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Katsuki was never one to wake up early just to watch the sunrise. He didn’t see the point in it. So the sun rose every single morning, what was the big deal?
But Deku had suggested it, and Katsuki knew that he was growing increasingly weaker to Deku’s requests.
They had only been dating for about a year now, and only a couple of months after they both simultaneously broke into the top 10 at the tender age of 21. Still, Katsuki knew if Deku smiled at him and told him to walk over a bunch of searing hot coals for him that he would absolutely do it.
So when Deku turned to him at 5am, the two of them wrapping up a late night patrol shift together, and told him that they should totally watch the sunrise together, Katsuki said sure.
They sat perched on a rooftop, a bag of spicy karamucho being shared between them.
“Kacchan,” Izuku said as he passed the chips back to Katsuki, “what’re you thinking of getting Kaminari and Shinsou for their engagement party next month?”
Katsuki shoved a handful of chips in his mouth and scowled. “Why are they even having an engagement party? Thought that Shinsou freak was better than that.” The sun was now just barely peeking above the city skyline, a sliver of white in the distant horizon.
Izuku hummed. “Well, I think it’s a nice idea. At least it gives everyone an excuse to finally meet, you know? It’s been so long since we’ve all had a get together.” He paused, pinching his chin with one hand. “I don’t think gifts are essential to these things, but I’m thinking of getting one of those door placards with their names on it.”
“Sounds cheesy,” Katsuki said bluntly.
His boyfriend, however, was unfazed. In fact, he had a knowing smile on his face, the one that Katsuki knew was trouble. “Oh? So you wouldn’t like it if our future apartment together had a placard with our names on the front? The Bakugou-Midoriya household?”
Jesus Christ. Katsuki knew the tips of his ears were burning and he cursed every star in the sky for the lack of a beanie, or a hood, or just anything to cover up the embarrassment he was in right now. Shitty Deku always knew what to say to fluster him.
“Fuck no,” he spat out, completely unconvincing even to his own ears. “The fuck kind of pipe dream are you living? The only thing our future apartment door is gonna say is ‘fuck off stupid shitty extras.’” Katsuki paused, chewed, and swallowed. “And then at the bottom it’ll say something like: ‘except for Deku. He can come in. But leave your ugly fucking shoes outside.’”
“Pfft,” Deku snorted into his hand. “Gee, thanks for the permission to enter our own place Kacchan.”
“Shuddup. Also your stupid sun is rising, the hell are you looking at me for?”
Deku rolled his eyes but sidled up closer to Katsuki anyway, pressing their shoulders together and leaning his head into the crook of Katsuki’s neck. The blond stiffened at the touch initially, still not used to the feeling of physical affection. Deku had been nothing but understanding throughout it all though, and knew when to give Katsuki some space and when it was alright to touch him.
“Hey Kacchan?”
Katsuki grunted in response, observing a particularly weird looking chip in his hand.
“I love you.”
The sun rose.
Katsuki looked towards Deku, who had pulled away to stare right back. The sunrise lit up his face in strange angles, bringing out his eyes, his freckles, his lips. Deku smiled at him with a slight blush on his face as Katsuki let the words catch up to his brain.
“You-” he choked out, head spinning. This wasn’t supposed to feel like such a revelation. He knew Deku loved him, just as he knew that he loved Deku too. But there was something frightening about that open, soft expression.
There was something frightening in the way the words slipped so easily from Deku’s tongue.
Katsuki couldn’t even begin to respond, his own tongue turning to lead in his mouth.
Deku tilted his head, regarding Katsuki with a knowing expression. Then, he reached forward and took Katsuki’s hand, lacing their fingers together as he did so. “You don’t have to say anything back, Kacchan. I just wanted you to know. Though I’m sure you already do.”
Katsuki wanted to say it back. By god he did. But the words lodged themselves in his throat and refused to come out. Deku loved him. He knew that. But it was so jarring to hear it spoken into the real world. The only other people who had said that out loud were his parents, and it’s not like he’d ever been shocked to his core by that. He distinctly remembered batting his mother’s hands away as she tried to wrap him into a bear hug, actually.
So, why couldn’t he just say it back? It’s three fucking words! He can hurl insults and beat villains to shit like it’s nothing, but he can’t even-
“Ah, I’m beat.” Izuku stretched his arms above his head and sighed as he heard a bone crack. “It’s about time we head back, don’t you think? Do you want to come back to my place before you go sparring with Tokoyami-kun?”
Katsuki’s head was still spinning even as he mumbled out a reply. There was no reason for this to be hitting him so hard ... right?
That afternoon, as the two of them curled up on Deku’s couch with a tired Deku sleep-talking into his shoulder, Katsuki decided that he needed him to know.
So if he couldn’t say it, he’d just have to show him.
Deku’s bedroom door banged against the wall as he wrenched it open, one hand raised in attack-mode with his fingers pinched into his signature shoot style move. “Who the hell-”
Katsuki stared at him from the kitchen, halfway through tying the apron strings behind his back and looking absolutely caught red handed.
“Kacchan?” Deku said in disbelief, deflating immediately. “What are you doing here at-” his eyes flicked to the clock above his television, “six in the morning? And why are the kitchen lights off?” As he said this, his hand moved to flick the switch on, dousing them in white light.
Katsuki sighed, pinching his nose. “Thought I’d come over and surprise you with breakfast or something. But you just had to go and ruin it with your stupidly sharp hearing.”
Deku huffed, leaning back against his door frame as the adrenalin at having to neutralise a possible intruder receded. “Kacchan, I just heard an army of pots clobbering each other to death. You weren’t being quiet.”
Scowling, Katsuki jutted his chin to the side and looked away. “Not my fault you stack your pots inside a tiny ass cupboard. Seriously Deku, you need to organise your fucking kitchen. It’s a mess.”
Promptly ducking under the counter to rifle through cooking ware and random assortment of weird shit that Deku’s shoved into the drawers, Katsuki managed to avoid any more questions about why he used his spare key to break into Deku’s apartment just to make him some stupid breakfast. When he stood up again and began gathering the ingredients he needed from the fridge, he chanced a look back at his boyfriend.
Deku was still watching him from outside his bedroom, one hand on his cheek as he looked at him fondly.
“What are you staring at, nerd? Go back to sleep. Your shift starts soon doesn’t it? You’d better get some rest or you’ll be falling asleep on duty like a rookie.”
“Mhmm. Okay, Kacchan.” Deku walked over to him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “Wake me up when you’ve finished then, alright?”
“No Deku, I think I’ll just make breakfast for myself and then give the rest to your weird neighbour who smells like ass.”
Deku just smiled and kissed him again.
“Shitty Hair, put that down.” God, it was like talking to an excitable dog.
Kirishima pouted as he held the Alien Queen figurine in his hand. “But Bakubrooo, it’s the love of my life except tinier! I gotta buy it-”
“You’ve fucking- you’ve already hoarded all of her merch at this point! Are you really going to give her another fucking doll of herself? Wow, that’s a real swell idea to give someone gifts that look exactly like them to show them how much you appreciate them. Real romantic.” Katsuki shoved his hands into his jacket pockets with an eye roll. “Got no idea how that poor sucker even puts up with you half the time.”
Kirishima gave him an unimpressed look but put the figurine back on the shelf anyway. “First of all, I hate that you’re making some valid points. Second of all, I don’t know why I’m taking the advice from the least competent person in love here.”
The cashier watching them from behind the desk covered her mouth to hide a laugh.
Katsuki whirled on him from the entrance to the shop. “The hell are you talking about? I’m the best at everything, and that includes being in a relationship. The fuck.”
The redhead raised an eyebrow as they stepped out of the store, a bag of groceries swinging from his elbow. “Dude. It took you like, three months just to tell Midoriya you liked him. And that was after he confessed to you.”
Katsuki didn’t really know what to say to that. So maybe he left the nerd hanging for three months because he didn’t know what to do with his feelings. Sue him. Not everyone was an emotionally adept crybaby like Midorya-fucking-Izuku.
“Okay, are we just gonna ignore the fact that you called me at ass’o’clock in the fucking morning freaking out because Raccoon Eyes kissed you and you didn’t know if that meant she liked you?” Katsuki was not deflecting, thank you very much.
“Hey, in my defence kissing someone out of the blue is a lot less clear than having someone confess out of the blue! And- holy shit, are my eyes deceiving me? Is Bakugou Katsuki walking into a flower shop right now?”
Katsuki grit his teeth but batted away the plastic sheets as he stepped inside the tiny store anyway. “Don’t make this into a big deal or I swear to god.” He didn’t have to finish his threat for Kirishima to mimic a zip sealing his lips shut and backing off a little.
“Hey, whatever man, you do you. But if you’re only doing this to prove me wrong, then-”
Katsuki turned away from a tiny bonsai plant to look at his best friend. “I’m not.”
“Alright, then what’s the occasion?”
“...There’s no occasion.”
Furrowing his brow, he opened his mouth again. “Uh, so why-”
Shit, okay, he was really going to do this then. Putting his hands on Kirishima’s shoulders, Katsuki gave him his most serious look. “Listen up Kirishima, because I’m only gonna say this once. I’m only in here because I need to show Deku that I-”
Fucking hell. He couldn’t even say it to this red-haired dopey idiot!
Kirishima, at least, seemed to understand. “That you love him?”
Releasing his shoulders, Katsuki exhaled and stepped away. “...Yeah.”
He hummed in response. “Okay, well, if you wanna get him flowers I think we should get these ones.” He pointed to a bouquet of violet, star-shaped flowers. “According to the tag, it symbolises trust and devotion. That seems fitting huh?”
Katsuki looked at it for a second, and then looked at his friend. “This is so fucking sappy. Why am I doing this?”
His friend gave him an ear-splitting grin. “Because you’re in loooove dude!”
A couple of minutes later, Katsuki and a Kirishima with singed hair stood outside of Deku’s agency.
“Okay. Fuck. I’m just going to go in and give it to him.”
“Yeah man.”
“And it’s not going to be a big deal.”
“Definitely not. Couples do it all the time!”
“Yeah, yeah. Everyone does it. Not a big deal.”
“He’s gonna love it.”
Katsuki cussed under his breath. “Alright, fuck. Why are we standing outside like a bunch of idiots? Let’s go.”
Stepping into the lobby, Katsuki and Kirishima did not expect to run into Deku so soon. He was busy talking to a young man with a clipboard pressed into his hip, the kid looking slightly intimidated by Deku’s presence as the hero prattled on about upcoming weekly meetings or something. He was nodding furiously at everything Deku was saying, occasionally jotting things down.
Then, as the stranger bounded away, Deku turned around and locked eyes with Katsuki. His face instantly morphed from tired into a blinding smile. “KACCHAN!” He quickly made his way over to him, throwing his arms around his neck. “I didn’t expect to see you-”
“Deku, off, you’re fuckin’ crushing them.”
“Eh?” Deku stepped back, eyes widening when he noticed the bouquet in his arms. “Oh my god.” He whipped out his phone, staring at the lock screen for a second before his shoulders sagged in relief. “Okay, it’s definitely not our anniversary. Then why…”
“Do I need a reason? Just take them, fuckface.”
Besides, Kirishima muttered, “A real expert at romance, dude.”
Directing his attention from Katsuki to Kirishima, Deku beamed at the latter. “Oh, hi Kirishima! Sorry, I didn’t really notice you there.”
Kirishima snorted. “Don’t worry about it. Also, did you know that these flowers symbolise trust and devotio- OW! The hell?”
Katsuki retracted his finger from Kirishima’s side. “Shut your trap.”
Kirishima rolled his eyes, rubbing at his side with a disgruntled expression. “Such a freakin’ tsundere. Anyway, I gotta head back now. Nice seeing you Deku!”
“Oh, bye then Kirishima! Send Ashido my thanks for the homemade cookies!”
“Will do, my man.” Kirishima turned around and gave Katsuki a look, which made the blond frown at him, before fist bumping him and taking his leave.
“That guy is so annoying,” Katsuki grumbled. Deku hiked the strap of his bag higher over his shoulder as they walked down the steps of Deku’s workplace. He didn’t seem to pay Katsuki any attention as his fingers threaded through the flowers, his mind floating in some other place.
“Earth to Deku? I’m complaining here and you’re supposed to be agreeing with everything I say.”
Deku laughed, shaking his head. “Sorry. They’re... really beautiful Kacchan. Thank you.”
The words set him alight, buzzing with pride and relief and a dozen other things he couldn’t even begin to put a name on. He hadn’t realised how worried he’d been about just delivering the stupid bouquet to him until that very moment.
The way Deku was smiling so gently at the flowers made the whole embarrassing ordeal suddenly worth it. Not that he could tell Deku that.
“It’s whatever.”
At this, his boyfriend took hold of Katsuki’s hand and didn’t let go until they parted ways to go to their respective houses.
Deku had once told Katsuki that if you look hard enough, there can be beauty in everything.
He lied. There was nothing beautiful about hospitals.
Nothing positive could be gleaned from the harsh white lights, the sombre faces of nurses overworked and underslept, the stinging scent of chemicals, the illness and death weighing heavily in the air. There was always someone crying, somewhere. The distant wailing grew to become background noise to those who frequented hospitals too much, and was deeply unnerving to those who seldom had a reason to enter them.
There was a lot wrong with that statement, actually. There was nothing beautiful in poverty, in evil, in slaughtered innocents, in injustice.
And there was definitely nothing beautiful in the sight of a barely-breathing Midoriya Izuku in a hospital bed.
Katsuki couldn’t exactly recall how long it had been since Deku had been admitted after that shitshow of a villain attack. Sitting stockstill by Deku’s bed for days on end with little to no sleep had him losing his grasp of the progression of time. Visitors came and went, squeezing his shoulder as they tried to talk to him, tried to tell him to just go home and take a break.
Had he been sat here for a couple of days? Weeks? Maybe it had been years. Days blended into nights blended into afternoons blended into-
He’d been sitting in that hard fucking plastic chair for eternity.
The nurses had long since given up on prying him away from Deku’s bedside. Security didn’t have the best luck either - Katsuki was a force of nature on an average day, but he tapped into something feral and utterly violent on his worst days. At best, they were able to move him to the back of the room when the doctors came in to check up on him.
The little Deku sitting on his right shoulder told him that he shouldn’t yell at the hospital staff. Katsuki couldn’t really hear him.
Deku’s hand was so limp in his own. He leant down to press his forehead to the scarred knuckles, forcing his breath to steady. Now that the tears had been emptied from his system, he could focus on things like this.
What would Deku do?
He’d probably tell him to eat something. When was the last time he ate? One of the nurses had wordlessly passed him a tuna sandwich an eon ago. His stomach rumbled at the memory. But if he got up and left, Deku would wake up and he’d be all alone in this awful, sterile, shitty fucking hospital room-
“Aa-chan…?”
Katsuki’s head whipped up. The heart monitor was steadily increasing as Deku’s eye cracked open into tiny, tiny slits, squinting against the light. Then those green eyes widened a little more, settling on the sleep deprived man in the chair. And, despite everything, Deku smiled at him. “Hi,” he said stupidly.
God, you stupid, dumb asshole.
“Deku?” Katsuki choked out, the last reserve of tears pooling in his lids. The nerd was trying to sit up, beads of sweat clinging to his blanched face with the effort.
And then Katsuki was throwing himself at him, the tightness in his chest cracking with every beep of that monitor. “You fucking idiot I hate you so much, how dare you get beat to hell by some shitty freak you absolute piece of crap! Do you even know how close you were to dying? What the fuck Deku? How could you let-”
Deku didn’t say anything as Katsuki absolutely wept in his arms. Instead, he just wheezed painfully, hands gripping the back of Katsuki’s shirt and pulling gently. “Kacchan… ow…”
Katsuki let go immediately, a teardrop escaping his eyelid and diving straight onto Deku’s cheek. “Do you have any idea how close I was to losing you?” he grit out. It came out hoarse, scraped raw and sore from an unused throat.
Deku squeezed his eyes shut. “S-sorry. Didn’ mean to make ya worry…” He let his arms drop to his sides again, exhaustion setting into his face. “Did I…” he swallowed tightly, his hand twitching as he tried to move on his side.
“Shhh, Deku I got you.” Katsuki could barely even recognise his own voice, how suddenly gentle and soothing it was. He didn’t know he was even capable of that sound.
Helping Deku sit up, he poured him a cup of water and watched as Deku’s shaking hands accepted it gratefully. “And yes, you idiot of course you saved them. All thirteen have been accounted for. One of them, ah hold on-” Katsuki bent down to pick up the card that had fallen to the ground seconds earlier. “The daughter wrote you a thank you card.”
“That’s so nice,” Deku mumbled, eyes fluttering shut again. “I’ll read it later... ‘M so tired.”
“Fuck,” Katsuki hissed. “Yeah, okay. Okay. Get some sleep, I’m gonna go get a - a doctor or something.”
As he stood up, Deku’s hand immediately shot out to grip his wrist with surprising strength for someone so weakened. “Don’t go just yet, Kacchan. Please?”
He was so, so weak for that voice. “I need to get a nurse or something, Deku,” he said instead, even though he wanted nothing more than to just climb into that shitty bed and embrace him.
“Lemme at leas’ give you a kiss. You’re so handsome.” He smiled dopily, eyes closed. The sight set his heart aflutter, the tensions in his shoulder easing just slightly.
“I really, really hate you,” Katsuki said as he leant down and pressed his lips to Deku’s. It barely lasted, but it had him suddenly keyed up. Deku is alive, he’s here, he’s alive. He left straight after to let the staff know that they wouldn’t have to call the morgue.
Deku was discharged two days later. When the doctor advised him to take three weeks off to recover, Deku’s face became instantly crestfallen. He didn’t make a scene though. He nodded sombrely, jaw tight as he resolved himself to three weeks of being on the bench.
Katsuki didn’t stop fussing over him from the moment Deku swung his legs over the bed, to when he helped him into the car that was overflowing with flowers and get well soon cards, to when he guided and tucked Deku into his bed. Katsuki stayed over that night, of course. He was to assist his boyfriend for the next two weeks. And assist he did.
“I can eat my own dinner, Kacchan,” Deku frowned as Katsuki brought the chopsticks to his mouth.
“Like hell you can.” Kacchan forced Deku’s lips open to feed him bite-sized pieces of pork. “You can’t even stand up without crying out for help.”
“Not true. Ugh, this is humiliating.”
“Just shut up and eat this, nerd. I even toned down the spice for you.”
“But I like spicy,” Deku smirked. Just as Katsuki was going to retort, Deku leaned forward and swiped his tongue all over Katsuki’s cheek. “Mmm, so spicy. Kinda sweaty too.” And then he crumbled into a fit of giggles at the way Katsuki swore at him and wiped at his face aggressively with his forearm.
“You are such a pain in the ass.” Katsuki smiled, but only for a split second.
Exhaustion hit him like a sudden wave, inundating him completely. As the restless days and fitful sleep caught up to him all in an instant, the chopsticks fell from his hands and clattered in Deku’s lap.
The mood died.
“Kacchan?” Deku shifted forward, hands cradling the blond’s face. “You look so tired... I’m so sorry I made you work yourself to the ground like this. Let’s just go to sleep now, okay?”
His eyes fluttered closed. “You really scared me Deku.” It came out as barely a whisper.
“I know,” Deku managed, sounding close to tears. “I’m so-”
Katsuki’s hands rose up to hold Deku’s wrists. “God, Deku. You know I can’t- I can’t live without you.”
Deku’s hands held his face tighter, his voice helpless as he choked out, “Kacchan, I-”
“You don’t get it,” his grip tightened, eyes shut the whole time. “I can’t do any of this without you. You’re it for me. So don’t - don’t you dare go anywhere that I can’t follow. You hear me? You were always great at being clingy as shit when we were kids. There’s no need to change that any time soon.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” The words were firm, solid. Deku’s hands moved from his face, to around Katsuki’s neck, holding him there like an anchor, moored into place. “I love you so much, Kacchan. I’m not going anywhere, and especially not without you. We still have a lot left to accomplish together. We’re the wonder duo . We’re going to become old and grey and you’ll be super grumpy all the time but I won’t even complain about it because I love you too much.”
All Katsuki could do was nod, not trusting himself to speak.
“Alright, let me take care of you now. I’ll eat this really quickly and then we’ll head to bed, alright?”
They clung to each other throughout the night, seeking assurance in the solid forms of each other’s bodies, in the expanding and constricting of their chests, as they survived one more day together.
About a month later, a much healthier looking Deku nearly jumped out of his skin when Katsuki jumped onto the couch next to him. They were sitting in Katsuki’s living room this afternoon, the two of them looking slightly more refreshed now that they finally shared an off day together after so many weeks of clashing schedules.
“Move in with me,” Katsuki said without preamble.
The freckles on Deku’s skin appeared even darker as Deku blushed furiously. Katsuki, completely ignorant of the whirlwind of thoughts in the his boyfriend's head, absentmindedly began tracing them with his thumb. “W-what? Are you serious?”
Mistaking this as rejection, Katsuki pulled his hand away. “Whaddaya mean, what? We practically live together anyway! Hell, half of the clothes in my closet end up paying rent in your bedroom. It makes getting dressed for something really fucking annoying when half of my shit is missing.”
“No, no Kacchan I’m not-” Deku let out a breathless laugh, a hand placing itself on top of Katsuki’s chest. “I want to move in with you! I just - geez. The thought of us living together… I just! Ugh, Kacchan I’m really happy!” And then he was wrapping his arms around him and pulling him in. “Ah this is so exciting, I- Oh! Wait right here!”
Deku untangled himself from Katsuki’s arms and bolted into his room, before re-emerging with a notebook that Katsuki had never seen before. “I may have um, planned this out. Rather extensively.”
“You planned us moving in together?” Katsuki said, voice perfectly neutral.
“Haha, yeah? To be honest, a lot of this came from way before we had even start dating, so it’s not-”
“Alright, well.” He stood up. “I think your bedroom floor needs more tenants.”
Deku frowned in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
He didn’t get to say much else though, because Katsuki was already dragging him inside of his bedroom and had slammed the door shut.
At this point, Katsuki is absolutely fucking sure that Deku knows he loves him. He - better than anyone else - knows how to read Deku, so he knows this as a fact.
When Katsuki doesn’t bother to mask his expression as his boyfriend gushes on about whatever was happening in a cheesy All Might movie, he can see it in the way those green eyes linger on Katsuki’s smile before flicking back up to meet his eyes knowingly.
It was always scary how Deku could read him so easily too.
Still, it didn’t really stop Katsuki from trying to show Deku that he was really, wholeheartedly, completely in this. He was never one to half ass anything, and especially not when it came to Deku.
Tonight was a somewhat special night. It was an anniversary, but it wasn’t their anniversary. In fact, Katsuki knew that Deku didn’t have a clue what the significance of today was. Not that he expected him to, of course. Hell, he didn’t even want Deku to know. It makes the gift a lot more sentimental and all that crap.
Today was the day that Katsuki first realised he loved Deku.
It was a life altering day, for him. Even if the incident itself was mind-numbingly mundane. They had been out shopping with Round Face and Yaoyorozu, the four of them looking for a gift for someone or the other a couple of months after their first debut into their respective agencies. Katsuki didn’t really care enough to remember who the occasion was for. He had only come along because Deku had asked him to come, saying something about not wanting to be a third wheel. Whatever that meant.
Round Face had held up two shirts against Katsuki’s chest, face scrutinising. “Deku-kun, which one do you think looks better?”
Deku had turned around from the shoe aisle and took one very brief, extremely short once-over of the shirts. “The one on the right,” he said easily, turning back around. “Kacchan doesn’t like checkers or the colour yellow. The one on the right will bring out his eyes more.”
After a swooping heart and brief tingle of goosebumps later, that was all it took.
Honestly, it was probably one of those straw-that-breaks-the-camel’s-back kind of moments. He’d been half-obsessed with the guy ever since they were children, so everything leading up to that moment were just the building blocks of what was supposed to be apparently inevitable.
Katsuki never had to tell Deku anything for him to just know. It worked the other way around too, sure, but Deku had always just been easier to read, so Katsuki didn’t really have to work as hard.
But anyway. He found that doing these little things for Deku to just show him what he felt was actually… really nice. It felt good to make him feel appreciated. Lord knows he deserved it after everything he’d been put through.
He’d planned out the whole evening. The two of them would finish off their shift at around 9pm. If they could manage to squeeze past their idiot friends lounging around by their desks fast enough, they could drive straight to the viewing spots on the mountainside. Katsuki had already packed a dinner and a couple of blankets so they could sit on the hood of Deku’s car and watch the skylight, or whatever you do on a viewing spot date.
(What do you even do on a viewing spot date anyway?)
Whatever, he’d planned this out and there was no going back out now.
By the time it was 9pm, Katsuki had cleared out his desk. He made sure to divert any extra work away from Deku’s desk too, so he wouldn’t insist on staying overtime like the people-pleasing dumbass he was. He hauled Deku out of his seat by his forearm, grabbing their bags as he did so, and speed walked out of there despite the complaints from his idiot friends.
“Kacchan, what is the hurry?”
“We got places to be nerd. It’s an anniversary today.”
“Wha- ah, watch where you’re going Kacchan, you nearly bumped into that old lady! Also, it’s not even our anniversary! Seriously, I’ve been double checking a lot recently, and I’m one hundred percent sure-”
“It’s not. I said an anniversary, not our anniversary. Seriously, keep up. I’ll explain later but just get in the damn car. I already got you an extra change of clothes. You can change in the car, I promise not to look.”
“You’re beginning to sound like a kidnapper. Also I’m pretty sure you’d crash the car if you saw me getting undressed in the car with you.”
“Shut up. Sometimes I miss the days when you were scared of me.”
“Lemme just use a bathroom or something, I’m sure a couple of minutes wouldn’t hurt.”
He could feel the amusement radiating off of Deku as Katsuki grumbled and complained. Only Deku would find him charming, what the fuck. Once Deku emerged from a public stall in shorts and one of Katsuki’s shirts - which he picked very deliberately, thank you very much - he sped them out of the city.
By the time they got there, Katsuki was feeling considerably more panicked. Deku, picking up on this, gently laid a hand over Katsuki’s on the steering wheel. “I smell food from the back,” he said quietly. “I’m gonna go get it out, okay? We can sit on the hood. It’s warm outside!”
When they laid out the blanket and got out the food, Katsuki decided to take a backseat in the conversation to get his nerves in order first, allowing Deku to talk about whatever he wanted. The sound of his rambling was oddly soothing. It at the very least helped him to sift through his thoughts.
“But anyway, apart from that. You know that U.A student we were watching at the sports festival this year? The girl with the super strength quirk?”
“Mhmm.” Katsuki took another bite of an apple, eyes focused on Deku. The lamplight was surprisingly strong despite electricity being a little scarce this far up, but Katsuki was grateful for it.
“I met her today! She was so cool, gah you don’t even understand. She seemed excited to see me too, which was nice! I just - you know she came up to me all shy and asking for an autograph and the first thing I said was ‘Ah! I remember you from the sports festival, you were so cool! You gotta tell me about your quirk!’ and she was just - wow, I probably really made a fool of myself, huh? How embarrassing…”
Katsuki was overwhelmed with unbearable fondness at that moment. “Deku. You’re a pro hero. She’s a U.A student. You’re feeling embarrassed about that encounter? She’s probably trying to sear every second of the memory of meeting you into her brain right now.”
Deku shrugged, blushing a little. “Err, I dunno about that.”
“Of course.” Katsuki huffed out a laugh and shook his head. “What did I even expect? You’re so typical, Deku.”
He turned to look at him, green eyes wide with mirth. And Katsuki knew he was helpless to that pull, drawing him in closer and closer.
Katsuki moved without really consciously willing it, his forehead dropping down to Deku’s. “God,” he whispered. “I really fucking love you.”
Deku’s breath hitched. Katsuki’s words caught up to his brain and then suddenly he became aware of everything. Deku sitting next to him, the temperature dropping, their hips pressed together. And the words - hanging in the open air for all to see. It felt so right.
Deku sighed, the moonlight kissing his face and coaxing those dark freckles out. He reached forward to hold Katsuki’s hands in his own. “I know, Kacchan.” He kissed the knuckles of Katsuki’s left hand, before bringing it to cradle his face. “You’ve already told me so many times.”
There was nothing frightening about Deku’s open, loving expression then. Nothing frightening about their hands entangled in each other’s.
When Deku pulled him in for a kiss, there was only safety.
And a lot, a lot of love.
