question. How would he feel if he asked his mother to marry him? He’d been so over the moon that he’d burst into tears on the spot. It had startled the blond into thinking he’d done something wrong. After collecting himself, Izuku had insisted that he hadn’t and told him that he’d love it. He’d love to have a family again.

After the engagement, Toshinori had offered something that neither he or his mother had ever dreamed over. He offered to pay for Izuku’s hearing aids. Izuku had gone his entire life without them and had been fine. Sure, he always wondered what things sounded like, but he would have been fine never knowing.

Toshinori had asked if he’d ever wanted to, though, and of course, he’d said yes. He’d never imagined the man would go the extra mile and get him fitted for a pair, especially with how expensive they were.

He glanced at his mother as his teeth clamped down on his lower lip. All three of them had nerves that left the room stiff and staticky. He didn’t know what to do with himself, especially with the nervous air that surrounded them.

“Are you ready?” his mom translated for the audiologist.

He nodded. “Mom?”

“Yes baby?”

“I want to hear you first,” he said. “Your voice is the first sound I want to hear.”

He watched as his mother relayed his message verbally. The audiologist then looked at him, a smile on his features. He nodded, and Izuku took that as a good sign.

The audiologist picked up the hearing aids and took them out of the manufacturer’s box. Izuku studied them. They looked like small, little earbuds. Attached to the earbuds was an external device that would wrap around his ear. He’d seen a sample of them once before when they’d originally picked out the device he’d wear. They’d decided on these because of how severe his hearing loss was.

The audiologist fitted the devices around his ears and turned them on. There was a strange noise - maybe a beep? - that made Izuku’s brows rise. His mother smiled at him.

“Are you ready?” she signed.

Izuku nodded. “I’m ready.”

There was a pregnant pause that seemed to last an eternity. Izuku wiped his hands on his pants again. He was nervous, but he was ready. It was now or nothing. There was no turning back now.

“Hey Izuku,” his mother said.

Izuku blinked at her, and his mouth popped open, stunned. Her voice was beautiful. It was soft and quiet, probably because the hearing aids weren’t turned up all the way. But even though it was quiet, it was still beautiful, probably the most beautiful he’d ever hear. It was a perfect choice for his introduction to sound.

He smiled. His mother laughed in response. That was beautiful, too. Soft. Tinkling. Like, like... He had no idea what to compare it to. His emotions were already piling. Tears welled up in his eyes and trickled over his lower lids.

“How does it feel? To hear sounds?” another voice asked. This one was low and deep. His eyes shifted, searching for the owner. They landed on Toshinori. So that’s what All Might sounded like.

“Strange,” he signed. “I kind of want to know what I sound like.”

“Go ahead, baby,” his mom said. She sounded almost as choked up as he felt.

He nodded. “Him mom,” he said quietly. He was surprised by the sound of his voice. It was high. His words were soft and rounded. They didn’t sound as crisp and clear as his mother’s or Toshinori. But they were okay. He’d practice, and he’d get to their level. One day.

Izuku heard another foreign noise. His eyes found the owner, and he quickly realized what it was. A sob. His mom was crying, too. The tears that trickled down his face quickly turned into a downpour as the emotions inside of him burst forth.

He got up from where he was sitting, wrapped his arms around his mom, and cried. He cried because he was overwhelmed, yes, but mostly because he was happy. Happy because sounds were beautiful. Because his mother’s voice was beautiful. Because her laugh was beautiful. He never wanted to listen to silence again.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

3 Months Later

It took about three months for Izuku to get used to his hearing aids, and in that time, he exclusively wore them at home. They were sensitive to all of the sounds, and it just took some time to get used to all of the frequencies. In the meantime, he’d gotten started on speech therapy. He knew the words. He was a pretty decent reader. SO, learning to speak wasn’t too hard. It was mostly learning to enunciate and pronounce words correctly, which proved difficult as most of the time, he had trouble hearing his own voice. Self-correcting his errors was a challenge and a half.

He was excited to wear his hearing aids, to start speaking in class after his adjustment period had concluded. When he’d gotten to the building, all of the sounds were a little more than overwhelming. He heard snippets of conversations, shoes squeaking on the floor, locker doors slamming. Izuku almost couldn’t wait to escape the cacophony of noises that threatened to overwhelm him.

He’d gotten to class early, before any of the other students so that he could speak to his teacher. Their conversation was brief. She was happy for him to get hearing aids, to be speaking, and told him she’d be conscious of how fast she spoke so that he could keep up.

He was quiet as the other students came into the room. He listened to their sleepy chatter, his own anticipation bubbling inside of him. He didn’t speak until halfway through homeroom when his teacher asked him a question. They had been talking about the upcoming career day at school, which he’d been anticipating. Everyone was going to bring someone to speak to the class over the following school week. His day was Monday.

“Izuku, who are you bringing?” she asked.

His translator signed what she’d said, which Izuku was grateful for. His nerves had made him miss the question entirely beyond his name.

He paused for a moment because he cleared his throat and said, “I’m bringing my mom’s fiance. He’s an actor.”

There was a slight, stunned silence before the slight snickers and murmurs broke out through the room. Izuku didn’t catch the ones that were further away, but the ones that were close by...

“Why does his voice sound so weird?”

“Is he talking with marbles in his mouth?”

“Nah, it sounds like his tongue is too big for his mouth.”

“Maybe he’s just stupid?”

Izuku’s face burned with shame. He tried to sink lower and lower into his seat so he could hide from all of their judgemental words. Never once before had he heard any of them. He’d always had the fortune of listening to silence when they taunted him. He wanted it yet again.

So when the attention had been finally focused away from him by the admonishments from their teacher, he pulled the devices from his ears shamefully and tucked them neatly into their travel case. He didn’t wear them again for the rest of the day. And anytime the tormenting got bad, he made a point to take them out, too, just so he wouldn’t hear it.

It wasn’t until the start of high school, after he’d spent an entire summer in behavioral and speech therapy, that he’d gotten some semblance of confidence in himself. It only got better once he’d met his best friends, Ochako, Shouto, and Tenya, that he’d been able to speak without fear of being judged and ridiculed. Those people gave him so much support and love, and it meant the world to him.

Because of them, he’d finally found his voice.

Izuku

Silence. Pure silence despite all of the chaos that surrounded him. His day had been filled with chaotic silence, more than he was accustomed to. At least lately. Usually, with Katsuki as his boyfriend, Izuku had a hectic day. It was a fact of life when it came to his blond gremlin. But with the addition of this part time job he’d accepted from Mitsuki-san, it was even more-so. It would be simple, she said. You don’t have to worry, she said. It was far from that, and that was because of all of the silence. 

The shoot they were doing features a fashion line for people with disabilities. All of the articles of clothing were accessible for people with varying abilities. He thought it was awesome that the Bakugous were doing this. It would help a lot of people across Japan. They’d asked him to work the shoot the week before, and he’d agreed. The extra money would be great, especially since they were already in the thick of their summer vacation. He already had a slew of date ideas for himself and Kacchan.

So, working today should have been a perfect way to raise funds. Until his life was plunged into silence. The external devices on his hearing aids had given up on him four days earlier. They were an older set, ones he’d acquired over four years prior.

It was a Saturday night when they’d died.

He was at Kirishima and Ashido’s with Katsuki for a game night. It wasn’t anything different than from what they did any other weekend. The group of them were crowded in the living room, enjoying snacks and videos, board games and whatever small amount of alcohol that Izuku could tolerate these days. Kaminari had some of the tracks from his band playing in the background, much to his girlfriend’s horror seeing as she was the lead singer. He liked it, though. He thought Jirou Kyouka had a really pretty voice. It was mellow and nice, even with Kaminari’s wild drum solos intermixed.

He stood across from Kaminari, talking about his step dad, Toshinori – Katsuki had so graciously spilled the beans about at the very next game night following his birthday.

“So, do you like, ever ask him to dress up as All Might for the hell of it?”

Izuku laughed. “I used to when I was like, eleven, and he and my mom first started dating,” he said. “These days, he only dresses up for the kids in the building on Halloween.”

Kaminari pouted slightly at this. “Man, I would kill to have a dad as cool as that. Not that I don’t love my dad – man’s a bro, but like. Sooo cool.”

“It’s alright,” he said with a shrug. “There were a lot of times that things got ruined because people didn’t know how to leave us to our privacy.”

The electric blond nodded in understanding. “Yeah. That would totally-“

And suddenly, silence. He couldn’t hear anything. Not the person talking in front of him. Not the shouts of Katsuki and Kirishima as they played Smash Brothers in the background. Not the sound of Jirou’s soft lyrics. Not the ringing that usually accompanied silence. Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Izuku’s jaw dropped, and Kaminari wrinkled his brow. He must have thought Izuku’s reaction was to whatever he’d said. But.

The silence sent Izuku’s other senses into overdrive. He could feel the sticky humidity in the air from the hot summer air that poured in through the windows. He could smell the sweat of his friends. The stench of alcohol reigned supreme along with greasy food. Immediately, the panic settled in. Crowded space. No sound. Alcohol. Dim lights. Fuck. He was panicking. He could feel it. His body chilled. His heart started racing. His mouth grew dry as the electric blond across from him waved a hand in front of his face only to receive no response. He couldn’t control the panic, the memories of the last time he was in this sort of situation without any sound to aid him. Fuck. It reminded him of the party where- NOPE. Don’t go down that slippery slope, Izuku. You’re okay. You’re among friends. You’re safe, the voice in his head said. It was the repeating mantra he heard every time the panic threatened to overwhelm him. But it wasn’t working. Katsuki is right there. You’re safe. You’re safe. Youresafeyouresafeyouresafe.

Strong arms encircled him from behind. Bad move. The panic grew deeper. He felt trapped. He needed to move. To get away. To have space. To be safe. He pulled away and turned to face whoever was behind him, only to see the worried, hurt red eyes of Katsuki. He could see his lips moving, but he couldn’t hear him, couldn’t get his mind to process whatever he was saying by reading his lips. Everything came crashing down around him. He sank to the floor, and his boyfriend crouched down in front of him. His hands tenderly brushed against his freckles, and his scent – cinnamon and spices – enveloped him.

“I-I can’t hear anything,” he stammered, his voice hitching. He couldn’t hear himself say any of this, couldn’t be sure that he was sounding intelligible with all of the panic. “A-And the silence and alcohol and heat and I started panicking and – oh god – I’m so sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Katsuki looked just as distraught as Izuku felt. He probably felt useless. Izuku was panicking, and all he could do was stare. Luckily, two of their friends knew enough to help him.

Ashido stepped forward and crouched in front of him. “Don’t apologize. It’s okay. Are you okay?” she signed slowly. Her movements weren’t the best – they were shaky and unsure – but she got her point across.

Izuku nodded. “Usually, they beep when their battery is low. I-I didn’t know the silence was coming, and when it did, I-I wasn’t prepared. It reminded me of the party. All I could smell was alcohol and I didn’t know what to do. I panicked. God. I’m panicking again. I-I can feel it. I’m safe. I know I’m safe. I know I am, b-but I can’t help it.”

Katsuki’s warm hand pressed against his cheek even firmer than it had been before, drawing him away from his ramblings. He shuddered and took a deep breath.

“You charged them, right?” Ashido asked.

He nodded. “Before we left. They were at full battery. I don’t know what happened.”

“Well, you’re with friends, so don’t worry,” she said.

Izuku nodded. His silence induced panic didn’t put too much of a damper on the mood. They all ended up watching a movie – with subtitles of course – to make the end of the evening more relaxing. Katsuki held him close the entire time.

It wasn’t until after the fact, when he’d calmed down enough, that he realized what happened. They’d died, and it was his own stupidity that led him into that panic attack. Four years was a good run, though. They’d lived through their expected lifespan, which he had to be satisfied with. If only they’d lived through the rest of that night. He was sure he could have handled it rationally then. Again, it was his own stupidity. He should have had them replaced at the beginning of the school year. His mother had tried to tell him, but he’d been stubborn. He liked the ones he had, and trips to the audiologist always gave him the worst migraines. So, he’d put it off. And now, he was paying the price. His appointment with his audiologist wasn’t until later in the week. He’d suffer in silence until then.

The worst part of it all was the fact that he couldn’t communicate as easily with strictly hearing people. People could still hear him. He knew spoken language well enough to articulate what he needed to, but the problem came when it was time to hear others. He’d been reduced to conversations through sign language and written language entirely. On top of that, he could count on one hand just how many people he knew - within a close proximity - that spoke and read Japanese Sign Language. That left him with two people. Ashido and Kirishima had taken their classes on sign language, but they had subpar skills at best. Still, it was an in.

These days, he was okay at reading lips. He’d been much better at it before he’d gotten his hearing aids, and in the long run, it certainly did help when he needed to communicate. But only when people spoke slowly and clearly. And many people these days spoke a mile a minute. These photographers on set obviously didn’t get the memo that being deaf made it all that much harder to figure out these weird, obscure directions they were trying to give him. There was a constant flurry of moving lips and words that he couldn’t hear. His mind was reeling from the sheer overwhelming force of it all.

Luckily, the Bakugous were good to him, and had hired a translator for the day.

“The next one should be the last one, Midoriya,” signed his translator, a young woman with deep burgundy hair and strong, clear signs. Her name was Sōsaki Shino, but she preferred to be called Mandalay because it was ‘ more fun than her boring given name’ .

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief at her given information. It was almost over. As much as he enjoyed participating in something artsy, he really hated the quick changes, the makeup, the heat of the lights, the sweating. He hated it. If he wasn’t getting paid and getting free things out of it, if he wasn’t doing this because he boyfriend’s parents had requested it of him and he wanted to make a good impression, he would have left after the first shoot. It was all just too overwhelming for him. Losing one sense sent the others into sensory overload.

“Thank you,” he signed back. “How long do I have until I need to be ready?”

“Twenty minutes. You could probably get away with sitting down for ten minutes before you have to go change.”

He huffed out a sigh before nodding. She was on top of it at least. She wasn’t going to let him be late at least. He walked back to the small seating area that was set aside for the various models, all of which had some varying form of exceptional needs. There were five models in total, including himself. There was a teenage girl with cerebral palsy who was wheelchair bound, an adult man with Downs Syndrome, a young woman with dwarfism, and a quiet teenage boy with autism. All of the people here could benefit from some sort of adaptive clothing, including himself.

The line specifically had things that allowed people to have an easier time getting dressed. It was comfortable, and specifically for him, safe. While modeling other aspects of the accessibility line, he was primarily modeling the Bakugou Masaru’s new sports line which specifically had elements for the deaf and hard of hearing. It was a lot of comfortable, reflective clothing that was unobtrusive and stylish. It didn’t have anything on it that screamed that he was deaf, like many things did. He was a person before his disability. He liked all of it and was pleased to be able to keep the articles that he modeled.

Still, representing the deaf and hard of hearing was difficult in photography. Someone looking at these photographs in a magazine may not know that he was deaf or hard of hearing at a first glance, so Masaru-san had asked him to wear his hearing aids when they’d scheduled the shoot a week prior. Of course, Katsuki had explained that they were dead upon their arrival at the studio that day, but Izuku was more than happy to wear them if it would help out his boyfriend’s father with the debut of the clothing line.

And while he was proud to be represented in fashion in such a subtle and sensible way, he couldn’t help but feel isolated from the rest of the models here. He was the only one there that was deaf. He couldn’t hear anything that his fellow models were saying. As much as he appreciated Mandalay, Izuku had worked so hard to maintain some semblance of self-sufficiency. Having to resort back to reliance on others - even if it was something so understandable - sucked. He appreciated it, but it sucked.

He’d only had a few short conversations with the other models. It was nothing against them. It was just that he felt as though he lagged behind the others in conversations. Even with Mandalay’s help, he found it difficult to keep up. It was so hard to participate, to interject himself fast enough into the conversations. Only one of the models knew sign language aside from himself, and he only knew enough to get some basic needs across. It wasn’t anything that was substantial enough to hold a conversation.

He hated feeling so isolated. If only Katsuki were around…

Izuku heaved out another sigh as he plopped himself down on the sofa, his back turned to the set. He needed a break from it all. His interpreter sat down across from him so she could stay within his line of sight and within the line of sight of the bosses on the scene.

“How long until you get your new hearing aids?” she asked.

“My appointment with the audiologist is Friday, but I won’t get them right away. Probably not for at least a week or two, not including how long it takes to get them adjusted to all of the right frequencies,” he said with an exaggerated huff. Gosh, he was so spoiled by his ability to hear. “It could be a month before I’m hearing normally again.”

“How long have you had them?”

“Ten years, so switching back to signing all the time is tough,” he said. “Especially since I haven’t integrated very well into the deaf community at my university.”

She nodded in understanding. “You go to Y-U-E-I-I, right?” she asked, spelling out the last word as it likely did not have an official sign. He quickly made out the name of the school, a smile spreading on his lips.

He nodded eagerly. “Yes!”

“I went there, too. I know there’s a large deaf community,” she said. “Is there any reason you haven’t yet?”

He sheepishly looked at the running shoes he wore. They were a lot nicer than his red sneakers. “I actually opted not to be pair with a student for my roommate. I wanted to get to know the other students at the university. I didn’t want to feel isolated by only interacting with the deaf community.”

She nodded.

“My boyfriend is actually a hearing person, so it’s a little hard right now. He doesn’t know much sign language at all yet.”

She gave him a sad look. “I can’t imagine.”

He nodded. Not many people could, at least in his personal life. “It’s a work in progress, though .”

When he spoke to Katsuki, he actually used spoken language. He knew the way his lips should move. He knew how to shift his tongue to help form the sounds that were necessary for words. He could make the correct sounds without hearing himself because of the muscle memory. That made getting his needs across pretty nice. But getting responses from him was an entirely different story. He’d done his best to teach him some of the most basic signs, like the alphabet, thank you – not that he used that one very often – good morning, and good night. They focused on the little things, and where everything else failed, they relied on either their phones, paper and pen, or a white board and marker. And quite frankly, Katsuki’s handwriting was some of the worst he’d ever seen, so that didn’t help.

It just wasn’t the same as being able to hear the blond. This was the hardest part for him, not being able to hear the gremlin’s voice. He never realized just how much he’d miss it, but then again, he’d never been without it for this long before. It had only been four days, but it felt like a lifetime. He never realized he’d miss him calling him Deku or bunny or even shitty nerd. He missed his cursing and strange way of speaking and the occasional tender words that he only allowed Izuku to hear. He missed it all.

“Midoriya, I think that there’s some angry guy over there looking for you. He’s shouting your name and calling you an idiot,” Mandalay said. And then a pause. “Okay. He’s actually got a real foul mouth. I can tell him to go away if you want.”

Izuku’s brows shot up. Those mannerisms were distinct from only one person that he knew, someone who was supposed to be doing his own photoshoot with his mother. He turned in his seat and his viridian gaze scanned the area near the door of the studio. He located the blond easily. He was, in fact, shouting if the expression on his face and the rapid, pronounced movement of his lips said anything. Well, there were also the rude gestures, but Izuku had become so accustomed to those that he ignored them these days.

Without any warning to Mandalay, Izuku was on his feet, practically flying across the studio to the blond that was trying to find him. He was a blur of green as he flung himself at Katsuki. Strong arms caught him. He wrapped his legs around Katsuki’s waist as the blond struggled to stay upright. He didn’t care if he looked ridiculous. He needed Kacchan’s stability right now. He was overloaded and his warm scent, strong arms, and crabby expressions just made everything better.

“You’re done early?” Izuku asked, leaning back just a little bit so he could get a good look at Kacchan’s face.

The blond nodded.

“How’d it go?”

Katsuki shrugged his shoulders and dug into his pocket. He pulled out his phone and quickly typed out a message.

“Boring,” it read. “The old hag just wanted free labor out of me.”

The greenette giggled. “Well, I’m glad you came to find me,” he said. “I’m almost done. Just one more shoot.”

Katsuki nodded, and like the flip of a switch, his mood changed. He flipped someone off behind him. He looked. Ah. Wardrobe was gesturing for him to come over to get him ready for the final session. He deflated slightly. It had all come so soon. He didn’t want to go back to work. He’d rather stick around and hang out with Katsuki for just a little bit longer. But the sooner he got this done, the sooner he could go home with him.

“I’ll be back soon,” he said with a bright smile as he dropped to the ground.

Again, Katsuki nodded. Izuku stood on his toes and kissed his boyfriend briefly.

“Oh, and Kacchan?” he asked, stealing the blond’s attention for himself exclusively. Katsuki raised his brows in response. Izuku fixed him with a mischievous look. “Don’t take your eyes off of me.”

A flash of surprise crossed his gremlin’s features as he was fed that line before it was replaced with the dark look of hunger Izuku knew to associate with arousal. Katsuki licked his lips, and Izuku shot him a wink. He turned on his heel and returned to the wardrobe people to prepare for the next shoot. He made sure that as he walked, his hips swayed just a little bit more.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Katsuki

That fucking nerd was such a goddamn tease. An infuriating, sexy fucking tease.

Katsuki had been roped into a short photoshoot for the old hag for her new evening wear line. Seeing as he refused to do this shit when she had other models around, he managed to get it   to where he’d be there on the same day as Deku’s accessibility line by his pops. His own shoot hadn’t taken long. He’d been doing this for his mom for years now, so he knew what she was looking for. He understood the flow of it all. So, he’d tried on all of the tuxes and took too many photos before he was cleared to escape.

And escape he had.

He left the hag’s half of the studio to go to his pop’s. Security didn’t bother to stop him as he moved through the building. They all knew him by now, and if they didn’t, well, they’d fuckin’ find out. His pop’s side of the studio was a helluva lot busier than his mom’s. There were more models. More clothing changes. More photographers. More chaos. He snorted. Leave it to his old man to be the disorganized one. The hag had her side running like a well-oiled machine. Then again, his pops was quiet and timid while his mother had a set of lungs on her that rivaled his own.

A quick glance around didn’t reveal that shock curly green hair that he was so familiar with. And that immediately irritated him. He just wanted to see him, to hold him, to kiss him. Yeah. He was fuckin’ whipped.

He approached one of the random photographers milling by the doorway of the studio, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

“Oi! Where’s Deku?” he asked, his voice loud and clear.

“Oh. Ah. Bakugou-san,” the photographer said, immediately recognizing the fiery blond. “I don’t, uh, know who you’re talking about.”

“Green curls. Green eyes. More freckles than skin,” he said.

“Oh, uh, you, ah, mean Midoriya, right?”

“Yeah. Fuckin’ Deku. Where the fuck is he?”

“I’m not sure, but, I, ah, I can find out for you, if that’s what you want.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes, his features hardening as his voice only got louder. God. Fuckin’ people were such idiots sometimes. “I wouldn’t be asking you where the fuck he was if I didn’t want you to-”

Katsuki stopped mid-sentence as he suddenly had a very solid, very dense, very green man hurling himself into his arms. He barely caught the mother fucker who know had his fucking legs wrapped around his waist. He struggled to stay upright, but any anger he might have had disappeared the second he heard his voice. They hadn’t even been apart very long, and he missed him already. Fuckin’. Whipped.

Their conversation was short. The studio’s team pulled him away again before he could fully enjoy their time together. And Izuku made sure to make him miss him while he was gone.

How could he not rise to the challenge presented to him? Especially when his boyfriend had such an amazing ass. And thighs. And calves. And hips. Yeah. His arms were nice, too. Fuck. Everything about Izuku was fuckin’ nice. Fuck his parents for having the greenette model a fuckin’ sports line. When the nerd had initially walked away, he’d been wearing something that had Katsuki’s mind reeling. Running shorts that hardly reached his mid thighs and a tight t-shirt with tasteful reflective accents on it. It didn’t help that his boyfriend regularly waxed his legs so he didn’t look like, and he quotes, ‘a green sasquatch’ . Sure, he was oversexualizing it, but he couldn’t help but be attracted to the guy he was dating. And right now, the way he was dressed made him look positively sinful.

But that wasn’t even the worst of it. The next thing that freckles modeled had even more sex appeal, which he didn’t think was possible. Tight pants and a low neck tank-top. God. His mouth was fucking watering. He could already feel the horniness coming. The stiff forming beneath his jeans. Fuckin’ christ. And the nerd knew exactly what he was doing. He’d told Katsuki to keep his eyes on him. But fuck, this was murder .

The modeling industry brought in people from all walks of life. He’d seen some insanely attractive people over the course of his life just because he’d been dragged to the studio when his parents needed his face for some shoot or they couldn’t find him a sitter, ones he’s shamelessly gotten off to as he had gotten into his teens. He’d met all four of these models here today, too. At least in passing. They were good at their jobs from what he’d heard. They got in front of the camera and knew what to do, just as he did.

He had no idea about the greenette.

As far as he knew, Deku had zero modeling experience. The most candid shots of him he’d ever seen were in Auntie Inko’s old photo albums or on the greenette’s social media pages. It wasn’t anything spectacular either. Just simple shots of a freckled kid with way too many bruises on his knees and skinny arms. As he’d gotten into high school, his photographs included more selfies and some full-body shots. But there wasn’t anything within them that would make him out to be any sort of model. The only thing he had down was the blinding smile, and that was if that could be counted considering he used it everyday. All in all, compared to the others on set, he had no experience to speak of. And from what he’d seen of his boyfriend, he didn’t think that this would go over well. Not that he had anything against the shitty nerd. He honestly wanted him to be successful. He just didn’t think it would happen. Deku was awkward as shit. He got flustered easily. He blushed like a fuckin’ dork when Katsuki poked fun at him. He tripped over his own two feet when he walked and had more bruises on his hips and legs from running into the dorm room furniture than he could count. He wasn’t model material by any fuckin’ means.

Did that stop him? Fuck no.

When he’d first walked in front of the camera, he’d stood there awkwardly. He held his hands behind his back, his viridian gaze trained on his interpreter rather than the photographers who wanted to give him directions. He looked so fuckin’ out of place that it made Katsuki want to look away. The only reason he didn’t was because the short shit had asked him not to look away. The wait time between the photographer’s directions and Deku actually doing what they asked was longer than normal. He had to wait for his interpreter to get the message.

But god fuckin’ damn. Fuckin’ Deku. He always had to prove him wrong, didn’t he?

The second he got his directions, Freckles acted as if he’d been in front of a lens his entire life. If he wasn’t turned on before, he was now. The sports leggings he wore, the tank top… He knew how to move in the clothing to accentuate all of his best features and assets. The fuckin’ nerd would have well over two dozen good shots of him by the time they were done… Now, all Katsuki had to do was get his hands on a few.

Fuck. Right now, he was really trying too damn fuckin’ hard to control his raging hormones. He leaned against a wall in a darker corner where no one could see him. This nerd made his life fuckin’ impossible sometimes. How could he fucking not want to take the nerd right then and there? He fucking had to know what he was doing.

Deku finally walked off the set, his gaze finding Katsuki pretty immediately. Of course the nerd knew where he was the entire time.  If all of those sparkling, mischievous glances from across the studio were telling fuckin’ enough… One of those smiles that held way too many implications behind it was sent his way before a gesture for him to follow was given. He wasn’t a lost fuckin’ puppy. He wasn’t just going to come at Izuku’s beck and call. But, fuck, if that smile wasn’t promising more… Katsuki attempted nonchalance as he shrugged his shoulders and followed after his nerd.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

Katsuki pushed the greenette’s back against the wall of the shower while scalding water poured down against them. He didn’t care that they were in a locker room. He didn’t care that literally anyone could walk in on them. The only thing on his mind was Deku. Freckled skin was pressed flush against his skin. Strong legs were wrapped around his waist. Hungry lips fought his own for dominance. Erections were pressed together. Supple ass cheeks were squeezed beneath his hands. The wonderful scent of forest and pine and rain filled his nose.

Everything was Deku.

He’d followed the nerd where he had directed, and neither had wasted a fuckin’ second. Lustful glances and heady stares had quickly morphed into slopped, wet kisses and groping, wandering hands. Clothes were discarded hastily, and they stumbled into the small shower stall that he was only willing to use because of Deku. And maybe because he knew his tyrant of a mother’s cleaning habits. But neither complained about the cramped space or the water that got into their eyes. They were too absorbed in one another.

There was something about this nerd that he just couldn’t get enough of. Izuku was a drug, and Katsuki had very clearly become addicted.

“ Kacchan, ” the greenette moaned into his mouth. “I want you. I need you.”

Katsuki nodded against his lips just enough for Deku to notice. With that affirmation, the nerd slipped out of his arms before sinking to his knees in front of the blond. Those green eyes looked up at him, half-lidded and full of unspoken needs and desires. His hands fell to the blond’s ivory hips, his lips ghosting against his erection.

“Can I?” Deku asked. His voice sounded like honey and sin.

Katsuki nodded. “Fuck yes ,” he moaned even though he knew he couldn’t hear him.

Without any more prompting, the greenette laved a stripe of molten lava up his shaft that burned hotter than the water that rained down on their bodies. It made him stand even more erect than he had before, which he didn’t think was a fuckin’ possible. But then again, this was Deku. The greenette could do godly things with those lips his.

And then those very same lips circled around the tip of his cock. His hand wrapped around his base. His tip disappeared from his view completely as Deku’s lips were sinking, sinking, sinking until their pink flesh connected with his own hand.

“Fuck, Deku ,” Katsuki’s voice rumbled into the locker room.

His boyfriend took his length easily. He seemed to have no problem matching the rhythm of his hand sliding up and down his shaft. Katsuki was in fucking heaven. Deku never ceased to surprise him.

He couldn’t help the shift of his hips. He thrusted once into Deku’s mouth, causing the man on his knees to sputter and choke just a little bit. It felt fuckin’ amazing, but he didn’t want to kill the nerd. He went to brace himself against the shower wall to stop himself from moving, but Izuku’s hands on hips were insistent and urging. He was trying to get Katsuki to move them again. He didn’t need more than that.

Katsuki fucked into Izuku’s mouth, which elicited a lewd moan that echoed with the acoustics of the locker room. The smaller man’s fingers dug little crescents into the skin of his hips. A deeper, lower moan poured from his own lips, filling the space around them. His fingers threaded through Izuku’s hair, tugging at those impossibly green curls. He tugged them lightly as his head rolled back and another groan tore his lips.

“Fuck, Deku,” Katsuki said, his voice a low rumble. He knew the nerd couldn’t hear him, but… “The shit that you can do-”

“Katsuki? Are you in there?” a familiar voice said.

The blond froze in his ministrations, even though the greenette kept fuckin’ going. He felt himself go slightly boneless between those sinful lips.

“Y-Yeah, Pops,” he said hoarsely through his own shock at his father walking in while they were getting it on. Thank fuck there were stalls in this locker room. And thank fuck fuckin’ Deku wasn’t at the height of one of those perfect fuckin’ moans. “The fuck you n-need?”

He stuttered out that last word because – fuck – Deku had hit that fuckin’ spot that felt too damn good. He tightened his hold on Deku’s hair and pulled him off his length with a quiet pop. When those viridian eyes found his own in a confused, searching manner, Katsuki held a finger to his lips and pointed toward the outside of their little stall. His eyes widened a fraction and he nodded in understanding. Deku might have been a deku, but at least he wasn’t fuckin’ dense.

“Have you seen Izuku?”

“What do you think I am?” Katsuki spat even though he fuckin’ knew exactly where Deku was. Not that he was gonna fuckin’ tell his Pops he was getting it on in the middle of locker room. “I’m his boyfriend, not his fuckin’ keeper, old man.”

“Well, you’ll see him back on campus, right?” Pops asked.

Katsuki nearly moaned as Izuku’s lips circled around his erection one again, making it stand at full attention once more. He managed to mask his moan by turning it into a groan of frustration.

“Yeah. What do you need, old man?” he groused. “I’m tryin’ to shower.”

He was gonna kill this nerd. At least he would if he didn’t feel so fuckin’ good right now. His fiery red eyes connected with viridian green ones. He could see the glint in his eyes. This mother fucker knew exactly what he was doing. He knew Katsuki was talking to someone, and he still was taking his length down his throat in full fuckin’ stride.. Fuckin’ christ. 

His hips set a brutal pace as he fucked into Deku’s mouth again, and all the while the other kept pace. His tongue swirled around Katsuki’s length, bringing him closer and closer to the edge.

“I want you to ask him if he can come in sometime next week. I have another shoot that he could do,” Pops said.

“Y-Yeah, yeah, old man,” he said as nonchalantly as he could. Deku didn’t make it easy.

“Thanks, Katsuki,” the old man said.

He was climbing closer and closer to the edge. Izuku nearly had him there- So fuckin’ close. His grip in the nerd’s hair tightened, and a low, quiet, almost inaudible moan vibrated against his length. And fuck. The way Deku looked up at him with those blissed-out, glazed-over eyes of his. Fuck him straight to hell and back. He bit back a groan that would very obviously clue his father into what he was do - or rather, whose face he was fuckin’.

Katsuki saw an explosion of white as he came. All of the senses in his body were alight. Each nerve ending was hypersensitive to the way Izuku moved his mouth, his hands, his tongue around him. He felt the smaller man’s throat constrict around his length as he swallowed down Katsuki’s load. Fuckin’ hot. This little shit was gonna make him hard all over again with actions like that. He heard Izuku slide off of his dick with a light pop as he slid down the wall of the shower until he was sitting on the floor in front of Deku, completely boneless.

The sight of the nerd was enough to get him hard again. He was a mess. His green curls were flattened across his forehead, streaming with little rivulets of water. His eyes were half-lidded as they stared back at him. His lips were slightly swollen and pink. And best of all, there was a smear of cum across his stomach.

Deku had fuckin’ cum without being fuckin’ touched. If that didn’t give him enough energy to go for round two, he didn’t know what would.

That is, until his father decided to ruin the moment.

“Oh, and Katsuki,” he said.

He didn’t respond. He was sure he wouldn’t find his voice so soon after having his soul sucked out through his dick.

“Use a condom.”

Izuku

“Kacchan, can’t you just tell me where we’re going?” Izuku asked as his foot caught some unknown bump in the sidewalk and he stumbled for the second time for the second time since he and Kacchan began this wild adventure.

Strong hands caught his shoulders to stable him.

“Not gonna happen, nerd,” Katsuki’s rough voice came from behind him.

Izuku whined in protest. They’d been at this game far longer than he anticipated. Shoot. He hadn’t even seen this coming. He’d finally gotten all five of his senses back only to have one stolen again by his brusque, secretive gremlin of a boyfriend.

Izuku had had a long day at the Bakugou’s studio. They’d asked him to model their upcoming fall line, and he’d eagerly agreed. They’d fitted him with a bunch of their designs, many of which featured the fall colors that were about to be in season as well as cardigan. And Izuku loved cardigans. He left the studio in one of the outfits he’d modeled, a simple outfit - dark blue jeans, a white v-neck, and a long, light, coppery-brown cardigan with a pair of dark brown oxfords. He’d felt rather dapper, if he did say some himself.

On his way back to the dorm, he grabbed a latté and black coffee for himself and Katsuki from a local coffee place that he’d liked. He was tired, but he was in a good mood.

That good mood immediately plummeted and went through waves of fear, confusion, and utter exasperation as he walked into the dorm, set down the cups of coffee, and was promptly tackled onto the bed.

Izuku screeched bloody murder as his assailant tackled him and forced a blindfold around his eyes. The scent of cinnamon and fire told him who exactly it was, but his mind wasn’t working as fast as his nose. He instantly panicked. With his eyes out of commission for the time being, Izuku relied on his only viable sense that he had left. Touch. His elbow flew back and landed square in his assailant’s chest. He heard a cough and a wheeze and he darted out from below his attacked. Izuku ripped the blindfold from his eyes only to see a red-faced Kacchan laying on the bed, clutching his chest.

“What the fuck, Shitty Deku?” the blond groused as he struggled to get air back into his lungs.

Izuku stared at him with his wide, green eyes. “Ohmygosh! Kacchan! I’m so sorry! I didn’t know it was you. Just - ugh - someone tried to tackle me and I panicked and - ugh! I’m sorry!” he said, his voice sickeningly full of remorse. But that remorse quickly subsided and was replaced with irritation and exasperation. “What were you even doing , Kacchan? Don’t you know by now that me and surprise attacks don’t work? Couldn’t you have warned me? You don’t just go tackling people when they walk in the door! What if you were a murderer or something!”

“ Fuck ,” he grumbled. “I wasn’t going to murder you, Freckles.”

Izuku lifted the blindfold up, which turned out to be a black strip of fabric.

“Then what’s this?” he asked.

Katsuki rolled over onto his back, his eyes focused on the ceiling. “I was trying to surprise you, but that blew the fuck up.”

Izuku plopped down beside him. “Well, you can still surprise me,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “You’re so dramatic. I don’t even know what’s going on.”

A withering glare was sent his way. “And you won’t until I fuckin’ tell you, Deku.”

Again, Izuku rolled his eyes. He got up and retrieved his latté. “Uh huh,” he muttered into the rim of the cup.

But that was what led to him being carted out of his dorm with a blindfold wrapped around his eyes. Katsuki was attempting to guide him down the street, but he was honestly very terrible at it.

“Kacchan, how do you expect to be a good seeing eye dog when you can’t even tell me when there’s a crack in the sidewalk?”

A harsh flick thudded against his skull.

“First off, I’m not a dog,” Kacchan snapped. “Secondly, it’s your big fuckin’ feet that are tripping you. So don’t fuckin’ blame the sidewalk.”

“My feet are not big!”

“They’re the same size as mine.”

“Yours are just abnormally small-”

But Izuku cut himself short when he heard the familiar twangs of music that symbolized...

“Kacchan, are we..?” he asked, reaching for the blindfold. His hand was smacked away abruptly.

“No cheating, nerd,” his boyfriend commanded.

“But Kacchan! Can you tell me if we are-”

“And no guessing, either.”

Izuku huffed, but obliged. They went another block or two before Katsuki stopped him. At this point, Izuku was straining his ears to catch any snippets of sound that he possibly could. From what he could tell, there was music and laughter and chatter of people. His nose even picked up the scent of fried foods. There were only so many things that could hit all of those categories while also remaining in walking distance of the dorm building.

Kacchan ripped the blindfold from around his eyes. He was first assaulted by the bright, afternoon sunlight, but his eyes quickly adjusted as he blinked the blurriness. His viridian gaze was met with a vibrant array of colorful lanterns, streamers, and festival staples.

Izuku squealed in delight and threw his arms around his very red-faced boyfriend. “Kacchan! You brought me to the festival?” he asked.

Kacchan wrapped his arms around Izuku in return, and the greenette felt him relax just a little bit. “Yeah nerd, I did.”

Izuku jumped up and down a few times as he hugged Katsuki. Izuku loved festivals, but he never really went when he was younger. He and his mother couldn’t afford them, and she often worked the night shift, too. When Toshinori entered their lives, that had changed. They went every year. But with school and work, not only had Izuku figured they wouldn’t go, but he’d also forgotten about it entirely. Evidently, Katsuki had not. He’d gone as far as to plan this whole outing for them - albeit a bit convolutedly, but it was the thought that made the difference.

“Calm the fuck down,” he said, his hands flaling ot Izuku’s hips in an attempt to still him.

“But Kacchan! I’m so excited! I love festivals!” he exclaimed.

“I know, nerd. That’s why I brought you,” Katsuki said, his lips near Izuku’s ear. His voice was surprisingly tender. A tiny kiss was placed on his temple, and Izuku swooned. God, he loved him so much.

He froze. That was the first time that that one had come to his mind. Love. He couldn’t deny it, though. He’d known Katsuki since April. He’d pined after him for several months, learning the little quirks about him. And finally, they’d started dating. It had all happened so fast, but in all of the things that Izuku had read, all of the romanticized things about love that he’d ever heard had told him that when it hits you, it hits you hard and fast and that there’s nothing that you can do to stop it. He’d never realized how true that that could be. It was beautiful and awe-inspiring and amazing.

But it was also terrifying.

Izuku loved Katsuki, and honestly, that was the scariest thing he had to face. Not because he didn’t think Katsuki wasn’t worth loving; that gremlin of a man deserved every ounce of love that Izuku had to give for how supportive and amazing and perfect he was. He was terrified because there had to be some possibility that maybe, just maybe, Katsuki wouldn’t love him back. And he didn’t know what he would do if he found out that that was the case.

“Earth to Space Cadet,” Katsuki said, rapping his knuckles against Izuku’s forehead.

The greenette startled slightly. He pushed away Katsuki’s hand and rubbed at his forehead. He probably deserved that one, all things considered.

“Was I muttering again?” he asked, hoping to god that he hadn’t. He couldn’t fathom the idea of Katsuki hearing those thoughts in particular.

Thankfully, the blond shook his head. “Not this time, nerd,” he said. “Don’t go getting lost in on your fuckin’ self. Focus on what’s right in front of you.”

Izuku nodded. “Well, where do you want to start?”

“I, for one, want to kick your ass in some festival games, Deku,” Katsuki said, that competitive streak of his rearing itself to the forefront of his personality.

Izuku nodded eagerly. “Lead the way, Kacchan.”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

A huff fell from Izuku’s lips. These games were a helluva lot harder than he remembered them to be. He was failing miserably at them, but Kacchan seemed to be doing just fine. He was winning almost everything that they played aside from popping balloons on a wall with darts; Izuku had a steady enough hand to get him in a win in that category. Otherwise, he was failing miserably.

He couldn’t exactly blame it all on his skills. He was good at these sorts of things. He was just distracted . Maybe distracted wasn’t the right word, though. Sure, he was distracted. He couldn’t get the idea of loving Katsuki out of his head, but it really went beyond that. Having come to this realization, Izuku was noticing every little thing there was to notice about Katsuki. His triumphant smirks when he won at some game that they’d been play. His concentrated gaze as he put his all into guessing - no, calculating - the right number of jellybeans in a jar. The way the muscles in his arms flexed as he tossed the balls for skee ball into the highest scoring holes. The way his back arched when he went to pick up something Izuku's dropped on the ground before Izuku even had a chance to retrieve it himself. The curve of his ass as he squatted down to examine the prizes that each booth had to offer. The slight, hidden smile and rosy blush on his face as he handed over a stuffed bunny to Izuku that he’d won for him, even though he insisted that if there was anything better at the booth, he would have kept the prize for himself. Izuku paid too much attention to it all.

So, maybe distracted wasn’t the best word to use. Maybe horny was better. Or hopelessly and utterly in love was the best way to put it.

“You hungry yet, Deku?” Kacchan asked as they walked away from another game.

Izuku nodded absently, and consequently, a smack landed on his head.

“Pay attention, nerd,” he said.

Izuku rubbed his head sheepishly. “Sorry, Kacchan. I’m just distracted.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Yeah. I can see that,” he groused. “But we’re on a date, and I'd rather your attention be on me.”

A brilliant grin spread across Izuku’s features. “You want my attention, Kacchan?” he asked. He sidled up to his boyfriend and twisted his fingers together with the blond’s.

“Shut up, shitty Deku,” he grumbled.

The greenette snickered. “Well, I’ll have you know that I am thinking about you,” he said.

The blond rose a single brow. “Were you?”

“Yup!”

“You gonna tell me what the fuck about me?”

“Nope!

A grunt echoed out beside him. “Good. ‘Cause I didn’t wanna fuckin’ know anyway.”

Izuku giggled as they walked through the festival. It was so pretty and lively. He didn’t realize how much he’d missed it in the short time since the last festival he’d gone to. He loved the ambiance of it all. This festival was one of his favorites just because of how fantastical it was. It was held at the beginning of August each summer. It features games and live productions, food and street art. And at the end of the night, there were fireworks.

He loved it all, and even moreso, he loved being able to spend this time with Katsuki. Between their busy schedules and Izuku’s job, it was becoming hard to find time outside of the evening to spend together. For Katsuki to go this far to get them the time to go on a date... He couldn’t have been more happy.

They found the food vendors easily. There was a wide variety to choose from, and Izuku quickly landed on something greasy and yummy.

“Can we get takoyaki? Or karaage? Ooo. What about yakitori?” he asked as he clapped his hands in front of him excitedly.

Kacchan rolled his eyes. “You picked everything greasy, nerd.”

Izuku shrugged his shoulders. “So?”

“Eat something healthy. Your ass is getting fat.”

A sideways glance was sent Kacchan’s way along with a mischievous smile. “You like my fat ass, though,” he said conspiratorially. “You wouldn’t fuck it otherwise.”

A loud, sputtering cough exploded from the gremlin beside him. He couldn’t help himself. He laughed. He laughed really hard as Kacchan attempted to regain some semblance of control. But he was failing miserably. When Izuku looked at him, he saw that those red eyes were streaming tears from how much Katsuki was sputtering. That, and he was glaring so hard at Izuku that he should have died on the spot. Instead, it only made him laugh harder.

“What the actual fuck , Deku?” he eventually his as he dragged an arm across his eyes. “You can’t just say shit like that.”

“Why not?” Izuku asked with an innocent shrug. “You say stuff like that all the time.”

Katsuki glared at him, and Izuku giggled again. “You’re supposed to be the innocent one, mother fucker,” he snapped. But the flush on his face and the aversion of his eyes told Izuku that he was embarrassed.

The greenette stood on his toes and kissed Katsuki on the cheek. “I’m not all innocent, Kacchan,” he whispered into his ear. “But only for you, of course.”

He took a step back and took hold of Katsuki’s hand once more.

“So, how about that yakitori?”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

The end of the night was coming too quickly. The sun was already setting. Many of the vendors were closing. People were gravitating to the large park in the city where the fireworks were going to be held. Izuku didn’t want it to end. He wanted this night to go on forever. He wanted to spend time with Katsuki like this for as long as he could. He didn’t want it to be over.

But he kept telling himself that there would be other festivals. There would be other ways to spend his time with Katsuki, his Kacchan. He didn’t have to lament this time being over especially when he knew there was more to come.

He and Katsuki had already made their way to the pavilion. Izuku wanted a good seat so they could view the show. He had always loved fireworks. He loved the colors and the brilliance of them. They way the light would reflect off of one’s skin and paint it in a myriad of colors... He loved the energy that filled the air. That was one of the wonderful things about them. He may not be able to hear them - he always had to take his hearing aids out because the whizzing sound at takeoff was too high of a frequency for him - but he could feel them. He could feel the vibrations in the air as they took off into the sky. He could feel them erupt into a fiery explosion of colors.

And with Katsuki beside him, holding his hand as they sat sprawled out on the lawn, he couldn’t have been happier. At least, that’s what he’d thought. He never thought there was a moment that could have surpassed that one. But life was always full of surprises, and so was Katsuki.

The blond nudged his shoulder as he sat beside him, effectively demanding Izuku’s attention. The greenette shifted to face him while his eyes occasionally glanced at the explosions of colors in the sky.

Kacchan’s hands started moving beside him, and after years of reading sign language, he instinctively zeroed in on them.

“I-z-u-k-u,” Katsuki signed.

All letters. All separate. Izuku . His name. Katsuki had just signed his name. The greenette’s heart stuttered. His eyes grew wide. His lips parted slightly in surprise. Was Kacchan...?

Those hands kept moving. The motions were slow but they were practiced and strong. “I’m not very good at this, but I’m going to be. I don’t half-ass anything I do.”

Izuku felt a smile stretching onto his lips, pulling at his features, stretching his freckles across the expanse of his face. He nodded to Katsuki.

“I’m learning this for you ‘cause I hate not being able to talk to you,” he signed. “And you know I’m not very good at this whole talking thing. You know I’m not very great at telling you my feelings, but-”

Tears were already welling in his eyes. His entire focus was on Katsuki now. The fireworks, the people around them, the park as a whole faded out of focus. All that there was was Katsuki. All that he cared about was the blond right in front of him.

“But I thought this might be a good way to tell you that...” Katsuki paused. He looked at Izuku in his eyes. That gaze was so intense, so sincere that the greenette couldn’t bring himself to look away. “Izuku, I love you.”

The world that had faded around him disappeared completely as soon as the motions fell fluidly from Katsuki’s hands. The tears that had been welling in his eyes finally spilled over. Katsuki said... He said that he loved him. He loved Izuku. He loved him, and all he could do was cry. He couldn’t compute words. He couldn’t articulate his own feelings. He couldn’t because he was so overwhelmed with the fact that the closed-off, reserved man before him actually, truly loved him. His fears from earlier that afternoon had proved unfounded because Katsuki had said it to him without any prompting on his own.

“Why are you crying?” Katsuki asked, and after he finished signing, his hand reached up to caress Izuku’s cheek and wipe away the tears that lingered there. Because here in the darkness of the park, no one could see the tender actions aside from Izuku himself.

The greenette wiped at his other eye with the sleeve of his cardigan.

“I’m happy,” he said rather than signed; he knew he was a fast signer, and he didn’t want to overwhelm his boyfriend. His voice was soft and full of little breaks because of his tears “Because I’ve been so worried, Kacchan. I’ve been worried because... I-I love you too, and I w-was worried you wouldn’t l-love me back.”

He leaned into Katsuki’s touch briefly before the blond pulled his hand away to continue on with your conversation.

“Why wouldn’t I love you back?”

Izuku took in a deep breath. He couldn’t bring himself to say the words out loud, so he very slowly signed, “Because I’m broken.”

Katsuki shook his head fiercely, his red eyes aflame with the passion that he so desperately loved about his boyfriend.

“You’re not broken, Izuku,” he signed slowly. “You’re not broken, and you never will be broken. So don’t call yourself that, idiot.”

Izuku nodded and pulled Katsuki close to him so he could hug him tightly to himself. He’d never been so happy in all of his life. He thought earlier, underneath the fireworks in their cozy little bubble that he was the happiest he could have been... But he’d never felt love in this way before, and he most certainly never had that sort of love reciprocated, either.

“Thank you, Kacchan,” he whispered into his boyfriend’s ear.

And as the fireworks came to close and the finale burst across the sky, they kissed. They kissed with the colorful fireworks painting their skin in the colors that were exploding inside of Izuku’s heart.

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

A tiny hum of contentment rolled past Izuku’s lips. He was comfortable, warm, at ease. The festival was over for the year. It had concluded with that beautiful array of colors, and now, he and Katsuki were walking back to the dorms. Well, Katsuki was doing all of the walking. Izuku had jokingly requested a piggyback ride from the blond, and surprisingly enough, he agreed. Knowing his boyfriend, he probably took it more as a challenge than anything. Regardless, he was now cradled on Katsuki’s back, absorbing the warmth his personal heater exuded. He lazily had his hands wrapped around his neck; the stuffed bunny’s ear clutched in his hand.

“You better not be falling the fuck asleep back there,” Katsuki’s voice rumbled.

Izuku shook his head, his nose buried into the fiery blond’s neck. “Ya know,” he mumbled. “You drop more f-bombs in a sentence than Samuel L. Jackson.”

“Mother fucker, I do fucking not,” Katsuki snapped. Then there was a pause. “Shut the fuck up.”

Izuku giggled. “What’d you want to do when we get back, Kacchan?”

“Dunno. Sleep? It’s already past my bedtime.”

He rolled his eyes. “You and your bedtime,” he said.

“It’s completely reasonable. Sorry I don’t go to bed at crazy times like, nerd,” he grumbled.

“I think I have a better idea on how to spend our night.”

Izuku’s hands moved from where they were clasped around Katsuki’s chest to gently dip down across his nipple, which pebbled at his touch. He heard the blond’s breath hitch in his ear, and he found himself smirking.

“You horny fuck,” Katsuki hissed, his tone heavy yet breathy.

“What?” he asked innocently. “Are you saying that you don’t want to fuck me?”

The blond’s breath hitched again.

“Don’t go putting words in my mouth for me, Bunny.”

Izuku hummed in delight at the nickname. “So, you do want to fuck me?” he asked, rolling his hips about Katsuki’s back. Izuku was already sporting a pretty good chub, and the friction the slight grind gave him was enough to take his edge off.

A low growl of frustration came from Katsuki. “I swear, you’re such a fucking exhibitionist,” he said.

Izuku thought about that for a moment. Was he an exhibitionist? Only a little bit. That one afternoon that he and Katsuki had shower sex, he did get quite a bit of satisfaction from making his boyfriend squirm as he spoke to his father. Of course, he’d been horrified after the fact. But regardless. He’d liked it. He hadn’t even needed Katsuki to touch him to get him off. So yeah. One could say that he was a bit of an exhibitionist.

“Oh my fuckin’ god, you’re a fuckin’ sadist, too?” Katsuki asked.

Right. Shoot. Muttering.

Instead of answering, Izuku pressed a kiss to Katsuki’s neck. The kiss quickly morphed into little nips, licks, and sucks on the skin there.

“Fuck, I’m gonna wreck that ass of yours, Bunny,” he said.

That’s what led to them stumbling into the entryway of the dorm building, their lips locked and their hardons pressed together. They were lucky it was late. That there was no one in the lobby. That they weren’t immediately yelled at for their public displays of affection. They were conscious of the security cameras, of course, but they had no issues making out as they made their way to the elevator.

“Fuck, Deku,” Katsuki moaned into his mouth as the doors of the elevator closed. “You’re such a fuckin’ tease.”

Izuku’s lips curled up at that. He pressed even closer to Katsuki, his hips rolling against him. The little bit of clothed friction wasn’t enough. He wanted more.

“Kacchan,” he whispered. “I need you. Please, Kacchan. ”

“Fuck.”

Suddenly, Katsuki was reaching behind Izuku’s legs. He felt himself get lifted from the ground. As he wrapped his legs around Katsuki, his back was pressed against the elevator doors.

“ Yes , Kachan,” he hummed.

His eyes fluttered closed as heady kisses were exchanged. Katsuki’s lips hungrily fought against his own; smeared kisses, fighting for purchase against the others. Their hands roamed over each other’s bodies, Izuku’s running across Katsuki’s chest and Katsuki’s groping Izuku’s jean-clad ass. The stuffed bunny from the festival was smashed between them, completely forgotten for the moment.

The elevator moved upward and a ding signalled the second floor and finally, finally , the third. Izuku tried to slide out of Katsuki’s grasp as the blond moved out of the elevator, but he was held in place.

“You’re not goin’ anywhere, Bunny,” Katsuki growled, their lips only separating by a hairsbreadth. His grasp on Izuku’s ass tightened as he stumbled down the hall toward their dorm.

Their door came into view, its whiteboard with their nicknames scrawled on it marking it as there.

“ Keys ,” Izuku whispered.

His hands dipped down in front of them, digging into Katsuki’s front pocket. He managed to snag his dorm key and pressed it into the blond’s hand. Izuku was balanced precariously as Katuski jammed the key into the door and gave it a swift twist. Rather than wait patiently, the greenette attached his lips to Katsuki’s collarbone, sucking a light, purplish bruise into place.

“ Fuck , ‘Zuku, wait until we’re through the fuckin’ door,” the gremlin growled.

But the door was open and they were crossing the threshold. Before he knew what was happening, he was being tossed down on Katsuki’s bed; they hadn’t had sex in Izuku’s since that first tiem for obvious, scarring reasons. Izuku squeaked in surprise. Katsuki had made quick work of his shirt and tossed it and the bunny that was cradled in Izuku’s hands aside. He pressed himself against Izuku. His lips were captured by those that tasted of spices and fire. They seared his skin, as did that bare chest that was pressed flush against him. But if Kacchan was a fire, he wanted to be consumed by him.

“Kacchan, please, ” he whined, his voice full of unarticulated need and desire.

Katsuki’s lips traveled from his own, ghosting down his jaw and down his neck. “Strip down. Don’t touch yourself,” Katsuki whispered against his pulse point before he pulled away, taking his warmth with him.

Izuku didn’t hesitate on his directions. He pulled his cardigan and shirt off before tugging his jeans and boxers down his legs. His half-half length sprung free of its confinement. He tossed his clothes to the side and hummed as his hand dipped down between his legs. He couldn’t help it. The sight of Katsuki purposefully moving through the dorm turned him on, especially with all of his bare-chested glory. He stroked himself languidly a few times as he watched Katsuki dig through the nightstand drawer beside the bed; they’d combined their stock of supplies into Katsuki’s drawer for easier access.

The blond stopped short when his head turned back to Izuku. Sure, he was jacking off despite the explicit instructions his boyfriend had given him, but quite frankly, he didn’t care. Izuku smirked. He liked the way his boyfriend’s eyes widened a fraction. The way his tongue darted out to wet his dry lips. The way the bulge in his pants increased in size.

“Do you like what you see, Kacchan?” he asked softly, innocently, but with a hint of deviousness behind it.

“Fuck yeah, you’re hot, but-” Katsuki said. Izuku’s brows shot up at the ‘but’. “You’re a bad Bunny. You didn’t follow my directions.”

Katsuki turned his body fully back in his direction and stepped predatorily towards him. Izuku shuddered with pleasure at the sheer dominance he exuded. Freaking hot . He gave another few strokes of his cock.

“What didn’t I follow, Sir? ” he asked, the honorific sliding off of his tongue. He looked at Katsuki with half-hooded eyes.

Suddenly, Izuku’s wrists were being pinned above his head. Katsuki’s chest was flush against his own again, and his lips were hovering near his ear.

“Keep your hands away, Bunny,” he said lowly. “You’ve lost touching privileges.”

Izuku pulled gently at his wrists, but Katsuki’s tight hold wouldn’t budge an inch. Shit , that was hot. He felt himself swell between his legs, precum dripping down onto his stomach. His cock felt neglected, engorged, craving some form of touch. He bucked his hips upward in some feeble attempt to grind against Katsuki, but the blond lifted himself away.

“Tch, silly Bunny,” he said with a shake of his head. “I didn’t say that you could hump me. You didn’t follow my directions, so you get what you get.”

He whined again. “But Kacchan -”

But he was cut off. Once of the hands that was holding his wrists moved to clamp down over his mouth.

“Uh uh. Not fuckin’ happening, ‘Zuku,” he chided. “You can’t beg your way out of this one. Not this time, Bunny.”

Izuku batted his pretty green eyes a few times, but it didn’t seem to phase his boyfriend. Conceding, he took in a deep breath and nodded just a little bit. Kacchan removed his hand.

“But what if I begged you to spank me, Sir?”

A look of surprise crossed Katsuki’s features before the expression shifted into a mask of primal arousal.

“Fuck, Bunny,” he said. “Now, that’s something I can work with.”

The hand that held his wrists down slid down to his hips. The other hand joined it. Katuski’s strong grip made quick work of flipping Izuku onto his stomach on the bed. The greenette gasped in surprise. Shit , that was hot. He loved when Katsuki was assertive like that. He loved it all.

“Ass up, Bunny,” he said. “And arms back above your head.”

His brain took a second to comprehend what the hell actually was happening. Katsuki seemed to notice.

“C’mon, Space Cadet.”

Izuku felt one of Katsuki’s strong hands land in the center of his back between his shoulder blades, pressing him into the mattress. The other pushed his ass up into the air. Finally catching up to what was happening, Izuku stretched his arms out in front of him, crossing them at his wrists. It was times like these that he was grateful for their daily runs and trips to the gym. His body was flexible enough to get through the contortions Katsuki pressed him into.

“You ready, ‘Zuku?” Katsuki asked. At the forefront, Izuku heard the primal arousal, but beneath it, he knew there was genuine concern. Izuku knew his boyfriend didn’t want to push him into anything he wasn’t ready for.

“ Yes ,” he hummed. He gave his presented ass a little wiggle.

He didn’t really hear the smack that hit him, but he sure as hell felt it. Katsuki’s hand came down swiftly on his right ass cheek. He couldn’t jerk his body away from the hit, not with the blond’s hand holding his back firm. Shortly after the first hit, it was his ass cheek that got the burning sting. He groaned through each hit, his eyes fluttering closed. God, it was something he’d never thought he’d get off to, but fuck. He loved it. Another smack landed on his upper thigh, and another to mirror it on the other side. It became a slight rhythm, the only difference being that Izuku didn’t exactly know where the next would come. The first four were pretty typical, but the rest were scattered, random. They deliciously seared his skin, leaving his freckled ass covered in bright pink, Katsuki’s shaped handprints.

Finally, when Izuku was nearly his breaking point, the spanks stopped. His heart beat wildly his chest and his breath was coming out rapidly. He was overwhelmed but entirely aroused.

“You okay over there, Bunny?” Katsuki asked, his voice filtering over the space to reach the greenette’s ears.

Izuku nodded lamely. “Yeah. I’m okay,” he said softly. “I want to try that again for-”

He must have missed it over the sound of his own beating heart and the blood rushing through his ears, but at some point, Katsuki must have opened the lube bottle and squirted a copious amount onto his fingertips. He felt the blond spread his cheeks and press the cold, liquidy substance against the tight ring of muscle that resided there. A gasp echoed from Izuku’s lips, and his eyelids fluttered.

“K-Kacchan!” he stammered out. His hands itched to move between his legs, to stroke himself as his boyfriend’s fingers teased him. But he didn’t. He knew the stubborn blond would retract his fingers faster than he could protest.

“Talk to me, Izu,” that sultry voice said. A deft thumb traced circles around his rim.

“I-I need you inside of me,” he moaned. The tease of Katsuki’s fingers was making his cock swell even more. He needed to be touched. “Please, Sir, please. Touch me. Please .”

Begging in any other circumstance would be debasing, but now, in the heat of this moment, Izuku only felt more arousal. The tip of Katsuki’s thumb paused in its circular ministrations and pressed against his hold teasingly.

“Hmmm,” he hummed. “Do you think you deserve it? Deserve to feel good?”

Izuku nodded into the mattress. “Yes, please ,” he said.

Slowly, Katsukis thumb pressed past the tight ring. Izuku welcomed the stretching burn that came with it. He keened, hsi body stiffening and relaxing through it all. Once Katsuki was seated in to his knuckle, Izuku felt him slowly, achingly so, start to move. His pace was slow, agonizing, but oh so amazing.

“Hmm, Bunny,” Kacchan said. “I just want to fuck you into the mattress.”

A moan of assent echoed from him. “Yes, Sir, please, please ,”

Katsuki’s thumb retracted, leaving Izuku feeling empty. He heard the squirt of lube, and suddenly, two fingers were pressing past his rim which wasn’t nearly stretched out enough for it. The greenette’s fingers grappled at the sheets, twisting them tightly between the appendages. He tossed his curl-covered head back, a lilting groan filling the space. Those fingers didn’t hesitate. They moved in and out, in and out, in and out with a steady rhythm. It was a rhythm he easily sank into. What he wasn’t prepared for was his boyfriend finding his prostate. A shock of pleasure coursed through his body from his head all the way to the tips of his toes. The arch in his back deepened, and he pressed against Katsuki’s fingers.

“A-Ah-haah!” he gasped.

Izuku began to rock his hips back and forth against those fingers which had curled in such a way that each thrust hit that sweet, sweet spot.

“Yes, Bunny,” Katsuki growled. “Fuck yourself on my fingers, baby, come on.”

Izuku oh so willingly obliged, his hips picking up speed. His cock begged for more, though. Its tip rubbed against the bed ever so slightly with each buck of his hips, but it wasn’t enough.

“Kacchan, please , I need you to touch me,” he begged. “ Please .”

Katsuki tutted behind him. “I don’t think you’re ready for that, Bunny,” he said teasingly, his fingers curling again to mercilessly hit his prostate. His body jerked with pleasure as hot tears of overwhelming stimulation formed in his eyes.

“ Yes! ” he cried out through the pleasure of it all.

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, I am ready,” he panted. “Sir.”

“ Fuck , Bunny,” Katsuki groaned.

His fingers withdrew from where they were nested, once again leaving Izuku feeling empty. He heard Katsuki’s belt and zipper become undone, the rustle of fabric as the blond likely discarded the remains of his clothes. The squirt of the lube bottle one more time. And finally, finally , Katsuki’s tip pressing its way through his ring. He sucked in a breath and rode through the waves of feelings that washed over him.

When he felt Katsuki’s hips press flush against his ass, he knew he was all the way in. The blond’s hot hands pressed into his hips, pulling him just a fraction closer.

“Fuck me,” Izuku said lowly.

“Fuck yes,” Katsuki responded.

His hips started moving. It was slow at first, which allowed Izuku to adjust, but it quickly morphed into a brutal, relentless pace. Izuku’s moans came out high and unfettered into the air. He loved the way Katsuki pounded into him. Loved the way he made him his. Loved the ay that when he was searching for purchase, he dug his fingers into Izuku’s thick, green curls and pulled . He loved it all.

“Fuck, you feel so fucking good, ‘Zuku,” Katsuki groaned. “ Ah . Fuck . ‘m close.”

Izuku whined at that, at his own neglected cock. “Please let me touch myself,” he begged. “ Please, please, please. ”

“ Yes ,” Katsuki groaned out. “Touch yourself, Bunny. Make yourself come as I pound you. Fuck yes.”

He didn’t need telling twice. One of his hands snaked beneath him and took hold of his swollen, leaking length. His fast fervid strokes paired with Katsuki’s relentless thrust felt like heaven .

“ A-Ah! Fuck! Kacchan!” he moaned. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”

An explosion of white surrounded Izuku, a stark contrast to the rainbows from earlier that evening. He came all over his hand, the bedspread, his own chest, but none of that mattered. He was riding out his orgasm in a fucking out sort of bliss. The stuttering of Katsuki’s hips told him that he, too, had reached his own orgasm. They both rode out the bliss together, their moans and groans filling the small dorm room.

The blond collapsed above him, his chest pressed into his back. He felt the rapid beat of Kacchan’s heart, the ghost of his breath against the shell of his ear.

“I love you, too, Izuku,” he whispered tenderly.

The greenette smiled faintly. He was exhausted, but his heart was soaring. “I love you more, Kacchan.”

A snort. “Oh, fuck no you don’t,” Katsuki half-heartedly challenged. “If this is a competition, I’m not gonna let you win. I’ll show you.”

Izuku giggled. “Kacchan, how about we just agree that we love each other equally?”

A soft hum. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

“Me, too.”

Izuku

Katsuki and Izuku had a total of five noise complaints by the end of the summer. Their late-night activities had become more frequent and more vocal during the last three weeks of August, and their neighbors beside, below, and above them were not amused. Their dorm supervisors had given them a final warning notice just that morning. They could either tone it down or risk violating their dorm contract, effectively rendering them homeless. Izuku, of course, had been horrified . He had apologized up and down, forward and reverse. Katsuki, on the other hand, handled it the same way Katsuki always did. By telling them to fuck off because their neighbors were just jealous that they weren’t ‘getting any’ .

Izuku had to do even more apologizing to prevent their supervisors from submitting a request to have them split apart as roommates.

“What do you guys plan to do though?” Ochako asked as she laid on the blanket that Izuku had set out on the grass.

The day was beautiful. The remainder of August had provided them with some comfortably warm weather. Izuku had helped formulate the plans for a group picnic. They’d invited all of their friends as well as their significant others. It was like one big group date, he figured. It was something simple and nice for the remainder of their summer break. Everyone had packed their own lunches, brought a blanket, and got comfortable on the grass at the random, small park they’d picked out just for today.

Most of the group was playing a brutal game of volleyball. He, Shouto, Kyouka, and Ochako were the only ones who had opted to relax while the others brutally whipped the ball at each other and Tenya attempted to keep the game in order.

Izuku looked at Ocha and shrugged his shoulders. “I facetimed my mom in a panic as soon as our supervisors left.”

“You facetimed your mom? How’d you explain that?” Kyouka asked, an amused smile stretching across her features. “You have noise complaints for your loud, crazy sex lives, and that is the first thing you did?”

Izuku groaned and buried his face in his knees. “Look, in hindsight, I realize it probably wasn’t the smartest idea-”

“Not at all, Izuku,” Shouto chimed in.

“Ugh!” he groaned again. “I mentioned we had noise complaints, and she asked why and I-I just told her.”

“Smooth, Izu,” Ochako said.

“I’ve never seen her so embarrassed ,” he moaned. “She handed my Dad the phone because she just couldn’t .”

Shouto snorted beside him. “Imagine that. Yagi-san giving advice to his step-son on how to handle his wild sex life.”

“ Shouto! ”

“Well, what did he say?” Kyouka asked.

“He was understanding of it, I guess, but that didn’t stop the lecture on responsibility, respect, and etiquette, though.”

Kyouka huffed out a laugh. “Well, I mean, from what it sounds like, you two go at it like bunnies.”

“Yeah, five noise complaints is a lot in three weeks.”

Izuku’s face burned. He was glad he’d buried his face in his knees. It was bad enough that he’d had to tell his parents any of it. Now, his friends were comparing them to bunnies They had no idea how close to the truth that had gotten. Katsuki had really taken to calling him bunny during sex. Izuku, in turn, had picked up a headband with bunny ears and a small bunny tail butt plug just for shits and giggles. It had backfired. Katsuki liked it way too much.

“ Guys! ”

“What’s the plan, then?” Shouto asked, saving him from the bunny talk.

“Well, after we talked to both of our parents, we came to the conclusion that we should just get an apartment,” he said. “I mean, it may not fix the noise problem, but maybe the walls will be thicker.”

Ocha shot up at that. “What? Izu! Congrats!”

He lifted his head and looked at her sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. “Thanks. It’s not exactly all sorted out or anything, but it’ll be better, hopefully,” he said. “Our parents will take care of the rent and utilities, and the part time job that I have – and Kacchan is going to get – will take care of groceries and train passes.”

“You’ll have to let us know if you need any help moving in. Once you get a place, of course,” Shout offered.

“Yeah! And I can throw you a killer house-warming party!” Ocha said, pumping her arms into the air.

“I don’t think you could kill anything, Round Cheeks,” Kacchan’s rough voice said from above them. “Now, vacate my spot, shitty extras. I’m starving.”

“So rude, Bakugou,” Ochako huffed, her cheeks taking on that roundness that Kacchan had commented on.

“You don’t hang out with me for my fucking personality.”

Kyouka snorted. “No, we hang out with you because your boyfriend is a sweetheart, and you can cook.”

Izuku giggled. “ And because you’re super fun and amazing and cute and did I say amazing?”

“We all know you just keep him around because you think he’s good in bed,” Shouto said in the most monotone voice ever .

“ Shouto! ” Izuku cried yet again. God, his friends could never give him a break.

“Nobody asked you, Icy-Hot!” Katsuki roared.

“Man, I’m starving ,” Kaminari said as he and the rest of the brook came toward the blankets.

“Bakubro! What did you bring?” Kirishima asked. He wrapped his arms around Kacchan’s neck, throwing the blond slightly off balance.

“None of your fuckin’ business, Shitty Hair,” Katsuki growled, eyeing the red head with a look that could kill. “You packed your own so you can get offa me and fuck right off our lunch.”

“But Bakubro! You’re an amazing chef,” Kirishima chimed in.

“And you think buttering me fucking up will get you anywhere, why? ”

“That used to always work, Bakubabe,” Ashido bemoaned as she approached. “C’mon, what gives? Share!”

“Well, unless you’re Auntie Inko, Uncle Toshinori, or that nerd – and only because he’d eat shitty packaged ramen if I didn’t feed him – ya ain’t gettin’ fuckin’ shit,” Kacchan said. Izuku smiled. He didn’t even give an exception for his own parents. But Izuku’s? Always. “It’s too good for you shitty extra asses.”

“Kacchan!” Izuku finally said when he’d felt the rest of the group had had enough of his beratement. “Be nice.”

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at him, but Izuku held his gaze just as firm.

“Why should I?” he signed.

“Because they’re your friends.”

“You mean shitty extras.”

“No, friends,” he admonished. “They just love your cooking.”

“Fuckin’ mooches.”

Izuku rolled his eyes. “How about because I asked you to?”

Katsuki was about to respond when-

“You guys are way too fast for me these days,” Ashido whined.

“Practice, Bubblegum, and you wouldn’t have problems,” Katsuki snipped.

Again, Izuku rolled his eyes. It was a start, he supposed. He grabbed Katsuki by his wrist as Ochako got up and stretched. He pulled him down beside him so they could sit together.

“Quit being a hangry gremlin, and eat already.”

⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞⤝⤞

The rest of the afternoon passed by in a blur. The group went their separate ways after lunch to enjoy their time. Kyouka and Kaminari both went off under a tree to sing and play their guitars. Ashido and Kirishima were up in a tree, making out. Shouto and Inasa were playing an intense game of Magic the Gathering. Ochako and Tenya were laying on their blanket, hands clasped, gazing at the clouds while quiet conversation filtered between them. And he and Katsuki… Izuku’s head rested in the blond’s lap. His hands were folded over his stomach. Katsuki’s hands were tangled into his hair, gently playing with it. Izuku was comfortable, at ease. He could fall asleep.

Kacchan made him so happy. They had come so far from when they’d first med. They gone from yelling at each other to understanding one another’s subtle behavioral nuances. They knew the meaning of each smile, frown, tear, and expression. In that short time, they’d learned so much of what they’d needed to learn of each other. They’d transcended language barriers and grown above taking what the other said at face value. They hadn’t mastered it, but they’d come far in learning the art of listening.

And, of course, there were things about one another that they still didn’t know. More nuances that life would throw at them, but Izuku was prepared to take it all in stride. He lived for those moment because it meant rediscovering his muse. Katsuki never ceased to amaze him, never ceased to make his heart soar. He’d never trade those moments for anything. Never.

This was one of those moments. The way he could just stare into those crimson pools that made up Katsuki’s eyes… He was in heaven.

“Kacchan?” he asked, gaining the attention of the man above him. Katsuki looked down at him, his eyes scanning over him as if he were searching for something. Izuku felt concerned at this. “You look upset. What’s wrong?”

The blond shook his head, blinking once, twice, three times. “Not upset. Counting.”

“Counting?”

“Yeah.”

Izuku furrowed his brows over his viridian gaze. “What’re you counting?”

“Your freckles?”

“My freckles? How is that interesting?” he asked. “They’re just dots on my face.”

Katsuki shrugged, leaning in a little closer to Izuku. “They’re a part of you. They could keep me busy for hours.”

Izuku couldn’t help but lean in closer, too. “And what happens when you run out of freckles to count?”

Their lips were only inches apart now. Their breath ghosted together. His eyes took in everything that was Katsuki. His beautiful red eyes. His pale, smooth skin. His light blond hair and light blond eyelashes that fluttered closed as they leaned in closer for their kiss. It was a light kiss. Soft and gentle. Tender and warm. But it was all that Izuku needed. Katsuki was al that he wanted. Those lovely crimson eyes opened and took in all of his features. Those pink lips parted to speak.

“I’ll just start over,” he said. “I’ll never stop counting. Not when there might be a new one every day.”

Izuku smiled, his viridian gaze connecting with the blond’s. “I’d like that, Kacchan. I’d really like that.”